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!