Homestay a.k.a THE BEST DAY EVER!

Saturday was home stay day for all of the SEAS Participants! We were divided into groups and paired with a Singaporean who took us a long for a day of activities. Lucky for me, I got the best group and best host, so the day was AMAZING!

We were going to go to the beach, but the weather was kind of gross in the morning, so Joe, our host, took us prawn fishing instead! That was the best decision of the day. While the beach would have been fun if the weather was nice, prawn fishing was a really unique and fun experience that is hard to get in Texas.

First we went to a neighborhood community area for breakfast. We all got prata which is basically a pancake like thing that you can order plain or cooked with various fillings/toppings, such as eggs, cheese, and strawberries. I ordered one plain and one with banana's and they came with some curry sauce. They were DELICIOUS! It was by far the best breakfast I have had so far.

Next we drove to the Marina Country Club to catch some prawns. The country club was off in a rural area of Singapore. I know what you are thinking... Singapore has rural areas? I didn't realize it either! But that is what was so unique about the experience; we were driving through and area that is not accessible to tourists.

The prawn catching was so fun and interesting! Lisa, Pooja, Heather and I were not the most talented prawn catchers, but we all caught at least a couple. Joe on the other hand would catch one within 10 minutes of starting his turn with the rods. We used worms and chicken heart as bait, which was absolutely disgusting; I just washed my hands about 7 times throughout the experience.

Chicken Heart (gross)

 I caught the first prawn of the day, which was exciting!

 I also caught a giant prawn after that!

After our prawn catching time was up, it was time to prepare them to be food. We washed them and put them on skewers while they were still alive. Eek! Someone said cool blooded animals can't feel pain, hopefully that is true?

Next we coated them in salt....

... cooked them over a fire....

....peeled them...

.... and ate them! They were pretty tasty actually. It was the first time I have eaten something that I killed.

After a snack of prawns, we were pretty hungry, so Joe took us to a local place in a neighborhood near his house to have his favorite food, pig intestines. They were actually not bad; they tasted just like meat, only much chewier.

The whole group enjoying Pig Intestines (except for Pooja the vegetarian)

Then he took us back to his house so that we could shower and relax before going out for dinner. He lives in a private home, which is very unusual for Singapore. The house was GORGEOUS and much different from American homes. There were 3 outdoor sitting areas and the gardens were full of beautiful fruits and flowers. All of the wall of the living room were glass panels that could be (and were) pushed away so that the room was nearly outside.

He showed us all of his UNC stuff and was really excited about it, which was awesome. He had studied at UNC during the fall semester of 2011 and it was so nice to see that he loved it so much. He even said that he wished he had gone to school overseas after experiencing UNC. His favorite things about UNC were the people and the school spirit; he was a cheerleader at UNC and really enjoyed getting to cheer at the football games and all of the friends he made on his cheer squad. After showering, meeting his family, and hanging out for a bit, we went of to Timbre, a restaurant/bar with live music at night!

I wore my NUS shirt, and he wore his UNC shirt, so that made for an irresistible photo op!

 We got drinks, roasted duck pizza, and calamari at Timbre, and chatted while enjoying the great cover band. It was a great end to an awesome day! The next day we learned what the other groups had been up to. They got to do some pretty cool stuff, but our group was hands down the best!

Heather and Joe

Lisa, Pooja and I

The Girls!

Shopping on Orchard Road and Being Fancy at the Raffles Hotel

Orchard Road is the shopping capital of Singapore. While there are over a hundred malls throughout the city, there are twenty-two on Orchard Road and the adjacent streets alone! TWENTY TWO! This is in addition to the freestanding luxury stores such as Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Gucci lining the street as well. I went with a mission to buy some hiking pants for our trip to Brunei next week. It took me almost half and hour to find the North Face story in the ION mall because it was so big! I felt like I was walking in circles but I actually wasn't. I finally got my pants and emerged from the depths of 4 floors Underground to explore the street itself!

The ION Mall from the outside

Some statues that I thought were cool

I walked up and down the road, taking in the sights. I went into several malls just to get a feel for the area. Many of the malls had the same stores in them, which I thought was really weird considering they were on the same road. For instance, I saw 3 Coach stores and 6 Rolex stores! 

I went into one of the department stores, Tangs, to see if it was like American department stores. It was pretty much the same, except everything was very tight. Most American stores would have the same amount of stuff, just more spread out. They were actually having a great sale on a brand that I had never heard of, Martina Pink. The style was a little more retro than I would normally wear but I really liked a couple of the tops and I ended up getting one that was 70% off! I felt like it would be cool to say I got it in Singapore and probably very few Americans have it! I spent and hour or so looking through more malls and stores before my stomach told me it was time to head back!

After I got back, I didn't have much time to eat and get ready for my nighttime plans: walking through downtown and heading to the Raffles Hotel. Additionally, my door decided it would be a good idea to get stuck on one of my drawers, so I couldn't get into my room. I eventually had to push so hard on the drawer that it broke, but there was no other way to get into the room, even if maintenance had come! Whoever decided to put drawers right next to a door was not the most intelligent human being. Finally I got ready and made my impatient companions happy as we headed off to the subway station 15 minutes behind schedule. 

We started at Merlion Park where the guys enjoyed some literal ice-cream sandwiches, ice cream, between two pieces of bread.

Then we walked around the city for a bit before finally finding the Raffles Hotel. Turns out we had gotten off at the wrong subway stop.

Sir Thomas Standford Raffles in considered the founder of colonial Singapore. The Raffles hotel is a five star colonial palace. However, the mood is very 1950s fancy-relaxation, which is nice. We sipped some Singapore Slings, which is the Signature drink of Singapore, created at the Raffles itself. I had terrible blisters from my shoes, but it was a great evening!

Housing in Singapore

Friday started out with our first test :( But the good news is it only got better from there! After class we headed over to the HDB, or Housing Development Board, Hub for an informational session on housing in Singapore. I thought it was going to be really boring (it sounds boring, doesn't it?), but it was actually really informative and interesting.

We have been learning a lot about housing in Singapore in our classes. Because Singapore is so small, the government set up a plan to fit everyone in comfortably, the HDB. 82% of Singaporeans live in public housing. While in other nations public housing is equivalent to low-income housing, that is not the case in Singapore. Almost everyone lives in public housing and those who do are known as "heartlanders" because the public housing flats are the heartland of the country (or so the government wants you to believe). All the neighborhoods have flats available for all income-levels so that one area does not become associated with high income or low income.

At the HDB hub, we were taken on a guided tour of a public housing museum. It basically showed the progression of housing in Singapore and how housing shaped the nation. It was obviously very pro-government and kind of a propaganda museum, but it was still informative if you took it with a grain of salt. There were also neat interactive exhibits that showed the layouts of typical neighborhoods in Singapore. They are so different than my neighborhood in Southlake, so that was nice to see. Another interesting tidbit about hosing in Singapore is that there are ethnic quotas for every 'flat' building. In order to promote ethnic tolerance and integration, the government requires all buildings to contain all ethnic groups in the same proportion that they exist in Singapore. For example, Singapore is 70% Chinese, so all public housing buildings must contain 70% Chinese people, even the buildings in Little India!

An interactive exhibit. You can move the computer across the neighborhood map, and click on the different buildings to find their purpose and function. A typical neighborhood includes many 'flats' (like high-rise apartment buildings), a community center, medical center, MRT station, and a market.

A display of one of the neighborhoods in Singapore.

At the end of the museum tour we walked across the building to the model flats. On our way we actually saw people looking over diagrams of the different neighborhoods and waiting in line to get on the housing waiting list (You have to get on a waiting list to get a house, and it takes a few years. Many men will propose to there girlfriends by asking them to get on the waiting list with them! You can only get a flat if you are married or if you are single you must be 35 or older, so it is very normal for people to live with their parents until they are married, or 35)! The model flats were so different than the typical American homes! It is crazy to think that while the American dream is a nice house with a big yard, the Singaporean dream is a little bitty flat in a huge building. People can choose between two, three, four, and five room flats. This doesn't mean two bedrooms, it means two ROOMS. So those flats have two rooms, plus a kitchen, and these were not big rooms! Plus all of the flats are the same, no matter where in the city you buy them.

The model five room flat. Obviously it has been decorated very well for show purposes.

Overall the HDB Hub was a great experience. I am not sure how I would feel about living in one of those little flats with a family, but the system has worked relatively well for Singapore!

Singapore Flyer

On thursday a group of us went to the Singapore Flyer! The Singapore Flyer is the world's largest observation wheel. Basically it is just an enormous ferris wheel situated on Marina Bay, overlooking the ocean, downtown Singapore and beyond! We took the MRT to downtown and stopped for a bite to eat and some pictures. I had never seen the downtown area in the day before; it was just as pretty during the day than it is at night.

We wanted to get on the flyer in time to see sunset, but with a couple group mix ups, that didn't happen. Luckily the views are amazing no matter what! The bottom floor of the flyer building was designed to be a miniature Singapore, with famous street signs and even a little rainforest!

view of the flyer from below

miniature rainforest under the flyer

Before entering the flyer there was a little museum. I'm not really sure what the point was, but it was kind of cool.

tunnel into the museum

I'm not quite sure what this was

Finally we got into our pod! The pods hold up to 28 people, but we only had around 10 in ours. As soon as the doors shut I remembered I have a fear of ferris wheels; I am always afraid that the cars are going to fall off! After a few minutes of hyperventilating I calmed down and was able to enjoy the incredible views!

Wednesday: Campus and Clubbing

Wednesday I spent some time in the library, and around campus. After studying, I went to the NUS student store to buy some souvenir shirts for my family. The sizes were so weird! The small and extra small were like child sizes because Asian women are so much smaller than American women. Plus they were out of a lot of sizes so it took me a while to find what I needed, but eventually I did. The store was much smaller than the UNC student stores and they didn't even take my Visa card! I had to have them hold my stuff while I got more cash. Hopefully my family enjoys their new NUS attire though!

The Central Library

NUS Campus

NUS Campus, the yellow ceiling indicates the 'common level' or ground floor. Because the campus is so hilly, sometimes when you are walking form one building to another you end up on different floors. Following the yellow ceiling leads you to the common level.

NUS Campus, The Forum

NUS Campus

Later in the evening a bunch of the girls and I went out clubbing because Wednesday night is ladies night in Singapore! Most of the clubs let girls in for free, which is a nice change from the S$30 cover charge all the other nights of the week. We had a little mix up at the beginning when we were separated from some of the other girls. It wouldn't have been a big deal except Lisa, who we lost, put her ID in Olivia's bag. Additionally our cab driver informed us that The Butter Factory, the club we were going to, was not in the place we thought it was in. He took us to the right place, but we had no idea if the other group would find the right place or not! Eventually they found us at the Butter Factory and we got the issue resolved. The Butter Factory was a lot of fun, but we had heard that Zouk was one of the best clubs in the world, so we wanted to check it out! Zouk was great also, and because it had multiple rooms each with a different type of music, and was really big, it was not as crowded as The Butter Factory, which was really nice! Here are a few things I learned from clubbing in Singapore:

• Both clubs were playing American songs that we all recognized; apparently American music is much more popular than Singaporean music, even in Singapore.
• Singaporean boys and girls are much more timid than Americans. We were basically the craziest ones there, and we are not crazy AT ALL by American standards! At The Butter Factory, we were the first ones on the dance floor, and then the Singaporeans followed.
• Singaporean dancing is not really dancing, its more of a slight swaying back and forth
• Singaporean boys don't ask girls to dance, they kind of just dance around the girls and hope that they will make the first move, which never happens. The only guys that danced with any of the girls in my group, were European or American.

Heather, Olivia, and I outside of the Butter Factory

Immigration and Checkpoint Authorities

Today we had to go to the Immigration and Checkpoint authorities or ICA to get our student passes to be in Singapore. It was the longest day EVER! My appointment wasn't technically till 3:30, but I had to get there at 1:00 with everyone else, because members of my groups had appointments all throughout the afternoon. And then I just had to sit there, and wait, forever. It wouldn't have been so bad if we had been able to eat lunch. But we couldn't, so it was just painful. My number was finally called at 3:00, a little bit early, which was good. Luckily all my papers were approved with no problem. Just when I thought I was done, I realized I had to wait another hour to get my card (Ughh)! I passed the time by doing some of my homework, and also doing people's hair with Maili!

I learned how to do a fishtail braid and I chignon, so I would say it was a productive afternoon. Finally I got my card! So now I am legal to stay in Singapore and I have a cool card to prove it.

We were all so tired and hungry after the long afternoon so Professor Tsin took us to dinner! We went to a chinese restaurant in Bugis Station. The food was great (especially after not eating since breakfast). We all left 100% stuffed. The Station itself was very cool also. There were many little restaurants and food stands selling all kinds of asian goodies. I was too full to even think about getting dessert, but maybe I can go back and give asian dessert a try!

Monday: Museums and McDonald's

This past week was incredibly busy! We had a TON of reading and a test on friday. I hardly got to do any activities around Singapore this week (or not nearly as many as last week) because I was so busy studying. However the weekend was very busy! I'll write about it in a separate post because I have a lot to say (we went to the zoo on Sunday and spent the say with a local student on Saturday). However I did get to do a few small things this week.

Monday our entire group went to the National Museum of Singapore. The museum was very nice and had a lot of cool exhibits about Singapore living. However I thought we were supposed to be in the History exhibit the entire time so I did not get to see many of the other exhibits. The history exhibit was very well put together and interesting though. The funny thing about Singapore is that all the museums are controlled by the government, so it was a bit propaganda-ish. There was an "events path" which showed the history of Singapore through concrete events, and a "personal path" that showed the history through the views of regular people who usually don't make the history books. I wandered back and forth between the both and was very impressed. There was also an audio tour that was very fancy and came with an interactive computer. Unfortunately I couldn't listen to everything, it would have taken hours! When we left I noticed the Singapore Art Museum across the street, hopefully I will find time to get back there!

I joined in on the Asian sun-umbrella trend on my walk to the museum! Asian ladies want white skin, they even feel whitening creme at the stores! Such a difference from the tanning lotions of America.

The National Museum of Singapore

Later in the evening some of the other girls and I went to a McDonald's to get ourselves some western food and see what McDonald's was like halfway across the world. It was much fancier than an American McDonald's, but the food choices were pretty much the same. They didn't have ranch dressing though :( When I asked for some ranch the man at the counter looked at me like I was crazy! They only had BBQ sauce, sweet and sour, and curry. Apparently in Singapore and other places in Asia, McDonald's is considered somewhat nice place to get a bite to eat!

Trying to study at McDonald's! It looks nothing like the American McDonalds'.

Botanical Gardens and Orchid Gardens

On Saturday I decided to head off on my own for the first time. The Singapore Botanical Gardens seemed like a nice safe choice. I took the MRT to the Botanic Gardens station, and to my surprise when I walked out of the station I was in the gardens! The first part right outside of the MRT was a little bit weird; there were many giant trellis gardens that look cool but weren’t very pretty. However, I had been warned that the beginning part wasn’t nearly as good as the better parts to come. 

Once I emerged from the trellis area, I saw big flowery trees, a lake with some duck-looking animals and black swans and many really nice outdoor sitting areas where people where enjoying the weather. By enjoying the weather, I mean sitting outside in for some reason in the extreme heat and humidity; I don’t think I would have done it, but maybe they are used to the unbearable weather? It was actually very pretty though. I could see myself relaxing in that area maybe if it were 20 degrees cooler. 

Next I found a pretty herb garden, and then stumbled upon a map of the gardens for the first time. I approached it thinking that I had probably seen at least half of the gardens. I had been walking for about 20 minutes, after all. Nope, not even close. I was still on the far edge of the garden, maybe one-eighth of the way through. “Oh my goodness” I thought. “This is going to take 5 times as long as I thought”. 

I didn’t have a lot of time, so I started speed walking across the gardens. It was definitely the prettiest speed walk I have ever been on. There were so many gorgeous trees, flowers, and bushes, and mixed in were some really unique plants that I had never seen before.

I made my way a long a red brick path through a gorgeous grassy park area. The path I was walking on was on a cliff, with old homes that now serve as garden buildings on the left and the cliff, trees, and grasses on my right. Soon, I made it to the healing garden. It was an amazing collection of healing plants and herbs, organized by the part of the body the catered to. For instance, there were sections for the skeletal system and the ears, nose, and throat. There was also a section for toxic plants (scary huh?).

I didn’t see the entire healing garden because I was pressed for time. I set off again along winding paths with some really unique plants surrounding them. Finally, after not seeing people for a long time, a came to a courtyard that led to a more populated area. There was an entire rainforest area that I didn’t not enter because I knew we are going to go into a rainforest in Brunei. 

While I was taking pictures and admiring some pretty Birds of Paradise, I heard some gorgeous piano musical. I thought “oh this is nice that they are paying music for us while we check out the gardens”. But as it turns out, a live pianist was playing music on an amphitheater floating on a lake, and the music was being projected for everyone. At this point there were many people around the grassy area, and the music was amazing!!! I wanted to take a break and enjoy the wonderful scenery, but I needed to stay moving.

Next, I finally got to the National Orchid Gardens. The Orchid Gardens are the only part of the Botanic Gardens that you have to pay to enter, but I got in for free with my NUS student card. It would have been totally worth paying for though! It was amazing. They had every kind of orchid imaginable and they were all so beautiful! Additionally there was a “cool house”, a place where the cool weather plants were housed. It was AMAZING! At this point I was literally dripping sweat and pretty dehydrated from fast walking through the 100% humidity and 88 degree weather, so the 70 degree cool house felt like heaven. 

After that I decided I should head back, because our ‘welcome dinner’ was later that night and desperately needed a shower. However, I hadn’t even seen all of the gardens yet! I am planning to go back and explore the rest of it soon! If I was a local Singaporean, I would definitely spend time relaxing there.

Click on this link to see my pictures from the gardens:

Singapore Botanic Gardens

Holland Village

A really nice Singaporean who has studied at UNC and had relationships with many of the SEAS groups in the past took us to Holland Village for dinner on friday night. Holland Village is basically the original enclave for expatriates from Europe, so it has a very western vibe. Many of the people walking around were white (which is weird here) and the variety of restaurants lining the street was close to something that could be found in America.

I ended up eating at a Lebanese restaurant and had a good chicken salad. Unfortunately I didn't get to explore the area much because after eating Yongmin (our Singaporean friend) took us to a really cool Ice Cream place, called The Daily Scoop! The had really unique flavors. I got ginger ice cream, and it tasted like a spicy gingerbread cookie..yum!! I was exposed to a new fruit while I was there: Durian. Apparently its popular in Southeast Asia? One of Yongmin's friends got it and it smelled DISGUSTING! But of course, I had to try it. It didn't taste that bad actually, but I would never order it. 

Holland Village was definitely a neat little area. Hopefully I will have more time to go back and explore for a bit. There are supposed to be some trendy cafe's and asian art galleries that I think I would enjoy.