Just Take My Card!

I am writing this because sometimes life in Singapore gets frustrating. Today’s frustrating example is with payments at retail shops. This has happened to me so many times here I think it is endemic. Sometimes, when I go to pay my card gets declined, except not really. What really happens is that the cashiers are not familiar with the myriad of payment devices at their register, they don’t understand all of the different payment mechanisms from around the world, and they don’t know how to process your card. Yesterday’s example, though, was a surprisingly poor showing on the cashier’s part because it was a local card. This is why I always carry cash on me here, because you never know what you will encounter at the register, or if they will have a minimum charge amount to use a card.

First, let me start with an explanation of what seems to be going on here, and because my husband is in payments, I think I have a good grasp of the problem. One local payment system here is called NETS, and it is kind of like a debit card network. This is what the local folks seem to prefer. They also have a visa/MasterCard machine which processes transactions through that system. In addition, they also have a separate register terminal, which is not integrated at all through the payment processing machines. When the cashier processes your payment, he or she has to know which type of card you have, and its origin will determine how it is run through the machine. Cards throughout most of the world have a microchip in them, and the cashier will insert the microchip into the card reader and the payment should process no problem. The US, however, doesn’t have that technology in most of its cards, and instead they rely on entering a 3 digit code on the back of the card.

Normally, when a cashier has trouble processing my card, it is because it is one of my US based cards and they are unfamiliar with the 3 digit code procedure. I always watch to see which machine they are using, and if they seem stumped, I explain it to them. Yesterday, however, I was using my local Citibank debit Visa, with a microchip, and the cashier still kept getting it declined. Unfortunately, she was using machines that were way under the counter that I couldn’t see so I couldn’t help her out. I try to use this card for my local purchases because I don’t have to pay a foreign fee for my transaction. So here I was trying to pay for our steaks at the butcher, and the total was only $31. I knew there was a lot of money in that account, and it was an operator error, but she got too flustered and I didn’t have any cash on me. Instead, I whipped out my US Citibank debit card and paid with that, and the transaction went through. What is irritating about that, though, is rather than paying $31, now I had to pay an exchange fee and a foreign fee on top of that, so my $31 steaks probably cost $35. In the land of expensive groceries, you don’t need any extra fees on top of your already too pricey food.

Of course, when I got home, I checked my bank account online, and sure enough, there was much more than enough to pay for the $31 steaks. At the time, I was having paranoid thoughts that maybe someone had stolen my card and wiped out our account. Now I am just annoyed that the cashier couldn’t figure out how to use a local card and I had to pay an extra fee. If only it was unusual, but instead this sort of thing happens all the time. Sistic can’t process US based cards online, they always get declined. I have to go in and buy tickets there and help them process the card. I’ve run into similar problems with Jetstar. My doctor’s office couldn’t process my card once, and I had to go and withdraw money from an ATM and come back. It took me half an hour, because I had to call them and get my daily limit raised (this was for a $1500 bill). Embarrassing!

Mostly, I find the easiest thing to do is to use my local Citibank debit Visa for most purchases, and carry about $200 in cash around so I have a backup, plus make sure I have a couple of credit cards in my wallet just in case so I have plenty to try. It is embarrassing, though, to have to go through a couple of cards to pay for your $31 steaks, especially when the issue is not your available funds. We have a US based Citibank account, and I can transfer funds from the US account, where our paycheck gets deposited, instantaneously into the Singapore Citibank account. Then I try to spend in local currency and withdraw in local currency, minimizing the fees. I can also pay the utilities and cable bill online this way. The other advantage of the local Citibank card is you get 1% cash back at Cold Storage, so at the end of the month I get about $20 credited back to my account. This system mostly works for us, with a glitch here and there. A local NETS card would probably be more advantageous, but I wonder how to easily get your money from your US based account to the local account electronically? Most of the time I want the money transferred now, not in three days via ACH.

So that’s our system, folks. If you have one that works better, by all means share your ideas!

On Guns and Physical Safety

When I first moved to Singapore, I was a little frightened of moving to a place where they execute people for importing firearms and drugs. Not that we have anything to worry about, since we didn’t have these things in our home in places where it was legal. I’m just not much of a fan of capital punishment, mostly because I think it is too easy to convict innocent people. I guess that’s the lawyer in me. However, that being said, now that I have moved here and I enjoy the freedom of living without the threat of gun violence and drug war fare, I have to admit that it opens up a new level of peace and safety inside you.

Last night we went to see the latest Batman movie, and, as an American and a human being, my thoughts and heart turned to the victims of the Aurora, Colorado mass murder. I couldn’t help but think it could have been me, or my six year old, or my husband, in that theater because you really never know when a crazy will do something like that. Yet instead, here I am in Singapore, where there are no guns, and I realized that actually it won’t happen here. We are safer. Nobody will invade our homes, shoot up our children in school, kill a dozen or more people in a crowded restaurant or movie theater, go “postal” on my husband at work, or any of those things because guns are not a threat here. I can leave the door to my apartment unlocked. I can sleep on the patio (if not for snakes). I can go for a jog at midnight and not worry for my physical safety. There is something to be said for that.

It makes me think that maybe the US could do a lot more to limit gun access and ensure the safety of its citizens. For example, why was this guy able to ship large quantities of explosives, ammunition and gas to his apartment? Who needs explosives besides mining companies and government entities? Why should gas canisters be a right?

As an attorney, I studied constitutional law in law school, and believe me, I understand it is part of the Constitution. However, I believe that those framing the Constitution back then had a different set of worries on their minds. They we worried about being able to defend themselves militarily, against an oppressive government. The thought of criminals toting handguns and automatic weapons, gang warfare and mass murder probably were not even on their minds.

I grew up in a family that hunts, and I understand the draw. In fact, I have been to deer camp and I have learned to shoot a rifle and a handgun. I’m not so bad, either, and I can knock a beer can off a fence post. I love duck, pheasant, grouse, venison, elk, moose and even bear. I was raised in the south, and in Alaska, both big hunting regions of the country. I lived in Texas for five years. I get it. Yet, at the same time, I hate feeling insecure in a dark parking lot, I hate running from my car to my front door for fear that someone is lurking in my bushes with a handgun, and I hate locking my doors when driving through East Oakland. I even had an uncle who died in a hunting accident when he was only 14 who I never got to meet.

Once you are away from the threat for 11 months, you relax, you can breathe, and you realize just how tense you were back home. I am not scared anymore. I sleep well at night. My kids are safe. Isn’t physical safety something the guns are designed to protect, and if so, why do I feel so much safer without them? Maybe if nobody had handguns you wouldn’t need a handgun in your house to protect your family. Batman had a no guns rule. What’s wrong with a fair fight?

More Summer Fun with Camp Mom

Last week was another fun week with the kids. We checked off four more things from our list, and the kids had a great time. Here are the activities we hit last week:

Snow City

Singapore is all about outrageous fun, and finding Snow City here is quite a treat for the island dwellers. Located next to the Singapore Science Centre and run by the same folks (albeit with a different admission price and tickets are only sold at Snow City), it is a small indoor snow park. They have jackets to loan, as well as gloves and boots to rent. After donning your winter gear, a sweaty feat in the tropics, you enter into the snow chamber. To our surprise, there was a snow hill that kids and adults alike can tube down. The snow is not sticky enough to make a snow ball, but we had fun throwing snow on each other anyway. Bring an extra pair of shoes for later, and make sure you are wearing closed toed shoes before entering, because your shoes will get soaked. Without proper shoes your feet will be freezing. We paid for one hour, which was plenty. By the end, the four year old was crying to leave, she was too cold. The six year old could have stayed another half hour, but she still got her fill in just one hour.

Ice Skating

Located on the first floor of the Marina Bay Sands shopping mall, the ice skating rink was a blast for the six year old. The two of us rented skates for an hour, and I had to buy yet another pair of socks, and despite her having never skated and my having not skated in over 35 years, we did quite alright. The skating rink is not real ice, but rather a synthetic ice surface. I think for a first timer, this was probably a good thing, as we could sit or fall on the ice without getting our seat wet. We both really enjoyed it, so much so that Kate begged me to find her ice skating lessons and to take her to a real ice skating rink. The only negative was being so open, in the middle of the mall, made us feel a bit intimidated by the number of people watching us try. However, after about 15 minutes or so we got the hang of it. For the two of us, we spent about S$25. We topped it off with pizza at Mozza, the famous LA pizza place.

Fidgets

We decided to go to Fidgets, rather than its pricier competitors Amazonia and GoGoBambini, to save a little money. Fidgets is located in the second floor in the back of Turf City. It is located in the most run down dump of a place that is undergoing renovation, making finding the indoor play space quite a challenge. As you approach, the thought crosses your mind that perhaps it is not safe to let your kids play here, as the building is crumbly and deteriorated. However, inside is nicely done and the children love the play space. They also have a restaurant so parents can enjoy a latte while the kiddos play. I wouldn’t say it is the cleanest place, and the carpets are old and dingy, but the kids enjoyed it and so did my wallet.

Crafting Fun

Sometimes you have to stay home, and on one particularly rainy day we decided to stay home and do crafts. We have a few of those Creativity for Kids sets, and we decided to make some things at home. Kate, in particular, loves to make things, and Isabel is beginning to have some confidence in her artistic abilities too. It was the perfect way to spend a rainy afternoon.

Camp Mom – Singapore Summer Holiday Fun

It’s summertime, and rather than sending my kids off to camp for the summer, we do what I like to call Camp Mom. I like Camp Mom better than traditional summer camp, because it works better with my schedule. We can sleep late, plan our day on the fly according to the weather and our friends’ schedules, and leave the house after a lazy breakfast and a couple of cartoons. People ask me what we do for Camp Mom, and basically we do all of the amazing things there are to do with children in Singapore that our normal school schedule doesn’t allow. Unlike back in the States, late June, July and most of August finds the local kids in school, so there aren’t the crowds you get on the weekends. A huge amount of the expat kids are back home for the summer too, so it is really the best time to do kid things in Singapore.

On the first day of summer vacation, the kids and I created a list of things to do this summer, and vowed to check off two to three things a week from our list. It is a long list, but we have 10 weeks, so hopefully we can squeeze in everything we would like to do. We have been out of school three weeks, and here are the activities we’ve done so far, in order of the things my kids wanted to do first:

• Universal Studios We are big fans of amusement parks, and had annual passes at Disneyland California, so it was only natural that we’d buy annual passes to Universal Studios. This was the first thing the kids wanted to do this summer, so off to Universal Studios we went. The girls are four and six, and there is plenty for them to do. They love the Dragon Coaster in Far Far Away, the Madagascar boat ride (although it pales in comparison to Pirates of the Carribean), the Jurassic Rapids Adventure, and the Treasure Hunters car ride.
  



• Port of Lost Wonder The pirate ship themed water play area at Port of Lost Wonder offers water slides, water sprays, sand and children’s activities. It is small scale, meant for the 10 and under set, and would not be mistaken for a thrill ride place. It is more of a place to take your youngsters to play in the water and beat the heat while you relax in the shade. The best part is they have a decent restaurant that has good sandwiches, pizza, burgers and beer.
  
  
  
  
• Palawan Beach When your kids bore of Port of Lost Wonder six hours later, you can take them for a stroll along Palawan Beach. It has restaurants, bars, playgrounds, a river for playing, a swinging bridge and even a lookout tower. It’s swimming area is in a protected cove, so the water is calm, and the sand is nice and soft. There are even shade trees if you and the little ones need a nap.
  
  



• Singapore Science Centre The kids will love the Singapore Science Centre. There is truly something for all ages, from a splash and play section for the little ones (bring your swimsuits), to a planet exhibit geared toward older children with an earthquake shaking room, a typhoon room and a volcano. Bring your winter clothes and experience the snow park, enjoy an IMAX movie, have lunch in the cafe, and learn about the world. We bought a membership for our family of four for only S$50!
  
  
  



• Singapore Zoo I have raved about the awesomeness of the Singapore Zoo before. It is one of my favorite zoos ever, and I have been to quite a few around the world. My favorite parts of this zoo are the open feel to the animal exhibits, which seems so natural, the tamarind and orangutan exhibits which feel like you are in the jungle and happened upon these amazing creatures, the kids splash and play area, of course (and desperately necessary after a day of mad sweating in the heat), and the shady jungle feel to the entire park.
  
  
  



• Jurong Bird Park The often ignored sister park to the Singapore Zoo (and incuded in the membership), the Jurong Bird Park is quieter, smaller and more manageable than the zoo, but truly unique and worthwhile. Sometimes we go just to play in the splash play zone called Birdz of Play, and being members affords you that luxury. It is a newer splash and play area, with slides, spray guns and even a few token sunshades to keep the kids from getting massive sunburns. My kids are happy to play in this splash and play area for two to three hours. The other really worthwhile exhibits are the World of Darkness with a really cool owl exhibit, including the Harry Potter Snowy Owls, as well as an exhibit that lets you feel the lories. We actually hit the Jurong Bird Park twice in the last three weeks.

This summer I will post more about Camp Mom as we go along, because mostly we are making it up on the fly. The kids are having a great time, and so am I!

End of the School Year – It’s a Wrap!

At the end of the week our kids finish up the school year.  I can’t believe what a year we’ve had.  It has been an exciting school year for all involved.  Katherine is finishing up Grade One and Isabel finishes up Kindergarten 1.  What an amazing educational experience these two have had!

When we arrived in Singapore, Katherine was a bit behind.  Apparently her California Distinguished School left her ill prepared for international schooling.  She spent the first half of the year catching up on her reading and math skills to grade level, at least as defined by her peers here.  Ironically, last year I was told she was doing really well in school, so it was a bit of a surprise to find her behind.  Now she is ahead of grade level. She reads crazy fast, not quite as well as an adult, but not much stumps her.   Oddly, I feel like she completely skipped the sounding out phase, like it just clicked one day and she got it.

Isabel has learned so much in KG1, and I really look forward to seeing what she does next year.  This year she started reading, learned to spell simple words, learned addition and subtraction up to 5, and her writing has improved by leaps and bounds.  Next year she will be in KG2, which is the equivalent to kindergarten in the States.  She is ripe for learning, I can just tell.  Her teacher has really sparked her interest.

Even more amazing has been the daily language classes.  My kids are learning Mandarin, and Kate has an hour a day.  Isabel gets it three times a week.  They are making huge strides in their class and I love hearing them speak it!

What impresses me most about the school is their focus on making kids inquirers.  They don’t just shovel information to them.  They encourage them to ask questions and take risks.  I think they both seem more academically confident, and I don’t think it’s just their age.  I think the school has challenged them and they have risen to the challenge.  I love seeing kids excited to learn!

Our plans for the summer are a bit up in the air.  We may go to New York and Maryland for a few weeks.  We may stay here and travel locally.  This week the kids and I came up with a list of must do activities for the summer.  Our goal is to hit three a week.  First on the list, the Bird Park.

We are looking forward to an exciting summer!

Traveling Asia with Kids – Hong Kong

Peacock sculpture at the Galaxy resort complex

Last week we took a much needed trip to Hong Kong and Macau. It was both fun and interesting! Joel had a trip to both places already planned, so we tagged along. He had traveled so much in the last month that I think he needed some family time.

We arrived in Hong Kong and took the ferry over to Macau. I have traveled

quite a bit in my day, and normally I am pretty good at navigating around a town. I’ve even stayed in Hong Kong before! This trip, however, I spent a lot of time lost. My first mistake was that I didn’t realize the direct ferry to Macau from Hong Kong airport is BEFORE immigration. Of course, I figured this out only after passing through customs and immigration. It didn’t help that the kids were pulling on me and distracting me throughout the airport. I had traveled alone, Joel was already safely in the hotel missing the drama. Because of this one teeny little mistake, my journey from the airport to Macau took three hours instead of one, and cost me an extra $50

plus effort. We took a taxi from the airport to the main ferry terminal, and took the turbojet to Macau. Wow, it was a lot like Vegas!

We stayed at the Banyan Tree, which was amazing. It was full of Thai furnishings and was truly a luxurious stay. The Banyan Tree is part of the larger Galaxy Casino complex, and there were shops, restaurants, a movie theater, and even a gorgeous rooftop pool and garden complete with a sandy wave pool, sprinklers for the little ones, hot tubs, a butterfly garden, and Japanese style gardens.

Beautiful mosaic tiles of sea creatures lined the sidewalks in the Portuguese influenced section of Macau.

The first day we explored the hotel, had a fabulous brunch at the hotel, and did some shopping. The second day we took a free shuttle to downtown and saw old-style Macau with its Portuguese influence. It was really an interesting blend of cultures, and a far cry from the casino. Not surprisingly, there were plenty of shops you’d recognize from your own neighborhood mall, like the Body Shop. Sigh. When did chains take over the world?

The third day we went back to Hong Kong and stayed the rest of the time at the Renaissance Harbour View. While you wouldn’t call it luxurious or amazing, it was fine for our purposes. The downside was the rooms were not very family friendly. They had a two single bed option or a king option. We opted for a king and a rollaway bed for Kate. We crammed it into the space between the bed and the window, so it was almost like one big family bed. Oh joy!

Tarzan's treehouse is situated on an island accessible by rafts like Tom Sawyer's island in Disneyland.

The first thing the crowd wanted to do is go to Disneyland. I have a confession to make. Those of you who do not know me well may not know this, but we are a family of Disney geeks. We just love Disneyland, Disney World, and even their vacation resorts. It was only fitting that we should spend not one, but TWO days at Disneyland. In fact, had they bothered to sell three day tickets, we probably would have gone back for a third. We would have run out of things to see, though.

This was our third Disney resort. We have also been a few times to Disney World in Orlando and more times than I can remember to Disneyland California. We were annual pass holders. Hong Kong Disneyland is like Disney lite. It is missing the really marquis items, like Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, the Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan and the Matterhorn. The only thrill ride is Space Mountain. For a four and six year old, however, it was heaven. They got to see Mickey’s Philharmagic, which they had forgotten in the three years since Disney World. The HK version of the Jungle Cruise was actually pretty good, with better animatronic animals. Had we been able to understand our cruise director it would have been better. It’s a Small World was considerably smaller. There were even some new rides and an entire kids area devoted to Toy Story, with a slinky dog ride and an army parachute drop.

Unlike the US Disneys, HK Disney hasn’t done much to improve the food for children, and quite frankly, the food was one of the reasons I didn’t want to go back. After two days of schlepping around Disneyland in the rain, with hungry cranky kids hyped up on sugar, I couldn’t do it again. There were no yogurt power packs, no decent pizza, and no real options for Western families. It was very Asian oriented, and probably rightly so. However, Disney is Disney and we expect at least a pizza when we are there. The only pizza kids meal had bell peppers and corn on it. I had to scrape the veggies off for the kids, and they still wouldn’t eat it! What a waste. I don’t think the kids ate anything except for lollipops and fruit the entire two days we were there.

On our third day in Hong Kong, we went to Ocean Park. It was really quite lovely. It wasn’t new and “perfect” like Disneyland, but it was a lot like Fairyland in Oakland, CA, kind of an older 50s style park that had been updated somewhat. It had rides, an aquarium, Pandas, a goldfish exhibit, and an old style Hong Kong streetscape where the kids could pretend to be fruit vendors or bird market vendors. The food was again horrific, some of the worst Asian food I have had in the nine months since we’ve been here. I think I’m a little spoiled by Singapore’s foodie culture. The park itself was nice and easy, though. That evening we went to the Peak Tram, because it is an experience you have to tick off, and we had dinner at Bubba Gumps, because quite frankly, I needed something with a taste of Louisiana. As a family we have always liked to do walking tours of places, and despite the fact that it was 11 pm by the time we finished our dinner, we decided to walk back to our hotel, from the top of the Peak Tram to the Harbour. As nutty as it sounds, the walk was quiet and peaceful, and we got to see an area of Hong Kong that we wouldn’t normally see. The walk took three hours, and we crashed in bed the moment we got back.

Our last day we decided to visit the bird market and the flower market. My favorite was the bird market. I guess it started a long time ago with old men getting together in a square to admire each other’s birds. Now it has expanded to be sellers of bird ware, such as cages, seeds, feeding dishes, and of course, the birds, as well as dozens of Chinese men and their birds. The kids absolutely loved it. I had been there before, and had regretted not buying one of the decorative bird cages. I am now the proud owner of my own hand carved rosewood bird cage. I got two fake birds to go with it. Gorgeous!

Overall, we had a great time on our trip. We all saw new things and enjoyed the visit a lot. I wonder where we’ll go next?

Yummy Miso Soup

My nutritionist encouraged me to make homemade miso soup at home for a healthy lunch, so today I gave it a try. I should have taken a photo, but I already ate it! It was delicious! I will take a photo next time. This recipe is quick and simple! I found organic miso paste in they refrigerated section of Fairprice’s Finest on Bukit Timah. It comes in a plastic tub. I have heard Whole Foods in the States carries a similar item.

Easy Miso Soup

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups water
2-3 ounces chicken or tofu, sliced
1tsp olive oil
2 TBSP miso paste
1/2 cup fresh spinach, washed
1 green onion, sliced

Sautee the chicken or tofu in olive oil in a small skillet until cooked thoroughly. Boil the water in a medium saucepan. Ladle about 1/2 cup of the water into a small bowl. Add the miso paste to the reserved water and dissolve. Add the chicken or tofu to the boiling water in the saucepan and cook 2 minutes. Add the vegetables, cook another 2 minutes until the spinach is just wilted. Pour the reserved water and miso into the saucepan, stir and serve hot.