Hi guys... just me, Jessie, this time. Sorry it's been a while... Jess has been working every day, and I'm still sick. Just finishing up our second full week here and I feel like garbage... can't get rid of this awful cough. I'm waking up through the night with coughing fits that last 10-30 minutes, or I just can't get back to sleep at all.
So this is just a quick recap of the week, Tuesday through Friday. Not much happened... obviously all we've done again is eat. So we ended our last post on Monday... we attempted to go to the embassy to finish up paperwork to get a long term visitor's visa for me (to go along with insurance, so I can maybe go to a doctor). They were closed so we had to go back Tuesday morning. Jess had a phone meeting that morning that he took care of at the apartment, then we took an Uber over to the embassy.
Pretty intense security to get through there, two checkpoints. And surprise... the employees working both checkpoints don't speak English very well at all. Made for a very "welcoming" and confusing situation. But we got through, there wasn't a wait, and it was all very quick and simple. The visa has been approved, we're just waiting on some sort of official document now. And Jess is now officially responsible for me in this country.
Took another Uber over to Suntec City... we got a woman driver! We were just talking about how we had only ever had 3 other women drivers in the entire time we've been using uber, and we got another. She got to us in about 2 minutes after calling her, and she boasted about how "quick" she is.
I had been craving sushi for days, and every time I want to go somewhere here they are either not open, or not serving food, despite the internet saying otherwise. We went back to Sushi Goshin at Suntec... just as slow as before, but the sushi and the prices are good.
I walked Jess back to his office before going to Giant for dinner supplies, and we stopped at Tuk Tuk Cha on the way. Fantastic Thai tea and coffee... I'm going to miss the places like this when we go back home. Having milk tea so accessible is a dream come true.
We had spaghetti for dinner, so I went to Giant to grab the necessities... noodles, sauce, chips and queso (YES they have some of our gross American snacks... it was a necessity)... however, their garlic powder was $9! I almost bought Garlic Bread Sprinkle... but it seemed to hold a very singular purpose, Jess probably wouldn't have been thrilled. Oh yea! And I dyed my hair that night... the ONLY tube of hair dye I brought with me... yikes!
A sort of storm rolled in Wednesday, late morning. The dark clouds moved quickly... these photos were over the course of about 20 minutes, at most.
The rain cleared up by early evening and I met Jess at Suntec once he was done with work. We walked around trying to figure out what the eat... sometimes when there are too many food options it's just as bad as not having any options. We finally decided on Paulaner Brauhaus, and it was a great choice. I had pork schnitzel with a mushroom cream sauce, it was amazing with the super salty fries, and Jess had some really good currywurst. We had a dark beer and a hefeweizen that were both pretty good, but pricy like most of the alcohol around here!
We also went back over to Giant for I don't even remember what, but we got a picture of the seedless lemons sign, and I guess Jess liked the "old man" sign on the bathroom stall. Back at the apartment building we met a British couple in the "lift." We had known that there was supposedly a 7-Eleven in this building, but couldn't find it. This guy mentioned using "the other lift that comes out by the 7-Eleven" so after taking our groceries back to the room we went on an adventure. A week after arriving, we finally found the 7-Eleven, and another mini mart in our apartment building. Check out the cigarette warning labels (ahem, mom... I'll get a better shot of these for you!).
I had a fit of a night with this cough, and Jess appeased me by going to the pool early Thursday morning before work. Woke up with a sore throat, sore neck/shoulders from the hard bed, and a headache. Poolside 7-9am is the most comfortable place and time of day here, so it really made me feel better.
Jess left for work and I wandered around craving a bagel. Once again, a place that claimed to have what I wanted, claimed to not serve food when I showed up. I sat outside drinking an iced latte and watching lots and lots of Asian tourists taking pictures of themselves in front of the painted buildings. I gave up on finding a unique place for a bagel and ended up at a Starbucks, which was really good enough. I also really wanted a sweet tea. She had to special brew iced black tea for me, then verified that I wanted it sweet. She watched in horror as I added additional simple syrup to it myself at the fixin's bar. But it was so so good.
Almost forgot what we did Thursday. We met up with Ravi, who is a friend of a friend of Jess'. He treated us to a great Indian dinner at Muthu's Curry. He ordered and explained what everything is, and how things are typically eaten. He and Jess talked about infosec stuff, since that's the field they're both in, and then we had a deliciously sugary sticky sweet dessert before we left. I thought he called it Grub Yum, which is what I'll be calling it from now on, but it's actually called Gulab Jamun.
Friday I met Jess out at Suntec for a later lunch. We checked out Shihlin Taiwan Street Snacks on the recommendation of one of his coworkers. Cash only, little English, very tasty. On a second visit we won't need the "happy box" because I didn't even want to look at the tofu, and the rice wasn't really necessary, but the chicken was crispy and tasty. We also ordered sweet plum potato fries and they were deeeelicious. (The meat tornados are from the kebab place next door!). On my way home I grabbed a few donuts from Jco Donuts, and Jess sent me a picture of these yummy looking ice cream cups on his way home... if it wasn't SO hot here I wouldn't have insisted that he brought me one.
Friday night we walked around Arab Street trying to figure out what we wanted for dinner. We had decided on I Am... but they were packed, with a line down the block by the time we got there. We walked past Going Om, which was empty except for one couple sitting outside, and I thought a salad sounded good so we went in. It was dark and comfortable, though it was a little hot that night. I ordered the Avocado salad, and it was the best most refreshing salad I've ever had in my life. At least in the moment... I'm going to have to have it again. Their drinks were okay, but definitely not worth ordering another for the price.
After dinner we headed back in the direction of our apartment. But I suggested we stop at CAD Cafe, which is where I did *not* had a bagel the other day, but they had a great beer selection that I wanted to show Jess. Turns out, their beer selection is fantastically priced given the prices of extremely mediocre alcohol here. So we were happy with this place. We sat outside and had two beers each. The employee came out and chatted with us for a bit, since diverse beer isn't really a thing here, he was interested in our thoughts on their selection and hearing about what we have at home.
It was also enjoyable watching the crowd and listening to the bizarre selection of music being played across the street.
I wrapped up the evening with a foreign decongestant. I've now taken 3 and I don't think it's doing anything. Recognizable ingredients, but perhaps not the dosages I'm used to... they didn't seem to have any 12 or 24 hour meds, so taking something that only lasts 2-4 hours isn't helping me much through the night.
Weekend updates coming soon... we had an adventure. A very scary adventure...