Guest Blogger & First Visitor- Mama B

We were excited to have our first visitor in Singapore last week. Mama B came to visit for 9 days (+/- some travel time) from Las Vegas. We put together a draft itinerary so we made sure she was able to see as much as possible of Singapore and enjoy a little relaxation time as well.

Singapore hasn’t had rain for 30 days, which breaks an 100 year record, but luckily for Mama B the rain showed up just for her. (Not to mention the rain got rid of the haze from the fires in Malaysia and Indonesia.) We are sad to see her go home but happy that she made her first trip to Asia to see us! We asked her to be a guest writer and provide us with her traveling tips to Singapore.

Mama B’s 10 tips for traveling to Singapore.

      1. It’s hot and you walk a lot. Pack accordingly including a hat. Bring a sweater for inside as almost everything is air conditioned.

2. Bring lots of money- it’s expensive here. There are lots of money exchanges here, which have better rates than the bank. (Bring Amy with you as she might be able to negotiate the exchange rate for you.)

      3. Pack an umbrella!

      4. Bring your allotted two bottles of wine as wine is very expensive here.

                                        

      5. Do a little research ahead of time so see what there is to do as some tours and  restaurants require advance booking.

6. If you can, land at night so you can get back to the condo, go to bed and attempt to  get on the right time zone.

Home!

      7. Get your mani-pedi before you show up (that goes for you too boys) as they are not cheap here. Although the place of choice here is Jewel Nails, Marina Bay

8. Some bathrooms don’t have toilet but yet a “squatty potty.” You’ve been warned.

9. Practice your chopstick skills.

10. The meat is different here. Beef is very expensive and chicken isn’t the boneless, skinless chicken breast you’re used to. Plan on eating a lot of noodles, rice and seafood. When in doubt let Raegen order for you. 

 Happy Trails,

 Amy & Raegen (& Mama B)

Ode to Temporary Housing

As we settle into our new home, I don’t want to overlook our previous home, Shangri-La Serviced Apartment.

Since neither of us are poets, it won’t be pretty but here is our “Ode to Temporary Housing.”

- Ode to all 635 sq. ft. of our own wonderful serviced apartment with your glorious urban camouflage-like rugs.  

  
- Your tiny little kitchen where we made our first homemade Singapore meal and created a mess during a first baking experience.

- With your pint size bathroom that is the size of Raegen’s gun safe in Phoenix.

- While we (and by we, we mean Amy) loves the Golden Girls on TV, we do not like their style in our décor.

- Oh Shangri-La, you had a grand buffet and giant hotel gym. The wine glasses on the other hand, were not that lucky.

- To the bougainvillea outside our window, McSqeaky Squeakerton , whose thorns drag across the window making noises that resemble nails on a chalkboard at all hours of the day.

- Your daily maid service is something that we will miss.

While you were small, you were reliable and helped us through our first month in a new land; and for that you will never be forgotten. 

Happy Trails, 

Amy & Raegen

PS- For more on the Shangri-La Serviced Apartments, read First week in Singapore or The Kitchen Experiment

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day in Singapore

As many of you know, St Patrick’s Day is my favorite day of the year.  There are very few things that are better than wearing obnoxious amounts of green and being able to drink a few pints of Guinness throughout the day. As the great Murphy MacManus (of the movie Boondock Saints) once said, “Everyone Irish on St. Paddy’s Day.”

Wee McNugget (Amy), Tricksy O'Taters (Mama B) and Sneaky O'Fiddles (Raegen) sported our green and embarked on a self-guided, pub crawl ‘O Singapore. (What's your leprechaun name?) We expected a full assault of green clad party goers when we embarked on Clarke and Boat Quay on the afternoon of March 17^th.  To our surprise it was a quiet scene. It appears that all of the partying had been over the weekend and everyone else was working away, forgetting that they were overlooking the best holiday of the year. Luckily we happened to be out on the 16th so we were able to partake in some of the pre-holiday festivities. 

Here are some of the photo highlights.  And for the record I was bright eyed and bushy tailed and in the office on Tuesday  morning. 

  

Until then,

Amy & Raegen

Visa...Accepted in Singapore

We began the process of gaining legal status with the country of Singapore a few months ago when the decision was made to move to Singapore instead of Australia.

One of the most interesting thing we have had to deal with was the visa process. We obviously need a visa to be in the country for longer than 90 days, you need it to work here and more importantly you need it for the movers to ship out stuff!  In doing our research and talking to the folks in human resources, we learned that it should be easier to get a work pass for Raegen and hopefully Amy in Singapore than Australia, so we were off to a good start.

As part of the visa process Amy and I discovered that Singapore required us to show validation of common law status in order for her to get a visa.  We found this out in our last few days in Phoenix so we jumped through hoops with life insurance, health care, bank accounts, notary, etc.  So as of 16:41 Phoenix local time 30 Jan 2014 there is a document that shows that Amy and Raegen are common law married. Please wait until the real thing to send presents as it’s far too expensive to ship over a new Maserati.

After filling all of the paperwork our applications were submitted online to the government. In the meantime, we were on our way to Singapore. Since we had two one-way tickets to paradise (Singapore) and we did not want issues in customs. Therefore we bought tickets to Malaysia in 2 months so we did not appear to be squatters.  Once we got the visas we would cancel these tickets.

A few days later we received preliminary approval of a P1 type EP (employment pass) valid for 24 months and Amy a LTVP (long term visitor pass) that was valid for the same period of time. We also learned that we didn’t have to get a medical examination or a blood test (to check for HIV/AIDS).

Up to this point we believed Amy would get a DP (dependent pass) versus a LTVP but they did not issue her one.  What we found in our investigating is that a DP pretty much has the same rights (i.e. none) and Singapore does not recognize any domestic partnerships therefore that’s why Amy was granted the LTVP, but it’s still better than nothing. Here is what we have determined the following about the LTVP pass:

• It allows Amy to stay in the country for 24 months without having to leave every 90 days (Amazing)
• The pass will allow Amy to go through a different customs process when entering the country (same as Singaporeans & people with an EP.) And after the last trip, we can say it was pretty awesome!
• Basically Amy cannot sign any paperwork for cable, cell phone, etc. It all has to be done by the EP holder. (Hence the "Can you hear me now?" blog post)
• It is not a work visa. So when she finds a job the hiring company will have to complete the application for an EP. (Which theoretically should be easier since she already has a LTVP.)

With the approval of the passes, our next step is to go to the Employment Pass Services Centre (EPSC) to do our biometric screening.  Sounds really scary, but they just took our thumbprints and photo.  Emigra Singapore met us at the EPSC. Our appointment was scheduled for an hour and we were in and out in about 15 minutes. (It could have been quicker if we would not have been joking around with the ladies who helped us.)  We celebrated being approved with a nice dinner…after all how often do you have to go through a process like that? We then waited about 5 days and we have our physical passes. It’s official. 

So now we both have local cellphones and the next adventure is getting into a home, having a bed to sleep in and TV to watch. In the meantime, Amy is on the job prowl. So if you know anyone who is looking for a well-qualified, LTVP holding American, we are accepting applications.

Until then,

Amy & Raegen

PS- a big thank you to the MI Group Relocation Services and Emigra for all of their help with this process. They made a complicated and intimidating process a little less painful.

Our letters of approval, the official cards and the rep from Emigra and the EPSC who made it happen!

First Month in Singapore- The Highlights in 36 Seconds

It's hard to believe we've been living in Singapore for a month already. We've had some big victories and some smaller victories, but it has been a great first month. (Although neither of us are actually in the country to celebrate this momentous occasion.) 

Here's a highlight reel of our adventure (from Amy's perspective) since leaving Phoenix. (Video courtesy of the 'one second everyday'  app.)

http://youtu.be/m_vQwN2eseo 

Happy trails,

Amy & Raegen 

Can You Hear Me Now?

Bed, Bath & Beyond, Home Depot, there is just so much to do I am not sure if we will have time.  Well if you need a cellphone in Singapore, it might take you awhile.  What follows if the story of getting Amy a local cellphone. I wouldn't recommend going about it the way that we did. 

The first decision that must be made, which carrier to use.  There is M1, Starhub and SingTel.  Most people felt that there was not much difference so we opted for Starhub since that was going to be our cable provider and we get a corporate discount.  So when we arrived in Sing almost a month ago, we stopped at the Starhub outlet in the mall to ask about getting a cellphone.  They basically said that if you wanted a contract phone you had to have an EP (employment pass.) If you didn’t do this you could do a top up (pay as you go) phone, but then to get an iPhone it was full price… like $800 bucks.  So we decided that I would give Amy my U.S. phone until we got the EP. (Side note, everyone here uses Samsung phones...iPhones are not as popular as they are in the States.)

Skip forward 3 weeks and I have my authorized EP paperwork, but not the card.  Not having the card is a critical issue of this story.  The super nice ladies at the employment pass place pretty much said that with this paper I could do basically anything, including go in and out of the country.  With paper in hand were off to the closest Starhub.  After meeting at the first mall location the rep told me that he could not help me since I did not have the physical EP card; that we had to go to the Starhub Customer Service Center… there are only 3 on the whole island.

The Saturday adventure would start with a cab ride to the mall that had customer service center.  Once walking into the mall we saw a loads of people sitting around and we knew we were in the right place.  Instead of waiting in line to see if they could help me, I asked a representative if they could get me a phone without the physical EP card.  After about 10 minutes of this girl running around she said they could, but there would be a large deposit on the phone.  I said that was fine, despite her telling me that it was not a good idea. 

So Amy and I get in line and right as we do they put up a sign right next to us in line that says “approximate wait time is 3 hours.”  At this point there were only about 20 people in front of us and line seemed to move pretty quickly.  After about 40 minutes we finally get to the counter. “Three hours my rear end,” I think.  Sure enough the counter we were at was the counter in order to get the number that they would then call for you to be helped. (Think Motor Vehicle Department). So we got a nice piece of paper that said A1018 and we waited with a revolving door of 50 of our favorite neighbors. 

Now my description will not give the scene justice, but all around us are displays of phones available for purchase. People are coming and going and playing with them you so have all these annoying rings, buzzers, they all had an alarm that went off every time someone picked it up and on top of that there was a doorbell noise that was sounding off every time a new number was called.  In the waiting room the first depressing movie that was on, Iron Lady (in Mandarin subtitles nonetheless) ends and they begin to play another “uplifting” movie, Les Miserables...I found this all too ironic because around this point there were mass amounts of people in the waiting room and it was hot, so I was pretty miserable.

After getting through three quarters of Les Mis they finally called our number.  For the next 43 minutes 28 seconds (but who’s counting?) we worked on getting a phone.  While most things in Singapore are unbelievably efficient, this was not. $1,086 Singapore dollars later ($800 of it that is a refundable deposit since I didn’t have my official EP card) we had a brand new gold iPhone for use in Singapore!

So a word to new arrivals in Singapore who want a cell phone- wait till you get your physical EP card then you don’t have to go to one of only 3 customer service centers where everyone in Singapore is waiting in line.  I am sure at this point you are wondering why didn’t I wait… well I have a 2 week work trip that started Monday and I didn’t have my card in time and since Amy has a long term visitor pass, she is basically a second class citizen (her words, not mine) and they won’t allow her to sign a contract on a phone.  During the time I am gone we hope to be moving into our new place and getting our furniture and other home items delivered. No one here will call an international number so we were stuck between a rock and a hard place.  The big question is how easy will it be to get the $800 Singapore dollar deposit back? I love Miss Amy, but I think she’s going to have to sort that out!

Until Then, 

Amy & Raegen 

The waiting time when we were done and ready to leave was up to 4 hours!