Chili Express Pt 4

Hello all, sorry to be gone for so long.  Went home to go on a trip with Amber to St Thomas, then back here and three weeks later, Amber and pups came out. 

This is going to a quick overview of what has been going on in the past couple months.  I am sure wifey will start to post now too.

Trip: It was great.  I realised that I really hadn't stopped working aside from about 5 or 6 days, including weekends.  It was good to see all that came out to the dinner that Amber had for me. Sorry for the zombiesh behaviour, I was out of it.  It took me another three days before I was somewhat human again. 

Amber was great, although she wasn't showing, really... which irritated me, so I pumped her full of food, until she was.  This slightly backfired, as I also gained about 10 pounds.

The second I got back, my so called star employee was found to "allegedly" be taking kickbacks.  He was removed, and it was not fun.  It also appeared that he was trying to creator my organisation by screwing up lots and lots of orders and relationships.  To this day, I am still cleaning up his mess.  Poor Amber came out right in the middle of all this and has had to deal with me having to work extra hard to stay afloat.

Pups made it out about 2 days before Amber.  They looked jet lagged, all dishevelled, and dirty.  The quarantine itself wasn't bad at all.  They had a nice room, that basically had a patio.  It was small but so are they.  There were also fairly large dog runs for them to walk around in.  Although they had a shelf life of about 5 minutes before the humidity and heat got to them and they look like lttle furry smears.  We thought Zen would be the bad one but it was Lola that was the one who didn't take it so well. 

Amber got here and cratered as well.  She had been going so hard for weeks before she left, that once she stopped her body freaked out.  The exhaustion, the jet lag and the pregnancy got to her and all hit her at once.  She got sick in about half a day and stayed that way for about two weeks.  The first week, we were staying my boss's apartment, because I was living like the unibomber... just not in the woods, with running water, and I didn't have any ill intent towards anyone.  It was just me an air mattress, two plates, two bowels (although one was sequestered for duty as a change bowl), out door furniture used as living room furniture and a borrowed TV. 

After our shipment was delayed for the third time, we stole one of my boss's spare beds.  We were tired of waking up in a heap of bodies in the middle of the concave air mattress... dogs included.  The shipment should be here today and in our house next Thursday.  Pray for us...

Pictures...

 This what we looked like in the quarantine.  This became part of the routine... Right before we would leave they both would go to sleep in our laps.  And rest assured they are out cold

Now this is what dinner time looks like in our house.  Amber is eating our our outdoor table that still has the paper on the glass top.  Lola is sitting/begging on the foot rest for one of the chairs that you can see in the back ground.

This is all the luggage that my 5 month pregnant wife came over with.  There are 4 there.  It cost $400 dollars in excess baggage fees.

Amber is doing well.  She is speed dating.  She has more dates with woman out her per day than the bachelorette.  Only she is not fake marrying anyone.  The other half of the equation is generally pregnant woman looking to do the same thing.  They test each other out a couple of times then bring the husbands in together to see how we mesh.  When in all reality, all we do is eat and drink and compare war stories of being out here.  Most of them are good.  We are just happy that the girls get along, we are easy.

That is all for now.  There will be more posting now.  We are starting to get more settled.  We have the magicjack set up... number is 713 219 9350

Later all.

Chili Express Pt 3

A few of you have asked where the title Chili Express comes from.  Well a good friend, Mr. Mark Jacobs and his wife, lived in Hawaii for a while.  When he would send updates, they were called the Coconut Telegraph.  I took it and changed it to fit where we are.  There are chili's in everything out here, and the express is a play on the pony express.  There you have it.

I am sure most of you know it is a boy. Jackson Marshall Hamby.  Jackson is a family name on my side.  Marshall is my middle name and was my granddaddy's name.  He was a great man. 

Amber is good... mostly.  She has been very very busy getting everything wrapped up at home.  What I though was going to be a cake walk for her is anything but.  I could have never have fathomed all the hundreds of little things that need to be taken care of.  Most if not all has fallen on her as there is almost nothing I can do from 10,000 miles away.  Although I help where I can.  She has been awesome about it.  Thanks babe.

As far as the pregnancy, she has been good.  No sickness, no cravings yet (I am looking forward to these), she is just tired.  She has a pain on her side when she wakes up in the morning probably due to Jackson being restless like his daddy and jumping on her ribs, that's my professional opinion anyway.  Can't wait to have her and the dogs out here with me.  Not long now.

Movers come tomorrow.  It should take anywhere from 6 to 8 weeks to get our stuff out here.  The dogs leave a day or so before Amber.  I am almost positive that it is easier would be easier to import anything into this country than as compared to what we have had to do to get the dogs over here.  I'd be willing to bet it is cheaper too.  A good portion of my day revolves around the logistics of getting goods in the boarder here in Singapore.  I know that I can get a 5,000 lbs of goods air freighted in exponentially faster than I can a dog.  Little bastards.

Work is fine out here.  I still work a lot because Amber is not here to regulate me.  And... when I have nothing else to do, I work.  It keeps me out of trouble and its cheap.  I also need to log in a ton of hours so that I get a handle on this new position. 

I leave for Thailand on Sunday for business.  I get back on Friday afternoon, only to turn around, repack and get ready for another flight at 2:00am on Saturday.  That one is totally worth it though.  I am coming home to meet up with Amber to go to St Thomas for the week.  I can't wait.  Its going to be awesome.  Looking forward to the rest.  I think there have only been about four days total that I haven't worked since I have been out here. 

That's all I can think of for the time being.  Hope all is well stateside.  Miss you guys.

On Funny pt 1

There are minor translation glitches out here that can cause some double takes.  English is the most spoken language out here, but for many it is not their first language, so a few misses sneak through.  Most of the time they are on tee shirts worn by locals, (I haven't started taking pictures of those yet).  Then some are signs.

And why would you.  Evidently Singaporean parrots are carnivorous.  Come to think of it... I think they all are. This picture is of a little area around a bunch of restaurants.  There are somewhere around 12 to 15 LARGE parrots of all types.  I laughed.  I was the only one doing so


Some signs are just funny, and most likely meant to be funny. 

I doubt that this company was started as the Jewish version of the Underground Railroad in the 30's and early 40's.  Just a hunch.  I am guessing this a company started by an Expat with a sense of humour.  I have seen this sign in more than one elevator.  Makes me laugh every time.

And then there are things that you stumble on.  Out here almost everything is in a mall.  Most malls are themed... Seriously.  There are tech centered ones, sports malls, malls for Expats, malls just for kids etc...  Stumbled on this little gem in the middle of one of the malls.  I wish I would have gotten more video.  It was awesome.

I'd be willing to bet there will be more posts like this.  If you don't laugh out here, you will get frustrated very quickly.  Unfortunately, most of the laughing that you do out here is at the expense of someone else.  I'm ok with it.

On Traveling

There are many things that you have to remember when living abroad.  Patience is the first and most important.  A sense of humour really helps with the first and is equally important.  Another is that you have to realise that what used to be a norm are now not and what used to be unheard of are now normal and acceptable.

So far, in my experiences, the Chinese have presented a fair share of breaks in my norm.  Lets start with personal space.  I give you exhibit A:

On first look, two woman sitting in one chair (as the one in orange and blue are) isn't really out of the norm.  What you don't see is that mere moments before this picture was snapped, I was in that chair.  They were not.  But what was there is that woman in orange's purse...  there just over her right shoulder.  When I was sitting there, it was also over my right shoulder.  They weren't sitting there when I was, but they were standing.  And boy were they close.  They were almost leaning on me.  Note: this is not a crowded space.  The is a cavernous terminal in the Bangkok airport, which is a fairly large airport.  I got tired of it and got up, got to laughing and took that picture.

The Chinese are an adventurous bunch.  They travel, and when they do, it is in a group.  When they are in a group, they resemble, to me, a group of pre-schoolers:

All the people in the red hats are apart of a group.  There is a handler or two barking out orders, then the group is barking out communication amongst itself (there will be a post on this soon).  They all have sacks full of toiletries that they bought at the duty free (I haven't figured this one out yet).  There must have been at least 30 of them, and much like pre-schoolers, while moving they are full of energy, but once they get stationary, its lights out.  I don't know what it is, but with Asians, they can sleep on anything that resemble public transportation.  Most of the group was snoring before take off.

There is some grade A people watching while travelling in SE Asia.  I give you this:

It is true that a picture is worth a thousand words, because I am left with but four... best comb over ever. 

More "On" postes later.  I will post a proper update within a couple days.

Later

On St Patty's Day in Singapore

No there isn't a more interesting place to be on St Patty's Day but in Singapore.  It is the only place that one can have a beer with the sect of people who celebrate the Irish tradition the most, the Americans.  All joking aide... Americans are really the only nationality that celebrate the day as a national holiday.  Another group that you will find out and about on this day (night and into the next day) are the Australians but all they need is a reason.  And with most of the Aussies, when a reason to drink a beer is involved... well... give them an inch and they'll take a mile.  The Irish do party and drink but its because they would do that anyway.  They look at everyone else and laugh. 

We were told, several times, that everyone else takes it more seriously than the Irish do.  In fact, they don't even wear green. They wear blue. 

To follow suit, the next day there was a parade.  St Patty was an Indian man in a turban.  I don't have a picture.  But I do have this.  I just kept thinking about a skittles commercial.  Finished the day with a wonderful Thai dinner... I thought it fitting.

Quickie

As I am sure most of know Amber's pregnant.  For those of you who don't know... Amber is pregnant... Surprise.  I couldn't remember if her dad new if her dad knew, otherwise I would have put this on the other post.  She is doing great, but she is very tired.  She said hunger is an interesting thing for her now.  She has the initial twinge of hunger, then immediately goes right to starving.  Once the little alien growing in her starts to look more like a baby and less like a tadpole we will post the occasional ultrasound.  I am ready to have her over her.  Its been hard to be with out her for so long.  I really miss her.

More later...

Chili Express pt 2

I am offically a blogger.  How stupid.  But this is easier than sending an email everytime.  I promise  I am not going to start hanging out in coffee shops while I post, wearing flannel shirts and skinny jeans.  Can't stand it.  Anyhow...
What is going on now...

Work is something else.  Very long hours mainly spent learning as much as I can.  Actually, that is not totally true.  I spend a good deal of time reading emails.  During a normal work day I receive around 100 to 140.  That's just from 8-5.  Since we are on a 13 hour time difference of our home office, There are many more emails outside of that time frame.  I haven't counted, I don't want to know. 

I have been interviewing folks to fill two spots I have open.  For those who have interviewed in the states, doing it over here is a trip.  Questions are asked that would never be asked in the states.  Questions about age, race, religion, and family history are very directly asked in the interview.  I almost fell out of my chair when the person next to me started asking said questions on the first interview I was in.  I couldn't even begin to wonder what the interviewee was thinking when my jaw hit the table.  I am sure they thought I was experiencing some medical condition or that I had a tick. 

There is a bit of push here in Singapore to push more locals in positions that expats normally hold.  There are always whispers of why are expats even needed over here.  Well there is an answer.  Now, my caveat to this statement is that it is a vast generalization... The reason is that it is very very hard to find a Singaporean that will have the ability to think outside the box.  They are amazing at tasks, but being put in a situation where there is no written guidelines and they will almost shut down.  For example.  In one of the interviews I was trying to get one of the interviewsees to acknowledge that overtime was acceptable by talking in hypothetical situations.  I used an example of getting a quote late in the day that would take a couple hours to complete and would need to be ready and turned into the customer the next day.  I was trying to get her to say that she would stay after closing time and finish it.  I asked it four different ways.  First very broadly then very directly.  She finally said that she would tell the customer it wasn't possible.  I was amazed and ended it there.  There are diamonds in the rough but they very rare. 

But over all work is very good.  I am really enjoying it.

We have keys to our new apartment, but I am still in the service apartment.  I don't have any furniture and I don't want the police called on me for being mistaken for a squatter.  I will get the necessities and move in soon.  An air mattress, a couple pots, plastic ware, a chair and a TV.  Though, I am sure it will still look like a crack house. I have attached pictures.  Workers not included.

This is standing in the middle of the covered section of the porch.

The pool is just off to the right. There is a gate just to the right and behind where I am standing that leads to a street that goes up to a national park that has a great look out area.

View as you come in the front door.  You can just make out the door to the kitchen on the left.

The kitchen.  He doesn't come with it.  Just to the right of him is another room that has the washer/dryer, dishwasher, and oven.  The helper's quarters are in there too.

One of the guest rooms.  The other is right next to it and exactly the same.

Master bedroom.  One of the lamp shade looking fixtures is now a fan.  Every room has a the window you see here with a great bench area.

Master bath.  There is a small whirlpool style tub and a walk in shower

Guest bathroom.  Hes not included.

These pictures were taken a couple weeks ago.  I did go there today to walk around the area to see what was close.  Walking the long way, a 15 minute walk puts you in Harbourfront, which has Vivocity, an MRT station (subway), and the gateway to Sentosa.  More on Sentosa later when I go at some point.  Vivocity is a mall, there are a million malls.  Seriously... there are probably well over 20 malls in Singapore.  Vivocity is one of the largest.  In fact, it is one of the bigger I have ever seen.  It makes the Galleria look like a Walmart.  I was there for well over an hour and only made it through about half.

Not a very good picture.  I was trying to capture how far this area went back.  From where I am standing it is well over 150 yards back.  This is just one area and there are three floors.

Also a terrible picture.  This is on the third floor of the mall.  In the background there is a cable car that goes to Sentosa.  That water in the middle is about 2 feet deep where lots of people were walking in the water and several kids playing it.

There are two little girls running through the water here.

Very interesting place.  It took me 20 minutes just to get out.  There are dozens of restaurants and a movie theater.  Great place.  Taking the short way home walking took me about 7 minutes.

Signing off for now.  Next post will be about St Patty's day in Singapore last weekend.  What a trip.

I will be in Bangkok this week for business this coming week.  More later...