Orchard and the crowd - I felt like a tourist though.

I woke up on a Saturday late in the morning as it was 9:30 AM. This past few days, I would normally get up from bed at 6AM. My Indonesian mate and I just went to the hotel cafe to again savor the free breakfast. After breakfast we went up to our room at the 5th floor. I did my own personal time by browsing the web, checking my gmail and yahoomail, while I listen to music along with it.

At around 1PM the free internet connection that we have in the hotel got disconnected. We just prepared and decided to go to POSB. There's a branch at Ngee Ann City, so we went there and found the bank at the 4th floor of the building. We need to open a bank account for our salary. Here in Singapore, you can use any bank of your choice for your payroll. I was amazed at how fast things were processed. It took me 20 minutes to open the savings account with passbook and ATM card readily available. Well the bad thing is they require 500 SG dollars for the initial deposit amount which was quite a sum.

Olga sent an MMS to me saying that she's coming to Orchard to have our keys duplicated. So we decided to meet her at Lucky Plaza as that's the only place where we can have our keys done. When Olga arrived, she had to call and text me at the same time and I did the same because Orchard was filled with lots of people doing shopping and excursions. I found Olga at the engorge of the building and so we just got inside and looked for the building directory. We couldn't find one so we went to customer service. The staff guy who looked diligently answered our queries. He even pointed out what unit in what floor and which way of the building. He seemed to have memorized the building's blue print.

We arrived at the stall of the key maker and Olga did her transactions. The key for the main door was not duplicated because the key maker did not have that type of key, but the side door's key were good to go. I paid Olga 2.80 SG$ for the key. We felt a little hungry because obviously I did not have my lunch. We went to the building's food court and took our picks for lunch.

After lunch we decided to do window shopping. We walked and walked around Orchard which sent my feet in pain and so we stopped by at Singapore Tourist's Center and had an electronic foot massage. It was soothing. We then decided to just walk around. The three of us bought ice cream bars. There just huge crowd and so we decided to just go window shopping. When Orchard got dark, we thought of stopping by at the street shows. We first stopped at the contortionists show. There were two girls there bending and showing their flexible bodies in dark leotard suits. After that we passed by at a children's choir, then at the Korean community doing some of their cultural show. There was an Indonesian community as well. We also passed by at the pantomime area where the crowd was endless at taking pictures with the animate character. We then stopped at the Filipino community. We spent a total of 3o minutes their watching them sing native songs and some dance performance. The crowd were a mix but you can see that there were other Filipinos aside from us. You would also notice them visibly because after the performance they would clap their hands terribly and scream (is it a sign of narcissism or just pure or total admiration of the performance). For me it was just an ordinary performance. I enjoyed it and also cheered through clapping but not scream. I even asked my self in English candidly and the guy beside me must have overheard and replied that it was just an extreme appreciation of the performance. I just shut myself up and enjoy the performance while laughing at the back of my mind. Another thing caught my attention was when I looked behind me, I saw some member of the Korean Community watching the show which was a little funny for me. I told Olga and we were just slightly laughing. I mean why would they be there instead of attending their own show? Or maybe their show or performances was finished....

After watching three performances, we accompanied Olga to the bus stop bound for Ghim Moh, where my future address be.

Medical Checkup and Chinese 101

Last thursday, I had to wake up early because I need to go back to Boonlay for the medical check up. I woke up at 6AM and I was terribly sleepy. I had no choice. The room was really cold. I am not used to airconditioned rooms so that is why it felt chilly. I got up from bed and grabbed my undies and towel. I went to the shower. Good thing it was a hot and cold shower so I took the hot shower obviously and it has helped. My hotel mate was still asleep and so I had to call his name telling him that his next.

I immediately took my polo shirt and iron it. After I changed what I worn, and after my Indonesian hotel mate was read, headed at the cafe for our breakfast. The meal was as usual good. After the meal which took us 15 minutes, we went back to our room to prepare for the office.

We usually take a train / MRT at Somerset and alight at an interchage going to Bouna Vista where our office is. We arrived at Bouna Vista after approximately 3o minutes of travel, and went to ride a bus at the other side of the station going to the office. We arrived at the office around 8AM. It was really early and the office was really quiet. I was assigned to read the specifications and the technical documents of the project so it was kind of boring. I was waiting for my team lead and our manager to ask for permission regarding my second medical evaluation. I thought that my hypertension has normalized and there I was back on the old track. Anyway my team lead was not around and so when my manager arrived in our office I hurriedly went to him and asked for permission which he gladly approved. I just composed an email and sent to my team lead regarding my itinerary. I waited outside and it felt that the bus was not coming so I decided to take a cab. Too bad he did not turn on the meter and he told me that the taxi charge was 3.80 SG dollars. Anyway, I did not have any choice so I just paid him. I went to the train station knowing that I only have 30 minutes as I was scheduled for 10AM to see Dr. Ang. I needed to relax as I felt tense that I will be late. Good thing, I arrived at Boonly CeterPoint just in time. I went to the reception and the queue was already long. So it felt like forever. I waited for almost an hour just to get my turn. Well the doctor checked my blood pressure and it is now normal. She actually gave me a medicine to take. I guess I don't have any choice so I decided to take the medicine and it's going to be forever.

It was already late so I need to take my lunch. I had fish and a vegetable with rice for 3.80 SG dollars. Not that expensive compared to the meals in Orchard. The problem was I spoke to the servant in English and she would reply to me in Chinese. I did not get what she told me but I just said yes. The words which I only understood from her was when she told me about my bill. Anyway she gave me what I wanted so it did not really matter but at the back of my mind I was really confused and laughing.

Haven't I told you that I am a little stupid at directions. For example I would get lost easily as to where is my left or right or my north and south etc. Wahahaha. I'd get paranoid! Well when I got to the train again bound for Bouna Vista, I honestly dont know where to ride or which train. So I asked the train staff and the train headed for Buona Vista was just infront of me. Wahahaha. So there I took the ride and reached the office on time. I even met Olga at the bus because she also went out from the office to open a bank account at POSB. We arrived on time and we proceeded to our own cubes and I continued reading the manual / specifications which would send me to sleepy mode.