Furniture.  We need some furniture!  3M gave us an furniture allowance, and so I need to make this allotment furnish as much as possible.  I check out some local furniture showrooms, and find the prices are so high!  A couch for $7,000!  Oh my!  How can I possibly furnish our condo on the amount given?

The answer?  Ikea Singapore.

The first time we headed to Ikea was the day after we arrived.  Unfortunately, we went on a Saturday.  We didn’t realize that it was also a national holiday, and it seemed like nearly half of the population was shopping at Ikea.  I am not exaggerating, there must have been nearly 5000 people in Ikea.

In our jet-lag fog, I kept thinking, if all of Singapore is this crowded and busy, I’m never going to adjust to this.  I needed some space.  Nobody here has a bubble of personal space.  It was unbelievable.  People standing so close to you that you could count whiskers, or smell what they had to eat last.  And while everyone is in each others space, no body invades each others privacy.  They don’t look at each other, talk to each other, help in any way.   Its amazing.

Well, it turns out, Singaporeans LOVE Ikea Meatballs.  Here is a picture of the Q, everyone waiting patiently for their meatballs.

 

And here is a quirky ad that I found, couldn’t resist posting this:

We did survive our first visit to Ikea, and in fact, I have been back many many times.  In fact, I have been there so many times, that in this land of 5 million people, where you don’t see the same person twice, the nice lad at the pick up counter has become quite friendly, giving me high-fives and helping me to load my van.  (we have had great difficulty getting all the boxes to fit into the mini-van at times, it took both of us to push and shove, on several occasions).  I suppose I represent job security to him.

I have bought dressers, bedside tables, desks, arm chairs, tv stands, kitchen items, glass ware, a funky muffin pan, clocks, laundry items, coffee tables, two out door chairs, some tropical plants, and even a giant 7’ x 5’ canvas photo of a giant wave in Hawaii in beautiful turquoise & sea green colors!

And because I furnished most of our condo with Ikea items, I was able to splurge on two really nice couches that are being custom made in Malaysia, and a gorgeous black kitchen table that is being made in Indonesia.  These will be nice quality, but very much average for the USA, and wildly expensive.   I was told all should be delivered on September 11th!

I have a long way to go before this condo feels like home to us.  It is in no way “cozy” .  The homes here are made out of concrete, I suppose because of the heat and the rain.  Concrete with marble over it for flooring, painted concrete walls.   I will search out some stores other than Ikea to find some nice items, and look for some souvineer type items that we would want to bring home to the states with us.  Not even sure what that would be at this point, thats part of the adventure, right?