We're All Moved In!

Hi everyone! We have finally started to settle into our new apartment at The Metropolitan. We signed the lease and started moving things in last Monday and have been working like crazy since then to get everything done. First, let me say how nice it is to have an Ikea 1 km away! Second, let me say how difficult it is to buy stuff second-hand here. It's crazy considering how many people move here for a year or two or three and then move on. There should be tons of stuff to pass on. If we had access to a truck and tons of time we could look around on craigslist or gumtree and get a lot of stuff, but we don't have those luxuries. So while we feel guilty about it, most of our stuff came from Ikea, the great one-stop shop that also has excellent hot dogs and/or meatballs. Four trips to Ikea to get it done--and one trip to a Salvation Army store where we expected to make out like bandits, but instead came home with one coffee maker.

We had visited another Salvation Army store earlier and found a ton of stuff but we weren't ready to move yet. We decided to visit another location because we had heard it was even bigger and better. Bigger yes, better not so much. Everything was ridiculously over-priced. I know it's for charity but if I wanted to pay $1000 for an outdoor dining set I would buy it new from Ikea for half the price. They even had the very same Ikea wine glasses we had just bought for $6 a six-pack, but at Salvation Army they were $4 per glass. Okay. . .

This is all boring ranting, I apologize. Here are the pictures of what our place looks like:

The kids in the new balcony furniture

We finally decided to pick up the outdoor furniture just for them. They love it and making artwork out here keeps them busy for a long time.

Sunday we took it easy and stayed here playing in the pools. Here, Ted and the kids enjoy the jacuzzi. It's .8 meters deep so even Wyatt can touch on his tippy-toes. This jacuzzi pool is so pretty at the end of the bigger, deeper pool. I think the deeper one is 1.5 meters and it's 50 meters long so it's Olympic length. 

This is shot of our building. It's 44 storeys high. We are on the second floor, which is why the kids can spend so much time out on the balconies!

Wyatt loves weekends with his daddy.

The 2 BBQ areas for reservation.

The girls really have solidified their friendship here. I hope Zoe is okay once Ella starts school.

Now they are in the big pool and ready to swim some laps like the Olympians on TV.

And where am I? Relaxing. Enjoying a strong breeze.

Okay, now we move inside. This is the kids' room. They decided they all wanted to share like they do at home. We picked up the bunk bed, blankets, and shag rug from Ikea. Isn't it a cute room?

They have a decent-sized balcony, too, but we keep that door locked. 

I love wardrobes so much more than closets and dressers. They look so neat and I'm not tempted to pile anything on top because I can't reach the top. 

Even pretty neat on the inside. 

The kids have a little hall with a large window seat area on the right

and a bathroom on the left.

Their sink is outside the bedroom door, just off the common area.

Here is our kitchen. I love that there is a window that looks down to the street so I can people-watch while I'm washing up.

Remember there was no oven here? We had to buy one for the table-top. They are kind of expensive and not very big, but they are pretty.

Outside the back of the kitchen, there is an area with a washer and dryer.

This is the window into our storage area. Why is there a window? Because this would typically be the maid's room. This tiny, un-air-conditioned room would be a maid's room. And a good one, because it has this window. Wow.

Our storage area has no maid, just a bunch of our empty suitcases and a drying rack for our bathing suits. 

The kitchens here all have doors for two reasons I guess: to keep kitchen smells out of the rest of the house, and to keep the hot air in the kitchen as they are never air-conditioned. 

This is our master bedroom with only a very light blanket. That's all we need--and never use.

Our wardrobes. Love. Yes, that's a year's-worth of clothes.

The master bath

with a seat? Spacious!

The guest bathroom

with washcloths just waiting for our guests!

This is called the office but it's really just a good-sized nook area in the common room. This is where the blogging happens.

Wyatt is at Ella's desk pretending to be a scientist.

This is our common room. Usually, all the curtains are pulled back like this and the doors are wide open so a breeze cuts all the way through the apartment. It's breezy around our building so it's pretty effective for cooling. Sometimes though, we have to resort to using the air con.

Our main door. 

Outside for the adults

and for the kids.

Our dining table

This is the kids' playroom slash guestroom. One of the sofas in the common room is a sofabed and can be brought in here when we have visitors (hint, hint). Actually, we haven't decided if we'll use this as the guestroom or the one the kids have now. We can move the stuff around easily, but as you can see, there is plenty of room if you're planning a trip to Asia. You can even request the balcony room!

The kids' favorite toy right now is one of the big Ikea furniture boxes that they decorated and turned into a boat. I guess they miss their club in Somerville.

And this is the pool on the other side of the building facing the train station. I'm not kidding when I say that the trains here sound like Cylon ships. I posted these pictures on Facebook but they are the only ones I have of this side of the building.

Shouldn't every building have its own karaoke room?

Our neighborhood is great too. There are tons of schools around and community centres. It's easy to get to supermarkets and all kinds of shopping. We can walk to that train park from an earlier blog and we can even walk to a library, just like in Somerville! Oh, and there are also a bunch of hawker centres (the food courts) within walking distance too, although we are taking a break from them because Ted's stomach has been, umm, unsettled for about a week and he wants to recuperate first. Because I have been doing a lot of cooking at home this week, I need to learn how to make some foods with local ingredients. I don't have a lot of experience with stir fries and curries but now is the time to learn. That's my next project.

Well, that's it. That's our new place. We love it and feel very fortunate to have this experience. All we are missing is our friends and family. Seriously, this place is plenty big!

In a bit, I'll post some pictures and videos from the Night Safari, where we went last night.