last monday i moved in to my new room. i am living with two children and a maid, their parents sometimes however (they do not sleep here currently), a girl from malaysia, and a mystery man. for 8 people the bathroom seems to never be busy and it is surprisingly quiet. i have my own room which consists of one full bed, a desk, a wardrobe, and storage locker which i only use for its large top surface. within the housing community there is a pool, a gym, and tennis courts. i believe i have said roughly two words to the mystery man, and didn't meet the malay girl until tonight. that is to say she was on holiday, but nobody told me. after i had settled i went to seek groceries. but i got lost and ended up finding groceries in a very inconvenient place. however i managed to make it back home where i went for a swim and much to the chagrin of the family i am staying with i did not bathe afterwards. i also ate a spinach salad for dinner which is apparently quite disarming as spinach is made for cooking and iceberg lettuce was created for salad. en serio.
on tuesday i ventured to the ministry of manpower in hopes of attaining my visa. i waited for an hr and failed miserably. kind of, i succeeded in making an appointment for tomorrow which should result in either victory or deportation. visas are much harder to attain than one may hope, now i see why people hop boarders. anyway what does it mean to be an illegal immigrant? sorry, back on point. as i left the m.o.m. i asked the helpful young gentleman where i might find something to eat. he pointed me in a general direction where i found a jesus cafe run by ex-drug addicts. continuing my foray into asian dining i ordered chrysanthemum (spelling this word makes me think of anne of green gables) tea, shark fin dumplings, and some kind of sesame desert with pieces of fried dough. i can now say with 100% certainty that shark fin is not worth the cruelty that it creates. there was absolutely nothing remarkable about it. now if you know anything about singapore you might have been as confused as i was about drug addicts being alive, let alone running an entire cafe. however, for the answer to that question you will have to read on through wednesday. afterwards i went in search of a loo, and found a perfectly clean squat toilet. HURRAH! SQUAT TOILETS ARE THE BEST! no really, i have more facts and figures than you can imagine saying how much better they are for a healthy colon :) anyway, after my own personal toilet adventure i made my way to the WTO offices to meet everyone for the first time. What friendly folk i work with! my first project was to redesign the advocacy kit for college students who want to start a WTO chapter at their schools. after work i came home and went for another swim, sans shower, with spinach. i also spent some time rediscovering the wonders of channel101.com
wednesday was my first full day in the office. i attacked that advocacy kit with great gusto! i made advancing in a section devoted to flash mobbing and street theatre, i explained how to recruit people, i poured my heart and soul into the most awesome way to run a club. i woke up with headache and a slight case of the blues. while the blues went away by breakfast (toast with coconut jam, and tea) i couldn't shake the headache. jerri, one of my coworkers and i went to "the hub" for lunch while everyone else went to the canteen which we always eat at. it was here that jerri explained to me that the sing government is trying to appear more lax. chewing gum is no longer strictly illegal, but is treated like a controlled substance. as long as you have a prescription you can get the goods. drug addicts are also treated differently that drug traffickers (15g+ for trafficking). addicts are forced into rehab, hopefully for rehabilitation. i really like jerri, she doesnt trust the ngo model for development either. its refreshing to hear what you already know. oh, for the record our office is 10 people counting myself and another intern. if you count the founder you get up to 11, and there are some more people whom seem to come and go at will. i left early wednesday and went straight to bed, no supper, no appetite, big headache.
by thursday i had my stride. i worked with the founder of WTO, jack sim, on the university bylaws and then attended my first ever staff meeting where i suggested the use of soap operas for sanitation. more to come on that i am sure. after work i tried desperately to make it to yoga, but missed the start of the class by one minute. devastated i went next door to eat porn's thai food. it was the spiciest food i have ever consumed, but quite lovely. over dinner i read the asian development bank report from a few years ago. sanitation and papaya salad, what a lovely dinner time you make. after eating i decided to walk around a bit before going home....
there is more to this. there is always more. but i am beat and shall finish tomorrow. i promise. as i have not yet told you of my rollerskating adventure, chinese pharmacies, wild cocks, or giant snails. all of which are quite exciting.
hearts and moonbeams til then!
No comments:
Post a Comment