Gabe's Post - Orientation Day

Why hello. How is everyone today? Good, well me and Michelle had a very relaxed day today. We woke at 8:30 and prepared ourselves for our very first bike ride to school. This occurred without incident but did make clear how unconformable our seats are (soon we will be adorning our bikes with various cloths and towels in an attempt to soften the ride). There was a lot of construction on the way, forcing us to slow down, but we still made it in under 25 minutes -- by the way, all of Singapore is flat and very nice to ride bikes on; however, our campus is built on a series of hills (more like cliffs) which makes the terrain hard to navigate (buildings are often have 4 basement floors, all above ground). Today was temperate with a quite pleasant temperature and no rain.

Anyway, we arrived on campus. We decided to have breakfast near the auditorium where we would have our exchange program orientation at 10. Our choices where a canteen we had already eaten at, and McDonalds. We chose McDonalds (just to mix things up). Michelle had a McMuffin with no egg and orange juice, I had hotcakes and sausage with iced Milo. The sausage is not quite what we have in America, its bigger and white, leading me to believe it is mostly pork. The breakfast was satisfying and about the same price as it is in the States.

After breakfast we happened upon Shreyas and made our way into orientation. We had several speakers, all who sounded like they could be Georgia Tech math teachers. The dean of students was there and tried his best to scare us while keeping a smile on his face. We learned little, got a few phone numbers, and were released 2 hours later to a free buffet lunch and mingling with other Internationals. 3 things of note: we met some people (Derek, Heather, Basti), Canadians out number Americans and look and sounds more American than we do, they had napkins. First, the first is self explanitory. Second, the most represented countries in order are: Canada, USA, Sweden, UK, Hong Kong[sic], France. Third, this was the first time I have held a napkin since we got to Singapore. The buffet itself was mostly just hawker food of less quality and more quantity.

The festivities soon died down and we found ourselves trekking to Shreyas's place. It was nicer than I expected, but still a little cramped because of the size of all the furniture. Also his bathroom is very far away. We then left Shreyas's dorm and biked back home, a ride which took about 15 minutes (it was downhill). After cooling off, we talked to management and got a new microwave (ours was not working). To test the old microwave, the guy's first act was to put a pen in it and turn it on, thankfully it was truly broken. He then proceeded to check the socket, with a knife, and after a satisfying shock brought us a new microwave that worked fine (I prepared him a bowl of water to test it with).

Until about 7 pm, Michelle napped while I sat back and relaxed and read my book. Then, after rousing her, we biked to a new Hawker stand which lies half way between here and the mall near us. It is about a 15 minute walk which translated to a 4 minute bike ride. The stand is even smaller than the one right outside our hostel and had a noodle, a fish, a pick-some-number-of-items-and-we-will-put-it-on-a-plate-with-rice place, a drink and breakfast stand, a poultry stand, and an Indian stand. I was tempted to get Indian food, but remembering advice I received in the states, I decided to wait until I had an Indian who could order it for me. The noodle place was closed, and the pick-items places always scare me (too much communication, maybe when I know all the foods in Chinese). This left me with fish and poultry, so I joined Michelle on the poultry line. She got chicken rice, I got duck rice. If it hasn't been explained, poultry rice is just a ball of rice with strips of either duck or chicken on top and maybe a spoonful of sauce or broth. It was unremarkably delicious. Oh, and I was laughed at for the first time today. I tried order almond drink, which is apparently funny in Chinese because the young lady behind the counter laughed and tried to sell me cigarettes. The old lady in the back yelled at her and called me as I was about to leave and asked if I wanted Ice Kopi. I said yes and sat down.

On the way back, we stopped by the market near our place (just outside). I had gone there early that day but it was Michelle's first time. It is a very nice place with cheaper stuff than Fair Price in the mall. The coolest part was the fresh meats and fruits though. They had all sorts of awesome meats, from duck gizzards to live fish to beef to pork brains. And their fruit was awesome, 1.70 for a kilo of mandarin oranges, the same for mangosteins, 2.90 per kilo of tiny sweet limes, 2.50 per kilo of tomatoes, 1.75 for 7 large oranges, 2.00 for 8 bananas, and so on. It was all cheap, all fresh, and what we bought was delicious. As a side note, I bought chrysanthemum tea, which reminds me of something I had before (probably chrysanthemum tea) but I can't tell for sure.

Anyway, its about time for bed. Or at least this is as much awake as I am doing today.

Goodnight-lah.