After leaving the train station, Brandon and I walked down Orchard Road to Ngee Ann City. There is a post office in the mall there, and we had two Mother's Day cards that needed to be mailed asap. (I know that these cards won't be a surprise now, but I wanted to mention the postage costs before I forget. Sorry, Moms!) Brandon's friend, Amelia, sent him an invitation to her first birthday party a couple of weeks ago, and it took ten days for the card to go from Chicago to Singapore. Knowing that, I planned to gets the cards mailed to the U.S. faster, as I wanted the card to make it in time. Unfortunately, it was about $25 U.S. dollars to get one card mailed to the U.S. in 3 to 4 business days. Whoaaa! Or, it was SGD$1.10 per card, which is about $.75 U.S., for 8 to 10 business days. I guess our moms will be getting their cards a few days late. Bummer!!!
After mailing the cards, Brandon and I grabbed a cab and headed to our Friday playgroup. Last week it was at the zoo, and this week is was back at someone's house. I joined this playgroup through my Chinese friend, Jasmine, that I met online the first couple of weeks I was here. It has been wonderful!
We were home this afternoon when housekeeping came by to clean. In a way, I felt like we had a little company. :) Two new faces for Brandon to see really entertained him. Laila and Earla even gave Brandon a little attention. Earla was telling me that he is here from the Phillipines on an internship. He is going to school in the Phillipines for hospitality and hotel management. He told me that he has some family in the U.S. and some in Germany. People are so "international" here. They've either lived abroad, are from abroad, or know many people abroad. Wow.
Later this afternoon, Brandon and I took a cab to Holland Village with Amanda and Kate. We wanted to explore a new area of town. Holland Village was so cute. It was a compact little center of shops and restaurants surrounded by homes/apartments. While there was a small mall we walked in, it was refreshing to see different stores than the ones we've been seing on Orchard Road. Orchard Road has many large, expensive chain stores - Prada, Marc Jacobs, etc. The stores here seemed, at least a little, less expensive than those on Orchard Road. Lots of mani/pedi salons, some children's stores, and some clothing stores that looked like they carried more "local" clothes, just to name a few.
We walked along Jalan Merah Saga, a street with some shops and restaurants. We also walked down Lorong Mambong, another street with many restaurants and bars and a hawker center. Amanda had done some research, so we had dinner at El Patio, a Mexican restaurant known for their fajitas. They were very delicious. (Put it this way, I meant to save some to bring home to Steven. That didn't happen!) I noticed that they didn't serve cheese with their fajitas. I actually didn't even miss it. Tasty!
Brandon and I took a cab home just after dark. It was nice to actually be out after dark. As we are here as parents, we haven't really seen the Singapore nightlife. Lots of people were out, and the traffic getting back in the cab was quite bad. Tomorrow is Labour Day though, and I think that many people were out late due to the public holiday the next day.
Great end to my evening - I got to talk to a couple of friends, Alma and Heather, back home on Skype. Even better, I got to see Heidi and Amelia playing together. Too bad Brandon was already in bed and had to miss them. I am so happy that we have been able to keep in touch with so many people. :)
Didn't take any pictures tonight. :( I'll be sure to get some pictures of the area the next time we're there!
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