Exciting Day- Istana and Otaku House

Though I didn't want to leave the house (like a lazy butt) today, I'm really glad my mother made me go to Istana with her. Istana is the President's palace here in Singapore, and it's beautiful. The grounds and first floor are only open once in a while, so it was very busy today. Within the palace, we saw a lot of gifts from other countries given to Singapore. I must say, Vietnam, Thailand and India sent the prettiest gifts. I'm a little disappointed in the good old US of A... why were the bowls we gave Singapore like, plain white? It's a little boring next to the gold-work on every other country's stuff. Oh well. I really enjoyed Istana.

I took some vloggity type stuff (borrowing Philip DeFranco's phrasing), which I will post once I finish stringing it together. Why I take 25 second clips is still above my level of intelligence.

After Istana, we went to Plaza Singapura. Since I knew Otaku House was there, I dragged my mother up to the 7th floor.

Now I'm going into nerd mode. Don't want to hear it? Skip this:

They had everything I could possibly imagine for a cosplay store! They had katana, wigs, costumes, and accessories. I found a blue wig cut perfectly for Hikaru (Angelic Layer), so I intend to order it in pink for my upcoming costume. Also, they can order me a Japan (Kiku Honda, Hetalia) costume. They actually had a Germany (Ludwig, Hetalia) costume on a hanger- I started fangirling like a loser. Something tells me the shopkeeper wasn't too happy to deal with me. The one thing I already dislike about cosplay is how much everything is. The costume will be around $100, wig around $40. Ugh. Then I have to make the Hikaru costume, which will probably cost me $80. Thankfully, I baby-sit for families that have 2-3 kids! Otherwise, I think I'd have to manage to get a job. Which I'm not certain I can legally do because I'm here on a DP (dependent pass).

End of Otaku House/cosplay gush.

In short, today was a pretty awesome day. I haven't really done any homework this long weekend (Lunar New Year), which I'm already regretting. Whatever. I have found some new music I really like though. I seem to be mixing my Goth rock obsession with Metal. Doesn't quite make sense, but that's okay.

Then there's the random J-pop thrown in there. Aren't I a bundle of contradictions?

You Know You're an Expat When...

Wow, I've had a really long, busy week. Sorry I haven't been posting, but school keeps getting in my way. Anyways, I officially joined Tech Crew and am having a lot of fun meeting new people and learning about tech itself. While I'm not terribly good backstage, I'm decent with sound and with lighting.

My dad got home today and brought back lots of stuff with him. Such as American M&M's. I know that may sound weird, but Australian M&M's (which are sold here) taste like wax. They're gross. American Chapstick, Olay face cream, and gum. Yup, I know that sounds really typical and uninteresting.

But you're not an expat, and you've probably never used the strange local Chapstick they sell here!

10 Things

Because I'm too lazy to do a proper update...

1. Started new dance classes on Saturday at Dance Ensemble Singapore
2. Realised that due to Chinese New Year, I will miss a whole month of classes at DES
3. Did all my homework but Chinese homework this weekend
4. Discovered in law class that I'm quite Utilitarianist (apparently not a proper word)
5. Therefore, the whole class full of senior deadbeat males does not like me
6. Had crepes at school. Twice. Yum!
7. Had imported-from-USA creme soda in school!!
8. Successfully walked into a wall while talking to a friend
9. Joined Tech Club this week and got 4 service hours. All I really did was move a chair and push some buttons.
10. Managed to not fall asleep at school at all last week.

PSATs, Careers, Procastination

Well, I don't want to do my Molecular Biology homework even though it's due tomorrow and it's currently 10pm.

I got my PSAT score today! I'm not going to post the mark, but it's not as bad as I expected it to be. I sort of ran out of patience for the test at some points and bubbled random answers. Which is exactly NOT what one is supposed to do. This got me thinking about college again, and I've decided to try to go to a college in the UK.

In that case, it would be University. Basically, in the British system one goes directly into one's major instead of waffling about during Freshman year.  This quite possibly means I would never have to take science again. A few years ago this may have made me sad, but after some really awful science courses (including my current one) I think it's safe to say I don't like science. So, in my constant quest to decide what I want to be when I grow up, I've searched the internet for information. While it would be cool to become an ambassador, I think I'll end up getting a PhD in History of some sort with the intent to teach at post-secondary level. Doesn't that sound fancy?

Another option is law, but my current law class is so boring I don't know if I could do law for a living. Also, the American justice system just seems kind of weird to me now that I know more about it. So maybe no law for me.

Regarding Bali photos... heh... I haven't had the time to sort through them. Homework depending, it will happen over the weekend. I'm sorry.

Deaf

On Friday night and yesterday afternoon I attended two different Chinese dance classes at two different schools. Both were taught almost entirely in Singaporean Chinese, which is pretty different than Beijing Chinese. It's difficult for me to follow basic, everyday conversations in Chinese in general. Needless to say, both dance classes were almost impossible for me to follow. Thank goodness I could watch other people and follow along. I wouldn't know for sure, but I think it was like being deaf. It's not like I couldn't see their mouths moving or anything, I just couldn't really make sense of it. So, it was like not being able to hear anything at all.

Kind of makes it difficult to learn Chinese dance, I guess. Unfortunately I'm not white and can't use that as my excuse. Instead, I just have to say my parents are American and blah blah blah.  It's too bad really, because then teachers can't get past that I don't understand what they're saying. I'm not blind, darn it. I can watch what they're doing. It's just not easy to convince them to give me a chance.

That's not the problem here, though. I think the most difficult part about trying to dance at a local school is that the girls chatter away in Singapore-Chinese too. It's kind of annoying.

Anyways, it's the last day of Winter Break and I have to go to bed. School starts 2 hours late tomorrow, which is pretty nice.

Lazy Days

So, I literally have been sitting around watching the news most of today. Okay, the news, and YouTube videos. Feeling bad about doing nothing so here's a picture of me surfing in Bali. Don't I look like I know what I'm doing?

Had dinner at this restaurant across the street from our apartment called Le Villa or The Villa or something. It was really good- the high end counterpart to Cafe Luigi's!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

My family and I welcomed the new year standing on the side walk watching fireworks by Marina Bay Sands. Which seems incredibly interesting, I know. 

Actually, there's a story as to why we weren't on, I don't know, a Duck Tour Boat.

So, after waiting around yesterday at Suntec City after eating dinner at a bar that played music-that-is-awkward-to-listen-to-when-parents-are-around, my family got ready to board a Duck Tour Boat to see the fireworks. This involved avoiding random puddles of sick and wandering Suntec City aimlessly. There were a total of five Duck Tour boats to enter Marina Bay. Anyways, we got on the boat thing alright and made our way down to the water. I'm sure we looked really cool with the flashing lights and everything, going down the street. Just as we were about to enter the water, the boat behind us hits us (not very hard) from behind. Everyone on our boat suffered whiplash to some degree, and I think the other boat felt it too. So, my dad and a few others really insisted on going back to shore. 

1. We got a full refund

2. No one was seriously hurt

3. I'm not doing Duck Tours at night again. I won't rule out the company entirely, but night doesn't seem to be a great idea.

Anyways, we were stuck with headaches and no real place to see the fireworks. Thankfully, there was this sidewalk area that lots of other people were standing at that had a good view. 

Not exactly how I expected to ring in the New Year, but it wasn't terrible.

When I got home, I sat on my butt and watched fireworks go off in other cities. This whole "sat on my butt and..." pattern kept up in the afternoon and evening, because I've been watching the news a lot lately. The recaps of 2011 that have been playing on the news are quite good, though rather depressing. 

This afternoon I went to the National Palace Museum because they had a Musée d'Orsay Paris exhibit. There were over a hundred famous pieces of artwork on display including some by Monet, Degas and van Gogh. I really enjoyed it.

So, the New Year so far is pretty darn good overall (the Duck Boat thing happened in 2011). 

Except there was a 7.0 earthquake in Tokyo and I'm going there in a bit over a month. Lovely. 

Well, Happy New Year! Don't forget, we all die at the end of this year so I hope everyone partied :)