Monday, January 30, 2012

John and Yuko Leave for New Zealand

01/25, Wednesday
Yuko has been busy preparing for John and her trip to NZ, and for their application to Singapore for Permanent Residency (PR). John has been on business trips for the last 10 days and returns late tonight.
Yesterday we went to their friend Judy 's condo for a traditional Chinese meal including a large salad that everyone helps toss.The higher the toss the more good fortune.

01/26, Thursday
John, Yuko and the girls are off for their interview at 9:30am with the PR department. All of Yuko's prep has paid off; their app and interview passes successfully in less than an hour. There are some social program advantages to having PR status.

We get a chance to see John for about two hours while he packs for the NZ trip. They leave at 7:30pm, lose 5 hours, and arrive in Auckland at 10:00am. The purpose of their trip is to choose an architect and contractor to build on their property on the North Island in the town of Hihi.

01/27, Friday
Emma and I walk to school at 8:30. Sandy and I play tennis for an hour followed by a short swim, and book reading. "Panama" is my current mystery novel involving Henry Adams and John Hay; and Sandy is reading "Distant Replay" about the GB Packers of the mid-60s. This seems to be our weekday routine. Then, shower and we're off for the afternoon to explore.

Today is a minor shopping outing to find vacuum bags for a Panasonic vacuum. Shouldn't be a big deal, but...after doing a bus schedule on the iPad to the Century Square plaza (sounds like a strip mall in anyplace USA), we have trouble finding the bus stop for #10. This gives us an opportunity to take our first SMRT ride (elevated train). It's easy, fast, quiet, modern, and stops are announced in English. We really play American tourist and stop for ice cream at McDonald's.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Other Places on the Island State

01/22, Sunday
The Southern Ridges of Singapore is another green area that ties together several parks with a hiking trail. We have been near this area before when we went out for dinner at Vivo City. The terrain and flora, although within walking distance, is totally different, in fact, like a jungle. From the heights of the ridges one can see the harbor, the ships, the cranes, shopping centers, high rise offices and condos, and the gondola that transports people from the heights to the small resort island of Sentosa. We have a picnic lunch in the Terrace Garden, which is at the top of the park and offers a 360 view of the city.

The Henderson Bridge connects the western park (Hort Park) with the eastern (Mt Faber Park). It crosses over a highway at heights of 76m above sea level. It consists of seven wooden arches and is 500m in length. Even though some of Singapore's architecture is boring and repetitive, from this vantage we can view plenty of structural variety. Plus the bridge itself, also called the Henderson Wave, is beautiful. Quite a mixture of jungle, plants, modern bridges and panoramic views of the city. A very interesting walk. Reward ourselves with ice cream when we walk down to Vivo city and then take a double decker bus home.

01/23,Monday, Start of Chinese New Year

Dick and I took a bus to the Art Science Museum at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel while Yuko took the girls to a movie with friends. The architectural design of this museum is inspired by the lotus flower. It was being built when we were here last year. A total of ten white "fingers" makes up the gallery space. It is surrounded by a lily pond reflecting pool. Quite a sight.

We spent two hours touring two exhibits, the Titanic and Cartier Time Art. We have seen several other exhibits on the Titanic, but this was by far the most complete and compelling. It had several re-creations, such as The Grand Staircase, boiler room, cabins and various decks. Lots of artifacts, personal stories, even an iceberg you can touch and a boarding pass so you can check to see if you are a survivor ! I was a six year old girl going to Chicago, Il. and survived. Dick was a 45 year old man headed for North Dakota and he was also a survivor.

The Cartier watchmaking had over 150 creations on display with remarkable designs and complicated timepieces. One bracelet watch contained 45 carats of emeralds, along with rubies and diamonds. Nice little bobble. No price tags.

Then we met Yuko and the girls at the Pan Pacific Hotel for an excellent dinner that John hosted in absentia. It was in celebration of Chinese New Year Day. Beautiful Japanese setting with wonderful dishes prepared in a style called tappenacki. It means iron grill and we were able to watch the food expertly prepared. Quite a relaxing and fun treat that we all enjoyed.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

An Intriguing City/State

01/19/12 - 01/22/12
The more we learn about Singapore the more it seems to offer. We decided to return to the History area of the Singapore National Museum, since we barely touched the actual history when we saw the impressionist exhibit a week ago.

Luckily we arrived just as an English guided tour was about to begin. She started the tour by showing us a large stone which was from the 12th century found near a graveyard. It is of great importance because of it's inscriptions which have never been fully translated by experts, but is an early remnant of the culture.

Various digs have uncovered pottery and jewelry from the 14th century, so life was quite established although the area was primarily jungle at that time. Tigers were so prevalent that they had a bounty on them and sadly lost at least a person a day to a tiger attack.

Singapore was controlled by several different empires (Jahore, Portuguese, Dutch, British) until the 18th century when Thomas Stanford Raffles acquired it as a trading post for the British by negotiating an agreement with the Sultan's older son. Raffles helped him take power from his younger brother (who had an exclusive trading arrangement with the Dutch) in return for complete control of trading with the British. You see Raffles name everywhere. He was a very prominent figure in starting Singapore on the road to success.

There are construction cranes all over the city/state, building hignrisers and reclaiming land that will eventually be built on. Interestingly, there is lots of open green space and many parks.

Often, we think of Singapore as only a city. In reality, it is an entire country, although small. The island actually has many different aspects, not just high rise condos and office buildings and roads. One finds "suburbs", parks, recreation areas (golf, tennis, soccer, swimming), shipping containers, shopping centers, green space, and some industry. There doesn't seem to be any farming per se.

The political powers have tight control over planning and growth. The highways that connect various parts of the island are well-designed and move traffic well. Bus service is modern and efficient as is the subway system. Many people use mass transit or taxis. When it rains (as it did today in thunderous pouring), the drainage system carries the downpour away quickly. In other words, this is a modern first-world country.

The PAP ( people's action party) has been in power since Singapore gained it's independence first from the British in 1956, and then from Malaysia in the mid 1960's. Growth and financial success through expanding the port have made Singapore a world economic power very quickly.

Because of it's convenient location Singapore had people pouring in mainly from China to begin with and then India and other Asian Pacific countries. Men left their families and hoped to acquire fortunes, but many fell victims to the four vices of gambling, alcohol, prostitution and opium (ironically, all legal now except opium).

The word "coolie" is Chinese for "bitter work", and defined terrible working and living conditions that lasted till the middle of the 19th century. At one time over 20,000 rickshaws were being pulled by people that had an average life span of 40 years.

It was during this influx of mainly men that hawker centers were established. The men needed to eat cheaply, had no cooking equipment, no females for cooking, and probably just a cot somewhere. Today hawker centers are still very prevalent and lively places to eat cheaply. Families and people of all ages enjoy a variety of food while sitting outside. There must be hundreds of these hawker centers throughout the city.

Finally, obtaining their independence and establishing a government that strives for a well planned city, Singapore has seen vast, positive improvements in just over 50 years. It is also wonderful to see so many diverse cultures living and working peacefully together.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Always learning when traveling

Took the Bugis Walking Tour a couple days ago which is an area that Yuko used to work in and it is a bustling interesting area with a combination of old and new. The Intercontinental Hotel is right in the midst and had the most beautiful flower arrangements throughout the lobby. The area has lots of shophouses and varied architecture up and down Waterloo Street.

Of course there are temples and one that is dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy is said that wishes made in there get granted. It was crowded!

We ended up at the Singapore Art Museum, which is an example of colonial architecture and has over 4000 pieces of Asian art. We quickly zoomed in on the Asia Pacific Signature Art Exhibition, which was truly unique. It presents the work of 15 finalists and all were thought provoking and seemed to all show humanity has both beauty and cruelty. One looked like a beautiful rug until up closer you saw it was minute pieces of pictures of animals being slaughtered intermixed with glorious landscapes. Another was a wooden sculpture that made it seem that the wood had been under a brutal attack. Still another had splatters of red showing the death and destruction of suicide attacks in Pakistan, but looking closer some of the spots showed delicate flowers. It stated "that even from violence and death, life and hope can still blossom." We had our picture taken in front of a soon to be demolished Vietnam area backdrop which was a tribute to the artist's hometown. All very touching and well done. Hopefully we are going to museums in the search for knowledge, but our underlining motive is they are air conditioned !

Before heading home we stopped for a drink and some nibbles at the "Chijmes" We enjoyed a great dinner there last year with John and Yuko. It was a convent (Convent Home of the Infant Jesus..CHIJ) and a chapel. It now has many indoor and outdoor restaurants and a wedding chapel. It takes up a huge space right downtown and is another great people watching place.

The last few days we have been playing tennis in the morning, jumping in the pool and then reading poolside. Not a bad start to the day. Some days we walk Nicky to school before our tennis. She looks so cute in her uniform and big backpack. Today it took us one hour to play one set and we were both dripping (my sweat ball look). Dick finally prevailed at 10 to 8 but it does show we have built up a bit of tolerance to the heat.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Goodbye Fergus




Fergus Volvo

October 5, 2011



Today we sold Fergus, our Volvo. Now we no longer have a home (we rented it out to a Canadian couple for a year), and our car has a new owner (bye-bye, Fergus).

For sure, we are now commited to our 8 months of travel, arriving back in Chicago in June, 2012. Our first stop will be Milan, Italy, on Thursday, October 13. Then, onto Novigrad, Istria, in Croatia via Trieste on October 16.

We still have 20 things to finish on our To Do List in the next 6 days. Let's start the adventure.

Exploring here and there

01/10 Tuesday
John left this morning for Beijing, China. He will be there until Thursday night and leaves Friday for a conference in Hawaii. It's for work, not fun and games. He then will stop in Tokyo before coming home 10 days later.

We took the #16 bus to Fort Canning Park to visit a World War II Battle Box. This is where the allies had an underground 26-room bunker used for coordinating the Malayan defense against the Japanese attacks. On February 15, 1942, the British surrendered after 10-days of bombardment. It was the first British surrender of the 20th century. The battle box was 20+ feet underground and had just been rediscovered in the late 80's and opened up to the public in the 90's. They have very life like figures in the various rooms depicting the military personnel. Again, another example of senseless war and it's devastating effects.

The Singapore National Museum happens to be a short distance away. Their current exhibit is "Dreams and Reality", a impressionist show including Cezanne, Monet, Manet, Morisot, Degas, Renoir and several others. A knowledgeable docent described many of the pieces for us and we saw several that we had never seen. It is always a thrill to see Van Gogh's "Stary Night". Our guide told a great deal about the lives of the painters, which added so much.

We will return next week to learn more about the history of Singapore, another permanent exhibit that we started, but 45 minutes was only a beginning. A vast improvement from the Singapore history that we saw over 15 years ago. It is now housed in a beautiful building and done in a very interesting manner.



Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Sinapore Friends and parties

01/13, Friday
We walked around Malacca a bit before going to the bus station and checked out the progress on a gigantic dragon that is going up by the river and go to a historical museum. It was built in the 1600's as the governors home and town hall. It is a very large, striking building and stands out since it is deep pink in color and a market area surrounds it.

It will be crowded this week-end for Chinese New Year. We also take a trishaw ride back to our hotel, but we ask not to have the boom box blaring. They seem to compete and the noise level can be deafening. They are all colorfully decorated and the whole square is lively and picturesque.

Traffic on Friday evening in Singapore is like all big cities...bumper-to-bumper and slow. Our return bus takes 5 hours.

John and Yuko have dinner plans for all of us at a friendly family-style place as soon as we are off the bus. It features Indian food that was very good. There was a play spot for kids so the girls were busy. The area is always crowded and takes people watching to a whole new level. We will probably try taking the girls there when John and Yuko are gone, since it is walkable and they like it. Ordering Indian food might be tricky since we always leave that to Yuko and John.

John has to leave tonight for a week's trip to Hawaii via Tokyo. His flight leaves at 11:45pm, arriving Tokyo at 6:45am, a long layover there, not arriving in Waikiki until late Saturday (loosing a day).

01/14, Saturday
Emma has a tennis lesson at 10:00am, after which we play two sets of Scotch Doubles and jump in the pool to cool off.

Andy and Claire have invited us to their home for outdoor grilling. They live in old government lodging known as "black and white" houses. John and Yuko lived in a similar home 14 years ago which we had never seen. Today we got to see it on our way to the grill-out. These homes were used for military families in the 1940s. Judging from the interior of Andy and Claire's, they were/are very comfortable. They incorporate a courtyard for outdoor activities including showering and cooking.

As always, we enjoyed meeting new friends in the group...Sebastian, Peter, Bruce, Mo, Michael, Carolyn, Pang, Lumoi, Ravi, Kai, and their various children...Adain, Jo, Michael...and several others whose names I can't remember. Their layout is perfect for a gathering and everyone enjoyed themselves. Lots and lots of food. Dick and I brought apple crisp which seemed to be a hit.

01/15, Sunday
Tennis morning and biking afternoon. Again went to the water on the East Coast and rented bikes, but went in a different direction. Stopped for some cooling milk ice with mangoes that was tasty. Always a pretty sight to watch the many large boats coming into the harbor. Singapore is one of the busiest ports in the world.

Monday, January 16, 2012

More Malacca Exploring


01/12 Thursday
First-class Gentleman's Street (Heeren Street) is one street over from Jonker Street. There are some nice hotels on Heeren to visit. We find a totally restored shop house called Baba Nyong, literally meaning "man woman", but generally used to refer to the Malay culture.

Shop houses are just that, a shop on the first floor and living quarters for the owner-family on the second. Because taxes are assessed on the front footage of a building, a shop house is narrow, but deep with one or two light wells as you proceed to the back. This particular shophouse belonged to a family that traded in spices. It must have been a good business, because the house is very large and elegant. Even the underside of the winding staircase has gold gilding. Family lived here until 1942 and then turned it into a private museum. Chinese guide explained the ornate furniture, exceptional huge embroidered tapestries and life there in general. She also had memorized several jokes that were cute.

Lunch of chicken rice balls at Famosa restaurant prepared us for a short walk to the reconstructed Sultan's palace and gardens. Constructed entirely of wood without using any nails, the palace was used as living quarters by the Sultan's family, and as the administrative HQ where the Sultan conducted the business of his empire. One Sultan divorced his wife, so a friend (?) could marry her. Rather strange. A large beautiful garden with walks and ponds is located in front and was a play yard
for a princess. They had an enormous display of the clothing the sultans and others wore. All looked very hot !

Christ's Church, originally a Dutch Reformed church, is located on the main square. Our visit there is prolonged somewhat by a sudden downpour. The Church is devoid of any ornate decoration, no stained glass windows, plain wooden pews, and unpainted walls.

In an attempt to find the Saint Peter church, we get pretty lost wandering along streets of the modern city. Giving up our search, we follow the river back to the old town and our hotel. The town has used wall art as a means of dressing up the riverfront buildings, without which they would be boring and ugly.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

More Malacca Exploring


01/12 Thursday
First-class Gentleman's Street (Heeren Street) is one street over from Jonker Street. There are some nice hotels on Heeren to visit. We find a totally restored shop house called Baba Nyong, literally meaning "man woman", but generally used to refer to the Malay culture.

Shop houses are just that, a shop on the first floor and living quarters for the owner-family on the second. Because taxes are assessed on the front footage of a building, a shop house is narrow, but deep with one or two light wells as you proceed to the back. This particular shophouse belonged to a family that traded in spices. It must have been a good business, because the house is very large and elegant. Even the underside of the winding staircase has gold gilding. Family lived here until 1942 and then turned it into a private museum. Chinese guide explained the ornate furniture, exceptional huge embroidered tapestries and life there in general. She also had memorized several jokes that were cute.

Lunch of chicken rice balls at Famosa restaurant prepared us for a short walk to the reconstructed Sultan's palace and gardens. Constructed entirely of wood without using any nails, the palace was used as living quarters by the Sultan's family, and as the administrative HQ where the Sultan conducted the business of his empire. One Sultan divorced his wife, so a friend (?) could marry her. Rather strange. A large beautiful garden with walks and ponds is located in front and was a play yard
for a princess. They had an enormous display of the clothing the sultans and others wore. All looked very hot !

Christ's Church, originally a Dutch Reformed church, is located on the main square. Our visit there is prolonged somewhat by a sudden downpour. The Church is devoid of any ornate decoration, no stained glass windows, plain wooden pews, and unpainted walls.

In an attempt to find the Saint Peter church, we get pretty lost wandering along streets of the modern city. Giving up our search, we follow the river back to the old town and our hotel. The town has used wall art as a means of dressing up the riverfront buildings, without which they would be boring and ugly.

Friday, January 13, 2012

Off to Explore Malacca, Malaysia

01/11 Wednesday
Today's destination is Malacca, Malaysia, about 4 hours north of Singapore via bus. It is exactly 2°12′N 102°15′E according to Wikipedia, whereas Singapore is 01 22' N, 103 48' E. It is the capital of the state of the same name, population of around 800,000.

We're passing along a 4-lane highway surrounded by hills and plains of green tropical trees and foliage. It's an overcast day, a bit less humid than in Singapore. We saw parts of Malaysia on Saturday when hiking in the wetlands and actually heard the chanting of prayers. Malacca has been made an historical site and we have looked up several " must see" places. We need to get some Malaysian Ringgit currency!

Our hotel is on Jonker St (in Dutch, meaning "second class gentleman's" street) in the historic district. Malacca has been part of Portugal, the Netherlands, and The United Kingdom over the past 600 years. Malaysia has been an independent nation since 1957. It's location on the coast is at the narrowest point of the Malacca Strait making it a good shipping port. Singapore, of course, has usurped Malacca's former #1 port in Asia.

Our room has big windows overlooking the busy street and an outdoor stage. All kinds of decorations are going up for the Chinese New Year, which is the year of the dragon. Our room is decorated quite dramatically and comfortable.

After a quick lunch right next to our hotel we start walking the famous street. We tour the oldest temple, Chengdu Hoon Teng, in Malaysia. Then it is on to a mausoleum and a mosque before reaching the river. We see a great collection of past governors uniforms, metals etc, learn about Malaysia independence in 1956 and even a well restored 1956 white Chevy at the Governor's museum.

Then it is up a big hill to the ruins of St. Paul, a great view of Malacca and the Malaysia straits and most important enjoy a cool breeze. One would think I'd be dropping /sweating off a few pounds, but it isn't happening. St. Francis Xavier preached here in this church for many years in the 1500's. Three European powers, the Portuguese, Dutch and British occupied Malacca until 1957 and this church was used by all of them.

Stopped for a drink before heading back to our hotel for a rest. Kind of funny since I had a Singapore Sling and haven't had one in Singapore yet. It was way too sweet.

After putting our feet up and the AC on for awhile we walk down to the river and take a 45 minute cruise at 8 pm. It is a delightful evening with a nice breeze. The boat goes by old shop houses, churches,a Malay village and under several unique bridges.Lots of lights and activity. We see several cafes from the boat and walk back to one for dinner. The locals call their food Pernanakan and it is a blend of Malay and Chinese. They use lots of herbs,spices, coconut milk and lime. It is very unique, spicy and flavorful. We tried several dishes and a local dessert and all were good. The cost was about $15.

Saturday, January 7, 2012

When in Singapore, Enjoy the Weather and the Outdoors

01/06/12 Friday
Sandy just looked up the weather on The Weather Channel. Singapore is 88F, feels like 94F. It's 6:30pm. No rain so far today, but always very humid. Occasionally, we get a nice cooling wind. The swimming pool provides a convenient way to cool down. We play a set of tennis every few days, usually before noon in the shadows from the condo building. Then, swim.

Vivo Center is our destination for dinner after the girls are off to bed. The first restaurant, Shabuya, is strangely not taking diners after 8:00. Our next choice is a German "tapas" style place called Brotzeit (bread time). It's really great food, with lighter variations on standard German fare, and good German beer. We have a table outdoors overlooking the river and occasional fireworks at Sentosa. We took a double decker bus to Vivo Center and rode up front on the top deck, which was really fun. The building lights were great and John pointed out all the sights, most that didn't exist when they lived here 15 years ago. Singapore is an exciting city and all the different architecture used really makes it interesting.

01/07 Saturday
Kranji Countryside, a nature area, is about 15km at the northwest side of Singapore. In fact, you can see across the strait to Malaysia, and hear the Muslim prayers being chanted, it's so close. This area has 10 or so small green businesses. John, Yuko, the girls and us cabbed to a Nature Preserve there. Quite impressive area and their saying is, "We believe that going back to nature is the future." Hard to believe they are busy with land fill projects just a few miles away when you walk through so much jungle like areas. They have very nice boardwalks and we climbed a tower to view the entire area.

It is remote from the city, with lots of open space covered by tropical flora. Sungei Buloh (meaning River Bamboo) is a wetlands operated by the state, only Sg$ 0.50 entry fee. As we walk the trails, we encounter lots of exotic fauna and flora, too. Mangrove tree's root systems protect the wetlands from erosion. When the tide is out we can see the tangle of roots among the muddy sandy bottom.

Along the trail, sometimes in the trail, we come across lizards, some 5 feet long. They are familiar with people, so they don't skittle off into the bush. There are flying fish, walking fish, snakes (well, we saw one small skinny one that even Sandy wasn't afraid of), heron, possibly a crocodile (we didn't see it), and lots of migratory birds.

Poison Ivy Bistro, also located in the Kranji area, was our late lunch destination. Ivy is a native 62-year old Singaporean of Indian background. She is a gentle warrior of high caste. She is called "poison" because she has never cooked. She and her husband started a green farm, Bollywood Veggies, 10 years ago, and added the cafe later. It featured organic, very healthy food and we were all hungry after several hours of exploring. We had just enough time to wander into the funky garden before catching a bus back.

The building going on in Singapore is incredible and huge cranes are constantly working on major landfill projects all up and down the coast. They are changing some major freeways and seem to work 24 - 7.

01/08 Sunday
Tennis is the first item on today's agenda. It's cloudy and cool (only 78 degrees), perfect weather to be on the court. We got in a couple sets and a swim before it started to rain.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

The Start of the New Year in Singapore

12/31
The last day of 2011. Our activity for today is bicycling along the coast and Chiangi Airport for lunch at Chiangi Village. About 10 miles of level riding for 1 1/2 hours in 90 degree temp.Very nice bike path along water, parks, golf course and one runway of the airport. Emma biked the whole way, no complaints other than not wanting to wear a helmet. We were bushed afterward, and napped for awhile at home. Then, a short swim at the pool.

Eight o'clock, we're off to pick up cakes that Yuko had ordered for Carolin's birthday on 12/31 and NewYears. Then, to Pasha's, a Moroccan-Indian restaurant for the evening into the new year. We were outdoors on a rooftop under a tent, drinks and buffet. Nice people, very good food and a fun evening. It certainly had a festive atmosphere and very nice bringing in the new year with John and Yuko.

January 1, 2012
Lazy morning since we didn't get to bed till 2am. Then we played some tennis and had lunch by the pool and enjoyed soaking up the sun. Took a nice walk to a busy area with lots of stores, restaurants and a new mall. We ate at an outdoor Chinese place and had lots of different dishes, including sting ray and pepper crab. Great people watching. Then we had ice cream at the new mall and took a bus home. A very nice way to start 2012. It is so fun and relaxing being in Singapore and spending time with Emma and Nicky is special. I am amazed at Nicky's vocabulary. She went from hardly speaking to carrying on a delightful conversation in such a short time. Emma read me a story and she is an excellent reader.

01/02/12
It's time to de-Christmas the house. Yuko is busy removing ornaments and lights from the tree, putting them away for another year. Had a very nice afternoon at a friend's condo, Judy. Her complex has an enormous pool, jacuzzi and beautiful outdoor area. Of course it is used all year !

Judy treated us all to lunch and a special cake called galette de roi (royal cake). It's filled with almond paste and covered with filo dough, sweet but not too sweet. Inside the cake is baked a small ceramic object like the baby Jesus, or Mother Mary. Whoever finds it in his or her piece is crowned the king or queen. Aidan, Judy's 5 year old son, was king.

01/03
A day of shopping at the Parkway Plaza Mall...food for dinner and Doctor's office for prescriptions for Dick. It is unbelievably easy and cheap to get a Doctor's prescription which I needed to release medication from Singapore customs.

Yuko prepared another incredible meal that we enjoyed after the girls had gone to bed. Then, a movie, "Kissing Jessica". (Yuko and I fell asleep while Sandy and John finished watching.)

01/04
Nicky started a new school today, kindergarten. She was very courageous without a whimper. Sandy and I were off to the PP Mall for several items, including a haircut and medications at the pharmacy for me. I haven't written about the trials and tribulations of getting meds from the USA to me, both in Croatia and Singapore. Matt has been very persistent in getting them to me. With John, Yuko, and Sandy's insistence and help, I think we have procured all my meds for the next 6 months.