Confessions of a failing NBC..(Norwegian Born confucianist): random pictures and random days in Singapore

Sunday's lunch date with Tria

The Marina Bay Sands

I love things that make me feel like there's some structure and control in my life...even though the things that run through my head is often a mess (the contents in my notebooks is a proof of this)...so, I love things like : boxes, containers, notebooks, pens...etc.

Went to Muji on Sunday and spent quite some time in there looking for the perfect containers for my stuff....ahh..the satisfaction of putting things into containers/boxes. Not ANY containers/boxes, of course, but something that are esthetically pleasing to look at - I love.

The food is a bit different here than in Dublin, I can tell you that much. (Some of the things served for lunch at work today)

Saturday: lunchin' with ma'self.. =)

While construction work seems to have stopped completely in Dublin, Singapore is tearing down "old" buildings - old as in 1970/1980 - and building new condos.

Went to Prada last week to ask one of the workers there how much weight my bag could handle. When I bought it in Dublin, the sales rep said that I could fit a laptop in there...so, what have I been doing? well, Ive been putting my laptop in there, of course!.. The sales guy asks me to hand him the bag..he puts it on his arm and says: " this is enough"....

Me: What?!

I had the following in my bag: a wallet, a purse filled with 3 lipbalms/glosses, 3 pens, my passport, my cellphone, keys...and thats it...The bag fits a macbook Pro, but cant handle the weight of a wallet and some pens??! What in the world!

Then the guy adds: "this is not for everyday..only occasionally.."

I told him that I used it everyday, and that that's why I bought it,,,anyhow - long story short. Ill be sending the bag to have it repaired next weekend cause the stitches on one side of the bag is loose. I use the shoulder straps, cause I dont like carrying it on my arm (totally defeats the purpose of having a bag, if it inconveniently has to be placed on an arm...yeah yeah, fashion bloggers may tell you different..but this is not a fashion blog...this is a random-rant-blog =)

Fixing this baby will apparently take up to 2-3 months..

NOTEBOOKS!...=)

You know why the MRT (subway) is so clean in Singapore? Cause theres no food or drinks allowed in the station, nor the train, and you cannot eat or drink in the station..or the train. I learned this the second day in Singapore. Some old lady - whose job is to make sure that people follow the rules - came up to me while I innocently was standing there enoying my milk tea:

"HellO! how long you been here?"

Me: *embarassed while people are staring at me as this woman yells at me*...."Uhm, One day.....(?)" - I said, and purposely made my American accent as strong as it could be, to prove that I was a foreigner....also,,if people were gonna think I was stupid for violating the rules in the mrt station, they might as well hate on an American, right? They're often, and stereotypically known for being loud, arrogant and rule defiant..lol=P (Relax, y'all,,,I like Americans..but that IS what americans are -among other things -unfamously known for...unfortunetaly)

Woman: "See this?? This is a recoda (recorder)...i am recoding this convosation..this is a warning..ok? You cannot eat or drink insy (inside)...see? see? there are no trash cans insy..thas because it is not allow to eat or drink insy.....put in you bag"

And there I was...with my milk tea...forced to place it in my Prada bag...lol...lesson learned guys..every single rule you see on a sign here is strictly followed.

I had to take a picture of this. A colleague of mine is a bit superstitious,,she says that one should not put ones bag on the floor, cause that means that you'll lose money..or something like that.,,so she bought this little hanger for her bag =)

Remember the elevators I was talking about in one of my last posts? WEll,,,I counted them...there are 16 elevators...Can you see me running from one to the other to find out which Im supposed to take? lol.....

i THINK...I DONt know, guys,,but I THINK eye contact is dangerous over here. It must be, right? cause why would they otherwise be glued to their phones like this every morning ? :P. This is about 0920am..so, imagine the peak hours (20 minutes earlier)...multiply the amount of people by about 5, and then imagine how surreal it is,,,,its like walking among robots...we all march to our destination..one station to the other...the pace is kinda slow, cause there are so many people...and addition to walking slow, people are multi-tasking by walking and texting/emailing.

The funny thing over here is that people bring their Ipads to the mrt to entertain themselves...if they were checking FB or email, it would feel more,,,i dunno normal, or appropriate. But, Ive often seen men in suits - around 40-50 yrs old - with their fancy PC bag, and an ipad on their lap..playing bejewled...No shame...Bejewled, guys...thats how they roll...lol!

The entrance to my apartment building.

I stood in the store for about 10 minutes trying to decide on the perfect insect killer...Gotta be honest, Ive never had sucha wide variety of insect killers in front of me before. My apartment is squeeky clean, and there are no cracks, or holes I could imagine insects coming from...but....juuuuust to be on the safe side, Im buying a bottle of this..