Best Eats According to Natalie

When I was walking home from the MRT with a bubble tea cup in hand, I started thinking about all the wonderful food in Singapore- and how I'll have to say goodbye to it all in about two months! That made me very sad, but this list will not. Here's my list of favourite places to eat (and what I get)!

Food:

Roti Prata: My school does decent roti prata, but there's a Muslim food stall in Newton that makes prata that's sort of like cake. Super thick, chewy, and the curry is awesome!
Chicken Rice: Boon Tong Key is awesome. I find that mall hawkers are good, but the stuff that's $3 or less and comes wrapped in paper beats it every time.
Laksa: The stall in ION is pretty good. I only eat this once in a while.
Chili Crab: Jumbo's is good. So is No Signboard Seafood. Also, Long Beach.
TWG: It has surprisingly good food, though pricy. The smoked salmon and lamb is notable.
Ban Mee: It's soup. It's heavenly. Also, it's super filling.
Chicken Congee: I get this at chicken rice places sometimes. I have no idea why people think salty rice porridge with chicken and oil floating on top is weird. It's wonderful.
"Veggie"-- I'm pretty certain this stuff is bok choy. Who cares when it has oyster sauce on it?
Chicken wings: BBQ'd and greasy, best eaten outside.
Kuay Teow: Thick noodles, lots of bean sprouts and mysterious green veggie, and chicken. Mr. Ho's at school is such a guilty pleasure.
Char siew noodles: Chinese prepared pork, these funky elastic-y noodles, and mystery sauce of tasty.



Snacks:
Old Chang Kee-- Curry-O (curry puff with chicken, egg and potato)
BreadTalk: The cheesy sausage bun is so bad for you, but so good. Also Black Pearl when they have it.
To be honest, I don't normally eat savoury snacks.


Sweets:
Macaroons: TWG has pretty good tea themed ones, but you can get tasty ones throughout the island if you don't mind paying like $2.50 each.
Kue things: Not sure what the real name for these are, but they are funny jelly things that are normally brightly coloured. Often found at fruit stands.
Mochi Sweets: Strawberry, peach, and green tea mochi with cream inside!
Pulot Hitam: Black rice soup with condensed milk and sometimes ice cream. Maybe an acquired taste. My aunt said it looked like drowned ants, but its really good.

Frozen Treats:
Bread Ice Cream: Find along Orchard Road for $1. Slice of ice cream in a piece of rainbow bread
Ice Kachang: Local thing with lots of colour and various Asian goodies. The aunties at Great World City sometimes give me extra condensed milk on mine
Frozen Yogurt: Great World City has like 3 frozen yogurt places. I like the self-serve one or Yoguru the best.
Gelatissimo: YUM. Expensive as heck, but wow.


Drinks:
Gong Cha-- Regular bubble tea, Lemon Calpis
ShareTea-- Strawberry Ice Tea. Unnatural colour, but yummy!
Each-a-Cup: Milk tea ice-blended, basically any ice blended (kinda like a slushy)
Toast Box: Teh and Kopi (tea and coffee with condensed milk)
Sjora: Passion fruit flavoured drink. I get it when I go to Yoshinoya sometimes.
TWG: Fancy teas in a pretty pot. I like "dancing tea" and "princess tea"
Lime Juice: Find anywhere. Different than American lime juice. Its cousin calamansi juice is also wonderful.

Singaporeans?

Isn't this an interesting point of view? It's worth watching the whole thing, or at least getting through her major points. The fact that she's going out and speaking her mind on this is pretty amazing. She says it better than what I can say myself, from a Singaporean point of view. Being an expat, I've had this impression of Singaporeans for a while. Also, she's wicked talented, so you should check out her videos even though she doesn't have many.

That being said, I think Singapore is still a nicer place than New England at times. If this girl thinks Singaporeans are rude, she's obviously seen the eyes-forward-no-stopping-almost-sprint that is the New England gait. New Englanders are often seen as the rudest/meanest in the USA, but they are ultimately tough cookies.

The creativity thing is something to note, though. I'm in Chingay parade as a travelling dancer with my school, and I have to note that the Singaporean costumes are amazing. However, many are extremely traditionally based with only minor alternations. Singaporeans may be able to put on a great show, but it's not a creative show. The music (excerpt of lyrics: "we are so happy to be here today"), the reassurance that together as a country we are great... I'm all for national pride (and heaven's knows cultural cleavage rich Singapore needs it), but it's laid on thick and gets swallowed like cod-liver oil.
Also, the American group (us) is the only travelling group dance that I'm aware of that changes formation. Isn't that strange?

Make of this video what you will. I thought it was worth talking about.

Annoying Things About Singapore

Well, I don't know if these things are exclusive to Singapore, but they sure do seem to happen a lot around here.

The first thing that drives me crazy is the SLOW service! The other day I went to Koi Tea in the basement of 313 Somerset, and it took me 10 minutes to get my drink! The place seemed a bit understaffed and no one seemed to really care that people were standing around and tsking. Restaurants will let you sit for ages before asking for your order, and good luck getting the bill. It's not everywhere, but slow service happens too often to not consider it part of living here.

Another thing that really annoys me is when people stop on the bottom/top of the escalator to check their phone. It's quite dangerous at best when there are loads of people, not to mention really inconsiderate. Check your darn handphone somewhere else, please!

Can't forget about the general attitude people have when they don't have something/are too lazy to check. I've been in stores where I've asked if they had a product, and the salesperson would say no. After a bit of digging around, I've often been able to find it! Seriously now, I thought you were trying to make money....

This isn't really any person's fault, but here in Singapore your hair will act totally haywire. My mom looked like a lion, and I think it took two years before my hair looked decent. I've learned now to avoid aircon when possible and don't go outside with your hair even remotely damp, but it's super annoying.

Imported things. Everything here is imported, which I don't mind. But I do really hate being told to buy this or that because it was made in Germany or the USA or wherever. And of course they mark up the price to crazy heights when something is French or Italian.

Looping conversations. This is pretty common at restaurants or with service people in which you ask a question, get no response, and have to keep rephrasing it until you get the "I'm not sure" answer you suspected. Ugh.

Seems about accurate. I probably sound like a little spoiled princess, but sometimes you need things done quickly and accurately!

Singapore Weather in the Nutshell

Well, it's been a couple of days since my last post. There hasn't been a whole lot going on lately since the show is over and I've been coming home every day after school at 4. It's a little weird, but last night I went to bed at 10:30 so I am not complaining at all!

Anyways, Singapore has had its fair share of rubbish weather. It's been cool for the past week or so by Singapore standards, and definitely less humid. We haven't seen the sun in its full tropical glory for a while now, and its been raining/drizzling a lot. Oddly enough, I've been wanting to wear sweatshirts and long pants all the time. Evidently my blood has gotten thin-- and I'm not too pleased with myself as a result. In MA, anything above 50 F is shorts weather (if you are a teenage girl, that is).

Well, the crappy grey weather has got me thinking about Singapore weather overall. There are a few types for sure worth mentioning.

1. It's so hot you want to die
2. Steamy like a sauna
3. Crappy and overcast (relatively rare)
4. Windy and cool (occasional evenings)
5. Rain Varieties
1. It's drizzling... generally means that soon it will be....
1. Pouring
2. Deluge
3. Impossible to see because of the rain
4. So heavy you can probably swim to wherever you want to go
6. Thundering
1. In the distance
2. So loud you think the storm is right over you
3. Like the cloud is personally above your head
4. Ready to burst your eardrums
7. Lightning
1. Lighting up the sky in the distance
2. All cool looking
3. Too close for comfort
4. Hitting a lightning rod/building near you

Yup! Seems accurate :D

The "Lovely" School Bus

Okay, let's start out this blog post with a quick quiz.

1) If you are a bus auntie (lady who supervises kids on school bus) and one of the children throws up from carsickness, what is the appropriate response?
 
a) clean up the mess
b) comfort the child
c) ignore the problem
d) spray aerosol air freshener on the child in question
e) two out of the five of these

2) If you are riding the bus, what is the appropriate response to a child throwing up from carsickness?

a) sympathise
b) move away from the mess
c) mock the child
d) scream "WHO PUKED?!" over and over again
e) complain that the bus smells
f) three of the five of these


If you picked answers "e" and "f", then congratulations! You passed the quiz. In regards to question 1, the correct two responses were "a" and "d", and question 2 was "c", "d" and "e". Now that you understand how my Monday morning went, let me tell the full story.


There was a really big accident on PIE today which caused the buses to take a massive detour, which was really awful. We went all the way out to Jurong, on really bumpy roads that could use some work. Thankfully we didn't get stuck like some kids (some got in at 8:30), but the ride was less then pleasant. Aside from feeling like I was on a roller coaster, someone got carsick. I don't blame the kid because I thought I was going to get sick too, but the response was less than impressive.

Really, bus auntie? You're going to spray the poor kid with aerosol air freshener? Does anyone else find this really ridiculous, and NOT a good solution at all? Follow that up with the nasty kid's reaction, and the poor kid must have felt really awful. I find the children on my bus to be rude and mean to each other (as well as impossibly loud) while this year's bus auntie is just rather of incompetent.


Oh well. Only one more year in this school

Things You Don't Care About Living Here

Since it's Thanksgiving back in the USA right now, I've been reading a lot of "I'm so thankful for this and that and blahblahblah" posts. They're nice and all, but they've reminded me of things we don't have here (and don't care about). 

1. Local Food. It's great in America that you can get local farm foods and whatnot, but that doesn't really exist here. I think you can get eggs and some green leafy vegetables grown here, and that's it. Everything is imported, and quite frankly, Singapore likes it that way. Why eat Malaysian stuff when you can get European cheese, Japanese or Thai rice, or New Zealand milk? I used to care about eating local in America, but it's just not possible now. 
2. Eating Organically. There's some organic food here for sure, but it's super expensive. The only things we eat organically are generally the stuff we can't find in general, like almond milk or something. There's organic peanut butter that's pretty good, but other than that... you just can't care about eating organic unless you want to pay an arm and a leg. Singapore isn't quite there yet in the organic movement- mostly because of the first point above, and also because Singaporeans just can't pay for it. 
3. Mosquito fogging. In America I know it's rather controversial because of pesticides and harm to children and whatever else they want to fuss about. Here it's normal, get over it. It's that or dengue, and dengue sucks way worse. 
4. Super divided rich-poor gap based on race. It's so deeply engrained into the culture here that you don't really think about it. The Tamil Indian men are construction workers, the Indonesian women are helpers, etc. White people are normally expats or tourists-- and always considered rich. 
5. Escalator safety. In America most people stand forwards and hold onto the railing, right? Well in Singapore couples face each other and talk/kiss. It's just a thing. 
6. "Other people". When I lived in America I remember a very strong mentality of worrying about what "other people" are doing. There was this constant threat of "other people" stealing this or that, or harming you in general. While this mentality does exist amongst some, it's not as prominent here. This one is hard to explain, but basically people don't walk around thinking others are out to get them. There aren't super-locks or weird "keep strangers away" machines here.

Well, that seems pretty accurate. Hope my readers in the USA had an awesome Thanksgiving and ate lots of turkey and pie. Before you ask, yes, you can find turkeys here, but your oven may not be big enough to hold your typical thousand-pound saline-pumped American bird. The American club and a few hotels do a pretty nice spread, but personally I'm a fan of chilli crab!

Singaporean Taxis

Well, here's a topic I haven't covered that really should have been done ages ago. Singaporean taxis are a spectrum. There are different varieties and situations that come up, and some are better than others.
For example, getting home from East Coast Seafood was complicated. The taxi driver was coughing something awful and only picked up "River Valley Road" from the whole darn conversation. Only after I started talking, changed my accent,  and said "lah" did we actually get home. So that was pretty special.

Here are the basic types of taxis:

1. The chatty ones. There are a few subcategories to this one. 
1. Interviewers ones want to know where you are from, what you do with your life, why you are here, where you go to school, etc. They might as well ask your social security number. 
2. Tour guides. They think you're new to Singapore and some actually offer helpful tips.
3. Nostalgic missing-old-Singapore-ones. Some are okay, some are not.
4. Ranting about stuff ones. THE WORST OF THE CHATTY
2. The silent ones Does this taxi drive itself?
3. The smelly taxis. What the heck does this thing smell of? Pandan? Vomit? Food? Cigarette? Do I even want to know?
4. The lost one. Seriously, when did you start driving taxis again? Half the time they don't even know how to use their GPS systems. 
5. The sneaky ones. They try to take the long routes until you tell them otherwise. 
6. The creepy ones. I don't appreciate you glancing back at me all the time. Eyes on the road, please. 
7. The good ones. The nice, friendly driver who takes you where you want to go and engages in small talk until you are clearly both done talking. 

Also, it's Thanksgiving! I had chilli and pepper crab ^.^

Great World City

I've been talking about GWC a lot lately, so I figured a post about it would be appropriate. 

Great World City is a shopping centre not terribly far away from where I live that I go to almost every day. My bus drops me off outside of it and I walk for a while... and that's all the detail you get about where I live (though in all honesty diligent readers of this blog could probably find roughly where I live within a few kilometre radius). Anyways, I've been there a TON lately getting snacks and dinner lately, so I figured I'd talk about the place. 

There are a lot of different shops at GWC from shoes to clothes, and the upstairs area has a movie theatre (that I don't go to very often, I head to Plaza Singapura for that) and general children's activities. While it doesn't have high end brands, it has pretty much everything else you would ever need. Banks, bubble tea, Breadtalk, Fond, a nice steak place called Pepper... you name it, it's probably there. One notable weird thing about it though is to get into it from the second entrance walking you have to go through a bar called the Pump Room, which I've never been able to figure out because that seems like a total mood killer. Also, why are there always people there drinking, every single day of the week? I go there enough to know this to be true. 

Thank goodness they redid the bathrooms in GWC. Each floor is vaguely country themed, hence the name of the mall, but the Egypt floor used to really creep me out. Like, go-to-another-floor type of creeped out. 

Anyways, they have a decent food court in the basement (and other yummy things) that I'm really tired of because I feel like I eat there at least once a week. Regarding eating, eating dinner alone is stupidly lonely and pathetic. It always seems like everyone else has someone to talk to or really cute kids to mind, while I sit there with my bags and food just shovelling it in my mouth so I can go home. Meep. They used to have an awesome noodle place, but it shut down. However they do have a Taiyaki shop (its days are probably limited, like the soya milk place next door and the prata place that already closed) which is kind of interesting. GWC also has a Jollibean (The peanut stuff from there is great, everything else is thoroughly underwhelming), Sharetea (they recognise me), and a pie place that doesn't sell anything but chicken pies. It's really weird. 

So, that's actually a decent insight into life here in Singapore. Random stuff that normally has its own building, like a bank or post office (though I don't think there's one in GWC) are in shopping centres. The doors blast you with Arctic wind when you walk in, which is really annoying when it's raining out. You see people of all walks of life there all the time, and there's often a really, really lost tourist. 

Well, I should do homework now. This was a good little distraction from the fact that the first show of Alice is tomorrow! AH!

Sleepy Dormouse and Other Things

I think I'm becoming my character in Alice. See, I'm the dormouse, which basically means I sleep at every opportunity possible. Thankfully I don't snore or hibernate because that would be pretty inconvenient. Anyways, show week is always incredibly tiring. I'm stressed and life has taken a backseat to dance, which isn't too bad except I'm really sore. Also, I showed my dance teacher my audition piece for IASAS dance (which is basically our varsity team), which was nerve-racking. The other day I performed for little children, and thought that was scary. Nope! An empty studio, an iPod that has a mind of its own, and a dance teacher is a much scarier situation. It worked out though, and I know the thing will work out at the end of the day.

I've noticed a couple of weird things about living here lately. The first is that Singapore's cool-and-muggy temperature might actually be more miserable the blazing heat. See, humidity is nasty, while heat is avoidable. Second, bugs. There was a cockroach in the dressing room yesterday (there was lots of screaming), indicating that people were bringing food down there. Bugs are out to get you and your belongings here. Don't hide snacks in your desk or you'll get ants. Throw everything in plastic bags, seal everything off, and be careful about things being left out. The third thing I've really noticed is that there is a rhyme and reason as to when people are in shopping centres, but I still haven't figured out exactly why. I go to Great World City a lot after school, and there always seem to be various families, old people and business people there. Sundays are family days, Saturday is shopping day, Sunday any time at Tanglin is pregnant women day, and the weekdays are seemingly more random. Yup, sounds like Singapore.

*yawn* I'm tired. Time for Tea!

Things I Like About Singapore

Yesterday, I went out and about for the first time in a while. It got me thinking about how cool Singapore actually is all things considered. So, here's a little list. It's not necessarily in order!

1. I can buy bubble tea at almost any shopping centre. That's pretty neat. I love that stuff, even though it's super unhealthy!
2. The shopping here is pretty darn good. I don't know anywhere else where the are huge shopping malls built next to each other down a whole big long road. 
3. I can buy $3 chicken rice that tastes absolutely amazing.
4. Pepper Lunch, the biggest accident waiting to happen with hot plates that you take from the stall to your seat. It's delicious, but probably doesn't exist in America for fear of lawsuits. If you go to a country where you can get it, try it!
5. In general the food here is amazing. The Chinese food is rocking, Malay stuff everywhere, local candies are tasty, and the lime juice is profoundly Asian. In a good way, of course. 
6. It rains a lot. Yeah, sometimes it's a pain, and the mosquitos suck, but big thunderstorms are awesome. Until you get stuck in one. 
7. The MRT. I don't know if it's the best in the world, but it's pretty darn good. It's better than Boston's or New Yorks BY FAR. I've taken the London Tube and it's not bad either, but Singapore's quiet MRT is really nice. 
8. The radio. For the most part they aren't totally up to date with music over here, so we get a lot of early 2000/1990s pop. And the commercials are shorter and don't make you want to pull your hair out. 
9. The freedom here. Singapore is pretty safe, and as a teenager I'm allowed to go out and about with friends. If you get lost, call a taxi! 
10. Being able to travel around South East Asia. If I lived in America, a trip to Thailand over spring break would be a crazy idea. Super expensive, long flight, and generally complicated. Yet, next week my mom and I are spending three nights in Bangkok. Not too bad at all!

So, there are definitely good aspects of living here. I feel like I've been posting mostly negative stuff lately because applying for college and dealing with the Crucible was hectic, but things are better now. My SAT score should hopefully get me into college, which was the biggest relief ever. 

Things are looking up at last! Just have to finish my application, send it in, then WAIT!



Also, I just started a new blog. I think I know where I'm going to be taking it, but not completely certain. If it gets overly personal/hard to deal with then it may not live long, but whatever.

www.asiaticadoptee.blogspot.sg

I think the URL indicates what it is about fairly well. 

I'm Not Mad... Yet

I do not know where to begin with this post, but I know I need to clear my head. Everything seems to be getting busy this week and it's rather tiring. The dance show is a mess and the only part of it that looks decent is the Tea Party (woohoo!) apparently.

Today was a weird day in general. There was a big accident on the PIE, my friend's bus got rear-ended, my dad brought home a heartbreaking story about a family separated thanks to deporting a woman for a non-contagious disease.

I'm exhausted. Senior year is a drain, and aspects of it make me want to cry. High school has not been the worst experience ever (that crown forever goes to Middle School), but there are aspects of it that destroy my faith in humanity every day. The amount I hear about who is dating who, who is wearing what, and who did this or that over the weekend makes me want to pull my hair out. Sometime I feel like a Vulcan surrounded by annoying humans. Live long and prosper...  At least I'm going to Turkey in February, otherwise I don't think I'd have motivation to do much of anything but daydream.

I don't know if I've ever discussed my personality type on here, but I'm an INTP. Apparently it's fairly uncommon for women to be INTP, and it's the direct opposite of the ideal woman (according to some articles on the internet). I'm not sure if this bothers me or not, but I have noticed recently that I think differently than other students around me. The level of emotion, morality and compassion other people use in their arguments flabbergast me on a routine basis. Is there no logic in this world anymore? Does it really matter how organised and cutesy your notes are as long as you learn something from them? Also, what is with small talk. You blab about useless things that you are forgetting as soon as you hear. Can't people talk about more useful things than the weather, if the classroom is cold or not, etc?
ARG!

At the end of the year, I'm not going to be looking back at high school wishing I was still here. I'm ready to move on and talk to people who can think outside the box (that's not just high school, it seems like everyone here has no sense of creativity).

Silence

Today, I am scared. Someone I once called a friend has a drinking problem. I fear she will drink herself to death. Even though she and I are no longer close, I do not want to lose her.

We are too young to lose ourselves to a bottle of whiskey or vodka or whatever other inebriating substance we can get our hands on. Just because here in Singapore the drinking age is 18 (and let's face it, loads of younger people drink), doesn't mean we should. There is more to life than a few hours having fun feeling drunk. There's love, pain, dreams, disasters, trials, errors, achievement, failure... more than I could ever state on a blog.

I used to hope that maybe this girl was crumbling to peer pressure, and after the main source dried up, she'd be alright again.

I was mistaken. I don't know if it's technically an addiction in her case, but I believe it is. I fear what she'll do when she feels there are no limits. I can only hope that someone will take care of her, and am fortunate that people have been. Yet, people's patience can get used up. There may not always be people around for her. When she is alone- that is when I fear for her the most.

If you make yourself vulnerable under the influence, you are increasing your chances of something bad happening to you. Alcohol poisoning. Choking on your own vomit. Getting hit by a car because you thought it was a good idea to run into traffic. The list goes on: disgusting, horrific ways to die a young death.

Friend, forgive me.

But I had to tell someone. I don't want to stand up at your funeral and have to tell the truth.

That I knew...

...and said nothing.

My Dad Likes Geckos! But....

Here's a quick little story about why living in Singapore is often quite amusing. See, my father and I are pretty certain there's a sort of "Gecko Season" that occurs about the same time as the rainy season. When this season occurs, there are lots of rather good-sized geckos running around (and some small ones too). We know for certain there are a couple living in the kitchen, and there may be one who hangs out in my bathroom (but not confirmed). Anyways, yesterday morning was a little bit of an event.

Every morning, my dad fixes me breakfast before I come out of my room. Yesterday morning when he opened the plate cabinet, a really big gecko fell out and landed on a tea-jar. By the time my dad has processed what he was seeing, the gecko had disappeared. We then proceeded to have a pretty normal morning. However, after he sent me off to school he went to go take a nap (which he does every morning). Lying down on one side, my dad felt something move on his opposite hip. It wasn't a muscle twitch.

IT WAS THE GECKO!

That thing was hanging out on his pyjama pants for easily half an hour, and he didn't squish it!

So yes, my dad likes geckos... to a point.

Heartbroken

There are awesome parts about being an expat here in Singapore. I've explored that pretty well here on this blog- the food, the places, the school, the people. There are also things that are a lot harder here than they are elsewhere. See, I'm from a small town in Massachusetts. There are definitely exceptions to this, but for the most part, most kids go to university somewhere in New England. Even though they are "on their own", family and friends are never more than a couple of hours away. 

However, kids here in Singapore don't have that luxury. While some kids go back to Korea or India of wherever they are from, most go to the United States. That's 18 hours away by plane, and halfway around the world for general purposes. It's really exciting to go "back to America". Some kids haven't been back in years. We go from one bubble to another- the Singapore bubble to the privileged youth able to attend top universities in the United States bubble. It's pretty darn cool, when you think about it.

However, Nick flies out on Monday. Today was the last time I get to see him in a long while. 

I have concluded that I have never known heartbreak prior to today. 

Day One Done

I meant to post during lunch today, but I figured my time would be better spent doing some homework in the library. Oops. Well, today was the first day of my senior year, and it was.... underwhelming.

There have been a lot of changes at SAS for this new school year. Three main ones stick out to me in particular.

1. There are LCD screens around the school with a constant international news feed. It's pretty fancy.
2. The dress code changed so on free dress day we either have to wear uniform bottoms, or long pants. My question is: what about skirts and dresses? I was planning on wearing a pink polka dot dress next Wednesday, so we'll see how that goes.
3. Our grading system got more "learning based" and less "score based". That means that we get graded on everything from 0-9 (though 0 means you didn't turn it in) and that somehow works out to our GPAs. Many seniors aren't too thrilled as it eliminates A- grades. I personally think it's a little weird because it's not out of 10. Shifting my school's culture from every little percentage point mattering to this will be interesting.

In terms of the day itself... it was interesting. There isn't a "rush day" anymore where you run to all your classes, which was a bit strange. I had two AP courses and Chinese II today.

I was really lonely today. I've been with my boyfriend for almost a year and a half, and not having him with me was extremely weird. In addition, my own mediocre decision to do homework during lunch left me largely by myself today. I suppose I've learned something for tomorrow!

Beginnings of the Last Chapter

Tomorrow is the last first day of high school for me. It's the start of my senior year, my third year at SAS. A huge part of me just wants to head off to university already. However, I'm also really glad to be a senior this year. There are definite perks- wearing the red shirt, prancing around in a senior sweatshirt, and showing off what university I chose in a uni sweatshirt once I get accepted.

Moving to Singapore was the biggest change of my life. As a small-town girl from a New England town, moving to a modern, tropical city was massively different. I don't get in the car when I want to go somewhere- I hop on the MRT or try (and probably fail) to navigate the bus system. Taxis are commonplace here, while virtually unheard of in a town with an old Unitarian Church as its real "centre". There'a British English instead of America, which has slowly seeped into my spelling and phrasings. The heat can't be forgotten, nor the smell that I simply associate with "Asia". Singapore has become a home to me, but not "my home", if you will. 

When I was out with my boyfriend today (who graduated last year), I realised that this blog is going to come to an end some day. I haven't quite decided when that is yet, but I don't have to. However, being "Sent to Singapore" only involves three years of my life. The next blog I write will be about wherever I end up, US or UK. I'll figure this out later, but I hope I keep some of the readers that have followed me throughout this journey.

Well, time to turn the page and write the last chapter. 

Reality

Since I was a little girl, I've always been a dreamer. Part of this comes from living in a small town in which we had to know the colour of our prom dresses, what shape our wedding dresses would be, a rough outline of who we'd marry, and where we'd like to live some day. Naturally, I was going to wear a giant pink prom dress, have an even bigger wedding dress, marry someone who would treat me like a princess, and live somewhere with a garden.

Living in Singapore has changed my dreams significantly. First of all, I've been to prom twice. Neither times involved a massive poofy pink dress. Then, I don't intend to get married for a while (though I really don't want to be in my thirties like the modern trends....), and I still don't know what I want to wear for my wedding. Now, in terms of who I want to marry- still don't know. Though, I do know that he's going to have to like cute things around the house. In terms of where I want to live- not the USA, at least right now. There's so many problems with the conservative US government that I fear my rights as a woman are dwindling quickly. No thanks. 

Now, the problem with dreams is that they are hard to wake up from. Waking up is like falling out of the clouds and smashing your face on concrete. It hurts a lot, things are messy, and perspective changes. I don't know what's going to happen to my dreams, but they aren't necessarily going to come true. What I have learned recently, however, is that reality does not lie.

What you see is what you get. 

Getting Lost

This post was written yesterday, but I forgot to post it. Here it is!

Today I did a fair bit of site seeing around Singapore. Not intentionally in the slightest, of course. My friend's birthday party was today, at it started at 5pm. However, I am writing the start of this post at 5:50, on the MRT, dead late and highly irritated. 

It started out that I forgot his birthday present, which isn't good. However I should have just told him that I was going to give it to him on Monday. Instead I took a taxi home, picked up the present, and attempted to take a taxi to the right place. But I didn't know exactly where I was going, and I ended up in the NTU west campus. After a nice panic and general irritation, I got on a bus and found myself at Pioneer station. So now I'm sitting here with 2 more stops to go, hoping I'll get there eventually.  

Things I've learned today:

1. Never go home for a birthday present

2. Never assume the taxi driver knows about what you're talking about, or where you're going. 

3. There are definitely places in Singapore that I am unfamiliar with

4. Being lost sucks