Thanks for the Adventure

SO it is my last night here in Singapore. I am not sleeping tonight, at least that’s the plan, and I am checking out of my room at 3am! I am just hoping that my luggage will be accepted and I won’t have to throw anything else away. That’s my biggest worry right now!!! I weighed them here and one was 47 and one was 52 but I am worried I might have been slightly off or something!!! EEK! Hopefully it will work out just fine… fingers crossed. 

Anyway! These past few days have been amazing. Thursday I went to the Tiger Brewery with Jenny. It was a lot of fun! Very chill environment and we got our own tour (: wooo. Then later that evening I got dinner with Adele, and we ran into Justin so I made plans with him for Friday. I then came back to my room and worked on packing, and reconfiguring my classes next semester!

On Friday I woke up and went for a fast run and sat around for a while because I wasn’t feeling too good. Maybe I was sad about leaving or maybe I was dehydrated, either way I was really lazy. I then went and met Adele one last time around 3:30 and it was super sad ): And then by 4:30 I was meeting Justin at Somerset. I got some bubble tea and then we went to this dessert place called Honeymoon Dessert. It was yummy! We talked about why I think a lot of the food places in Singapore wouldn’t work too well in the US because of our food VS Singaporean food, showed him some US money, talked about semesters and what not. It was really nice! Then Jenny came and the three of us chatted for a bit, before Justin headed off to go do some work for a show he was previously working on. So cool! Jenny and I then walked around and ate a little something, and then we met up with my friends from HOGC and we mozied on over to Cineleasure to see HUNGER GAMES woooo! So exciting (: Time with those friends is always amazing and seeing them all meet Jenny just reaffirmed how wonderfully genuine and sincere and nice they all are. When I told Jenny they were the friends from church she was so surprised because they don’t talk about religion at all! It was just such a wonderful evening. They even gave me a present that had little notes from everyone and pictures of us (: Was so hard to get on the MRT and say bye ): ): But hopefully I will see them soon! 

 GROSS 

Today I woke up and ran 10 miles! wooo! I walked another 1 mile at least outside of that as well because of the route I ended up taking, so my knees are a little sore, but it was amazing! Funny how three weeks into my marathon training I am running 10 miles with seemingly no problem, but during my half marathon training I was DYING doing 10… which was one of my longest runs. haha AWKWARD! I guess it just all depends on mindset and how you train. So cool (: I then packed up everything (AH I am thinking about the weight again….) and sung to Christmas music, before going to Little India to my favorite place to meet Liz and Simon. Apparently I wasn’t the only person who wanted to go to my fav Indian place on my last day because we ran into Kayla and Bradi and the guy working there remembered we were friends and pulled our tables right next to each other. HAH It was a little awkward because I was eating with Liz and Simon but everyone is so nice it worked out nicely (: We ate some amazing paneer and naan and tandoori briyani and aloo gobi and daal. UGH! SO YUMMY!!!! I was stuffed by the time we finished but I was wishing I could eat more because it was all so yummy and I don’t know if I will get Indian food like that at home! Liz, Simon, and I then made our way back towards Kent Ridge, and they peeled off at Buona Vista where we said our goodbyes. I am going to miss them loads! But I hope to do a group skype with them and the Pages soon (: *HINT HINT* And I know I will see them some day because they told me to invite them to my wedding whenever it may be. So unless I become a crazy cat lady, I will see them some day (: 

I just woke up from a really nice nap and am actually leaving super soon to go meet Camden Thacker in Holland Village with Jenny! He just finished his study abroad in Australia a few weeks ago and he and his mom are now coming to Singapore for a week to see how things have changed since they lived here. We were both kind of bummed to have “just missed” each other because his flight came in at 5:30 tonight and mine leaves at 7am in the morning, but we decided to meet up for dinner so that should be exciting! After that I think I am just sitting around watching movies or something until I leave. AH! Can’t believe I leave tonight. So many emotions, and it honestly just feels weird. 

Things I am thinking about: 

1) I am SO excited to be coming home!!! I miss my family and my friends and my dog and driving and Chipotle… and singing and not getting notes on my door telling me to stop. 

2) I am nervous to how I will do with living with my parents again. Not that I don’t love them, because I love them a lot, but going from completely independent and making my own schedule, to having to ask to borrow the car to run up to the grocery store is going to be a huge adjustment! Much different environment and I am more worried with how I will personally adjust than anything else. It will be interesting (: So if I get annoyed because I feel like I lost my freedom, be patient with me! It is just about to be completely different… again. 

3) It has been really weird saying goodbye and it honestly hasn’t hit me yet that I have no clue when I will see, or if I will ever see, these people again. It feels very surreal. Almost like I will go home and then in a few weeks come back… even though that is not the case.

4) I have made incredible friends here. I can’t say it enough. So thoughtful and amazing… My friend Justin just called to make sure I have a safe flight! How amazing is that?! During exams my friends would text me almost daily just to make sure I was surviving the studying. Not only did my friends from HOGC make me a cute little booklet of photos and notes, but Jenny made me one too! I feel so LOVED! I am so so so sad to be leaving them, but I know they will keep in touch, and hopefully I will be back soon.

5)  I am about to be really cold at home. I get too cold when my Air-Con is at 24 degrees Celsius… how am I going to react to below 0 degrees C?!

6) I say weird things and use weird forms of measurement now and I am probably going to be made fun of. Like Celsius and Air Con and Uni and Rubbish and lovely and kilos and kilometers… oh boy. 

7) I have had way too much free time this semester, I hope I manage being overcommitted okay! 

8) I hope I remember how to go on dates…. 

My top things: 

1) Sunrise Hike in Bali up the volcano, Mt Batur

2) Trying new and adventurous foods- favorite night was when I ate Durian… even though durian is horrible it was such a memorable night. 

3) Halloween with Jenny- One Altitude has an AMAZING view. Like, incredible. 

4) Getting lost in the city at night 

5) Becoming a regular at a restaurant in Little India 

6) Being a tour guide for people I love (: 

7) Street food in Thailand

8) Changing my daily sense of what is normal 

9) Waking up in the morning and knowing that I have people here in Singapore who care about me

10) Meeting Liz and Simon, who were like family to me the entire time I was here. 

Singapore, you’ve been amazing. Thanks for the adventure. 

 

It’s the FINAL COUNTDOWN

Wow, where to start?

No but literally… where do I start? I can’t remember the last time I blogged a post so I have no idea where to start. I suppose I will just start with this weekend. If I can even remember! So Saturday I took it fairly easy as my hip was super duper sore. I went with Adele to look at some cameras because she is thinking of buying a new one before she goes to Laos in a few weeks. So, we went to two different places to compare prices. She also got me an icecream sandwich and bubble tea. YUM! It was quite a lot of fun, as I always enjoy time spent with her. And, we finally got our first picture together, yay!

         

Then, on Sunday I woke up and studied in the morning and by 2:30 I was on my way to church! It was my last service and it was quite fun. I even tried a new food called Mee Hoon Kueh , it was super yummy!!! It was sad to say bye to some friends I may not see again, but nice because they have been so wonderful to me these past few weeks. I am hopefully seeing some of them on Friday!

        

Monday started out as a normal day. I woke up and went to the gym to see how running would go with my hip. It was actually pretty okay! I ran four miles and it only hurt a little bit so that was super reassuring. Then, I studied for a few hours before meeting Yanela for dinner! We went to MOS burger at Bishan with her two other friends from Architecture. I had a rice patty burger which was actually pretty good! I then got a Lemon K-something bubble tea (surprise surprise… I got bubble tea) and Penny showed us around the grocery store and I got some food to bring home so we can make Singaporean dishes and what not! I got so much stuff for less than $20. It was very exciting. I then came back, said bye to Yanela (sniff sniff) and did a little bit of study before bed!

I have Big Buns just about every morning for breakfast. mmmmmmmmmmm

Milo Dinosaur ROAR!

MRT chillin

      

MOS Burger

Holiday themed bubble tea YUM

I think this one speaks for itself….

Freaks me out and I don’t know why!

This dude is everywhere! I feel like we are friends now.

Oops- it’s sideways, but a sneak peak into what’s to come!

Tuesday started off slow. I woke up at ran 6 miles- woo! I then ate and showered. I studied a little, took a break, studied a little more, took a nap, studied one last time, and then took my South Asian Studies exam. Surprisingly easy! I was really nervous for it, but I gave a good and informed answer for all the questions. It was satisfying to see all the work I had put in this semester unfolding in front of me as I discussed caste, violence, gender roles, and even public culture. I then got to go to Holland Village for Adele’s birthday dinner. YAY!!!! It was really nice and I met some really nice people too. I had a really yummy risotto and we all talked about some fascinating stuff. Then, when I was heading back I ran into Jenny in the MRT and decided to hang out with her and her friend Sarah! We ended up going to Clarke Quay and just hanging out and then eventually eating McDonalds. It was actually really fun, and I was proud of myself for being spontaneous. (:

Going to miss my scenic runs

Two favorite stalls next to each other

Gotta learn how to make Dry Curry Chicken LOVE

You can’t tell but it was raining really hard…

Still figuring this one out. (PS! Second time on the top deck of the double decker wooooo. And spontaneously took the bus to Holland woo check me out mastering public transportation)

So today came and went. I took my last exam, WOO I am done! And I was seat number 605…. It was a huge Multi-Purpose Hall. But I finished, ate some Chicken Rice and then said bye to Val who just left for Sri Lanka! Crazy to just be saying bye to friends who I may never see again… YIKES don’t know what I will do after saying bye to Adele and Jenny and Liz and Simon ): I will be a mess. But I am really excited to be home and I think once I am hope with everyone again I will let go of some of my anxiety and be okay (:

so yayyy!!! Leaving in three days… WHAT!

Procrastination

I absolutely am putting off all this studying. My South Asian Studies class is REALLY interesting, but there is just so much information it gets overwhelming really fast. I have one more reading about the Diaspora of South Asians to Southall, Britain, to complete and then I can finish my “over arching” review on the topic. Unlike my Contemporary Chinese Society and Culture class, I have no idea what to expect on this exam. For the Chinese Culture exam if you paid attention on the first and the last day of class you could have easily guessed what questions were going to be on the exam. Day 1: There are four themes we will cover through our case studies this semester….. Last Day: There will be four questions on the exam that are broad and will encompass the course as a whole. I mean come on…. put two and two together and we have the easiest exam in the world. But anyway, my point being, I am writing this post as a way to procrastinate… oops. 

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and it was loads of fun! I went to the Newmans, friends of the Reimanns from when they lived here. (SO blessed Mrs. Reimann thought of me and connected us for Thanksgiving!!) They were all SO nice, it was a lot of fun. AND they are coming to the US for three weeks for Christmas, so hopefully I will see them again and introduce them to the family. Their place is so beautiful. They have so much decor from South East Asia, it was like walking into a Wonderland. Chrissy, Cheryl and Bill’s daughter, graduated from Tech and works in Arlington now. Chrissy brought a turkey from the US to singapore in her suitcase! It was still frozen solid when it got here. How cool is that?! So, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with all the classic dishes, except Sour Kraut which when I have it with my grandparents is always there… but I never eat. For me it is kind of like the pie crust of the Thanksgiving dinner. It wouldn’t be complete without it, but I don’t eat it. Anyway, it was a lot of fun and we even stream the Parade! So fun (: 

 

It was SUPER yum! And a lot of fun. 

Earlier in the day I went to Chocolate N Spice to get muffins, and also got my fav, fried fish noodle soup. YUM! 

 

And today, I finally ate Nasi Lemak with Adele and a few of her co-workers! 

 

Going back in time a bit, Wednesday I decided to take a few hours to go to the Chinese Garden to explore and study for a bit because it was a nice day. It was a lot of fun! SO pretty (: 

 

Yeah! Just got out of there before the storm rolled in, but it was really nice (: 

Well anyway, it is now Friday meaning that I only have 10 days until I come home! CRAZY right?! I cannot wait to come home and see my family and my dog and eat Chipotle and just RELAX! And then in 13 days I am going down to William and Mary where I get to see the Cleftos and Jack and hopefully my other friends too because I miss WM SO much. I love my Tribe family and I am siked to be reunited with everyone. Cleftos are having their Wren Ten that I will get to go to, and Jack doesn’t have any exams between Wednesday evening and Saturday so I will get to spend lots of time with him! (Between all of his studying of course! Don’t worry Mrs. Hollingsworth, I won’t distract him!!!) The Cleftos also have elections and song selection, caroling, and a Christmas party, so I will be spending a lot of time with them and I am SO excited. It is even more exciting because I will get to see Sean and Emily! I haven’t seen Sean since last years Christmas party and I haven’t seen Emily since Sinfonicron! WHOA CRAZY! So yeah, after a year of an emily and sean-less life I am excited to be reunited (: 

woo!!! Okay, back to studying now. Womp Womp. Hopefully I will have some more exciting things happen between studying this weekend, and I will let you know! 

 

PS: Slightly dramatic story and then a funny one that I never told, but it has gotten two positive reactions so I will give it a go. 

1) I was running down a curvy hill today and slipped on grass clippings! It hurt so badly, but I was too proud to stop running so I kept going…. kind of regretting it. My hip is bruising and swelling, but hopefully it is just a bruise! SO embarrassing though… especially because I had to run past all the guys cutting the grass again on my way back… Thankfully I was able to clean myself off in a bathroom nearby but, wow… such a fail Sarah. 

2) So there is this little stand in the Canteen that sells $1 ice cream cones. I don’t go often, but I go enough where the lady knows I want Chocolate Ice cream. So I went last week, was SIKED and she gave me a perfect scoop. I paid and started to walk away. *lick* *lick* *li-* SPLAT. The ice cream scoop fell right off the cone and went soaring onto the floor. I grabbed it and frantically tried to find a trash can… which I couldn’t. So I had to walk back to the lady, ice cream scoop in one hand dripping down my arm, cone in the other, and ask if I could have another scoop. She started laughing so hard and couldn’t even speak. She just pointed to the sinks and a nearby trashcan and started scooping my new ice cream…. FAIL 

Thanksgiving

The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620. Their first winter was devastating. Weak and sick – they began to die. The Pilgrims needed help to survive and they got it from an English-speaking Indian named Squanto.

Historian Peter Marshall explained, “Here comes this American Indian suddenly who speaks perfect English, who offers them his services. So they plant all this corn under his tutelage. In October the corn is ripe finally, and they want to have a celebration, a Thanksgiving celebration.”

Marshall continued, “So they invite Chief Massasoit, who had taken Squanto in when he had no family, no relatives. So Massasoit and 90 braves show up for this celebration festival, and they had a three day celebration of feasting, bow-and-arrow shooting contests, foot races and relay races and games.”

______________________________________________________________

Although my dad jokes the real meaning of Thanksgiving is the “beginning of the end” for the Indians, I like to think of it as a day of, well, thanks! Be that thanks to God, thanks to your family and friends or even your heroes! Thanksgiving has become a lot to do with food, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and football. Granted, these are all wonderful things that contain American culture, but that doesn’t mean we should push aside and forget the true meaning! As Thanksgiving approaches I find myself really sad. For the first time since I was born I am spending Thanksgiving away from my family. I love my family so very much, and so I am approaching Thanksgiving with slight apprehension because I am fearful I may just burst into tears when the day comes and goes and I didn’t get to spend it with them. However, as Thanksgiving is a day of Thanks, I need to put things in perspective. I am so BLESSED that the reason I can’t spend Thanksgiving with my family is because I am on this amazing adventure. So, on this Thanksgiving, although I will be apart from those I love, I will be giving thanks for having such a wonderful, happy, healthy family who has supported me as I travel the world. Not everyone has a family like mine, and I am so thankful. Not everyone has a super hip Grandma and a fun Papa in Florida, or a huggable and supportive Grandma and Grandpa in Maryland, or an Aunt and Uncle who would drop everything to come up for Parents weekend, or and Aunt and Uncle with three crazy cousins who bring out the best in me, a Mom and Dad who support everything I do, or a brother who is equal parts goofy as amazingly smart and talented, or a dog who is goofy and kind of fat but the cutest darn thing in the entire world, OR an amazing support system of people like a Maureen or a Nubia who may not be blood, but are still family to me. I am thankful for the goofiness, the laughs, the tears, the anger, the late nights, the drives, the food, the baking, the shopping, the cats, the dogs… I am thankful for the good, the bad, and the ugly because that is what comprises MY family, and I couldn’t be happier.

And because no holiday is complete without some of this…. (heehee love you Grandpa)

FOOD!

SO!! I haven’t done an amazing job at photographing my food, nor have I done an amazing job at trying everything new, BUT I have tried real hard. So, with that said, here are some pictures of food here in SE Asia (: NOM

WEEE! This week has been amazing (: I haven’t done any work… except for the 45 minutes of studying I did yesterday while I worked on laundry but I am justifying it because I worked way too hard during the semester for being an exchange student, so it is balancing out.

SO on Monday I met Sarah in Holland Village and we ventured to the Marina Bay Area. We started in Boat Quay and walked towards the Merlion. We then walked up past Esplanade and on the double helix bridge, through Marina Bay Sands, and then to Gardens by the Bay! After Gardens by the Bay we ate Chicken Rice and then walked towards Raffles. Whew, we were very tired after all of that and so we headed back to Liz and Simon’s to wait for them for dinner! We ate and hung out, and then I headed home to get ready for bed. It was a really great day, most of which Sarah and I spent just the two of us. It is amazing that is has been 5 years since I last saw her, but to be honest it is like no time has passed at all. Sometimes when you see people again after a long while it is really awkward, but it wasn’t! We can still talk about whatever and act ourselves. And it all just felt completely normal, even though we are both in Singapore. Just makes me want to go to New Zealand to visit her ASAP! Hopefully after graduation I can make it happen (:

    

I caught the luck of the Merlion!! heehee, tourist alert (;

        Double Helix BridgeChristmas Decorations inside of Marina Bay Sands

                                                                                                                                

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On Tuesday we first went to Haw Par Villa. CREEEPPPYY! I don’t know what I was expecting exactly, but Haw Par Villa honestly felt like that theme park in the Goosebumps and I felt like monsters were about to pop out and grab me at every turn. Maybe if it wasn’t absolutely deserted and the statues didn’t look so creepy it would have been better. We walked around for a while, and to be honest, the 10 pits of Hell part was actually really interesting. It made the book I red by Mo Yan make SO much more sense. I thought he had just been making things up, but turns out it is part of Chinese Mythology! We then headed to Arab Street and looked around the shops and what not. We ate some food at the Kamponglam Cafe and then walked the streets a bit more and found some cool art! We then ventured to my school to wander around the campus for a bit and send some post cards. We then headed back to Liz and Simons and we ended up having pizza for dinner, YUM!

                                           WHY OSTRICHES?!?!               

 

Wednesday was the day that Lucy, Liz and Simon’s daughter, was flying in. SO Sarah and I just met in the morning for a few hours and went to the Botanic Gardens, which was nice! We walked around and looked at the Orchids. The lady working the ticket booth at the Orchid Garden was lazy and just let us both in for free! Oh well, I will take it! We walked around some areas I didn’t see with my mom which was cool! Sarah and I then went separate ways and I went to my fitness class, talked to my professor about possible interests and articles to read regarding Sociology of Tourism, and then later that evening I went and did some Karaoke with my friends! I went with some girls from Heart of God Church and it was so fun! It was quite the happening place, apparently Singaporeans go all the time! It was a lot of fun (:

                      

 

Thursday I woke up nice and early, grabbed my usual breakfast of a Big Bun and watermelon and then went to go meet Lucy and Sarah! I just met Lucy that morning, which is weird to think now because I have seen her so much since then, but ANYWAY, we headed over to Universal at Sentosa. It was loads of fun! The biggest ride was shut down which was sad, but the others were still a lot of fun! We got there so early that we had already been on 3 rides before 10:30! So, we were able to take our time after that. We rode all the rides possible, ate at Mels Diner, and we even saw a cheesey little “rock” show. We were out of Universal by 4, popped over to my dorm to grab my togs and jandles (swim suit and flip flops to those of you who don’t understand New Zealand slang. heh heh), and then went to Liz and Simons for a dip in the pool. Then all five of us headed down to the near by Hawker Center and ate some Chicken Rice! MMM! I think took the magical 92 bus home which took me right near my dorm without needing to take the MRT. It was quite magical (:

                         

 

Friday was quite good. I woke up early and ran 7 miles to start my day off. I then skyped my parents for a wee bit, and then met up with Lucy and Sarah in Little India for lunch. We ate at Banana Leaf and it was super yum! We then walked down and Lucy and Sarah looked in the shops and we even popped into Mustafa. We then headed to Ion at Orchard and wandered around before mozying on over to Liz and Simon’s school to meet Liz in her class room! Apparently because we were there her class behaved really well. After meeting up with Liz, Sarah and I headed back to the apartment while Liz and Lucy went to do some shopping. Sarah and I were so tired we almost fell asleep, before Liz and Lucy came back, closely followed by Simon and so we all headed to Holland Village to have some tea. Or dinner as non- New Zealanders might call it. I then treated everyone to some pudding at Haagen-Daas. And by that I mean I bought everyone ice cream. (If you haven’t noticed I picked up on loads of terminology this past week. It actually became quite fun to try and intigrate everything I learned into conversations where they really didn’t belong. Like shopping trolley, ice blocks, lollies, gum boots, and chilly bins. I feel quite versed in it by now heehee. I even just found this site to explain some of them to you. FUN! http://www.newzealandslang.com/g.php)

 

This morning I met Liz, Lucy, and Sarah at Ikea and we shopped a bit and ate lunch. I actually also bought the cutest panda bear. Ikea has loads of cute and cheap stuffed animals and if you buy one they donate to a charity for children. I hugged nearly every stuffed animal in the store before Liz just said, you might as well get one now. And I couldn’t resist. The little guy was just too cute. I felt super childish, but I don’t care! We then went back to the apartment and just relaxed, and Sarah gave me some New Zealand chocolate!!! YUM. I am not versed enough to know if this is a lolly or a candy bar or what, but I am sure someone will tell me after they read this (; Sarah and Lucy headed off around 4 which was really sad ): It was such an anti-climactic good-bye, classic me making things not as good as they could be, I just didn’t know how to say bye!!! Who knows when I will see them again ): Well, I will see Liz soon, before I don’t see her again for who knows how long either?! It is stressful!!!! Hopefully I will make it to New Zealand soon so I can see everyone again. It is nice to be with people you just click with and seeing Sarah again just made me miss having her has a friend SO much more. So, now that she has an iPhone, hopefully we can keep in touch loads better via snapchat and iMessaging (: Yay technology!

         

 

Even worse than just having to say good-bye to Sarah…. this means I know how to OFFICIALLY start to study. Which, well, sucks. BOO! I have my first exam on Tuesday, so with a full day tomorrow and Monday I will be fine for it. But YUCK! No one likes exams…. Probably won’t be having any fun the next few weeks because apparently once exams come around no one does anything BUT study…. But I still may squeeze a few posts in before I come home in TWO WEEKS! ❤

Happy Sunday

SO! Started today off with a bang, and met up with Liz and Sarah in Holland. We walked around and Liz showed us this cool shopping area I had never been to before! MUCH different from malls, I hope to go back when everything is open!!! We then took a bus to Orchard and I saw so many pretty Christmas decorations (: We walked around Ion and soon we headed towards Chinatown. 

 

We walked around the shops in Chinatown and I finally found a better quality short Kimono in Chinatown. May go back later and get one for myself, but I got the one I needed to! And then when we saw Smith street again I just had to take a picture. Even if it was next to a trashcan…. 

 

 

Ah but actually still so surreal that she is here!!! 

NEXT we went to Little India. We popped into Mustafa and then ate at Usmans. The guy working there recognized me!! It was crazy (: We had a lot of really great food and I am super glad that I got to go there again. Liz then showed us where this great, cheap, Banana Leaf place is and it is right across from the Tekka Center. So, we walked through the Tekka Center and then took the MRT back to Orchard so Liz could show us how to get to her school if we needed to! 

After seeing the school Liz and Sarah hopped on the bus to go back to the apartment and I jumped on the MRT to go to church! I was REALLY early so I just read my book and sat on the MRT a few stops after Paya Lebar to kill some time, and then headed back to wait for my friends. I met up with everyone and we had another really great service! Then Valerie, Zhenghui and I decided that we should go do Karaoke together, so I think we are going Wednesday!!! Hopefully it all works out so we can go (: Valerie is really cute haha shorter than me, which NEVER happens (: I like it because Valerie, Zhenghui and I always talk about how people think we are 13 years old (; I am not alone anymore! 

After the service a bunch of us went to Wan Tan Mee and it was great!!! I had Wantan Mee and fried wantons and lime juice. MMMM! And then after we all ate I went to go…. eat… durian… AH! It was quite horrible. BUT I ended up trying rambutan, longan and mangosteen afterwards. The Mangosteen was my favorite, so sweet and great! The Rambutan was also really good, but I am not a huge fan of longan. A bunch of other locals were there while my friends were helping me try things and everyone was just shoving fruit in my face. haha this 30 year old man helped me open the mangosteen and when I said “mmm it’s sweet!” He said, “like you!” I just kind of let that one hang there…. But then when I was over with my friends, another friend Lisa comes over with her arms full of rambutan and Longan and says, “Auntie wants you to have all this free rambutan.” haha! So now I have a huge bag full of it! It was loads of fun just hanging out, getting to know people better, and eating local food. It is never a bad time with all of them, they are all so fun and nice and I am SO glad I met them (: Can’t believe I will only have two more Sundays left with them all!!!!!! 

 

View from the elevator at church of Paya Lebar! 

 

YUMMM!!!!!! PS: The “super” hot chili really wasn’t that bad 

 

 

It’s happening….. (still can taste the durian on my breath) 

 

Rambutan in the back and mangosteen in the front. 

 

Yay free stuff!!! The branch with the little ball things on it is the longan. 

 

Singaporeans LOVE their durian (; 

Ramleela trailer!!!

I don’t have any pictures to share but two exciting these have happened the last two days. ONE! Friday night I went to go see Ramleela, an Indian film, with Jenny and her friend Asmini. It was AMAZING! And, because there were technical problems, we ended up getting complimentary tickets after the film was over (: so YAY! and THEENNN today Sarah Page came!!! So yay! Spent time with her and the Denchs this evening, and then am going out with Sarah and Liz in the morning before I go to church! So loads to look forward to. If I can just fix my iPhone so I can receive iMessages then today will be the perfect day (: 

Wonderful Wednesday

I had a great Wednesday, it was a wonderful break and relaxing and BEAutiful! I didn’t have class because my Chinese is over (after the exam that I took this morning in my tutorial Chinese 1 is now OFFICIALLY over! I panicked slightly on the oral exam and jumbled my words a little under pressure, but I got over it, and it’s okay. But anyway onto my Wednesday!

Dandan noodles!!! After barely eating all day and going to a really hard ABT class my body was in desperate need of food. It also happened to be BEAUTIFUL outside, 34 degrees Celsius, amazing. So, I enjoyed the weather and ate my yummy noodles.

I then met Daria at Buona Vista (she is a friend from my Chinese Class, she is Russian but from Latvia if I remember correctly? Girl, correct me if I am wrong!!! I am the WORST at getting picture with people now apparently so of course there isn’t one of the two of us here, but I swear to goodness I will get one before she leaves on the 25th of November!!!). The two of us headed to the Singapore Art Museum. We walked a different way and ended up at SAM at 8Q, a different part of the museum with some really cool exhibits!

This Urban Play exhibit was really fun. It had a bunch of videos and pictures of people turning the real world into play! My favorite was this guy who put squeaky toys under loose bricks in the city so whenever people walked on the loose bricks the toy with squeak. heehee The things that were done encouraged people to look at their surroundings and interact with their environment better!

I thought this exhibit said a lot about the female body as perceived through public media. It was more of a reaction to it, which I think is cool how it combined the two.

Well… at least I got the shadow of Daria and I (; this is the sunset of Singapore as seen in an exhibit.

This one was cool. It looks like a table from the right angle, but it means SO much. The usage of Chinese ink created a horrible smell in the room which was a statement on the “smell” of corruption. Super deep!

I thought this as interesting because it was a “pretend” world. It was a video of brainwashing happiness, in the scenario that the merger between Malaysia and Singapore worked out.

Synthetic goo! Which coin when down the fastest?!

This is the artist who had the synthetic goo art piece. I guess my eyes are stupid?

Now this one was interesting! It was boobs presented as gourd like vegetables or fruits. Interesting way to remark on the world’s gaze on the female body.

Loved this! It was outside the place called Fast Food for Thought. It looked good but we didn’t go in!

These finger things officially creep me out.

Especially after the recent events in the Philippines I found this exhibit really deep. “Violations against human life”

Are laws better to say what you can do, or what you can’t do?

Below are two pictures in the “what do you think” part of the museum. A lot of the exhibits were reactions to the concept, If the World Changed. So there was a room of sticky notes with people’s end to that sentence.

This painting doesn’t actually look like this shape, I just took a panoramic so I could get the whole thing in.

Getting artsy with my iPhone.

Still LOVE this painting. I am a fool and have forgotten the artists name… twice now!

And a rude baby sculpture made out of soap. Nice way to end the museum (;

We finished right as the museum was closing and we headed to Arab street for food. We ended up walking around some boutiques and went to this cool “gourmet” burger place. I had an interesting chicken burger and tried wasabi mayo with my fries. It was way too mayo-y and I love ketchup so I ended up switching over but it was cool to try! I then MRTed back to Kent Ridge while reading the Ginseng Hunter and soon met up with my friend Justin to practice for our oral exam today. Which, as I said went not as wonderfully as I would have hoped, but whatever! It is done (:

So yes, hope you enjoyed the pictures (: