Exploring Downtown Singapore

Singapore has a pretty well established public transportation system, complete with at least 5 rail lines and a bajillion buses. I went exploring the city with another kid from our group, our goal was to go biking on the east coast of Singapore but we got lost en route and ended up at Clarke Quay in the downtown area.



Up close, the water is disgusting... its green and trashy and smells terrible. But somehow fish can survive inside it, I guess they eat the trash?



Clarke Quay is supposedly a huge touristy area, with a booming nightlife for expatriates (thats the pc way to say white people who aren't locals). But since we were there during the middle of the day, none of the bars or restaurants were open. We were a little surprised to find a Hooters in Singapore though Mark looks excited about it haha.



We walked downtown towards the crazy looking casino boat in the sky... but unfortunately that will not be open until June 23. So watch out for more updates on that in a few weeks :)



Here is the building up close. It has 3 tall towers that are like 60 stories high, and a huge patio across the top of the ship-like roof. Theres also supposedly an infinte pool that looks like you're about to swim off the edge of the building... can't wait to see what that is like!



On the way there, we passed a street of shops right on the water. It was some kind of boat quay that was built to look like the belly of a carp, apparently that is good luck for merchants. The restaurants were all a little pricey of course, but that is what you pay for sitting right next to the water.



And saw 5 kg crabs! These are the biggest crabs that I have ever seen, the guy working there said that they were from Australia.



Downtown Singapore is so westernized, with tall skyscrapers and cool architecture. Everything in singapore is so boxy, there aren't many slanted rooftops.



And since the number 8 is considered lucky in chinese culture, they do weird things like build octagon-shaped buildings.



And here is a statue of the famous Sir Raffles, who founded Singapore and turned it into a profitable British colony with a booming port between the East and the West.



We saw another statue of Sir Raffles outside the old opera house (at least I think it is the opera house).



There is a building downtown that looks like a durian! We tried durian pancakes and they were disgusting. They were basically thin little 6-in pancakes that had durian paste in the middle as a filling, and the taste and the smell of the durian was awful. I had one bite and that was enough for me!

Chinatown and Little India

A bunch of us studying abroad here took a train to Chinatown and Little India yesterday!

In Chinatown, we walked around a large shopping center and did the fish foot reflexology thing... where you stick your feet into a fish tank and the fish eat away the dead skin cells! It was so weird, you can actually feel the fish biting!



I chickened out after 7 minutes (we paid $8 for 15 minutes), so Dean used the rest of my minutes for his feet and hands...



Christine loved it.



Then we went to Little India and got some really sweet henna tattoos. Here is what I got on my left hand.



Holly and Annie got them on their hands too, and Christine got one on her foot.



I really liked Christine's foot one, I might go back sometime when I am not wearing my chacos (so the straps won't rub the henna before its dry).

My 10-hour layover in Taiwan

So this is a few days late, but on the way to Singapore, I stopped in Taipei for a 10-hour layover. I was on the same flight as Jonathan Saethang because he was in San Fran visiting his older brother. We met up with my uncles and grandparents, whom I haven't seen in about 6 years! This is me with my grandparents on my mom's side and my uncle.



They took us to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial and showed us around there a bit. Its basically a few really big and traditional looking buildings, with a small museum exhibiting highlights of Shek's life serving as Taiwan's President. We also drove by the President's house on the way to the Memorial.

This is the President's house. Not bad for a photo taken out of the car window, eh?



And here are pictures from the Memorial.









This is me with my other uncle, mom's older brother, and my grandfather.



This is the view from on top of all those white steps.



In Taiwan, they all ride little scooters (like the VIP scooters that the football players ride on campus) and they weave in and out of traffic like crazy. Its quite scary. Here is some guy who had a three wheeled scooter that I just thought looked a little ridiculous.

Back to a dorm room

We are all staying in the Prince George's Park residences here on campus, in single dorm rooms that have a single bed, desk, chair, nightstand, air conditioning (thank goodness!) and a full bathroom. Here is what my room looks like:



and I have a little bathroom. It has a folding door like an airplane bathroom and a shower that doesn't heat up. However, Holly has the adjoining room next door and her shower heats up just fine, so I guess I just have to go put in a maintenance request.



This is the view from my window... I live in room J on the 6th floor of the 6th building.



PGP (our dorms) have a nice little courtyard area, with a "canteen" dining hall area that is basically the Singapore equivalent of a mall food court. There is also a small supermarket convenience store down in the courtyard area towards the left in the picture below. Behind the courtyard area are a few concrete basketball courts and tennis courts, some people play pickup games out there but we don't own any sports equipment yet (and there is no place in the complex to rent rackets or balls). I think theres also a gym here somewhere but I haven't checked it out yet. The gym on campus is okay and located next to the pool of course, so I plan on just working out there.



This is the building opposite my window, all of the buildings in Prince George's Park (PGP) pretty much look like this on the outside. Notice how all the windows crank outwards, and they do not have any screen windows here. I had forgotten how asian people don't dry their clothes, instead they hang them outside to dry.

Made it to Singapore!

I made it to Singapore last night, and had quite the day exploring the city with a few local girls. We had an orientation session on campus this morning with some nice ladies from the Office of Student Affairs, then took a campus tour with some NUS students. The two girls from NUS actually then showed us where to eat near our dorms and where to go shopping downtown.

I'll update more tomorrow when things are a little less hectic... I accidentally blew out the fuse in my dorm room today and the adjacent room to mine (Holly's room) when I tried to plug in my power strip into a converter. That was an adventure, we had to go to the main dorm office and call maintenance, and they actually fixed it pretty quickly since all they probably had to do was reset the breaker box. So I bought another converter at the convenience mart right next to our dorm and now it works just fine :)

Goodbye San Francisco, Hello Singapore!

Here is where my journey to Asia for the summer begins... I'm leaving home in a bit to head off to the airport for my flight across the Pacific ocean to Singapore! I am flying with just one other student from my study abroad trip, Jonathan Saethang. He has been visiting his brother here in SF, otherwise he would be flying out of Atlanta with the group. I'm pretty excited about this flight, except that its a red eye and a huge plane that will probably be packed with asian people. At least I've heard that they serve ramen noodles with chopsticks on the plane, which will be fun. I love ramen, even though its so cheaply made and the sodium overload is really bad for you. My favorite flavor of ramen is "oriental", though I have no idea what oriental is supposed to taste like haha.

We are flying through Taipei, Taiwan where we have a 10 hour layover. My mother's family lives about 2 hours away from Taipei and my uncle is going to pick us up at the airport and take us to see the city a bit, then have lunch with my family. I hope thats not too awkward for Jonathan but I haven't seen these uncles and grandparents in over 5 years, so I definitely want to take this opportunity to meet up with them even if its only for a few hours.

We are then flying from Taiwan to Singapore, where I'll have to go through customs and explain why I accidentally typed my passport number incorrectly on their student immigration form, oops.

So my next post will be when I arrive and figure out internet in my dorm room in Singapore, hopefully I can get some pictures up too!

More Waiting

Apparently a Peace Corps Toolkit update online does not always mean that they've finished processing your paperwork... My Medical Clearance status was updated to "Hold" this morning. All nominees have a medical hold while they are under review. No further action is required, unless the Office of Medical Services contacts you to request additional information. So its just more waiting, but at least some news is better than no news? Peace Corps' official policy is that their Invitations have to be issued at least 6 weeks prior to departure, and that's coming up soon if my departure date is still September.

I'm leaving the country on Sunday night to fly to Singapore for the first part of my summer study abroad, and of course the Peace Corps would wait until I'm leaving to start reviewing my paperwork. I hope that they don't need anything else because its really hard for me to say if I can get paperwork filled out while I'm abroad.

I'm suspending my cell phone for 90 days while I'm out of the country this summer, if you need to get in touch with me then hit me up on skype or shoot me an email!

Road Trip and a PC Status Update!

I successfully drove across the country in my little corolla! I crammed everything that I could into the backseat and the trunk of the car, and left my furniture behind. My car was riding ridiculously low from the weight of all my stuff and guzzled like over 15 quarts of engine oil (we refilled it twice and I got my oil changed the day before I left), but it chugged all the way from coast to coast! I'll post up some photo highlights of our trip when I get my new laptop up and running.

My friend Stephanie and I started the trip by driving from Atlanta to Meridian, Mississippi last Thursday night. I really have no idea where Meridian is, but its just beyond the Alabama border. On Friday, we drove from Mississippi to Plano, Texas, which is just outside of Dallas. Saturday was our big day, we drove 15 hours from Plano to Tucson, Arizona. And yes, we did get stopped at checkpoints along the way and Border Patrol asked if we were US citizens. Thankfully we both are, I had my passport ready just in case. But I suppose they reverse-profiled us in California, because they just waved us through like 3 checkpoints when we drove from Tuscon to San Diego, California. We drove the last 8 hours of the trip up from San Diego to San Francisco on Monday and made it home safe and sound.

I woke up this morning and checked my blackberry, like I always do.. and was pleasantly surprised to see a Peace Corps Status Update! I jumped out of bed and immediately went to check my PC Toolkit online and saw that I have received Dental Clearance. Thank god, I had to get 3 cavities fixed and a whole new set of xrays for clearance. I now have Dental and Legal clearance, and I'm still waiting on Medical Clearance before I can be actually placed with a specific country of service and a program.

This is really nerdy of me but I wonder how the PC paperwork processing queue works. I sent in my medical and dental forms late March and they sent back my dental forms like 2 weeks later and asked me to get my cavities filled. I haven't heard anything back yet about my medical forms, even with regards to whether I filled out that stack of paperwork acceptably or not. I know that they prioritize medical/dental clearance by expected departure date, with highest priority given to those leaving within 3 months. So I suppose I should be hearing back soon, except I'll be studying abroad in Singapore in a week with very little access to healthcare and no access to any of my official documents. This is going to be interesting... back to the waiting game!

And by the way, I ended up getting an A in Senior Design! I guess all those late nights in the ISYE lab paid off in the end.

Packing up

I've been packing up my closet to move everything home to San Francisco. My closet is almost empty already and I've only packed my Russel duffel bag and my GT Athletics wardrober bag. My roommate Agatha is leaving today for her Europe trip, I'm jealous. Her parents came down from Chicago for her graduation and helped her pack up her room (and throw/donate a lot of stuff). We have 2 overflowing boxes of gently used clothes, shoes, toys etc that I plan on donating to the Atlanta Women's shelter. The amount of stuff that I have accumulated over 4 years is ridiculous, especially since I've moved apts every year/summer here.

I dropped off my boyfriend Chris at the airport yesterday. He's flying home for the week to spend some time with his family before classes start up again next week. I'm leaving for my road trip this Thursday, and Chris isn't coming back until Sunday :( So I won't get to see him again until August, when I come back to Atlanta for graduation.

DONE DONE DONE

I'm done with finals... and almost done with Senior Design now! We just have the final cd of all of our files to turn in tomorrow morning. But its going to be one last late night in the ISYE undergrad computer lab.

Good news- my dad is buying me a new computer! He's getting me the Acer Aspire, and its being delivered home to San Francisco next Tuesday. I can't wait to have a working laptop. Too bad I won't be back in San Francisco until like May 18th. I'm leaving Atlanta on May 14th and driving across the country with my good friend Stephanie. Its going to be one epic road trip, hopefully my poor car will make it without any problems, *fingers crossed*.