Auspicious day to move (in)

Dear SG,

Our new home is ready for us, not that we’ve painted the walls, or clean it or even wash anything in there yet. It’s ready simply because it had to be ready regardless of the condition it’s in. We didn’t have much time left before our 2 darling dogs arrived from Singapore on the 15 th of Nov!

We’ve bought the necessary furniture to make the place homey and Andrew has arranged for it to be delivered this weekend. We are still short of the doggies’ patio door but so long as that’s done before the 15 th of Nov, we are still on target. Saying all that, we nearly forgot to check for a good date to move our stuffs in.

Now, if you are not familiar with what I’m saying, you might wonder why it’s necessary for us to choose a good day to move in. In this case, a good day is not determined by the weather; rather, it’s determined by the suitability of the date with regards to the birth dates of the owners.

It’s important to choose an auspicious day to move in, every house energizes their owners differently, and choosing a good day to move into a new home ensures a smooth beginning.
Andrew found a website where we get free online information for suitable dates using our date of birth. Please note that I get no advertising fees for putting their URL here.
http://www.geomancy.net/

Here are our results:



We are not going to fix a date to move in “officially” but you can be sure there are going to be lots of “movement” during these dates. Hee….

With love from NZ,

J

PS. In contrast, I bet the kiwis will just choose a nice sunny day to move in. Oh well, a little rain won’t hurt, water signify cash flowing in. We’ll just have to be positive regardless of the weather condition. ;)

Differences in our home in SG and NZ

Dear SG,

Let's compare the difference in our home in Singapore and in New Zealand.

SG - 3 bedrooms - HDB Apartment
NZ - 3 bedrooms - Terrace house

SG - 2 bathrooms (toilet and shower)
NZ - 3 bathrooms (1 toilet, and 2 bath and toilet)

SG - 93 square meter floor area
NZ - 185 square meter floor area

SG - current interest rate 2.6% mortgage
NZ - current interest rate 8.8% mortgagee (gasp!)

SG - loan period 25 years
NZ - loan period 30 years

SG - 99 leasehold apartment
NZ - freehold land

SG - living room in the front of the house
NZ - kitchen in the front of the house

SG - Single level
NZ - Double storey

SG - Pay a monthly charge for parking in a HDB carpark
NZ - A garage and a whole row of parking lots outside, free.

SG - Walk to wet market, hawker center and town center
NZ - Walk to supermarket, Wendy's, KFC, MacDonald and town center (we are fast food junkies)

SG - Walk to MRT
NZ - Walk to bus terminal (possible but it will take around 15 mins of walk)

SG - Connects to underground TV cable
NZ - Connects to TV Antenna and satellite dish

SG - Concrete wall throughout
NZ - Plaster wall internally and on the front and back, brick between 2 houses.

SG - Ceramic floor throughout
NZ - Capet floor throughout and ceramic flooring in kitchen and bathrooms

SG - Air Conditional system
NZ - Electric heater and gas heater

SG - External cupboards
NZ - Built in wardrobe (no need to buy cupboards!)

SG - one dog registration per HDB apartment
NZ - no limit but don't go overboard (yipee!)

SG - no cats allowed in HDB apartment (not strictly enforce but legally no)
NZ - no limit but don't go overboard

SG - main entrance is the front door
NZ - we found that most family enter via the garage door instead, front door are only for visitors

SG - letter box under locks and keys
NZ - open letter box

with love from NZ,
J

We own a piece of New Zealand

Dear SG,

It's official, we now own a piece of New Zealand. It's not really big, just 297 square meter. A pretty small section of land by New Zealand Standard.


In case you are wondering, it's a land with a terrace house sitting on it. It's our new home to be, it's where our dogs will be send to when they arrive in Auckland. We are finally settling down. We actually bought furniture and dish clothes!!!


I'm still in a daze, what have we got ourselves into?!? Our mortgage is for 30 years, our mortgage interest rate is 8.8%, we can only have air for breakfast, water for lunch and the leftover for dinner! Forget about personal spa pool, forget about luxury boats, forget about handsome personal gym instructor, forget about anything. The bank owns us now.

The house in the middle, yes... it's pink.... or a kind of dull pink.... vehicle not included.

with love from NZ,

J & A

Happy and sad, part of life

Dear SG,

It's wonderful to be alive but life itself isn't always a bed of roses. Within the space of one hour, I experienced sadness and happiness from 2 different incidents.

Just last night, I sent off a Singaporean family who is leaving Auckland because the husband has been transferred to Macau to work on their company's new project. When they are departing, my heart aches because we won't know when we'll see them again.

After they left, I went upstairs to check my email and saw a reply from Mitchville Kennels. My heart immediately lighten with anticipation because Mitchville has been hired to get KiKi and ZoZo over to Auckland by mid of Nov. It seems that everything is going as plan and we'll be reunited with our dogs by the evening of November 15th.

To Casey, Shan Shan and their children, all the best in a new environment. Make the best of the opportunity and may you find new friends as wonderful as yourself. The 2 kids here will miss their friends and us adults will definitely miss you guys.

The children's first sleepover, they had the time of their life fooling around all nights long. Ann's idea was to let the children have a sleepover so that Casey and Shan Shan can pack in peace. It works, because the kids nearly tore down Ann's house with their screaming and running. Being the last chance they will have playing together, we kind of just let them be.

Brought back heaps of memories of my sleepover at my cousins' or friends'. hee...

Life can be so bitter sweet.

with love from NZ,

J

Depressing start of the week in NZ

Dear SG,

It has been a pretty depressing start of the week here in NZ. I was told that the whole nation is affected whenever something happen to the ruby scene and this time i really felt the effect of it.

Andrew and I woke up early on Sunday to catch the All Black in a match against France in the Ruby World Cup. Expectation was high because the All Black has been on a winning streak. Sadly, they lost that game. Even I was depress. Monday was all blues for everyone at work. Sian ah....

with love from NZ,
J

Living in 2 worlds

Dear SG,

I'm constantly amaze by the fact that I get to live in 2 worlds and often gets to enjoy the best of both.

Only last evening, I was stuck to the TV throughout the whole rugby league game rooting for the Warriors. It was exciting watching the game and the feeling is exactly the same as when Singapore played against Malaysia, only here, it's the New Zealand against Australia. Both SG and NZ are smaller when compared to their neighbours and both needs to be reminded to keep their goal in mind and to fight till the end. Time and time again they might have lost, but they are certainly getting closer and closer to their dream. DON'T GIVE UP, NEVER EVER!


This morning, I was downloading songs sample sent to me by my friend in SG via email. They are songs from Royston Tan’s latest film 881 about 2 girls wanting to be the best getai singers in Singapore. I so love the songs and I am definately interested to see the flim because of the songs. Thank you for keeping me in the loop. I'm also glad that part of SG history will be preserved in this film. SG needs more production like these, I hope more people will support them.



with love from NZ,

J

Dab-ber-you, Dab-ber-you, Dab-ber-you

Dear SG,

We singaporean loves to "cut short" our words or sentences. I remembered a funny joke on how SG-ian speaks in the most "efficient" way. Instead of saying "Have you had your dinner?", we say "eat already?". Instead of "We've ran out of stock.", we say "No stock!". Instead of "Please repeat what you've said", we say "Again?" or "huh?". Wah lau, if any of you have that long joke about our "effective english", please send it to me again, i really miss that joke.

Now, back to my blog of the day. We always think singaporean very smart hor, can cut a long sentences until so short. But then hor, kiwi smarter leh, they manage to outdo us with one word that I bet we won't have thought of. Instead of cutting a long sentences short, they manage to cut a long letter short!!!

Compare an ad on the radio.

In SG, "Visit our website at Dab-ber-you, Dab-ber-you, Dab-ber-you, dot something dot COM dot SG",

In NZ, "Visit our website at Dab Dab Dab dot something dot CO dot NZ!!!"

The whole website can be easily announced over the air !!! Even their dot "CO.NZ" has one letter lesser than our dot "COM.SG".

Interesting right? (aka "Isn't it interesting?")

with love from NZ,
J