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!
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