We arrived in the Philippines at 4 in the morning on Wednesday. Right away, me, Matt, Adonai, and Koen met up with Raphael and Daniela, and we went to swim with whale sharks. It was unbelieveable. They're the biggest fish I have ever seen. We got on a boat, prepped with snorkels and fins, and right when the guy yells, "get ready," we get ready, then jump in one by one and swim as hard as we can to catch up with the whale sharks. We got a lot of photos, so I will post them later. Later that day we took a van to Legaspi to sight see - checked out a church that was swallowed by a volcano erruption in 1814, and the volcano itself. Pretty pretty. We ended the day with a firefly cruise up a river. I thought it wouldn't be that cool, and honestly it wasn't, but i have never seen THAT many fire flies (millions?!) in trees lighting them up in heart beats (like the light when your imac is sleeping).
Thursday morning our friends left, and Matt and I slept in and had a leizurely breakfast. We finally took a tricycle (it's like the Philippino tuk tuk) to the "center" of Donzol and waited for the van to fill up. We finally left and went to the bus station in Legaspi. It was pouring, and our phone didn't work, and no one seemed to have a phone. We walked to a gas station and finally reached a tour company to come pick us up for a beautiful hike up a SUPER active volcano. Last erruption 2006. Cool. Really cloudy and rainy, though, so no beautiful views, but the hike was nice. We got to ride a jeepney back to Donzol. I will post picture of that. It's like the bus that gonzo has at the begining of the muppet movie. SOOO colorful and fun.
This morning we woke up at 5, took two plans and arrived in the beautiful city of Coron around 4 pm. We figured out that the boat that we thought runs everyday doesn't - exactly - or at least it does, but it's only 20- people boat in a HUGE ocean, so we're staying here longer than expected, which is fine, because it might be the most beautiful place I have ever seen.
I write this from an island off of Coron, with a yummy lime juice/rum drink waiting for me after a superb dinner (and bunch of portuguese people for some reason). Will post pictures when we're back in Singapore - but this country is amazing.
A few things that I have noticed:
They LOVE 90s American pop music
Their language is super like Spanish
The people are so friendly and nice
It's actually not that easy to get where you want when you want (unlike my theory of SE Asia which is that you can always find someone to take you where you want to go - for a bit of money. here it's just a bit more money).
I have more things I have noticed - but they're in my New Yorker in the room, and I need to get back to my drink.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Two Signs I Saw Today
Today was a break day. I had my exams yesterday, went out for a super nice dinner with a few friends, stopped by the party and came home. (My hamburger for dinner was WAY too big, and my stomach literally felt uncomfortably full from 9pm until 4am).Today I woke up early, talked to my mom, Shana, Seth...quite the rounds. I then went to get sea sick pills for our trip (they gave me 100 for $15!!!). Then I went to Chinatown to get wedding gifts for Daniel and Annie, and Ellen and Ari at this beautiful store in Chinatown.
Then I had good steamed dumplings and headed over the Singapore Management University for a pretty basic and unexciting lecture on CSR and how it's affected by the crisis. On the way, I saw two funny signs. The first just confuses me. It's in the MRT station - and it's on a bunch of temporary walls. Unless there is another meaning for "hoarding" I think they might mean "boarding," but this was all over the MRT. If anyone has a better idea, I would love to hear. The Change one I think is so funny. In the US we have these posters with Obama's picture, and here it's Jesus. To each his own.
Korean Girls Gone Wild
This person will remain nameless.
Last night I spoke with a woman in my class at INSEAD. We were talking about the exams, and we both said that we attempted to study a lot more than we actually studied. We both had set aside a good chunk of Saturday and Sunday, but neither of us was so productive. I wasn't so productive, because I talked to Matt, I played Tetris online, I played with Kitty...
She wasn't so productive, because she was watching porn. In the break out rooms. In INSEAD. She said that she really prefers the closed break out rooms at INSEAD, because no one even knows. She downloaded a lot of it, and then she said she got bored, so she had to study in the end. I kept asking of she was serious. I thought maybe I didn't understand the accent? I confirmed enough times that I know she was serious. She downloaded porn, then watched it, for a while, in the break out rooms at INSEAD. And then she told me about it. Pretty fricken hilarious.
Last night I spoke with a woman in my class at INSEAD. We were talking about the exams, and we both said that we attempted to study a lot more than we actually studied. We both had set aside a good chunk of Saturday and Sunday, but neither of us was so productive. I wasn't so productive, because I talked to Matt, I played Tetris online, I played with Kitty...
She wasn't so productive, because she was watching porn. In the break out rooms. In INSEAD. She said that she really prefers the closed break out rooms at INSEAD, because no one even knows. She downloaded a lot of it, and then she said she got bored, so she had to study in the end. I kept asking of she was serious. I thought maybe I didn't understand the accent? I confirmed enough times that I know she was serious. She downloaded porn, then watched it, for a while, in the break out rooms at INSEAD. And then she told me about it. Pretty fricken hilarious.
Monday, February 23, 2009
One More
I think the theme for this exam period has been procrastination - which doesn't actually lead to cramming at the last minute this time, which I think is part of the definition of procrastination. In procrastination, you wait, you wait, and finally you DO something...which isn't happening for some reason.
We have exams for all of our core courses, which means that we have 13 exams. Two have been group exams (Leading People and Groups and Leading Organizations). The rest have been normal Melanie-only exams. Today we have our LAST two exams. International Politicaly Analysis and Macroeconomics. I just had the IPA exam, and while I usually stay in the exam until the last possible minute to try to make it better and better...this time I left after an hour and half (and left HALF the time unused!). Maybe this is because I didn't know anything that would have improved my answers...maybe I'm just done with exams.
I remember my last college exam - it was in the Nat Sci Auditorium, and I remember that Mike Vilensky was there. I can't remember the class, but I think it was a bible as literature class or something like that. I thought that was my last exam. I also thought that exams in social work school were my last exams (though I really don't remember them, because I think I erased my whole SSW experience out of my brain...), and now I'm doing it again. I HOPE these are my last exams ever!! I wonder if I'll do yet another degree. You never know.
Anyways - I have just one exam left - Macroeconomics, and what I wouldn't give to just bring Matt to my exam. I could make a case for it, since realistically we should be able to use whatever resources we have at our disposal, and if I'm in a job where I need a macro opinion, I WILL call him (like I did when I worked at Moody's), so really it's just not realistic that I do this exam by myself. Do you think they'll buy it? Just kidding.
I'm sure it will be fine...and even if I get 0 in both of these classes, I'm still at the mean and don't really need to take courses over. The only way I can really hurt myself (statistically) is to get three or more standard deviations less than the mean, which I think will be really hard.
Maybe instead of blogging I should study for Macro. I'll try it and let you know how it goes. 1.5 hours of studying, 1 hour of eating and relaxing, 3 hours of exam, 1 hour of Disney lecture (why they have it the last day of exams???), a dinner, lots of drinking, and then I'm really done...until next period.
We have exams for all of our core courses, which means that we have 13 exams. Two have been group exams (Leading People and Groups and Leading Organizations). The rest have been normal Melanie-only exams. Today we have our LAST two exams. International Politicaly Analysis and Macroeconomics. I just had the IPA exam, and while I usually stay in the exam until the last possible minute to try to make it better and better...this time I left after an hour and half (and left HALF the time unused!). Maybe this is because I didn't know anything that would have improved my answers...maybe I'm just done with exams.
I remember my last college exam - it was in the Nat Sci Auditorium, and I remember that Mike Vilensky was there. I can't remember the class, but I think it was a bible as literature class or something like that. I thought that was my last exam. I also thought that exams in social work school were my last exams (though I really don't remember them, because I think I erased my whole SSW experience out of my brain...), and now I'm doing it again. I HOPE these are my last exams ever!! I wonder if I'll do yet another degree. You never know.
Anyways - I have just one exam left - Macroeconomics, and what I wouldn't give to just bring Matt to my exam. I could make a case for it, since realistically we should be able to use whatever resources we have at our disposal, and if I'm in a job where I need a macro opinion, I WILL call him (like I did when I worked at Moody's), so really it's just not realistic that I do this exam by myself. Do you think they'll buy it? Just kidding.
I'm sure it will be fine...and even if I get 0 in both of these classes, I'm still at the mean and don't really need to take courses over. The only way I can really hurt myself (statistically) is to get three or more standard deviations less than the mean, which I think will be really hard.
Maybe instead of blogging I should study for Macro. I'll try it and let you know how it goes. 1.5 hours of studying, 1 hour of eating and relaxing, 3 hours of exam, 1 hour of Disney lecture (why they have it the last day of exams???), a dinner, lots of drinking, and then I'm really done...until next period.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Slumdog Millionaire
I went to see it last night, and it's an amazing movie - beautifully done, amazingly colorful, eye opening, wonderful story, likeable characters...I loved it. GO SEE IT!!!
In other news - I am done with 4/6 classes. Just have two final exams on Monday (which I CANNOT get myself to start studying for!). Did a presentation last night on Corruption in China, a presentation the day before on how this one child care company can turn itself around, and had a "final negotiation," which basically means it's a multi-party negotiation that is video taped, and apparently they compare that to the first session they videotaped 8 weeks ago...I think I will write a posting of advice for INSEAD students, but one HUGE piece of advice is get your work done early - because it's all due at the same time, so if you know the assignments, get working on it. It's worth it. In my strategies for Asia Pac class (the corruption project), one of the guys, Daiki was having a baby, so we had to finish early, and we were basically done two weeks ago. The other one also we finished a week or two early. WAY WAY way helpful. Now if I could just use that extra time for studying rather than planning my trips to the states and thinking about my trip to the Philippines...I'll work on it.
Today for lunch I met Julie and Julia at their school. It's supposed to be just down the road, but I got lost, and it took me 45 minutes (in 33 degree HOT SUN HUMIDITY ICKINESS) to find them. I'm glad I did. The naan was worth the wait, but I was a bit narsty when I arrived.
My taxi driver home told me where Matt and I should live when our lease is up in a few months. I guess we're moving to the west. Why not?
I will try to do work now...but I'll do it at the pool, so it's sort of a compromise.
In other news - I am done with 4/6 classes. Just have two final exams on Monday (which I CANNOT get myself to start studying for!). Did a presentation last night on Corruption in China, a presentation the day before on how this one child care company can turn itself around, and had a "final negotiation," which basically means it's a multi-party negotiation that is video taped, and apparently they compare that to the first session they videotaped 8 weeks ago...I think I will write a posting of advice for INSEAD students, but one HUGE piece of advice is get your work done early - because it's all due at the same time, so if you know the assignments, get working on it. It's worth it. In my strategies for Asia Pac class (the corruption project), one of the guys, Daiki was having a baby, so we had to finish early, and we were basically done two weeks ago. The other one also we finished a week or two early. WAY WAY way helpful. Now if I could just use that extra time for studying rather than planning my trips to the states and thinking about my trip to the Philippines...I'll work on it.
Today for lunch I met Julie and Julia at their school. It's supposed to be just down the road, but I got lost, and it took me 45 minutes (in 33 degree HOT SUN HUMIDITY ICKINESS) to find them. I'm glad I did. The naan was worth the wait, but I was a bit narsty when I arrived.
My taxi driver home told me where Matt and I should live when our lease is up in a few months. I guess we're moving to the west. Why not?
I will try to do work now...but I'll do it at the pool, so it's sort of a compromise.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Unaware Customers at Supermarkets
Beware!!!
Last night I went to the (expensive, ex-pat) grocery store right next to school to get a few things to make dinner on Friday night. When I buy cheese, mayonnaise, or anything else non-Asian, I have to go to one of these stores, as I usually do all other shopping at our local wet market.
I chose some ricotta, some mozzarella, some wine and other ingredients. When I paid, it was S$156. That was about $50 more than I had expected, so I stood there checking the receipt for a few minutes. While a sign next to the ricotta said $8 (which I thought was outrageous), they charged me $16.95. The mayonnaise that I thought was $6.25 was $11.40. The wine that I thought was $21.95 (I'm cheap - wine here is EXPENSIVE!) was actually $40.30. There were others. I called the manager over, and I walked him through the store with me to see all of the price inconsistencies. Some were mismarked, but most of them actually were products placed RIGHT behind another product's price. I complained like an entitled American. I did get a better price for the ricotta, but the rest I just returned. Had I not checked my bill, I would have been charged WAY more! So unethical (and I told them that!).
In other news, before the negative shopping experience, I had a great night at INSEAD. We had the Minister of Industry and Trade come to speak to us about what's going on in Singapore. Smart guy. Then we did a case study of Alstom, where the President/CEO turned the entire company around in three years. While we do stuff like this all the time, this time was unique, because the guy who headed the changes (the Pres/CEO) was THERE and gave us his perspective/experiences. It was really neat.
I am currently IN my most horrible (and really only horrible) class at INSEAD. I have not learned anything new - as we have covered the same topics in other classes, and in all other classes we have gone more deep into them. I should not be blogging in class, but I give myself permission since it's such a horrible class. I could go on forever about how horrible this class is and why, but I will not. Just one example. Today we have three groups present our final projects for the class. We received an email at 12:30 am that our group will be presenting FIRST at 8:30 this morning. I think that is totally ridiculous. I just heard that the prof even asked one of the groups to change some things in their presentation - between 12:30 am and 8:30 am. What a joke.
Last night I went to the (expensive, ex-pat) grocery store right next to school to get a few things to make dinner on Friday night. When I buy cheese, mayonnaise, or anything else non-Asian, I have to go to one of these stores, as I usually do all other shopping at our local wet market.
I chose some ricotta, some mozzarella, some wine and other ingredients. When I paid, it was S$156. That was about $50 more than I had expected, so I stood there checking the receipt for a few minutes. While a sign next to the ricotta said $8 (which I thought was outrageous), they charged me $16.95. The mayonnaise that I thought was $6.25 was $11.40. The wine that I thought was $21.95 (I'm cheap - wine here is EXPENSIVE!) was actually $40.30. There were others. I called the manager over, and I walked him through the store with me to see all of the price inconsistencies. Some were mismarked, but most of them actually were products placed RIGHT behind another product's price. I complained like an entitled American. I did get a better price for the ricotta, but the rest I just returned. Had I not checked my bill, I would have been charged WAY more! So unethical (and I told them that!).
In other news, before the negative shopping experience, I had a great night at INSEAD. We had the Minister of Industry and Trade come to speak to us about what's going on in Singapore. Smart guy. Then we did a case study of Alstom, where the President/CEO turned the entire company around in three years. While we do stuff like this all the time, this time was unique, because the guy who headed the changes (the Pres/CEO) was THERE and gave us his perspective/experiences. It was really neat.
I am currently IN my most horrible (and really only horrible) class at INSEAD. I have not learned anything new - as we have covered the same topics in other classes, and in all other classes we have gone more deep into them. I should not be blogging in class, but I give myself permission since it's such a horrible class. I could go on forever about how horrible this class is and why, but I will not. Just one example. Today we have three groups present our final projects for the class. We received an email at 12:30 am that our group will be presenting FIRST at 8:30 this morning. I think that is totally ridiculous. I just heard that the prof even asked one of the groups to change some things in their presentation - between 12:30 am and 8:30 am. What a joke.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Bintan
Since so many people asked on Facebook, I will tell you that Bintan is an island about an hour ride from Singapore. It belongs to Indonesia, sort of. Apparently Singaporeans own the north part, and they have built resorts that are basically Singapore - Singapore prices, Singapore cleanliness, Singapore food, even Singapore dollars. Well, that's all well and good, but we didn't go there.
We went to down and dirty South-East Bintan. We went to Nostalgia Resort. This was the $25 a night bungalow on the water place. Dinner was $1 (and it was awesome), there was no hot water (but who needs that anyways), and it was an amazing time.
Peter organized a trip for 15 of us to go for the weekend. 14 made it (Susan literally missed the boat), and we had a blast.
I was super dreading the weekend after a bunch of INSEAD students told me that everyone pukes on the ferry, and there is no outside on the boat, and it's horrible. But...on ours, there was an outside, and no one puked. We thought it was 45 minutes, and it turned out to be 2 hours (remember - we went to the hard core area, but we didn't know that going in...). We then piled into a bus. I say piled, because it was for 20 SMALL people, and including the others from the "resort" we were about 25. Mine and Julie's tushies didn't even fit on two seats (and we're not fat). After an hour of driving, we arrived at the "resort" and had some wicked good nasi goreng (fried rice) and even beer. I was pretty sick, but I think the beer actually cured me. That night was full of 11 amazing people and scherades (how do you spell that?).
Saturday was perfect. The rain gave us an opportunity to play settlers, we ate great food, drank good juices, went to the beach, read (studied), talked, talked and talked.
Saturday night warrants its own section, then there was a dance party including karaoke (but with the whole song, so we just had to sing loud enough that you couldn't HEAR the song) at our table on the beach. Lots and lots of drinks later...there was Sunday, which was also relaxing, filled with eating and talking. Then we went to leave, and they had lost our ferry ticket. Though it was annoying for 15 minutes, we ended up getting the ticket, getting on a super fast boat (also with an outside and no one puking), and got back in time to have a great evening in Singapore. All in all - fabulous weekend with fabulous people (Peter, Lisa, Julie, Roslinda, Naomi, Hillary, Vlad, Brandi, Terry, (Juliette and Estelle, whom I really don't know), Jocelyn, and me and Matt).
Onto the funniest part of the weekend. Friday night, we all sat down at a big, long table on the beach. A German guy named Patrick asked if he could join us. No problem! Did he say (under his breath) "for the whole weekend"? Maybe we just missed it. We hung out with him all night, which was great - he's nice and interesting enough. Saturday morning he ended up joining me and Matt for lunch and then walking over to this other beach with us. We watched his stuff when he was kayaking, and on the way back to our "resort" he said, "so what time is dinner?" Hm. Interesting. Naomi had found this seafood place online, and we had organized a van for all 14 of us to go there for dinner. This is where there are two funny things. First - Patrick showed up, jumped in the car and came along. I actually think it's totally fine if he wants to join us - like I said, he's nice, and he's traveling alone, but there seemed to be no recognition that we were a whole group that had gone there together, and he never asked if he could join in, or have that glass of wine, or eat that calamari. He just jumped in, took the glass and ate the fricken calamari!! It was really funny.
So...we arrived at this place we're supposed to go for dinner - and it's built on stilts on the water. They have holes in the wood so they can just pull up the crabs and fish that are living in the ocean, but in nets. There were a lot of bugs. It was a bit shady. There were no prices on the menu. It wasn't clean...so people became uncomfortable. No problem. We'll just have a drink and see where it goes. So we got beer. Warm Bintang - but they brought cups and ice! I tried my first beer and ice. You know what? It wasn't that bad.
Then, some people decided they didn't want to eat there, and they took off. I decided I probably wouldn't eat seafood for most of my life, and I got to try as long as I don't care. So I stayed and Matt went. (See Rabbi readers? at least I married a good one!) I ate a crab (SOOOO GOOD!), some prawn that seemed like they were cooked in butter only (SOOOOO GOOD!!!), some squid that seemed to be like tempura, some amazing salty fish nasi goreng, and AWESOME tofu. It was honestly one of the best meals I have ever had. Including the beer, it was S$12 (US$8). Hells yeah.
Click here for pictures from Langkawi and Bintan.
We went to down and dirty South-East Bintan. We went to Nostalgia Resort. This was the $25 a night bungalow on the water place. Dinner was $1 (and it was awesome), there was no hot water (but who needs that anyways), and it was an amazing time.
Peter organized a trip for 15 of us to go for the weekend. 14 made it (Susan literally missed the boat), and we had a blast.
I was super dreading the weekend after a bunch of INSEAD students told me that everyone pukes on the ferry, and there is no outside on the boat, and it's horrible. But...on ours, there was an outside, and no one puked. We thought it was 45 minutes, and it turned out to be 2 hours (remember - we went to the hard core area, but we didn't know that going in...). We then piled into a bus. I say piled, because it was for 20 SMALL people, and including the others from the "resort" we were about 25. Mine and Julie's tushies didn't even fit on two seats (and we're not fat). After an hour of driving, we arrived at the "resort" and had some wicked good nasi goreng (fried rice) and even beer. I was pretty sick, but I think the beer actually cured me. That night was full of 11 amazing people and scherades (how do you spell that?).
Saturday was perfect. The rain gave us an opportunity to play settlers, we ate great food, drank good juices, went to the beach, read (studied), talked, talked and talked.
Saturday night warrants its own section, then there was a dance party including karaoke (but with the whole song, so we just had to sing loud enough that you couldn't HEAR the song) at our table on the beach. Lots and lots of drinks later...there was Sunday, which was also relaxing, filled with eating and talking. Then we went to leave, and they had lost our ferry ticket. Though it was annoying for 15 minutes, we ended up getting the ticket, getting on a super fast boat (also with an outside and no one puking), and got back in time to have a great evening in Singapore. All in all - fabulous weekend with fabulous people (Peter, Lisa, Julie, Roslinda, Naomi, Hillary, Vlad, Brandi, Terry, (Juliette and Estelle, whom I really don't know), Jocelyn, and me and Matt).
Onto the funniest part of the weekend. Friday night, we all sat down at a big, long table on the beach. A German guy named Patrick asked if he could join us. No problem! Did he say (under his breath) "for the whole weekend"? Maybe we just missed it. We hung out with him all night, which was great - he's nice and interesting enough. Saturday morning he ended up joining me and Matt for lunch and then walking over to this other beach with us. We watched his stuff when he was kayaking, and on the way back to our "resort" he said, "so what time is dinner?" Hm. Interesting. Naomi had found this seafood place online, and we had organized a van for all 14 of us to go there for dinner. This is where there are two funny things. First - Patrick showed up, jumped in the car and came along. I actually think it's totally fine if he wants to join us - like I said, he's nice, and he's traveling alone, but there seemed to be no recognition that we were a whole group that had gone there together, and he never asked if he could join in, or have that glass of wine, or eat that calamari. He just jumped in, took the glass and ate the fricken calamari!! It was really funny.
So...we arrived at this place we're supposed to go for dinner - and it's built on stilts on the water. They have holes in the wood so they can just pull up the crabs and fish that are living in the ocean, but in nets. There were a lot of bugs. It was a bit shady. There were no prices on the menu. It wasn't clean...so people became uncomfortable. No problem. We'll just have a drink and see where it goes. So we got beer. Warm Bintang - but they brought cups and ice! I tried my first beer and ice. You know what? It wasn't that bad.
Then, some people decided they didn't want to eat there, and they took off. I decided I probably wouldn't eat seafood for most of my life, and I got to try as long as I don't care. So I stayed and Matt went. (See Rabbi readers? at least I married a good one!) I ate a crab (SOOOO GOOD!), some prawn that seemed like they were cooked in butter only (SOOOOO GOOD!!!), some squid that seemed to be like tempura, some amazing salty fish nasi goreng, and AWESOME tofu. It was honestly one of the best meals I have ever had. Including the beer, it was S$12 (US$8). Hells yeah.
Click here for pictures from Langkawi and Bintan.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Holy Funny
I usually listen to This American Life while running. (You might recall my hierarchy of podcasts). Yesterday I almost tripped on myself. I was cracking up. I take off my glasses when I run, and I therefore was unable to see if there were other people in the gym to think I'm crazy. Holy funny.
There is this one section to this "My Big Break" episode. Shalom Auslander, in the third act is one of the funniest things I have EVER listened to. If you're not Jewish, you might not find it funny. Liba - definitely not in front of Adin. Seriously - listen to it!!! The funny part starts about 40 minutes into the podcast, and it lasts about 20 minutes.
In other news, I just received a wonderful email from Dena, which made my day. It did, however, mention that I may or may not have a rabbi (hopefully not more than one!) who might be reading my blog. In this case, I feel even more guilty about all of my pork and prawn eating. Forget about traveling every Shabbat. Oy! I'm happy to be a sinner among sinners, but once the rabbis are reading about my sins...
Two reactions: stop sinning or stop writing about it.
Third reaction: continue and hope they won't think less of me. I'm still a good person! Just kind of not keeping Jewish laws right now. (Does "right now" imply that I will in the future?)
There is this one section to this "My Big Break" episode. Shalom Auslander, in the third act is one of the funniest things I have EVER listened to. If you're not Jewish, you might not find it funny. Liba - definitely not in front of Adin. Seriously - listen to it!!! The funny part starts about 40 minutes into the podcast, and it lasts about 20 minutes.
In other news, I just received a wonderful email from Dena, which made my day. It did, however, mention that I may or may not have a rabbi (hopefully not more than one!) who might be reading my blog. In this case, I feel even more guilty about all of my pork and prawn eating. Forget about traveling every Shabbat. Oy! I'm happy to be a sinner among sinners, but once the rabbis are reading about my sins...
Two reactions: stop sinning or stop writing about it.
Third reaction: continue and hope they won't think less of me. I'm still a good person! Just kind of not keeping Jewish laws right now. (Does "right now" imply that I will in the future?)
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
I wish I didn't care
I wish I was the person who could show up late and not feel sorry.
I wish I could not call someone back and not have it weigh on me.
I wish I didn't feel guilty when I didn't do the whole group project.
My life would be way less stressful, (and I think I would be way more fun to be around).
I wish I could not call someone back and not have it weigh on me.
I wish I didn't feel guilty when I didn't do the whole group project.
My life would be way less stressful, (and I think I would be way more fun to be around).
Sunday, February 8, 2009
The Butler Scammed me out of $57!!
We went to see a horrible play today. I feel guilty publishing the name of the play, because in such an economic downturn, no one needs to loser their jobs, but honestly, I can't believe we paid $57...EACH!
The play was filled with childish humor, sex jokes, a lot of making fun of homosexuality, silly running around (even with one of those whistles that goes up at the end of the tune - like in the silly movies), and stupid characters.
I counted two rows of 28 lights on the ceiling (I used to count the lights at Shaarey Zedek when I was bored at services). I thought about the work I should be doing. I thought about what kind of job I want after school. I thought about our trip to the Philippines. Good, relaxed think time, but a really bad play with a bad story, bad acting, and just horrible jokes.
Other than the play, our weekend has been really relaxing. Friday night I went to dinner with a few INSEAD people and we went to see Changeling. I thought the story was really interesting, but I got sick of staring at Angeline Jolie's lips and crying face for at least 80% of the movie. Just sitting there, crying, with big (nice) lips. Saturday I went to the market for the first time in weeks, we cleaned the house, and I went to a shower for our friend Gal who is having a baby in a month. The shower was super sweet and fun. Then board games at Jeff and Tenley's. We stayed away from Settlers - with one game of Puerto Rico (Jeff won, but I came in a close second), and then J & T beat us in Euchre their first time playing. Poor showing by the Hildebrandts.
The play was filled with childish humor, sex jokes, a lot of making fun of homosexuality, silly running around (even with one of those whistles that goes up at the end of the tune - like in the silly movies), and stupid characters.
I counted two rows of 28 lights on the ceiling (I used to count the lights at Shaarey Zedek when I was bored at services). I thought about the work I should be doing. I thought about what kind of job I want after school. I thought about our trip to the Philippines. Good, relaxed think time, but a really bad play with a bad story, bad acting, and just horrible jokes.
Other than the play, our weekend has been really relaxing. Friday night I went to dinner with a few INSEAD people and we went to see Changeling. I thought the story was really interesting, but I got sick of staring at Angeline Jolie's lips and crying face for at least 80% of the movie. Just sitting there, crying, with big (nice) lips. Saturday I went to the market for the first time in weeks, we cleaned the house, and I went to a shower for our friend Gal who is having a baby in a month. The shower was super sweet and fun. Then board games at Jeff and Tenley's. We stayed away from Settlers - with one game of Puerto Rico (Jeff won, but I came in a close second), and then J & T beat us in Euchre their first time playing. Poor showing by the Hildebrandts.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Accident
Last night I went to a great dinner with my friend, Tali and two of her friends. We ate at this "modern Japanese" restaurant kind of near my school. It was a seven course tasting menu, but really it was just a seven course meal. The portions were not "tasting" size. They were real.
I ate: A platter of some fish and things. I ate some sort of beef thing that was wrapped around a cone. I ate soft shell crab tempura (with other vegetable treats mixed in). I ate a mushroom soup. I ate a plate of sushi. I ate a chocolate lava cake with good vanilla ice cream. I drank some sort of fruity, cold, icy drink. I liked it all, and it was way worth the price. My biggest challenge was the sushi. They were six or so rolls of rice and nori. On top of each one was a different delectable treat. For one it was eel, another salmon, another some sort of fish egg thing, etc. Well, the whole thing cannot fit in your mouth comfortably (it was big!), and when I tried to break up the roll and split the top stuff in two, it didn't work. I found no solution.
We were there until about 10:30. I got a ride back to the east coast, and I hopped out of the car at East Coast Road in Katong - which is a couple of miles from our house. I was walking along the road looking for a taxi...walking and walking...it was now about 11. I saw a taxi driving the opposite direction, and he pulled over to the left (remember, we drive on the left here), and he waited to make a u-turn.
Traffic went by him (going his direction) and opposite him. He waited. I waited on the other side of the road. The traffic opposite was clearing, and I could see that he was starting to move, but there was a car and a motorcycle going FAST, in his direction, on his right. I don't know WHAT he was thinking, but from the left, he started making a u-turn to the right, and clearly the car and motorcycle were going FAST. I looked away and screamed. The motorcycle HIT the taxi, and the guy went flying. I actually don't know what happened with the car, because I know I saw one driving behind the motorcycle, but it wasn't involved in the accident, and I don't know where it went. The motorcycle rider got thrown to the other side of the road. Thank goodness no cars were coming. Somehow he came over to the curb. I called the police/ambulance. The taxi driver pulled his car to the side, and he seemed to be okay.
The motorcycle rider, thank goodness, had a super thick leather jacket (it cost him $700 and saved his arms), but his pants were all torn up, and I don't know what was going on with his legs. He said his belly hurt, and he also had cuts all over his face - but (again) thank goodness he had a helmet on. It definitely saved his life.
The ambulance took TWENTY FIVE minutes to come. I called back three times, and they kept saying it was on the way. You can drive from one end of Singapore in 25 minutes. I have no clue what they were doing, but had this guy been bleeding heavily. He would have died. I told the ambulance people that. I also had told them that he was thrown from his bike and injured seriously - and 25 minutes was their reaction.
The police never came. They moved the bike, the taxi (don't they need to investigate!?)...the guy got taken away in the ambulance. I left my name and number with the two guys (taxi driver and motorcycle rider), but I never told anyone what I saw. I am SHOCKED at the (lack of?!) response, and it makes me scared to have kids here.
The taxi driver was blaming me for hailing a taxi from the other side of the road. Hell yeah I felt guilty. I felt HORRIBLE. I still feel horrible, and I keep hearing the crash and seeing it coming in my head. Thank goodness they will all be okay, but that was a really scary and horrible experience.
I ate: A platter of some fish and things. I ate some sort of beef thing that was wrapped around a cone. I ate soft shell crab tempura (with other vegetable treats mixed in). I ate a mushroom soup. I ate a plate of sushi. I ate a chocolate lava cake with good vanilla ice cream. I drank some sort of fruity, cold, icy drink. I liked it all, and it was way worth the price. My biggest challenge was the sushi. They were six or so rolls of rice and nori. On top of each one was a different delectable treat. For one it was eel, another salmon, another some sort of fish egg thing, etc. Well, the whole thing cannot fit in your mouth comfortably (it was big!), and when I tried to break up the roll and split the top stuff in two, it didn't work. I found no solution.
We were there until about 10:30. I got a ride back to the east coast, and I hopped out of the car at East Coast Road in Katong - which is a couple of miles from our house. I was walking along the road looking for a taxi...walking and walking...it was now about 11. I saw a taxi driving the opposite direction, and he pulled over to the left (remember, we drive on the left here), and he waited to make a u-turn.
Traffic went by him (going his direction) and opposite him. He waited. I waited on the other side of the road. The traffic opposite was clearing, and I could see that he was starting to move, but there was a car and a motorcycle going FAST, in his direction, on his right. I don't know WHAT he was thinking, but from the left, he started making a u-turn to the right, and clearly the car and motorcycle were going FAST. I looked away and screamed. The motorcycle HIT the taxi, and the guy went flying. I actually don't know what happened with the car, because I know I saw one driving behind the motorcycle, but it wasn't involved in the accident, and I don't know where it went. The motorcycle rider got thrown to the other side of the road. Thank goodness no cars were coming. Somehow he came over to the curb. I called the police/ambulance. The taxi driver pulled his car to the side, and he seemed to be okay.
The motorcycle rider, thank goodness, had a super thick leather jacket (it cost him $700 and saved his arms), but his pants were all torn up, and I don't know what was going on with his legs. He said his belly hurt, and he also had cuts all over his face - but (again) thank goodness he had a helmet on. It definitely saved his life.
The ambulance took TWENTY FIVE minutes to come. I called back three times, and they kept saying it was on the way. You can drive from one end of Singapore in 25 minutes. I have no clue what they were doing, but had this guy been bleeding heavily. He would have died. I told the ambulance people that. I also had told them that he was thrown from his bike and injured seriously - and 25 minutes was their reaction.
The police never came. They moved the bike, the taxi (don't they need to investigate!?)...the guy got taken away in the ambulance. I left my name and number with the two guys (taxi driver and motorcycle rider), but I never told anyone what I saw. I am SHOCKED at the (lack of?!) response, and it makes me scared to have kids here.
The taxi driver was blaming me for hailing a taxi from the other side of the road. Hell yeah I felt guilty. I felt HORRIBLE. I still feel horrible, and I keep hearing the crash and seeing it coming in my head. Thank goodness they will all be okay, but that was a really scary and horrible experience.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Lion Dance
Yesterday we had a fancy lion dance at INSEAD. I saw my first one last year, and I had thought it was a dragon. They dance during Chinese New Year for good luck. This one was the fanciest one I have ever seen - it was jumping on these tall columns, back and forth. It's two people, and it looks really hard! I bet these guys have been practicing their whole lives.
What do you want to be when you grow up, son? A LION!!!
In other news this week has been busy, as nearly all of my classes had something due this week. Luckily, I have one class that I absolutely think is horrible, and it's really difficult to find motivation to do work for it...so that didn't take much time, and the rest I really enjoy doing, so I'm not too stressed, but it's definitely taking a lot of time.
This weekend will be my first weekend around in Singapore in a long while. Last weekend I had a class the whole weekend (I will write about that - it was interesting), the weekend before we were in Langkawi. The weekend before I was in Bali...Not a rough life, don't get me wrong, but really tiring (and my apartment is dirty. Not messy - DIRTY).
Sunday, February 1, 2009
CRAZY!!!
Tonight on the way home from our favorite Indian restaurant, after watching someone beat someone else in the Aussie Open (I don't want to say whom in case someone in the US is reading this, and it will be replayed this afternoon...), Matt said, you should really get a ticket to go from Michigan to Philly. Yes, I will. I kind of always say that, but I don't do anything about it.
Then, he asked me to get the mail. I got the mail, and I saw a wedding invitation. Oh great. Another wedding that I won't be able to go to.
Look, Matt, it's Ellen's wedding invitation! So beautiful! So exciting!
I started to put it up on the fridge, with the other invitations to things we know we can't go to.
Matt said, so are you going to go?
What? How? She lives in the US, and I live in Singapore. Well, he said, it's the day you're flying to Philly, and it's IN PHILLY!!!! HOLY SCHNIKES!!! I get to go to Ellen's wedding!!!
Luckily I didn't buy the ticket yet. I am so excited to dance with this lady at her wedding!! YAY!
Then, he asked me to get the mail. I got the mail, and I saw a wedding invitation. Oh great. Another wedding that I won't be able to go to.
Look, Matt, it's Ellen's wedding invitation! So beautiful! So exciting!
I started to put it up on the fridge, with the other invitations to things we know we can't go to.
Matt said, so are you going to go?
What? How? She lives in the US, and I live in Singapore. Well, he said, it's the day you're flying to Philly, and it's IN PHILLY!!!! HOLY SCHNIKES!!! I get to go to Ellen's wedding!!!
Luckily I didn't buy the ticket yet. I am so excited to dance with this lady at her wedding!! YAY!
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