Raw fish, Brandon and Robert, Lizards (again), and commercials

Hello all,

John here.  It has been quite a while since I’ve made an appearance on the blog, so I figured it was about time.  Last time I made a post, I was describing my adventures in hair cuts.  While I have not been disappointed with the variety of “hairy” options, I have also found a number of inexpensive, quick and quality manners in which to obtain a haircut.  My current and most-favored option is CB.  After forking over S$100 for a set of clippers, my hair cuts for the last three months have been free, and she does an excellent job.

In other news, several weeks ago a work colleague told me about an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant.  I should mention that it has become my custom at local hawker centers to order two of the same meal.  While some friends claim that I eat “a lot,” I simply eat until I am full.  This stated, depending on the quality of food I desire to eat it has become cheaper in some circumstances to go for the buffet options when available, so I jumped at the chance for all you can eat sushi.

The restaurant reminded me of one of those touristy US east coast seafood joints, which tries to have a coherent theme but falls slightly short of its mark.  Not long after arriving, a white-looking man and Asian-looking woman sat down to our left.  After ordering, the man turned to the woman and said, “So, you’re from China.”  Great line for a first date.  I wasn’t surprised when they started downing the wine.  He was going to need some help.

It was a good thing we weren’t there for the atmosphere.  However, the food more than made up for it.  We ordered expecting portions similar to the pay-by-the-piece restaurants we usually visit, but as it was a buffet we were rather generous with our order, much of which included “we’ve never had this before, let’s try it” dishes.  When the food arrived, it was at least 30% larger (per piece) than we had expected, and I didn’t realize we had ordered so much until the wait staff ran out of room for the plates.  Our work was cut out for us.

Two solid hours and approximately 75 generously-sized pieces of fish later, we rolled out the door.  I am nearly certain they didn’t make a dime on us, and for our part we were still full 24 hours later.  A great experience.

Several weekends later, another of CB’s friends from Shelbyville came to visit.  Brandon and his friend Robert are in the United States Navy and currently posted in Sol, South Korea.  They spent Easter weekend in Singapore, during which we hiked the “canopy tour,” which we learned was a 5 kilometer hike to a 250 meter bridge, followed by another 5 kilometer hike.  It was a great bridge.  As seems to be our custom, we were rained on in the rain forest, but made it out in good spirits and saw some beautiful portions of the Singapore Country Club’s golf course.  Later that evening the four of us along with two friends from church enjoyed a meal of Stingray, Roti Prata and Satay by Marina Bay.  Brandon and Robert returned to Sol the following evening after a meal of fish and chips where we learned, again, that one must order at least 10 servings of “tomato sauce” (ketchup) per-person if they desire an “adequate” amount to cover the chips.  Good chips, though.

Brandon and Robert taught us that it is possible to visit North Korea and return.  We are told that the conference room in which North and South Korea “negotiate” is literally on the North and South Korea border of the de-militarized zone, and it is open for tours.  We plan to visit soon.  Brandon also suggested a rather clever US maneuver to solve the US budget deficit.  I quote, “What has Guam done for us lately?”  At least we have options.

One last story.  CB seems to be developing the habit of lizard encounters, so it did not surprise me when I heard her yelp from the bathroom that I was needed to catch one.  Under normal circumstances this would be no great challenge, but I happened to be sleeping, an activity which I am rarely eager to end.  However, in an attempt to be supportive, I dragged myself out of bed and into the bathroom to perform the heroic deed.  “Where is it?” I asked.  She pointed out the window, and at this point you will probably recall that we live 14 floors up.  Un-amused (it was early) but still seeking to help, I asked, “What can I do about it?”  “It’s scary” she replied.  I do not foresee me understanding the fairer sex in the near future.

Generally speaking, things are well over here.  Work is slow but steady, and it has allowed for us to plan a great deal of travel throughout the summer and into the fall.  Just this past week we were able to purchase S$0.08 (yes, 8 cent) roundtrip tickets to Saigon.  Taxes were several hundred dollars per ticket, but it still ended up being a steal.  We look forward to visiting.  For those of you in the US, CB and / or John will be in Chicago, Louisville, Charleston and Orlando (and perhaps a few other cities) the last two weeks of this July and first week in August.  If you’re around, please let us know!

I will close with a smattering of our recent favorite commercials.  Boomdiada is from the Discovery Channel (we watch a good bit of it over here), we won’t claim to understand the SoyJoy commercials but nonetheless find them hilarious, and the Singapore Navy commercial is inspiration for those of you (myself included) who spend most of the beautiful daylight hours under fluorescent lights.

Boomdiada!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wOKQmO-ftk

SoyJoy office: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V-VDSyZCnc

SoyJoy tattoo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2X64F6IzQg&NR=1

Singapore Navy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD0cYeVpkgI

Cheers,

John