My One-Month Anniversary.. Tots and updates

Fast? Slow? It’s been one month since I had left Singapore. I really missed back home. Missed all you guys out there, pub nite out on Friday, mahjong session on Saturday and occasional poker session on Sunday. Life back home seems to be so much more fulfilling. I want out…

Shan’t whine anymore as I only have got myself to blame for encouraging howard to come to the US. I felt so cheated. Now that I am down here, he is off for training for 2.5 weeks. (Well, will be back in 2 days time).

Many asked if I’m enjoying myself here? How do I keep myself occupied and haha… can I cook?

Views about US

The Bad
They have a really slow pace of life. You have to actually book for your medical appointment about 2 days in advance. Duh…how would I know if I would be sick in 2 days time? Sometimes its just easier to self medicate. Just some weird logic the Americans have!

The Good
Shopping for branded stuff is really enjoying here. Back in Singapore, if Polo Ralph, MnG were having 50% discount, a snake queue would have been formed by 9.00am. Even after a 50% discount, the price is sometimes still exorbitant. Well, here, you can get branded stuff so easily even in those small shopping centers (layout like emporium/yaohan – if you could still remember as both had since pulled out of Singapore) and get pants a 10USD. No squeezing or cramping, you can shop at your own leisure. In addition, often in Singapore if you buy a sale item, the receipt always has the below fine print:

Sales item once purchased are not refundable

Here in America, everything can be refundable regardless of the purchase date. You can refund it even in a year’s time as long as you have the receipt. The funniest incident I have heard

1) One of my friends here told me that she once saw an old American man taking a half finished barbeque spring chicken to the customer service and told the lady that he is not satisfied with the spring chicken (bearing in mind that it is already half gone). The sales lady refunded the man the money without any questions ask.

Is this what good customer service is called? Or just some blatantly stupid policy?


Another Example
I bought myself a polo short for about 10USD. However, when I showed that to Howard, he said that it was a little too big for me and told me to refund it. As such, I went back to the shop to ask for a refund. Initially, I expected the customer service counter to be located at the entrance of the shop but NO, its located within the shop itself. Nothing surprising right! I took the shorts and the receipt and in less than 10 mins, my job is done. They refunded me with no questions ask. Just as I was about to walk out of the shop, something struck me. “ WHY DID THEY LOCATE THE CUSTOMER SERVICE CENTER IN THE SHOP ITSELF?” Bearing in mind that this shop that I went to is a big shop spanning over 2 football field size. It sells everything from cosmetics, to clothes, to electronics and even to bicycles. The next question that struck me. What if someone buys a laptop today, get the receipt and the next day, go back to the shop, take yet another brand new laptop of the same model, walk over to the customer service and show them the new laptop with yesterday’s purchase receipt. Will the lady at the counter refund him the money with no questions ask? This question still puzzles me to today.

My Schedule

Most of my morning is taken up by Yoga or Step Aerobics. In addition, I have also found something meaningful to do. Giving tuition to a Primary 4 kid here. Hope to recruit more so I won’t feel so aimless and at least it keeps my mind working. Haha and I get paid in “food”. His mum would cook all sorts of Singapore food for me every tuition. Yummy yummy. Well, I have not given up on cooking yet. Just taking occasional breaks every Tuesday and Thursday where I get to eat more delicious food. Haha.

The rest of the week, I just hang out with the wives here. Well, we go shopping, bowling or house visiting. The rest of the time, blog, surf and more internet surf.

Shan't continue to bore you guys with my long chonghey essay. I am sure by now there will be lots of grammatical and spelling errors. I know someone out there is now shaking his head. You know who you are. haha. After all this is supposedly to be a blog where you just write as you whine. No double or triple checking. Haha... So when do I get to see your work Sir ?

My $60 USD pool table .... oohhhhhh

My pool table had arrived. The guys borrowed a truck and have it sent here. That was really nice of them. It was a beautiful set of pool table and I must say the previous owner did a good job in maintaining it.

Howard will be coming back in 5 days time and the both of us could have a pool tournament.

Sigh: My apartment is too small and this pool table had to be put in the living room taking up half of the space. Haha.

VIRTUAL MAHJONG

Aug 25 - Friday
All thanks to the beauty of technology. I was able to continue to play mahjong with my parents back in Singapore. The 4 mahjong players 1) Grandma 2) Mum 3) Sister and I made up the 4th player. This would not have happen if not for my dad who played a silent role… MY HANDS….

Instructions: Players shout out the tiles that they are going to throw so that I am aware of what’s on the table and I just need to go “PONG PONG” or “ CHOW CHOW”!

It was really fun and kept me entertained. Well, I lost a bit but who cares… it’s the fun of it … and really satisfies my mahjong itch. Better luck next time….

Eeekss.... Its MR VEGETABLE

Believe it or not! I went for a salad and soup buffet on Sunday. Yes. Salad Buffet. First time in my entire 27 yrs that I filled more than half of my plate with GREEN LEAFY UNAPPETIZING/ BORING/ UNINTERESTING/ TASTLESS vegetables. Bet all of you guys will not believe it. Well, I actually borrowed one of my friend’s camera to prove it. For once, no meat in the meal. Well, its actually not that bad cos I had it in the most fattening form. CAESAR salad…. Orghhh… how fattening the sauces were! Well I could simply afford that. Below is a glimpse of my exercise regime in the last one week.

Monday/ Tuesday/Thursday

Yoga (1hour) and Aerobics(1 hour)

Wed/Thursday/ Sunday
Roller Blading and Running (1hour)

Latest Buy: I bought myself a second hand pool table for only $60USD. It’s going to be delivered in late August. Watch out for the space. Going to put my latest prize on my blog soon and off I go honing my skill.

UP FOR ADOPTION

Please bare with me for the next few weeks. There will be no nice pictures to show off as Howard is away on his training and had stole my digital camera… Huff….

Wednesday/Thursday (AUG16/17): Howard is off for his TDY for 2.5 weeks. It’s home alone for me. He was so afraid that I couldn’t take care of myself that he wanted to stock up my fridge with all the microwave food. I refused, as these microwave food are just so cheesy. I am better off eating the bread. Thanks to my friends here who know that I am really hopeless in cooking (I promise I will try… kekee) and offered me to go to their place for dinner (and kekee… thick skin me really went over). Really paiseh but it was really nice of them. Some of them even offered me their place to bunk in for the night for fear that I will be lonely and frightened. It was a really nice gesture. Guess Darling, you don’t need to worry about me for 1) I can take care of myself and 2) I am well taken care after by the people here.

Thanks to Angela, Susie and Seok Jin!

Exercise.... and more Exercise

Tuesday (AUG 15): I had an enjoyable day here in Arizona. For once, I did not feel bored the whole day. Went shopping in the afternoon and in the evening, believe it or not… I spent my evening roller-blading followed by running around my estate for about an hour and afterwhich, I went swimming (about 8ish pm) with Angela. She took a bottle of wine to the swimming pool and the both of us finished the whole bottle. By the time I got home, looked at the watch, its already 1am. Time flies….. ( I thought that my clock is showing Singapore time and even called Howard asking him for the time and indeed its 1am Arizona time)…. We had spent 5 hours in the pool!

Well Done Darling ... boo boo to me

Monday (AUG 14): Howard passed his IPPT test. Because he had to wake up so early in the morning, I did not have a good night sleep the day before. Went for my regular yoga session at 10am feeling so tired. Was so sleepy and tired throughout. You know, when you are tired and with the nice soothing music, you tend to be even sleepier. In the last 10mins of the session, the instructor told us to lie down on the mat to relax and before I know it, I fell asleep. For the longest time, I was oblivious to my surrounding and was just immersing myself in the nice soothing music. Suddenly I heard someone beside me goes (oic oic).... and when I opened my dopey eyes, haha I saw Susie trying to wake me up and the rest of the class was in their sitting posture. I actually fell asleep during class (trust me ... its really my first time... ). It was so embarrassing. How I wish there was a wall for me to dig into……..Boo Boo Ching

Sunday Dinner

Sunday Dinner : Me into action once again. This time round, its a combo of Chicken Rice Rice and Nasi Lemak. My first meal without any single help. Hope I have not freak you guys up. Let me explain. 1) Used the chicken rice mix to make the rice 2) Fried Chicken (my grandma’s recipe) 3) Egg 4) Cucumber and Tomatoes. Mix them together you get a yummy yummy dinner. Gave some to my friend here and she too thinks that it is really marvelous. Great Yeah!

But still.... the same old words.... domestic girl is not an easy task!
Why? look at the pic

The Weekend

Yippie… weekend is here once again. Like those working days back in Singapore, I just love weekend where I can have a layback lifestyle. Similarly in Arizona, I am always looking forward to weekend as it is the only time where I am not bored. Done lots of shopping this weekend. Bought myself a Polo Ralph ¾ pants for only 9 USD and 2 socks for only 2 USD. Nope you guys did not hear wrongly. Some brands are really much cheaper here. The shopaholic side of me is surfacing. Most importantly, I got myself a laptop too - Toshiba Satellite A105 for only USD599 (original price at 899USD) and we still got a cannon scanner and printer thrown into the package . We only got to know this at about 1pm on Sunday (the offer was published on the Sunday paper with only 6 sets per store) and Howard was saying… “ chey, sure gone one…. Its already 1pm already…” Nevertheless, I still pulled him out of the sofa and went down to the shop. To my surprise it was still available and we managed to get the last set. If this was in Singapore, am sure the kiasuism would have surfaced and a snake queue would have been formed outside the store before 9am. Guess I have to slow down my pace here in Arizona.


Specs of my Laptop
Intel Centrino Duo Mobile Technology Notebook w/15.4” TruBrite widescreen
Intel Core Duo Processor T2050
512 MB DDR2
80 GB
HDReads & Writes DVDs & CDs

My Second Masterpiece

Aug 09 – It’s a public holiday for the Singapore Contingent. Went to Harkins (movie theater) and watched World Trade Center after which we went back to wrap wanton. There was supposedly to be yet another gathering in my house tonight but was cancelled as everyone were too loaded with food the previous days. However, as I had already bought the ingredients and hence decided to go ahead and make my wanton. That will be Howard’s lunch/Dinner for the next 2 days. My wanton looks good yeah! and let me tell you, it taste really good too. Gave some to Susie here and in exchange, got food and lots of sauces from her (she is leaving for Singapore in a month’s time) so paiseh. Was telling Howard those food from Susie will be his lunch the next day (save me preparing another meal!) =p and his immediate reply, I bet the wanton will then become wanton mee for her husband the next day too. True enough……. Haha…..

Happy Birthday Singapore

AUG 08 – National Day was celebrated a day earlier in Arizona. The Singapore Contingent put up a little feast. Yummy Yummy… Lots of home food… Satay, Hokkien Mee, Chicken Rice, Prata, Chay Kway Tew, Bundung (see pics above)… These were all prepared by the wives from different sections. Howard happens to belong to the OIC (officer-in-charge / Captains) section and guess what we prepared? Haha… they bought Domino Pizzas. Simple yeah. I teased him saying that what an easy way out (actually was secretly happy about that) and he said that cos this celebration was also attended by some Americans and they do not know how to eat home food and hence they are doing the a favour by buying Pizzas. Haha… but true enough, during the dinner, you could see all the Chinese making a snake queue on the yummy local food and the Ang Mos making a queue at the pizza counter. Haha….

If Ching can cook.....

06 AUG – We had a gathering at my place. It was supposedly a gathering for “left-over food" that we had the day before. Then Howard suggested why don’t we also cook a pot of Japanese Curry for those who do not want to eat the BBQ food. F.Y.I, this is one (or maybe the only) of my best dishes that I can whip up. It turned out really good and they finished the whole pot. Oh no… am scratching my head now… what’s next on the menu… they are having another potluck on Wednesday at my place again… I can’t be serving then Japanese curry AGAIN! Have decided to venture out to do fried wanton cos the theme is “FINGER FOOD”. So going to put in meat, chestnut, mushroom, garlic and onion (advised by Sharon, Thanks!). Well, if all else fails, pizza hut is just round the corner. Pizza is also finger food rite…… Wah… stress liao….

(Domestic Engineer is much more tougher as compared to a Risk Manager…..Volga and vanna is much easier to comprehend then pots and pans)

My First Attempt with Yoga....

07AUG - Susie (Howard’s colleague’s wife) brought me along to her yoga session today. A really nice and friendly lady. Too bad, she will be returning to Singapore in a month's time. Well.... had always misconception about yoga.... thinking that it is a really slow exercise... to some extent yes (in the last 5 minutes when the instructor told us to relax.. I nearly slept ).... but it really stretches all your muscles. I had a hard time trying to do those "stunts" today and Susie was telling me that these are the basics and Tuesday classes (yes, I will also be joining) will be more challenging. I will be attending yoga classes every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Will be a Yoga Guru in no time. Haha…. that is if my muscles to give up….. ouch....

Water Ration.....

05 AUG - Like in the good old days where people had to draw water from the well..... this is the exact mundane task that howard has to do now. As tap water running into the house is not suitable for drinking (even after you boil it), that left us with 2 alternatives. 1) Pop down to supermarket to buy drinking water or 2) go to the airbase to collect drinking water. Which do you think I chose? (haha of course... for publicity sake... you see me carrying water this time... but trust me... its just for photography purposes.... haha)

City Mouse in a Countryside........

03 AUG - Lots of land everywhere… but with barren trees…. Sigh.. like a city mouse in the countryside, I am now reduced to learn how to be a good homemaker.… To a person who never cooks back home, never washes the dishes and never sweeps the floor, trust me housewife is not an easy job…. Was supposedly to whip out a dinner for Howard. We went to the supermarket to buy ourselves some vegetables ( yes… I eat them now cos I need the vitamins… … no longer as choosey as before), meat, tofu and miso soup. Come dinner time, stared at those food and looking pathetically at howard “ er… how to cook huh?” He laughed off and said “ why don’t you just go on the internet to chat with your friends. I do the cooking!” Of course, I take every chance to be lazy and hop off to my favorite pastime now… THE INTERNET. How I miss my mum and Kati… no longer the old days where I don’t need to lay a single finger on the housework… Just need to work with the mouth and go “ Mummy can you please bring me this…..” or “Kati where is my…..”

Inaugural Step into Arizona – 31st July 06 (Monday)

Finally after 24 good hours of flight, I landed in Phoenix Airport. Oh man… the food sucks on UA (buns served were cold….food were tasteless….). Well, its all over and finally met howard and took a little drive back to our little apartment. I just love the apartment. It’s a 2 story apartment and IT HAS A GARAGE…. (can’t blame me for being hysterical cos I am a now a city mouse living in countryside .. I never imagined in my entire life that I would have a garage .. chuck chuck!).

And guess what was waiting for me… haha… Haagen Daz Ice-cream cake. Howard was just a sweet angel… made me a Haagen Daz Icecream cake. As I quote him “ Haagen Daz cake is so expensive in Singapore…. $100 a cake… Here, I can do it at a cost of 3 tubs of ice-cream …. 2USD *3… yes… you did not hear wrongly… 2USD a tub” Guess I will grow fat…. Well… am adamant to start my exercise regime. Guys.. do you believe me haha….