Category Archives: Singapore

Greetings, everyone!

Hello from the hottest place on Earth.  Literally.  At least, it feels like it anyway:).  We’re in the middle of what the locals are calling a “heat wave.”  If you live on the Equator and it’s called a heatwave, you know it’s hot!  The temperature has been about 100 degrees Fahrenheit for the past few days–let’s hope for some rain to cool things down:).  If not, it’s alright–we’re headed to India in a week anyway.  I’m sure it will be much cooler there–yeah right!!!!!!!

Things are going quite well here.  John is doing wonderfully at work and I am in full swing studying for finals (I have one on Saturday morning and another on Monday afternoon of next week.)  Once those are finished, I’ve finished half of my Master’s Degree!  Yay!!!!:)  Other than that, life is pretty normal here.  We’re trying new foods, new places, making new friends, etc.  Oh, I did cook tonight–we had breakfast for dinner.  You can imagine how hilarious it was when I pulled an egg out of the carton and it still had a chicken feather attached.  I know that these eggs came from chickens but I did not want to be reminded.  I promptly washed off the eggs of the carton before refrigerating them–which they don’t do in the grocery stores.  If you can call this chain of events normal, then it’s been a pretty normal life since you’ve heard from us last:)

Now, onto some funny stories from English class!  I’ve mentioned before that I’m teaching an English as a Second Language class at church with my friend Yoshie.  We went to lunch with another friend, Hozumi, last week and started reminiscing and told our favorite stories.  Here are a selected few!

Yoshie and I teach an Introduction to English class.  This class is below a Level 1 class, basically meaning our students have had extremely limited exposure to English.  By limited, I mean on the first day, the lesson was how to say, “Hello, my name is…”.  Yoshie and I took over in January, so that lesson has already been given.  We took over in time for colors, body parts, and classroom words.  When you’re teaching introductory English in English, one of the best ways to teach vocabulary is to hold up an object, say what it’s called and have the class repeat.  For example, I would hold up a pencil and say “pencil.”  The class would repeat “pencil.”  This exercise continues until I’m satisfied with the pronunciation–which usually takes about twice.  My students are very bright:)  So, one day, we were going over vocabulary, I think I was holding up a shirt.  I said listen and repeat:  “shirt.”  They said “shirt.”  “Shirt.”  “Shirt.”  “Very good”  Very good.”  They imitated my compliment!  The funniest part was they had no idea that “very good” was a compliment and not another name for a shirt.  I then tried to explain–in a culture where a thumbs up motion means nothing–what good means.  I think they got it.  The next time they repeated a compliment–they all giggled.

I have sweet ladies from all over Asia in my class.  They hail from China, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Korea.  The only common language we have is English, which is lucky for me because it’s the only language I have.  So, like I mentioned earlier, I have to bring in items to demonstrate the vocabulary.  When it was clothing day, I wasn’t shy.  I brought in everything…including a bra, that happened to be hot pink.  When they finished laughing at how brightly colored the article of clothing was.  They learned how to say it.  “Bra.”  “Bra.”  “Bra.”  “Bra.”  The week before, we learned the words for family members:  husband, father, mother, brother, sister, wife, etc.  Trying to be a good teacher and connect the lessons I asked my class, “does my husband wear this?” and held up the bra.  The entire class nodded yes, very excitedly.  I then asked again–“does my husband wear this?” and waved the bright pink bra around?  When they realized what I asked they all doubled over laughing and said “No no teacher CB.”  haha….it’s easy for things to get lost in translation, but so so funny.  They were then amazed that I was so young and married.  We played the “guess CB’s age” game.  Most of the class guessed 17-20.  They were shocked when I told them I was 23.  They then wanted to know about babies.  Haha–no babies yet, not until thirty, I told them.  We then practiced our English numbers doing the math to see how many years that is:).  If there’s one thing I’ve learned as an English teacher–teach English when no one is looking!

I LOVE teaching my sweet ladies in English class.  I’m sure I have several more cute stories, but these are the ones I can remember now.  We’re having a potluck on Wednesday.  Try explaining the concept of potluck to women who barely speak English–we’ll see how many dishes we have.  I will keep you updated.

For now, I am off to bed.  I’m going to a Japanese Bible Study/Seminar on Western Niceities in the morning with my sweet friends Yoshie and Hozumi.  Need my beauty sleep!  Have a wonderful day back home–we’ll talk to you soon!!!!

Hello all,

John here.  It has been quite a while since I’ve made an appearance on the blog, so I figured it was about time.  Last time I made a post, I was describing my adventures in hair cuts.  While I have not been disappointed with the variety of “hairy” options, I have also found a number of inexpensive, quick and quality manners in which to obtain a haircut.  My current and most-favored option is CB.  After forking over S$100 for a set of clippers, my hair cuts for the last three months have been free, and she does an excellent job.

In other news, several weeks ago a work colleague told me about an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant.  I should mention that it has become my custom at local hawker centers to order two of the same meal.  While some friends claim that I eat “a lot,” I simply eat until I am full.  This stated, depending on the quality of food I desire to eat it has become cheaper in some circumstances to go for the buffet options when available, so I jumped at the chance for all you can eat sushi.

The restaurant reminded me of one of those touristy US east coast seafood joints, which tries to have a coherent theme but falls slightly short of its mark.  Not long after arriving, a white-looking man and Asian-looking woman sat down to our left.  After ordering, the man turned to the woman and said, “So, you’re from China.”  Great line for a first date.  I wasn’t surprised when they started downing the wine.  He was going to need some help.

It was a good thing we weren’t there for the atmosphere.  However, the food more than made up for it.  We ordered expecting portions similar to the pay-by-the-piece restaurants we usually visit, but as it was a buffet we were rather generous with our order, much of which included “we’ve never had this before, let’s try it” dishes.  When the food arrived, it was at least 30% larger (per piece) than we had expected, and I didn’t realize we had ordered so much until the wait staff ran out of room for the plates.  Our work was cut out for us.

Two solid hours and approximately 75 generously-sized pieces of fish later, we rolled out the door.  I am nearly certain they didn’t make a dime on us, and for our part we were still full 24 hours later.  A great experience.

Several weekends later, another of CB’s friends from Shelbyville came to visit.  Brandon and his friend Robert are in the United States Navy and currently posted in Sol, South Korea.  They spent Easter weekend in Singapore, during which we hiked the “canopy tour,” which we learned was a 5 kilometer hike to a 250 meter bridge, followed by another 5 kilometer hike.  It was a great bridge.  As seems to be our custom, we were rained on in the rain forest, but made it out in good spirits and saw some beautiful portions of the Singapore Country Club’s golf course.  Later that evening the four of us along with two friends from church enjoyed a meal of Stingray, Roti Prata and Satay by Marina Bay.  Brandon and Robert returned to Sol the following evening after a meal of fish and chips where we learned, again, that one must order at least 10 servings of “tomato sauce” (ketchup) per-person if they desire an “adequate” amount to cover the chips.  Good chips, though.

Brandon and Robert taught us that it is possible to visit North Korea and return.  We are told that the conference room in which North and South Korea “negotiate” is literally on the North and South Korea border of the de-militarized zone, and it is open for tours.  We plan to visit soon.  Brandon also suggested a rather clever US maneuver to solve the US budget deficit.  I quote, “What has Guam done for us lately?”  At least we have options.

One last story.  CB seems to be developing the habit of lizard encounters, so it did not surprise me when I heard her yelp from the bathroom that I was needed to catch one.  Under normal circumstances this would be no great challenge, but I happened to be sleeping, an activity which I am rarely eager to end.  However, in an attempt to be supportive, I dragged myself out of bed and into the bathroom to perform the heroic deed.  “Where is it?” I asked.  She pointed out the window, and at this point you will probably recall that we live 14 floors up.  Un-amused (it was early) but still seeking to help, I asked, “What can I do about it?”  “It’s scary” she replied.  I do not foresee me understanding the fairer sex in the near future.

Generally speaking, things are well over here.  Work is slow but steady, and it has allowed for us to plan a great deal of travel throughout the summer and into the fall.  Just this past week we were able to purchase S$0.08 (yes, 8 cent) roundtrip tickets to Saigon.  Taxes were several hundred dollars per ticket, but it still ended up being a steal.  We look forward to visiting.  For those of you in the US, CB and / or John will be in Chicago, Louisville, Charleston and Orlando (and perhaps a few other cities) the last two weeks of this July and first week in August.  If you’re around, please let us know!

I will close with a smattering of our recent favorite commercials.  Boomdiada is from the Discovery Channel (we watch a good bit of it over here), we won’t claim to understand the SoyJoy commercials but nonetheless find them hilarious, and the Singapore Navy commercial is inspiration for those of you (myself included) who spend most of the beautiful daylight hours under fluorescent lights.

Boomdiada!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wOKQmO-ftk

SoyJoy office: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V-VDSyZCnc

SoyJoy tattoo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2X64F6IzQg&NR=1

Singapore Navy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PD0cYeVpkgI

Cheers,

John

Dear all,

Despite any excitement the title of this entry may ensue, it’s been a pretty normal week:).  A few highlights though–

I was on my way to class on Monday night.  School has been crazy busy lately, not like the first two months when it was just general reading to keep up with.  We’ve had to deal with the three p’s:  projects, papers, and presentations.  We even had Saturday classes–ahhhh!!!!  This was my version of March Madness.  Now it’s April and I’m slightly more sane.  Well, until finals at the end of the month:)  

Anyway, I was on my way to class on Monday night.  NUS’s campus is nothing like Furman’s.  It has some pretty landscaped spots, but it’s mostly buildings with no huge lake in the middle.  You can see the sea and port if you’re standing on the right hill. Since the campus is mostly buildings you can imagine my surprise when a giant LIZARD (probably a little over a foot in length) crawled out in front of me while I was walking down the sidewalk.  If you’ve been following my blog, you have discovered that our trip to Kuala Lumpur provided me with ample reptile/amphibian handling skills but, alas, those skills failed me.  I was just walking along minding my own business probably listening to country music on my iPod (I dearly miss my country music–Steve, I know this appalls you:), and this lizard darts across my path.  I jumped and let out a little squeak, but trying not to be the weird white girl who was scared by a lizard, I tried to keep on moving.  I’m sure my Singaporean school mates found this hilarious.  I nearly kicked the thing because I didn’t see it in time.  When I went back for class later this week, I carefully scoured the landscape for large moving lizards–no worries.  He didn’t come back.  Tim McGraw must have scared him away:)

Later this week, once I was safe from lizards seeking higher education, John and I went to a little Chinese restaurant we like to frequent to order our usual “sweet and sour chicken rice.”  In fact, we frequent this place so much, that as we’re walking towards the place, all the sweet waitress has to do is hold up two fingers to confirm the number of orders we want to place.  Sometimes, we order three–people attribute this to the fact that we’re American.  I attribute this to the fact that John has a high metabolism.  As we approached the restaurant on this particular night, the woman looked at us with an apologetic face.  We started to confirm our order and she just shook her head as she said timidly, “no rice.”  “No rice!!!” I replied absolutely shocked that a Chinese restaurant–especially in Asia could EVER EVER run out of rice!!!  That’s like a Chinese restaurant running out of MSG!!!!  I didn’t understand, apparently, because I proceeded to try to order two other rice dishes and it just didn’t work. The rice was gone.  John was adventurous and tried something new (Hong Kong Noodles).  I had my sweet and sour chicken–without the rice.

It’s starting to seem like most of our interesting stories from the East involve food:)  Tonight, we were having dinner with our dear friend Rev at a food court in Vivo City–my favorite mall in Singapore (well, favorite western mall).  Dinner was delicious–I had Italian…yummy:).  When it came time to order dessert, John talked us into trying a “traditional Singaporean dessert” that his co-workers insisted he try one day.  Before I go any further, it’s important to understand that finding a food that is traditionally Singaporean is about as difficult as finding a food that is traditionally American.  It’s an immigrant nation and most foods can be traced back to immigrant countries.  But, his co-workers insisted that this dessert is distinctly Singaporean, so I guess we’ll call it the Apple Pie of Singapore:)  It’s called Iced Kachang.  For your viewing pleasure, I did a Google Image search on the dish.  Please view it below.

Yummy!!! Corn and Beans and a Snow Cone?

Yes, that is creamed corn on the top. And underneath this mountain of icey goodness is more corn, jellybeans, red beans, and jello.  While I can’t say the ice on top is bad (it tastes like different flavors of snow cones), I can say the concoction at the bottom is definitely not my favorite.  When dessert time comes, pass me the chocolate cake:)  John does like this though (sans corn and beans, I think) and the ice is definitely refreshing on a typical hot Singapore day.  When the dessert is half-eaten, the ice is melting, and you can see the jello and corn in the bottom, it looks a bit like a circus clown that jumped into a blender.  We had a good laugh about that one at dinner tonight.  What do you think?  

Dear friends,

Wow–what a month it has been.  Obviously, I am terrible at keeping a journal.  If you check my bookshelf at home in Kentucky, I’m sure you can find a few diaries I tried to start when I was younger only to leave the vast majority of pages blank.  This blog is my sorry attempt to break that habit. 

So this entry won’t be a boring recap of the last month and a half, I’ll just list a few of the things that have happened.  If you would like for me to expand on any–let me know:)

Valentine’s Day date to cafes around Singapore ending at a bar on the top floor of the tallest hotel in Southeast Asia,  a two week bout with laryngitis, LPGA golf tournament, English classes, dinners with Rev, St. Patrick’s Day in Asia, etc.  Just business as usual.  John and I decided we need to have a crazy adventure soon (we’re starting to think we’re boring)–we’ll be sure to keep you posted.  In other news, we are going to India at the end of April.  I’m sure we’ll be doing crazy things then!

Until our next wild story, here is a list for your viewing pleasure.  I was thinking about how much day to day life has changed since coming here.  Everyday life here is definitely different.  Sometimes I forget that because it has become normal for me.  Here are 25 things about Singapore (and around) that have just become part of life for me/us.  Enjoy:)

1.  I haven’t driven a car since 2008.  It’s been about three months–which seems like forever.

2.  I buy my meat, fruits and veggies, and flowers from a “wet market.”  It’s called this because they hose off the floor with a big hose and it remains wet all day.  

3.  Most chicken you can buy at the store still has the head on.  And the eyeballs in. 

4.  I hear at least four different languages almost every time I leave my apartment.

5.  Most days, John’s American accent is the only American accent I hear in person.

6.  I found a hair bow store in Singapore.  It’s in the Arab Quarter:)

7.  American dollars look weird to me.  And not very colorful.

8.  John and I have lived abroad for 85% of our married life.  

9.  I now say “lift,” “car park,” and “pram” and spell favourite with a “u”.

10.  If I meet people from the US, suddenly, our home towns seem so close–even if they’re from Oregon.

11.  I have officially been soaked on the sidewalk by a bus driving through a puddle.

12.  The worst sunburn of my life is finally ending with peeling skin.  It’s been 15 days since I burned.

13.  I never leave the house without an umbrella–for sun (I’m pale and should have used it 15 days ago) or rain (I like to be dry).

14.  We have a Furman alumni club here consisting of four members:).  Three of them work for Accenture.

15.  Football is soccer.  American football is what I miss.

16.  Everyone here loves an English football team.  Never mind they’ve never been to England…

17.  Sometimes, I actually prefer to use chopsticks.  Especially when I eat rice.

18.  If I don’t have rice every couple of days, I really want some rice.  Who would have thought?

19.  The best Mexican food I’ve had since I’ve been here was in Thailand.  Oh yeah, the Thai food was pretty good too.

20.  Singapore averages 400 people/acre.  That means that on my family’s acre and a half yard in Kentucky, I could put 600 Singaporeans.  

21.  I’m finally starting to run into people I know around Singapore.  In a city of 4.5 million people, that’s awesome:)

22.  The equator is hot.

23.  I can hear monkeys when I walk around sometimes.  No, they’re not in my head.  They’re above it.

24.  Being a newlywed in a one room 300ish square foot apartment has actually worked out well.  We’re looking forward to one day having a bedroom separate from a living room and a kitchen sink.

25.  Singapore is the 10th most expensive city in the world.  Ahead of NYC.  Friends in NYC, we understand your pain:)  Read all about it:)

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/cna/20090310/tap-327-survey-shows-singapore-worlds-10-231650b.html

More to come later if I can get my act together.  As always, thanks for reading.  We miss you:)

Today we saw a man take an eight inch spear shaped skewer, pierce his cheek with it, run it through his mouth and then out the other cheek.  Then, the same man took a similar spear, and, this time, pushed it through his tongue and connected it with the “cheek spear” where they crossed.  These piercings were only a few of the many adorning his body.  Then, he placed a cage on top of himself (secured with spikes into his body), and added a few more hooks and decorations to his arms and other areas of his body.  Then, he proceeded to walk 5 kilometers through the streets of Singapore.  And, he was only one of thousands of men who participated in this procession. This is all of part of the Hindu celebration of Thaipusam.  I have tons of pictures and will post them throughout and then put a gallery at the end.  Enjoy!!!:)

This morning started out like any Sunday morning, John and I went to church.  But then, the day became a lot more interesting with our trip to little India.  On our way into Little India is when we first saw Thaipusam.

Our first view of Thaipusam

Our first glimpse at this celebration was watching devotees processing down the street bearing their kavadis (burdens).  More on Kavadis and Thaipusam later.  Before we could go exploring, we needed some nourishment!  So, we met some good friends for lunch at an Indian buffet.  The food was a bit spicy (I’m still working my way up in the world of spiciness) but it was delicious!  To make up for the food I couldn’t eat because of the spice, I made sure to devour some nan (bread).  Thank goodness for nan!!!:)

Then off to the Srinivasa Peruma Hindu Temple for Thaipusam!  On the way there, we met our good friend Heather (who is a fantastic photographer).  This was her third year, so she could show us around.  When we got to the temple, what we saw was amazing–and sensory overload.  The smell of incense was thick in the air, the sound of beating drums was deafening and brightly colored devotional decorations surrounded us.  We didn’t know where to start!  Finally, we wondered over to the “preparation” area where the men were preparing to mount their “kavadis” (burdens).  A kavadi is a cage like structure that can way up to 15kg (more than 30 pounds) and is worn over the heads of the devotees.  It is secured in placed by spikes that run from the cage into the skin (piercing the skin on the chest and back).  Most devotees with spikes had at least a couple dozen of these in their bodies.  Others carry the weight of the kavadi on their shoulders, but have chain embellishments that are attached to the skin via fish hook type hooks.  And be attached to the skin, I mean hooked into the skin.

Man with kavadi

In addition, some devotees place hooks into their backs that hold fruit, such as limes.  They’ll have ten or twenty pieces of fruit hanging from their backs via hooks.  Large hooks.  The most disturbing part is you can see the stressed flesh pulling as the hooks bear the weight.  All of the devotees carring kavalis (with spikes and hooks) are men.  Women and children can participate and carry a wooden, spikeless version of the kavadi.  More on that later.  Other men drag altars.  They don’t pull them with their hands.  Instead, they attach the altars to chains which are attached to large hooks.  You guessed it!  The hooks are inserted into the back of the devotee and he pulls the alter by the skin of his back.  He is followed by friends, but not to help him.  Not at all.  In fact, the friends pull the altar back against the devotee–this is to test his faith.  It is truly an incredible sight.

Having his face pierced

Once we got our bearings straight among the incense the beating drums, we came upon the young man I described earlier–he was being placed under his kavadi.  We watched his “helpers” (how helpful this is is debateable:)) insert the spikes for his kavadi into his bare chest and bare back.  He bit down on a lime as the metal pierced his flesh.  Gives a whole new meaning to biting the bullet, huh?  After several minutes of watching the spikes and hooks being inserted into his flesh, we saw something that both amazed us and made our stomachs turn.  We watched the man’s helpers pierce his cheeks and his tongue with skewers.  This is a practice that keeps the devotees from being able to talk.  Supposedly, this helps them keep their mind on God.  To pierce his face, they started with his left cheek and pushed until the skewer cleared the flesh and was into his mouth.  Then, they pushed the skewer out through the right cheek.  Next, the he stuck out his tongue.  Down went the skewer all the way through the tongue.  The helpers then offered the devotee a drink through a straw.  For your viewing pleasure, I got a video of the piercing!  But, unfortunately, I ran out of battery as the skewer was exiting the mouth through the cheek.  I missed all of the tongue piercing.  Check it out on Facebook!

Finished Product!

After twenty minutes of this guy, we moved on.  We heard drumming and chanting from the back of the temple, so, of course, we had to check it out.  We couldn’t make it through the crowd very well to see, but we could see a devotee at the center of the circle getting his forehead pierced.  The man piercing him was not only pushing the spike through the flesh, but pushing it very hard (to the point of beating).  Every few seconds, he gave the devotee a break and the devotee, who was in a trance-like state, would go into a frenzy.  He was going so wild that his friends had to hold him down to prevent him from hitting onlookers.  This entire celebration is extremely religious and the followers are extremely devoted.  It’s incredible.

At this point, we walked around, saw a few more kavadis and men being pierced then decided to head to the other temple.  Thaipusam involves more than just the men being pierced.  The devotees them embark on a journey to another temple, in this case, about five kilometers (a little over 3 miles) away.  The devotees walk barefoot (on hot pavement–the weather here today was around 90 degrees Fahrenheit so you can imagine how hot the pavement was) bearing their kavadis the entire way.  So, we did what most westerners do–hopped in a cab–and went to the other temple to see the final part of the journey.

Man who had plants hooked onto his body

Once we got there, we realized the only way into the temple was to fall into the procession–so we did.  We can now say that we have officially walked in a Hindu procession.  What we saw was incredible.  We joined in with devotees (and supporters) who had already marched five kilometers and prepared to march into the temple.  We came across a woman at this point who chose to participate.  She carried a wooden kavadi (no piercings to hold this up).  Her face and tongue were pierced.  She seems to be in a lot of pain–you can tell from the picture in the gallery.  Standing in front of her was a man who had plants attached to his body by hooks.  On the front and the back–to look at his chest you would think he was a walking plant:)

Once inside the temple, and after removing our shoes, we watched the men bearing their kavadis make their offerings to the God and do one final dance at the altar.  The dance seemed like another frenzy, with their supporters clapping and chanting wildly, and them bouncing their burdens up and down.  Check out our video of this on Facebook.  Then, the priest (or equivalent thereof) blessed them with ash to place in the center of their foreheads.  Next, off to the “kavadi removal tent” where the hooks and skewers are removed.

Leaving the temple

The removal is where the blood starts to flow.  Luckily, we didn’t see too much.  We did see two men have their cheek and lip skewers removed.  This process almost seemed more painful than the first.  The helpers initially remove the spears from the men’s chests and backs and then the hooks from their arms and other places on their body they have pierced.  Then, once the burden has been removed, they begin to remove the facial piercings.  They start with the tongue, swiftly pulling the skewer upward.  Next, the cheeks.  The helper places his hand with one finger on each side of the mouth (the outside points of the spear) and with some fingers on the inside.  Very carefully, the skewer is removed.  Some of the blessing ash is then placed on the wounds.  I’m not certain of this, but perhaps this is to bless the wounds.  It also seemed to stop the bleeding.

What an incredible day.  Days like today are such a blessing and I am so grateful to live in Singapore to experience them.  Although seeing a man’s cheeks and tongue being pierced is slightly disconcerting, it certainly gives insight into different cultures and ways of life.

That’s it for today, everyone!  Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaipusam for more information on Thaipusam.  And as always, we miss you!!!  Check back soon:)  Oh, and check out the picture gallery below!

Dear all,

It’s been a pretty typical week, but I thought I would highlight a few of the better stories.  They just seem entertaining.

The first is my adventure to the Arab Quarter–a section of Singapore mostly populated by people from the Arab world and Malaysia.  This part of town is home to a beautiful mosque (Sultan Mosque) with a gorgeous gold dome and ornate architectural detail.  I love to go here and shop for fabrics (if I ever have a good reason to need fabric) and neat dresses, shaws, and jewelery.  Their merchandise is beautiful.  Anyway, on my way home from the Arab quarter, I was waiting to cross the street to get back to the MRT.  A Chinese man approached me and proceeded to ask me where I was from.  I told him I lived in Singapore (always start with this answer–a lesson I learned long after moving here).  Much of the time, locals will strike up conversation before trying to sell you something (like tissues, etc.).  Begging is illegal in Singapore.  Many people who would otherwise be “beggars” have small things they are trying to sell like tissues or candy.  I was prepared for the salespitch but that’s not what came next.  He asked me how I liked China.  I told him I had never been to China.  He then informed me that I was in China.  Hmm…I thought to myself.  I then reconfirmed what he said…”I’m in China?  I thought this was Singapore.”  He assured me I was in China.  Thankfully, by this point, the light changed and I was able to cross the street.  Looking back, I realize I was never in any danger, I just felt sorry for this man and really wanted to help him, but my first thought was to cross the street.  A sweet British couple came up to me a few seconds later and told me they had been watching to make sure everything was ok.  This type of things doesn’t happen very often in Singapore, and as funny as it may seem that a man told me I was in China while I was in the Arab quarter…it made me stop and think.

My newest adventure is teaching English!  Our church has an ESL (English as a Second Language) Program designed to teach adults to speak English.  I randomly went to teacher training one week and, before I knew it, had volunteered to teach a class!  Not just any class though, I volunteered to teach and Intro level class.  Intro level students speak no English when they enter the classroom (after intro, it goes through level 5).  In fact, the first lesson is how to say “hello, my name is…”  Fortunately, since it’s the middle of the academic year, I got to pick up at Unit 8, so they know a little bit of English, but not much.  I compare it with me during Spanish 1 (or Spanish 11 all you FU people).  I just knew a few of the basics.  My students are from all over Asia.  I have students from Japan, Korea, China, Indonesia, and Taiwan.  And, my fabulous assistant teacher, Yoshie, is from Japan.  As a result, the only common language is English, which is what we’re learning.  It’s going to be a challenge, but I am so excited!  Our first class went really well–Yoshie you did a great job!  I’ll update more about this soon…

My last story for today is another installment in John’s haircut saga.  To recap, John’s first haircut here was at the haircutting school (where they had trouble because he had the hair of a foreigner) and his last few haircuts have been from a vending machine.  You insert ten dollars, receive a ticket, then wait in line for a ten minute haircut from a Japanese trained barber.  Very interesting.  His last haircut was from me!  Yes, it’s true…I cut his hair.  The last time I gave a haircut was to Grant at Governor’s Scholars and even then I just helped Ruby Marie do it.  And, if I recall correctly, he ended up with a bald spot on the side of his head.  John had been trying to convince me to do this for a while.  He told me that it was both more time efficient and cost efficient.  So, why wouldn’t we do it?  Hmm…maybe because my only haircutting experience involved a bald spot on a seventeen year old?  Seemed like a good reason to me.  Anyway, I sat him down in a chair and put a “Family Guy” on TV to distract him.  He wanted to play the Wii, but I thought there would be too much movement and he might lose an ear.  So, I cut and cut and finally got his hair to look somewhat normal.  It was such a relief.  No bald spots, lost ears, or lopsided hair.  I need to keep practicing–I cut so little off it does’t even look like he got a haircut–but I’m making progress nonetheless:)

This weekend John and I are headed to a Hindu festival called Thaipusam in Little India.  This festival involves the followers piercing themselves with swords and needles and walking over hot coals.  This should be interesting…be on the lookout for an update soon.

HAPPY FRIDAY and thanks for reading!!!  We miss you all:)

It’s true….we ventured to Singapore’s Red Light District last Friday evening.  We went with some work colleagues of John to have some of the best food in town.  Believe me–the food is delicious.  We rode the MRT and then walked through streets that looked like those of China (so I’ve been told) which, actually, is a rarity in Singapore.  It was a bit dirtier than the rest of the city and the clientele were who I assume to be standard to any red light district–only not quite as extreme as I had pictured.  We stopped at a little restaurant that served beef kway teo–a Singaporean/Chinese noodle dish with a delicious sauce and bits of beef.  We also enjoyed some coffee pork, frog legs, and fried tofu.  What a meal!  The entire situation reminded me of trying to pick good BBQ restaurants in the southeast US.  The surroundings–and restaurant–may be a bit sketchy, but the food is fabulous.  In other words, the sketchier the better (remember Turpins all my FU friends???).  The same is true over here.  If you’re looking for good, cheap Chinese food, quite often, the sketchier the place, the better the food.  Oh, and the more MSG they use:)  Here is a picture of the general area.

Geylang--Red Light District Singapore

After dinner, we decided to wander the streets in search of a fruit stand.  Geylang also has some of the best fruit markets in town.  Many of our group, which included people from Singapore, the US, and Japan, had yet to try the Durian, the national fruit of Singapore.  Big deal, you might think, trying a national fruit from a tropical nation can’t be that bad.  WRONG!!!  This fruit looks like a porcupine and smells like rotten meat and cheese that have been blended together.  In fact, the smell is so rancid that the Public Transportation Authority has banned durians from all forms of public transport, including buses and the MRT (metro).  These signs can be found everywhere…

Logical sequence...right?

Sorry the picture is so small.  But, I think you get the picture.  This fruit is rank.  But we all decided to try it.  The texture of the fruit is hard to describe.  It’s fleshy and feels like skin would if it wasn’t supported by bones.  And the smell when you open the shell is more intense than when the shell is intact.  This fruit got it right in defending itself from predators.  Too bad we were all too stupid to take the warning:)  When we tasted the fruit, it initially tasted like it smelled–like old cheese, but the after taste was much better.  It was fruity and almost good.  The problem is, I’m not willing to put up with the grossness to get to the goodness.  Watermelon for me please:)

Yoshie and I enjoying our first taste of durian goodness

Stil recovering...but enjoying the aftertaste!

On Sunday, John, Leo, Eileen and I got tickets to go and see Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella at the Esplenade–a performing arts center in Singapore.  Ironically, it is shaped like a durian:)  The show was wonderful.  I’m assuming it was a traveling Broadway cast (they’re accents all sounded American).  It was like getting a little piece of American culture right in the middle of Southeast Asia.

After the performance we went for dinner a nice little hawker centre by the river that goes through the Central Business District of Singapore.  The purpose:  to try Stingray–a delicacy here.  A little apprehensive at first (heck, we snorkel to look at these things back in the US), I took a bite of the BBQ Stingray.  It was AMAZING. Probably my new favorite seafood–or a close second to crab.  In fact, it tastes very similar to crab just without all of the work.  And the spices used to flavor it are also quite good–a little spicy–but good, nonetheless.  We topped it off with a green lettuce side dish, some fried rice, Malay satay (complete with peanut dipping sauce), and of course, watermelon juice.  I think John had green apple juice this time.  As you all know, you can get any fruit juice you want.  Except durian–I’ve never seen that as an option:)

John and I are celebrating Chinese New Year this year (this weekend!!!!) by going on a cruise to Malaysia and Thailand on none other than Royal Caribbean (in the South China Sea)!  We’re going to miss our Cruise Director (Sharkey) though:)  We each have a four day weekend, so we found it important to celebrate and bring in the Year of the Ox in style!!!  Miss y’all and check back with us soon!

Ni hao 2009!

Whew….it’s been a wild couple of months!  Since we’ve bascially abandoned you for the past month and a half, I figured it was high time we update you all on what’s going on in our lives!

First off–the Malaysia trip back in December.  I (CB) didn’t get to go–John had to go by himself.  (I had to go back to the US about a week early because of the death of my grandfather).  John said that the Malaysian island was beautiful and relaxing.  We’re going to have to go back sometime when we’re both in this part of the world.  He’ll have to tell you all about his trip!

Our trip home to the States was wonderful.  Even though the reason I was home early was a sad one, it was so nice to see family and friends back home.  John and I stuck to Kentucky and Florida this trip (we had limited time and it was our first time back)…but friends everywhere else, expect a call/visit from us next time we’re home:)  We had a great time in KY and FL.  In KY we went to see A Christmas Carol at Actors Theatre, went shopping, and relaxed.  In FL, we went to Sea World, went shopping, and relaxed:)  It was wonderful.

Now that you’ve had the December update, here’s what’s up for us in 2009.

John is enjoying his work at Accenture and is still on a project in Singapore.  He’s meeting lots of wonderful people on the job and learning tons about the consulting and business worlds.

I have started Graduate School at the National University of Singapore.  I’m working on my Masters of Science in Environmental Management–essentially Sustainable Business.  I am the only American and westerner in my class.  My classmates hail from all over Asia:  Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal, India, China, Singapore, and Myanmar to name a few.  We’ve had a two week intensive seminar since we’ve been back and since then I’ve had professors from the US (Yale), Great Britain, Ghana (Africa), and Singapore.  It’s been quite an international experience and it has given me a whole new view of sustainable development.  Very cool:)

This year, we are also expecting visits from both of our families and hopefully friends:)  We’ll both be coming back to the US at some point in July and staying until at least Aug.1 for Tyner and Zeke’s wedding:)  We’re also hoping to have some additional travel adventures in while we’re over here–this year, we’re shooting for Thailand, Hong Kong, and Macau.  That could change at the drop of a hat though…who knows?  We may have a few other random adventures in there too.

This is all I have to report right now–I just wanted to give everyone a brief update on our lives.  John and I were talking last night and decided we need to do something crazy soon, so hopefully I’ll be able to write a more interesting blog entry soon:)

We miss you all and hope to see you very soon!!!!  Happy 2009!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  John and I hope you all had a blessed holiday and ate lots of turkey!

I’ll start this entry with our Thanksgiving adventure.  This was my first Thanksgiving away from my old Kentucky home and, ironically, John’s second Thanksgiving in Singapore.  We decided to go out with a few friends on Thanksgiving night, so we rounded a few up and made reservations at the Fullerton Hotel–a downtown hotel that used to be the Singapore post office.  John and I were rushing to get on a bus to get there when we passed a bicycle cab, looked at each other, and asked…why not?  So, we rode in the back of this thing through the busy streets of Singapore.  It was wonderful!

We went to dinner with our friends Kerry and Adrienne–Kerry is from the UK and Adrienne is from South Africa, so this was their first Thanksgiving!  We taught them the American art of pacing oneself at the buffet so as to be able to eat more.  They were pros:)  Fortunately, the buffet did have turkey, dressing, and mashed potatoes.  But, it was advertised as being “a traditional Thanksgiving feast with European and Asian fare.”  Hmmm…I’m glad to know that traditionally, the Europeans and Asians celebrate Thanksgiving:)  Nonetheless, the food was beyond marvelous and we immensely enjoyed our fellowship with our new friends:)

Kerry is a friend I met at a Body Jam aerobics class.  Basically, we met while learning aerobic hip-hop moves.  One of our first outings was about a month ago to Chinatown where we decided to give one of the famous “fish spas” a try.  Basically, the spa has a huge tank of fish with a bench on the side.  You sit on the side and put your feet in the tank with the fish.  The fish swarm at you and start sucking (and nibbling) the dead skin off of your feet.  Luckily for us, this particular spa also had a tank full of fish for your hands suspended above the foot fish tank.  Words cannot describe the feeling of sticking your feet in the tank for the first time.  I took John with me about a week later and captured his expression on film–check the pictures below!  It feels like needles that don’t hurt, tickling, and sucking all at the same time.  And, to top it all off, if your feet are ticklish, that adds to the experience.  Eventually, you get used to it and the fish get all of the skin off so they swim away.  But, as John experimented, he discovered that if you stick your entire leg into the tank, they will also swim up to the rest of your leg and get the dead skin off.  And, as you pull your feet out of the tank, some of the fish like to “hold on”, so you must be careful not to sling them across the spa:)  If you come to Singapore, this is an experience you must have!

In other news, randomly enough, we ended up at the Marine Corps Ball a few weeks ago!  I met a nice woman at my Bible study whose husband works at the Embassy and she invited us to the Ball.  We decided to take her up on it and check it out!  The Marine Corps ceremony was very moving, especially as an American abroad.  When I heard the “Star Spangled Banner” I didn’t realize I hadn’t heard it in over three months.  As much as I’m loving my experience in Singapore, it’s definitely been a crash course in American appreciation.  Life here is fun, but America is definitely home!  Long story short, John and I met lots of very interesting people at the ball, many of which we are still in touch with now.  We had an extraordinary dinner, danced to oldies, and met some fellow expats.  What a night.  And to think, we went on a whim:)

We’re off to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the weekend.  Look for an update sometime soon!  We’re taking overnight buses there and back, so I’m sure we’ll have stories!

We miss you all very much and since Thanksgiving is over now, I can say it….MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!:)

Dear Blog Readers,

It’s been a while.  We’ll try to be better–we promise!

Today, I have a funny story to tell pertaining to our second zoo experience.  We decided to go back to the zoo to finish exploring the sections we didn’t get to our first time.  It was definitely worth the trip:)  I even went into the snake enclosure–mom, you would have been proud.  For those of you who don’t know, I despise snakes to the point that if I even see one, I will probably freak out.  But, John dragged me into the “reptile experience” where the animals are allowed free roam.  The sign on the door promised snakes, but luckily, I didn’t see any.  But, John did think it was hilarious to make hissing noises and tickle the back of my neck.  So not funny.

After the reptile enclosure, we ventured into yet another enclosure with rainforest animals.  Before it became the concrete jungle, Singapore itself was a tropical rainforest.  Just one degree north or the equator and humid as you could possibly imagine, it still feels very much like one.  Anyhow, we walked through the enclosure and decided to pet some unidentified animal.  I’ve gotten much braver since moving over here:)

Petting the sweet random animal

The petting of the random animal was probably the most tame thing that happened inside that enclosure.  As we ventured further, we discovered that, much to our delight, it was time to feed the lemurs!  If you’re like us, when you see a lemur, you’re first thoughts are “I like to move it move it” from the movie “Madagascar.”  So, we started singing the song and dancing towards the lemurs only to discover they were about twenty times more hyper than we were.  Hard to imagine.  They were jumping from branch to branch, wrestling each other, and swiping food from the zoo keeper.  Then, John decided to try to take some upclose pictures of these insane animals.  He was standing about a foot from the lemur getting some incredible shots, when all of the sudden, the lemur lept at him and landed on his arm!!!!  Luckily, it pushed off and decided to attack another lemur, so we were safe:)  Thank goodness–you never know how lemur attacks are going to end!

Last night, we saw “Madagascar 2” and appreciated the personalities of King Julien, Mauriece, and Mort after our run in with the dear lemurs.  Here are a few pictures of us with these cool creatures!

So, our zoo adventure was awesome.  Like I’ve said in previous entries, it’s cool to see animals in the zoo that I’ve never seen before.  Because we’re in a different part of the world, I guess the pickin’ are good:)

More to come later…stay tuned!