Owner and photographer at Noodle Photography in Singapore
Thursday 29 April 2010
Paperwork
I gotta say, the amount of paperwork generated by this move is incredible!
T seems to have been working non-stop to get her various papers in order. Everything from CRB checks to work permits, replacement certificates to signing oathes with solicitors (that's another fiver please) and 101 passport photos of the whole family. And more to come. They do like their photos over there. Aside from the obvious passports we need them for security passes, dependant passes, school passes, school year book etc etc. Last week she went for a chest x-ray (privately, at Tanglin's expense of course, in and out in five minutes. Very handy when you've a grumpy toddler in tow!). The doctor has already signed off a medical check which T needs to pick along with the report on the x-ray. There's an awful lot more which she's been working on but frankly it's easier to stay out of it if I don't need to get involved.
I've got plenty to keep me going with the house and Ebay. And it's only going to get busier as we approach flight day. Think it's soon going to be time to get the letting agent in for real rather than just the speculative chat I had with them last time! Things have rather moved on since then which was just a day before t's interview. Now its all for real.
T seems to have been working non-stop to get her various papers in order. Everything from CRB checks to work permits, replacement certificates to signing oathes with solicitors (that's another fiver please) and 101 passport photos of the whole family. And more to come. They do like their photos over there. Aside from the obvious passports we need them for security passes, dependant passes, school passes, school year book etc etc. Last week she went for a chest x-ray (privately, at Tanglin's expense of course, in and out in five minutes. Very handy when you've a grumpy toddler in tow!). The doctor has already signed off a medical check which T needs to pick along with the report on the x-ray. There's an awful lot more which she's been working on but frankly it's easier to stay out of it if I don't need to get involved.
I've got plenty to keep me going with the house and Ebay. And it's only going to get busier as we approach flight day. Think it's soon going to be time to get the letting agent in for real rather than just the speculative chat I had with them last time! Things have rather moved on since then which was just a day before t's interview. Now its all for real.
Tuesday 27 April 2010
The meetings begin...
We have been invited into London by Tanglin Trust School to meet up with the other 'new starters' + other halves. This will be in May. Unfortunately our regular babysitters (the grandparents) are on holiday. How inconsiderate. They're definitely not allowed time off!
So, we'll just have to sort out something else. It would certainly be good to get along there. It's all starting to become a bit more real.
Removals company are coming along next week to give our possessions the once over. Best decide what we're taking then. One item that won't be travelling with us will be the 42" LCD. It died last week. What a pain! All sound and no picture. And only three years old. Unnecessary!
So, we'll just have to sort out something else. It would certainly be good to get along there. It's all starting to become a bit more real.
Removals company are coming along next week to give our possessions the once over. Best decide what we're taking then. One item that won't be travelling with us will be the 42" LCD. It died last week. What a pain! All sound and no picture. And only three years old. Unnecessary!
Sunday 25 April 2010
Fly time
Yesterday we got confirmation of our flight times through. We'll be flying at 1155 on Thursday 12 August. Bang in the middle of the day. Touch down in Singapore is 0745 on 13 August (Friday!).
Wednesday 21 April 2010
No kids today
Thanks to the grandparents I've had the chance to make phone calls and send emails uninterrupted today. What a luxury. It all gets a bit more real everyday. Today I spoke to an old mate at Crown Relocations. He's an account manager there and as it was already one of the recommended companies to go with, well, I can't really see any point in not using them. I've already had a whole bundle of info from them and some phone calls. It's made me feel more at ease with the move already. They'll be with us from door-to-door. Richard's said he'll make sure we're well taken care of when we get to Singapore (or S'pore as everyone seems to spell it), which is nice as I can imagine we'll need it! However, knowing Rich, it'll probably involve being taken to some of the more dubious parts of Singapore!
I think we might get more room than we thought for shipping which is good. Can take all the cooking stuff with after all. And it takes less time to ship than I thought. 4-5 weeks apparently. One other company was quoting 7-9 weeks door-to-door!
Unsurprisingly the only phone call which didn't bare any fruit was the one to HMRC. They didn't even pick up the phone. I let it ring for ten minutes. Probably got too many people stuck in The Ash to pick up regular calls!
I think we might get more room than we thought for shipping which is good. Can take all the cooking stuff with after all. And it takes less time to ship than I thought. 4-5 weeks apparently. One other company was quoting 7-9 weeks door-to-door!
Unsurprisingly the only phone call which didn't bare any fruit was the one to HMRC. They didn't even pick up the phone. I let it ring for ten minutes. Probably got too many people stuck in The Ash to pick up regular calls!
Thursday 15 April 2010
Friday 9 April 2010
Hmmmmm
I'm not so sure about the title of this Blog. Sounds like something Asian Cowboys might wear. What do you think?
Thursday 8 April 2010
New horizons
So, about two weeks ago, Theresa got a phone call. After she heard the words 'you have the job' I don't think she heard much else! In fact, at that point in time, there wasn't anything else she wanted to hear. That could come later. But not much later, as we had a lot of work to do before we could depart for Singapore in just five months time.
A lot of work had gone into that final phone call. Months earlier Theresa had been scouring countless job sections on the Net in the hope of finding a job in the Far East. They were few and far between to say the least. We soon realised that our 'choice' of wanting to go to either Thailand or Malaysia was not a 'choice' but 'pie-in-the-sky'. If we were to go there then the jobs would have to fall right. They didn't and after Christmas and into the New Year the job front started to look a little shaky with less and less to even apply for let alone realistically get an interview for, much less a job. Then a job arose in Singapore. In one of the premier schools out there. Only one snag, it was a Drama job with a Dance outlet. Undaunted Theresa applied for the post.
Strangely, before she had seen the post advertised Theresa had been told that the CEO of Tanglin Trust School had also been the Head of Sandringham School. Her current employers. Curious, she thought, was it a sign. A little after she applied another strange coincidence occurred. A colleague at school said his 'best mate's dad' was head of HR at Tanglin and he was get him to put in a good word for her. A true to his word he did. The message came back that she needn't have worried as Theresa was pretty assured of getting an interview. Nail biting time! Finally she received an email informing her she would be interviewed forthwith at the end of the week in London. Panic, then calm, the panic again ensued as Theresa tried to collect every shred of evidence of her teaching abilities and place them in a portfolio. She succeeded by the skin of her teeth and went for interview at the Institute of Directors in Pall Mall that Friday. The interview went well and, thinking her work was done, Theresa settled nervously to await the outcome. Little did we know that yet another interview lurked around the corner and that following Saturday morning I took the kids round a friends house while Theresa had interview number two with her future head of department via Skype. Then, more waiting. It felt interminable. Theresa had discovered that out of the four candidates they had only seen two, herself included, in that week. They still had two to go! Finally, after two and a half weeks of waiting, the phone call came. The job was her's. Now came the hard work!
A lot of work had gone into that final phone call. Months earlier Theresa had been scouring countless job sections on the Net in the hope of finding a job in the Far East. They were few and far between to say the least. We soon realised that our 'choice' of wanting to go to either Thailand or Malaysia was not a 'choice' but 'pie-in-the-sky'. If we were to go there then the jobs would have to fall right. They didn't and after Christmas and into the New Year the job front started to look a little shaky with less and less to even apply for let alone realistically get an interview for, much less a job. Then a job arose in Singapore. In one of the premier schools out there. Only one snag, it was a Drama job with a Dance outlet. Undaunted Theresa applied for the post.
Strangely, before she had seen the post advertised Theresa had been told that the CEO of Tanglin Trust School had also been the Head of Sandringham School. Her current employers. Curious, she thought, was it a sign. A little after she applied another strange coincidence occurred. A colleague at school said his 'best mate's dad' was head of HR at Tanglin and he was get him to put in a good word for her. A true to his word he did. The message came back that she needn't have worried as Theresa was pretty assured of getting an interview. Nail biting time! Finally she received an email informing her she would be interviewed forthwith at the end of the week in London. Panic, then calm, the panic again ensued as Theresa tried to collect every shred of evidence of her teaching abilities and place them in a portfolio. She succeeded by the skin of her teeth and went for interview at the Institute of Directors in Pall Mall that Friday. The interview went well and, thinking her work was done, Theresa settled nervously to await the outcome. Little did we know that yet another interview lurked around the corner and that following Saturday morning I took the kids round a friends house while Theresa had interview number two with her future head of department via Skype. Then, more waiting. It felt interminable. Theresa had discovered that out of the four candidates they had only seen two, herself included, in that week. They still had two to go! Finally, after two and a half weeks of waiting, the phone call came. The job was her's. Now came the hard work!
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