Settling In

David and I are doing really well :) we're settled in and very happy here. Work is very manageable for me now (although it might be because less surgery is done around Easter) but I do enjoy it. Very satisfying when you pull a nice big mucous plug out of someone's lungs! David's just about getting by with his job, he showed me a pretty tricky word search he had been asked to do one day - and refused to! Haha, he's doing very well in his training though.
I've not been very well with a virus I picked up at work but I'm feeling a bit better now. I've also had trouble with my wisdom teeth. Can't wait till my health insurance starts in two months! We're both getting to the end of the Book of Mormon and really enjoying that.

Here's some of the highlights from this month:

I got some of my favourite chocolates as gifts from David and patients :)

We went bowling with David's work team as one of them was leaving to be a pastry chef! David needs a bit more practice on his technique I think ;)

The birds here are funny, they go around in gangs and share our pool. We also met this one called Crayon:

We like to sit by the pool on sunny days and read when we have time. 

The sun is splitting the sky, it's a gorgeous day. Now it's pouring down torrential rain and you're wet through to the bone. Actually it happens quicker than that - with no warning. And the tropical storms are like no storms I have ever experienced. I tried to get it on camera, but as you can imagine, it happens the second you stop recording so I gave up but I got a bit of it. If the window's open when the thunder claps, it sounds like the earths being torn in half - so scary! And there's so much lightning, that's pretty cool to watch though, especially when it's in the distance and you can see it against the clouds. It looks amazing. Last night the lightning started at about 5 in the morning which is weird but I could see the flashes as bright as anything, even with my eyes shut, and the curtains shut!

These are rubbish videos, in the second one there are some lightning flashes and thunder (if you turn the volume up)

It's great to swim after work too, when it's getting dark:

So our first little excursion was to Sentosa - it's a great place. It's a little island off the south coast about the size of the Isle of Wight I believe. It's literally been built for tourism, the infrastructure is great and there's lots to do. There is a footbridge to get there from the mainland which is really nice but no one uses it as 750m is too far for a Singaporean to walk (most of it is travelators anyway so you don't have to walk ). When you get there the shuttle bus transport around the island is free :)

We found a beach with an islet nearby, a rope bridge to get there and tree tops towers. Then we just sunbathed. Oh, you can also take the sky train there, I want to do that one day:

Out of nowhere: David, don't move, there's a peacock right behind you...

 Random!

Watched the sun set and went home.

Next, a slightly more exciting long weekend in Indonesia! Batam is just s short ferry ride south of Singapore as well and we stayed at a lovely hotel on the beach there in Nongsa. It reminded me a lot of Thailand, and how different Singapore is to the rest of Asia. Here's the room and the view:

The hotel also had those rooms on stilts in the sea, we hoping to try that at some point too.

We did some exploring and there was a cool wall built in the sea around the bay which we walked on at low tide but when I came back to take these pictures it was high tide so doesn't look quite the same.

Found this little abandoned  lookout (Joe - reminded me of Myst, that was a cool game)

Here's the little beach where we went jet skiing. That is so much fun!

And where we played volleyball with the staff:

They kept some animals there, for kids to pet I think, including a very angry little cat:

They also had a live band in the evenings and I was so impressed with them all! I managed to catch some awesome saxophone but they were seriously good. That's actually one of my favourite things about Singapore, it seems like where ever you go, there's some chillout classics or old favourites playing. Even in the hospital, I love it! They have great taste here; I was worried I'd be forced to listen to more local music, which is not quite to my taste, but it's brilliant. They even play some of my favourite french music.

So here's some last things from our trip. David's normal face and then photograph face:

Our pool and then David in the shaded part where we had to stay once we got burnt...

One night we ate at a locally renowned seafood restaurant on the beach. It was quite nice but the best bit was walking up this little pier where there were some men night fishing and one caught a squid. As he pulled it up it inked all over him, right in the face and all over his clothes, very amusing to watch.
The next night we ate at the hotel buffet dinner, which was amazing. I don't think the waiters had ever seen people eat so much. They had normal food like roast chicken and vegetables and gravy! First (and only) time since we've been here :D
Then just some other photos I like:

And us on our way home :)

As I've been ill I finally got around to tidying the room, so here are the pictures you've been asking for:

It's a really nice room but one thing we didn't notice when viewing it is that our massive windows are facing a main road, and the MRT (monorail). After the first week of bad sleep I started wearing earplugs which work great, but it's still not ideal. Also I don't like the kitchen and it's a bit far from work so we're going to move in 5 months. 

Here's David hard at work:

I don't know how but he pulls off that red nose. 

One day after I didn't get much sleep because someone put the air conditioning up too high, David took me for a surprise treat which was amazing!! :D

I challenged myself to finish the whole bowl of chocolate and regretted it instantly. I felt so s*@k (for Jan's benefit) all night after that! But I've learnt my lesson now, for next time... :)

Oh, here's some of the cool art by the harbour front:

A picture of Granny that makes me happy and something that reminded me of Nicole 

I think that's it for this month. We hope you're all doing well and having fun on your own travels. Miss you lots and lots too. Love you all x x x

David's Post: It's been a really fun few weeks, Gen and I have been traveling, eating lots of nice food and playing lots of sports!!! So we've discovered the condo has a pool table...SCORE. And we've been playing tennis and of course swimming lots :)   Also Barclays has a 5's team here, which I immediately signed up for.

Not many stories to tell from work, it's pretty uneventful. Gen on the other hand always has exciting things going on, she's running 2 wards! and often has patients with complex conditions. She's not been too well the last few days and actually had to leave work early on Thursday...but not before she made sure her wards were in good order...so proud of her! She's already a really important member of her team.

Got a few more exciting trips planned soon in Kuala Lumpur and Thailand.

Missing you all lots and really hoping you take some holiday out here :) We love hearing your news and are really excited for all the big events coming up:

Sam & Caroline: Baby 2 due in June
Sam & Ash: Baby 1 due in July
Sarah: Going to Uni in Sept
Stevey: Graduating Uni in June
Joe and Keesh: Getting their own place and Uni studies
Bri-Leen, Suz & Jan: In Utah for Conference (And visiting Emma & Dee :)
Emma & Dee: Clearly their big news is they're going to come visit us!!!
Paul and Alexis: Had Baby 4 in January
Elder McKechnie: Converting the French masses for another 17 months

Lots of Love,
David and Gen