Life's a Beach and then You Die

Hello All!


First off, sorry that I have been gone for so long. I've been working on a dreadful paper, but that's all done with now, so YAY! I can now return to my full-time job of blogging :) My sister has started a video blog, so apparently the whole family's gone blogging now! Anyway, much has happened.


Perhaps of most import, my roommate has arrived! Her name is Lisa-Marie, she's from Germany, and she is way cool. We are having a lot of fun already. She's not nearly at Trystan levels of cool, but she is nice and fun and I think we are going to get on really well. We've been hanging out a lot and this evening we shared an ice-cream. So, that is nice.


I am wicked anxious to make friends. I know I ought to be very zen about the whole thing, and just let my light shine and all of that, but I do not want to be the only one here with no one to travel with over Spring Break. I'm very nervous about that. Groups are already forming and I don't want to be left out! However, there are about 8 of us that have been spending a lot of time together, and that's been fun. I feel like I am making some real connections, which is good. I just need to be chill, which I am generally not good at doing.


So, I might be going to Indonesia this weekend. Perhaps. You see, everything here is very fly by the seat of your pants. And I mean that about the school administration as well. Our schedules are always in flux, we have no idea where our classes are, and a school-sponsored trip to Indonesia is in the works, but not fully actualized. It's sort of like "island time" in Hawaii, only lamer because it's the WHOLE COUNTRY. Oh well. I feel like this trip is God testing me in a number of ways. I mean, good ways, to be sure. I am already growing a lot as a person and I've been here a week. But things are sometimes challenging.


Let me be clear, I am having a blast! Worry not, dear readers, I am having lots of fun here (especially now that my dreaded paper is in). Speaking of fun, here are some pictures from the beach!

Yeah, it was kinda rainy (it IS the rainy season over here. It rains EVERY DAY). But, I got to put my feet in the Indian Ocean! Which is very warm. The water in Singapore is no good for swimming, although there were people in it. The port of Singapore is so busy (one of the busiest in the world), so the byproducts of all that commercial activity (read: pollution) means the water is less than crystal clear.  However, it was still the beach. Did you see the HUGE sandcastle? You can take sandcastle building lessons here. Nuff said. How badass is that? There were also huge kites, which made me nostalgic for my beautiful stealth bomber kite I had at the Jersey shore this summer that, like Icarus, grew too bold and flew too close to the sun. I lost control of it and it flew away into the atmosphere. But, it was a really nice kite.

Me and my friends walked around for a few hours, and I taught them a college favorite game, "Which of the Cute Children Here Would I Steal?" It was, as always, a huge hit. Some other things I explained, as an American: McDonalds, that's what she said, PBR beer, and My Cousin Vinny. As you can see, I am a wonderful ambassador :) We are all making plans about where we'd like to go for spring break. I am pushing big time for Bali, but so far no one's taken the bait. There is one girl here, Natalie, who has traveled the world and has tons of advice and recommendations for everyone. I feel really lucky to have met her so that I can have a better experience while here. And also because she's really cool.

I've been having weird dreams, like really vivid dreams, every night since I've been here. Dreams about my future life, most of them tragic. This is just off-putting. At first, I was upset, but now it's almost comical. I'm not sure how my brain comes up with grisly ways to kill off my family members every night, but it does. My sage friend back home says it's just homesickness, which I'll buy. But WTF? I don't feel that homesick, except when I have effed up dreams! Ah well...so it goes.

Last night we all went out to the Butter Factory, one of Singapore's hottest clubs (google it if you don't believe me). I was...underwhelmed. It was loud and looked like a Gwen Stefani music video threw up on Disneyworld. Just take a moment with that visual. However, I was determined to be there. I think half of life is just showing up sometime, putting in the effort to be in the physical proximity of your friends. Before the club we all just sat around drinking rum and talking about pirates, which was much more fun. Anyway, to my everlasting relief, another girl said she didn't really like clubs and so a bunch of us all came home. I stayed out til 1:30, which is a big deal as I've been in bed every night around 10. The heat takes it out of you. Plus, I think I am not quite adjusted still. Anyway, the butter factory. It happened. We did get a lovely tour of the fancy parts of the city at night-the Singapore flyer (huge ferris wheel, bigger than the London Eye but same idea), the Merlion (that's right, half lion, half mermaid. Big ass statue/National icon of Singapore), and the Esplanade, aka the Durian. It's a bazillion dollar concert hall that looks like the durian, which is a big stinky fruit. Like really stinky. Supposedly it tastes sweet, but it smells awful. There are a lot of big "no durian" signs in public places because it smells so bad. However, I am told by my Singaporean buddy Yee Keong that it tastes delicious and most Singaporeans love it. I am determined to try it before I leave.

For those playing along at home, my top three travel spots are 1.Bali, 2. Angkor Wat, and 3. Phuket. I must get to all three before I leave. Anything else is just bonus. I just found out that I have at least a week from the time my finals are over until I have to go home, so if all else fails I will hit whichever ones I haven't seen then. Yay for travel!

Speaking of travel, Singapore is very expensive. Like way expensive. I find money is flying from my wallet at an alarming rate. I haven't bought one souvenir or anything and I am desperately trying to save money, but I am not going to skip group outings to save money. Hopefully as soon as class starts things will settle down. Otherwise I'm going to have to start selling plama or something.

I went grocery shopping today for week 2. I can't believe I've been here for a week already! My first week, I  bought tons of American food (think peanut butter, diet coke, etc.). This week, I really wanted to try some Singaporean foods. I bought local stuff, which made me really proud of myself. I hope it all tastes okay! I got buns for breakfast (they're chicken buns, the Asian version of chicken biscuit I hope), and ribena juice boxes for lunch. Ribena is blackcurrant juice drink, and it's very popular here. It's sweter than cranberry juice but much more bitter than grape juice. I like it a lot. All kinds of fruit juices are very cheap here, so I want to take advantage of that. Really, I want to take advantage of everything. I got an email from an old friend that said, "you don't want to leave saying you wish you'd done something. Try everything you want to try." Wise words, indeed. I plan to do just that. So far, it's going great!

I start classes tomorrow. Wish me luck! I am also signing up for choir auditions, a yoga class, and (maybe) a judo class. We shall see! The one thing I think is not going to happen is learning Mandarin. Apparently it's very, very hard. I don't know who I could get to teach it to me! But, just getting along with Singlish (the peculiar brand of English and Mandarin/Tamil/Malay) they speak here is a challenge enough.

Well, I'm off to bed. I need to get my beauty sleep for the first day of school! Love you all!