You are almost a Singaporean when

1. New words have entrenched themselves in your everyday vocabulary: queue, car park, lift, capsicum, petrol, carrier, lah!
2. You find escalators in other countries are too slow
3. You are no longer annoyed by the slow, meandering pace of Singaporeans on Orchard Road
4. Can actually understand Singaporean English over the phone
5. Construction noise is the usual background noise
6. You don’t expect a Singaporean to let you merge into traffic
7. You don’t expect a Singaporean taxi driver to stay in his lane
8. You take it for granted that your luggage beats you to baggage claim
9. You feel safe walking through the streets of Singapore at midnight
10. You think a $5000 per month one-bedroom flat is a bargain
11. You learn how to cool down your red wine by briefly swirling an ice cube
12. You aren’t surprised by footprints on the toilet seat
13. You no longer wonder how teenagers can afford to shop on Orchard Road
14. You believe everything that is printed in the Straits Times
15. You find the autocratic government runs the country better than most democratic governments
16. You can detect a difference between 31 and 29 degrees C
17. You expect to get your medical test results back within 24 hours
18. You realize the United States is not the center of the world
    
19. You make friends that are non-Western
20. You aren’t insulted by buying XL size clothing

David is getting married!!

David and his girlfriend, Krista, visited Asia for four weeks in April. They spent a day with us in Singapore before heading off to Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. One particularly romantic evening in Koh Samui, David popped the question and Krista said yes – so now we have a wedding to look forward to.

But even more importantly, we are looking forward to having Krista as our daughter-in-law. She is beautiful, smart and funny. They make a good couple and we hope they have a lifetime of happiness.

The wedding is August 30^th and will take place in Grand Rapids, MI.

Please come inside my shop, I have many colors…

Gerhard and I spent six days in Hoi An, Vietnam, located about 18 miles south of Danang. Miraculously, the town escaped damage during the Vietnam War and its French-influenced architecture is charming. We stayed at the Ha An Hotel, which ended up being perfect. You never know what you will get when you book over the internet!

Every day, we took our bicycles and rode out to Cua Dai, where the unspoiled beach stretches over 30 km. The water was very clean and gentle waves made swimming delightful.

The rest of the day we spent at various tailor shops for our fittings! We totally got sucked into it. It started very innocuously; Gerhard had a tuxedo made and I had a dress, some slacks and a blouse. Then a dress. Then another dress and blouse. Then a jacket, another jacket, pants, - oh, and make me a skirt to match the jacket!! The next day, since the skirt fit so well, I had another skirt to match the other jacket. Gerhard didn’t hold back, either. He ended up with three jackets, one pair of shorts and some trousers. It was so much fun!

The weather was hotter than in Singapore. We were drenched in sweat most of the time. The tailoring shops didn’t have air conditioning, just fans, so the fittings were torture. One place always gave us cold wipes before we got started. There was no wind, so the heat was almost unbearable.

How we spent easter…

We spent Easter in Bintan, Indonesia, with two other couples. Gerhard has been urging me to go for over a year, but I was put off by the ferry ride. It’s only one hour, but being seasick just doesn’t appeal to me. Luckily, I let myself get talked into it because it was the most beautiful place and the beach was nicer than many in SE Asia.

After taking the 10:00 am ferry, we arrived in Bintan and were whisked away by staff from Ria Bintan Golf Club and taken to the course, where we had a 12:30 pm tee time.

Not only was the golf course breathtaking, I had my best score on the front nine. The boys played again on Saturday while the girls put in some beach time.

New Assignment!

Gerhard has officially accepted his next assignment and we will be moving to Wiesbaden, Germany, at the end of July. We are very excited to have this opportunity, especially since it will have been exactly 25 years that he left Germany for the United States!

His new job will not be project related. He will be the Regional Engineering Manager for Europe, based in Wiesbaden. It will involve more travel than he has done in the past two years as he will have to visit the European affiliates to help with their engineering needs.

We expect to be in Germany for at least three years or until Abbott has other plans for us.

View from the JW Marriott, 59th Floor

S H A N G H A I

With the expiration date of my Chinese visa looming, we decided to visit Shanghai at probably the worst time of year. But at least there weren’t too many tourists getting in our way! Shanghai was crippled by a one inch ‘snowstorm’, there were transportation delays, and lots of coverage on the news. Luckily, it didn’t impact us at all and being from the Midwest, we weren’t strangers to winter weather.

Many of the fake markets have been closed down, especially the ‘big one’ that Gerhard always raved about when he returned from a business trip. We did find several others, not as big, but still as fake! I was able to buy pearls, got a couple of ‘Prada’ bags, a stamp with ‘Kremer’ in Chinese, some knock-off tops; Gerhard scored big, too. He loves haggling with the young Chinese salesgirls. They look close to tears when they give in; but once the money changes hands, they are all smiles and try to sell him something else. He loves it!

We took the high speed train (Mag Lev) from the airport to the city. It got up to 430 km per hour but you couldn’t really tell the ride was so smooth. It only takes 8 minutes compared to 50 minutes by taxi.

Can you see the '429km'?

Taxis were cheap and plentiful. They all have meters, so you are assured of not getting ripped off. Each time we took off, a recording came on to ‘please fasten our safety belts’. Well, out of 20 taxis, 20 didn’t have seat belts. There were some funny rules posted inside the cab, too: Passengers are not allowed to carry with them contraband goods, to smoke, spit or to dump inside taxis. (uh, dump?) But overall, they were very good drivers and courteous to other motorists. In Singapore, the cab drivers are worse.

How We Spent our Christmas Vacation

Zakary, Jereme, David & Niklas
Last year, I was in the States from Thanksgiving until the middle of January. I ended up missing many of the Christmas celebrations and decided to stay in Singapore most of December. I’m really happy I did as it is our last year in Singapore.

We arrived at my parents’ house late on the Saturday before Christmas. Mom had planned her annual Christmas sing-a-long for Sunday, so we could be there. The weather was great all week so that we, especially Gerhard, played quite a bit of golf. The following weekend, our Julia arrived with her boyfriend, Carey. My siblings also arrived on Saturday and we moved into our beach bungalows on Siesta Key. We never grow tired of the pristine white beach; it’s like walking on cool, powdered sugar - seriously. David and his girlfriend, Krista, arrived on New Year’s Eve and unfortunately, the weather turned unseasonably cold. It was in the 30s overnight – brrrr. But the kids didn’t mind too much. It was wonderful to have the whole family around all week.

Doesn't my mom look great?

My mom turned 80 in January and had her big birthday bash on January 4 so we could all attend. It was a wonderful party.

Barb & her wonderful family

Krista, Julia & Carey

Kota Kinabalu

Intrigued by the cool-sounding name, we set off for a few days of fun in Kota Kinabalu, located in the northwestern part of the island of Borneo. We were not disappointed, KK was totally cool.

Our flight over was interesting; we had to divert to Labuan, a small island south of Kota Kinabalu, and wait for a heavy rainstorm to pass through KK and landed two hours behind schedule. Luckily, the next days were warm, partly sunny with heavy rain while we were sleeping.

We stayed at the Shangri La’s Tanjung Aru Resort just outside the city center. The first day, Gerhard left early to go scuba diving. He did two dives in the morning, we met up for lunch at the pool, and he did his third dive after lunch.

I went into the city and poked around, booked a massage, and we met in town for dinner at Bella Italia. I only mention the name because they had the best tiramisu I have ever eaten!

Our last day was spent around the beautiful resort, swimming in the ocean and enjoying the view.

We really didn’t have time to explore the other attractions: Tunku Abdul Rahman Park, which is made up of five islands with frequent ferry service to and between the islands; Mt Kinabalu, the highest mountain in Southeast Asia at over 4,000 m; Poring Hot Springs; caves and Orang-utans… Our bags are packed!

Happy Hour at the Sunset Bar!

September Hong Kong Jewellery & Watch Fair

View from the Convention Centre
The Hong Kong Gem Fair in September is the largest fair of its kind in the whole world. My friends and I just spent four days in Hong Kong attending the fair and having an all-around great time.

The fair is held in two locations: the main fair is at the Hong Kong Convention Centre and a second fair is out at the airport at the new Asia World Expo. Apart from the amazing gemstones and pearls, the organization of the fair was impressive. There were free shuttles to and from hotels, train stations and the remote airport location; full time toilet attendants cleaning and stocking paper towels and toilet paper; information booths for the fair, information booths for the city of Hong Kong; security up the ying-yang; kiosks with food and full service restaurants; ATM machines and even a foreign currency exchange booth.

Carmen M and I with Ken, our favorite pearl vendor
The fair is really geared towards wholesale/retail and not really for ‘designers’. Luckily, we were three, so we split bunches of pearls and strands of gemstones, but we didn’t buy enough to have any bargaining power. Surprisingly, there was little silver/components for sale. Here and there, an Indian vendor offered some brushed vermeil and silver alongside the gemstones. We had hoped to find some Bali vendors, but only one booth was selling Bali pendants and they were located in a special hall by country. We did get their business cards and an offer to look them up next time we are in Bali as they also produce silver beads.

We were in gemstone/pearl overload, spending at least six hours each day at the convention. On Saturday after breakfast, we headed over to Sham Shui Po, an area of Kowloon where you can find gemstone vendors. We did quite well there; the prices were good and the quality adequate for our needs.

We made a pact to try and attend the Hong Kong Gem Fair each year, no matter what part of the world we are living in!

Can you believe all these pearls?!

Homesick for Chicago

Yesterday afternoon, I caught a segment on the Travel & Living Channel featuring one of my favorite Chicago restaurants: Chicago Pizza and Ovengrinder at 2121 N Clark. They talked about the pizza pot pies, the ovengrinders, the wonderful sweet-sour poppy seed dressing, and the delicious Mediterranean bread. It would be worth a 24 hour journey just to swing by and have a meal...

Last night, we were invited to another Chicago institution: Morton's Steakhouse. Years ago, I had eaten at the original Morton's and remember the gigantic, mouthwatering steaks as well as incredible side dishes and desserts. We weren't disappointed in Singapore, either. A friend of mine went to Morton's here and dropped $800 for a party of three, so it's really a special occasion or business dinner place.

SURROUNDED BY CONSTRUCTION

Construction Site Off Back Porch

Construction Site in Front
Life in Singapore includes construction, construction and even more construction! Buildings less than 10 years old are being torn down so that twice the amount of condos can be built on the same site. We moved into our apartment knowing that construction had begun next to us. One day last fall, I walked into the kitchen and saw that the giant ficus tree off the back porch was being cut down! Now we are surrounded by construction. Today there was remodeling noises coming from the unit above us. I will probably develop hearing problems from cranking up the TV and my Ipod!