And I have a house!

Sure enough, after going thro a lot of anxiety, it is confirmed. I will finally move into my rented apartment beginning September. As promised, here are a few pictures of the place.

This is the apartment complex. It has a few nice touches, you will notice them in the following photos.

I personally think that this is a great place. Very cozy, very comfortable. And it is very close to my daughter's school as well as my office. Just a hop-skip-and-jump away.

The complex has a nice patio for having barbeque parties or just simply chilling out. The pool is also very nice with a water slide, just perfect for my daughter. And there is a small little putting green for me to practise! What more can I ask for in an apartment?



Now the only thing that remains is for my family to get here and we can all live happily ever after! I have a thing for fairy tails...But don' t get me started on that.

Am I in Singapore or in India?

I went to visit a customer a couple of days ago. And from the moment I entered the building, I realized that I saw more Indians than people of any other nationality.

As I took the elevator, there were seven people in there and six were Indians.

For a moment, I could not believe I was in the right country.

Then I entered the floor & saw an overwhelming majority of my fellow countrymen there too! And the person who I was supposed to meet was, as you must have guessed by now, Indian.

Good to see so many of us here. There is hope for me!

Maybe I'll have a house...

The house, being the only significant thing pending on my list, looks like it might come thro. If everything else goes smoothly, the landlord & I will have signed the agreement for the house. And then I will go "SIGH!"

Cause that is the single biggest uncertainty for me right now. Everything else on the personal front looks OK for the time being.

If things go smoothly, I will take possession of my house in Singapore on the 1st of next month.

Pray for me.

Along Came Polly

And I am not talking about the Ben Stiller / Jennifer Aniston movie. This is another story & a real one, at that.

Yesterday, after a really lazy morning, I went to IKEA to check out their new sale. (Just a bit of digression...here in Singapore, they pronounce it E-KEA as opposed to the rest of the world which does it as Eye-KEA). After getting dropped there in a blue coloured cab, I went around the store looking at some of the new interesting designs that IKEA has come out with. And an hour or so later, I realized that my phone was missing!

After a mad scramble through the store, I went and reported this to the Lost & Found department of IKEA. Then I called up & did the same with the blue cab company. And they all said they will get back to me as soon as they get some news.

I was really depressed. As you can see from my last post, I had just taken a new local connection and now I had to get that line suspended, get a replacement SIM card, get a new phone & all of that takes a lot of time & effort & money.

And then in the evening, Polly called!

This kindly lady had taken the cab after I got out & found my phone stuck to the seatbelt. So this blessed woman took the phone, found my hotel room card key in the phone & called me up to tell me that the phone was with her & that I can pick it up anytime.

I was halfway through the door when she said this. I was so thrilled to get me phone back. This is my only connection to the world & let me tell you...after getting used to having a phone with you all the time, it is pretty difficult to live without it for even a very short time.

So I went all the way to Punggol, one of the furthest points in the Singapore transit system & sure enough, there was Polly waiting for me with my phone.

I cannot thank you enough, Polly Wee.

Singtel Rocks!

Efficiency like this can only be marvelled at.

I finally got my Employment Pass (EP) which basically means I am recognised by the Singapore Government as someone who works here & it acts as a multiple entry VISA for me into Singapore for the tenure of my pass.

Using this, I walked into a Hello store (Hello stores are Singtel retail outlets) and asked for a connection. All that was needed was a copy of my EP, my passport & my signature with my thumbprint. I chose my number, it was added into the system & I walked out with an activated Singtel connection.

Just swapped my old SIM with the new one & I was ready to go. GPRS already setup & going, SMS/MMS all set.

As they say in the US, "You're all set!" ... Yes, indeedee. I'm all set.

What else can be new?

Here I am starting a new life in Singapore. And it looks like it's gonna be a bit more difficult than earlier thought.

To start with, there's usual things like finding a new house that you & your family will think habitable, a school where your child will actually learn a lot & enjoy going to.

To top that, my boss, who was a part of my big move here, has moved on. And by moved on, I mean he has joined another company. While I sincerely wish him all the best, I am in a complete state of flux.

The manager standing in for my boss is a great guy. He really helped me out with my relocation & made sure that I was comfortable, despite the fact that he knows I will be out of his hair in a few days...when my actual manager comes online.

So as you can see, my move to Singapore is, to say the very least, looking quite interesting.

However, I am quite sure that everything will work out just fine & that I will be a lot better off once things settle down.

I have no idea where I get the optimism from.

It's a week!

Now that I am in Singapore to stay rather than on a business trip, I am seeing it in a completely different light.

Things that you woiuld not notice as a business traveller. Things like how convenient the infrastructure is to get around, how wide the culinary range is, how easy it is to get a bank account, how much you have to walk.

During this last week, a company called Asian Welcome introduced the city of Singapore to me. A very nice lady called Janis drove me around pointing all the important / nice things in Singapore. She also took me to a few schools that we had picked out for my daughter.

And I think I have a great school for her. I haven't seen the way they teach there, but I just have a good feeling about this. I really hope she likes the school & settles in quickly.

Now that I am done with the school, the hunt for accomodation begins. I am currently in a hotel in Singapore (Marriott, of course) which is slap bang on Orchard Road. Orchard, for people who have never been to Singapore, is the shopping Mecca here. On weekends, you would be lucky to walk without bumping into anyone constantly. It sometimes looks like the whole of Singapore is on Orchard. Just like the whole of Bangalore is on Brigade Road on the weekends!

Hopefully the accomodation will be close enough for my daughter to get to her school without too much time travelling. And hopefully it will be close to my office too. Let's see how that goes.

More on my Singapore situation coming soon. Stay tuned.