Day 6

This was the day that the wife would become an appointed representative of her company. In our lingo that means that she would officially be allowed to give people financial advice. So we woke up early again, for the second day running, as the wife had to sit 2 exams on that day. So off we trudge to the metro stop (called the MRT here) and we hop onto the MRT to the place where Elli was due to sit the exam. As ever I was confident all would go well...and though we like to make things sounds dramatic on this blog, well...it did!

But first things first. So while the wife is bravely facing the challenge of passing yet another two long exams, I was given the mission to go off and view an apartment. The funny thing is that Singaporeans don't believe in walking long distances...in a sense it reminds me a lot of Belgium. So one of the main criteria when looking for an apartment is the distance to the MRT and what is hilarious is that the agents can give you an exact timing: 'you are 7 minutes walk to the closest MRT'... So when I asked the agent for this apartment how I could get there I asked him whether I could walk from the MRT...' no no, it is waaaaay to far...you must take a bus as well'. Stubborn as I can be I dismissed this and knowing I have a decent sense of direction, I took my chances. Little did I know that it would be 35 degrees Celsius out there and it would take a good 30 minutes to walk there. Luckily I had put some factor 15 on my glassy top so as to protect it somewhat. A long and hot walk, but at least I got to scout the neighbourhood a little and found an absolute gem! They say that the Irish are everywhere, because we open pubs everywhere...what they don't tell you is that you will find a random, mini-tombstone-like Guiness-sponsored, well piece on the sidewalk...

What also strikes you immediately when you land in Singapore, and this to a large extent even at the airport, is how green, lush, clean and beautiful the place is. One of the comments left on the blog was that it seems that Singapore is like a postcard and it truly is...

This was the apartment block I was due to visit

I finally managed to find the above apartment block and despite the fact that I thought it looked good and had two pools, I decided against it... gut feeling, but it turned out to be the right decision (oh and I know the above picture looks a little fake for some reason, but is actually just a picture that I took). So off I go back to town to have some lunch with the missus before she has to go in for the last exam. No surprises then when she came out of a 2-hour exam within 45 minutes, with the little satisfying document that simply says PASS...

The brave little wife with her PASS...

Having finished all of her studying and completed the three exams, it was now time to party a little! But no respectful lady could do that without buying herself a 'clutch-bag' (don't ask me guys, but that is what they call it apparently). So Elli's shopping-fever hadn't yet passed and we went for a little celebratory bag-hunt...no pictures of the bag, but we did come across a great picture, which might well show a funny side of the often quite reserved Singaporeans.

Great great picture...

By this time it would have been 15h and we were due to go and view two more apartments on the East Coast around 16:00, so off we went to take the enormously efficient and air-conditioned MRT. Oh and for the tourists out there, it is a very strange and sweaty sensation when you step outside of an MRT station, quite an experience I tell you (for us to know and you to find out). So there we were at 16h on the dot ready to view the apartment. I had booked this viewing the day before and quite liked what I had seen, so in we headed. The first thing we got to see was the pool...check...then the gym...semi-check ( a little small and dark, but it will do)...then we get into the apartment...and BANG, you know when you see it's the one! Though we were looking for little faults here and there, it is difficult to see any in a 2-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment with a pool view and a massive balcony!

But we didn't put in an offer just yet...there was another one to view before we would be making up our mind. It happened to be the apartment block across the road and as soon as we got in there, we knew, this wouldn't be the one. The pool was very nice, but there was some kind of massive waterfall coming out of the wall, which happened to be just next to the apartment...so you could barely hear each other...it felt a bit like the scene in The Last of the Mohicans when Hawkeye or Nathaniel screams through the waterfall to Cora that he will find her...so yeah, a sense of romance in the air possibly, but it just wasn't something you would want day-in-day-out! So leaving that place we knew we were about to put down an offer on the other place, but we were also in a rush to get home as we were expected at Elli's boss' place at 19:00 for a meet-and-great dinner&drinks...

A very happy post-exam, pre-offer lady with a seemingly confused husband next to her 

So in rushing home and getting ready, this silly man who is trying to record everything forgot his camera at home and thus couldn't take any pictures of the night out...at least the identity of Elli's colleagues will remain anonymous...for now! Suffice to say that t was a great night out, Elli's colleagues a great bunch of people and we had our first experience of a Brazilian restaurant. I can assure you that the next day I was sweating and it wasn't because of the heat but because of the meat!

Back tomorrow for the big unveiling of THE apartment...