Singapore!

It’s finally decided that we will be moving to Singapore, most probably already in the middle of June! Jonas has been offered to go with Goldman Sachs and I have just talked to my boss and will hopefully be able to continue on my current project at National University of Singapore (NUS).

One of the first views we saw in Singapore of the Marina Sands Hotel with its casino in the front.

It has actually been very calm the last weeks regarding earthquakes, so now everything feels almost back to normal. However, considering we have decided to sell all furniture (if we can, since the market for used things ais over-saturated due to so many leaving because of Fukushima etc) since it’s more expensive to ship them over than to buy a completely new home, terminate our apartment contract along with all utilities (electricity, water, gas, WiFi) and have had to do a major sorting and throwing out all the papers, clothes and other stuff we have accumulated, it’s been a lot to handle.

Tokyo Bay with Tokyo Sky Tree (new Tokyo Tower) in the background

An important aspect is actually all the autumn and winter clothes we have here, since we’ll be moving to a country which is constantly close to 100% humidity and around 35 degrees C. We’ve heard from friends who live there, that they actually experienced heavy jackets and knitted sweaters becoming moldy, so we have decided to bring everything to Singapore and then take it home to Sweden around Christmas.

Jonas in a very much summer outfit in Singapore.

On top of this I have applied for jobs at amongst others the NUS, Nanyang Technical University (NTU) and The Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR) Institute of Materials Engineering (IMRE) and we have also had to look for apartments, so it’s been busy. For me it’s of course also important that I can reschedule my current work and that takes a lot of planning too.
Regarding the apartments, we have set sight on a few areas and consulted with friends who currently live in Singapore. They have been giving us very valuable advice and we will set up meetings with agents during our first week. It might then be possible to move in almost straight away, since when the apartments are advertised online in Singapore, they are almost always empty. It’s also a much more effective procedure compared to here, so we hope to only stay at a hotel for about two weeks in total. As soon as we have signed all papers, it’ll be a trip to IKEA to sort out furniture and home delivery; yay!

Our first picnic in Singapore consisting of all things delicious which are insanely expensive in Japan: wine, roasted chicken, feta cheese, olives, tomatoes, green beans, strawberries and cream..

All in all it’s coming together slowly but surely, so now we are just trying to make this last month and a half as best as possible.

View over our beloved Tokyo from Mori Tower (where Jonas works) on the 53rd floor