When I was in Singapore...

Wow! I didn't blog anything in September! But something is better than nothing (for a good thing).

Singapore - 9/16
This is the day I arrived in Singapore. My dad was in ICU (2nd day). When I came to see him, his eyes only opened for less than a second, then closed again. He must be sleepy. The ICU room was freezing. Even I chose to squad and cuddle. I was so glad he was moved to a regular room in the afternoon.

Singapore - 9/20
My dad has walked around the hospital, and the two doctors had given him permission to leave the hospital. My dad was so glad. He said the food was boring, and he couldn't sleep well at nights due to noise (and other things). This time he walked out of the hospital building to the house where we rented a room. There was a bit of high slope, so thumbs up for my dad to pass this road!

Singapore - 9/21
Today was the first time my dad took a full-body shower (including head & hair) after his surgery. He felt so fresh, he was very happy!

Singapore - 9/22
Today my dad could talk with louder (or fuller) voice. He still has coughs and sneezed a couple times throughout the day. We went to Sony store in Paragon before having dinner. He was interested in a "seemingly techie" touch phone, the Sony P1i. I consider it hard to use. There was a studio with a huge Bravia TV and sound system in it. He told me to not only pay attention to the TV, but also the audio: whether the bass was nice, the contrast, etc. I think I like them a lot.
He used the Tiger koyok (heating pad) on his shoulder before going to bed at night.

Singapore - 9/23
My dad was excited to go around. But I think he didn't want us (my mom and I) to get bored. So he asked where we wanted to go, and I suggested a bookstore. (What other place is safe to say to dad? :p) There were two bookstores: one is called Kinokuniya, located in Takashimaya shopping center just across the road, another is called Times in Centre Point shopping center. Since we have been to Takashimaya a couple times, I thought let's try Centre Point today. Bad, bad decision. It was far and my dad got tired even just to get there. There was no seat in the bookstore either so he sat outside. At the end of the trip, he was too exhausted, almost could not get enough breath to walk. :( I felt so bad!
The bookstore is rather small and does not have any Chinese book either, so my mom couldn't shop. That's disappointing!

When my uncle suk Nang was here, he saw a nice Elle Paris luggage in Lucky Plaza. He thought of buying it for my cousin, Aibing, but he didn't buy it at the end. My dad told me it's probably because his business didn't do well in general, and he'd try to save money. Now he had made all the efforts to come and helped my mom around my dad's surgery, so my dad is really thankful and wants to pay back his flight ticket. But my dad knows he wouldn't take it, so my dad told me to bargain for the luggage and buy it. So my mom and I went to the store today and tried to bargain. We almost would buy it if I wasn't mistaken for the price. I thought it was more expensive than the price my uncle got. So we sms-ed him. Later he replied that that particular luggage is an old model, so it is cheaper in Surabaya, especially due to the sales going on for Idul Fitri.

Anyways, because we were not satisfied with the first bookstore, my mom and I stopped by to the other bookstore, Kinokuniya. Oh my God! It was very huge. The floor map showed 10+ sections, labelled A, B, C, and so on. Each section is for Business, Management, Psychology, Arts, Literature, etc.. and there is even a section called War. There is a big collection of Chinese books, too. Great! Honestly, I think the Barnes and Noble, or Borders stores that I have ever been, were less than 50% in size and completeness of this store.
Long story short, the books I was interested in getting were..
- a book with collection of stories of children having various Autism and Asperger's Syndromes
- a book titled "Why Penguins' Feet Don't Freeze". It contains short (scientific) articles on everyday's happening that triggers our curiosity (like "Why we look for something around the same places over and over again")
- a book title "Odd Brain". It contains 50 stories/articles, each on different brain 'abnormalities', such as dual-personality. This one seems really fun to read. I hope I can get them in the US.

Singapore - 9/24
I don't remember anymore what we did today. During this last one week, what I did the most was buying my parents' food for lunch and dinner. My mom would be home paying attention to my dad, and I would go out, picked the restaurants, picked the menus, and brought the food home. At first I kept forgetting that my mom had cough and dry throat, so I wrongly bought spicy/tasty food. Then I remembered and bought more soups and vegetables. I wasn't too indecisive, I did it quickly everytime! :) My mom and dad liked the food, too! Yay. But next time, I need to do more than just buying food for them.

Singapore - 9/25
Today, I had to get my flight ticket. My parents started at about 9 am to meet the doctor, while I was on my way to get to Garuda Airline's office. I trusted myself and go to the bus stop to take bus 162. When I read the bus schedule again, I realized that bus going to my destination does not run during the day, but only in the evening! "I am screwed," I thought. I asked someone and she confirmed the same. So I decided to walk all the way back to get to the MRT station. In the middle of the way, I saw a bus numbered 162, so I said to myself, "Hey! It run during the day! Maybe it was an old schedule." I walked back to the bus station, and realized that I got it wrong. Bus 162 during the day goes to a different direction from the one that runs during the evening. "Ah!!" I certainly spent a lot of time just for finding a transportation.

I finally took MRT, which costs less than a dollar one-way. Pretty good. The Novena MRT station I was going to is only 2 stations away from Orchard, and the United building -- where Garuda Airline's office is located -- is just opposite road from the station, so I got there in no time. I finished my ticket buying business in five minutes and headed home. Easy!
Everything went well with my dad's, too. We were set to head home that night!

We needed to get my dad a wheelchair for going from the check-in counter to the gate (in Singapore), and going from the gate to outside (in Indonesia). I learned that this does not cost anything, and they would even escort the wheelchair if you want to. My dad seemed to enjoy sitting on it and being pushed around :). On arrival, the Garuda people were ready with the wheelchair right from the airplane's door. A lady pushed the wheelchair, and made us pass all counters without queueing! We had a privilege. There were only two small problems. There is supposed to be an incoming immigration card that was attached to the outgoing one. I lost mine in the US. The officer called me.. and I told him, "I was in a rush to come home so I left it in the US." He reminded me not to do that anymore, then let me go. The other problem was we had a bunch of medicine for my dad. The officer asked us to show the prescription. My mom had it somewhere but couldn't find it that time. Again he reminded us to have it available next time. He said, "If it's not me who checks next time, you might be in trouble." I guess because they might think we bring in illegal drugs for sale, or whatever. He let us go, too, without asking for a bribe :p. Thanks God, I was so worried.
My uncle suk Nang and my cousing Wejen were ready outside to take us home. I was very glad that they are there. Otherwise we had to take taxi. They care so much for us. Thank you!!