Update 24 July 2008

Ed went to work today and Western Appliance sent the washer and dryer. Today is my 1st official day doing my laundry and it worked perfectly, yay! Then came the rest of the furniture for Sam from Cort. They delivered her dresser, mirror and 2 night stands and now, Sam has a complete room set and it looks good for a steal of a price at US$600. Unfortunately, 1 of the single seater sofa (we ordered 2) was torn on the side so, it was rejected by me but I accepted the 3-seater and 1 single seater. These 2 costs US$800. Ed’s L-shape table was not available so, we cancelled it. The 4 lamps looks acceptable and as always, with our lives, the office chair that was delivered was also torn at the back so, it got rejected and they’ll bring a new one tomorrow. At the rate we are going, we’re never going to have complete sets of furniture we bought coz there’s always something wrong somewhere, arghhhhh….

Ed came back from work about 4.30pm and as promised, he took us to Eastridge mall to buy our mobile phones. I can use back my Dopod and my new mobile number is 1-408-597 7778 while Sam got herself a Samsung 737 slider phone and her number is 1-408-597 7339. We wanted an iPhone but was advised against it coz apparently, it’s not as good as everyone thinks of it to be. The only advantage is that it has 3G but it can’t send pictures or videos in MMS and cannot forward sms-es but the good news for you guys in Msia is that apparently, we’ve checked and they say we can get the phone without subscribing to a call plan. The 8GB is going for US$499 and 16GB for US$599. But I gotta check with Apple coz this guy who sold us our mobile phones is working for AT&T and until I hear it from someone reliable, don’t be too happy that I can buy yet ok?

Now, as I sit here typing this log away, I have come to realization that life will never be the same again. Just found out that our shipment won’t come in till next week. Can’t bear eating out anymore coz food here are not as colorful and flavorful as those back home. Maybe I am just not used to it. To me a sandwich is a sandwich no matter whether it is subway or club or whatever they call it here.

I am so boringly tired that I wanted to tell Sam the story about how we slap each other whenever we see a “singh” and I forgot that it’s called a turban and told Sam that “it’s the bump on the head.” That’s how “mor” I am.

And talking about living in dinosaur age in Pg, over here, I can’t believe it that we signed up for broadband services with AT&T and it’ll take them 5 days/3 biz days before they can activate it, duh!!!

Also, I need to compile a list of vocabulary they use here coz we call it a boot and they call it a trunk. We call it a plaster and they call it a Band Aid. We call it a tap and they call it a faucet. We call it bolsters and they call it body pillowsand the list goes on. You don’t want me to start on it otherwise, you’ll be online the whole night just reading about it.

When you talk to these people, if you use a different term, they’ll give you long stare and I know I’m mixed up alright!!! But the good side is that these people here are very helpful and even though they don’t sell the things you want, they can always refer you somewhere else. They are just not afraid of competition. Back home, the usual retort I get is, “Out of stock”.

What else is different? Well, for starters, they drive on the wrong side of the road ie. on the left. They have lots of choices for everything under the sky. I went to Target to buy some bedsheets for our new mattresses and they have things ranging from fitted sheets to flat sheets to flannel sheets to bedskirts to shams to comforters to goose down comforters to bedspreads to godzillion of choices so much so, I was overwhelmed. They have our conventional comforter sets and they have sizes from full to double to queen to king to California king to oversized. Frankly, I just want to buy a quilted goose down comforter but hey, they don’t come in sets. Which means, I have to buy everything separately. In the end, bought a fitted sheet, a goose down comforter and a set of duvet cover that comes with pillow shams. Sam’s set costs $151.97 while our Cal King set costs $164.97, ouch!

And when Ed called for TV services, they give you so many packages, in the end, I think if you’re b’ng by the time they finish, you’ll probably sign up for everything. Ah, but we’re smart. We check on the net 1st and then call them. That way, we won’t get overwhelmed and say “yes” to everything.

And I went to Body shop to get lip balm and came out with 6 more items because with membership, one has to cumulate 8 pts to renew the membership and if you buy less than $50, u get 1 pt and if you buy above $50, u get 2 pts and membership comes with 10% discount and on my birthday, can walk into any Body Shop and buy 1 item for only US$10. U can betcha I will go and buy the most expensive item in the store! Talk abt being kiasu, hahaha. And I spent $49.36 so, gotta go pick another item to make $50 so I can get 2 pts. Oh! Man, what a drag.
And talk about choices, even where food is concerned, they have godzillion of choices if you were to have dressing for your salad. They have from thousand island to French to Italian to blue cheese, honey mustard and you name it, they have it all. And they take it for granted that we know them all, they will just blabber it off and I’ll be in a daze at the end of it that I’ll have her repeat it slowly again and then decide what I want. So, in other words, DON’T EAT SALAD, too many choices!!!

They will also give you a store card for purchases above x amount and if I were to sign up for every each one of them, I’ll probably have more than my fair share of cards. Or worst still, I need a new wallet to store all my useless cards. You name it, they have it all. Target Card, JC Penny Card, Macy’s Card etc etc.

Over here, it’s all about credit. If you have no credit standing, if you apply for any bank cards, it’ll get rejected. I was offered an Amex for free (you know me lah, being the cheapskate I am, anything free is a yes answer) at Costco (that’s the only card they accept at Costco apart from cash) but got rejected becos they cannot check my credit rating s I had none. Just received my HSBC credit card in the mail yday so, hope to use it today. With all the BIG things we are buying now, the credit limit was reached very soon after 2 items with Ed’s card. After that, we had to switch to Msian credit card. What a drag….

But above it all, for those of you who like shopping, it’ll be heaven on earth here coz there’s just so much “toys” one can buy. It’s the fear of not having enough money to spend it all on shopping coz the variety is just awesome.

Also, the people here talks very fast. The guy whom we bought the mobile phones from talked so fast, I could barely get a question in and half of the things he said was in one ear, out the other. And most people here speaks very fast and it’s hard for me to understand them. But it was so ironical that on day 1 I was shopping for furniture at Cort, this lady came up to me and asked, “Are you Msian?” And I replied, “yes, how did you know”. She said I sounded like one. She was from Johor and have stayed here for over 10 years. She told me to go to Craigs List to look for things coz they are cheaper there. Hmm.. I’ve learnt a lesson here: “good things, no cheap, cheap things, no good.”

Also, it’s ok to be stupid and ask questions if one don’t understand and they are actually a patient lot or they just love to talk. I think it’s more of the latter. So, trick here is ASK if you don’t understand and they’ll be delighted to tell a short story long just to make you understand. I love this coz over here, I seem to be less of a chatter boxer compared to when I am at home.

Another uneventful day, hahaha... just a lot of blabbering from my end....