Look out - I have a debit card

I went to the bank with Brian this morning to add me to his account so I now have my own debit card that will allow me to retrieve (and spend) Singapore dollars more efficiently. My personal goal is to make it through this expat experience without finding out what happens if you overdraw your account. Does the ATM machine eat your card like it did in Germany? I hope to not find out! They prefer to deal in cash here, which will take some getting used to on my part, since I rarely carry more than $20 on me at home. My debit card will work as an ATM card and I'll be able to use it at the grocery store, but most restaurants will not accept them, so we'll also need to get a local credit card to avoid the conversion fees that we pay on our US cards. We're planning to get a KrisFlyer Amex card that will allow us to earn miles on Singapore Air while we're here.

Fresh from the bank with my new card, I tested it at the ATM and since it worked just fine, I made my first trip to Starbucks. I just had to order my regular "Decaf Tall Nonfat No Whip Mocha" and see if they could handle it. They were a little slow to repeat it, but it tasted mighty fine. After relying on caffeine for the past week to function while making the time adjustment, it's time for me to kick the habit because I don't need any help feeling high strung these days! So, the Starbucks was a tasty alternative to the fully-leaded hotel coffee.

After my shopping fiasco with the girls yesterday, I've pledged to not shop with the 3 of them by myself anytime soon, so we're planning to meet Brian on Orchard Road for dinner and hopefully complete our last outing for bedding for Megan. I also broke down and hired a sitter for the girls for a few hours tomorrow morning so I can go over to the apartment and get things ready to move in Friday. Not looking forward to Elizabeth and Emily's reaction to my grand plan. In the meantime, I'm playing like I'm on vacation. We spent most of our day at the pool, eating lunch by the pool, having ice cream, swimming and then heading back upstairs for naps. Not a bad existence. We're enjoying the company of the other American expats we've met, the O'Sheas of Boston. The men got to hang out with us last night after work for a few beers while the kids played. They have given us restaurant and grocery recommendations and it's nice to have some local insight.

We also received a surprise delivery yesterday from the Accenture folks Brian works for in the US. They sent us an enormous assortment of food, a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a large fruit basket to our room. I laughed when I saw the size of this arrangement. A nice gesture though and we'll enjoy eating our way through it :)

I'm hopeful that we'll find some time over the weekend aside from apartment nonsense to see more of the island. I feel like I've seen nothing so far as I've been taking taxis most everywhere I need to go and that doesn't give you a feel for the neighborhoods. And our family of five sure gets plenty of attention wherever we go!