There are a LOT of ex-pats here from all over the world... I mean a lot. I thought I'd walk down the street and feel very much in the minority, but in truth, there are a lot of westerners here. The really cool thing is that everybody who has moved here from somewhere else gets what it's like to be the new kid in town. Plus, everybody seems to know somebody who knows somebody who lives in Singapore. It was the same when I first moved to New York, but I was generally the one people would call when they got to town. I met a lot of my dear friends by meeting new people in town for a drink. Here, Tom and I have reached out to a few people and had our first double blind date so to speak.
Mitch is an old Army buddy of Tom's co-worker and is here as a project manager with Exxon. He invited us to meet him and his wife Heather for dinner. They live on the other end of Orchard so we took a cab, my first in town.
Cabs here are very cheap compared to New York. Also, traffic is much more managable mostly because nobody can afford to have a car here. Rumor has it that renting a car is something like $1500 a month! Word has it that buying a Honda Civic will run you $250,000! That's because they don't cars here so the taxes are incredibly high. The result is that thay have an amazing mass transit system, very little congestion and less pollution compared to other big cities. Cabs are one of the only things cheaper here than New York. Heck, Tom got a slice of pizza that cost him $8.50! A slice! Eating slices was a way to save money when I started out in New York. My guess is there are cheaper slices in town, but we have to be careful not to assume that we're not getting a cheap meal when we grab a slice.
Anyway, we met them in front of the St. Regis and walked to a steak house called Black Angus. Truth is, I'd prefer to have gone to a great Asian restaurant since all the places we've tried so far are holes in the wall (each one has been fabulous!), but it was kind of fun to try a steak in Asia. My meal wasn't a Texas steak by any means, but it was pretty darn good.
It was great talking to some folks who have been here for a while. They have a two-year-old son named Mason and she has three older kids from a first marriage. We really enjoyed chatting with them and just being out and about - away from the kids at night! Heather is a scream and I feel really luck to have met her. She has already invited me out for a ladies night on Thursday and we're going to a playgroup on Wednesday.
The best part is that we have a built-in babysitter in Cheryl. We gave her most of Saturday and Sunday off so she was happy to put the kids to bed for us. And it's not like we have to get home so she can get home at a decent hour. She sleeps in our apartment!
So after dinner, we strolled home admiring all the designer stores that were open late. Tom being Tom, we stopped in every shoe store along the way looking for a pair of flip-flops for him. With a size 13, he's got giant feet (not like I can throw stones in that department) so it's very hard to find shoes for him which will be a huge hardship for him if we move here permanently. Tom is a shoe addict and Hudson is just like his daddy! FINALLY, we found a pair to fit.