Finally

After months searching for it and weeks waiting until it was delivered, our sofa is here !!!!
I'm so happy and can't wait to watch our sofa inauguration movie: the full trilogy of Lord of the ring!
But that's for tomorrow.
Right now someone is simply enjoying his big new sofa.

Oops a typo

Only in Asia can you buy rice by "bowel".
Meaning "bowl" clearly :)

Fighting mold, ants, book lice

Life in Singapore equals fighting with some kind of bug everyday.
First we found ants.
Then we found mold.
And then we found book lice.

This weekend we spent most of it cleaning all the books and cupboards, searching for bugs and removing everything that was contaminated with mold.
After the basket chair that we had to throw away, we started to notice that the different baskets we had on our shelves, all from Ikea, we're molded. It seems the material is not meant to handle tropical weather. I wish we had known this before so we could have spared ourself a lot of mold.

Sunday afternoon, we had to throw away most of the baskets, a pair of sandals from Wolfram ( apparently it was brown originally but today looked pretty green all over), several books, a few pair of leather gloves, and many small other items. All covered in mold.

We did everything we could to clean and ventilate the place, but have little faith that it will be enough to win the war against mold.
Especially given our lack of success with ants. Those bitches keep on coming back, each time we block a path, they find another one :(

Summer is coming

As we reached the month of March, I mentioned to one of my colleagues that time is flying and soon it will be summer.
She looked back at me not quite sure about what I meant.
I had forgotten that I now live in a country where it's summer all year long.
I guess I still need a bit more time to fully interiorize what it means to live in Singapore.

A moment for me

After a long week at work, I finished the week by pampering myself. Got me thinking I should treat myself more often.
Only thing missing while I had my nails done was someone to chat with. But the people magazines did their best to entertain me.

Houston, we have a problem

We have mold and little bugs that are going with it showing up almost everywhere.
It started with the back of a painting which we blamed on the shipment.
Then it was Wolfram's leather jacket.
Then it appeared on my boots in the same room.
This weekend I noticed tiny little bugs walking the wall of the guest room. They were book lice coming from the bookshelf.
Today as I worked from home I noticed that the basket chairs we use as sofa have one greenish foot each. And looking closer I realized the whole base is molded from under. Bugs were even running under my eyes.
I guess we are learning the hard way to live in a tropical country. Ventilation is key but as well materials that are resistant. Good that most of our furniture came from Asia originally so they can handle. But what about the rest?
Will we have to put each book in the microwave to get rid of the lice? Not joking that's apparently a recommended solution before having to go for fumigation.
It sucks, not to mention it's freaking me out as I wonder in what poor hygiene conditions we are living.

The Art of the Brick

Today we went to the Art Science museum in Singapore. Now that we have settled in, it was time to start exploring the activities offered in Singapore to entertain the weekend.
The Art of the Brick is an exhibition about an artist who builds structures, statues, objects, etc. from Lego bricks. While the idea is original and the execution is certainly impressive, somehow most of the pieces were missing originality to me. Yes it is impressive to see a skull or a dinosaur made of Lego brick, but what's so special about it apart what it is made of.
I was impressed but not amazed by this exhibition. This said, I'm glad we went and took our first step into exploring the cultural life of Singapore.