high tech toilettes

so you have been hearing me rave about the heated toilette seats, but what you may not realize is that they can do much, much more. now, a picture paints a thousand words, so there you have the picture. mind you, this is your toilette seat with BASIC functionality. the enhanced version is mind boggling. i dare not attempt explanation of some of its features, but let's just say that the button with the music notes is one that is most heavily used. it doesn't play beethoven, but what is does do is play a flushing sound to masks the bodily sound made from your #1 and/or #2's. this is most popular among the modest women of tokyo. this prevents the wastefulness of real flushing. now if they can only insert a button that sprays popouri scent into the air...

so why do i talk about toilette seats? 1) to give you a break from all my food talk and 2) cuz it's simply amazing. it gets me every time and it's already been many years since i've been exposed to it. makes me want to take one home with me back to the states every time...

while i just stated that you'd get a break from my food talk, i just can't let this blog entry go by without sharing a picture of a lovely plate of delicate beef slices that were used for shabu shabu! when dunked into a stewing broth, within seconds, you have a cooked meal that melts in your mouth like butta...

onigiri

my meals throughout the day really seem to reflect the east/west culture of tokyo. started off with starbucks iced coffee and sesame bagel (with mango cream cheese) for breakfast. for lunch, we were in a bit of a rush so we grabbed onigiri, rice balls (see pix) with a side dish (egg, meatball and fried chicken). for more on onigiri, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_balls. in this case, out of a big selection of onigiri, i got the tempura one and an "herb" one which simply meant little white anchovies, seaweed and sesames mixed in with the rice - really tasty! milano mint cookies throughout the day, then a quick grab at mcdonald's for dinner (shrimp burger or tandori pita?). a second dinner at a hawaiian burger joint, but had an avocado BLT. i must say, it was the best ABLT i've ever had! the bacon was of perfect thickness and crispiness, snuggled by leafy romain lettuce, juicy slice of tomato and a thick slice of onion, semi grilled. oh and how i've missed you avocado! why a second dinner? i don't mean to live a hobbit's life, but sometimes, a girl can really work up an appetite!

by the way, did you know that you can't eat on the street in tokyo??? people don't walk and eat out on the street. it's a big cultural no-no. this pained me a great deal. you also can't eat in the cab or any other public transportation for that matter (except for the bullet train perhaps?). i find this not only disturbing and unproductive, but highly inconvenient. i like being able to eat on my way to places, for example, drinking coffee while eating a muffin coming into work, or eating a street dog and drinking a soda running errands at lunch time (no street vendors on the street so you can forget the street dog). when you stop and look around and see that no one eats or drinks while walking on the street, it feels a bit like the twilight zone. in that respect, new york fits me like a glove. i can eat and drink anywhere. wait, i take that back, in tokyo, you CAN eat at the park, but it seems that there are unspoken rules about what public areas people can eat. i think perhaps the point is that eating is a ritual, it is meant to be relished in a relaxed manner. proper sitting down is required somehow. but who's got the time??? eating on the run may be very american thing. oh the cultural gaps... you don't realize how deeply "american" you are until you are faced with, well, just how "unamerican" other people are! it's not good, it's not bad... it's just different. i will learn to chew gum instead in tokyo and remember to toss it before i head back to singapore!

kimchee never tasted so good!

sorry to make this so much about food, but in asia, it comes with the territory! the great thing about tokyo is that they have excellent korean food. while S'pore has great asian food in general, surprisingly, it doesn't have good korean restaurants - weird, eh? anyhoo, went to this great korean place for dinner in tokyo that has an excellent view of the city. been here before and the food is FANTASTIC! the fatty kalbi just melts in your mouth, and the kimchee... never tasted so good! i would have taken pictures, but that would have been too obsessive ; )

coming back to tokyo felt strangely comforting. perhaps it's because it's more familiar and i have friends here. and did i mention the heated toilette seats??? by the way, the thing you have to remember about starbucks here is that large is not large, it's grande. if you want large, you have to explicitly say venti otherwise you get a grande. tully's is another big coffee chain here, but no coffeen bean. i miss the ice blended... frap is just not the same (neese would be proud of me).

one of my favorite things to do in tokyo is go to ginza, hit the basement of the department stores for free food samples (all really good!!!). then swing over to the apple store! sounds like a perfect plan for tomorrow night, unless i get derailed for a nice shabu shabu... : )

tokyo

made it to tokyo, after two movies and a nap on the plane ride. ocean's 13... man, that george clooney gets better with age! took economy on singapore air and the service was still outstanding! overall, i would recommend economy only if you are relatively on the smaller side. my knees were crushed most of the ride over.

tokyo is more hot and humid than singapore, as if that's possible! went out for dinner with a couple of colleagues. yummy japanese tapas! i'm too full to sleep. next two weeks will be all about tokyo. strangely, i miss my new apartment already, although, i LOVE the heated toilet seats in tokyo, even in the summer!

must be 7 am sunday in LA. my skidrow buddies must be getting ready to head downtown (miss you guys!). also miss worshipping w/friends at CA, grabbing lunch and hanging out afterwards. it's almost football season which means i will also miss rushing home from church to catch the afternoon games. (hope the broncos have a winning season!) wonder what people do in singapore after church service? rush home to watch soccer or cricket? perhaps they go out for kaya toast and kopi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaya_toast. will find out soon...

views from my apartment

the day view is from my balcony, and the night view is from my room. i'm on the 20th floor so i get a pretty nice view of the city. i feel very blessed...

my big move...

well, my second big move after my move to singapore. moved into my new apartment! the movers came at 9:30 in the morning and was out by 11:15 am! while that might not sound way impressive, it included unpacking, putting things in the right place and taking all the boxes out with all the packaging stuff! the most efficient "unmove" i have ever seen! what would have taken me weeks on my own was 70% accomplished already. while organization needed to be done, first thing was first, LUNCH! part of my shipment included TWO boxes of korean ramen. had my first meal, in my new apartment, and it was what my heart craved... my ultimate comfort food! hence the picture... : )

after a couple of hours of organizing, i had a snack attack. i made myself spaghetti. opened one of FIVE large jars of ragu sauce that was shipped. a couple of more hours pass and i had to venture out. went to the local mall for a walk and had a mos burger. got some grocery as well. $15 dollars for a pack of local beer??? well, 15 Singapore dollars, but still... by the way, the milk doesn't taste the same here. it's a bit sweet, and man, those tropicana orange juice is heck a expensive! so what was my first purchase? 6 eggs, small thing of milk and local orange juice, frozen korean veggie dumplings, a pack of tiger beer, and that was about it. mind you, i have to carry these things back, no more trunk full of groceries. not to mention, i was off to tokyo the next day, so no need to stock up.

TV delivery came that night, albeit 9 pm. so what was the first thing i watched on my new TV? when harry met sally. don't ask me why, it just felt comforting somehow. utter exhaustion set in, but i had to pack for tokyo. all this packing and unpacking is gettin old, but not much i can do... *sigh.* it was nice to sleep in my own bed even for one night. i slept really well...

my first dinner party

it was perfect, my first friday night in singapore and i had an invitation to a dinner party! yes, someone in the office took pity and invited me - yippee!!

for those of you keeping track... i didn't see the cute guy again at spinelli's, but then again, i was 30 minutes earlier (bad sonae!). oh, and i should also mention, the malaysian food here is amazing! my mom may get her wish afterall... i'll gain loads of weight. and if she is really lucky, i will gain weight AND find a husband!

back to the dinner party. it was very cool. the house was this ginormous, colonial place. great appetizers and perfectly smooth red wine. the host was bbq'ing korean ribs! what the...?!? his wife was korean. ahhh... that makes sense. needless to say, dinner was excellent! not only my first dinner party, but korean meal (sort of). met lots of cool peeps and had great convos. i would share more details, but it would be mostly about the food... : )

today i finally get to move into my new apartment - wish me luck! then i'm off to tokyo tomorrow. will try to keep blogging there!

cute man sighting!

had a lil' spring in my steps coming into work this morning. could it be that i had a good quiet time, or that i had a cute man sighting?!? yes, it finally happened, after 2 days, i saw a cute guy while waiting to get my coffee at spinelli's (just downstairs from my office). he appeared to be asian, not sure which ethnicity, but cute! i think he ordered coffee, muffin and a banana. he was my height with heels (yikes, possibly shorter) so not so great on the height, but he had a good body, face and a nice voice! the question is... does he love jesus? and how do i find out? do i sneeze and see if he blesses me??? (j/k) the moment passes and he is gone, but perhaps he will be back tomorrow morning....

i had a chance to make more of an observation coming into work - learning to soak things in a lil' bit more. i noticed that most women wear a cute dress or a skirt, very few wear slacks. soon, i maybe one of those women in a cute, swirly skirts and girly sandals. NOT. the walking pace was more my speed, although i still find myself walking past most. morning traffic can be quite challenging dodging people, but it helps to be a head taller to avoid a stampede. getting use to the clicking of women's sandles in certain parts of the underground when walking down a flight of stairs at one particular location. sometimes you can smell dry fish in the underground walkway as well (not the same location). oh the sights and sounds (and scent) of singapore...

btw, the pix above is the view from my temporary office, what's even better is that you can see my new apartment from here! see the marking in red circle??? the weather is much better today. good lunch always helps the day along... yes, all you can eat indian buffet! i even got a favorite bathroom stall in the office now. life is chugging right along...

first day in the office...

strange suspicion that i will have lots of "first" everything in singapore... : )

why is it that the only thing i can remember today was breakfast? cuz it was amazing! roti prata, my favorite. what is roti prata? check it out... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roti_prata. while i will miss trimana's breakfast burrito, this comes in as a nice replacement. the rest of the day was somewhat of a blur: people, meetings, emails, and coffee in between. lots of warm and friendly welcomes and greetings. new ip phone and flowers. it's raining and dreary outside. everyone is asking for a house warming party. guess the kitchen will get used afterall. this blog is becoming more of a stream of consciousness then a coherent journal : (

day two in singapore and it still hasn't sunk in. i am prepared to snap out of "this" and realize that it was a long dream, like alice in wonderland down a rabbit hole. i have no dinner plans tonight but late night conference calls. if i am still saying this 3 months from now, CALL ME and virtually slap me silly! "get a life or find a boy friend!"

my first REAL day in singapore

as oppose to my previous visits, this was for real, I HAVE MOVED, i am a resident! after 16+ hour flight from lax most of which i slept like a log, i felt quite refreshed when we landed at 5 am. my three luggages and two carry ons all made it safely. the cabby was not pleased with the volume of stuff i had - "why you have so many bags?" he complained. i protested, "it's not so many. i'll be here for three years so not bad, right?" he was still not impressed. the drive from the airport was less contentious, the streets were dark and peaceful. this was my new home... how very odd. the cabby talked about pretty korean actresses on TV. all plastic surgery i told him, but he didn't seem to care. i should have said they were all really men.

i check into the fullerton hotel and debate whether to hit the gym or not. sure, why not, got a long day ahead of me, might as well start early.

at 10 am, i went to my new apartment to do a walk through and get my keys. soooo empty. still can't believe i have a bomb shelter in my apartment IN the kitchen no less. the apartment manager just laughed as looked at him and said "what the heck!" i envisioned instead a lovely storage for my excellent wine collection. the collection comes much later, when i get wine, and hope that they are excellent. i signed what seem like an endless contracts of blah, blah, blah. goodness knows what i agreed to!

i decide to explore my new neighborhood and check out the stores nearby. luckily there is a mall across the street that has an underground grocery store and an MRT (subway, tube, trains...). it's a standard mall, good for emergencies, quick eats, yummy bread store, mos burger, mcdonald's and KFC. i go for the rice mos burger. this isn't so bad i think as i eat and look around to see other people. a group of high schoolers eating, a mother and son, pockets of people enjoying their lunch... the son looks over at me and wonders, why does she eat alone? i just smile back to let him know that it's ok.

i head down to the MRT station and try to figure out how to get to the office from here. three train stops away i was told. i was told correctly, it was perty easy to figure out. i was at the office stop in 7 minutes - not too shabby. i felt quite victorious actually, successful, independent, ready to conquer the world! afterall, i did make it from my apartment to my work place, didn't i???

what next? my bed is held up in customs, along with 30+ boxes and other junk. must get it out of hostage and into my lovely new place. i worry if the furniture will match the light wood, marble, porceline look of my apartment. i wonder if i'll ever use the oven. why do i have beige curtains? will i have nice, cute neighbors? ponder on them i must lest i crash from the jet lag.

almost 11 pm in los angeles... do i really not have a return flight home?