I am now a legal "tourist" of Thailand! Praise Jesus. Here was the problem: back in 2010 I received false information about my visa for coming to Thailand for 90 days. Normally, people from the USA and other rich countries are allowed into Thailand for 30 days, free of charge. After that they require you to have a visa, which costs money and time. Unfortunately, I didn't know this until I had already come to Thailand and received my 30 day visa. So the safest and most exciting plan to renew my visa? Go to Singapore.
Fast facts about Singapore:
-Singapore is a city-state.
-It is the southern most country in Continental Asia, comprised of 63 islands. How an island country is considered a part of "continental" Asia beats me, but it's true.
 |
| Me standing on the southern-most point of continental Asia. |
-Singapore has a tropical rain forest climate, averaging 79% relative humidity in the morning. This made coming back to Thailand feel like a trip to the Sahara. The relative humidity here is only about 34%, so I'm making a pact with myself to stop commenting on the humidity.... tomorrow.
-About 5 million people live in Singapore, of which only 2.9 million were born locally. Most Singaporeans are of Chinese, Malay, or Indonesian decent. About 40 percent of the population are foreigners (like you and me)!
-The Port of Singapore is one of the world's five busiest ports.
-The main religion is Buddhism, with Christianity coming behind in second place.
-There's no specific culture that defines the Singaporeans due to foreign invasion and mixed background. It's like the melting pot of Asia.
-But most importantly, Singapore is everything America wants to be. It's like a 272 square-mile America. Most people are fluent in English, there are big, pretty buildings dedicated to shopping and movie theaters and restaurants and spas, and it's clean. There are also random abstract sculptures on every corner. Oh, and everyone takes public transportation. Bonus: Lots of cute little Asians in matching school uniforms carrying massive textbooks. Americans just can't get enough of this little country, which is probably why so many Americans live there.
Although my visit to Singapore was brief, I had a chance to do quite a bit (that is, when I wasn't chilling at the Royal Thai Embassy). Like I mentioned before, Singapore is a tropical rain forest, located about 85 miles north of the equator. It rains quite a bit there, something I didn't find out until after I arrived sans raincoat and umbrella. So what does Gabbie like to do when it's raining outside?
Watch movies. That's right, I spent the majority of my time in Singapore watching movies, simply because the theaters are accessible underground from the subway stations, so getting wet is totally unnecessary. I watched Fast Five, Kung Fu Panda 2, and the Hangover 2. Fast Five was the best by far, simply because it contained both Vin Diesel and Paul Walker. The Hangover 2 could have been completely unavoidable, but my curiosity finally got the best of me. For those of you who don't know, Hangover 2 was filmed in Bangkok, which is in Thailand, which is where I have been for the past month. So I had to watch it. And to answer some questions for those of you who've seen it: No, not every woman in Thailand is a transvestite. Yes, we do drive on the opposite side of the road. Yes, you can drink soda out of a bag. No, you couldn't get a monk to drink and do drugs after kidnapping him. No, monkeys don't run through the streets of Bangkok, especially not drug-dealing ones. And now that I've ruined all the excitement for you, you must know that you can still count on Bradley Cooper, who, no matter what role he plays in Hollywood, will always capture the hearts of any female audience (maybe males, too. I don't know).
I also went to Sentosa Island while I was in Singapore. Two words: Tourist trap. This little island has lots to do, as long as you have lots of money to give it in return. So I wasn't too impressed. I did, however, learn to ride a Segway because it was reasonably priced and I'd never done it before. It was like a nice hour-long stroll on the beach, except you didn't get all that disgusting sand in your toes and all over your legs because you were on a Segway! It was absolutely fabulous. Next item on my Christmas list: Segway.
The other fabulous thing I did in Singapore was eat. Not because the food was fabulous or because it's different from that in the States (or in Thailand), but because I ate at the same place all three nights. Genki Sushi. Genki means "happy" in Japanese. I know this because one of the English teaching resources we use here is called Genki English. But Genki Sushi was awesome. Here's what goes on:
You are assigned a table by a hostess.
This iPad is waiting for you.
You order.
Your food comes out on this little train from the kitchen!
And if you order tea, the hot water is right there at your table.
You send your train back.
You eat your food.
The end.
Absolutely fabulous. I have never been so impressed with impersonal food service in my life. I'm not a fan of interacting with cashiers, waiters, bus drivers, etc. So anytime I can live life without human interaction I become overly-thrilled. Genki Sushi needs to come to my college next year.
Okay. So visa, movies, Sentosa Island, Genki Sushi. There was one more thing: THE LION KING!
I must say that I was absolutely thrilled to find that when I typed "Shows in Singapore" into Google, The Lion King Musical stint in Singapore comprised the first dozen hits. Tickets weren't cheap, but then I do have the greatest parents a traveling teen could ask for. So, I bought my ticket. And I went. And I would be violating the quality of the musical if I tried to explain it in words. The choreography, the music, the songs, the plot, the lighting, the sets, and, most of all, the costumes, made for the most magical theatrical performance I've ever witnessed in my life. No exaggeration. When I left, I was in awe of every ounce of creativity poured into the production. It was absolutely phenomenal. Go see it. Now. Or whenever it comes back to your country. HUGE thanks to my parents for letting me go and experience it. It's definitely something I will never, ever forget.
So that was Singapore. Then I left and came back to Thailand.
I arrived in Bangkok on Friday afternoon and then took an overnight bus back to Chaing Klang, where I did an immediate 180 turn-around to teach at an English camp being held at a village about two hours from here.
I taught weather. It was perfect, because the day went from sunny to cloudy, then to rainy, then to stormy.
I enjoyed teaching the 80+ kids, all ranged from 6th to 9th grade, but I'm glad to be back from Singapore so I can go teach at the schools next week! I missed an entire week last week, so Cheri subbed for me. It was actually great that she subbed for me one day, because as she was having lunch with the teachers, she was asked about Christianity and about what we believe in. (Remember only .25% of the Thai population is Christian). So it was really incredible for her to be able to share what we believe and why we're here. There's no way I could have done that because I can barely ask for a fork in Thai. Cheri, on the other hand, is fluent. The Lord just keeps opening up doors for the team here, which is super exciting :)
Other side notes about life here:
Schools around here like to cancel simply because they don't feel like having school. So showing up to a school on a Wednesday morning only to find crickets chirping is quite common. This has happened to me twice now, and I've learned to roll with it.
I finally got curtains in my room! It didn't bother me when I didn't have them, but I think the other missionaries were a bit concerned about accidentally getting a free show.
I have called off the co-existing with certain bugs. This includes ants and the bugs that are attracted to my lights at night. They just couldn't keep their side of the deal. Oh well, their loss... literally.
The Nehemiah students come Friday! The Nehemiah kids are college aged kids who are coming for the summer to teach English. There are six girls and two guys, all teaching in schools and villages in the area.
Biw still thinks I'm anorexic because I don't eat rice 24/7. She's constantly telling me to eat more (in English), and I'm constantly telling her I'm full (in Thai). Those are two phrases we know well.
In Bangkok I bought a bunch of postcards. If you would like a postcard from yours truly, just give me your address and I'll stick one in the mail.
I also went to the Botanical Gardens in Singapore. Here are some pictures:
I got a care package! Full of books and pretzels and magazines. For those of you who didn't know me well before I started traveling, I will tell you now that about 70% of my former diet consisted of pretzels. But they just don't have them here. Nor do they have books in English. So I got both :) Once again, I have the greatest parents in the world. No doubt about it.
No comments:
Post a Comment