The First Week in Our Adopted Country: Part 1

...has flown by so quickly!

Whoa! I've just realized I've been neglecting my blog and your regular updates! ...things have been mixed up quite a bit and it's taken me about a week to start to settle into a new routine. I think.

Where shall I begin? ...I guess picking up where we left off is a start?

Last Wednesday, we finally left Cape Town... it was quite a whirlwind, trying to settle everything there before leaving forever (or rather, for a very long time, coz who knows when we might be back again?)

We were exhausted already by the time we boarded the flight, and little did we know that after 2 hours of flying, we were STILL in South Africa when the SQ flight stopped off in Jo'burg to pick up more passengers. We were told it was a "direct" flight - who the heck knew "direct" means they can stop off somewhere else to pick up people and whoever's on the original flight can't disembark while they do this!

Kelly was on the phone pretty much the whole time, pacing up and down while saying his final goodbyes. Damn, he's got a lot of friends!


It was kinda cool being on a Singapore Airlines flight. It reminded me of home, especially when the flight attendants opened their mouths. I find the Super-Singaporean Ah Lian accent damn funny and almost always giggled to myself when they spoke coz I was reminded of the joke when someone was offered "Excuse me sir, would you like some sauce on your balls?"


We had a 2-hour transit in Changi Airport and had to transfer from Terminal 2 to Terminal 3. I hadn't actually missed home before, but being at the airport, taking the Sky Train and seeing the ECP highway but not stopping off at home made the experience extremely surreal. And that's when I really missed home.


I didn't stop off this time coz Kelly's new company's paying for our first month in a serviced apartment, so ever the practical me figured that while the first month's rent was covered I might as well hit the ground running in Sydney and go straight into apartment hunting. Once a lease is signed then I can stop off at home again and this time spend a proper, good few weeks there.

Anyhow, it was close enough to home where we could ENJOY THE FOOD! It was 7.30am, we'd been fed a gazilion times on the plane already, but we headed straight to Prima Deli in T3 and discovered the shiok-est thing on the menu: a sampler set of 3 dishes!


Kelly had Kai-See Mien (Chicken Noodles) with an extra side of Kai Lan, while I went straight for the sampler of Mee Siam, Laksa and Chicken Rice. It was a disgustingly heavy, greasy breakfast... but what the heck, I'd been waiting a whole year for this! Now I can understand why Erik, my Dutch ex-boss, used to look at me funny whenever I had mee siam for breakfast. After 2 years in Cape Town and eating the healthier, European route of muesli & yoghurt every morning, it's quite a sight to behold such heavy, hearty food for breakfast.



We're still bleary-eyed from the flight but scoffing our faces!


After we were done with "breakfast", Kelly, in true Singaporean fashion, turns to me and says "I wonder if they've got Kopi Siu Tai and Kaya Toast?" Wah lao! ...so off we traipsed to find a Ya Kun but stumbled on Toast Box instead.

(Check that huge slab of butter!)

I was feeling too ill to have anything more, so it was just Kelly on his own. Sic!


Finally, we got to Sydney and because the serviced apartment we were supposed to be at was fully booked for the first 2 days we were in town, we were put up in a different place in Kings Cross first. It was a tiny, boutique serviced apartment, more like a glorified hotel room.



By the time we arrived, it was Thursday night, and we pretty much spent the next few days like it was a holiday, walking through the city. Yay! We can do this without being harassed by bergies (homeless people) nor looking over our shoulders the whole time (I've just become a little paranoid, especially when I've been going out with Mr. Super-Paranoid himself, who's always reminding me to check this and lock that and look again, etc.)

I made him stand next to this.


Birds bathing in the fountain.


Of course, the Harbour Bridge. Check out the whopper size of that cruise liner too! (especially in relation to the bridge)



The first night, Kelly's boss took us out to have drinks at the Opera Bar - yes, the bar in the basement of the Opera House. Then, we had tapas at one of the swish restaurants on Woolloomooloo Wharf. The next night, he took us out again to see a jazz show at The Basement, a live jazz music venue, with a different line-up every weekend. If my dad ever comes to visit, this is definitely a place I'd take him to!

We watched a band play covers from Steely Dan. Imagine that. To be known as the Steely Dan cover band! I'm not into that music, but really got into it coz they were such great musicians. Live gigs are the best!

We finally moved into our proper serviced apartment, this will be home for the next month or so. It's a sweet little studio just off Woolloomooloo Wharf.



I've just realized how long this post has become now, so I'll save the update on the rest of our first week for tomorrow. Plus, I'm tired and heading to bed (been waking up between 3.30am - 5.30am every single night since we've been here and not being able to sleep again).

Will have more news on our apartment hunt and the different options we've been considering in the next post... Gnite! x