The new place

 We have now been in Singapore for two and a half months. We've moved from the quarantine hotel to a serviced apartment to our actual apartment, where we'll likely live for the duration of our time here. 

The week before Christmas was hectic, juggling appointments and networking meetings with moving, organizing, and cleaning. We had to get an introduction to the new apartment because...well, it takes an introduction. There are so many switches in this place that I don't think I'll ever become acquainted with each one. This is the kitchen switchboard, to give you an idea:

We have a thick, heavy black binder that contains the operating manuals for all of the appliances in the unit. There's also the building manual that comes with the do's and don'ts of the building, and detailed instructions on the proper way to clean various surfaces. I've come to the conclusion that luxury = complex, complicated to maintain, and hard to keep clean. 

The appliances, though. We have copious amounts of time reading those operating manuals. How does one use a steam oven? What is a warming drawer used for? And how do we actually get hot water in the shower? In my first shower, I spent five minutes trying to figure out how to get warm water. And there are only two nobs. As it turns out, the water heater is the same as half of the appliances in here--in need of repair. It's been an interesting settling in period figuring out which appliances we don't know how to use and which ones are actually broken. 

• Coffee maker: Broken. Likely never used. 
• Warming drawer: Broken. Likely never used. 
• Dishwasher: Not broken. Had to figure out how to turn the water on, then got errors from the dishwasher. Bought seven boxes of dishwashing detergent, as the manual and dishwasher instructed that we needed salt (thought we needed 2 liters, so ordered three boxes which weren't delivered in our online grocery order, so bought another box, then the three original boxes turned up in the next grocery delivery; also learning how online shopping apps work), rinse, and regular dishwashing detergent. Turns out we just need regular detergent. It's possible the dishwasher was never used. Multiple Singaporeans have cited that they don't have dishwashers because their maids (called helpers here) wash the dishes. Who needs a dishwasher when you have a helper?
• Washing machine: Broken. Perhaps never used? Helper may also have been used for this function by previous tenants. 
• Bidet: Broken. Likely never used. I accidentally hit the on button the other day, which doesn't make it do anything other than sing. After I turned it back off, there was a little lightning show in the basin. That could be a little scary.
• Water heater: Broken. Takes 2-3 minutes before hot water comes out, then you have to leave it at scalding for a while before turning it down to warm. Otherwise it will just go back to cold. After it gets to desired temperature, it only stays warm for a few minutes before devolving back to cold. Rinse. Repeat. 
• Water pipe: This is the best one. While trying to figure out how to use the (broken) water heater, this happened. 

It was 10pm on a Sunday night. Marcus was just heading in for a shower and all of a sudden we hear running water. It was a debacle. Our real estate agent came over with her helper to help us clean up (sweet, weird, awkward) that night. The owner's real estate agent came over the next day. And three different sets of plumbers came to check things out, with the third set coming back a second time to actually fix it. In order to get anything fixed here, multiple people have to come out, multiple times. It's almost like my full-time job has to be hanging around the house, because we get so little notice of when people are coming over to do something. And there are so few fixes! Our biggest achievement was the one day we had four tradesmen/delivery people come in the same four hour window. That may still be my biggest achievement here to date. 

This building is five years old. How could so many appliances go awry in such a short span of time? With a few, our best guess is disuse. Which begs the question, why would you buy/rent an apartment with all of these schmick, fancy appliances, then not use them? Again, best guess--for appearances, for ego, for face. It shows that you're rich and have money. Maybe they're the things you're meant to have if you have the means. It makes me long for our old, shitty appliances back in our house in Seattle. They may be old, but they're reliable and simple. And you can have a plumber or handyman come fix multiple things. The tradesmen here only work on one brand. We have to have one set of plumbers fix the pipes. Another guy fixed the washing machine. The Miele guy has to fix the Miele appliances. The water heater guy is also different. The toilet guys are also different. It is a veritable parade of people in and out of this place. And creatures. The plumbers who fixed the burst pipe also brought in a giant cockroach on their ladder. Then they lied and said they killed it. Marcus found it scuttling about later, and killed it. Then I opened the garbage later to a surprising flurry of legs flailing about. That f*cker was hardy. 

While Marcus is in the office, it falls to me to be the person to welcome the parade. Or at least let them in. We are somewhat of an anomaly in this world of expats and luxury apartments as we don't have a helper, the person who would normally let all of these people in and out. These domestic helpers, these women from the Philippines and Indonesia, are the unsung heroes (along with the immigrant construction workers) of Singapore's economy. This country would not be what it is today if these women weren't taking care of life, doing the less desirable work of cleaning, cooking, and raising children so that the "professional" men and women can spend their working time contributing in more visible ways, making acceptable sums. These helpers take care of the tasks of daily life that men never want to do, and that women are becoming less inclined to do themselves. Which means we hire other women to do it for us. Women from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, women with less security, women who often depend on racist, misogynist immigration systems that are set up to restrict their freedoms. So they can do undervalued work to earn some money that they then use to try to enable a better life for their families. Women often used as kitchen appliances.

Time for an uplift. Let me focus on positive points of living here. We're on a lower floor in the building, one that is high enough to feel out of the way and low enough to look out at trees and birds. There are swallows that swoop and arc in front of our windows every day, giving what feels like a private aerial performance. There's a long, large pool with lovely green landscaping on the ground floor that gives a resort feeling, and there's a group of frogs that sing in chorus every evening, making it seem that we have a snippet of nature in this big city. We also have privacy, where no other buildings or units look in on us directly and we can leave the blinds open in pretty much every room. The glass is double-paned, blocking out much of the city noise. We looked at 30+ apartments/houses in our search, and this one felt like it was the easiest place to live. Despite the frazzle of appliances and tradesmen, I still think it was the right choice. It's a calm space, one where we can unwind and recharge. A sacred space.