Days 1

After some last minute purchases including an internet camera and magic jack so I can talk with friends and from home, I head to the airport for my 22 hour journey from New York to Singapore. Because of the time difference although I leave the airport on Wednesday at 9:30pm, I don't actually arrive in Singapore until Friday 6:30am. Unfortunately there are no direct flights on Wednesday, so I have a small layover in Frankfort (I've never been to Germany but I don't think this counts). Now, there is a lot of hoopla about Singapore Airlines and how ridiculously good they are. Now I'm not going to complain but sorry Victor, it pales in comparison with Virgin. To be fair, it was an older plane so the seats did not go totally flat and they weren't extra wide. What SingAir did have though was Mr. Dobbs Franks an internationally renowned conductor who was seated next to me on my flight. Born in America, but living in Australia for the last two decades he fly's around the world conducting different symphonies and orchestras. He was extremely gregarious and kept on referring to me as his grandson to the stewardess. At the end of the journey, he gave me his contact info and invited me to his next concert in Japan. Since I plan on going to Tokyo at some point, it would be a nice addition to the trip.
Sorry quick interruption. As I am writing this blog, Singapore is having one of its typical tropical storms apparently nothing out of the ordinary. Let me tell you it is borderline frightening (and this is from somebody who enjoys thunder and lightening). The thunder is so powerful that it shakes the windows...pretty incredible.
Okay, I'm back. After landing, I grab a taxi to my new home and say goodbye to the driver as I wheel all that I own in this country to the guard's station where my key is being held...should have been held...wasn't held. Although there were arrangements made for me to pick up my key from the guard since the management office doesn't open until 8:30. Although it's only 7:00 in the morning at this point, I can already tell that Singapore is a HOT place. I wait outside for an hour and a half until the manager comes, gives me my key and I can check out my new pad. I would have posted pics of my place, but I don't have a camera so I'll post the ones they sent me which are very similar. It's nice, fairly big maybe 750 sq feet with one master bedroom and one very tiny one that just has a desk in it. The kitchen doesn't have an oven, apparently that is something that most Sing kitchens don't have. The TV gets about 6 Channels, 2 of which are in Chinese.
Later that night I met up with my new boss Jonathan for a few beers. I thought that it was pretty cool that he wanted to meet up with me late on a Friday when his weekend had officially started, rather than just waiting until Monday. As a British expat himself, he was very supportive of the whole experience, encouraging me to see as much of Asia as possible while here. I went to sleep that night feeling pretty good about Singapore.