Let me call her C. All this while, I thought C is a Singaporean. Mmmm, she really sounds and looks like a Singaporean! Maybe she has been in Singapore long enough to have herself integreted well into Singapore society and her original accent assimilated.

Another colleague of mine, D, thinks I sound like a Thai when I speak Chinese. Ha, I admit my pronunciation of certain words is weird or/and incorrect!

It’s okay! So long as I am exposed to Chinese all the time in the office and take efforts to correct the wrong intonation and pronunciation, I believe my proficiency of Chinese will improve tremendously.

Speaking of Chinese admin staff, there are Chinese Singaporeans, Malaysian Chinese and PRC or People of Republic Chinese in my office now. I must thank God that we seem to have mingled quite well despite a little cultural difference!

I am grateful that hubby has been here for the last few days. He was here too when I started feeling unwell.

Was it Sunday that my sore throat was in terrible pain? Yup! I tell you, by the time I reached home after work, my body was hot. Fever!

I took a tablet of Uphamol 650 and then went to sleep. By the time hubby came home from his shopping trip at Woodlands, I was feeling much better.

I had made the worse decision. If I did not feel better the next day, I would take a medical leave. I knew it looked bad to take an mc on the 6th day of my new job, but what to do? It’s either to get better or worse.

Thanked God and still thanking God. I felt much better on Monday, that’s yesterday. There’s still sore throat, but at least there was no fever. Coincidently, my office was not busy on Monday. Plus, the manager was not around, thus making Monday a little easy to pass by.

This morning, Andes and I went out for breakfast at a food court which was a bit further from our block. Hubby wanted me to sweat a bit to release heat or toxins accumulated in my body. Well, I must say that I felt great after some perspiration.

After breakfast, we walked to the nearby Bukit Batok Bus Interchange to duplicate two sets of keys.

Then, we walked around to get familiar with the types of shops available at Bukit Batok Bus Interchange and Bukit Batok MRT Station.

Before we headed home, we bought some grocery items at the Fair Price supermarket. Mmmm, reasonably-priced daily necessities! This means I will just buy most of my necessities in Singapore rather than from JB.

Despite the heavy rain when I went to work, I must say that it’s a fruitful day. I started doing work instead of listening and jotting down notes.

According to my manager, my job scopes cover answering phone calls, introducing courses and dealing with parents. So, there is no need for me to do much admin work. In other words, the company would like me to be a frontline staff.

I think being 41 years old has its advantage. At least I look poise and mature to parents who think I know the ins and outs of the courses and thus they can be rest assured that they have chosen the right enrichment centre for their kids.

Give me a month’s time and I am sure I will have every level of the course info at my fingertips.

A month’s time? Yup, don’t forget that I used to work in a language centre between 1994 and 1997! My experience in introducing courses at that time will surely help me pick up faster.

Look at the weather today! It seems to be another rainy day. It was raining cats and dogs when I went to office yesterday afternoon. Mmm, it’s likely that it will be raining when I go to work at 1pm! ==ll

I worked half day only today, from 10am to 2pm. It’s great that it’s only 4 hours’ work because I didn’t sleep well last night. Plus, there was too much new info picked up at the office.

My colleagues were nice to keep reminding me to go slow as it required a bit time to absorb the company information.

Right after I came home, I had my lunch, took a cat nap and showered.

Now that I am back with renewed energy, I will complete some online assignments and update some of my niche blogs.

Dear Lord Jesus, thank YOU for helping me to begin today with hope, to feel YOUR love and know I am never alone.

10am

Andes’ sister sent me to JB Central. Andes had advised me to take a cab into Singapore because of my heavy luggage, but I insisted going into Singapore by bus.

By the time I reached the Bukit Batok MRT, my shoulders were in sore. The bag I was carrying was also seeing cracks at both sides of the strap. Serve me right, I should have listened to hubby’s advice!

2pm

Meeting the lady owner for the first time. She explained what to be cautious about and what to do to reduce the usage of electricity.

In brief, my lady owner expects me and Andes to treat the house as ours so that we will take care of it, especially when it comes to using water and electricity. Ya I have heard and read about the expensive PUB in Singapore.

4.30pm

The lady owner was gone and I was left alone in the house. After a shower, I skyped with hubby.

Thanks to the Internet that I can skype with hubby anytime. If not, I will miss him to death. @.@

5.15pm

Went to Fair Price supermarket to buy some daily neccesaties like toilet rolls, body shampoo, bread, black current jam and 3 in 1 instant cereal.

Of course, I bought nasi lemak and coffee for dinner.

7.43pm

I am exhausted now. Time to take a rest or … sleep early. Looking forward to my first day at work on 1st of February!

I am so happy that the lawyer called to inform that Andes and I can sign the S & P agreement next Friday. ^.^

Phew, the house sale process is finally heading somewhere after my prayer to God for almost 2 months!

Once the S & P is signed next Friday, it takes only about a month to get the money.

Woohoo, quite a big chunk of money that can be saved as emergency fund in banks in Malaysia and Singapore!

Lord, YOU are the Answer to All of My Questions.

Updated on 28.01.2012: The S & P agreement was signed yesterday afternoon. Hopefully the sale proceeds will reach us within 3 months.

15.01.2012

Took 10pm’s bus to Singapore. This was the first time I took a night bus straight into Singapore.

16.01.2012

Arrived at Woodlands Checkpoint at 4.50am! Crammed into a Causeway Link bus to Kranji MRT. Ya, I did cram into the bus because it may take another 15 or 20 minutes for the next bus!

By the time I reached Kranji MRT, it’s only 5.15 am. So, I had to wait until 5.45am and when I reached Tanjong Pagar MRT, it’s around 6.15am.

As the Word Pass Services Centre would only open at 8am, I went to a McDonald outlet for its SGD$5 McValue breakfast set.

Photo Credit to Facebook.com/ToastBoxSingapore

To be honest, I prefer Toast Box’s SGD$2.50 breakfast set or West Mall food court’s SGD$2.70 breakfast set to SGD$5 McValue breakfast set. XD

The reason?

The breakfast set at Toast Box which consists of sandwich and coffee is just right for my appetite size.

West Mall breakfast set which includes a toast, 2 eggs and a cup of coffee is a bit heavy for me.

As for McValue breakfast set which consists of sausage muffin with egg, hash brown and coffee is way too heavy for me. I couldn’t even finish the muffin and hash brown on that day. >.<

Right after breakfast, I walked to WPSC. I reached the Card Collection unit at 7.50am and I was surprised that it’s already opened for service. By the time I got my work permit, it’s still not yet 8am. Wow!

I went back to Perak at 1pm’s bus on the same day as I didn’t feel like staying a night at Johor Bahru.

On 11th of January after coming back from doing fingerprinting and photo imaging at Tanjong Pagar, I checked my email.

Oh, no, I got a job reply from RecruitPlus Consulting stating that I may fit one of the roles they were currently recruiting! The email was sent to me on the 9th.

Sigh, why didn’t you reply me a few days earlier or in December 2011? You know, being a customer service specialist in a call centre was my first choice then! To be exact, being a Cantonese speaking customer service executive in an award winning call centre! @.@

Timing. I believe it’s timing. Maybe NOW is not the timing for me to work in a call centre in Singapore. NOW is the timing for me to work as a customer service officer in a language school instead.

When it comes to timing, I remember the doctor who did the medical examination for me on the 6th of January. He said I should have worked in Singapore 10 years ago. If so, I would have been a PR now.

Ha, I felt like telling the doctor that it’s about timing! Maybe NOW is the time God thinks I am suitable to work and live in Singapore … for a few years. NOW is the time God thinks I can blog about everything including new working and living life in Singapore with more mature and open mind. XD

09.01.2012

At 8.30am, I received a call from my employer asking whether I was already in Singapore. Of course no.

Due to miscommunication, she thought I would be in Singapore on Monday morning while I thought she would call me once she had collected the medical report and requested for the issuance of work permit online.

Without wasting time, I took a quick shower and then rushed into Singapore. By the time I reached Singapore, it’s 10.30am. After sending my Immigration White Card number via text message to my employer, I was told to hang out at shopping mall while waiting for the next step.

At about 3pm, I gave my employer a text message checking the status of the request for the issuance of work permit online. She gave me a call stating that there’s no further action given by MOM. Oh, no!

She said she would ask her Human Resource Manager to give MOM a call to see what had gone wrong. Upon checking, I was told that it would take 4 working days for the approval of the request for the issuance of work permit online. Oh, my!

Feeling disappointed, I had to go back to JB and wait for a few days. Although it’s said that I should wait for 4 days, I had faith that I could get a reply sooner due to Singapore’s fast and efficient service and of course, my prayer to God.

11.01.2012 Wednesday

True enough, it took less than 4 working days to know the outcome of the request. It came out on Tuesday evening!

On Wednesday morning, I reached Singapore at 8.30am and sent a text message with my Immigration White Card number to my employer.

At 9 something, I got a call from my employer telling me that the Work Permit issuance notification letter had been generated and she would pass the letter, medical report and employment agreement to me.

Once receiving all the documents from my employer, I proceeded to Work Pass Services Centre at Tanjong Pagar Complex, 7 Keppel Road, #02-27/29, Singapore 089053 for photo imaging and finger printing.

Again, impressed with the super fast and efficient service at the Work Pass Services Centre! I was more than 20 numbers away at that time, yet it took only 5 minutes to wait for my turn. Wow!

Let me recall the whole process from going for a medical checkup to going for photo imaging and fingerprinting.

04.01.2012 Wednesday

My employer called to inform me that the In-Principle Approval (IPA) letter had been issued and thus I must go down to go for a medical examination.

Medical Examination

The Foreign Worker (FW) has to undergo and pass a medical examination by a Singapore registered doctor within 14 days of arrival (including Sunday/Public Holidays) in Singapore. The Work Permit will only be issued if the Foreign Worker passes the medical examination. Foreign Workers who are unable to pass the medical examination, which includes those who have been diagnosed with active pulmonary Tuberculosis and/or HIV will have to be repatriated.

The medical examination screens the Foreign Worker for four types of infectious diseases (Tuberculosis, HIV, Syphilis and Malaria) that are of public health concern. It also serves to check that the Foreign Worker is generally fit to work at the point of examination. However, even if the Foreign Worker passes the medical examination, it does not mean that he/she is free from all illnesses. Employers with specific concerns may wish to send the Foreign Worker for other tests as they deem appropriate.

Employers who wish to know the results of the medical examination may obtain a copy of the completed report directly from the examining doctor.

So, I quickly took the morning bus to JB on Thursday. It’s evening when I arrived JB. I must have Andes’ sister’s family to thank for picking me up and letting me stay in their house for as long as I liked. Grateful.

06.01.2012 Friday

It took me nearly two hours to reach my company in Singapore. While in the traffic jam at Johor-Singapore causeway, I told myself that I was right to want to rent a room in Singapore rather than traveling to and fro daily.

If I had to wake up at 6am to get ready, leave the house at 7 am and reach Singapore office at 9am, then I would rather move back to Kuala Lumpur to work and live. XD

Okay, coming back to the medical examination! I must say that the medical examination which included a general physical medical examination, a chest x-ray and a test for the AIDS-causing Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) was pretty fast.

I was truly amazed by the fast and efficient service at the clinic and SATA. What a vast difference compared to the service provided in Malaysia!

Once done, I was informed that the medical report would be collected by my employer on Monday.

Read Singapore Work Permit :- Request for the Issuance of the Work Permit.