Spreading a great P&G commercial... =)

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..  

I walk pass "the Chinese association" everyday...and often wonder what goes on inside...a shady building, and in front - some shiny cars...

Some pics of the Google office over here

Makeup for ....your boyfriend?:-/

Stuff like this baffles me...went in to a Japanese makeup store, and there were only pics of these guys..no girls. Im confused..who's the target market here? And why are the guys wearing girls' accessories?...

Ive always considered the Swedish guys a bit metro sexual..but kudos to them for knowing the line between ' taking well care of their appearance' and becoming feminine.

ZzzZzz

I'm looking forward to go home...although I don't really feel like a have a proper home in Singapore yet. Crossing my fingers that the money will be transferred to the landlord by the time I'm back in Singapore on Wednesday night, and that I can settle in soon. Although it's been nice to be able to go to Manila,,I gotta say, I haven't been able to see much other than what I get to see in between the cab rides from the hotel to the destination where the meetings are.

This evening we had drinks with an agency, and all I could think about was a shower and a nice and fluffy pillow to rest my head on. It's been such a long day....there's so much to say, I don't even know where to start. But, the emerging markets is definitely interesting to work with. The issues that come up, the manner of doing business...the need for a relationship..and the fact that they actually hand out their business card with two hands...it's like taken out of a text book about international business.

Every where I've gone, I've been recognized as "a local". People keep speaking Tagalog to me here, and then look at me while waiting for a reply...maybe it's the bit of the tan I got from our weekend in Borocay. While the other girls were hiding from the heat and sun, I was out grilling my pale-yellow-ish body, desperately trying to get what I perceive to be a "healthy glow"....they'll be no "healthy white" here people, lol =P

Tired. Another day of attending meetings with the other guys tomorrow. Less intense than today,,or at least that's how the schedule looks for now; )

Some pics from Borocay

Green belt 4, Makati - Manila 

Nite party people!

No Longer Homeless

So,,, after befriending the agent, I've managed to find a completely new apartment to a very good price. ..Good in Singaporean terms, that is. The real estate market is ridiculously expensive. The demand is high..so high, that the government has recently added rules stating that foreigners who wishes to buy real estate must pay way much more tax (cant remember how much) than what they had to a year, or two ago.

Anyhow..when I say that I've befriended the agent..I really have. I'm supposed to check out of the hotel that I'm staying at on Saturday, but since we're going on a business trip to Manila tomorrow, I have to check out tomorrow morning. We won't be back until next wednesday, and my flight lands around midnight...which means that I would have to book into a hotel when I'm back in SG (The apartment I signed a contract to  apartment is unfurnished -no bed). However, the agent - whose name is Irene- took me to IKEA after I signed the contract. I bought what I needed, and she helped me get a bed (not from IKEA) for a good price. So, by the time I'm back from the Philippines, everything should be in order...*crossing my fingers*

IKEA sells chopsticks...

I took Irene out for dinner after the IKEA trip.,,or, technically, she took us..as she was the one driving. We went somewhere along the eastside by the beach, and ate delicious and spicy food..ahh,,so good! =)

Stuff I ate yesterday =P Hello fruitylicious stuff!!

Google Singapore shares a building with Citibank. In fact, only two of the floors belong to Google. The elevators are so high tech, it's annoying. First you have to scan your badge to get to the elevators..then you scan your badge (instead of clicking on a elevator button)--then the elevator beeps, and a letter and number is shown on a screen, which indicates which elevator you need to take...I don't even remember how many elevators there are, but if "D1" pops up,,you can be sure I'm running in circles, jumping from one elevator to another to find out which elevator is D1 ....then..by the time I find D1, the doors might close (cause they're so damn quick and efficient)...and then I need to scan my badge again. You're probably thinking "why not just jump into a random one?"...You CAN'T, you see...'cause there are no buttons INSIDE the elevator...you scan your badge, and it sends you to the floor you have access to...if you want to go to another floor (which you have access to) you have to choose this from the outside BEFORE scanning your badge,,if not,,it just sends you to where you're supposed to go...luckily,,there are elevator dudes there---I call them dudes,,but they're actually nice and uniformed gentlemen whose job basically is to get you into an elevator....lol...ahh,, technology..what can I say..