A Few Words from Michelle

So Gabe pretty much summed up yesterday.  Just one thing he missed - the enunciation of our tram commentator was incredible. Her accent was unplaceable, but she had many dramatic pauses and clever, if sometimes cliched, phrases.

Anyways, Gabe didn't have classes today, so he went to VivoCity while I went to class. I'm sure my morning was better. It was my photography class, and we learned the basics of what we'll be doing, but not actually how to do any of it.  We're using 35 mm black and white film in old-school Nikons (think black and metal body).  I'm super excited and hopefully it will make my DSLR photos that much better.

I hit up the hawker stand when I got back, then got some groceries.  Gabe was here when I got home and we ate some watermelon.  Next came laundry.  I had some problems getting the machine to eat the coins, but they finally got it working.  It was 3 dollars for one and 2 for the other washing machine (different cycles, I guess) and then we did 20 minutes of drying for one load (which only seemed to get hotter, but not any drier) and an hour on the other, which resulted in the same.  All together, we spent $9 on laundry. A bit ridiculous if you ask me.  Even with all that, we had to hang out our clothes on the long poles provided so they would dry.

We have two poles that are about 10 feet long that can be mounted on the side of the building to hold out clothing and stuff. We covered those, and then hung up 3 rows of shirts on the patio, where there was twine clothesline, and then we draped Gabe's boxers over the bars in the front window so those would dry.

We decided that we'll not wait so long next time before doing laundry...

After laundry we relaxed and then Shreyas and his roommate came and picked us up for dinner. I would talk about it, but Gabe would do better at it, so look for a post about Chili Crabs tomorrow.

In the meantime, I mentioned the other day about seating, and there not being any.  I guess I should clarify.  When you go to a hawker stand, there are little booths.  It's a permanent structure, but different people can rent out the booths.  It's kindof like a food court at a mall, but the width of the booth is about 10 feet, not 30 or 40.  It's pretty much a square "kitchen" and then there's a counter in front of it, which has the cash register and sometimes cookery like a stove for boiling things or a butcher's block for cutting meats or whatever.

All around there are tables, so, once you have your food, you take your tray with everything and sit down.  Oh, and I should mention none of the little stands have drinks, so you have to get those at a separate stand.  So, once you're ready, you try to sit down so you can eat.  The problem is, there are so many people that there aren't enough tables.  For the first few days/weeks, we would get our food and then walk around with our trays full of hot food and try to find a table.  Inevitably, the food would be cold by the time we ever sat down.  This is not the way to do it.

I've talked about how Americans are nicer... This is never more true than when in a hawker stand.  We circle, watching like birds of prey, for anyone who might be nearing completion of their meal.  We try to be considerate and not hover over any one table, not forcing anyone to move, moving out of the way of people with hot trays... Asians don't do that.

As we've learned, as soon as you get there, you get one person to stalk out a table.  You hover, you ask, you beg, you are aggressive. Or someone else will step right in front of you and sit down in the chair your hand is on.  The other day, I had four people sit down as I approached, even though I had been scouting for a good 10 minutes.  It's weird, because hovering and staring down people is not acceptable in the States, but it's necessary here.  Also, they just need to provide more tables.  We might be starting to get the hang of it, but fair warning to all who see us when we get back... Our manners may have suffered.

Goodnight-la.