As part of unpacking we discovered how unprepared we were for all of the electrical appliances mis-match. By which I mean, we didn't have enough converters or adapters. Which is probably good since the hotel we'd stayed at in Singapore doesn't have the same plugs as the apartment. We would've bought the wrong adapters! We had this discussion before we left the States, and I thought we'd decided to not bring the small appliances like hair dryers and alarm clocks because it would be cheaper to replace them than to buy converters and adapters for them. (Some of them made the boat shipment anyway.) Our first shock was that a cheap-o digital alarm clock/radio is $35 and up! What?! Wal-mart has them (made in China) for $10 or less. But $35 seemed to be the standard price. So we were thinking to go ahead and pay the $18 for a converter plus the $2 for an adapter and save $15 ea. But last weekend we went to Courts (very similar to Best Buy, but much wider selection, and not so much on the DVD/CD inventory) to get some larger appliances (more on that in a min.) and as we were checking out we saw digital alarm clocks for $15! Woo-Hoo! We grabbed 4 - one for each bedroom.
So like I said, we went to Courts to get some larger appliances. I wanted to replace my Shark (steam-generating mop), which I LOVE, because it is over 1000watts and a converter for that would be $180. We started looking at other appliances that make steam, and yes, they were all around 1000watts. Granted we could've bought one $180 converter and hauled it around (it would've weighed 30 pounds or so) when we wanted to use one of those appliances. But we decided to be decadent and just buy new appliances for the 2 years we'll be here. The prices of the iron, hair dryer, coffee maker, toaster, waffle iron, and rice cooker all together didn't equal $180. But when I went to find a new Shark mop we ran into difficulties. First, there's no Shark brand. The only similar thing here is much more professional looking and costs $300-400! eeeep! So the salesman talked me into getting a vacuum cleaner instead. Erin had also been trying to talk me into one. (I'd said I'd just use a broom on the floors since they're all marble or hardwood or tile.) I'd left my vacuum in Houston because it is designed more for carpet and I knew we wouldn't have that. Plus it would need a converter/adapter. So we bought a canister vacuum cleaner designed for smooth floors. Since my only other vacuum cleaner is 18 years old (wedding gift), I'm almost 2 decades behind in vacuum technology. (Yes, the hose on the old one IS held together with duct tape - but it works!) So I'm loving the new vacuum. The cord pulls out without me having to do anything but plug it in and start using it. Retracts by stepping on the button. All the attachments fit in the handle. Rubber wheels means no tracking up. This thing is cool. (Also, I'm a geek......) And it's fire engine red. :-)
We also got a new microwave. I think it does some neat stuff, but I haven't taken the time to read the owner's manual yet. (We got the cheapest one that was big enough to hold a normal sized plate.) We figured out how to warm up food and stopped figuring at that point. It's nice, though. We felt handicapped not having a microwave.
The last appliance that we bought was a garment steamer. They are very popular here. As most of you know - I don't iron. My rules for wrinkles are: 1) if it wrinkles don't buy it!! 2) if, somehow, it does get wrinkled, throw it in the dryer with a damp towel. 3) if all else fails, use the wrinkle-reducing spray.
BUT, the dryers here are very small and take a lot of electricity. (We've heard that $400 electric bills are not uncommon in Singapore. We have yet to experience this particular brand of sticker shock, but we're trying to be conservative in advance.) My 'plan A' for drying is to use the drying rack on the back porch (somehow, they call that our "yard" - uh-huh no grass and it's on the 4th floor....). Anyway, I like the garment steamer. It has a place to hang the shirt, and then you step on the button to turn it on (see the trend there??), and then just wave the steamy wand over the shirt and, Voila! All of Erin's shirts looked like they'd been run over by the wrinkle fairy when they came out of the moving boxes. I was doing a shirt a minute out there with the steamer. I have to admit that the wand got hot after a while and I used an oven mitt to grip it. Oh well, the neighbors have to have SOMETHING to laugh at.
So, more story on the garment steamer and the language issue here. Everyone speaks English here. However, my American ear doesn't hear all English the same. First, Americans are loud. Admit it, 'cause it's true. Our normal volume is loud compared to the rest of the world's normal speaking voice. We're just used to it I guess. Singaporeans are not loud. Especially women. I really have to strain to hear them in a crowded store, even if their English is very very good. Secondly, the accent varies here from "educated in Britain" to "only speak English to foreigners on Thursdays. in June". Let's call the "went to school in London" crowd a 9.5 on a 1-10 scale. (You still have to get past the British-ness of the accent. And don't even start with me about the Brits not having an accent!!! 'cause they do compared to us folks from East Tennessee. There. It's my blog. So don't argue.) If that's true, then 80% of the folks here are at least an 8. Not hard to understand, but you have to pay attention. However, there are 15% of the people who are more like a 4 or 5. These are the people who think I'm an idiot. (Remember, I'M the foreigner here - so it's my fault if I don't understand!) I have to ask these people to repeat what they said, and I pray they will say it with hand motions. We're all speaking English, but we're not communicating that well. Example:
Me, "Does this microwave defrost food?"
Saleslady, "Yes, all microwave heat food." [duh, American! Stupid foreigners!!]
Me, "Oh. [trying not to be insulted.] Does it have a defrost setting?"
Saleslady, "Setting? Yes, can change."
Me, thinking [Well, either it does or doesn't. "can change" could mean there's a defrost. Should I take a chance, give up, or look for a different person or store.....?]
Sooooo, when we got to the garment steamer section of the store (yes, there was a section for that), I approached the saleslady and asked about the cheapest model they had. She said, "mumble mumble, [turning her back to me] mumble." I tried one of my standard tactics and ASSUMED she'd said, "yes, they're right here, would you like to try this more expensive one?" Since she was handing me the wand to the next pricier model. But I wanted the cheapest one - price difference $60. So I said, "Can I try this one?" She looked at me funny (should've been my first clue, but I thought maybe she was just thinking I was cheap), and plugged it in. I tried it out and decided it was fine. I said, "O.k., I'll take one of these." She looked right at me and said, "Out of stock! I tol' you out of stock!" DUH DUH DUH and more DUH! Next time, ask the mumbler what they mumbled. I was pretty embarrassed and bought the +$60 model. Which is at least $60 better than the out of stock one anyway, so it all worked out I guess.
So we had two large carts full of: microwave, hair dryer, rice cooker, toaster, waffle iron, garment steamer, iron (it was very cheap and I will need it for sewing), coffee maker, 2 fans (one for the kitchen where there's no a.c., and one for H's room so she won't run the a.c. so much) phone, and some plastic laundry hampers and trash cans. The salesman, Eric, said we could leave it with him while we went to pick out a t.v. We went upstairs and found a t.v. cabinet. The lady there said she would have it delivered with our stuff downstairs and we could pay for it all together with Eric. We proceeded up another floor to the t.v. section. We picked out a t.v. just like the one we have (that only does 60htz, and Singapore signal is 50htz) but with a different cord and a different htz setting. For some reason (mumble) they couldn't deliver the t.v. with the other things. No big deal. We just paid for it separately and the man said we could come back and get it after we'd paid for our delivery items. Back down 2 floors. Find Eric. Wait while he types in ALLLLL of that stuff. Oops! Here's $15 alarm clocks!!! Eric, can we add 4 of these to the order? Thanks. Waiting...... O.k. Now we go to pay. Here's our debit card. What? "Exceeded our daily limit??" We didn't know we HAD a daily limit on a debit card. Hmmm. I guess the t.v. put us close to that. O.k., we'll work that out with the bank. No biggie. Here's our (American) Master Card. Declined?!?!?! Huh?! Uh, honey, did we finish transferring money to pay for the Cambodian trip? Oh. that's probably why. (Also, before we moved here we seldom used that card, so the card people haven't boosted our limit yet.) Soooo, we uh don't have any other cards. Can we go home and get the check book and come back? Eric, "check? I don't understand. One moment." Manager and Eric have a conversation in Mandarin, of which I understand "cannot.... don't have.....cannot". Even the manager seems confused that we'd want to pay with a check. Apparently, that's just not done here. ever. But Eric was so nice and he said he was working 'till 10 and that we could go and get the cash money and come back. Good thing we'd been saving up some cash from the days when our credit card had been compromised. (Because we DO know about the daily atm limit on our American atm card.) So first we went upstairs and got the t.v. and loaded it up. We drove home (it's more impressive to say, "across the country back to our apt." which is also true), unloaded the t.v., explained to the kids, who were happily enjoying free screen time, why we were going back out, and got the cash. While we were there, Erin paid off the credit card. Then drove the 30 min. back across the country to the store and paid for our stuff. Whew! We were 4 hours into this shopping trip so far. But we'd already decided to go to the Giant across the street. Giant is sorta like K-Mart, but with more groceries. We had a long list of household items (mop, cleaners, food, etc.) to get. The place could not have been more crowded. It was awful. At the end of each row I had to wait for a chance to pull out with my cart. Forget going back to get something. It was 10p.m. by the time we got out of there, and you all know what I'm like at 10p.m. I was thinking, "I don't CARE what it is, I'm not going back to get it! Just get me out of here!!!" I've sworn off Sunday shopping for a long time!
Shopping isn't always like that, though. Across the street from us there is a wet market. It's called 'wet' because traditionally the food is kept cold with ice blocks, which melt and the water runs out on the tile floor. I found that you either love or hate wet markets. A lot of ex-pats hate them. I like them. Some are better than others. I do avoid the seafood section because of the fish smell. If you go early in the morning (It's one of the very few places that's open before 10:30.) there is a good selection of fresh produce and meat (which was oinking or clucking or swimming the day before). The prices are good too. We found the chicken section. (Each person/family sells one thing: chicken, pork, fish, or veggies or fruit. The stalls are arranged by selection.) As we approached the counter the man said, "You want chicken breast? Yes? Boneless, skinless?" What? Do I look like a Westerner? Is it that obvious that we eat boneless skinless chicken breasts? The man knows his shoppers I guess. I was all prepared to buy the whole chicken and tell him to keep the neck, head, and feet. But with a sales pitch like that, how could I resist?
In addition, there is a string of shops surrounding the wet market. Yesterday H and I went in one (that looked like a 5 and dime) looking for small converters and adapters. We ended up spending over $100 in there! We'd been looking for some 'sauce bowls'. A good idea - a separate bowl for your ketchup or soy sauce or salad dressing. We like the concept. We'd seen plain bowls other places for $4 ea. But we wanted some cute ones with a flower pattern or something. This place had some cute ones for $1.30 ea.! yea!! We also bought some small soup bowls with a dragon motif for $2 ea.!
There's also a 7-11 over there. Seven-Eleven is a huge thing here. They sell phone cards and parking cards, toll plaza cards, and stamps and Slurpees (Lg. [which is really a medium]' for $1) and I don't know what all.
There's also a dentist over there! (No, not in the 7-11. He has his own place.) H went there yesterday to get a new retainer made. (She took hers out to eat and I threw it away accidentally - yes, it was wrapped in a napkin. sigh.)
There's also a hawker center or food court. They have all kinds of (Asian) food there. We all like going there. It's cheap and good. The kind of funny thing is that there's a separate stall for drinks. You cannot buy food and drink at the same place. Just put your order in, and they'll bring it to you at your table.
Well, I hadn't really intended to spend so much time talking about shopping. Now I'll have to go back and change the title.
The "back yard" with the garment steamer, drying racks, dishwasher, washer/dryer
Flowers we bought at the wet market. H arranged them. The orchids (which are beginning to wilt now after a week) were $.80 per stem (about $.60 US) Vase is from Cambodia.
'Red Rover' and the box pile. Love one, hate the other.
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