The Air-Conditioned Nation

What a week this has been! Singapore has been a tidal wave of new stimuli and experiences right from the get-go. As we were landing in Singapore on Tuesday morning, we might as well have been at the North Pole for all I knew as the windows were terribly foggy and I couldn't see a thing. It didn't take very long to figure out that it was condensation caused by the pretty intense humidity here. It took a little getting used to but I've adapted fairly well, one might even say I like it. The fact that Singaporeans have some of the most...forceful air conditioning systems doesn't hurt either. But I never need to check the weather in the mornings because the forecast is always just 'summer.' There is a giant thunderstorm pretty much every other day but thus far they've only occurred as I was drifting off to sleep or as I was waking up for class in the morning. It's much nicer than the blaring Pooh alarm clock I bought at a junk store so I really can't complain. Singapore is definitely a garden city and its obvious that the government purposefully integrated all different types of plants and flowers into the city layout. Medians aren't just strips of raised concrete, they are grassy plots lined with trees and bushes. Bridges are lined with blooming flowers, large rectangular chunks are missing from some buildings to incorporate sky gardens, even the airport had a miniature forest inside.

Jet lag has been pretty cruel to me up until a few days ago, mostly because I (very intelligently) didn't go to bed the night before my flight assuming I would be able to sleep as I typically do, which is anywhere and everywhere. But probably due to immense amounts of excitement and the free red bull at the air ports (and in the spirit of Kiasu, everything also must grab! [see Kiasu 'alphabet' below]) I ended up going without sleep for round about three days. I finally snuck in a half hour in the penguin section of the bird park we visited that first morning, the only place with 'air con' in the whole darned place. Okay, the bird park was really, really neat, I just wasn't in the best of spirits.

I somehow got choosen to volunteer! It was some sort of vulture.

Running has been fun so far, if pretty uncomfortable most of the time. One morning I went out with the intention of finding the ocean that I can see from the window of my apartment only to run across the strangest park I have ever happened across. About a mile in to this run I saw a sign for free admittance to a villa and naturally, again in the spirit of Kiasu, I turned heel and headed in. The place was covered in plastic figurenes of what I latered discovered to be asian myths, fables, and gods. It was early so myself and a little elderly man with a tired old broom were the only ones in the whole park. It was creepy to say the least but how many people can say they've run through the Ten Levels of Hell and survived? Only one that I know of. I talked to my history teacher a bit about it and she told me that it was a cultural place that was, among other things, used as a common 1st grade field trip destination. I went back the next day with a smaller group of friends to explore a bit more throughly. I'm not sure I'm old enough for some of the scenes in the park but perhaps Singaporean six-year-olds are a bit more hardcore than I am.

Effective, no doubt.

Consequence of the misuse of books.

Entrance to 'hell.'

Satisfying.

One of the coolest things we've done thus far was a massive scavenger hunt put together by our hilarious, sassy coordinator Hui Quin. We broke up into teams and spent six hours finding obscure things like a small ice cream stand in the middle of an outdoor market, bar-b-q stingray in a stall at a Hawker Station ( which is an Asian food court), an absolutely beautiful kite park called Marina Barrage that was suspended hundred of feet above ground and overlooked the heart of the city on one side and an enormous port on the other, and 50 cent rice in the biggest mall I have ever seen. The whole event was a bit stressful as Team Beast included seven kids with very different approaches and personality types attempting to navigate a foreign public transportation system.  Nonetheless, it was definitely a bonding experience AND we can actually get to most portions of Singapore fairly efficiently now.

The beautiful Marina Barrage.

Ice cream sandwiches! It was cut out of a block like butter and placed between two waifers. Mine was sweet corn flavored and Taylor got red bean peppermint (or something of that nature.)

Yong Tao Foo for lunch.

Another really neat activity thus far was the park we visited yesterday. Our TA Mark, bless his heart, took a bunch of us to a nature reserve for a seven mile hike through jungley forrests, around a resevoir via a pristine boardwalk, even on a bridge that cut through the canopy of the forrest. There were giant lizards, crazy looking flowers and butterflys, beautiful marshes, and even monkeys! Though I didn't see it because my friend Kelsey and I ventured ahead of the group, the bulk of the group had a confrontation with one of the monkeys. Apparently the little guy jumped down onto a lady's head and then blocked the boardwalk. I'm told it was pretty scary but its hard to imagine, those guys are so darned cute.

Up to this point I've spent a large amount of time doing touristy things; they have been a ton of fun but I'm looking very much forward to doing a bit more 'normal' living, which I will fortunately have the chance to do come this weekend! The program rented out an Indian restaurant two days ago in order for us to meet with all of the families we will be living with during our homestays as enjoy some legitamately amazing Indian food. Seriously people, one of the best meals of my life. Anyway, the young man I spent lunch talking to told me all sorts of little haunts to explore and foods to try, he even helped show us around Clark Quay and Little China that afternoon. That aspect was one of the things I was most looking forward to and after that miniature introduction, I'm more excited than ever! For now, I am off to go see the shops and temples of Little India and hopefully find some more delicious indian food. Until next time, happy trails!

View of the port at night from my apartment window.

Mr. Kiasu is a bit like the mascot of Singapore, introduced to my classmates and I by our hilarious, intelligent, and very pratical history teacher, Dr. Quek.  The word kiasu is part of the vernacular used to describe the average Singaporean's life philosophy and is epitomized by all-you-can eat buffets, extremely long queues (where the participants may or may not know exactly what they are waiting for), and even a kiasuburger put out by McDonalds that consists of a too-large patty with extra sesame seeds. My favorite 'letter' of the Kiasu alphabet is easily Z as it answers an age-old question as well as made me laugh at 9:30 in the morning, not an easy feat.