Well last night I got some disappointing news that my application for pre-registration with the Singapore Board of Pharmacy was not accepted. Their requirements have changed within the last month where originals of all documents must be certified by the staff at the board or by your future pharmacy manager. Plus they require original certificates like your diploma and pharmacist wall license. Plus transcripts must be submitted directly from the school and letters with specific terminology must be submitted directly from the foreign board of pharmacy and from the school of pharmacy. It’s all very specific so I took quite a bit of the morning taking care of requesting additional paperwork from California. It was a bit discouraging but I know things eventually work themselves out with a little hard work. My future preceptor said things are becoming more strict because of recent reports of people faking their credentials. I found a forum focused on this topic in one of our local papers, The Straits Times. So I can understand their concern.

I went to the Borders bookstore in the afternoon. I needed to get something more interesting to read. I miss having books at my fingertips. If you’ve seen my bookcase full of books at home, you’d know what I mean. I ended up getting a really good deal on two books as they were having a sale, 70% off red-marked books.

I bought:
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Castro’s Dream by Lucy Wadham
Guidebook for Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia

I started reading Jane Eyre on the MRT home and got really into it. I continued reading it by the pool at our apt complex but had to stop in order to make dinner: wheat pasta with sausage carbonara.

After a dinner of pasta, I fell asleep but had to wake up at midnight in order to call the CA BOP. This 15-hr time difference is killer…

Yay! Aqua-gym restarted this morning as they are finally done with the painting at the pool. It was all aerobics today and boy, was it a good work-out! After not having done it for almost 2 weeks, I was really tired.

So I had a late start to the rest of the day. I didn’t go out until 4pm to Jurong East for shopping. Ron had class all day so I figured it didn’t matter what time I went out and I didn’t want to stay in all day either. After taking the MRT To Jurong East, I headed over to the IMM Building for some shopping. I was on task to find shorts for on and some work shirts for myself.

For Ron I stopped by Hang Ten which, strangely, we only shop while in Asia like on our visits to Taiwan. They have interesting sales here, if you buy 1 ‘new arrival’ item, you get 20% off; if you buy 2 ‘new arrival’ items, you get 30% off both items, if you buy 3 or more ‘new arrival’ items, you get 40% off all items. Plus if you spend $50 after all those discounts, you still get $10 off and that’s $10 off for each $50 spent. Sounds too good to be true, eh? How do they make money? There must be a catch, right?

There wasn’t. I seriously got 3 pairs of shorts that were originally $23 at 40% off plus (after I got some tops for myself) an additional $10 off.

After getting myself those good deals I headed the check out the rest of IMM. We’ve only been there to shop at the Giant Hypermarket and to have the chili crab dinner. Of course my next stop ended up being a store with Hello Kitty in the window. They were having a storewide 10% off. I was carrying a Hello Kitty handbag so the shopowner came up to me with the catalog and let me know what she had ordered for the coming month 😛 Just my luck that they just had a sale and cleared out a lot of their stock 🙁 but new things were coming in on October 30th. You probably don’t need to guess where I’ll be that day 🙂 I purchased a soft Hello Kitty plush and a keychain (Items #2 and #3).

I was almost going to leave but decided to explore further, I’m glad I did and I discovered my home away from home. Although the web states this store sells rejects and leftovers from America, I don’t see it that way. It’s more like overstock of US brands for a great deal! The store is called Factory Outlet Stores or F.O.S. and they carry things from Gap, Banana Republic, Ann Taylor Loft, H&M, Style & Co., etc. The tags are usually slashed, inked out, or cut out but it was so nice to see clothes I recognized! And cheap! I only paid $5 for a nice Ann Taylor Loft blouse. Apparently there’s a store closer to where I live so I’ll have to check it out.

I ventured upstairs to a store called Daiso. It’s filled with knick knacks like cosmetics, plastic containers, kitchen stuff, food stuff, plates, cups, socks, bathroom stuff, and more. No prices though. I was very confused. It wasn’t until I got home to search online that everything in the store is S$2. It’s apparently a chain in Japan where everything is 100Yen. The store is a bit overwhelming. You could easily be stuck there for a an hour or two and buy way too much stuff you don’t need. If you’re seriously looking for a plastic container for something specific, I”m sure you’d find it here! (They even have MD carrying cases, who uses MDs anymore?)

I headed home and brought Ron dinner at INSEAD. I stayed until 10pm when the cafeteria/bar closed and headed home to inspect today’s bounty. I guess I’m getting used to shopping by myself again. I always used to do it because I hate bothering others who might get bored plus I never know who’s around.

My token picture for this post; the poor crabs waiting to be cooked at the place I went to pick up dinner.

Oh but I must mention something. My friend Alex here once said that my appearance is deceiving because everyone thinks I’m Chinese. I finally really felt it today because all the shopkeepers spoke to me in Mandarin until I had to politely ask to repeat in English. I’ve got to sign up for Mandarin schools soon. I missed my chance earlier in September so I’m still looking for a course to sign up for. There’s one starting on Monday so I’m going to try for that.