I Live in Singapura!

Today we watched this video in class. It is the Singapore version of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire." For those of you who need a brief history of Singapore, or just want a good laugh, check out this video. This is the MTV-animated version, but you can watch the original performance by Hossan Leong here.

I am learning so much :-) But the sad part is I only understand about half of the jokes lah!

Anyone know where I can get some gopher wood?

I am beginning to feel like a lot like Noah, as it has rained here for the last ten days! And according to Google weather, it isn't going to let up any time soon. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a problem, but 1) my umbrella never made it out of Thailand, and 2) I have been trying to dry my clothes (we have to hang everything up outside our windows) for nearly four days and I am seriously missing the clothes dryers at Elon.

Please let the sun shine down again! This is supposed to be the dry season :-)

Daylight Savings Time

While you all made the annual "spring-forward" this morning, Singapore's clocks stayed exactly the same. That's right, here there is no daylight-savings time here. Hence you can understand my confusion. I made sure to change my watch before falling asleep last night but when I woke up I was surprised to find that neither my computer nor my cell phone had updated itself. Well, either I found the Microsoft bug of the century or something fishy was going on.

So I asked my friend Meiqi what was going on.

Me: So did you set your clocks forward an hour this morning?
Meiqi: Noooo, what are you talking about?
Me: You know, because it's daylight savings time this weekend.
Meiqi: *Blank stare*
Me: You know, like "spring-forward", "fall-back"?
Meiqi: Yeah, we don't do that. *Quizzical look, like crazy girl is insane*

But the good news is I am now a perfect 12 hours ahead of the East Coast so it will make the math a lot easier :)

I graduate (from tennis)

Back in January I got roped into joining the tennis club's learn-to-play-tennis program. I've never really played tennis before nor was I planning on signing up, but Singaporeans are really good salespeople. They'll have you confused and saying "yes" before you can even realize what happened... The conversation went something like this:

Ren: Hi, would you like to sign up for the tennis class?
Katelin: Oh, that's ok I've never played tennis before.
Ren: Oh, it's a great time to learn then. You are on exchange?
Katelin: Yep
Ren: Then it will give you a chance to meet some locals! You should definitely do it.
Katelin: Ok, I give in. Where do I sign?

So, I spent the last 5 Mondays playing tennis with a bunch of Singaporeans (and a few international students as well). There were about eight of us and I was the only girl. Also the only left-handed person. So at least I was going to be different with style :-) We spent a lot of time learning the correct technique and learning the rules of the game. But tonight I am a proud owner of a learn-to-play-tennis certificate! Challenge anyone?

Sick as a dog (sorry Shadow)

It seems that every time I fly home for break or fly back to Elon, I end up getting sick. So I was surprised that I was able to fly all the way to Singapore without a hitch or a trip to the medical center.

Well, I knew it was too good to last.

The last couple of days have been miserable. I got a really bad ear infection (probably from the less-than-clean water in Indonesia, but who knows...) and spent the last four days either in bed or at the medical center. I went to see the doctor right away because I knew that in 10 days I would be traveling. He didn't really know what was wrong: he actually asked me if I thought it was an ear infection or a lymph node infection! I was completely taken aback... "ummm I'm just a Comm major, you're the doctor!" I said in my mind. At home I usually practice self-diagnosis and go into the doctor's office saying "ok, according to WebMD.com, it's either this, this, or that." But this practice is highly discouraged by my doctors and I have never been asked what I thought was the problem. So, he prescribed me some ear drops and pain medicine and I left the office.

Later that same night, I felt ten times worse. I waited for the pain medication (an anti-inflammatory) to kick in, but it never did. I am pretty sure I had a fever because although I didn't have a thermometer, it was 80 degrees inside the room, and my head felt really hot even thught the rest of me was freezing despite wearing both a sweater and a fleece. What a miserable night!! I couldn't rest comfortably, and I found breathing difficult because of the pain.

All I could think of was "I want my mom!" There is a famous quote from a Calvin and Hobbs comic strip that says "You don't get to be Mom if you can't make everything all right." And I honestly believe Moms are given some sort of special healing power. But, do you want to know what got me through it? Andrea, you will find this funny. I practiced my six-sided breathing exercises, from all those years of choir rehearsals! I guess music really does have healing power lah!

Finally after I was convinced that the medicine had left my system, I was able to take some Advil I had brought with me. Thank goodness for Advil!!! All I can say, is if you are traveling to a foreign country bring medicine with you that your body recognizes. 40 minutes later I was out like a light. I visited the medical center almost every day (and got a new doctor) only to find out that the drops I had been using so faithfully were actually making the problem worse! Great.

Although I'm still not 100%, I am much better. Let's just hope this is the end of it :-)

Destination: Batam, Indonesia

As I mentioned earlier, during Chinese New Year, Singapore becomes a ghost town. Really. All of the shops are closed, the only restaurants open are McDonald's and KFC and the only people you see are foreigners looking around at the empty streets dazed and confused. Matthieu and wanted to travel for the weekend, but weren't able to book any flights out of Singapore or find hotel accommodations with everyone traveling overseas to visit family. So we decided to head for Batam, Indonesia for the day to do a little wakeboarding.

We woke up early to make the ferry to Indonesia (Batam is about 45 minutes from Singapore) and met up with the wakeboarder's group.

Land ho! We arrive in Indonesia

Isn't it pretty? We had no problems clearing customs, but at the gate the officials insisted on keeping our passports while they prepared the visa (Indonesia has a visa-on-arrival policy, and it must be paid in US dollars... go figure!) I didn't feel right about them holding on to my passport since it is my only form of identification and necessary to return home. Can you say clerical error? Everything worked out fine, and we were given back our passports when we left the country later that evening.

Wakeboarding!
We arrived at the cable-ski park early in the morning which was nice because there weren't many people there yet. Neither Matthieu nor I had ever been cable skiing so we were able to get in a lot of practice. What is cable-skiing and how is it different from waterskiing? Well, I am so glad you asked!

Cable-skiing uses an overhead cable that pulls the rider instead of a boat. You take off from the side of the dock instead of in the water. Because you don't need a boat, it cuts the costs of renting a boat and a driver making the experience more affordable. Plus, there is no wake so skiers can ride all day without worrying about the water becoming too choppy.

However, I soon realized that it also has some disadvantages... because good waterskiing habits can also be a wakeboarder's death sentence. The way you position yourself on the board and the way you steer are totally different! Also, since a machine is pulling you, your start is a jolt as it rips you away from the dock, however a boat takes time to accelerate and your body has time to adjust. Lastly, since the machine needs somewhere to turn you around, at each corner it whips you around and if you aren't ready for it, you're a goner. I actually find skiing behind the boat much easier: I miss Uncle Bob's gentle driving, Aunt Judi's cheering section, and Mom the original paparazzi.

By the end of the day we were like pros... just kidding! But not too shabby for first-timers lah?

Matthieu showing off his skills on the water...
It took me a while to get past the jumps in the water because no matter how hard I tried to steer away from them, it was like a magnet! Don't I look good? To bad I fall three seconds after these picture were taken...
After a long day of skiing, Matthieu and I celebrate with some local Indonesian beer.
Wow, what a day! As I sit here typing this, I still haven't fully recovered from the weekend. We are both so sore that it hurts to do anything: get into bed, get out of bed, climb up the stairs, go down the stairs, carry ANYTHING, etc... but we hope to back again... soon!!!

Destination: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Coming soon!