Vocabulary and The Swine Flu

Caleb has a whole new vocabulary now that we're living in Singapore.j

"Are we going to take the MRT?"

"There's the Newton hawker."

"Where's your hand phone?"

And he knows that we tell the taxi drivers that we're staying at "The Orchard Scotts on Anthony Road."

:-)

Even Levi has a new word, "taxi." And Levi has three new teeth.

They are VERY serious about the Swine Flu here (H1N1). There are signs in the taxis and MRT stations and just about everywhere warning that if you came from an H1N1 infected country or are going to an H1N1 infected country that you should avoid large crowds and take your temperature regularly. Oh, and if you have a fever plus cough/congestion, call and ambulance. When I'm in the taxi with the kids by myself the drivers who speak really good English will chat with me, and one of them asked where we were from and then also asked about the Swine Flu and the economy. (It sort of feels like when I was in Thailand in 2001 and all anyone would talk to me about was the World Trade Center. Now it's the economy and the Swine Flu. I guess they're just trying to make conversation.)

We went to view a condo last week and at the guard's gate they had a sign that said all visitors and contractors must stop at the guard gate to have their temperature taken before entering the complex. They didn't make us, but I thought it was funny.

They were serious about it on the airplanes on the way here, too. When we stopped in Japan, they had fully masked inspectors come onto the plane to determine if anyone was sick. We had to fill out little health questionnaires that asked whether or not we'd had a fever in the last 10 days.

Well, we found a condo that we really like and have submitted the LOI (Letter of Intent) to the owners. We should find out today or tomorrow if they have accepted our offer. They are replacing the air con units in the whole complex, so they don't want us to move in until July 15, but I'm hoping they'll let us go ahead and move in a couple of weeks when our furniture arrives. We're ready to sleep in our own beds and have our own stuff!

The boys were up late last night, so it's after 9am and they are still sleeping! They have finally returned to their normal sleep habits, so we are thankful for that!