A Day at the Bird Park

So yesterday was a ton of fun.  There are nearly 500 photos on Facebook... If it's stopped being stupid.

We met Uncle Ralph at the MRT station and took a bus to the Jurong Bird Park at about 10.  The bird park was amazing.  There were hundreds of penguins, macaws, flamingos, and bird of every type... We even saw a chicken (in the Spoonbill's cage, of all things...)

The park was fairly large and very impressive.  We could get up close and personal with most of the birds.  They had birds mainly from Southeast Asia, Africa, and South and Central America.  I got a lot of good photos and even got to feed some Lories!  While we were at the park, we got a lunch buffet and watched a parrot show.  It was surprisingly good food and the show wasn't bad.

Spending the day with Uncle Ralph was a lot of fun.  He's experienced so much! I hope that I'll be able to see all the places he's been.  I think we're going to meet with him next weekend before he leaves again on a business trip. Hopefully we can make our schedules work.

When we were done with the bird park, we showed him around our local mall, then he took us to dinner at ThaiExpress, where I had the best fried rice I've ever eaten and Gabe had a delectable, even if VERY spicy green curry dish.

And that was our Saturday. Goodnight-la.

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.

Gabe's Post - Zoo

School in the morning, had some toast with kaya. Had classes, where about the same. Got back and relaxed a few hours. THEN BAM. We went to the zoo.

Not really, first we went to the school and got on a bus which took us to a mall where we had food. Michelle had spaghetti and chicken sausage balls. I had a rice and steak burger at Moss burger. Shreyas ordered a teriyaki burger but got a chicken teriyaki burger instead (because they are racist at Moss burger). It was good I thoroughly enjoyed mine. It was a short dinner though, twenty minutes, so there isn't much to say about it, but that most of the other internationals went to american places.

We hopped back onto the bus and enjoyed the 20 minute ride to the zoo, where we disembarked and queued to go in. Once inside we were going to go directly to the moving tram, but were side tracked by well oiled men in loin cloths fire breathing. Our attentions were taken for around 5 minutes before we realized that if we stayed much longer, the crowd encircling us would eventually begin to queue for the tram ride. With this in mind we moved to the tram and waited for 10 minutes then got our turn.

By the way, this is a night zoo and at this point it is dusk.

The tram was pretty awesome, there were lots of noisy animals, but they got off (thankfully) pretty soon. We rode all the way around and got to see lots of big animals, like hippos and rhinos and giraffes and deer of many breeds. Also hyenas, tigers, lions and water buffalo. The zoo keepers for some reason kept prey and predator close together, as in the lion habitat was just across the tram road and above a grazing animal habitat. The ride took about 30 minutes and was pretty exciting.

The more fun part though was walking. We got to see the cutest animals alive, like the fishing cat - which was fishing when we saw it - and Indian mini-ridiculous white spotted deer things, which were fat 1 foot long deer with skinny legs. The very best though, was the bat cage. You got to walk into a cage with dozens of free flying fruit bats and you got to watch them eat fruit and pee right in front of you. A bat turns right side up to pee, and thankfully away from bridges where people are watching. Anyway, the small ones where cute and would fully spread out their wings and envelope small cuts of watermelon and nibble on it, while the big ones would land on a branch and noisily bite into a carrot in front of you. They would even high five a map if you held it out to them. They were really cute up close and would try to land on michelle's head, or fly between you legs.

There was also a lot of cute otters and wild pigs and deer like things and bug like things and flying squirrels and only 3 snakes. Most importantly though, they had a fake cave with glow in the dark silk worms, which were my second favorite after the bats.

It was a very fun night and kind of tiring, we left at 10 but still almost slept on the way back.

Oh this all happened yesterday, we got back late which is why we didn't blog.

Goodnight-lah

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG Day

Seven hours of classes: two, two and three...

First: Great teacher, really nice, Swedish, impressed that American students sit in the front row (we were the only ones in the front HALF of the room).

Second: Scary but nice. Definitely not a fan of non-Singaporeans. At least let me into her class?

Third: Soft-spoken, heavy accented, read-all-the-text-on-the-powerpoint-without-adding-any-more-information Indian guy who seemed nice but put the class to sleep.  Quite literally.

I attempted to work out my schedule and then I came home. We left again, almost immediately and met Shreyas for dinner at Jurong Point. I had satay and then we walked around a bit, got tylenol and a scale, and came home. Now it's time for bed.

Goodnight-la.

Reasons Clemson is Better than NTU... By a long shot

A. People are nice. People will help you. If you ask, people will give you directions. Don't ask for directions at NTU.

B. There is the greatest study abroad adviser EVER. Here, you can't get help, it's hard to get answers, and they can't even pick which office you should be going to.

C. There is always seating, no matter where you are. (See next post for more info on that...)

D. There's something called "winter" at Clemson.

E. Clemson's campus is laid out in a rational way. Academics in the middle, then food, then housing, then sports. This school threw darts at a map while blindfolded to determine numbers, floors, locations of classrooms and general layout of campus.

F. Instead of having one 3-hour class once a week, Clemson has three one-hour classes so you actually retain the information and don't fall asleep. Also, the professors care about you and involve the students and don't put up with cell phones, talking, facebook, ipods..... (Have I mentioned how terrible the students are here?)

G. Perhaps most importantly, it's closer to all the people I love and miss. I am having fun and I am enjoying myself, but it'd be nice to see my friends and sisters and family.  <3

Whoops

Well, I forgot to post last night. The sad thing was that it wasn't even a particularly interesting or busy day.  I went to campus with Gabe so we could get our student passes, I got a milkshake from the canteen, learned about the fitness classes and then went back to the apartment since I had no classes.

I guess I can elaborate.  We took a new path to school and got here on time.  Gabe had some problems not having all of his materials, but I got out fairly early and went and got a strawberry milkshake while he was finishing his student pass. Literally, it was a milk shake.  They put ice and milk in a cup, added pearls and strawberry syrup, sealed it, and shook it up. I guess I should add that the cups here don't have lids... They seal them with plastic seal, like if they were packaging something to go on a shelf.  It was delicious.

I learned some about the fitness programs... They charge for their classes here! I guess I'm spoiled by Clemson. Anyways, I think I'm going to take "YogaLates" and "ZumFit Party Rock" - each is $15 for five classes, one a week.  It should be interesting.

I headed back to the apartment and was going to do laundry, but they sprayed something everywhere in big, white, disgusting clouds of nastiness.  I was coughing for about two hours even though I shut all the windows and doors before they started.  Then when it finally cleared, it was raining, so I couldn't really do laundry because it would never dry.  They do have dryers, but they're expensive, so it wasn't worth it.  

Instead, I went down to the grocery store and got apples and oranges and carrots and dried snap peas and a new tropical juice mix.  I made fruit salad, which I froze for dessert, and cleaned the apartment.  When Gabe got back, we relaxed for a while and then headed down to a shopping mall we discovered on the way to school that's super close by and had dinner. I had hotdogs and noodles with fried egg.  We walked around the mall for a bit and then went home. And went to bed.

We got up early this morning and I'm in class now. Seven hours of classes. YAY!

Good day - la.

Gabe's Minipost - First day of school, was a longan. Water Chestnut drink.

School was not what I expected. The students talked throughout the entire lecture and had their cellphones out. The classes seemed easy but all the grades were based on 1 maybe 2 tests. Getting around the school is fun, staircases and blocked paths everywhere, makes for good adventuring. It also poured today, for only 10 minutes, then it drizzled for hours. Had some good food. The best fried chicken I ever had was topped by a korean place in the Canteen beside the library. Oh and I had water chestnut drink, it was delicious and nutty.

When we got back I went to the store by our place and picked up two tomatoes, one of which was delicious and the other remaining to be eaten, and some longan, which are apparently just lychee in a dirty brown coating.

First Day of School

Well. Today was rainy and interesting.

First some things I've been meaning to say... They never have napkins. Anywhere. Ever. And they're messy eaters.

Second: Sophie is right. Americans are just nicer.  They say, "Hi, how are you?" and "Have a good day." And are helpful and smiley and just... nicer.  There was a lady at a hawker stand in the mall that I went back to the second time we ate their simply because she was nice.  People run into you, they ignore you, they won't help you, they won't look at you. It's a cold, cold world.  Maybe it makes up for how hot it is outside. I don't know. But I now understand Southern Hospitality and why it is so special.

Anyways. We got up and had breakfast in the apartment. It's time to start saving for our travels. We hopped on our bikes and took a new route to school. It was better (not as hilly) and took us closer to where we needed to go. On the way, we stopped by the gym on campus.  We were both unimpressed.  There was a small machines room, two large gyms, a small weight room and a large office. And it was all un-air-conditioned. There was however, a nice 50-meter pool with 8 lanes... but no lane lines. We'll try it tomorrow.

We got to Canteen B, which is a huge hawker-style food court at the end of the south spine, which is where most of our classes are. I got a disgusting sour plum frozen fruit juice thing and Gabe laughed at me, having experienced the flavor before.

We walked to our classrooms to make sure we could find them - his was a lecture hall (they're numbered and on the main spine), mine was HSS TR+1 which means Humanities and Social Sciences (building) Tutorial Room (number) 1, which was on the 3rd basement, and very confusing. Ended up that I didn't even have the class yet because it was a review/homework help session sort of thing. Gabe says they have them at Tech (recitation), but we don't have them at Clemson.  So I went to the Humanities Library, which was nice and had only humanities books. I didn't have much time before I was going to meet Gabe.  We were going to get lunch, but the whole school lets out for lunch during my one hour break, so the lines were too long for me to get food.

My next class was after an hour break in SPMS LT4.  Now, every class so far that had "LT" meant lecture theater, and are on the main spines and so I thought I was all good. So I went to LT 4, which was on the north spine about a 10 minute walk from where I had been on the south spine.  LT 4 was empty 5 minutes before my class, and I knew that this one wasn't a tutorial thing.  So I started asking. SPMS apparently means School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, and has it's own numbering system.  It's really nice how we never got a tour of campus and didn't even tell us where our classes were, properly.  Anyways, I arrived to class (which was literally two minutes from where I started) about 20 minutes late. The room was packed and I joined the others on the floor in the back. The guy was going over the syllabus, and it looked like classes I had already taken.  He started giving his lecture for the last hour and a half of class (yeah, these classes are two hours, btw).  When he gave a break about an hour into the class, I went up and asked about the course material and turns out it is exactly the class I already took.  So I left.  I learned more in the 40 minutes of lecture than I did in an entire semester, but he taught what I needed to understand that previous semester.

I didn't just give up, though.  There was another class in the same time slot that I wanted to take that's required for my degree at Clemson, so I slipped over there... An hour late, mind you. It was a globalization class in sociology.  Sociology teachers like to have class involvement... So she asked a lot of questions and got a quiet room.  When she was clearly getting frustrated by the lack of volunteers, I started talking.  She asked about the history of globalization and asked about previous examples.  I mentioned the Roman empire and Alexander the Great and Genghis Khan's empire.  The only one she picked up on was Genghis Khan... And then added in the Ottoman empire.  I should add that this professor was not Asian, and sounded either Austrian or Eastern European. It was interesting since I would have a tendency to think of more western rulers and civilizations, and those in the Far East clearly don't.

Anyways, after class I met up with Gabe and we went and had lunch back at Canteen B.  I had a "point and choose meal" where you get rice and a various number of meats and veggies, and you pick them by pointing, kindof like a cafeteria (S&S).  It was delicious, but then Gabe and Shreyas had a class, so I headed back to the library. I checked out some books (they have a really interesting RFID tagging systems so there's no need for librarians) and found the bookstore (by accident, but I FINALLY found postcards).  I met up with the boys and they went over and had dinner at yet another canteen.  We hit up the library after so I could change my classes. I'm in three of the classes I want, and hopefully the other two will be added for me.

For the record, NTU is stupid.  They have to approve you before you can take a class.  None of the American style - the class has prereqs, but it's up to you to make sure you have them and are ready to take the class, and you can take any class you could ever possibly want whether or not you're in that major.  No. NTU you have to be approved.  I was told I wasn't approved, but to "try adding it during the add/drop period." Yeah. The system kicked me out because I had "not been approved" for it. Even though they had. Also, now I don't know if I'll get the classes because the vacancies got taken even though I was on it first. Gah. There's been no one to help except for the one American professor who happens to be the undergraduate coordinator for sociology.  There's that Southern Hospitality again (he's from Tennessee).

So after the fiasco that was my schedule, we came back to the apartment.  We've showered and now it's time for bed.

P.S. I've updated a lot of blog posts with pictures, so check them out. =]

Goodnight-la.