Project Get in Shape needed to start like yesterday.

I've been fighting the fact that I need to get in shape. Initially, I lost a few lbs when I first moved to Singapore, probably just from the increase of walking everywhere. I feel like I just need to suck it up and join a gym. There's a gym at my complex, but there's not much there. I always feel like I get more out of it when I go to the classes. There's a class at the gym near my school called ABT= Abs, butt, thighs. I think that class is calling my name!!
Ugh. I hate going to gyms sometimes. Think I might just get a week pass and see if I really go. I do like to go running, but the coolest time of the day to go run is at like 5am. And it's still 80 degrees! Maybe if I write about it on here, then I'll have some accountability. Comments? Snide remarks?

F1

Had a really great time last night at the Formula One Racing. It's just a practice race but still very loud and tons of people out. Also, Missy Elliot performed. Singapore is not really known for being a really hyped up crowd. The cars go so fast, it's hard to actually see them. We found a place where they had to slow down on a curve so we were able to see them better. With that kind of stuff, I'm bored in like 15 minutes so I'm glad we had good friends there and loads of cheap beer. It's so weird to think I refer to $10/beers as cheap, but it is for Singapore. Before the race we went to this bar on the 70th floor. The elevator goes from the 4th floor straight up to the 70th so it's crazy fast. The boat building is my favorite. It's $20 just to go in it. There's an infinity pool that goes the entire length of the boat and there's a famous casino. A few weeks ago, a man sued the casino for letting him gamble away $3 million. He claimed the casino should have stopped him as he doesn't have that kind of money. Self control, buddy.

This is where the concert was.

View from the 70th floor bar.

upcoming trips

Because I'm excited about more travelling.

October- week break- Bali!!!!
November- long weekend- Borneo to see the Orangutans
December/January- 3 1/2 weeks- Cambodia, Vietnam
February- week break- Thailand
April- week break- ?? Trekking through Bhutan?
May- long weekend- Hong Kong to see kayla, darby, dan!
June-Trekking through Nepal?
July- looking into getting my master's in Prague - hoping to visit friends in Germany,Poland, and Italy at the end of July

A Different Sky

Finished this book about Singapore. It was really slow at first, but then got a lot better in the middle. It spans from 1920s-1950s with a focus on World War 2. I had no idea about Singapore's history especially the Japanese invasion and how everything changed from being run by the British. I liked how the places mentioned are places I go to and even the same grocery stores are around! It's about 3 different families and how their lives interconnect during those years. I really haven't made a lot of Singaporean friends as we tend to always stick to the expat community when living abroad. So I really know little about their culture. However, I'm learning a lot about New Zealand's culture. 4 of our close friends are from New Zealand so every time we hang out there are always new words and phrases that we learn from each other.
Here are some I learned last night:
jandels= flip flops
chilly bin= a cooler
Well, those are the only ones I remember. I learned so many other words, sometimes it's like learning another language. Of course we talked about the difference between marmite and veggiemite. It's funny when stereotypes are so true. The best question I've been asked is "Is living in the states just like the movies?" No, of course not. Wait, yes it is. Yes, we have a prom queen, king. Yes, we have prom and everyone dresses up and takes limos. Yes, there's a big graduation party for high school. Yes, in college you have keg parties. Yes, there are fraternities and sororities. Everything is just exaggerated, but yeah it's like the movies. The other thing I'm learning about is Rugby and Aussie Rules Football. Who knew there 2 Rugby leagues and different rules for each? One of our new friends is a former pro Rugby player who is famous enough to have a wikipedia article about him. So when we watch the games with him, he knows some of the players who are still playing. It's actually a pretty entertaining game to watch. After watching a Rugby match, it's painful to sit through a NFL game b/c it's soooo slow compared to Rugby. Can't wait to visit New Zealand.

lil weekend in indo.

On our first long weekend, we went to a little island that's a 45 minute ferry ride from Singapore. It's in Indonesia so you have to get a visa for Indonesia that takes up an entire page in your passport which is pretty annoying. It's such a pain when your passport is filled and you have to get more pages added. The whole weekend was super expensive with all these added taxes and fees. We've found in Singapore that everything has this ++ at the end of the price which means it has 2 types of taxes added. So something that might cost $40 would end up being $55 or sometimes more. You just never know how much tax will be. Alcohol is heavily taxed so a bottle of booze is 1/2 the price at duty free, but you can only get 1 bottle each time. Wine and beer in the stores is also a little expensive. It was a really nice weekend, but just overpriced. Being so close to Singapore, I guess they can charge whatever they want. It was nice though that we didn't even have to exchange money- everything is in Singaporean dollars. I'm really glad we don't have to worry about money or it might have broken the bank. I'm really glad our friends were there with us or it might have been a little boring.
It rained the first day we got there for awhile. Since we haven't really seen a lot of rain for the last 2 years living in a desert, we just sat and watched it.

The beach. It's okay. I feel like I'm such a beach snob now that we're a hour flight from Thailand. Thailand beaches are the most amazing in the world. Next time we'll just fly to Thailand.

These are the little huts that we stayed in. They're not really huts, but just hotel rooms that are set up like this so it's nice and private.

Teacher's Day

There's nothing quite like Teacher gifts. My favorite are always the cards.

HA! What??


The girl who gave me this said it was for my business cards. Hmmm...yes, thank you.

Ultimately, the best gift for Teacher's Day would be a day off....