After days and days of rain, it FINALLY quit today, it was very exciting! I had my first Mandarin Chinese Level I class today. I took this in China a couple years back, however we had a very informal class and did not learn characters, so it will be good to take this course again to retain more. The professor is Chinese, she learned Cantonese in China, and then learned Mandarin and English. This was interesting to hear, as it made some weird things in China make sense. Throughout the country, China has different dialects; They speak Mandarin mainly in Beijing, Cantonese, Shanghai, etc. When we went to Xi'an, no locals could understand our Mandarin and our professor who was a native had trouble understanding theirs. There are over 8000 characters in Chinese, yet only 21 initial and 39 final syllables, with 4 tones. Therefore, the tone-ation of the word is VERY important in order to create such a vast array of speech. In the different dialects, however, (such as Xi'an vs. Beijing) the tones are completely different, which was why nobody there could understand us!
I met a Singaporean Indian, whose family has been living in Singapore since a large migration of about 100 families came to Singapore. I had made the mistake in assuming everyone in Singapore knew Chinese, but about half my Mandarin class was actually Singaporeans! (few Vietnamese, Indians, Malay, 1 US and 1 French). Him and I got to talking after class, he was asking me what kind of other activities I do here, which is something I discovered (think the dorm stuff I talked about earlier) that ALL the local students are involved in something, clubs, games, sports, etc. We walked about family, he is in a play and invited me to see it, but its in Tamil so he said never mind haha He thinks that's its funny that I am "American" but I come from all European roots, as he considers himself Indian, even though him and his family has been living in Singapore for many generations. We then started talking about cars/bikes (motocycles) and I learned something rather interesting.
So as you may have saw in my photos, alcohol here is EXPENSIVE, so are cigarettes. This is because anything in high demand (booze, cars, etc) gets heavily taxed. Care are especially pricey:
First, you must bid for a COE (certificate of entitlement). Each month, people can bid and get an entitlement that is good for 10 years. There are only a certain number of bids open each month. They costs lots to set a bid, and they are a big hot topic here. You bid on the type of car you want (luxury, small, SUV, etc). Half of the bid is required as a deposit up front. If you win, you have 3-6 months to pay for the car.
Then, registration fees and such, which can cost $1k for personal vehicles. They also have this super fun thing called Electronic Road Pricing. In all the cars in this country, there is a little computer chip. If you are caught in a busy road/intersection during rush hour, you get fined.
The whole point is to keep cars off the street, desire for cars down, and pollution and road building to a minimum. Interesting way to go about it!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Its already been 2 weeks!
Wow, can't believe I've been here two weeks already! I've been focusing on school this week, trying to get the feel of how things are. I've learned that taking the bus to class is the absolute worst idea. The bus comes at different times, and takes over 30 min to get to the other side of campus, which is MAYBE 1/2mi. away. I've learned this the hard way after two times showing up late for class :/ But it's been pouring night and day for the past 3 days. My road is in the middle of a hill, so its hard to walk on the sidewalk, since it is always flooded, rushing down towards you.
I woke up the other morning after a strange dream about fighting War Of The Worlds-style in China, only to wake up to what sounded like the new recruits learning how to fire automatic weapons. So lout, very full-auto sounding. Later that day, they fired the largest artillery shells I've ever heard. At the bus stop, it pounded in my chest and you could hear the waves of the echo for about 4-5 times. Intense. That night the fire alarm went off in the other building, as well as the following morning. So something we learned at Orientation: they do things different here for fire alarms. The first bell means "be on alert, wait for directions", as in stay put. The next set of alarms means "okay this wasn't an accident, get out!". We all joke that first alarm, only the Americans will be outside, since, I mean, WHY would you stay inside for a fire alarm, especially if you are like me and are on the 7th floor?
Anyway, class as been going well. The teachers fly by the notes, and I am confused about this lack of homework thing. It makes it hard to get into school-mode when I come home and have no school work to do. Things are different there defiantly. I had my optics class Friday from 1430-1530. Suddenly in class, the lights turned off. Apparently it was 1540, and since the classroom was supposed to be empty, as class ends at 1530, we were sitting in a dark room. The professor said, I have a couple more slides, we'll keep going. No one complained, no one left, they just said okay and continued. WE didn't leave class until 30 minutes AFTER it ended. That would not fly at home. Period. I went and bought a wedding magazine after class for something to read. It was huge, I was so excited to read about tips and look at beautiful gowns. Well, I was mistaken. So since this is such a small country, this magazine could fit all the photographers, venues, caterers, etc in one months issue. And that's what it pretty much was, a big advertisement magazine on who to pick and why to help with you wedding.
The Indonesia trip this weekend was canceled due to lack of participation since most of the kids turned in their embarkation cards to get thei student passes. The school did an easy thing for everyone to do it, and apparently nobody thought about leaving this weekend so the trip got canceled. So, I decided to have a fun shopping day! I went into Chinatown, I went to outdoor markets, food markets, antique shops, it was very fun! There were so many beaitiful antique furniture stores from China, India, and Thailand, but I could afford none of it, maybe when I travel I can find something cool. I did run across some interesting pieces of artwork and textiles, including a box that was more like porn than a household item. The outside of the box was men in the front yard of a house, the inside of the box was what everyone else in the house was "doing". Had pork on a stick for lunch, this was a big thing in China when we went, vendors BBQ meat on wooden skewers, its the best meat I've had here! I also bought another "engagement" ring. So, I left mine at home, and instead took a piece of costume jewelry. I have since decided I don't particularly like the ring, and all I needed was a little excuse to buy gold. So I bought myself a beautiful little band with some sparkly pattern carved in the gold as my newest engagement ring :) I also learned something interesting; the guy told me that he was going to write me a tax rebate form. He explained that since I am not a citizen or permanent resident, that the GST (goods and services tax) will be refunded to me at the airport for every purchase over S$100 I make, so long as I had the receipt to prove it. It was even better, because he did not charge me the tax, and the gov't will still pay me for it because he wrote it up looking like I did (its only 6$, but hey, I'm here for 4 months, it could add up?). The ring's price was determined strictly by multiplying its weight, which was on the tag, by the going rate that day for 22k gold, the rings metal. And that was it! Easy as can be, and cheaper than in the US which adds all sorts of 'other' reasons to over price jewelry.
Now, off the bed listening to the rain!
I woke up the other morning after a strange dream about fighting War Of The Worlds-style in China, only to wake up to what sounded like the new recruits learning how to fire automatic weapons. So lout, very full-auto sounding. Later that day, they fired the largest artillery shells I've ever heard. At the bus stop, it pounded in my chest and you could hear the waves of the echo for about 4-5 times. Intense. That night the fire alarm went off in the other building, as well as the following morning. So something we learned at Orientation: they do things different here for fire alarms. The first bell means "be on alert, wait for directions", as in stay put. The next set of alarms means "okay this wasn't an accident, get out!". We all joke that first alarm, only the Americans will be outside, since, I mean, WHY would you stay inside for a fire alarm, especially if you are like me and are on the 7th floor?
Anyway, class as been going well. The teachers fly by the notes, and I am confused about this lack of homework thing. It makes it hard to get into school-mode when I come home and have no school work to do. Things are different there defiantly. I had my optics class Friday from 1430-1530. Suddenly in class, the lights turned off. Apparently it was 1540, and since the classroom was supposed to be empty, as class ends at 1530, we were sitting in a dark room. The professor said, I have a couple more slides, we'll keep going. No one complained, no one left, they just said okay and continued. WE didn't leave class until 30 minutes AFTER it ended. That would not fly at home. Period. I went and bought a wedding magazine after class for something to read. It was huge, I was so excited to read about tips and look at beautiful gowns. Well, I was mistaken. So since this is such a small country, this magazine could fit all the photographers, venues, caterers, etc in one months issue. And that's what it pretty much was, a big advertisement magazine on who to pick and why to help with you wedding.
The Indonesia trip this weekend was canceled due to lack of participation since most of the kids turned in their embarkation cards to get thei student passes. The school did an easy thing for everyone to do it, and apparently nobody thought about leaving this weekend so the trip got canceled. So, I decided to have a fun shopping day! I went into Chinatown, I went to outdoor markets, food markets, antique shops, it was very fun! There were so many beaitiful antique furniture stores from China, India, and Thailand, but I could afford none of it, maybe when I travel I can find something cool. I did run across some interesting pieces of artwork and textiles, including a box that was more like porn than a household item. The outside of the box was men in the front yard of a house, the inside of the box was what everyone else in the house was "doing". Had pork on a stick for lunch, this was a big thing in China when we went, vendors BBQ meat on wooden skewers, its the best meat I've had here! I also bought another "engagement" ring. So, I left mine at home, and instead took a piece of costume jewelry. I have since decided I don't particularly like the ring, and all I needed was a little excuse to buy gold. So I bought myself a beautiful little band with some sparkly pattern carved in the gold as my newest engagement ring :) I also learned something interesting; the guy told me that he was going to write me a tax rebate form. He explained that since I am not a citizen or permanent resident, that the GST (goods and services tax) will be refunded to me at the airport for every purchase over S$100 I make, so long as I had the receipt to prove it. It was even better, because he did not charge me the tax, and the gov't will still pay me for it because he wrote it up looking like I did (its only 6$, but hey, I'm here for 4 months, it could add up?). The ring's price was determined strictly by multiplying its weight, which was on the tag, by the going rate that day for 22k gold, the rings metal. And that was it! Easy as can be, and cheaper than in the US which adds all sorts of 'other' reasons to over price jewelry.
Now, off the bed listening to the rain!
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
School Some More and Coming up Trips!
Nothing really exciting to talk about today. I had another class this morning, 0830 optics. SNOOZE. I get to class, its relatively small (30ppl) even thought our professor says there are supposed to be 50 kids. Its two hours of optics. He grew up in China as he told us, and he likes to stop and ask the Chinese kids to help him remember the Chinese names of certain variables and names. Our laoshi (Chinese for teacher) lives on campus, like many professors get to here. He tells us class will start late everyday because the bus always arrives late. So there are many buses that come to campus; there are 3 internal only buses, I take the C, there is a free bus that goes to the closest MRT (subway) station, and two buses that cost $ to take to various places outside of campus. Fortunetly, I live the next stop after the big bus station. This means there is nobody on the bus :) By the time we have rolled around 1/4 way through campus, kids are jamming in to the bus, standing (even thought there are government signs saying its against the law to stand in a moving bus) on in the aisles. The driver couldn't care less. Just don't drink/eat on his bus! They like to start moving while kids are still walking up the stairs and the doors are open. Many times we skip stops simply because there is no room.
All of my classes so far have been very different. I feel like at ERAU (please keep in mind my tiny ,4800 person school bias here) that most of our classes are structures the same. Here, they all seem different. My materials, you show up to lecture (this is my 500 person class) and go to "tutorials" about every other week. Tutorials (all classes have these) are kind of like a mix between a lab and a tutoring session. I assume they are boring, as all professors require you to show up to at least two. In materials, you have tutorial questions that must be answered before or during the course. They are not graded and have no effect on anything. In Islam class, this is when we do readings and talk in little groups. For Optics, we do practice problems and do homework. This is my only class with homework so far. ALL the others, the final is worth 70% of your grade. This is a school wide thing. Exams are a big deal, 2.5 hrs long. They give them over a 3 week period, only allowing 3 class exams to be proctored a day. I have a PhD friend who has proctored one, and he says if you use the rest room, he had to walk into the bathroom and the student had to keep the door open. Hm...
Learned a Chinese phrase today. Gong Xi Fa Cai (gong see fai k-eye), meaning Congratulations, make money! It's a typical exchange between friends on New Years, which is fast approaching next Thursday (so Wed night is New Year's Eve). I spoke with a Singaporean in my Islam class who told me Wednesday night her and her family get together, eat, and hang out. Nobody parties because the elders are there. They go around the neighborhood and collect money. There is a firework show happening in Chinatown that night we are going to. I told her about National Hangover Day, she thought it was hilarious.
It's been raining alllllll day. (11am til now, 5pm) and its not letting up. I've been spending the day booking plane tickets and setting up itineraries. So blog's to look forward too: I am going to Bintan, Indonesia this weekend. Its a small island off the south west coast of Borneo. You can only get there via boat, we are taking the ferry. Next weekend, for Chinese New Year, I will be joining a crew to go to KL (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). It's a big city, so we will do the city/monuments/sites thing (Independence Square, where the Red Army surrendered and the Malaysians gained their independence!), we are also going to the jungle for some hiking and the Batu Caves (Cave system with a 271 stair entrance with a Hindi temple inside), as well as to Putrajaya, which is a city built in 1992 as a "town" for the government building to go to, very modern! The last weekend in Feb. I am going on my FAVORITE trip, the Hue, Vietnam. Going to see the DMZ and all that jazz, and doing a day and a half tour of the 7th century imperialist tombs and forbidden cities in the city! Got a Vietnam (as in he is Vietnamese) veteran giving us the DMZ tour, much looking forward to that!
Off to bear the rain for food!
All of my classes so far have been very different. I feel like at ERAU (please keep in mind my tiny ,4800 person school bias here) that most of our classes are structures the same. Here, they all seem different. My materials, you show up to lecture (this is my 500 person class) and go to "tutorials" about every other week. Tutorials (all classes have these) are kind of like a mix between a lab and a tutoring session. I assume they are boring, as all professors require you to show up to at least two. In materials, you have tutorial questions that must be answered before or during the course. They are not graded and have no effect on anything. In Islam class, this is when we do readings and talk in little groups. For Optics, we do practice problems and do homework. This is my only class with homework so far. ALL the others, the final is worth 70% of your grade. This is a school wide thing. Exams are a big deal, 2.5 hrs long. They give them over a 3 week period, only allowing 3 class exams to be proctored a day. I have a PhD friend who has proctored one, and he says if you use the rest room, he had to walk into the bathroom and the student had to keep the door open. Hm...
Learned a Chinese phrase today. Gong Xi Fa Cai (gong see fai k-eye), meaning Congratulations, make money! It's a typical exchange between friends on New Years, which is fast approaching next Thursday (so Wed night is New Year's Eve). I spoke with a Singaporean in my Islam class who told me Wednesday night her and her family get together, eat, and hang out. Nobody parties because the elders are there. They go around the neighborhood and collect money. There is a firework show happening in Chinatown that night we are going to. I told her about National Hangover Day, she thought it was hilarious.
It's been raining alllllll day. (11am til now, 5pm) and its not letting up. I've been spending the day booking plane tickets and setting up itineraries. So blog's to look forward too: I am going to Bintan, Indonesia this weekend. Its a small island off the south west coast of Borneo. You can only get there via boat, we are taking the ferry. Next weekend, for Chinese New Year, I will be joining a crew to go to KL (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). It's a big city, so we will do the city/monuments/sites thing (Independence Square, where the Red Army surrendered and the Malaysians gained their independence!), we are also going to the jungle for some hiking and the Batu Caves (Cave system with a 271 stair entrance with a Hindi temple inside), as well as to Putrajaya, which is a city built in 1992 as a "town" for the government building to go to, very modern! The last weekend in Feb. I am going on my FAVORITE trip, the Hue, Vietnam. Going to see the DMZ and all that jazz, and doing a day and a half tour of the 7th century imperialist tombs and forbidden cities in the city! Got a Vietnam (as in he is Vietnamese) veteran giving us the DMZ tour, much looking forward to that!
Off to bear the rain for food!
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Man-Made Beaches. Oh yeah, and School
Sentosa is like Disney. Big, beautiful, man-made, expensive, luxurious, and not necessarily enjoyed by everyone. Sentosa is an island off Singapor'es south coast, full of everything imaginable, from swimming with pink Amazonian dolphins, to swimming in man-made beach lagoons, to indoor skydiving, animal encounters...etc etc. Since we have yet to hear of the fun local beach (there are not beaches here, like you might think. Its either sky scrappers or industrial stuff at the coast), we decided to go to Sentosa for the day to catch some sun. 2 hours later, as the MRT doesn't go directly there and me and a friend may have gotten lost on which bus to take, we arrived. You can immediately tell it was out of place; the sand felt like sand, but it felt like you were standing on a concrete surface, since there was not more sand under the top layer. The beach was obviously carved out, and there were concrete plastered fake rocks everywhere, someones positioned near pieces of granite rock, making it look even fake-r. But the sun and the breeze and water were real, and that was all we needed. Our little group has grown even larger, there was 19 of us total at the end of the day. We went around talking about ourselves and just hung out. It was a great way to end the weekend.
There was a local with us, a freshman Physics student, who talked with me for a long time. He was telling me about his time in the (forced) service after high school, spending three years in as required, now a 23 year old freshman. It was funny, he was telling me stories of their basic training, the exact same stories I have heard over and over and over again. There honestly was nothing knew. Everyone learned how to shoot M-16's, rucked long distances, forced to do stuff nobody wanted to do at all hours, etc etc. His favorite story was him throwing a live grenade for practice. They have the same ranking structure, and many many of the same things. He said well the US must have copied Singapore. Ha. He told me he thought Singapore's Army could beat the US. Then he changed the subject when I kind of hid a laugh. I found out that the name names DO have first and second name initials on them. I also picked his brain about a lot of other things about Singapore and here is what I learned:
Singaporeans start to date in high school, like the US. Most do not find husbands/wives until after college. You live with your parents (unless you live on campus) until you are married. Singaporeans don't always have children and if they do, only a few. He said the Chinese are like that, but not the Indians or Malay's; they have tons of them. If you are 30 and still single, the government will give you your own apartment, so some people chose to stay in school a while to get to live by themselves. Also, everyone (pasted freshman year) who wants to live in a dorm MUST contribute somehow. Many chose to do JCRC, which is the committee structure (president, PR, etc) for the halls. Some chose to be on hall sports teams. This is interesting because he said if your sport and team lose, you do not get guaranteed a hall the next year. So if your hockey team sucks, you and al your team mates must pay to live off campus.The library also provides previous-years' notes and tests to students. Like a school sponsered test bank!
Before we left Sentosa, we swung by the Southern-most point of Continental Asia (yes, Singapore is somehow concidered to be attached), which was kind of cool. Great views! (see FB). I stayed up late last night, planning by semester of trips, when I had two sets of kids come by trying to tell me things. It was midnight! It was for school committees, and they had cookies, so I contrubuted. They also sell hall shirts for an equivalent of under $2. I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth aound 1am. Now, since I have been here for over a week, I have only seen ONE Person, one, take a shower. I go in there at night to wash and in the mornings and I swear I am the only one ever in there. Well, I found out last night was that is because everyone takes their showers at 1am!
My two classes I have had so far are okay. My first class, Materials Science for Engineers, sits in a room that can seat !500 people and maybe its half way full. There are 8 different projection screens to see the power point notes. OMG. It was huge. There is a number you can text which shows up on one of the professors screens for when you need to ask a question. You text him, how cool! My second class was the Islamic World, its an Islamicate history class. I am the only white person and westerner besides by British professor. The first lesson today was going over the history of how the west and east see each other. We watched this very rasist "movie" (clips from films) showing just how racist Hollywood can be towards Mulsims. It was awkward, because I have seen like 90% of the movies (Law and Order was even on there!) and they were all American. In context, it made more sense. There needed to be an enemy, so use an Arab looking person because we are currently fighting them. But out of context, man it looked bad. I will keep my mouth shut about being in the military in this class. But it was good and very interesting and there was no bashing or anything of the sort. One thing I did learn was about the perception of Muslims. South east asia has the MOST Muslims, 60% of them like in SOUTH EAST ASIA. Did you know that?? It is funny, when we (Westerners) think of Muslims, we immediately think of Arabs. In Singapore, them they think Muslims, they thinks of Malay's.
Anyway, the Singapore exchange student facebook group has put together this cool tour where we go to Bintan, Indonesia via 45min ferry ride Fri-Sun for $100USD and get everything (but food) paid for, including two nights at a 4 star hotel on the beach. Sweet.
There was a local with us, a freshman Physics student, who talked with me for a long time. He was telling me about his time in the (forced) service after high school, spending three years in as required, now a 23 year old freshman. It was funny, he was telling me stories of their basic training, the exact same stories I have heard over and over and over again. There honestly was nothing knew. Everyone learned how to shoot M-16's, rucked long distances, forced to do stuff nobody wanted to do at all hours, etc etc. His favorite story was him throwing a live grenade for practice. They have the same ranking structure, and many many of the same things. He said well the US must have copied Singapore. Ha. He told me he thought Singapore's Army could beat the US. Then he changed the subject when I kind of hid a laugh. I found out that the name names DO have first and second name initials on them. I also picked his brain about a lot of other things about Singapore and here is what I learned:
Singaporeans start to date in high school, like the US. Most do not find husbands/wives until after college. You live with your parents (unless you live on campus) until you are married. Singaporeans don't always have children and if they do, only a few. He said the Chinese are like that, but not the Indians or Malay's; they have tons of them. If you are 30 and still single, the government will give you your own apartment, so some people chose to stay in school a while to get to live by themselves. Also, everyone (pasted freshman year) who wants to live in a dorm MUST contribute somehow. Many chose to do JCRC, which is the committee structure (president, PR, etc) for the halls. Some chose to be on hall sports teams. This is interesting because he said if your sport and team lose, you do not get guaranteed a hall the next year. So if your hockey team sucks, you and al your team mates must pay to live off campus.The library also provides previous-years' notes and tests to students. Like a school sponsered test bank!
Before we left Sentosa, we swung by the Southern-most point of Continental Asia (yes, Singapore is somehow concidered to be attached), which was kind of cool. Great views! (see FB). I stayed up late last night, planning by semester of trips, when I had two sets of kids come by trying to tell me things. It was midnight! It was for school committees, and they had cookies, so I contrubuted. They also sell hall shirts for an equivalent of under $2. I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth aound 1am. Now, since I have been here for over a week, I have only seen ONE Person, one, take a shower. I go in there at night to wash and in the mornings and I swear I am the only one ever in there. Well, I found out last night was that is because everyone takes their showers at 1am!
My two classes I have had so far are okay. My first class, Materials Science for Engineers, sits in a room that can seat !500 people and maybe its half way full. There are 8 different projection screens to see the power point notes. OMG. It was huge. There is a number you can text which shows up on one of the professors screens for when you need to ask a question. You text him, how cool! My second class was the Islamic World, its an Islamicate history class. I am the only white person and westerner besides by British professor. The first lesson today was going over the history of how the west and east see each other. We watched this very rasist "movie" (clips from films) showing just how racist Hollywood can be towards Mulsims. It was awkward, because I have seen like 90% of the movies (Law and Order was even on there!) and they were all American. In context, it made more sense. There needed to be an enemy, so use an Arab looking person because we are currently fighting them. But out of context, man it looked bad. I will keep my mouth shut about being in the military in this class. But it was good and very interesting and there was no bashing or anything of the sort. One thing I did learn was about the perception of Muslims. South east asia has the MOST Muslims, 60% of them like in SOUTH EAST ASIA. Did you know that?? It is funny, when we (Westerners) think of Muslims, we immediately think of Arabs. In Singapore, them they think Muslims, they thinks of Malay's.
Anyway, the Singapore exchange student facebook group has put together this cool tour where we go to Bintan, Indonesia via 45min ferry ride Fri-Sun for $100USD and get everything (but food) paid for, including two nights at a 4 star hotel on the beach. Sweet.
Friday, January 21, 2011
International Student Orientation
What a day, learns tons and met some great people! I woke up yesterday morning and attended the Int'l Student Orientation and Lunch. Forgetting I was at a big school, I didn't leave for the bus stop until 9:45 (it started at 1000) and I ended up being very late. However, at the bus stop I meant some kids from Univ. of Illinois. Two of the girls live right on the other side of my dorm, and these were the two girls I hung out with the rest of the day/night. The Information session wasn't anything new; how to do this and that which I had already figured out. We learned there was 360 students doing the exchange; about 65 Americans, 60 Canadians, 40 Swedish, and other European and Asian countries. They then provided a spectacular lunch buffet full of delicious mystery meats, fried things, and miniature desserts (lady fingers!). For the next hour, we all mingled with the various groups and many practiced their conversational English with us, it was very fun. I had my ERAU shirt on, and there was only 1 person who recognized it, a solo guy from UF. Meant lots of Mexicans who hung out with us the rest of the evening also. One of the girls has some Singaporean friends and taught us some random facts about the country:
The government owns all of the apartments in the city. If you want to rent one, you can rent one, or "buy" one, which is really renting it for 99 years. After three generations live there, then the apartment gets put back up for sale. Also, there are so many trees here (as I didn't think there would be since this place is almost like one huge city) because the only trees that are allowed to be cut down are native trees. It's illegal to cut down a foreign tree; you can build around it or dig it up and re-plant in the area you found it. There are plaques with numbers on alot of the treet on campus, so maybe that is why they are marked; they're foreign trees. I also learned the reason the school is backed up onto a Live Fire Range. You might need to resort to a map of Singapore to fully understand this, look at the west coast of the island. Back in the day, there was a huge Chinatown here that grew into a good 1/8 of the country. The government of Singapore was worried an uprising was going to happen, so they decided to take the land from the Chinese and turn this tiny portion into a Chinese school (NTU) and the majority into a militarized zone, to keep the people on check just in case. There is also another school inside of NTU, called NIE, National Institute of Education. If you want to be a teacher in Sing, you MUST attend this college.
Another very interesting thing I didn't know was the illegality of Jehovah's Witnesses. When Sing gained their independence in 1965, they decided every person on the island who turned 16 MUST join the military. There was a grouping of Witnesses who disagreed with the idea. For a long while, there was a constant battle between the two on males at 16 joining the military. In 1992, the Sing government confiscated all the Witnesses practicing land and declared it to be illegal to practice. Of course, there are still many groups of Witnesses here, who try to practice in secret and have forever-changing meeting places. It's hard for them, since they do not chose to participate in the pledge of allegiance in school (like we did in school every morning), which gets noticed, as well as their belief of just going from door to door and talking about God. They still must do that, it is a part of who they are. What the government does then, knowing you are illegally practicing, is they put you in jail for 3 years. For every year after that that you refuse to join the military, its another 40 days in jail. So, imagine for the rest of your life, attending prison for 40 days every 365.
I have a funny story to tell yall. Ever heard of a soft boiled egg? Google it if you haven't to appreciate thing. Yesterday morning I ordered kayan (I think I'm spelling this right) toast and 2 eggs. Kayan is a fruit-like spread, that I think it tastes like honey butter, so no complaints. I had a skype date with the fiance, so I asked the lady to make it to-go. First off, this is always a struggle, as only the students are required to speak English on campys and the help doesn't always speak. This lady at this particular stand which I frequent doesn't speak almost any English and I swear she's always mad when I come. Anyways, she puts the toast in a bag, but keeps saying "no, no" to the soft boiled eggs. I shrug her off, put them in my toast bag, and walked up stairs. Sitting at my desk, I begin to crack the eggs. I gave it a big hard WACK on the desk. I then discovered what a soft-boiled egg was..... It's half boiled and is gooey inside, you put it in a bowl and eat it kind of like a soup with a spoon..... It exploded everywhere! So embarassing....
The Illinois and Mexican group and I decided to go out and party last night. There is a HUGE nightlife scene here, as 2 million of the 5 million population of this country is foreigners, who really like to party. There was a party being thrown near Little India especially for foreign exchange students from the 3 schools in the area. The alcohol here, as I spoke of earlier, is mega expensive. So, the thing to do, is to go to the 7-11 and buy your own and go hang out at "the bridge" and drink it before going to the clubs. Everyone, locals and foreigners alike, participate in this. The bridge is this pedestrian bridge over a harbor a bit inland, surrounded by lots of restaurants, neon lights, and street vendors. Very "city" kind of place to be. There are 3 sections of the bridge you can walk on, and the raised separating between the two is where everyone sits, dangles there feet, and drinks. We all hang out here for the next 2 hours and drank. I bought a Tsingtao, delicious Chinese beer they import to the US which I would recommend anyone who likes to try new things. I also tried a Thai beer, very sweet and gross.
I went with the Mexicans to get into a taxi and we went to the club. It was all Europeans. They only let in 500 ppl at a time so we had to stand in line for a minute. They had a strict dress code, and we actually watched a guy strip down and change his clothes in the line. My student idea (only a photo and NTU) worked as my ID and we went into a 2 story building full of dry-ice which smelled gross, high powered beams and strobe lights, and super loud bass techno. You can stand in front of the speakers and could feel the bottoms of my pants move. Very crowded, really bad drinks, and got pushed out the way all the time. If I had to guess, take this as you will since I've never been to Europe, but this would be what I would conciser a European club. It closed at 3am, I have no voice since when we were dancing with the girls, you had to scream in order to hear each other, but it was very fun.
The government owns all of the apartments in the city. If you want to rent one, you can rent one, or "buy" one, which is really renting it for 99 years. After three generations live there, then the apartment gets put back up for sale. Also, there are so many trees here (as I didn't think there would be since this place is almost like one huge city) because the only trees that are allowed to be cut down are native trees. It's illegal to cut down a foreign tree; you can build around it or dig it up and re-plant in the area you found it. There are plaques with numbers on alot of the treet on campus, so maybe that is why they are marked; they're foreign trees. I also learned the reason the school is backed up onto a Live Fire Range. You might need to resort to a map of Singapore to fully understand this, look at the west coast of the island. Back in the day, there was a huge Chinatown here that grew into a good 1/8 of the country. The government of Singapore was worried an uprising was going to happen, so they decided to take the land from the Chinese and turn this tiny portion into a Chinese school (NTU) and the majority into a militarized zone, to keep the people on check just in case. There is also another school inside of NTU, called NIE, National Institute of Education. If you want to be a teacher in Sing, you MUST attend this college.
Another very interesting thing I didn't know was the illegality of Jehovah's Witnesses. When Sing gained their independence in 1965, they decided every person on the island who turned 16 MUST join the military. There was a grouping of Witnesses who disagreed with the idea. For a long while, there was a constant battle between the two on males at 16 joining the military. In 1992, the Sing government confiscated all the Witnesses practicing land and declared it to be illegal to practice. Of course, there are still many groups of Witnesses here, who try to practice in secret and have forever-changing meeting places. It's hard for them, since they do not chose to participate in the pledge of allegiance in school (like we did in school every morning), which gets noticed, as well as their belief of just going from door to door and talking about God. They still must do that, it is a part of who they are. What the government does then, knowing you are illegally practicing, is they put you in jail for 3 years. For every year after that that you refuse to join the military, its another 40 days in jail. So, imagine for the rest of your life, attending prison for 40 days every 365.
I have a funny story to tell yall. Ever heard of a soft boiled egg? Google it if you haven't to appreciate thing. Yesterday morning I ordered kayan (I think I'm spelling this right) toast and 2 eggs. Kayan is a fruit-like spread, that I think it tastes like honey butter, so no complaints. I had a skype date with the fiance, so I asked the lady to make it to-go. First off, this is always a struggle, as only the students are required to speak English on campys and the help doesn't always speak. This lady at this particular stand which I frequent doesn't speak almost any English and I swear she's always mad when I come. Anyways, she puts the toast in a bag, but keeps saying "no, no" to the soft boiled eggs. I shrug her off, put them in my toast bag, and walked up stairs. Sitting at my desk, I begin to crack the eggs. I gave it a big hard WACK on the desk. I then discovered what a soft-boiled egg was..... It's half boiled and is gooey inside, you put it in a bowl and eat it kind of like a soup with a spoon..... It exploded everywhere! So embarassing....
The Illinois and Mexican group and I decided to go out and party last night. There is a HUGE nightlife scene here, as 2 million of the 5 million population of this country is foreigners, who really like to party. There was a party being thrown near Little India especially for foreign exchange students from the 3 schools in the area. The alcohol here, as I spoke of earlier, is mega expensive. So, the thing to do, is to go to the 7-11 and buy your own and go hang out at "the bridge" and drink it before going to the clubs. Everyone, locals and foreigners alike, participate in this. The bridge is this pedestrian bridge over a harbor a bit inland, surrounded by lots of restaurants, neon lights, and street vendors. Very "city" kind of place to be. There are 3 sections of the bridge you can walk on, and the raised separating between the two is where everyone sits, dangles there feet, and drinks. We all hang out here for the next 2 hours and drank. I bought a Tsingtao, delicious Chinese beer they import to the US which I would recommend anyone who likes to try new things. I also tried a Thai beer, very sweet and gross.
I went with the Mexicans to get into a taxi and we went to the club. It was all Europeans. They only let in 500 ppl at a time so we had to stand in line for a minute. They had a strict dress code, and we actually watched a guy strip down and change his clothes in the line. My student idea (only a photo and NTU) worked as my ID and we went into a 2 story building full of dry-ice which smelled gross, high powered beams and strobe lights, and super loud bass techno. You can stand in front of the speakers and could feel the bottoms of my pants move. Very crowded, really bad drinks, and got pushed out the way all the time. If I had to guess, take this as you will since I've never been to Europe, but this would be what I would conciser a European club. It closed at 3am, I have no voice since when we were dancing with the girls, you had to scream in order to hear each other, but it was very fun.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Thaipusam, Hindi Festival
This is so cool it gets its own post. You MUUSSTT go check out the videos and photos I took on Facebook to truley understand how crazy this was.
Thaipusam, is a Hindi festival held once a year to honor Lord Subramaniam. This festival (in Singapore) was one of 5 countries that put on such a big festival to honor this diety. Its also cool because its one of the few ritual festivales in the world that can be witnessed by non-believers.
Gratitude is displayed to the diety by carrying havadis, a cage-like structure that is carried on the shoulders of the carrier and attached to him BY HOOKS THROUGH HIS BODY. Its decorated with strings of beads, peacock feathers, pictured of Hindi gods, wet. Its carried from temple to temple here in Little India. Milk gets offered to the gods, and some men carry it on their head-pieces. This devotions acutally starts a month earlier, many people fasting up until the celebration. Food and drinks are handed out to all passers. I ate sweet rice, juice, this sour milk that I swear was soaked in peppers, etc.
They road block off a portion of the street and each kavadis carrier is followed by a little parade of people. In front, are a group of people singing and playing an instrument. The carrier bounces up and down (makes the feathers jump, watch the video) and spins in circles. While he has his face, tongue, stomach, back, and arms pierced and attached to things. Some don't have headpieces, but are still hooked with stuff and some are hooked to carts they are pulling along.
A man who I was standing by, a Malaysia, told me that the carriers are in an intoxicated trance, as they must be to bear the pain. He also invited me to his house when I go to Malaysia for Chinese New Year. I told him I was going with "tons of people" and he took back his invitation and I walked away. SO creepy!
Thaipusam, is a Hindi festival held once a year to honor Lord Subramaniam. This festival (in Singapore) was one of 5 countries that put on such a big festival to honor this diety. Its also cool because its one of the few ritual festivales in the world that can be witnessed by non-believers.
Gratitude is displayed to the diety by carrying havadis, a cage-like structure that is carried on the shoulders of the carrier and attached to him BY HOOKS THROUGH HIS BODY. Its decorated with strings of beads, peacock feathers, pictured of Hindi gods, wet. Its carried from temple to temple here in Little India. Milk gets offered to the gods, and some men carry it on their head-pieces. This devotions acutally starts a month earlier, many people fasting up until the celebration. Food and drinks are handed out to all passers. I ate sweet rice, juice, this sour milk that I swear was soaked in peppers, etc.
They road block off a portion of the street and each kavadis carrier is followed by a little parade of people. In front, are a group of people singing and playing an instrument. The carrier bounces up and down (makes the feathers jump, watch the video) and spins in circles. While he has his face, tongue, stomach, back, and arms pierced and attached to things. Some don't have headpieces, but are still hooked with stuff and some are hooked to carts they are pulling along.
A man who I was standing by, a Malaysia, told me that the carriers are in an intoxicated trance, as they must be to bear the pain. He also invited me to his house when I go to Malaysia for Chinese New Year. I told him I was going with "tons of people" and he took back his invitation and I walked away. SO creepy!
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
My Address!!!
Nothing really new to report. Spent the last day resting my feet and reading Black Hawk Down in the beautiful weather. Its so lovely here, its that type of weather where you could really wear a bathing suit or pants and be confortable. Insides are AC-blasted either and there is always a nice breeze. The base behind campus was doing artillery testing and bomb drops last night and this morning. I went running on that side of campus earlier and there are property posting with DANGER and cross bones all over them, but no fences....
Anyway, here is my address to my dorm if anyone is interested. Mom said (from FL) it costs 98 cents to mail me a letter, not bad!
Emily Dougal
3C-07-10
Hall of Residence 3
NTU
52 Nanyang Walk
Singapore 639928
My roommate and I are supposed to share a mailbox, however I don't think I'll be getting a roommate. The first day I Got here, I was told I would be staying with a local who has been studying in the US. Every door room, except mine at the time, had a sign with the names and majors of the residences of that room. My sign got posted on my door yesterday, with my roommates name and major whited-out. Maybe I'll get lucky :)
Anyway, here is my address to my dorm if anyone is interested. Mom said (from FL) it costs 98 cents to mail me a letter, not bad!
Emily Dougal
3C-07-10
Hall of Residence 3
NTU
52 Nanyang Walk
Singapore 639928
My roommate and I are supposed to share a mailbox, however I don't think I'll be getting a roommate. The first day I Got here, I was told I would be staying with a local who has been studying in the US. Every door room, except mine at the time, had a sign with the names and majors of the residences of that room. My sign got posted on my door yesterday, with my roommates name and major whited-out. Maybe I'll get lucky :)
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
My day of Observations
So today I wandered around campus some more and made a trip via bus and train to Arab Street. In total, the trip took about 45 minutes and cost less than a S$1.50. I had lots of time to think about some observations I have made in the past couple days and now yall get to hear them :)
This while super-strict act that Singapore has going on; For those tho door not know, there is no J-walking (crossing street w/o cross walk), spitting, chewing gum, etc etc. Some strange things. Also, vices, such as alcohol and cigarettes are heavily taxed (twice the amount you pay in the US total for them) and ANY amount of drugs is an immediate death sentence. No joke. Chris (ERAU grad who is showing me around) and I were talking, and he had an interesting idea about why they do this. I thought it was just for show, let tourists see how perfect Singapore is and they get more $$/tourism, etc. He thinks its their way of making a better society, by meaning that the government took a look at other neighboring countries and saw what problems they had, and this was their way to fix them. Interesting idea. I expected there to be stricter followers. Now, I haven't seen any drugs or drunks or litterers, but I did see a young girl chew gum on the train today which blew my mind because its illegal to BUY, POSSESS, SELL, and IMPORT gum here, so how in the world did she get it and why is she chewing it on public transportation? And this J-walking thing. You would think they would put in a little more cross-walks, but no, wrong assumption. It's very frustrating, like walking around school for instance. Many of the sidewalks are fenced in so even if you wanted to run across the street you cant. Or if you are at a 4-way intersection, you have to walk down once road to cross and down that road to cross...etc just to get to the other side of the street. They do put these zip-zag marks in the road (like shoulder markers) near cross walks so if you are temped to break the law, you can see these and know a cross-walk is near. Nobody follows this rule. On campus, everyone J-walks. And in the city too. I've seen 2 patrol cars since I've been here and they were both in tourist-central.
I saw a soldier today on the train. I've seen two sailors hanging in the city central in whites, but I got a good look at the solider during my 35 minute train ride. The uniform was the EXACT style the new AF digi's are expect they are a little more bright-green in camo color. Same patch placement, pockets, etc. Singapore in place of US, still had a name tape. His right soldier had a patch with a crossed sword and torch encircled in crssing branches with the words "to lead, to excel, to overcome" under it. The one thing that was different, was there was a long skinny patch where his would-be rank would be, which he also had none. He had a black beret in his pocket with another branch-encircled Singapore flag in it. He looked like he weighed 90 lbs and was 18. Singapore had a surprisingly large armed forces, considering its size and lack of immediate enemies. Back in the day, when it was still a colony of Britain during WWII, the Japanese reigned terror down the Malaysian peninsula, and then beat the Malay army and occupied Singapore. The Japanese secret police then began "purifying" the population of anti-Japanese supporters and ethnic Chinese people. They inflated the price of basic necessities and many many died. The US and Brits bombed Singapore in hope of sending the Japanese away, but in the end it was the atomic bombs that forces Japan to leave Singapore after surrendering.
I have to walk through a couple of car garages/parking lots to get to this particular bus stop and noticed the cars today. They are all very nice, BMW's , nice Hondas, Mercedes, and they all look brand new and are clean and shiny and defect-free. I believe these are student's cars, as the professors have their own halls on campus and keep their cars there in their personal garages, so these must be students. I guess I must be attending the wealthy school...? Speaking of professors, one of Chris' friends was telling us that if a student or anyone else is caught staying overnight in a professors hall for any reason, they will (both professor and student) have to pay the sum of $50/day for the entire time both had lived in campus (so if you were a senior, that's $50 times 4 years of school) plus lose your house plus if you are int'l, your visa will get pulled and you get deported. Harsh.
There are four languages for all signs here. English, Chinese, Malay, and Hindi. I also noticed when brushing my teeth last night and this morning that I haven't seen anyone else enter the bathroom at all. This is very odd to me. The students in the halls leave their shoes outside their doors, so I know that the dorms are full of students, since the hallway is littered with shoes. But when does everyone brush their teeth, shower? There was also nobody at breakfast this morning. I was the only one, kind of odd.
Arab street was BEAUTIFUL! There was a huge white/brown mosque right in the center and textiles galore! This is the place to go to get clothes made. They have Swiss, German, India, Malay, every kind of fabric at every kind of price, I had alot of fun browsing today! I ate at a restaurant which I later noticed had a 'C' from the sanitation department and he gave me ketchup with my Veggie fried rice...?
This while super-strict act that Singapore has going on; For those tho door not know, there is no J-walking (crossing street w/o cross walk), spitting, chewing gum, etc etc. Some strange things. Also, vices, such as alcohol and cigarettes are heavily taxed (twice the amount you pay in the US total for them) and ANY amount of drugs is an immediate death sentence. No joke. Chris (ERAU grad who is showing me around) and I were talking, and he had an interesting idea about why they do this. I thought it was just for show, let tourists see how perfect Singapore is and they get more $$/tourism, etc. He thinks its their way of making a better society, by meaning that the government took a look at other neighboring countries and saw what problems they had, and this was their way to fix them. Interesting idea. I expected there to be stricter followers. Now, I haven't seen any drugs or drunks or litterers, but I did see a young girl chew gum on the train today which blew my mind because its illegal to BUY, POSSESS, SELL, and IMPORT gum here, so how in the world did she get it and why is she chewing it on public transportation? And this J-walking thing. You would think they would put in a little more cross-walks, but no, wrong assumption. It's very frustrating, like walking around school for instance. Many of the sidewalks are fenced in so even if you wanted to run across the street you cant. Or if you are at a 4-way intersection, you have to walk down once road to cross and down that road to cross...etc just to get to the other side of the street. They do put these zip-zag marks in the road (like shoulder markers) near cross walks so if you are temped to break the law, you can see these and know a cross-walk is near. Nobody follows this rule. On campus, everyone J-walks. And in the city too. I've seen 2 patrol cars since I've been here and they were both in tourist-central.
I saw a soldier today on the train. I've seen two sailors hanging in the city central in whites, but I got a good look at the solider during my 35 minute train ride. The uniform was the EXACT style the new AF digi's are expect they are a little more bright-green in camo color. Same patch placement, pockets, etc. Singapore in place of US, still had a name tape. His right soldier had a patch with a crossed sword and torch encircled in crssing branches with the words "to lead, to excel, to overcome" under it. The one thing that was different, was there was a long skinny patch where his would-be rank would be, which he also had none. He had a black beret in his pocket with another branch-encircled Singapore flag in it. He looked like he weighed 90 lbs and was 18. Singapore had a surprisingly large armed forces, considering its size and lack of immediate enemies. Back in the day, when it was still a colony of Britain during WWII, the Japanese reigned terror down the Malaysian peninsula, and then beat the Malay army and occupied Singapore. The Japanese secret police then began "purifying" the population of anti-Japanese supporters and ethnic Chinese people. They inflated the price of basic necessities and many many died. The US and Brits bombed Singapore in hope of sending the Japanese away, but in the end it was the atomic bombs that forces Japan to leave Singapore after surrendering.
I have to walk through a couple of car garages/parking lots to get to this particular bus stop and noticed the cars today. They are all very nice, BMW's , nice Hondas, Mercedes, and they all look brand new and are clean and shiny and defect-free. I believe these are student's cars, as the professors have their own halls on campus and keep their cars there in their personal garages, so these must be students. I guess I must be attending the wealthy school...? Speaking of professors, one of Chris' friends was telling us that if a student or anyone else is caught staying overnight in a professors hall for any reason, they will (both professor and student) have to pay the sum of $50/day for the entire time both had lived in campus (so if you were a senior, that's $50 times 4 years of school) plus lose your house plus if you are int'l, your visa will get pulled and you get deported. Harsh.
There are four languages for all signs here. English, Chinese, Malay, and Hindi. I also noticed when brushing my teeth last night and this morning that I haven't seen anyone else enter the bathroom at all. This is very odd to me. The students in the halls leave their shoes outside their doors, so I know that the dorms are full of students, since the hallway is littered with shoes. But when does everyone brush their teeth, shower? There was also nobody at breakfast this morning. I was the only one, kind of odd.
Arab street was BEAUTIFUL! There was a huge white/brown mosque right in the center and textiles galore! This is the place to go to get clothes made. They have Swiss, German, India, Malay, every kind of fabric at every kind of price, I had alot of fun browsing today! I ate at a restaurant which I later noticed had a 'C' from the sanitation department and he gave me ketchup with my Veggie fried rice...?
Monday, January 17, 2011
Nanyang Techniological Univeristy
Good morning! Yesterday, after realizing it was Monday, not Sunday (major jet lag!), I checked into my dorms, or hostel's as everyone likes to call them. I am staying on the 7th floor in Hall 3, one of 9 undergraduate halls. The halls here are BEAUTIFUL! The campus really looks more like a resort than a school. The building are all very new (my dorm was built in 2006), but the shrubbery and trees look like they've been here for decades.
My roommate is a local who has been studying the US, as I found out from the help desk. I met up with a former EP Riddle student and his girlfriend who are on their second year of their Ph. D here at NTU. We met up with their group of friends (Hungarian, Brit, and American) and had lunch. I discovered when paying for lunch, that just like a lot of other places around Singapore, credit/debit cards are not accepted, only cash and “nets”. Nets is a tap or swipe card that is like a gift card, you put cash on it and can use it a lot of places. This is also how I had to pay my student fees. Went to the international office this morning at 9am, I was greeted by “why are you up so early!”. Everyone here starts later than in the US. Even the gym, which you only need your room key to enter, doesn’t open until 9am. This has been very disappointing, as this was the 3rd day in a row I woke up before 6am since I’m still trying to adjust.
I’m off to explore the near by MRT station, which is a bus ride away. There are so many free buses to everywhere on campus, its wonderful. I’m going to a ‘mall’. There is no Walmart, or Walmart-like store, to this ‘mall’ is where I can buy thing I forgot, like extra transformers, laundry bag, toiletry basket, etc.
I’m too anxious to get out of my room to type any more, but I will later!
Sunday, January 16, 2011
My 7 hour walk around Singapore
So unfortunately, either the internet or this blog doesn't like me uploading photos right now, so you must refer to facebook for photos for now. Now about my long day....
I woke up and decided I was going to learn how to use the public transportation (MRT) and try to go into the city center. I wrote down direction from the internet and set off for coffee. My hotel is in Little India by the way. I got a cup of instant coffee that was sweeter than anything I have ever had before. The guy put three spoonfuls of this gooey brown stuff from a can with a picture of a cow on it, like very sweet sticky milk. But it was soo good! I"m going back tomorrow. Well, as I'm wandering through Little India to find the MRT station, I get major distracted. Yesterday began Singapore's celebration of the Return of the Rabbit (Chinese New Year) so there was lots going on, including a little concert by the Cow Factory. It's not what you think, as Indians do not harm cows. They, instead, put them on display with colored horns and necklaces.
I made it to the MRT and decided to head to Chinatown. On the map, Chinatown looked next door to the city center (wrong), and this way I could get a good lunch walking through. I ran into a flower market, beautiful old streets and buildings. Then came the temple. Buddhist temples are the more beautiful structures in the world (no, really). In Chinatown I came across a Buddhist Temple and Museum. And this is where I spent my next 4 hours. I took notes.
Buddhism was founded by Buddha Sakyamuni (born 623 BC). It has lasted thousands of years and is still growing. The ground floor was the temple. The main room of worship had a two story sculpture of Buddha. The greatest gift of devotion that can be given is gold, so all statues are painted or sculpted in gold. Light is another great gift, so there are tons of beautiful lanterns everywhere. Giving candles and flowers are ways to get back good karma, so there were flowers on tables, the floor, etc. The walls were lined with "100 Buddah" (a thing in Buddhism) but there was much more than just that. Each was adopted by a patron over the last 100 years and represented on the walls throughout the 5 story building. The top floor was a garden with a 2 story prayer wheel in the center.
The fourth floor housed the Sacred Buddha Tooth Relic Stupa. A stupa is like a mini temple they made to house the tooth relic (yes, a tooth) which was surrounded by precious gems and made out of 420kg of gold. The room was off limits to cameras, held two meditation rises, and there was even a monk there to pray with. The second and third floors were museums full of light sensitive statues from every time period imaginable of all the different gods and goddesses of Buddhism. In one of the back rooms, help the "physical sarira". There are two types of sarira, or relics in Sanskrit, and physical is a tangible relic. Surrounded by lit glass was crystallized solid remains of Buddha. As in crystallized bone, liver, heart, brain, eye, etc. No pictured allowed :/.
Other things I learned from reading to share:
Now, go check out my pictured until I can figure out a way to get them on here.... you can see where I'm living :)
I woke up and decided I was going to learn how to use the public transportation (MRT) and try to go into the city center. I wrote down direction from the internet and set off for coffee. My hotel is in Little India by the way. I got a cup of instant coffee that was sweeter than anything I have ever had before. The guy put three spoonfuls of this gooey brown stuff from a can with a picture of a cow on it, like very sweet sticky milk. But it was soo good! I"m going back tomorrow. Well, as I'm wandering through Little India to find the MRT station, I get major distracted. Yesterday began Singapore's celebration of the Return of the Rabbit (Chinese New Year) so there was lots going on, including a little concert by the Cow Factory. It's not what you think, as Indians do not harm cows. They, instead, put them on display with colored horns and necklaces.
I made it to the MRT and decided to head to Chinatown. On the map, Chinatown looked next door to the city center (wrong), and this way I could get a good lunch walking through. I ran into a flower market, beautiful old streets and buildings. Then came the temple. Buddhist temples are the more beautiful structures in the world (no, really). In Chinatown I came across a Buddhist Temple and Museum. And this is where I spent my next 4 hours. I took notes.
Buddhism was founded by Buddha Sakyamuni (born 623 BC). It has lasted thousands of years and is still growing. The ground floor was the temple. The main room of worship had a two story sculpture of Buddha. The greatest gift of devotion that can be given is gold, so all statues are painted or sculpted in gold. Light is another great gift, so there are tons of beautiful lanterns everywhere. Giving candles and flowers are ways to get back good karma, so there were flowers on tables, the floor, etc. The walls were lined with "100 Buddah" (a thing in Buddhism) but there was much more than just that. Each was adopted by a patron over the last 100 years and represented on the walls throughout the 5 story building. The top floor was a garden with a 2 story prayer wheel in the center.
The fourth floor housed the Sacred Buddha Tooth Relic Stupa. A stupa is like a mini temple they made to house the tooth relic (yes, a tooth) which was surrounded by precious gems and made out of 420kg of gold. The room was off limits to cameras, held two meditation rises, and there was even a monk there to pray with. The second and third floors were museums full of light sensitive statues from every time period imaginable of all the different gods and goddesses of Buddhism. In one of the back rooms, help the "physical sarira". There are two types of sarira, or relics in Sanskrit, and physical is a tangible relic. Surrounded by lit glass was crystallized solid remains of Buddha. As in crystallized bone, liver, heart, brain, eye, etc. No pictured allowed :/.
Other things I learned from reading to share:
- (find the facebook picture of me in front of a Buddhist statue to refer) When the hand is placed open, palm up, this is a gesture of blessing. When the hand is held like a "stop", perpendicular to the ground, it is a gesture to dispel fear.
- Everyone knows the famous "fat happy Buddha" statue. Here's the story. There was one a Monk who was known as the "cloth bag monk". He was chubby and always known for smiling. Before he passed away, he made a point to praise Maitreya, once of the Buddha's. Over the years, people began to believe he was in fact Maitreya, so this Buddha's depiction became the fat and happy cloth monk.
- Chinese couplet about his image:
- A big belly can contain all difficulties, sufferings, and problems in life; A big laugh may laugh at all those who are ridiculous"
- When Buddha believed he had reached enlightenment, is caused a great uproar to the evil king, Mara. Mara began throwing obstacles to challenge Buddha, such as women and violence. Buddha meditated for 7 days (some think for 49) until he understood the cause of all suffering and that the way to release suffering is through one's selflessness. At this moment, at the age of 35, he was released from the endless cycles of rebirth (reincarnation of the soul) and achieved Anuttara-Samyak-Sambodhi, and was "The Enlightened One"
Now, go check out my pictured until I can figure out a way to get them on here.... you can see where I'm living :)
Saturday, January 15, 2011
I have arrived!
Wow, what a long trip! Froze my butt off in my Florida attire standing in snow at Newark waiting for the airport shuttle, sat on the runway for almost 2 hours in Japan because our airplane had issues. And now I'm here. The flights went fine, minus the delay. Good food, good movies. We landed at 230am and I was in a taxi by 3am. The driver went to open the passenger door, what I thought was him being polite to open the door, but I had forgotten they drive on the other side and he was just getting in to drive. I told the driver my hotel was on Dickson road, and off we went. The airport was magnificent and beautiful. The taxi GPS computer would flash a DRIVE CAREFULLY!!!! sign whenever the taxi driver sped, which was interesting. The main highway circles around the main drag of Singapore, the largest of all the building and the city center for tourism. Singapore is known for its facade of perfection, so everything was clean and lit up beautifully. I saw the famous gigantic ferris wheel in the city center where the "seats" are full size dining rooms for a party of 6. We ended up Ductson Rd. and had a bit of trouble with communicating where I was going, but 40 S$ later I was at the hotel.
It a typical small Asian hotel room, the bathroom acutally being a walk in shower with a toilet and sink in it. So when I showered with the small amount of hot water provided, the toilet paper had to be protected and everything else, including towels, left outside the bathroom door or it would get wet and stuck on the flooded floor. I went out for a walk at 4am to stretch my legs and check out the surrounding. Apparently Singapore is party central, even on the drive here there were so many young men/women waiting in lines for clubs, drunk giggling and running around on the sidewalk and smoking cigarettes which are heavily taxed. As I walked down the road towards Little India, the distric my hotel is near, drunk college kids were stumbling and laughing out of taxis. I ate what would be described the closest as orange chicken and rice and an orange soda, straw of course.
I'm too wiped out to type anymore, its almost 6am and I need to rest. I'll be walking around and exploring the city center today, probably going to a museum and check out the local tourist attractions.
It a typical small Asian hotel room, the bathroom acutally being a walk in shower with a toilet and sink in it. So when I showered with the small amount of hot water provided, the toilet paper had to be protected and everything else, including towels, left outside the bathroom door or it would get wet and stuck on the flooded floor. I went out for a walk at 4am to stretch my legs and check out the surrounding. Apparently Singapore is party central, even on the drive here there were so many young men/women waiting in lines for clubs, drunk giggling and running around on the sidewalk and smoking cigarettes which are heavily taxed. As I walked down the road towards Little India, the distric my hotel is near, drunk college kids were stumbling and laughing out of taxis. I ate what would be described the closest as orange chicken and rice and an orange soda, straw of course.
I'm too wiped out to type anymore, its almost 6am and I need to rest. I'll be walking around and exploring the city center today, probably going to a museum and check out the local tourist attractions.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Check 1-2
Hey everyone! Just thought I would try out the blog and make sure everything is working smooth. As often as I can, I will be posting here about my experiences, activities, adventures, and posting pictures about my semester in Singapore. I don't leave until 14 Jan, flying from Jacksonville, Newark, Tokyo, then Singapore, so I won't be posting again until I arrive in-country.
For contact information for the family and friends, I will have my Skype account always open on my itouch/laptop under the name 'erdougal'. I always have my e-mail (dougale@my.erau.edu), and I will have my cell phone. I receive free texts, so if you want to Skype or just say hi, text me (its free for you and me) and we can communicate that way :) But remember, Singapore is a 13 hours time difference, so the best time to contact for those in the US would be breakfast/after dinner.
Hope everyone had a safe holiday, and I'll be posting again next week.
For contact information for the family and friends, I will have my Skype account always open on my itouch/laptop under the name 'erdougal'. I always have my e-mail (dougale@my.erau.edu), and I will have my cell phone. I receive free texts, so if you want to Skype or just say hi, text me (its free for you and me) and we can communicate that way :) But remember, Singapore is a 13 hours time difference, so the best time to contact for those in the US would be breakfast/after dinner.
Hope everyone had a safe holiday, and I'll be posting again next week.
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