Lay of the Land

Spent the first week of our time in Singapore getting a feel for the place.   We stayed at the Elizabeth Hotel in the Orchard Rd. shopping district.  What an exciting place!  Talk about Bright Lights, Big City!  We were all a little wide-eyed, but nobody more than Haylee. But, she was certainly not intimidated by it. Quite the contrary. She easily adjusted to the crowds and chaos( a very orderly k-os, I might add).

One down side was getting over the jet lag.  Our internal clocks were messed up royally...sleeping when we should be awake and vice-versa.  However, three days later and we had finally adjusted.

Other preoccupations of the first week included some workplace orientation stuff, some sightseeing and the rather daunting task of finding an apartment ( I'll tell you more about that later).

The sightseeing was great.  I've got to take my hat off to the Canadian International School and in particular, Charla Marshall,  who did such a great job of welcoming us to town.  We truly felt like we were visiting dignitaries. It was an enjoyable start to our stay here and helped to distract us from any apprehension we may have had about starting a new job. 

Haylee with the McDonald's
Tracy, Clancy & Maizy

Some of the highlights of our sightseeing included:  a double-decker bus tour of the city, a bumboat river cruise and a couple of great parties :  one at a place called Glutton's Bay and another at in an area called Dempsey Hill...free food, free drinks and a chance to get to know our co-workers.  





Let the adventure begin!



Are we there yet?

are we there yet?

So, you want to go to Singapore?   It's not as easy as it sounds.
Let me tell you about a trip.

Saturday, July 31st - we wake up in Saint John, New Brunswick and begin packing the van (thanks Judy!)

11:00 a.m. - after a great sendoff and a few tears we begin the first leg of our journey.  Destination Halifax.

Taipei

3:00 p.m. - we arrive in Halifax and say tearful goodbye to Charlie and Ruth.  We arrived a little early for our flight so that Charlie and Ruth could get back home in the daylight.

8:00 p.m. - we leave for Toronto.  2 hours later we touch down in Toronto

1:00 a.m. - we leave Toronto on a 15 hour non-stop flight to Taipei, Taiwan.  You heard me right.  15 hours! Try sitting in coach for that long! 

Taipei

We arrived in Taipei at about 4:00 a.m. Taipei time and had a 3 hour layover before our flight to Singapore.

10:00 a.m. - after a 30 minute delay on the tarmac, we finally departed for Singapore and arrived art 1:00 p.m. Singapore time.

Talk about an epic journey.  Total Length of the flight = 31 hours

You add in our transportation time to Halifax and our wait time there and the trip was closer to 40 hours.

Singapore Airport

Do you think we we're happy to arrive ?  You betcha !

Singapore at last !!

Where to begin ?

Where to begin ? As in every story, the beginning seems a good spot. But where is it ?

It's difficult to pinpoint when our family made the decision to rid ourselves of our worldly possessions and to travel half way around the world to start a new life in Singapore. I'd say the idea first got its wings in October 2009, when we started investigating overseas teaching opportunities in Europe. That investigation led us to the Overseas Teacher Recruitment Fair at Queen's University in Kingston. Ontario in February, 2010. It was there that we were hired by Dr. Glen Odland of the Canadian International School of Singapore and the direction of our lives took a dramatic change. So why the change ? We could have easily continued to live our very comfortable and predictable lives in St. Thomas, Ontario but our adventurous spirit was calling us and we felt that there was no time like the present to explore the world.

Please check in every once in a while and be prepared to laugh and quite possibly be perplexed at our stories and experiences during our time in South-East Asia.