Our corner of Singapore

                                                           Front view of the house

As promised, pictures of our new home.  I guess technically I don't consider this "our home" since we are renting  and there's a pretty high chance that we'll have to move to another location in Singapore when this lease expires in 2 years, but here it is!  I backed up as far as I could to get the front into the shot.  If I backed up any further, I'd be beyond the gate blocking the neighbor across the street.  (See, our gate to the driveway is open!) We are on a corner, so there are no neighbors to the right of the picture.  The brown gate and fence wrap all the way around the house to the right and behind.   The neighbors to the left, Cara and Brian, are friends.  I wish I could have backed up a bit so you could see how close we all are.  Cara and Brian are just to the left...like the edge of the picture is the retaining walls and fences between our houses.  Also, I love the row of palm trees in the front.  There are 5  (you can't see 2) , one for each of us.  Behind those trees is the pool.

                                                          The hearse

 Here is a shot standing on the driveway, looking right.  The door up the few steps and beyond is our front door.  Here is a good shot of "the hearse" which is what we call my car, er, van.  It is a Honda Odyssey.  No comments on the color. We didn't really have a choice, okay?  I'm not trying to replicate my Peoria life here!!  (Turns out my neighbors Cara and Alain have the exact same Odyssey, color and all!)   I actually would have preferred the Toyota Picnic, but Jim thinks I'll be carting around kids and friends and therefore will need the extra space that the Odyssey offers.  So far that hasn't been the case, but we'll see.   I'm not bitter.  A car is a car.  Especially when it isn't permanent! (And he has been warned that the turning radius of the hearse is much worse than the shorter Picnic.  Future dings with the hearse are inevitable!)

  

This is the view from the front porch looking toward the driveway gate.  Maybe you can catch a glimpse of Cara's house....It's white and above the white retaining wall with the bushes.

                                                            Welcome to the Chaos!

This is our front door.  See how we take off our shoes and leave them outside like a good Chinese family?  This is all fine and good until it rains and the shoes get damp.  No fun going squish, squish, squish all day.

                                                             The pool

Here's the freezing cold pool.  You can't see part of the pool.  It is L shaped and wraps around the porch I'm standing on.  If you go way back to the front view of the house, you'll see a set of stairs on the left of the photo up the drive.  If you go up those steps, you are on the patio here with the pool.  The windows you see in this picture are the family room.  We are still shopping for pool loungers.

So that is part one of our house.  I have some pictures from the walk home from school coming soon.  It will give you a feel for the neighborhood.

'TIl next time,

Vicki :)