Summer 2011

There are 2 weeks left of school, but with report cards and portfolios done, it's time to check out. I've already packed my bags for Africa and the countdown has begun. The reason I'm already packed is because I'm really nervous about being in cold weather and not having enough warm clothing. With the temperature in SE Asia never dropping below 80, I'm not sure how I'm going to handle 50 degree weather. When we were in northern Vietnam, it was about that cold and I was miserable. However, I'm also excited about being in cold weather. I bought a few new sweaters and fleece pants from Gap. I'm excited to wear socks and need a jacket. Can't wait for a bowl of soup! Oh, and I'm excited to see the animals. I'm taking a photography class for the next 2 days to learn all of the tricks to using a DSLR. Pretty excited to learn how to use my camera... and getting a new lens in a few days.

I'm forgetting about one important thing. The week before we leave for Africa, we go lay on a beach on a tiny island in Malaysia. I haven't even thought about packing for this as it feels like just going to Florida for the weekend. I'm really excited about this trip too, but Africa just sounds so much more exciting. I've signed up for a Scuba Diving instruction course where I will officially get my scuba license.

Oh, and we're stopping in Dubai for 2 days on the way back from CapeTown.

So it's like this:

Summer 2011

Singapore

Malaysia

South Africa

Namibia

Botswana

Zambia

Zimbabwe

Swaziland

Dubai

Jen posted this article. It's about living as an expat. Most of these are so true. Here is the list with my 2 cents added...

1. You get cravings for silly things like Heinz ketchup and Hershey bars. - Did you know that America is the ONLY place on earth that makes REAL ketchup!? Also, you know those packs of pre-made cookie dough- yeah, you're not going to find them anywhere but the States.

2. You get grumpy about the very same things that initially drew you to your adopted home. Things irritate you like, why doesn't anyone understand me?? Why can't I find pre-made cookie dough?? Why do they laugh and tell me that it doesn't exist?

3. You often feel torn between two identities. I don't really know about this. But I do know that everyone I have met had a completely different childhood than me. Sometimes it's hard to explain things like why I put marshmellows on sweet potatoes and say y'all when referring to 1 person.

4. You’re friends with expats, but only those who arrived around the same time as you. I'm friends with many expats, but the closest are usually the ones you meet when you first arrived. You go through the same things at the same time so it bonds you.

5. You find newbies irritating. It's true, for some reason it's annoying to think I was that annoying.

6. You sometimes dream in a foreign language. Ummm, no. Considering I only learned enough 'survival Arabic' and English is spoken in Singapore...

7. You’ve attended weddings, birthday parties and baby showers….. on Skpye! We kinda had Christmas on skype and I showed my sisters their presents on skype.

8. Your old life seems gray. How did l live such a BO-RING life?

9. After many iterations, you’ve finally perfected the The Ultimate Guest Tour. Still working on this one... but with 11 guests in Singapore... it's almost perfect.

10. You pity those still stuck in corporate life. I feel bad for teachers back in the States who have to put up with so much crap and get such little pay.

11. Your friends have become your family. This is soooo true. Friendships are so much deeper and stronger than back in the States. You depend on them more.

12. You’ve eaten things you never dreamed you would. Stingray and monkey brain. Just kidding about monkey brain.

13. You get strangely defensive when someone (who doesn’t live there) criticizes your adopted home. This might have happened in Egypt. No one seems to criticize Singapore.

14. You wouldn’t be seen dead in the ‘expat bars’. Ummm no, I go there. I wouldn't be seen in a 'tourist' bar.

15. You’re a lot more adventurous than you used to be. I didn't think I would ever go camping in Africa for 6 weeks or try scuba diving.

16. When you fly back, nothing ever seems to change. It's true. Except there's a new president.

17. You never get bored of gloating about your new life. Well, do you think I'd be living in a $1.4 million apartment on a teacher's salary in the States??

18. You plan less and do more. SO true. You also care less about what other people think. You aren't concerned with the latest trends and can't be bothered to redecorate your place to keep up with the Jones'.

19. You turn up late but are often early. No one is ever on time.

20. You’ve attended countless leaving parties for friends who ‘went back’. Next weekend, there are 4 parties.

21. Your family have stopped asking you when you’re coming home. Thank goodness.

22. Home is where you are now. :)

America, what has happened to you?

Maybe it's because I've been living out of the country for 3 years now, but I just don't get it. I saw this video today. That is the worst thing I've ever seen. Everyone has been hating on that Friday song, but that girl is WAY better than Kesha. I guess she's trying to be 'sexy' but is just painful to watch. Horrible.

We don't get very many shows here from the states- but Bridalplasty? Really? This is happening? There are shows where women are judged and the prize is to get plastic surgery?! How are people not appalled by this? This is what they must show in Taliban training camps to get them to hate America. Bridalplasty, Real Housewives of whatever town, and the all those other terrible reality tv shows. People from around the world see this crap and make judgements about America. It is beyond embarrassing.

I'm not at all conservative in any of my political views, but something should done about values in America. Maybe the message should be less about fighting gay marriage and more about fighting materialism and obsession with celebrities.

All right, off my soap box. Just had to get that out.

Loved this one. It's written by a surgeon so he gives so many details about certain hospital things that happen, but not in a disgusting, gross-me-out kind of way. It's set in Ethiopia and really made me want to go visit there after reading this. The story is about a nun who gives birth to twins and dies. No, I'm not ruining the plot, this is what it says on the back. And how these kids are raised by other doctors- well, I don't really want to spoil the book. It's really good. There were lots of really good quotes and aha moments that makes this sure to be on Oprah's reading list. Loved it, now go read it.

This is a book of essays which won the Pulitzer Prize or at least that's what the cover says. It was good. I'm not a big fan of essays, but this one was good and made me think after reading it. It's mostly about characters who are Indian descent living in the US. Don't go run out and buy it , but if you see it in a pile of free books, you should take it.

This was my second audiobook. The audiobook is narrated by Tina Fey which really makes this worth listening to. I love the show 30 Rock and SNL and she talks a lot about those 2 things so it's a winner for me. I've also been compared to her character Liz Lemon many times, which is not necessarily a compliment. I didn't realize Tina Fey was such a feminist until I read, er, listened to this book. But then I didn't realize that I was such a feminist too. This was an awesome book.

I really liked Poison wood Bible which is by the same author. This one was really different. It's set in Mexico during the 30s and follows a young man's journey through his life. What was weird about this book is that I had no idea where the plot was going. I would have never predicted the ending which was good. Frida Khalo and Diego Riveria are both characters in the book who the main character knows. I love reading about Frida's life, I think she was just completely fascinating. The book had several good quotes which didn't always sound original, but I liked how they were used in the book. For example:

"That man has more money than God."

"So he must have the sunrise in his pocket and mercy in his shoes."

and

"The most important thing about a person is what you don't know."

This was the theme of the book. It's what you don't know about someone, not what you assume to know about them that is the most important thing. It was a little slow in parts, but overall I liked it.

How to Get Your Way or What I Learned From My Mom

I guess for Mother's Day everyone has been posting things they have learned from their mom. What have I learned from my mom? To get what you want done. In fact, as I was telling Owen this story, his response was "You are your mother."

I order stuff from the States all the time. I ordered some pants for the upcoming trip to South Africa (because I don't own warm pants) from Zappos. Occasionally, I use my US credit card and sometimes my Singapore card. For this order, I used my Singapore credit card. So I received an email from them a few days ago saying that they are having trouble with my account and if I could give them a US credit card that would solve the problem. I sent them the information. The next day I get another email saying they have already processed my Singapore account and that they need my address in Singapore. So I wrote back and gave that to them. Then I get another email saying they are having problems with my account, could I send the billing address for the US credit card. I send that to them. Then they send me an email today saying I need to CALL them because they are still having a problem with my account and that they haven't heard back from me. Each time they sign their emails with The Zappos Customer Loyalty Team.

This is where I lose my mind. When I lost my mind, I wrote this:

Dear Zappos aka worst Loyalty Team ever,

I have already responded to your last email. Here is a copy of the email I have already sent you. (attached a screen shot of the email) What more information could you possibly want from me. I have sent you ever bit of information I have about myself. No, I'm not going to call you because that would be expensive and ridiculous. Obviously, I don't live in the US, nor do I want to be on hold with your 1-800 number. I order stuff all the time from the USA and never have any problems. I am very disappointed in your handling of this simple order and will be writing a negative customer service review as soon as I can find that on your website. Please respond immediately to this email and let me know what you don't understand about all of the information I have sent you.

P.S. Yes, Singapore is a CITY and a COUNTRY. A simple Google search would have cleared that up for you.

The email I received about 30 seconds later was this.

Thank you for shopping with Zappos. Your order #292342372 was processed and should arrive in 4-5 days.

Thank you,

The Zappos Loyalty Team

Not that my mom would have sent an email as rude as that one. (I had a long day.) But I learned from her that it doesn't hurt to make a few threats (poor customer service review) and explain clearly what you want done. I feel like it's like a Jedi quality to tell people what they are going to do. My mom is not as much of a smart-ass as I am, but she would get do what she could to 'take care of business'. She would also want to know what the problem is and how to solve it. I'm not sure if I learned this or just inherited it. At this point, all similarities between us ends. She is much kinder than I am and more patient with customer service people.

Oops!

So I completely erased the template to my blog because I'm an idiot. So then I just started from scratch and made this one. Blah.

I guess I should actually write a post now. We went to Penang last weekend for a 3 day weekend. (May Day is a Labor Day-type of holiday here) Pulau Penang is a little island in Malaysia about an hour flight from Singapore. It's known for a few things....

Georgetown- shop houses from the colonial days. We have these in Singapore, but I still like taking pictures of them. I like the colors and the "oldness". Even with all the new buildings and skyscrapers, there are rows and rows of little shop houses from another era.

Nice beach.

The Butterfly Farm and National Park where we hiked.

We stumbled upon a bridal photo session. The photographers started throwing out seeds and bread to get a massive amount of pigeons, then the bride would pose, and someone would start running at the pigeons to get them to fly away. The photo would be a picture of her with pigeons flying all around her with a temple in the background. It looked pretty cool, except that there were pigeons in the picture. Gross. Maybe doves or something less disgusting would have been a better idea.

The temples, churches and mosques. We have all of this in Singapore, but it's still nice to see new temples. This dragon had a sign next to him that said "Foreigners are not allowed to roll the balls in the dragon's mouth." I swear that's what it said. If you look closer, there are baseball size cement balls in his mouth. Maybe you're supposed to roll the balls for good luck or something?

It was a nice 3 day weekend. After a 4th day there, I might have gotten a little bored. There are so many new places that are just an hour flight from Singapore and perfect for long weekends. i think we've got 4 or 5 long weekends next year so I'm sure we'll explore those new places.

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is a beautiful country. We hired a driver for the week who drove us around to several cities so we saw the mountains and the beaches. It's crazy how little we see other tourists, even in the 'touristy' areas. If you've ever thought about going, now's the time before it blows up with tourism and becomes another Thailand. After the tsunami hit in 2004, there's been a sharp decrease in tourism which has kept the country poor. The people are incredibly friendly and are not short of using the Indian head bob. Sri Lanka reminds me a lot like Indian but much less intense. It's like a more relaxed version of India with far less people.

We went to this fire walking 'show'. You know where they walk across hot coals and everything. That wasn't that amazing because you see everyone walking around without shoes on the hot pavement. They also took the fire and held it on their skin. This was mental. They performed all of these 'tricks' after a short ceremony praying to whatever god will help them not burn their skin.

A walk through the tea fields.

Sri Lanka is known for it's tea plantations. Very beautiful scenery. We also went to the tea factory to see how the tea is made.

Elephant Sanctuary.

We followed these guys to the river where they went for a swim. Very entertaining. Baby elephants are cute.

This is Unawatuna- known as the 'busy, crowded' beach. As you can see, there's hardly anyone here. This is the view from our balcony. Not bad for $22/night. We also stayed on a deserted beach where our bungalows were the only thing for miles. Very remote, very quiet, very relaxing.

traditional Sri lankan dancing.

Like all of southern Asia, monkeys are everywhere!

Whale wataching was the most unexpected event of the trip. We just happened to read something about it in The Book (reference to our lonely planet sri lanka book) and asked our driver who set the thing up for us. You have to take a tiny boat to the middle of the ocean- it takes about 2 hours to get out there. Unbelievable how close we got to them. We even saw the top of a blue whale. These animals move so beautifully in the water and it's hard to believe something so big exists.

Pulau Ubin

We went out yesterday to another island. To get there, you have to take a small boat that waits for 12 people before it leaves. Not a problem since there were 8 of us and several people go out there for the day to hike and bike. It was pretty hot, but a nice bike ride and then hike around the island. The island is nothing like Singapore which is what we kept saying. It felt like we were in Malaysia.

Pretty flowers.

We stopped here for a drink

The water was soo blue!

One-armed crabs!! They just use the 1 claw for fighting.

Getting our bikes.... S$10/day = US$8

Later we went to see Hall Pass at the movies which was funnier than I thought it would be. I can't believe how cheap going to the movies is here! Our movie tickets were S$10=US$8 each which is the most expensive price I've ever seen here. And I got a large popcorn and 2 large cokes for S$8= US$6! I should note that the 'large' size is probably a medium back in the States because Americans love to overeat. We have 2 friends going to the States this summer (they are from New Zealand) and we've been telling them what to expect and they just don't believe the portions will be as big as we say. They are also super pumped about Taco Bell, Walmart and baseball. All very exciting American experiences.

What it's really like here....

I know I've posted pics on FB, but I wanted to describe what life is really like....

There's always something to do. Last weekend we went for a bike ride along the coast with some friends. On the left-hand side is the ocean. As we went along, we came upon an Ironman triathlon. Kinda makes me want to train for another marathon.... There are sooo many races here- just about every weekend.

Downtown at night. Playing with color.

As we walked along the harbor, we stumbled upon a free outdoor concert. It seems like there's some sort of concert or something going on. On Sunday nights about twice a month the symphony plays in the Botanic Gardens which is about a 5 minute walk away. Families bring their kids and dogs and picnic on the grass. This is one of my favorite things- bottle of wine, cheese, crackers, hummus, fresh fruit, good friends = great lil Sunday night.

It's a very cool city. There's such an international flavor which is amazing to see families from basically all parts of the world strolling along the river. As we were walking along the water, we couldn't help but compare it to Egypt. The thing that we just couldn't believe is how quiet it was downtown. There are people everywhere, but it's just so nice and peaceful. Unlike the tackiness of the Nile River which screams for attention. Sometimes I think you go through certain experiences just to appreciate other experiences. Without living in Cairo, I don't think I would appreciate Singapore as much as I do.

Living in the tropics can also have a few surprises.... like this lovely fellow found in our parking lot!! Apparently pythons are not very dangerous. However, there are cobras on this island. I've been told that you might see a big snake when you're walking in tall grass or off trails. However, this one was in found in the middle of the city next to a car!!

There are snails everywhere! I always forget to take pictures of them. As a kid I remember loving to play with these guys and had them race. The snails here are the biggest that I've ever seen. They are literally everywhere after a long rain. One morning, it was dark and I went for a walk through the neighborhood and I was looking at the street signs, not looking at the sidewalk....and CRUNCH. I already knew before I could look down that the worst had happened and I had stepped on my shelled friend.

"Wow, I didn't know your hair was frizzy." - Owen after the first day we were in Singapore. Yes, it's a battle of the frizz. I've had a few friends try straightening their hair with Brazilian Blowout which I'm thinking about trying. I'm not sure if this is scientific or not, but everyone talks about how quickly your hair grows here. So even if you have a bad haircut, it's grown out in a week or two.

It's always hot. There will never be a need for a jacket. However, that also means you can swim year round. I only wear shorts and dresses which makes it easy when deciding what to wear. Sometimes I long for a crisp, cool afternoon to go on a run, but that will never happen. I kinda miss having different clothes for different seasons. We don't ever have to check the weather report though. And always bring an umbrella because there might be a quick, unexpected rain shower.

Basically, life is good. There are few annoying things just like anywhere, but the positives greatly outweigh the annoyances.

Egghead likes her booky wook.

I've heard so many good things about this book. However, the first 1/2 of the book is painfully slow. I couldn't relate to a damn thing that happened. I've never been in an arranged marriage, lived in poverty, or had a baby. The 2nd half of the book got a lot better. It's about a family and their ties to India where they are from. I really enjoyed the book towards the end of it and didn't want it to finish. I wouldn't recommend the movie unless you've read the book. I don't think you'd really understand everything that goes on. After reading the entire book, I can see why this is popular for high school book lists. I could totally relate to the main character (in the last part) Sometimes you think that if you just married someone who comes from your same cultural background that this would make everything right or easier or something like that. I won't spoil the ending, but it had and interesting end.

p.s. I wouldn't watch the movie without reading the book first, and it has some weird Bollywood jokes in it too that I don't think I really appreciated or understood. I feel like you need to be Indian to understand these references. Or maybe just more in touch with the Bengali culture to appreciate it more.

Right now I'm currently listening to a book which I swore I would NEVER do.

I've been walking every day after work listening to this book. It's about maids during the Civil rights movement in the 60s in Jackson, Mississippi. It's narrated by several different women and is AMAZING! I definitely recommend this and I haven't even finished it. I love hearing the Southern accents and talk about Southern cuisine. But it's just unbelievable what happened back then. How could people really separate 'blacks' and 'whites' like that? But then I think of how so many of my friends have full time 'help' who are Filipino maids who send all their money back home and put up with crazy living conditions. Is it that different? I mean, the maids have rights now, but how many rights do they really have? Do they have the right to go see their boyfriend whenever they wish? I just read an article about a maid who was sneaking out of her apt when her employer wouldn't let her see her boyfriend. And she ended up falling from the window and dying. What are the maids rights here? And even if they have rights, they don't really have the same rights as me because they have to live with their employer. It's been interesting to read while living in a place where EVERYONE has a full time live-in maid. My friends seem to be super nice to their helpers. The important thing is to remember that you are not better than anyone else, especially if you are better paid. And just be grateful for what you have. Don't ever take it for granted.

While I've been listening to that book, I've also been reading this one. It's a true story of a family who runs a zoo in Poland during the Holocaust. Every time I read a book on the Holocaust, I just can't believe that this happened. How did this happen? How did people support this? Unbelievable. Just like "Separate but equal", Apartheid, slavery, Jim Crow laws and the KKK. How did this ever happen?! Again, I'm so grateful to be educated and have such an easy life. I've never had to fight for my basic rights(except my right not to be sexual harassed in Egypt), but I've really never known what it means to struggle for basic freedoms. I'm so blessed.

Upcoming....

TRIPS!!

So excited.... got a long stretch of work until April 15th. Then a week in Sri Lanka!!

Then a long weekend in Penang!!

Then Perhenthian Islands for a week in June!!

Then..... a month in South Africa!!!

Although life in Singapore is not bad at all.... pretty excited about being here for Lion King(3rd row tickets!!), Macbeth, Jimmy Eat World, Sara Bareilles, etc.