Securing a Manicure

I wrote before about the adventures of looking for an apartment. We still don’t know about the apartment and whether we have secured it or not. Secured is a word that they use in Singapore quite a bit; shows the British influence – which you see and hear quite a lot. I don’t think of secure in terms of acquiring something – for me secure is more like making it safe. I’m learning. I am trying to secure an apartment, I have secured a bus pass. Anyway, we’re still waiting to see if we’re moving into this one or starting the search all over again.

It’s Christmas Eve here where we are. There are Christmas lights everywhere, along with decorated trees – big ones, small ones, every shape and color you can imagine. All the malls – of which there are many and they are HUGE – are decorated and all the sales people are wearing Santa and elf hats. Christmas carols – all the Christmas carols; religious and otherwise are playing non-stop everywhere – the mall, the radio, the TV. There are Christmas specials of all types at the stores. We’ve seen a Christmas parade with lots of floats. There is a whole area downtown devoted to Christmas lights and displays which they hire companies to come in and put them up – making certain they are never the same twice. They do bus tours of the lights and decorations. Everyone says Merry Christmas, but the funny thing is – they don’t really celebrate Christmas here. Nothing closes down – it’s just another day. Some people, but not everyone, exchange presents and Santa will bring presents to some. The nativity - along with Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus – it’s all prominently displayed. But only 14% of the population is Christian, so this is not a celebration for the masses. The other funny thing is that we’re told they do this for all the different religions and their holidays – decorate, celebrate, and rejoice – but it’s just also a normal day. Businesses operate as usual, schools go on, the mall is open, etc. They actually have very few holidays here where everything is closed – their independence day is one for example. Very big holiday. Very interesting.

Another interesting thing we are finding is that this a place of great tolerance. They insist on tolerance for everything and everyone – to be intolerant is against the law – literally. In fact the law is that you are supposed to be tolerant of everyone else’s political and religious beliefs among other things. You can be whatever you want to be – go to whatever church, mosque or temple you chose. You can vote for whatever politician or laws you want to vote for. You are simply not supposed to try to convert anyone to anything else – religion wise or political wise or put down others views, beliefs or practices. The very best way we’ve heard it put is – the people and the government here are very intolerant of any intolerance. Seems to work for them. There are Americans, British, Indians, those from Pakistan, Malaysians, Chinese, Filipinos, Aussies, New Zealanders, people from Hong Kong, lots of people from South Africa. There are Muslims, 3 different types of the Buddhist religion, Hindus and Christians among others. Everyone – amazingly – seems to all get along well. Their system of tolerance for most all things seems to work. Very interesting to see, live within and think about.

For those who might be interested, especially Teri and Denise – I have to tell you about getting my first manicure here yesterday. It was a fun experience. First off, many of the shops, even in the mall, are very small area-wise. The nail salons are usually about 12ft by 18ft. In this area you will find a waiting area; an area opposite that where up above on shelves and in cabinets they keep supplies; below is where everyone puts their shoes, including the workers. They work barefooted in the shop. In the main work area you will find a “L” shaped desk. The front part is the checkout, their phone, etc. The other side is where 2 manicurists work side by side. There is no divider between them and a basket of supplies sits between them which they both work out of. As soon as they use an instrument, helper picks it up and cleans and sterilizes it. Along the other wall is a platform built up 2 or 3 steps with 3 easy chairs up on them. Then right below that is a platform for your feet. They sit on the floor on tiny little rolling stools that put them just on level with your feet for a pedicure. So in a 12 x 18 ft area you have 5 clients getting manicures and pedicures and at least 6 people working on clients, then the extra people who are cleaning up, warming the milk, getting the foot baths, cleaning them afterwards, getting drinks for everyone, etc. So about 15 people in here. Soft music playing. Women talking. I swear they used about 10 towels on me! I walked in and experienced a “Steel Magnolias” moment. Everyone talking in English, asking me questions, telling me where we need to live, telling me where we need to eat and what to see. Just totally without one moments hesitation accepted me and included me. It was great. For the manicure and pedicure they soak your hands and feet in scented very warm real milk with a couple of drops of oil. For your foot bath they add rose petals to the milk. It was different and exciting. It is a little funny though; for all the exotic feel of it all – Teri and Denise – I still was rubbed with Avo Juice lotion (grapefruit) and painted with OPI nail polish -Bubble Bath for fingers and I’m Not Really a Waitress Red for toes – something never change!!! It was a very and different experience though!

Hope all are having a very Merry Christmas – we’re thinking of you all!

So Peace on Earth and remember – tolerance for all!

House (Apartment) Hunting

Several people have asked for some insight into the Singapore thing, so I am trying to jot down some details of some of my experiences here.

First off, the trip over here is long --------- really, really long! Painless enough – just long! I took the flight out of Louisville on US Air to La Guardia, then retrieved my bags and caught the shuttle bus over to JFK. Pretty easy. Waited around JFK, where you see a little and a lot of everything, for a few hours then was off . I flew out of NY on Singapore International Airlines. We landed in Frankfort where we got off the plane for an hour while they cleaned it and restocked it, then off again. I will say they fed us – even in coach – very well and often. I was in coach, but everything was still very nice. Each seat had it’s own little TV screen where you could watch one of several movies – in one of several languages – or play games. They give you a nice clean blanket still wrapped and sealed in plastic, along with a pillow. I read a little and slept a lot. Not too bad an experience. When I come home this time, I’ll do the same trip in reverse. One of the times I come back and forth I’m going to try Northwest Airlines through Narita in Tokyo .

The people here are very friendly and most all speak some version of English. It may not be the English you and I learned, but I will say it’s not too hard after a few days to get through all the various accents. You can see and hear the English influence in almost all things. Most everyone we have encountered speaks their native tongue, some version of English and usually at least one other language. In the schools here students start very young learning English and at least 2 other languages.

We've been looking at apartments like crazy - it's a very weird system. Most of the apartments are empty - they just leave them the way they were when the people moved out. Extra furniture that is the owner's and the people were using; junk the people left behind; curtains sometimes half down. If the tenants had been there awhile or the owner hasn't updated the apartment in a while there might be much older fixtures like ceiling fans, lights, faucets, washer/dryer, countertops, etc. They do not clean the apartments up or fix them up in any way before they show them. So you go in, look at it, see if you can manage to see beyond everything; then decide whether you want to make an offer. They have a starting point for the rent. You look at their starting point and then decide what all you'd like done to the apartment - cleaned, painted, new fixtures, new appliances, etc. Then you give them that list, plus what your offer is to pay for rent. Then the haggling - oh sorry , the negotiations - start. They almost never show an apartment while the current tenants are still in it. Once in a blue moon. Basil's friend from the class at Singapore Air went to look at a 2 bedroom apartment that is owned by a big time model here in Singapore who is returning to Korea . Her apartment, of course, was beautiful and immaculate. One of the ones we looked at still had the tenants in there - they were packing to leave - 4 college students from Spain and France who have been working on their master's degrees here, then decided to take off and backpack through Malaysia and Thailand for several months. They had just returned and were in the midst of packing. The didn’t even look up when we viewed the apartment. Just walked around us and kept doing their thing. Big difference in the apartments! We looked at the apartment again after they moved out - as bad as it was to see - it was 300 times better than when they were in it! I guess it's all relative!

We have made a tentative offer on one. It really is a great place with a spectacular view of the city, but only minimal views of the bay. We kind of lowballed the rent offer, asked for several things to be done to the place and then offered to rent it for 5 years. It's been empty since August, so we're hoping he looks at his 6 month loss and realizes we'll be easy rent money every month for 5 years, so he won't accrue a loss during that time. Also, it's also a carrot ploy. Over here you must pay a month's rent as a security deposit plus one month's rent for every year of a contract you sign. You get that money back at the end of the contract, but it can be a sizeable amount upfront. But essentially what you are doing is giving him the money to pay for the upgrades and repairs up front. From several of the other Americans already here, we understand sometimes this is very effective in getting what you want. We have also heard from some that the owners sometimes will still say no, in which case we'll try another offer or move on to something else and try again. Very strange system. Took a little getting used to at first – the state of some of the apartments can be very surprising, especially when you are looking at it as a potential home for yourself. But after the first few you adjust!

Guess I've written enough for now. Thought you might like a little inside view. Off to the IKEA store to check out home furnishings, etc and then to explore some in the city!