Week 2

Week 2: Over and Done With (Who picked up on that Proclaimers allusion?)

I had my first full week of work which, to be honest, was kind of boring. I had training all this week which meant that at times I was being inundated with information and at other times I had nothing to do. The good news is I actually get to start my actual job on Monday. Wait…did I just say that was good news? What is wrong with me?

I really like the people who I work with. There are about sixty people in the office and I would say no one is older than 35 with the majority of people being in their late 20s (all the bigwigs are in the London office). While most of the office is Singaporean, it is quite an international cast. I’m one of two Americans, there are three Brits, as well as, a French man and woman. There are also a few people from around Asia like India and Japan. Like I said earlier, the office is pretty young so I was shown the city nightlife this week from some experienced locals. My favorite place by far was called Mimolette (a type of cheese from Lille, France.) Half of the establishment is dedicated to high quality French and American food and it has been getting rave reviews. That was not my favorite half. The other half is a sort of lounge / open air bar and dance floor. I’d rather not get into it on such a public medium but if anyone comes to visit we will be going.

Now, I did just mock the high quality food of Mimolette for no good reason and I probably should try and eat there because this week I ate at some excellent places. They were all very different and all so so tasty. The first place I went with about 10 coworkers and it was called Brazil Churrascria (BBQ). I have never eaten so much meat in my life. It’s a flat rate and the servers come to your plate with skewers of meat and start lopping off giants slices of whatever they have…and they have it all. The best was the garlic beef. The craziest thing I ate was chicken heart! It actually was pretty good. Here is the link to their website, Link Me.

The next place we went to was a small Indonesian restaurant called Bali Cumi. It was only a couple blocks from where we work and so seven of us went on Thursday. The is more of a family type meal and it being the last night of Chinese New Year most of the establishment was taken up by one party. You order as a group and share everything. We got so much food, I’ll try and remember it all. A fish, three chicken fried rices, eggplant, two squids, six potato balls and some other stuff. I can’t exactly remember all of it but it was mighty tasty. I’m really doing my best to give everything a shot like squid and eggplant. Actually, that’s a lie, there is some stuff I know I won’t try (i.e. chicken feet).

For those in the know they can tell you that Japanese is my favorite kind of food (Bisuteke yoooo). Well, after 13 days in Singapore I realized that I hadn’t had any Japanese yet. For lunch yesterday I made sure to find a Japanese place. I wasn’t disappointed. I ordered my beef noodle a hawker center which means it was cheap ($5 Singapore) compared to the king’s ransom I paid for the other two meals ($32 and $16 respectively). They served my meal on a hot plate so it had that fajita sizzle when they gave it to me. How I missed my Japanese! I almost went back and ordered another plate to go. The only thing stopping me being the fact that I don’t own a hotplate.

Just some quick offerings:

I added two more links to albums in the World Tour Media section.

Here is a link of what happened on the street I work on this week. LINK

That’s pretty much it for week two. There is some talk of making a day trip over to Indonesia to play some golf next weekend. I hope they have some tall, lefty clubs I can rent!

P.S. I don’t want to jinx it but it hasn’t rained since I arrived.

Week 1

My first week here went by real quick. Since I found a place to live pretty much as soon as I landed, I was asked to start work on Thursday which is why I’ve been lacking on posts. Anyway, I’ve got the rest of my pictures up in the World Tour Media section now that I have a quality internet connection. I took a bum-boat ride in the middle of the week which takes you through the city on the Singapore river. Like an idiot I didn’t bring my camera. I don’t work too far from the river so I will try and take pictures after work sometime this week.

I’ve moved into my new pad. I’m on the 16th floor of a corner condo unit so I have a great view and I live less than a 3 minute walk from the beach which I have taken full advantage of already. The only problem is the water. It is hot over here during the day and I would love to take a dip in the ocean, however there are literally too many tankers to count which makes the water less than desirable. Singapore is one of the busiest ports in the world because of it’s route between India and East Asia as well as being an island. I was also told that it is one of the world’s largest refiners of oil. I will try and take a picture to explain the surplus of ships. I keep thinking about how it was a big deal when a giant tanker would be off the coast of Manchester-by-the-Sea and everyone at the B&T would marvel at its size. From my bedroom I can no less than six ships of comparable size including the biggest ships I have ever seen. Thank God for the two pools in my complex.

On a different note, my new room is sparse (as of now) but great. I have A.C. and way too much closet space for the stuff I brought over. My bed is nice and big and I splurged on some comfy bedding. I thought moving out of Belmont would be the end of my spoiled ways; I was wrong…we have a maid! She comes every Tuesday and cleans the place and irons our clothes. SO CRUCIAL! It is included in the rent which makes it even better. I can’t get over how cheap some things are over here like our weekly maid and food. My lunch today was about $1.75 in US dollars.

Both of my roommates are great guys. One is from New Zealand and the other is from India and they both work for banks downtown. The Kiwi, Earle, has been showing me around the neighborhood and I watched a movie with Anil (I think that’s how you spell it; it’s pronounced Ah-NEEL) last night. It was Ghost in the Darkness if anyone was wondering (Pete).

I am almost completely settled. I will get my employment pass either on Monday or Tuesday and my work is setting up my bank account. After that, I will just need to purchase a cell phone and I will be A-O.K. In terms of luxury, I really need some stuff to hang on my wall. From those of you who saw my dorm room with Gelly you know how I like my walls to be covered in posters and things. I am thinking about indulging in a Cali cruiser bicycle for neighborhood transportation.

I have some short terms goals for the next few weeks. I would like to get over to the Zoo to see all the wildlife (Fish they have tigers bro!) and go on their night safari. I wouldn’t mind going to the bird park as well but that is secondary. I would also like to take a short trip to one of the neighboring islands for the day. I am really excited about the Mosaic Music Festival that is starting in early March. In a 6 day span, it would be possible for me to see Earth, Wind & Fire, The Roots, and George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic. The tickets are reasonable and there are also a lot of free shows during the festival. There are about four concerts a night for two weeks straight. I also want to be diligent about taking pictures and try and post a short movie too.

One last thanks goes out to the Quincy Doyles who gave me and iTunes card for Christmas. I put it to good use and purchased the most recent LOST episode last night. Thank you!

Chinatown

I can’t get my Employment Pass until tomorrow at the earliest which means I can’t buy a cell phone or open a bank account yet either. The good news is I found a place to live! Thanks to the magic of the internet I already knew where I wanted to live before I came out here. I also arranged a viewing for last night. My new roommate offered me the place and I sent him an email an hour ago saying I would love to take it. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of the place while I was there so you will have to snack on these links until I move in and document my living quarters:

Link 1 and Link 2

Thanks to all of this free time, I was able to explore the city today, more specifically, Chinatown. About 3/4 of the permanent residents of Singapore are Chinese or of Chinese descent, so I find it a little silly that Singapore has a “Chinatown” still. It was created when Singapore was still a British settlement and the Chinese were a minority. Now, however, they obviously are not.

My hotel is a block away from Chinatown and so I decided to make it my first site-seeing stop. Unfortunately, the Internet in the hotel is being a little fickle so I wasn’t able to upload all of the pictures I’ve taken the last two days. I do have a couple up from today and yesterday in the World Tour Media section. Some of the highlights of my tour of Chinatown include:

• The Chinese New Year decorations
• The oldest buddhist temple on the island
• A buddhist monk prayer ceremony at a different temple
• Getting checked out by two tourist babes while I ate lunch

Speaking of lunch…it was amazing. For 3 dollars (a little less than 2 US) I ordered “chicken rice,” a traditional Singaporean dish. It came with a plate of chicken and rice (no surprise), a bowl of some sort of tasty soup and a mentos (yes, the freshmaker). It must be all of the quality shopping because Chinatown was full of attractive women. Even after I move out of the hotel I will be frequenting the area for food and eye candy.

Time for a swim to cool off from the 85 degree heat. Don’t expect me to keep up these daily post once my job starts.

Yours In Singapore,

Billy Doyle

Looks Like I Made It

Well, what do I say? (Yes, that title is a Barry Manilow reference)

I’m in Singapore. The flight, besides the fact that it was real long, was awesome. I now know why Singapore Airlines is considered one of the best airlines in the world. Movies, tv shows, video games all on demand, free booze, giant seats…I could go on for a while. Things I watched during my 20 hours in the air, which were all on demand:

• Arrested Development
• Flight of the Conchords
• The Kingdom
• Gone Baby Gone
• Atonement (put me to sleep)
• Elizabeth: The Golden Age (also put me to sleep)
• I also played a bunch of silly video games (think Bejeweled and such)
• There was more stuff but I kept taking Tiger Beer naps and now I forget

Because of the insane amounts of personal entertainment, I refused to watch your DVD, Daniel, or finish your book, Conor (I did start the book in the terminal). But good news fellas, I have one friend in this entire hemisphere so I’m sure I’ll find the time to complete both before I come back.

For those of you wondering, I called home as soon as I checked into the hotel. How thoughtful of me. My room is fairly standard but my hotel is in a real cool spot. I walked around the area before it hit the midday highs (oh yeah, its 88 here…crap, I mean 31…curse the day you were born Anders Celsius). Thanks to a gift from my Aunt Mary, I have a trusty map of the area in my Fodor’s book of Singapore. I might try and get some site seeing in later today. I may not have too much time tomorrow. Since, I landed on Sunday the banks are closed and I’d rather open up a bank account before I start blowing my money all over town on cell phones and rent and such.

Speaking of rent, I have a boiling hot lead in the complex I want to live in and I think I am going to check it out later in the afternoon. If I really like it I may take some pictures of the place and toss up on the website so people can tell me what they think.

I’d just like to thank everyone again for the well-wishes and for visiting this site.

Billy

My Last Moments in America

I’m writing this from Terminal B, Gate 62 of the Newark Airport. I’m none to happy that the last American soil I will stand on will be New Jersey soil. Yuck. Not to mention that the security check people razzed me about the Super Bowl. Enough of this country!

As I sit in the poorly lit and barren terminal, I can’t help but think of the gravity of my situation. I am leaving America and I don’t know when I am coming back. It’s an intimidating thought. I am looking forward to my adventure but I am going to miss so many things about my Boston life. My family and friends being at the very top of that list. I absolutely hated to see my mom teary-eyed when I hugged her goodbye in Boston.

On a lighter note, I received an awesome letter from my great aunt, Connie Eagan. It was so positive and I would like to share a sentence from it that bakes my noodle every time I read it. “You are venturing half way around the world as your great grandfathers did one hundred and four years ago.” It’s a comforting thought that coursing in my blood is hearty peasant stock and I will be able to deal with anything tossed my way.

I don’t know who has read Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer but it is a really good, quick read. I don’t want to give away anything from the book and I don’t want to turn this into some sort of literary critique blog. However, there is a passage in the book that I am going to take the time to type out because it rings true in my situation. It was written by a recent college graduate, like myself, who was living a carefree, nomadic lifestyle:

Nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.

Tonight I will go to bed, my flight will continue flying towards Asia and when I rise, waiting for me, a brand new sun.

Life’s a trip!

BD

I’m Leaving on a Jet Plane

My flight leaves this Friday, February 8th, at 18:30 for NYC. After a 90 minute layover, I am Singapore bound! I leave the States at 11PM Friday night and I land at 6:45 AM Sunday morning. I am praying the movies are good. They really should just play LOST starting at Season 1 until I land. Based solely on my online booking experience, Singapore Airlines should get me there smoothly. I also got 9500+ miles when I booked it which is going to come in handy for the World Tour.

I’ve got a lot of my pre-flight list done which is crucial. I am also typing this on my new macbook pro which I am loving right now. Once I actually have interesting things to photograph and film, expect some flashy new media on the site. You may have noticed the new tab on the top of the page. Once I have some pics and vids, there will be a link with an archive to everything I’ve got. I’ll keep the best stuff for the front page.

I also have the link to the hotel I’m being put up in until I find a place of my own.  Check it out… http://www.furama.com/citycentre/

It’s in Chinatown on the edge of the Central Business District (CBD) and I am arriving at the tail end of the Chinese New Year celebration so I am hoping for some unique photo opps.

I hope the posts will come in more frequently once I’m gone but my life is rather uninteresting right now because I’ve just been running around doing errands and saying my goodbyes. For anyone who reads this before I leave and wants some face time just let me know. This is the last post before the jump off!

-WJD

A Date Has Been Set

I start work on the 18th of February. On Friday, I received an email pretty much telling me that was my first day of work and reminding me what documents I needed to bring with me. I’m looking at booking a flight that would leave Boston on the 9th at 6:30 PM. After a quick flight to Newark I would then get on a plane bound for Singapore that would arrive at 6:45AM on the 11th. That’s right I leave the 9th and arrive on the 11th! It’s kind of insane to think that I am going to spend pretty much a full day on a plane. I am not looking forward to it. They better play a bunch of awesome movies or I better bring some sweet DVDs because I don’t know if I can sit that long without being entertained. Anyone have any good book or DVD suggestions?

I went to the dentist’s on Friday. 23 big years of cavity free teeth. So you can cross that off the list. I also lined up a doctors appointment at the International Clinic to make sure I’m in tip-top health before I go abroad even though I’ve been reading about how Singapore’s health care system is awesome. Maybe I’ll get some cosmetic work while I’m gone. A cleft chin could be just what my masculine jawline has always needed. Work also told me in the email that I need originals of all my educational documents so I guess I can cross “scan in my diploma” off the list as well. I think pretty much everyone knows I’m leaving now after putting out the old facebook A.P.B. so that’s done.

Besides the email, not too much fresh news on the Singapore front so I’d like to take some time plug the links on the left of the page.

Believe in Youth is an awesome site a friend of mine P.J. Scheufele has helped start. Every Sunday and Wednesday the site posts an inspirational article.

“BIY focuses on youth because now is the time to start to make our impression on the world that we live in. We can continue the path of destruction we are following or we can step up and make a difference for the better. We chronicle news around the world of people under the age of 30 stepping up.”

They have the stories that you wish were on the news everyday. Check it out every now and again.

The next site I think is one of the most important sites online and I only wish more people would use it. KIVA!!!!!!! In 2006, Muhammad Yunus won the nobel peace prize for being a “Banker to the Poor.” This man has the deep set belief that everyone deserves credit and should be able to receive a loan. Starting in the 1970′s, he lent his own money in small sums to basket weavers in his home country of Bangladesh. Since then, one person at a time he is ending poverty. KIVA is built on that model. You do not give a donation to someone, you give them a loan. KIVA will give them your money and as they pay the loan back KIVA gives you your money back. From the website:

“Kiva lets you connect with and loan money to unique small businesses in the developing world. By choosing a business on Kiva.org, you can “sponsor a business” and help the world’s working poor make great strides towards economic independence. Throughout the course of the loan (usually 6-12 months), you can receive email journal updates from the business you’ve sponsored. As loans are repaid, you get your loan money back. “

Even if you don’t decide to loan money the journal entries on the site are riveting and provide a slice of life you hardly ever think about.

The last site, The Young Americans Project, is also from a bud of mine named Matt Wiggins. Getting sponsorships from companies like North Face and Nantucket Nectars, Wiggs and three of his friends went to each of the lower 48 states in an RV and created a documentary. You can see from the quality of the website and the finished video footage that they did it right. I suggest everyone peruse the website and watch the videos because it really is a wonderful look at the zeitgeist of American youth.

If I find any other sites worthy of WWWJDD linkage I’ll toss them up on the left and let you know about it. Anyway, that’s all the fresh Singapore gossip. I think things could be a little slow for the week now that the jump off date was pushed back.

-Over and Out

My Preflight To-Do List

Obviously, I can’t just get up and go to Singapore without doing some chores. I’m not going to list the obvious ones like buy a plane ticket, pack, and go to the airport, however, there are some things that I’m going to put down so I don’t forget them and other people can use for reference. Some are obvious and some I might have to explain.

• Get a haircut. My hair is not long but it’s too long for tropical/business life.
• Go to the doctors.
• Go to the dentist.
• Scan my diploma. I heard it was good to have when abroad for business.
• Get a passport sized photo. I need it for my employment pass.
• Square away my finances.
• Cancel my cell phone service. Make a hard copy of important digits.
• Tell everyone I’m leaving!!!!

I will probably be adding to and editing this list as blast off approaches.

There are also some things I need to buy before the jump off.

• A new laptop. I’m leaning towards a 15” macbook pro.
• Some new sneaks. I hear my size (12) might be hard to find over there.
• Personal items. I’m talking razors, shampoo, toothbrush, and the like.
• Some electrical outlet converters. Singapore has 230 volts to our 120.
• Some sort of large travel/hiking backpack.

I can’t think of anything more at the moment but I’ll add to the list anything I do buy before blast off. As a little added bonus I’m thinking of going  short for my haircut.  Think Adam Levine. Just thought I’d toss that out there. Once I post some travel pics and video clips I’m sure you’ll understand.

-WWWJDD?

All Eyes on Me

I woke up to an email today that said my new company would like me in Singapore A.S.A.P. They will be paying for my flight and for a week in a hotel while I look for a place to live. It is starting to feel very real. I sold my car last week and it didn’t really hit me then. I still don’t think this decision has completely sunk in yet. I don’t feel nervous or apprehensive. Nor do I feel elated or confident. I guess I am cautiously optimistic with a feeling of underlying excitement.

Anyway, I have come to realize that many of the people who are going to be reading this don’t know anything about Singapore so I am going to try and crack an egg of knowledge on you.

First off, here is a map so you have an understanding of where exactly I will be.

Singapore is south of Thailand on the tip of Malaysia. Here are two more maps.

Here is some information that I find to be relevant to my readers and some other basic facts about Singapore:

• It is about 9500 miles from Boston to Singapore; the flight takes about a full day.
• It is 13 hours ahead of Boston. So, when its 8 AM here, it is 9PM there.
• It is both a city-state and an island.
• Its currency is the Singapore dollar. 1 dollar is about 1.50 Singapore dollars.
• It has no distinctive seasons and its temperatures range from 72-93 degrees.
• It’s population is 4.7 million of whom 3.7 million are Singaporean citizens.
• They speak English there.
• Singapore is famous for its food and shopping.

Any other questions or comments I get on this blog or in person I will try and answer on here. I have not decided on a specific date to leave yet. I will probably discuss it with my parents tonight and make some sort of decision. Tomorrow, I will also discuss what I actually have to do before I go along with sending out some sort of mass email letting people know what my plans are and about WWWJDD. In the words of the sage Lil’ Kim, “It’s the jump off.”

You are going where?

I am moving to Singapore. There I said it. I have accepted a job in Financial Sales and will be moving shortly. I’ll let you know the date. This blog is going to serve a couple of purposes. I hope, if nothing more, to chronicle my life in Singapore and travels around the Eastern Hemisphere. I also hope to keep friends and family updated on my (mis)adventures. There are some people out there (read: my mom) who are interested in what I’m up to. I am also writing this blog out of the goodness of my heart. During my deliberations of actually accepting this job and moving almost 10,000 miles, I read a couple of blogs written by Americans in Singapore. They were very helpful getting a perspective of daily life. Now, the next time someone is thinking of moving to Singapore they can ask themselves one question, “What Would William Joseph Doyle Do?”