Free Money

Every evening, there is a long line at every ATM in Singapore. In the MRT stations, outside, all over the place, people are lining up. The only reason I can think of for this is that they give out free money.

Today I was walking in "downtown" Bedok, and I saw a sign that advertised a place that rents books. It's $.40 to rent a book. At first I thought, "what a great idea! I should go there." Then I thought, "well this should really be free if they want the population to be educated!" Then I realized that I created libraries.

Finally, tell me what's wrong with this picture...

Shake It

I'm a little nervous to post above my Lambchop posting and my Signs posting. They are my two favorite postings yet. If you read this, please scroll down and read those too. They're way better.

Picture it: a 70 yearish old Chinese man. He's dressed in a wife beater and short shorts. He is standing on a children's playground with his feel shoulder length apart. Knees are bent. Back is straight, and arms are out in front of him. His pelvis is moving in circles. Serious circles. It looks a little like some sort of sex thing, but it's not.

I see this man doing this everyday as I'm walking into my office.

In addition, today there was another dead person set up outside of our office. This time it was a man.

Last night I had dinner with the President of the Reform Jewish community here (and her mother), and she was wonderful. Good news that there ARE nice Jews in Singapore.

A small Splinter update - she has been hanging out in our house every night, and she even comes in in the mornings. It's getting difficult now, though, because she is interested in staying in the house when I leave. So in the morning, when she knows I'm about to leave, she hides under the bed. She also has a hiding place IN a reclining chair in our living room. The back has a velcro flap, and somehow she gets IN it, and she doesn't come out unless I really shake the chair hard (and it's heavy and hard to do!). This is a stubborn cat, but she's really so cute.

She might be mad at me, though, because tonight when I came home, she didn't follow me home. I only got a "meow," and then she went back to sleep (on an air conditioner).

A Lambchop?

Yesterday Splinter hung out in our house all day. When we played tennis (and I won...), she slept on our rug. When we ate outside, she slept on our rug. She slept all day. When we went to bed, we kicked her out, as usual.

I couldn't sleep, so around 12:30 I got up to get my book (The Power of One - SOOOO GOOD - thanks, Jill!), and I wanted to check and see if Splinter was still laying outside of our door. I opened the door, and I saw a lambchop!!!

It could be that Splinter wanted to bring us a treat. Maybe she thought, "Oh, they let me sleep on their comfy rug all day. I think I will bring them a LAMBCHOP!!!"

Maybe someone (another cat) was hiding it there.

Where did they get the lambchop? Who knows.

Deeksha, my friend at work, said that in India if you find raw meat, it means that someone has been performing black magic on you. I got worried. Hopefully this is not the start of something bad.

Meanwhile, Splinter is acting pretty normal, and the rug is in the washing machine.

Signs in Singapore

(I have to apologize that I CANNOT figure out how to make this posting look normal...)

So, you ask, what is Singapore like? What does it feel like there? Nothing can describe what Singapore is like more than these signs. This is the blog post that I have been compiling and waiting to post. I wanted to wait until I got a good collection, and I think I'm finally there. They are in order from least ridiculous to most ridiculous. Enjoy!

Bus Stops

The bus stops in Singapore are so much smarter than they are in New York. They don't think or talk or anything, but they're just designed better. In New York, you sit on the bench and end up facing the middle of the road. If you're waiting for a bus, you have to turn your head to the left, and if you wait for a while, you might hurt yourself. In Singapore, the bus stops have a few rows of seats that are all on an angle. When you sit down, you're automatically facing where the bus is coming from (right over here, not left), and there is no risk of injury.

Other than thinking inconsequential thoughts about bus stops, not much is going on with us. I have been working and learning, and Matt has been working and writing. I have meetings each night this week (other than Mandarin on Monday), so I don't have too much to write about.

One disappointment is that we saw an ad for the NEW season of Grey's Anatomy. Unfortunately, it is on right now, and it's last year's new season, and I have already watched them all. Sad for me, but it's okay for Matt, because he ended up missing a bunch last year.

We're also working on planning some trips. My parents are coming in one month's time. We are looking into going to Cambodia for a long weekend. My brother and Josh are coming in Dec/Jan, and we're looking into Thailand and maybe other trips also. Exciting stuff.

Also, the cat is cute. She's like Jelly - a velcro cat, When I go to the kitchen, so does she. Then she meows for attention, but then she'll just fall asleep on her rug. Her rug is in the middle of the house. We don't know where she is tonight.

BE 100M no legal sue!!

Matt and I just got back from Mandarin class. We actually learned how to say, "BE 100M no legal sue! All fall in law of casualty Remember and stick to it., invite." I typed that exactly as it was on my sheet. It was in the context of learning numbers.

That's how bad our teacher is.

We had a fun, relaxing weekend. Ran some errands in the rain on Saturday. Went out with a bunch of SAIS people on Saturday night, including one of the crew's professors. It was Matt, John, Boon Yian, Christian, Dan and Chem.

Sunday we slept until noon. I don't think I have ever done that. We planned on playing tennis and swimming and enjoying the outdoors, but it rained all day (no complaints here), so instead we played Settlers. John and I kicked ass. We went to a GREAT south Indian restaurant on the water on Sunday night. I liked it.

We had a new person start at work last Thursday. Another new person started today. Did I already say that 5 out of the 6.5 staff people are leaving or left? They are/did.

We got tickets to come to the States in April. That's good news. I hope burglars don't read this blog and know where we live...Dad - you made me so paranoid.

Reform Flavor Shabbat

Tonight Matt and I went to the Reform group for services and shabbat dinner. It was a little different than we were used to, but it was super nice. People were nice, and it was a great vibe. We ended the night talking to two ladies in their 90s. They both are from Romania. They both live on the 10th floor. They both have one kid. They both have twin grandchildren. They both have birthdays in October. They were really excited about all of those things.

Last night I finally met Marc. He's a friend of a few friends of mine, and he is superb. He is a trailing partner (as opposed to a trailing spouse). His boyfriend is doing a semester at NUS (National University of Singapore), and he's here for about 5 months. We had a great time with them.

We're trying to book tickets to come back to the States in April. Hopefully that will work out.

MAZAL TOV TO MATT AND ALONA who got engaged yesterday! We're so excited for them, and we hope to see them before their wedding next year in Israel! We need to meet this woman.

The Cat in a Lint Hat

So, now that the cat is "allowed" in our house, it's really entertaining. She is essentially pouncing on the strings that come off of our rugs. From one to another, and then she crawls under it and rolls herself up in it.

Then I lost her. I looked in all rooms. I whistled and called her, and she came guiltily out of one of the bedrooms with a lint hat on. She must have been under the bed. Can you believe that she came when I called her?

Also, she was making herself super skinny to get under this cabinet in our dining room. Finally she got what she was looking for (for about 10 minutes!), and she pulled out a dead cockroach and just sat next to it.

Maybe there are benefits to having her around. (Other than her super cuteness, amazing companionship and silky fur).

Health Care Here RULES!!!

Three things:
1) The hungry ghosts
2) The health care system here
3) Splinter won

1) I found out more about the burning stuff. In the seventh month the gates to heaven are opened, and all of the dead people can come back to earth (for the month). In their own homes, many people light incense, burn clothes, money and food for their ancestors. The people doing it on the street are doing it as a mitzva for the ancestors who don't have a home to go to. They are called hungry ghosts, and these good Samaritans are helping them be sated.

2) I got a urinary tract infection (from riding bikes this weekend, obviously). I didn't feel it until about 7:45 this evening. I started cooking dinner, and put rice and chili on the stove. I googled "after hours clinic singapore" and found a clinic right near our house. Matt came home around 8:15, and I let him know when to take the food off the stove. I got in a cab (it was $3.50 Sing, which is about $2.30 US). I gave them my name. I got a number. I was next. I saw the doctor. I peed on a stick. I was diagnosed as I suspected. I was given antibiotics. Total cost of the visit, including medications: $34 Sing (US$22)I took a cab home. I was home by 9:05. We ate dinner together. That's AMAZINGLY efficient and cheap!! I had to go to the hospital for the same thing at the same hour in DC a few years ago, and all in all it was over $500.

Also, there was a sign by the bathroom that said that people have been spending too much time in the bathroom, and that there was a three minute limit. It said that after three minutes, the toilet paper roll will retract, and some camera will come down and take your picture. If you are caught twice, then your picture will be hung in the office as a "repeat offender." It also warned that if you are caught smiling that you will be punished according to the office's mental health policy. The thing with Singapore is that I don't even know if this is a joke!

3) Splinter (the cat) won the war. We had been keeping her out of the house, and all she wanted was to come in. We decided to see what she would do if she was inside. We thought she might go straight for the food. We thought she would crawl all over our furniture. We thought she would bother our kitchen. Well, she didn't. She took her stupid red ball, and she played with it all over our apartment. She played under the table, in the living room, dining room and kitchen. She enjoys hitting it around the table and chair legs. She's so cute, I can't kick her out. Now she's just sleeping under the table. Matt thinks she just wants the company. I really am in love with her.

Hungry Ancestors and Dead People on my way to Work

On Friday, outside of my "office," I saw people praying in a tent. I could only see it from the side, but I saw Buddhist monks (orange wrap, shaved head, and all) and other people who seemed to go in, do something and then leave.

This morning, on my way to work, I noticed that in that tent was a picture of a woman. Behind that picture there was a coffin. There was a dead person in that tent!

My office is on the bottom floor of an HDB (government housing) in a not-so-well-to-do area. I learned that the space on the first floor is used for Chinese wakes as well as Malay weddings. They said if people look happy, it's usually a wedding. By the end of the day today, the whole tent was gone. Apparently they then burn the body and keep the ashes. Sieks apparently get burned and then they scatter the ashes. I learned this because my Siek co-worker's bunny died, and she didn't know what to do with the ashes, because she was scared of being arrested for littering (which is a major offense here). Only in Singapore.

Last night it was POURING. Matt and I were in bed thinking that it really smelled like something was burning. We heard that the Indonesians burn their forests in the fall and the smoke travels with the wind to Singapore, so we thought that maybe it was that. I said it really smelled like smothering fire - like when you put your campfire out before you go in your tent.

It all became clear this morning when I left work. There was incense, fruit, burning cans, piles of burning papers...EVERYWHERE in my work's HDB complex! I asked my co-workers, and they said that it's the start of the 7th lunar month in the Chinese calendar (happy rosh chodesh). This is apparently the most unlucky month (though I am pretty sure that 4 is the most unlucky number which sucks for Joe Dumars and Chris Webber). The truth is that I would rather get a good night's sleep tonight than do a bit of research, so that will have to wait until another day, but from what I know, the Chinese are worshiping their ancestors through leaving fruit (and we even saw some cakes and cookies) for them, burning incense and burning money (though I don't think it's real - I do NOT think Chinese people would burn money).

Matt and I got to walk through more HDB buildings on the way to Mandarin, and we saw tons of things burning. They all do it on the side of the sidewalk, or on the side of the road. The one that confused me is the whole system set up outside of the factory across the street from our complex. Did their ancestors live in that factory? I don't get it, but I will learn more this week. I also hope to take pictures of these crazy set ups.

The King and I (and Matt)

We just returned from seeing "The King and I." It was playing at Esplanade - the durian, porcupine looking buildings on Marina Bay (where the NDP was). We had weird-o seats. We were in a "box" (or a stall, as they call it here), on the ground floor to the far left of the stage. For cheap-ish tickets, they were pretty good! Matt and I both knew very little about the show, so it was all very entertaining. The story was particularly entertaining and applicable here - the east meets west stuff anyway. The stars of the show were excellent, and we enjoyed it a lot.

I cut up my second huge watermelon today. It went up from $2 (sing) to $2.30. I think it's China that's screwing us. Matt said this would happen...

Some name updates on the FIVE babies that were born in the last few weeks:
Abi and Abe: Nina Bracha
Eve and Gabe: Rafael Selah
Christen and Brian: Amelia Rae
Rachel and Ben: Tovah Libi (who is healthy and home after a couple of rough weeks)
Dafna and Adam: Aviv

Pulau Ubin

Today I broke a personal record. I wore closed toed shoes for six hours in Singapore.

Matt and I went to Pulau Ubin. Remember that Pulau means island? Ubin means granite. You haven't learned that yet. It's an island two km from the main island of Singapore, and it belongs to Singapore. All books say it's like stepping back in time in Singapore. Apparently this is what Singapore looked like 50 years ago. It has certainly come a long way. There was a little "downtown strip" with a few restaurants, and there were a few houses, but mostly it was just trees, quarries and a little garbage (which you DO NOT see in Singapore proper!).

We took a cab to the jetty, and it was about ten minutes from our house. Then we got on this "bumboat" (same as the one pictured here) with 10 other people and went to the island. It took us about $10 US to get there. That's cheap (I like cheap). Once there, we rented mountain bikes and explored.

The bikes hadn't been tuned up ever. The chains were rusty. The gears either didn't work or skipped. The seats hurt. My front and back wheels were not on right...BUT the brakes worked, and it was damn good enough. We biked on the main road and on off-road paths, and we walked for a while on this mangrove boardwalk. On that boardwalk we saw the coolest thing! It was fish with really strong fins - they swim in water, and then they scoot their way along the mud to the next watery area. They were called mud slickers or mud somethings. We also saw turtles, monitor lizards, and a bright green snake. After a while our asses hurt and we made it back to the mainland. I ate a homemade ice cream sandwich.

National Day

Yesterday was National Day in Singapore. It was its 42nd birthday, and it called for the National Day Parade (NDP - they love acronyms here). We met our friend Arkadi downtown and walked around for about an hour and a half before we actually found out where to go. There were THOUSANDS of people and no signs. The major "parade" was happening on a stadium thing that was floating in the Marina Bay area. We walked in that direction for a while, but then we realized that we wouldn't actually be able to see anything. I had read something in the paper about there being a screen on the Padang, and that there was space for 15,000 people. We walked and walked, and we finally found thousands of people making a flag out of umbrellas (really - that's normal). It was the largest human Singapore flag ever. Have you ever seen a small human Singapore flag? I haven't.

The people were so well organized. It was nuts. We ended up walking behind the flag and planting ourselves on a field with a bunch of thousands of people. There was a huge screen in front of the flag people that we could see when people weren't walking by. It sort of reminded me of Opera in the Park. The NDP was ridiculous - I mean amazing. There was supposed to be an air show, and there were three jets and then five jets. Then there were some helicopters who brought the (smaller) Singapore flag through the skyline to the stadium on the bay. Then there was this crazy show of performances. They had snipers, they had army-ish boats running all over the water chasing each other. They had something that looked like fisher price ambulances. It was outrageous. Then they had all of these people in costumes singing and dancing. We were able to sort of watch it. We were supposed to meet someone in Holland Village (which happens to be right by my work), so we wanted to beat the crowds to the MRT. We started walking as the fireworks started. They were fireworks, and that wasn't so impressive, but what was impressive was the THOUSANDS of people. The farther we got from the action, the people didn't thin out. There were tons of them! They were sitting on every part of lawn, bridge, stoop, etc.

Matt and I thought it was interesting that their "pride" was very militarily based. Between the boats, the snipers, the fighter jets...it was a lot of military. In addition, there was a lot of focus on the skyline and the economic stability that they're so proud of. In America parades are more about community - the marching bands, the kids, the scouts, the men's whatever club. Here there was none of that. It was also interesting since it's such a young nation - the feeling of a national birthday is so much more meaningful, because many of the people who live here remember when there was no Singapore.

Click here to see all of our pictures from National Day.

After the national day celebrations we met Matt's friend Carthik for dinner. It was really fun. We like him a lot. The food was good as well (though I realized that I am either allergic to a) Holland Village, b) Italian food, or c) dairy products. I was a disaster all night and all day today!

In other news, I successfully sent out a newsletter to our listserv at work. That was actually a big accomplishment, since the coding was all messed up. I'm inadvertently learning HTML. I think that might help me one day...

Gecko Poo

There were these brown chunks on our walls. Some are smaller, some are bigger, and they're mainly on only a few walls, but they're there. I would pull them off with a tissue, but they left a mark. I thought maybe they were alive. I wondered if they were small slugs.

Then Christian came over, and he told me that they were gecko poo. We do see geckos running around our apartment. Though sometimes they scared the shit out of me (like yesterday when it bolted out from behind a picture right next to me and ran behind a piece of furniture), I always had nice feelings for them, because they eat bugs. I wanted more. Now that I know I'm cleaning up their poo, though, I feel different. Yuck.

The Office La

Once I heard how Singaporeans talked, it quickly became one of my goals to learn to imitate them. I am definitely not talking about making fun of them - I absolutely love how they talk. They add "la" onto one in every eight or so words. They have great tones that they throw in, and really, I just want to be able to do it!

I haven't blogged about my work. This is mostly because it's been a rough start, and I'm not interested in complaining or making the organization look bad. One super positive thing I can say is that I get to sit and listen to Singaporeans talk all day. I think I will accomplish my goal. I can't wait. I will do an impression for anyone in need.

Matt and I just played tennis. He was up 3-0, and then 4-1, but I won 6-4. I rule. I know.

Also, I think Splinter is prego. She's getting quite a tummy, but Matt thinks she's too young to get pregnant. I wonder how old you have to be (if you're a cat) before you can get pregs. I am in the middle of googling it, but for some reason our internet is slow. I think that her babies would be the cutest thing in the world (almost as cute as her). She does have a dude that tries to hang out around our apartment also, but I am not interested. Maybe he's her pimp.

Day on Orchard

Matt and I met up with a bunch of his grad school friends for lunch down at one of the seventeen malls on Orchard Road. We went to a Chinese restaurant, and its' one of the first I have actually liked since I got here (Matt didn't love it). We had some dim sum that had soup in it, so when you bite it, it flows all into your mouth. We also tried some sort of bun filled with sweet red bean stuff. I liked that. The crowd was fun - Christian, Lee Fong, Boon Yian and Cartiq (that one might be spelled wrong).

We then got gelato, and it was good! I had a limey sorbetey thing. I was really craving my brother's lime sorbet, and this was only second to that (his is more sour, and this was more sweet), but the fact that I could get it in Singapore made me happy.

Matt, Boon Yian and I then saw the Simpson's Movie. Eh.

Everyone in Singapore wears these certain red shirts on National Day (which is coming up on Thursday). We picked up ours. I also went to Borders to get myself a diary (I would call it a calendar, but they call it a diary).

Matt and I played tennis this evening. I beat him 6 - 3, and then he beat me 3 - 1 (that's his first win - don't forget!!). :)

Exciting life events that we are missing:
Ritual penis cutting of our friends' baby. Mazal Tov to Eve and Gabe (who for SURE are NOT reading this blog!).
Jeremy moved to Ithaca. He now has a house. And he's almost a professor at Cornell. That's just all impressive. He is in the process if painting his kitchen. I wish I could help...
Liba Kornfeld's birthday. Happy birthday, Liba!!
Josh Rafsky's birthday. Happy birthday, Josh!! Thirty...
Aunt Phyllis's birthday. Happy birthday, Aunt Phyllis!!!

The Siglap Connector

Matt and I went to the expat grocery store and then the normal grocery store today. The expat grocery store had flour, sugar, vanilla, apple sauce and other stuff that we can't get in the regular store. It's all really expensive, but at least we can get it. I had been tempted since last week to try out our oven, so I had to bake a banana cake. Done. It's good.

We walked up this thing called the Siglap Connector. It goes from the MRT down to the beach through neighborhoods. I'm remembering that I actually have written about this before...but I can't find it. Anyways, it's a park-like path, and it's beautiful. The houses along the connector are classic Singapore. They're actually homes. 90% of Singaporeans live in public housing. 6% lives in condos. 4% lives in homes (god forbid someone is homeless...). These homes have little corner markets, and they have personality and just feel nice. Our complex feels like a resort. It has no personality. It was a really nice place to walk.

Another interesting grocery store note is that our corner market in New York was called Sing Sing. Here, our (my) favorite market is called Sheng Siong (pronounced Sing Song). I think that's funny. I don't want anyone to get confused, though. Mani Marketplace was clearly way better than Sing Sing. Sing Sing just happened to be our emergency store, because it was closer.

A little bit more about Sheng Siong (other than my favorite game): When you walk in, you feel like you're in the sea. There are fish, crabs, shrimps, everything that should be in the sea. But they're all in tanks, and they're all still alive, and it's weird. There are tons of different kinds. I think there must be eight different kinds of shrimp/prawn.

All fruit and veggies are downstairs. Anything that is labeled by the piece is easy, but if something is measured by the kg, you have to get it weighed and labeled at a weigh station. (The weigh station lady knows me and says hi). The aisle with peppers, tomatoes, beans, zucchini and a few other things is always so busy that I have to do it as quickly as I can. Otherwise I lose my patience. People take a long time to choose their tomatoes! Fruits and veggies are amazingly affordable, though Matt said that prices are going up because of China. I'll have to ask him to expand on that and write about that another time. Basically, we can get five apples for $1.50 ($1 US). We can get about six tomatoes for $.75 ($.50 US). We got a huge watermelon today for $2. It's heavenly.

All dry goods are upstairs. You can get tons of dried fish, as I mentioned yesterday, you can get about thirty different kind of oil, fish sauce, fish in a can, candy (they have great candy here!), and you can also get wine, but you have to pay for that separately.

I think I probably spend more time in Sheng Siong than any other place other than my couch.

Tonight Christian and Lee Fong came over to play tennis and play settlers. We had a great time. Tennis is great. We also had amazing Thai food from around the corner. I love Thai food. We all won one game of settlers but Lee Fong. She'll win next time.

The Most Fun Game

Did anyone else read "The Most Dangerous Game" in high school? I think it was a short story about a guy who hunts.

Everytime I go to the grocery store I think about what I have come to think of as "The Most Fun Game." I want to go to a grocery store in Singapore with five friends (I haven't made them yet, but I will), and everyone will get seven minutes, and they'll all have to meet in one place with the weirdest thing they could find.

It could be:
Dried anchovy-like fish (like tons in a bag - and they all still have eyeballs)
Fish balls
Carrot cake that is white and really isn't carrot cake
Squid snacks (like chips in America, but squid)
One of the seventeen kinds of canned fish or canned meat

There are just so many choices.

The other random thing I was thinking today is that when the MRT stops sometimes, I think, "Uh - there must be a train in front of us," and I assume that we're in between stations. This always happened in NYC - the subway just stops randomly, and sometimes it is for more than a couple of minutes. In Singapore, though, EVERYTIME we're in a station. There is nothing like having a train in front of you slowing you down, because it's all organized and set to be perfect. I wonder when that will just be my expectation. I feel as though living somewhere else might be difficult at some point soon, since things won't run as smoothly.

Yay for Matt making dinner.

I went to shul this evening, and it was nice. My second positive Jewish experience.

Babies!! Babies!!!

WAY more important than my first day of work is the fact that three people near and dear to me had babies in the last week or so!!

Abi and Abe had a baby girl last Monday.
Rachel and Ben had a baby girl last Wednesday.
Eve and Gabe had a baby boy Sunday.

HOLY SCHNIKES! So much mazal tov to go around. Now all we have left is Christen and Brian.

Though I'm 100% sure none of these people are reading this blog right now (Christen and Brian might for another few days...), GOOD LUCK to your new, beautiful families!! I can't wait to meet the new shnookers!

Addendum: Dafna and Adam also had a baby girl!!