Monday, June 11, 2007

Bug Spray and Prawns

Small update from yesterday...Matt and I had lunch with our friend Christian and Lifong (still don't know how to spell her name - I should probably ask). We had Mexican food. Considering how much farther Singapore is from Mexico than New York, I was pretty impressed! Matt then took me to Orchard Road. It is crazy. I had heard (on the welcome to Singapore video they played before we landed here on the airplane...) that Singaporeans love to shop and eat, and I really think that's all they do! There were SO many malls and stores. There was everything from Tiffany's to department stores to tailors to drug stores. There were even at least three Starbucks, Borders, Gap and probably other familiar things. There were so many people. Did I mention that it was hot in Singapore?

We then went to the grocery store. It's like Chinatown, but it's indoors and much less hectic. I can't quite recognize anything, yet it all looks sort of familiar. Matt keeps saying that Singapore is like Chinatown in Florida. We relaxed and ate Israeli salad for dinner.

So - this is my first "normal" day in S'pore. I.e. Matt went to work this morning, and I had no idea what the hell I was going to do. Luckily there was a (pretty pathetic except for the last three minutes) basketball game to watch, and I got to talk to various family members and friends. At some point a very loud machine went by, and I went out of the bedroom to see what it was. I saw a whole lot of smokey stuff, so I shut the door. Then, five minutes later, I heard it again and it happened to go by ALL of the windows of our apartment, so the smokey stuff was filling my apartment (like I couldn't quite see - seriously filling the apartment!). I quickly shut windows and turned on the a/c. Matt later told me that was some dude spraying for bugs, and that it probably wasn't the best idea to breathe it. Oops.

I visited Siglap (part of it is pictured to the left), which is a shopping area near us - great restaurants and cute stores. I ate holy hot Thai soup, and then I got ingredients for a soup that I want to make. The recipe calls for prawns. As anyone reading this might know - I have eaten kosher in my home for many many years, and have been venturing out and trying new things. I have not yet cooked with anything like this. It took me a good three minutes in the store to decide whether or not to buy the prawns. This was also due to the fact that they all have arms, legs, eyes, heads, etc. I just looked up how to clean them and decapitate them. We'll see if I'm actually able to do that. Not that they're not already dead, but seriously - ripping the head off of something!? Oy. Zichronam livracha.


For today - we have a few pictures of our complex. The first one is the entrance to Casafina (our complex), and the second is obviously our pool. Our apartment is on the other side of the pool from this picture, and we face the outside of the complex (not the pool). More pictures of inside to come (once it is presentable I'll invite you inside!).

7 comments:

Ruthie said...

1) your pool looks amazing. are those little waterfalls things off that roof just to cool you off? you should just always hang out in the pool. is it always open?
2) i think you should post the weather every posting. i mean the temperature. i bet there is a way to have it automatically upload from weather.com:)
3) this is posting as me from a blog i made once and wrote on like 3 times. if you're bored, you can read it. it's not interesting, hence my never using it.
i'm sorry this was such a long comment.

Unknown said...

Gee, I think the apartment complex and amenities are so much like your place on the Upper West Side. You know, entrance gates, pool, balconies/patios, size of the apartment, traffic passing by,etc... You'll feel right at home.

Matt and Melanie Hildebrandt said...

If I posted the weather each day (which I will see if I can figure out), it would just say hot-as-hell and super humid with a chance of thunderstorms. Everyday.

Josh in NOLA said...

I got my vest and hat and gloves from Ruthie. Thanks (to everyone involved).

At least you've only got the heat for another few months... right?

Elisheva said...

Guys, your apartment and pool look sooo enticing (I hope you know that you're a walking--okay, blogging--ad for friendly visitors to Singapore)!! ;) I'm totally there.... You had me at cool pool.

Harry said...

Loving the write ups, and very impressed that you're trying to cook up Singaporean (?) food within the first days of arriving. You didn't explode from the spice level? One gross tip - its much better if the prawns are alive and kicking when you buy them (like lobsters). I know it may be traumatic, but their memories will live longer (zt'l, you crack me up) if they are killed last minute as they will be much tastier. Don't feel too bad about decapitating them, they have very simple nervous systems, and would be die equally gruesome deaths in the wild.

Matt and Melanie Hildebrandt said...

Harry, you're heartless!!!