The Oven is Arriving

When I got to Singapore there were a lot of new things. I came in a cab that drove on the other side of the road, to a new complex, in a new (HOT) place...it was all new. When I came into our apartment for the first time, it actually looked really comfortable to me. The furniture was okay, the bathrooms were big and complete, there was a lot of natural light. All in all, I was very fine. When I went to see the kitchen for the first time, however, I looked around, and I asked Matt, "Where is the oven?" He said, "Hm. I don't know. I guess I didn't look for one."

Apparently most Chinese people don't use ovens, since just about everything is fried, so most Chinese kitchens don't have ovens. Hm...

We had decided to keep a vegetarian kitchen while we were here. This choice was confirmed by my earlier prawn experience. I guessed that most of the baking I did was probably chicken, so we would be fine. We probably would be fine...if we wanted to do without roasted potatoes, crispy tofu, banana bread, pies, kugels and lasagna. Turns out we're not so interested. We miss them. We bought a small oven, and it's on it's way to its new home in our kitchen.

Yesterday I finished an amazing book that my brother suggested to me. It's called A Fine Balance, and I HIGHLY suggest it. The characters were so colo(u)rful, and the book is able to be interpreted on so many different levels. It makes me want to go to India, and it makes me never want to go to India.

Last night we went to dinner with Arkadi - the guy who we met on the diving trip who sent us the pictures. We're planning our next dive trip. We'll have to figure it out well, since he doesn't get vacation days, and I start my job on Wednesday and don't have a ton of vacation days...It will probably be in northern Malaysia, and island in Thailand, Bali or the Philippines. I don't think we can lose between those choices.

Today a woman from the Jewish community was nice enough to have me and another woman who's new to the community over for a visit. She told us a bit about the community and ways we can get involved. Sounds like wonderful people and good stuff going on - but not too much. Then I met Matt for lunch and we had AMAZING Indian food at a food market by his work. Then I went to get diving advice from the dive shop. They're so nice.