In Singapore! (Lonnnnng post)

Today was Day 4 in Singapore! I wanted to blog the first few days, but jet lag sucked up all my motivation & I'm definitely still in watch and learn mode. But if you want to know what I was up to:

Monday (WI time): I headed for Minneapolis, departed at about 9:30 pm, landed in San Francisco and then started my longest flight yet...I thought Paris was long, but Hong Kong ate up an entire day (well, 14 or 15 hours)! I spent about an hour walking around in the HK airport (free wifi!) before heading on to Singapore. I don't have any plane photos because I was in the aisle seat & it was dark for almost the entire 24 hours I traveling (35+ when you count in the time change).

Wednesday (SG time): I landed at about 11:20 am, was picked up at the airport by the awesome Kendra C. & my equally fabulous roommate, Kara. Saw our wonderful flat (apartment), took a shower, and then headed for school! I ate all Western food the first day: Subway for lunch and pasta for supper...but I was too zombie-fied to care. My memory from the day is pretty hazy, but I'm pretty sure we also set up my phone, walked around by the Esplanade, and...yeah, I can't remember anything else. I think my brain had checked out by around 8:30 pm, but my body managed to stay awake until 10!

Oh! And I got to see my office. HUGE. Since coming to Singapore, I've felt strangely large and awkward (even if in the States I'm short & average) so maybe in such a big room I'll feel small-ish again (doubt it).

Thursday: What did we do this day? I don't remember what the morning involved (did we go to school?), but we went to Vivo City towards afternoon & had lunch at Food Republic (visit #1). Vivo City is a GIGANTIC mall and Food Republic is it's all-Asian food court (various Chinese, Indian, Korean, etc. food). After that we saw Inception (definitely recommended if you like complex movies...loved the use of repeated line). In Singapore, you choose your seat when you buy your movie ticket - nice system! Unless, of course, you're one of the last people to get your ticket. : ) Kara and I also found a grocery store within walking distance of our flat! Not sure if I remember exactly how to get there now, but I'll figure it out!

Friday: This was medical exam day. A batch of us were "chosen" to get exams before getting our S-passes (green cards/work permits)...I imagine that since I've been exposed to all sorts of glorious organisms, they wanted to make sure I'm not diseased. Had my first chest x-ray ever (the RN in me wanted to type "cxr"), blood tests, and the fastest interview with a doctor ever. If they were doing an H&P on me, I think it would be a sentence or two. Afterwards, we headed back to school and then I got my first taste of Indian food & it was delicious! ("Where have you been all my life?" feeling...all the Indian residents & doctors back home should definitely push to get a place open in Marshfield!) After that a couple of us headed to Sim Lim Square (electronics paradise, if you're into that) and then...back to Vivo City again. Found a huge & lovely bookstore (Page One), but all the knitting books are exactly the same as the ones back home (just more price-y!). Had my first dish of chicken rice (Singapore food!) at Food Republic (visit #2) and then saw Inception again. Seeing a movie twice in a row is very, verrrry untypical for me...hope it doesn't turn into a habit. : )

Saturday (today!): All of the new staff met at school for a Singapore Scavenger Hunt/Mission ("mission" sounds so much cooler than "hunt"). We were all over the place & I started to wish I had a pedometer to keep track of just how much we were walking around. We also took the MRT (subway/train), bus, and taxi. Where'd we go? Vivo City, yet again...and guess where else? Food Republic (visit #3). I tried more Indian food (murtabak chicken with curry sauce...which may just convince me to transition back to eating eggs again)...good again. After Vivo, we headed onwards to Chinatown (cheap stuff galore!) and then Clarke Quay & the merlion fountains. We had to take LOADS of photos (thanks Kendra!) so you may just be able to see some. ; ) After all of our hunting around, we had a staff dinner at Chili's (dear French fries & ketchup: I like you a lot). And now...chilling out with the aircon in my room.

I think that's all...sorry for an absolute truckload of information. It's been a very full four days in Singapore and there's plenty more to come!

QUILT-ZILLA IS COMPLETE! Also, bye Wisconsin.

I've been working on a quilt for over a year (long story) and finally finished the binding today. I worked on it in the car, during intermission at Cinderella, and at other random times in between everything else happening during the last week. Pictures someday.

I spent...hmm...roughly 18-20 hours driving between Tuesday and Saturday, and I'll be in the car for a 3 hour drive to the airport tomorrow. I was blessed to see many wonderful friends...so good. The week also included:

Eating sushi for the very first time (stickier than I assumed...)
Searching for a match on State Street to light a cupcake candle
A poem about an onion
Driving in the rain & fog & sunshine
Going for coffee and consuming no coffee at all
Dilemmas involing the La Crosse Family Restaurant
Home-made bread and one absolutely good-natured baby
Pancakes in taxidermy central
A new baby, new paint, and introducing a small child to the word "whack" (not pertaining to the baby)
Getting an impromptu bath during a hibachi/teppanyaki dinner
Giggling at stick-on mustaches
Washing the same white pants two days in a row
Crazy woman glasses
A family picnic
Neon ugly step sisters
Lots of hugs & good-byes

Last night in Wisconsin for a lonnnng time. Stars and moon, I like you from this side of the world. Looking forward to seeing you yet another way. : )

Packing...

Because my original plans for today didn't work out, I spent the day packing.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I totally stink at packing. I know many of the rules of Good Packing, such as:

-Roll your clothes
-Put heavy things at the bottom of your bag
-Cram socks (or, in my case, skeins of yarn) wherever they'll fit
-Etc, etc, etc

However, when it comes to minimalism, I'm kind of a failure. I know that in theory, there is absolutely no reason for me to need eight sweaters in Singapore. Hello? It's hot there. But I like the green one and the red one and the white one and the other white one and...do you see the problem here? Something tells me I really need to work on my clothing coordination skills. Very soon.

Sorry, Buddy, you can't come with.

RAFT Building 101

fI've been home in Wisconsin for almost 2 weeks now and I've got...10 DAYS LEFT! Crazy! Can I effectively pack in 10 days? We shall see, my friends, we shall see.

While I was at PFO (which I now realize I never explained...) we had a wonderful talk on leaving your home country, along with several on moving to a new place, entering a new culture, etc. One very important concept covered in this session was the necessity of building yourself a good RAFT.

Very quickly, the "R" stands for reconciliation: if you've got issues with somebody, it's important to resolve them before moving away. The "A" is for affirmation, or letting your special people know just how awesome they are. The "F" is for farewells and "T" is for Think Destination.

I'm in a crazy combo circle of affirmations, farewells, and - you bet - I've got Singapore on the brain almost 24-7. Last night I had dinner and three great hours of conversation with a long-time friend (Hannah A., if you're reading, you're fabulous!). This weekend I'll be saying good-bye to several relatives (after driving 8 hours together, maybe we'll want to say good-bye?). And next week...well, it's going to be a little insane - but maybe in the best bittersweet way possible.

You can thank David C. Pollock and Ruth E. Van Reken, authors of the book Third Culture Kids: The Experience of Growing Up Among Worlds, for the RAFT concept.

Friday, Friday

PFO continues...it's hard to believe that at this time next week, I'll already be home in Wisconsin. Time flies! Or doesn't fly, depending on the changing factors of: 1.) how long a session is and 2.) how hungry and/or tired you are. Today all of the sessions I attended were geared very, very much for teachers - I'm not sure if I was required to be there or not, but it was okay to be along for the ride. I'm trying to be open-minded about all of this information about curriculum, the multi-cultural/multi-national classroom, etc...you never know when something is going to come in handy (maybe at a trivia competition? Probably not).

There was also a meeting on our health insurance. Guess who stayed wide awake.

What else, what else? My favorite part of this whole experience is still the people. You automatically have something in common with every person you meet: 1.) they're all Christians and 2.) they're all involved with teaching overseas. You have this instant connection with just about anybody - it's pretty fabulous!

I think we have praise and worship in the morning - excited. I kind of wish we'd sing something in a language other than English, but that's okay. Yae Su Sa Rang Hae Yo (sorry, can't do Hangul) has been stuck in my head all day...I doubt we'll be singing it here, but I'd be thrilled if we did!

PFO - I'm Here!

So...I sat down to write tonight and the first thing that came to mind was that I don't particularly enjoy trying to make this blog look pretty and appealing...at least not when my computer isn't cooperating. Hence, I'm chilling (rather literally) in the computer lab here at PFO and settling for just an update.

HOWEVER - nobody needs (or probably wants) to hear about the trials of me picking out font colors. I have indeed sucessfully travelled to Pre-Field Orienation and with two days behind me, it's been a blast! I think the most fabulous thing so far has been being able to meet all of the wonderful people I've been communicating with via email, skype, and facebook in person: member care people, home office staff, and especially members from my very own team in Singapore (and what an awesome team of people they are!). Blessings abound.

We sleep in classrooms on cots (surprisingly comfy) and have attended most of our meetings in the auditorium (reminds me of high school). Everywhere you go, smiles and introductions are everywhere (Urbana, anyone?). I'm awash in thoughts of a hundred very good things and am already learning so much: we've just breached diving into new cultures and this afternoon we spent a few hours going over one of my most favorite personality assessments, the Myers-Briggs. It's been awesome discussing the featured traits with other people and especially the coping skills we develop out of our needs to succeed, conform, and build new and/or lasting relationships. If you're ever bored, I could babble about that for, well, quite awhile.

There's much, much more I could start writing about (good food, waking up extremely early, the awesome story of how NICS started [ask me about that!] and all the fabulous people I've been able to meet)...but I think this is enough.

Baggage

There are certain things I really dislike shopping for, and in the last 6 months or so, I've discovered I really don't enjoy shopping for luggage at all.

When I went to France, I - being ever so clever - thought a rolling duffel was the smartest thing in the world, since it would be compact when unpacked. Try rolling the thing up and down the steps in the Metro - not so fun (especially after it lost a wheel...)! Of course I could have just carried it...except that I'd overpacked the thing to the point of it being excessively unmanagable. I think there must be an art to duffel packing: I imagine it's got to be perfectly balanced so that it's liftable and yet doesn't tip over when upright.

In addition to that smart move, I also brought a smaller shoulder bag as my carry-on, as well as a laptop case...which was all fine and dandy until I had to carry both through multiple airports.

Suffice it to say that I have developed a keen appreciation for handles, wheels, and a bag's ability to stay upright, intact, and under the airline's weight restriction when crammed full of my worldly possessions. Also, for colors other than black, black, and more black.

So...today consisted of trips to multiple stores (including three separate trips to two different Kohls stores) and a fair amount of somewhat unnecessary online comparison. Add in a trip through the check-out five minutes before closing time and an additional online purchase, and my luggage-buying is over...I hope.

On the upside, everything was on sale and I had coupons. Also, the luggage area is right across from the footwear department in Kohls, and I found some great shoes. Skippity-do-dah!