World Wide Mike

Last week I received notice that my Permanent Residence has been approved. Nice! It took less than a month. I just needed to get a medical checkup, so off to the doctor’s I go. I was one of two patients waiting for the doctor to get back from lunch; when he got in the other guy went in before me. As I waited I got harassed by the two (not young or goodlooking) receptionists: “Where you from? Do you have a brother in Canada so we can marry him and move there? Isn’t it cold there? Are you married? But you’re so young and handsome! Your wife must be beautiful…” oh man I was glad the doctor worked quick.

On Friday we celebrated a friend-in-law’s birthday by eating really expensive seafood by the water. Apparently the restaurant we went to has three locations, each with the same menu but different prices, and ours was the most expensive. But good nevertheless. I’m beginning to grow really fond of crab; though it takes a lot of effort cracking all the shells and getting at the meat, the reward is well worth it. After dinner we sat down for some $12 bottles of beer and daquaries, and before I knew it it was time to head to the airport to pick up Kev. Kev’s on his way to Sydney and stopped by for the weekend. So the next two days were spent shopping eating and sightseeing, though not really that much sightseeing. Kev writes two entries and has some pictures up from the weekend.

Monday I saw Kev off at the airport, then traveled back to the clinic to get my results. I passed! No heart or lung aberrations and no HIV. From the clinic it was off to the Immigrations & Checkpoint Authority to finalize the paperwork. I arrived just past 10am, and just before 3pm I was done: 5 hours of watching little red numbers flashing on the board. I was a bit delirious, not to mention starving! After surrendering my fingerprints and getting my passport back I am officialy a Singapore PR.

Tuesday I had my first job interview for a ‘real engineering’ job at Motorola. It probably could have gone smoother, but all in all it went well. We’ll see how things turn out. On Friday I have another interview there for an unrelated position. Among the ‘perks’ of working at Motorola would be commuting as the office is about 20 minutes away. We’ll see how things go.