Last Day

So this was my last week at AWARE. For legal reasons, I am documenting that I actually haven't been working there this month - I have been volunteering, in order that I can apply for a pass to be able to work at my new job...

I haven't blogged much about my job. Though I was only there for four short months, I learned so much, and I feel like the experience impacted me more than four months worth! I absolutely love the people I have met (seriously - they are the greatest women!), and I learned so much about Singapore.

I had amazing lunches with my co-workers and sometimes some of the volunteers when we talked about differences between life in American and Singapore or about religion, cultural norms, etc. I have learned more about Singapore in AWARE than on the streets!

Though I tried to bring my lunch at least three times a week, I did have two things that I loved to buy from the hawkers right near the office. There is a woman who makes and sells Malay food, and it is outstanding. My favorite part of it are these peanuts mixed with dried (?) little fishies. I feel bad, because I'm probably crunching on full families of fish, but it's so tasty! In addition, I love the woman who sells me fish ball noodles. She's so cute and funny, and her fish ball noodles are very satisfying (fishball=mix between matzah ball and gefilte fish). I told her I would come back to visit just to get her fishball noodles.

I think that the work that AWARE is doing is so important for Singapore. These are women who are fighting for laws that were passed in the 60s in America. They're fighting for anti-discrimination laws. Right now a woman can get fired if she announces she's pregnant - and this is legal! In addition, there are very few circumstances when a woman can file a rape charge towards her husband. There are a lot of backwards laws (I think they're backwards), and AWARE women are researching, writing and doing all that they can to get them changed.

AWARE was instrumental in breaking the quota for women in medical students (I think this was only about five years ago!), for making it legal for women to have employment passes and have their husbands be dependents (before that they couldn't imagine a man being a dependent, so it was literally impossible for a family to move here for a woman's job), and so many other things. The women talk politics, they stand up for what they believe in, and they're great leaders in this country. I do feel lucky to have met them, worked with them, and have been a part of such an important organization.

I was supposed to start my new job on Monday, but my Letter of Consent (the pass that allows me to work) hasn't come through. That's quite a shame. I hope to start at some point next week.

In other news, I had a really really busy week. I had a meeting for family Jewish education on Monday night (and an excellent salmon dinner included...). I had a major event for work - a volunteer appreciation event at a fancy shmany restaurant on the pier and the annual general meeting for the progressive Jewish community on Tuesday. I was voted in as secretary of the community. Wednesday Matt and I met our friend Margo (Matt's friend from Peace Corps, studying at INSEAD, and you might remember her from our trip to Malacca) for dinner. She is leaving Singapore in the next two weeks, so it was essentially good-bye to her. Last night we went out with our friend, Arkadi, who is moving back to Germany. You might remember him from our diving trip to Malaysia as well as our trip to Malacca. We also met up with someone who is in town for work - we overlapped at camp one summer, and I always thought he was great, but we never got to know each other too well. He will be in town for the next couple of weeks, so hopefully we'll do some fun Singapore things.

I'm looking forward to a relaxing night of eating homemade food (I HATE going out this much!) and doing nothing. The only problem is that I met my friend Lauren for coffee this afternoon, and I had WAY too much caffeine, so I'm a bit shaky, and there's no chance that I'll actually have a relaxing evening. At least I'll do nothing...

Shabbat Shalom!

Dad's Appendix

He doesn't have appendicitis or anything like that. I'm just talking about appending his blog entries.

He wanted me to mention that he forgot to say that Chiang Mai is in Thailand.

Also, he wanted me to post a link to his video of rafting in northern Thailand (it's cool!). There are a few free crack shots as well (incentive enough?).

Feet

In addition to bagels, Matt and I went shopping for lots of other things yesterday. I am starting a new job next Monday, and the dress is "business - business formal." You might know that I really appreciate informal-ism, and I do NOT have very much clothes that fit this profile. We weren't only disappointed by the poppy seeds...

I need shoes. I went in about seven or eight shoe stores, and the largest size that any of them had was a 40, but they really didn't even have any of the shoes that I liked in that size (and I actually wear a 41). I am not the biggest person, and normally I don't think of my feet as abnormally big, but I guess most Asians don't have feet this big! I thought about this before I left, and I did get keens (which everyone should own, and I will start a fund so everyone can afford them - they're AMAZING) and one pair of nice shoes that aren't nice enough for my office. The only store that HAD my size was Aerosoles. They're also the only store that charged an arm and a leg for their shoes, but I guess I'll live.

Luckily I haven't had to look for bras yet. What's going to happen then! Asians and Jews have very different size chests!!!

Friday night we went to hang out with our friend, Maria. She's sort of from Russia, kind of from New Zealand, and her parents live in the UK (and she lives in Singapore). She went rollerblading and fell, and her wrist guard broke her arm. She had to have surgery last week, and they put in a bunch of plates and screws. Totally nuts. Luckily she likes Settlers of Catan, so we got to hang out with her AND play Settlers. Good night. :)

Speaking of Settlers of Catan, we had a new person start at AWARE a few weeks ago, and she's excellent. She's the wife of a US Military man who is stationed in Singapore, and she has told me lots of interesting things about Military life. Sad to say that this is the first person I have had contact with (though I haven't met him yet...) who is in the US Military. Is it weird that I know at least 100 people who were in Israel's army? Hmmm... Anyways, turns out that this amazing woman and her husband also play Settlers. I couldn't be more excited.

Last night Matt and I went to a Thanksgiving dinner. It was held by one of Matt's colleagues. She's Philippina, and we were the only Americans there! I think that some of them might have spent time in the States, but it was pretty funny. It was all Philippinos and two Chinese Singaporeans (and us). They even had turkey - and sushi and spaghetti!! It was really nice.

This is our first weekend home in three weeks (Cambodia, Vietnam), so we're appreciating it.

Poppy Seeds

Matt and I went to buy bagels today. (There ARE good bagels in Singapore - only one kind, though, and we can only find them in the centre of town...). We had the choice of raisin, wheat (yeah right), plain, and sesame. No poppy. Poppy seeds are illegal in Singapore. Drug risk.

If You Were Gay...That'd Be Okay

So I'm a pretty political person. I say political things, think political thoughts, and I even act political. I have to be careful with that in Singapore, so I have really tried to steer away from it particularly on this blog. Unfortunately, for this posting, I cannot.

When we signed up for the Singapore Straits Times, which is the daily newspaper here, we got to choose another magazine to get for free. I chose Women's Weekly, thinking that I will be working at a women's organization, and it would be great to know about the issues facing women from a different perspective. I didn't know anything about it. (I judged the magazine by its cover).

I received my first issue this week. It's essentially hundreds of pages of ads of things to make yourself more beautiful. If you know me, you know this is not exactly (or remotely) my thing.

I think I will take a few hours and add up the cost of all of the products they're trying to sell in just one issue (not including supplements).

There was an article about what you should do if you find out your daughter is gay (this is one of VERY FEW articles in 280 pages). There is a little blue box in the corner of one of the pages, and I must relay what it says:

"Professionals are not sure if genes, upbringing, society or a complex mix of all these elements make a person more likely to become gay. So far, research on all sides remains inconclusive. But in several international studies, there are clues that a person's genes may at least partly influence his sexual orientation, says Dr Spencer Lee, President of The Association of Christian Counsellors of Singapore, registered member of Singapore Association for Counselling, Family Life Ambassador of MYCS.

"If your child announces he or she is gay and you are at ease with this, then naturally debate does not arise. But assuming you are not happy...then what? Dr Lee suggests you start by talking through your options, without condemning. He adds, "Highlight that he or she has the power to choose. It is okay if he or she feels attracted to the same gender, but he or she does not necessarily have to go into a relationship."

"Some professionals also suggest contacting both anti- and pro-gay groups for differeing views to help you make up your own mind, in your own time."

I don't even know where to start, but I have to be a bit mild, otherwise I might get kicked out of this country (no joke that happens).

"make a person more likely to become gay" ?????
"a person's genes may at least partly..." ??????
"assuming you are not happy..." ?????
"he or she has the power to choose..." ?????

I mean come on!!! This is dated December 2007. It is shocking to me that this is published nowadays. I can't remember if I wrote about what was happening with gay legislature here (probably not), but briefly, about a month ago, there was a discussion in Parliament about repealing a law that makes it illegal to have anal sex. This was exciting for this country on a few levels -

It was organized on a grassroots level.
The general public (or at least the young ones who might be a LITTLE bit politically interested) spoke openly about a political issue.
People were pretty captivated by the debate.

Basically, they did not repeal it, though the Member of Parliament who spoke about it gave a GREAT speech. Check out his blog - he's great. Then the Prime Minister actually explained why it's not passing, and his speech was good too. Matt feels differently.

Anyways, I think the general society here isn't at the same place as me in terms of equality for people as well as sexual orientation issues. I know this mentally, but when I read something like I read in that magazine last night, it enrages me.

That's all I'll say.

AND...it's the fourth anniversary of my brother coming out to my parents. Happy anniversary!!!

And, Happy Birthday Ellen!

Ho Chi Minh City

Matt and I just got back from Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), Vietnam. It was a good weekend. Matt went to Hong Kong, Hannoi and HCMC for work, and I hitched along for the last part.

HCMC is nuts. It is a city of about 8m people, and apparently there are between 3 and 5 million motorcycles. My second day there I had spent hours walking around, and I was exhausted. I could not handle crossing one more street. The crosswalk has no effect on any of the motorcycles, so it is QUITE a fight just to cross the street. There was one intersection where it took ten minutes, and at one point very near the end, I was caught in grid lock, and I was literally pushing people's motorcycles off of my feet and yelling at them to just let me walk across the street.

Apparently the food is supposed to be amazing there. Somehow we didn't really find that food.

I went to see the Cu Chi tunnels, which is where there was a lot of guerrilla fighters fought the US and S. Vietnam and defeated them. They had a whole system of 220 km of tunnels so they could live underground and not get killed. We got in a car accident on the way there, so we were delayed. There must be thousands of accidents each day. The driving was NUTS (no joke).

I also went to a museum called the War Remnants Museum. Basically it just showed how we totally messed up their country - from how we treated civilians to the gases we used and how they made thousands of people bear children with deformities, to how those same gases totally destroyed all of the trees and growth in certain areas. It showed the weapons we used. It was really terrible. We really messed up this country. It reminds me of Iraq a lot.

I went to another anti-American exhibit in another museum too. When someone asked where I was from I was temped to say "Singapore," but I thought they might be suspicious, so instead I whispered "USA."

Matt and I went on a Mee Kong River Delta tour yesterday. It was the most touristy thing I have ever done, but we did get to see the Mee Kong, and it's a big river (third longest in Asia) and has a lot of economy flowing from it. It goes through China, Vietnam, Laos, Burma, Cambodia, and I think even Thailand. One anti-highlight for me was this "row boat" ride that we took from one tourist attraction to a tourist boat. For a second I thought it was cool, and even pretty, but then we started passing the same boats coming back in our direction without passengers. EACH person paddling the boat (there were two on each - and we saw over 20 boats for sure) said, "Give money" or "tip money" letting us know that we should be sure to tip the people taking us on the river. It was SO annoying, though, that it was every few seconds, and it was really impossible to enjoy the ride. We had planned on tipping more when we got in the boat. After all of that we gave less. If you're ever talking to me on the phone (or even in person!), ask me what it sounded like. The voices added to the annoyingness of the experience, and I'm happy to do an impression.

I thought it would look more like Cambodia than it did. In Cambodia, the houses were on stilts, and in Vietnam they were not. The people were way less poor and simple in Vietnam. They actually wear those bamboo rice harvesting hats - really a lot of people wear them!

Overall, HCMC was great. It had quite a vibe and LOTS of energy. People were generally nice, and getting around was easy (other than crossing streets). We would be happy to go explore other parts of Vietnam - in fact I think we will for sure.

The airport was terribly annoying. I don't know if this is the result of it being a new airport or because it's a communist country, but they only had one choice of cafe/restaurant to get food, and a sandwich with a piece of cheese (ONLY!) was $7 US!!! A bao that costs $.50 Sing (about $.33 US) and even less in Vietnam cost $5 US! I couldn't deal with paying that much, so though I was in the airport for most of today, I chose to not eat for nine hours because I'm stubborn (and cheap).

We came back to Singapore (Matt in Singapore Airlines business class, and me on the budget jet), and unfortunately the kitty (who remains nameless to me, but one of the kids in the complex told me is named snowball) has a problem with her mouth. It looks like she has some sort of infection or something. Hopefully she will feel better soon. She's a sweet one (but I don't love her - don't worry).

Sandeebeee Guest Stars Again (due to popular demand)

Melanie's dad gets to write again.
Sue and I got home today. Cold feels good after sweating so much. House was 49 degrees F.
I last wrote about Singapore. This will be about our travels since then: Thailand's north, a southern island, and then Bangkok. Mel and Matt met us in Siem Reap.

It's very nice to be welcomed at a strange airport with your name on a sign. We landed in Chiang Mai for a 3 day trekking adventure which was to start the next day. The person picking us up offered to arrange, and we took him up a 6 hour tour of city and temples. Amazing. $60 for guide and car. Overdosed on Buddhism. One temple not to me missed (there are 700 in this city of 250,000 ) is Doi Southep.

We got picked up early the next morning. We were in a group of seven. You've probably heard the story about how if you're in a room full of people that includes Bill Gates, the average person is millionaire? Well, the average age in our group was forties, but the other five people were in their twenties and young thirties. This amazingly interesting adventure was one of the hardest of anything we've done in our lives--yet still recommended. I don't know how the 4 French trekkers and 1 Spaniard could understand the English speaking guide. Sue did some translating.
Day 1: long drive in back of small truck (see photo). Stop at waterfall.
Ninety minute uphill hike by geysers, through bamboo forests, bananas on trees to isolated Karn (spelling?) village. We could see the distant border mountains of Myanmar (Burma). Karn people speak a different language, not that it mattered to us, but our guides were Karn. (I think I read someplace some of these villages were so isolated that they were stuck in the sixth through eleventh centuries.) We climbed up the rickety steps of an old bamboo hut that accommodated our party and could have held twice as many. The floor was woven and moved anytime anyone in our group moved. Like being in bed with 7 people. Village had one solar-powered light. Guide cooked excellent meal. We loved watching the stars, people, chickens, pigs, dogs, rice field. Our guide warned us that roosters would start at 4:20 for twenty minutes. Actually they started at 4:00 and continued for an hour. Day 2: Had filling breakfast that prepared us for five strenuous hours of hiking on wet trails. Mostly uphill. Or so it seemed.
Lunched at another Karn village, replenishing water.
Then elephants met us for our last 90 minutes of travel (see photo in Mel's last posting). We were in seats with our backpacks also strapped to the animals. Trying to hold on when going downhill was a challenge. Two per elephant.
The next morning we left on our newly made bamboo raft for a 4 hour adventure through class I and II rapids. I was dreading the length of time, but ended up enjoying it all. I'll try to put the video on YOUTUBE. . Our journey back to the hotel included a stop at an Orchid Garden/Butterfly Farm. The night bazaar back in town was fun.

You can eat very cheaply here. I don't know what our hotel cost because it was included in our 3 day trek. (3 days trekking and 2 nights in very nice hotel cost $500 for two people). Intrepid Tours contracted with UPT Travel & Transport.

Left early the next morning for island of Ko Samui.
KOH Samuii. “Koh” means “island.” 80 minute flight was ontime.
This time there wasn’t anyone holding a sign with my name. We called to remind him. Entire island is only about 90 square miles. Coral Bay resort was a luxurious treat for these 2 worn out trekkers. Flower petals on our bed and shelves with a waterfall style shower. Each hut has its own porch with an ocean view. Splendid.
Sue had read about a more isolated beach with friendlier snorkeling water at the south end. We planned on and did move there for 2 days. I think we were the only people staying in the 28 room hotel.
Its origins go back to hippie times and it had a Michigania style manual and flavor. This place was in need of fixing up, but was clean still ended up being heavenly. The hotel next door had lots of people so we ate there.
We arranged for a 6 a.m. ride to airport. Our driver spoke no english. He started on the main road we were familiar with, but then took a turn through isolated streets. Then we continued through secluded palm/bamboo forests. For many miles we (okay, I) wondered if we were going to get to the airport.
He didn’t answer my questions. Then we saw the back of the runway. Never mind.

In Bangkok the sign with our name was a warming sight. (Though I think it ends up meaning we pay twice the going rate.) Sue had found a fabulous guest house for us. (baanchantra.com) The owner was most helpful.
We sampled the various neighborhoods & temples (crowded and interesting), tasted the foods (not as good as Singapore), rode the taxis and water taxi’s, but were told to avoid the Tuk-Tuk’s here. We didn’t love it.
The city has ten million of Thailand’s 65 million. After 2 nights we rode to the airport for our early flight to Siem Reap, Cambodia.

After arriving at the airport we found out our flight was canceled. The people ahead of us got rebooked on a flight 30 minutes later. WE weren’t so lucky and had to wait 5 hours. But, it took half that time to make a call to Cambodia to tell the kids about our delay.

The sign with our name also missed us in Cambodia; we taxied on our own.
We met up with Matt and Mel and had 3 days of guided temple ruins, a boat trip to a floating village and people-watching. 50 cent beers while playing Euchre at an outdoor table of a restaurant will be memorable for me. Melanie will write more (I hope) about Angkor Wat and Beng Mealea (she already did!! YEAH!!!! (okay - this is Melanie editing...). I’m tired. My impression: extreme poverty, yet smiles by all. Aggressive tourist hunters (though not nearly as scummy as the Bangkok tourist sharks). Poor begging children rips at your heart. So many men without limbs from the mines.

I asked Sue if she wanted to add anything. She said Siem Reap was amazing and that the people are resilient. As to Bangkok, she said, “oy, big. Didn’t love.” She said Koh Samuii was now the way Acapulco looked many years ago.

In all the places we visited there were some Israeli’s, lots of Europeans, some Aussies, but very few Americans.

All in all, a memorable trip.

Back to Singapore for one night, more Laksa , more sweating.
6 hours to Tokyo (Sue got to order Starbucks during plane change and loved to hear her order in Japanese). 11 hours back to DTW. Sue did great job getting seats (bulkhead and expanded room seats on the other flight).
Back in Detroit...no one waiting with a sign with our name.
We didn’t need it.

See 'em Rip

This past weekend Matt and I and my parents went to Siem Reap, Cambodia. It's a city that's in the middle of the country on a big lake (that they said is the second biggest in the world, but I have to google this...).

We had an excellent long weekend, though at first we weren't sure we were going to share it with Sandy and Sue. They were meeting us there from Bangkok, but their flight was canceled. Somehow they showed up at the hotel. That was good news.

We went to a floating village on the lake. It's just the beginning of the dry season, so the homes were still pretty close to the land, but apparently when the lake dries up, they float their houses far away towards the middle of the lake. The greens that are sticking their heads up on the lake become mangroves - real trees, and roads appear. Pretty crazy. We saw many floating houses, two floating churches, a few floating markets, a floating school, and some other floating things. Overall, it was cool.

We found a bar in town that had draft beers (Angkor, which was actually quite good) for $0.50. We drank a lot of beers there. We also had excellent Cambodian food including curries, noodles and vegetables, and fish amok, which is their national dish.

Friday we templed. We went to four temples total, and they were all outstanding. We saw Ta Prom, Banteay Srei, (Angkor Thom) Bayon, and Angkor Wat. Ta Prom had lots of cool trees growing out of it, Banteay Srei was pink, Bayon had amazing faces and carvings, and Angkor Wat's size was just unbelievable.

These temples were built by kings between the 800s and the 1200s. They were a mixture of Hindu and Buddhist, and their size was just amazing. All of the artwork that survived was also pretty unbelievable.

Saturday we went to a temple called Beng Melea. It's basically how it was when it was discovered, so it hasn't been rebuilt or restored. My dad and I crawled all over the temple, and we all basically took a tour through the craziness. I can't imagine how cool it would be to discover something like that - like what if you were walking down the street, chasing after your pig or something, and then you ran into a 100 meter long serpent. How cool would that be?

We also had a chance to visit a market, and stop in some of the villages to explore a bit. Wow. Serious poverty. These people do not have clean drinking water. The lucky ones had wells, and others just caught rain water. Kids were super dirty (but really cute), and they had very few things.

One thing that did surprise me was that many of the houses had nothing except a television inside. They have batteries that they recharge, and apparently the battery lets you watch tv for a few days (no electricity).

We drank and ate more, and that was about it. All in all, we all had a great trip. Matt and I decided that after we're through with Singapore we will move to Cambodia.

My parents left this morning (at 4:30!). I think they had a good time, though it seems like they would like to come for a shorter time next time. They were gone for more than three weeks, I believe. Pretty nuts. They did do some cool stuff in Thailand, though (check out the elephants!). I am posting a few pictures from out trip, but you can click here to see all of them (or most anyways).

Pretty bummy that Michigan lost. Pretty excellent that OSU lost.

I have no patience for crooked walkers. You know those people who walk next to you, and then they start edging into your personal space (DAD!), and then you have to readjust your line. Finally, they make a quick cut right - DIRECTLY in front of you, and you have to actually stop (make a face) and turn in another direction.

These people are totally unpredictable. Thank goodness they're not behind the wheel, because just when you expect them to keep up their pace, they totally stop and look around as if they're lost (but they're really on the platform for the MRT). They are dangerous if you're zoning, and they're just annoying.

In New York, other than Times Square where there are just too many people and tourists, when you're WALKING, you stay left, and when you're slower or lost, you move to the right. Overall, it's pretty well organized. In Singapore, there are crooked walkers all over the place! I try to move to the right, since they drive on the left here, but that doesn't work. I say, "excuse me. Excuse me." But that's not that effective. When I actually nudge people, I don't even think they notice. What's the solution?

On a totally different note...Matt and I were walking home from a totally delicious and fun Thai dinner with friends, and we heard a really loud noise. As we walked more and more it got louder and louder. Finally we stopped, and we noticed that it was coming from the gutters underground! It was LOUD ASS frogs!

The little kitty is growing on me. Tonight when I was petting her, she kept crawling into my lap and sitting cutely. It's cute when something crawls into your lap. There is just no one who can disagree with that.

Tonight starts Deepavali here in Singapore (and in most places with Indians...). Deeksha, my (ex)co-worker was explaining that they all get dressed super nice, clean their homes, light a lot of lamps and eat special foods. I wish we were going to be around to celebrate it. Next year...

Low Crime is not no Crime

So, for the last few months it was dengue, and now it's crime.

The government goes on campaigns, and then they put up crazy signs, and then we all do our best to prevent _____ (fill in the blank).

With dengue, there were the signs "If they Breed, you will Bleed," which were pretty scary. There were also full-page ads in the (gov run) newspaper that had a picture of a happy family, and one person - usually the mom - was sort of watermarked. It says "We never thought it could happen to our family. Dengue Kills." It was really terrible.

Now, they're onto crime. By my work there are signs that say "Low Crime is NOT no Crime." That's true, but let's be honest - Singapore is so super safe. I have not once worried about walking down the street at night, I haven't held onto my bag especially well, we live on the ground floor, and our door is open quite often...I really don't worry about crime here (and I'm a worrier!). Granted I moved here from NYC, but still - this crazy campaign might be taking it a bit too far.

I got on the MRT go to home tonight, and the WHOLE thing was covered with pictures and scary words about how you have to protect yourself, and we shouldn't be distracted if someone tries to spill something on us. It instructs us that our bags should be slung over the shoulder and then tucked under our arm. It shows a picture of someone stealing someone's wallet in the MRT while she sleeps. It wasn't just on the ad strip above the seats - it was even on the windows and pretty much everywhere. By the time I left the MRT, I DID feel like someone was going to rob me - I had been warned at least 15 times in the last 20 minutes...

Halloween

Last night Matt and I went to a Halloween party. It was at the house of someone Matt met from work at the Fed and with JP Morgan, and we really like her and her husband. Their kids are even cool - they're cute, but they're super smart too. I like smart kids.

Anyways, costumes were highly recommended. It was a pretty funny party, since there were lots of (dressed up and cute as hell) kids there, but there were also a good number of adults and some amount of alcohol. We had a great time, and we met a lot of wonderful people.

Matt dressed up as Batman (we forgot to take pictures, but I'm going to make him put on his super tight costume so I can post a picture). He looked good, and he got quite a few stares as we walked down the street to the party.

I was going to dress up as a volleyball player (since I had knee pads and a volleyball). I have always felt like renting/buying a costume is sort of selling out (and I'm cheap). In America, when I have all of my reserves available to me, I can usually put together fun costumes, but here, we really just brought with us the (sort-of) bare minimum. I got nothing to work with.

I went out with my friends, Marc and Arthur, this week, and they mentioned that Arthur was an iPod when they had dressed up over the weekend. I took that idea and ran with it. I dove into my arts and crafts bin (which obviously is part of the bare minimum that we brought to Singapore), and I made myself into an iPod - really a black iPod Nano. I had a wheel, a screen, some headphones, and I had an apple on my ass. I must say, I looked pretty good. I decided to actually go through with the idea at 5:00 pm, I worked until 6:00, we got there at 7:30, and I won the contest for most creative costume about an hour later. Go me!!! I was flattered, but I give full idea credit to Arthur.

Yesterday we also went to a play called Good People. It was a small theater production right near our house. It dealt with a lot of issues - life, death, drugs, Singaporean tight law, relationships, passion...lots of things. The acting was outstanding, and the story was good. We really enjoyed.

I asked one of my co-workers whether or not the change clocks here - I felt like an idiot immediately after. We are ON the equator, and we have NO seasons. No. We do not change our clocks. I think that means that we will be 13 hours ahead of the US E. Coast after Sunday morning.

GO BLUE!!!

Carlebach in Singapore?

So, just in case you thought I was TOTALLY not Jewish anymore (after my last posting...), I went to shul tonight. They have an Ashkenazi (E. European Jewish) service once a month, and this month they did a Carlebach service. There was LOTS of singing, and it was really really great. I loved it. Turns out there are some parts of Judaism that make me happy - I'm sure this surprises you if you know me. :)

It might also surprise you (if you know Matt) that he didn't go. Rather, he went to the costume shop and rented a costume. What is it? You'll have to wait to see pictures after the Halloween party tomorrow night.

Matt's growing even more attached to the little kitten (who weights 1.1 kg, btw). She is REALLY cute, but she's so scared of the world, it's hard to be friends with her. I generally am attracted to confident people - those like Splinter who just walk up to people and push their head against your ankle. This little kitty (which has continued to remain nameless) runs the other way when the leaves blow two centimeters.

Yesterday the MRT was closed for an hour. They had announcements in four languages, they fixed it quickly, you could UNDERSTAND the announcement (unlike NYC...). I couldn't believe it closed, and I couldn't believe how efficiently it closed and opened.

Crabby

I'm crabby.

I don't mean whiney (though I have been that a lot lately...).

I don't mean Krabi - like the place that me, Matt, Jer and Josh are going in December (in Thailand).

I mean I ate so much crab tonight, and it got all over my body. The crab's body was literally bigger than my entire hand (including fingers). We went out with two of Matt's friends from grad school to a place in Geylang, where all of the legal prostitutes are. Unfortunately I didn't get to see the prostitutes, since we finished dinner too late, but the area looked really cool.

We had a whole family of prawn - three each - and they were so fricken good. This was one of the first times in my life that I pulled apart an animal and ate it. I even touched the crab's eyeball (but I didn't touch the prawn's eyeballs - they were grosser). It actually tasted really good. The last time we went for crab I felt like it was a lot of work with very little reward, but this was just really tasty. Selina (one of the friends) said that they're Sri Lankan crabs. Maybe they make them tasty down there (over there?).