Good Luck

We have had two (good) shockers in the past two days: the owner of the apartment we want has agreed to our requests without raising rent, and we may have a buyer for the house! Unbelievable. We thought we wouldn't even be able to get one person into the house, let alone a decent offer. There are a few kinks still to be worked out, but we have our fingers crossed.

On to life in Singapore.... 

Refusing to allow me to have one average day, Andrew managed to get security up to our apartment. Thursday morning I ran into the kitchen in my underwear to get to the laundry room to get a skirt I wanted to wear that day. As I am emerging from the kitchen, I realize that Andrew has opened the door for someone. I poke my head around the corner to greet the lady from the front desk and a security guard. (Look, that crazy American woman is in her kitchen with no clothes!) I ask them to excuse me for a moment and have Andrew usher them outside. After throwing on some PJs, I open the door for them. Reason for their visit: a neighbor across the way saw Andrew climb up onto the kitchen counter while the window was opened, and was worried he would fall to his death. Within 15 minutes I had locks installed on all the windows in the kitchen. In order to open my windows, I have to travel all the way to the bottom floor to retrieve a key, which I then have to return  when I am done needing my windows op

en. It wouldn't be so bad if the kitchens here were not separate rooms without air conditioning. When I made dinner that night, my kitchen also doubled as a sauna. The windows were completely steamed and I looked like I had run a mile.

Scott did not have work on Friday (yesterday) so we were able to spend the day as a family. We did not want to waste a moment, so we were on the go from the moment we woke up. After breakfast, we all went down to the pool to take a swim. When the day's storm rolled on in, we decided to head inside.

We spent most of the afternoon in the mall. We invested in a new camera (very exciting) so we can finally start to put up some pictures. The problem was that we had to charge the thing for 8 hours and were not able to take it on any of our outings. (Any photos you currently see are from Scott's

 new phone). We then made our way over to the movie theater to see "National Treasure". The theaters here are amazing! Flashback to 1930's Hollywood splendor. The seats were all red plush velvet (and clean!). We were given blankets in case it was too cold, and a large popcorn and large drink cost $8.50 (Singapore dollars). I was in heaven. There were only two other people in the theater with us (it seats 500) so the boys lounged out on the front row.

That evening, we decided to hit the Night Safari at the zoo. Very cool. It does not open until the sun has set. We arrived around 8:30pm to begin our journey. The entire park is dark, except for some blue and purple lights to illuminate the animals. The animals were walking all over the place and the only thing separating you from them is a small moat, except for the Tiger, which was behind a glass wall (thank you San Francisco).  The two best parts were the aviaries: one for the flying squirrels, and the other for fruit bats. The fruit bats were actually pretty neat (huge, but neat). However, had one landed on me I may not have been so impressed by the exhibit. We did not leave the park until 11:20pm - so we were all pretty thrashed by the time we got home.

Today was intended to be a "veg day", but that changed after lunch. We wound up going to the mall to find Scott a new pair of pants. He is feeling like the odd man out at work...not only is he the only caucasian, but he is the only person in all of Singapore who wears khakis to work. For those of you who know him, Scott is not generally a conformist, but the German in him is kicking in and he wants, "to be a team player" (that is a direct quote).  When we walked into the mall, I thought I had walked into a Costco on a Saturday afternoon. People on top of people. While Scott was searching for his pants, I had the fun job of keeping the kids contained to a 4 square foot area (not easy when they are in the mood to wrestle). Following the pants, we bought me a new cell phone (hooray), and then went to check out the American Club in hopes of getting dinner there. Instead we were given an hour and a half long tour, and then an escort to the front door. Dinner for us was at Kenny Rogers' Roasters. (Do those still exist in the US?)

On a more serious note......

Scott and I have both have family members dealing with very serious medical problems at the moment. We ask that you all please keep my sister, Trisha, and our nephew, Luke, in your prayers. It is especially difficult to be so far away from them at this time. They are two of the bravest people in the world. We want them to know how much we love them and their families, and that they are in our thoughts and our prayers.