It's Such A Perfect Day...

I feel like a lot has happened since my last post. I meant to update before last weekend because a bunch had happened, but now all that seems like a distant memory...one that happened so long ago that I remember the important highlights but not all the details. I keep myself too busy here (hence my lack of a regular update on this blog...although I will try to update at least once a week). So, I will try to cover my birthday/Chinese new year, the zoo/night safari, and Bintan. If I remember anything else I will throw it in.

First off: I went to a church service with Edy, and then he took me to Little India and showed me this place called the Mustafa. That place was huge! The items they had made it the equivalent of having a Sports Authority on one floor, a Publix on the next floor, a Kaminski on the next floor, a Kohls on another floor, and so on. So, it had all sorts of stuff. Apparently it started with one guy selling his stuff on his rug, and it has now become this hub for everything you could possibly want (except an American football...which I am still having problems finding). After that, I went and collected David to go to Sabin's house for a Chinese new year reunion dinner. That was really cool. We got to see what a typical family does for Chinese new year in Singapore. They got David and I a bottle of Coke to share, which of course made me happy, and they got me a small birthday cake and sang to me and everything, which was really nice. They cooked everything in a steamboat as they called it. It was a big pot of boiling water, and people just dropped what they wanted in until they felt it was cooked enough. It was delicious   :)    After talking for a while, David and I had to head out because we though the MRT was about to close. On the way back though, we got a call saying that all of our friends were at the Esplanade waiting for fireworks, which happened in about 15 minutes. I asked a girl on the MRT which exit got us to the Esplanade, and we had just missed it, so we got off at the next exit, caught another train back and got off where we should have. Then we booked it across this mall area where everything was closed and found our way to the Esplanade 2 minutes past midnight. We saw people walking away, and we got in contact with everyone. We found out that we had just missed the show, but that instead of fireworks, it was 1 firecracker. So kinda anti-climactic. Good memories nonetheless.

And next: my birthday. As I'm sure everyone reading this blog is aware of, I am now 21. Of course, in America that is a big deal. In Singapore, that's not the same...in Canada, that's not the same...in Austria, that's not the same. That covers where I'm staying and where most of my friends here are from. My friends tried to still make it a special celebration for me though, including the tradition of friends buying you your "first" alcoholic drinks. So I had a variety of stuff to try while we had an all-American grill going. David and I made burgers and hot dogs while playing loud American music. So, we made it as much like home as we could   :)   Also, Brenna and Stephanie brought both Colin and I (since Colin's birthday was the next day) waffles from the Snack Shop with everything on them (strawberry jelly, chocolate, peanut butter, and a different kind of jelly...not all together of course, but on different parts). All of this was after we went to the East Coast Park/Beach here in Singapore. That beach was gross, and we had pics taken of us and were watched at all times. Once I hit a certain depth in the water, it just felt like I was stepping on sludge. Most of my time in the water consisted of the game "What Am I Stepping On?". I found all sorts of things, and I also stepped on some things that I honestly don't want to know what they are. It was fun though. We threw a frisbee around a little...unfortunately it had the Canadian flag on it but whatever...it means that if we pissed anyone off, they will think Canadians (not Americans) are very rude...which I am fine with   :)

The next day was Colin's birthday, and we went to the Singapore Zoo. We got over there kinda late since it closed at like, 5:30. We went through in about 2 - 2 1/2 hours and saw most of what we wanted to see. The orangutan exhibit was actually really well designed. Also, people were able to feed the kangaroos. While we were there, a lemur just kinda leapt out in front of us and walked around for a little while. Close enough to touch. The pictures are up on facebook. Then the Night Safari opened at 7:30, which was cool I suppose. I saw some animals I had never seen in real life before (such as a tapir), so that made it worthwhile. The picture that they took of Kathrin and I at the beginning of the Night Safari actually was good, but it was too much (S$20) to buy it. Oh well. While we were at the Night Safari, we saw their Creatures of the Night show. It was pretty cool. It had otters recycling cans, which entertained me because one of the otters just kinda juggled a can for about 5 minutes. So that was fun to watch. They also brought out this big snake, and the people in charge picked Carly to be the one to hold it. They put it on her and wandered off saying how we should take pictures because it was the last time we would see her alive. Carly looked petrified at times, but she got free ice cream out of it, so that works. I took video of it. Unfortunately, it was not my actual video camera because I didn't think I would need that at the zoo:

I guess that's what we get for being the group of white kids that sat in the very front row.

Next we tried out The Butter Factory instead of Double O on Wednesday night. Guys had to pay a S$25 cover, but it was free flow, so I was able to at least get my money's worth. It was too small though, and as a result, it was very packed and very loud. Kathrin and I would stand in line for literally 30 minutes sometimes to get drinks, and then she had to get both of ours because they attend to girls first. They ran out of stuff pretty quickly. In order to hear anyone, everybody had to pretty much scream in people's ears. Kathrin and I talked for a while afterwards though once we went back, so that was cool. So I had a pretty late night, but it was fun. I don't really foresee us going back there too much though.

Then came Bintan. We were planning on going to Tioman Island in Malaysia. It's supposed to be beautiful, but we soon found out that at this present time, it would be very doubtful that we got there, so we decided to go to Bintan (Indonesia) at the last minute. We called up the Shady Shack Thursday night and the owner (Lobo) was very helpful. He arranged for his friend to pick us up from the ferry and bring us back. The accommodation was great because it was right on the beach. The beach had some trash on it, but the water was amazing. Lobo also cooked us meals, which were delicious. He also went out to get sodas and beer and such for anyone who wanted it. The next day we were pushed over next door, which was also nice. Lobo did let us play with an Aussie football, so that brightened my day. It wasn't American, but it was better than nothing. The money there doesn't mean anything, so we wound up not paying too much. It was a great experience that I was pleasantly surprised with. I had heard some mixed reviews on Bintan and the Shady Shack, but I would recommend it to whoever. It was really cool. I got some cool pics up on facebook though. On the ferry ride back to Singapore, we were able to see the sunset. That was really cool. Although, I was aware at times that I was on a boat, which of course made me uneasy, as it always does. Kathrin had to help me keep my mind off of that fact when we first started out, because the start of the boat was always the worst. The time when I saw us leaving the land behind. That's when I feel the most uneasy. So, overall though, it was fun, and I got to see the sunset. It was a fitting end to the weekend. We got back pretty late and found out that a personal pan size pizza back home is 'Medium' here and supposedly feeds a family of 3. That was a bummer, but the trip overall was a great success in my opinion.

These last couple days have been busy though. Classes have actually started now...so a lot of us have had things to do. I met Kathrin for coffee on Tuesday and then met Tanvi from GT later that day. So that was cool to meet a new person. She was fun to hang around. She had the movie 'Defiance', so we (Me, David, Tanvi, and Carly) watched that afterwards. It was pretty good, but it dragged on a little. It could've used a little more action or character development or something. It was pretty good though. I got a haircut from a man who spoke no English, but it doesn't look too bad...just shorter than I anticipated. Yesterday we returned to Double O, and I wound up being a chaperone to certain people for a lot of the time. I did play a game of pool though. I had some great shots. I think all of us prove the theory that you're better at pool when you've had at least something to drink. I was making shots I shouldn't make because I suck at pool. The night overall wasn't as fun as some Wednesday nights, but then again, some people weren't there. I usually hang out with Kathrin a lot on Wednesday nights, and she couldn't make it, so I had to find other people to hang around most of the time. It was Suzanne's birthday, so I was able to wish her a happy birthday...so that was good.

This morning I have been to class, and then I started doing some full throttle research for our spring break trip to Vietnam. I called Tiger Airways, so I got some things cleared up. Hopefully we will be booking our flights either today or tomorrow, but we have to meet about it. I should have my visa for the country on Monday. This brings me up to where I am now...sitting at my desk with Coke cans scattered everywhere (speaking of which, the housing people took the Coke out of the Coke vending machine in my building and replaced it with green tea! Why!?) and trying to think of what to write down and remembering the things that I didn't put here for whatever reason. Check out my facebook for the pictures. Until next time...