I slept right on through until about 6am. Wow. That was pretty incredibly sleep. However, Rick woke up at midnight. He worked on some emails he needed to answer (no, we didn’t have internet – he was just answering some that he had already received.) Bless his heart, he didn’t get back to bed until nearly 4am. Again, you just can’t imagine what jet lag is like.
We ate a nice breakfast at the YMCA dining room. Again, there were things that would have been a lot better to me served at lunch or supper but Rick loved them all. So many different tastes and textures – it is really something.
We gathered up all of luggage and headed out to catch a taxi to take us to our new “temporary” home. It was moving in day! We got there and began to unpack all of our things. (There is no telling when we will be able to move into our own place so we might as well settle in here and get comfortable for awhile.)
All of our luggage was in good shape except for one. Now I blame myself because from all of the packing I have done in my lifetime, I should know to put things in Ziploc bags. However, I neglected to put this particular item in one and I am so sorry! And you will never guess what it was – one can of my favorite GFIC coffee – French vanilla! That was going to be my treat to myself. Oh, well. I don’t know if I was sorry that I wasn’t going to get the coffee or that it had gotten all over everything in that suitcase. Guess what was in that suitcase – all of our DVDs and CDs – and Rick’s clothes, of course! It was like sand and all of the DVDs and CDs had to be hand washed and air dried! Poor Rick. He volunteered for the job and it took him several hours to complete this one bag! But he finally got it done.
Around 10am we headed back out for another exploration. Rick had another mall in mind – and we were going to look for a simple cell phone to buy without a contract just to get us through until we have our resident permit. This mall has four stories and I think you could be in there a week and still never go in all of them!
One of the most fascinating places we went was the “food court” for lunch. All around the sides there were all kinds of Asian food booths. There were pictures on the wall of the different items available. We walked all the way around and STILL didn’t know what we wanted. Finally, we just got something and looked for a place to sit down. It was pretty good food and there was a whole lot in one portion so I was glad we just shared the one.
After lunch we walked around the mall more. This particular mall is called Suntec and it has A LOT of computer and cell phone stores in it. By the end of the day we were the new owners of a simple cell phone (which is being charged up right now!) We went outside to catch a taxi home and saw the line of people waiting for a taxi. It was so orderly (not anything what we experienced in Africa). We probably stood in line 45 minutes before it was “our turn” to get the taxi. When we arrived at our apartment I literally thought I was going to have to drag my own self to the door. By the way, we live on the 8th floor (there is an elevator!) We came home and put away the few things we had purchased (shampoo, soap, yogurt, granola, etc.)
Rick still needed to “top off” our bus cards for tomorrow and he wanted to pick us up something for supper. Meanwhile, I took a hot bath – that did wonders for me. Soon he came home with the topped off cards and supper – rice with some kind of sauce and some kind of fried shrimp cakes. They hit the spot and now I am ready to hit the hay! Tomorrow is another big day!
