We are here now exactly one week, have had some time to settle (sort of). We are starting to get the lay of the land. As mentioned in previous posts, the most striking thing about Singapore so far, is how incredibly friendly the Singaporeans are (certainly in contrast to New Yorkers) and how much they adore children. At times, I am literally stopped on the street so that they can admire Charlie and Anna - and will chat with you about them if they are walking in the same direction. It's a really amazing thing to experience. At restaurants, waiters and waitresses alike will come over to your table between an order, just to say hello to Charlie and coo over Anna. In New York, we mostly got a lot of eye rolling when we went to a restaurant (if it was not Indian or specifically set up for children). Interestingly, this takes a whole lot of pressure off as you don't need to worry about the kids being well behaved and as a result, everyone's more relaxed and enjoys their meal (oh, and by the way - the kids are more well behaved too!).
Setting up our bank account, there was another striking difference between the USA and Singapore. In the USA, your checking account is what you use primarily for daily living: you get your paycheck directly deposited into your checking account, you use your debit card which is directly linked to your checking for daily purchases, and your savings account is what you transfer money into from your checking or a portion of your salary to "save", and you might use your savings account for big ticket items (like a down payment for a car etc) probably transferring money from the savings to the checking so that you can write a check. Here, it's exactly the opposite. Your salary gets paid into your savings, your debit card debits from your savings, any electronic payments you set up (cable, phone bills, electricity), you set up through your savings and you only use your checking for big ticket items. Therefore the minimum amount in your savings needs to be $500, whereas the minimum amount in your checking needs to be $3000. The checking account seems to be solely used for these types of one-off payments. Not knowing this, I was trying to set everything up as it's done in the USA, and I couldn't understand why the guy at the bank was looking at me like I had three heads, but being Singaporean, he was willing to set it up as I was asking, if that's what I really wanted...all the while he patiently explained the obvious to me. We did need a checking account to write a check for the apartment deposits, but beyond that, I think the account will stay inactive (hence becoming a theoretical savings account - you do get paid a minute amount of interest).
This past weekend the little Bareau family went to the botanical gardens to see a special exotic orchid exhibit. As you walked through, the beautiful organization and order we saw reminded us a little of Switzerland, and then we saw a few things that you probably wouldn't see in Switzerland!
The "garden" was absolutely beautiful and massive and, we were delighted to discover, it was within a short 15 minute walk from our new home. A great jogging area!
Also over the weekend, we had our first delicious taste of Sentosa - an Island connected to the mainland where there are golf clubs, casinos, boats, and tons of out door activities. Giacomo, Oliver's high school friend, lives there with his family. I would not be exaggerating to say this felt more like a resort then anything else. It was beautiful. We look forward to visiting Sentosa more and exploring all it has to offer. Charlie looks forward to spending more time with Filippe (Giacomo and Claudia's 8 year old son).
All in all, Oliver and I agree that Singapore really feels like the city of the future - multicultural and fully integrated, racially and religiously tolerant, the city planning has been thought through to a tee- being extremely organized, logical, handicapped and stroller friendly, and being positioned as the shopping mecca of Asia, I can say that there is nothing you can't find (you just have to pay for it!).
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