denise's adventures

divenire.

[deniseberger]

Day 60 Farewell 2 flights. 21.5 hours. 1 layover. 12 time zones. Immeasurable amounts of in-flight food. Countless movies. Minimal sleep. Singapore Airlines continues to amaze. We flew that to London. And then we landed in New York. Technically, it's been a day and a half of travel. And I'm starting to feel the lack of sleep.

[deniseberger]

Day 59 

Fulfilled

Ah, my last day in Singapore.  

I say this day is fulfilled because I can say I experienced everything that I had hoped to! The last few things off my "Singapore bucket list" were: see Steven Wiltshire sketch an aerial view of Singapore, go to a Catholic mass, and see some monkeys!  All of these happened today, and it was a great last day in the Lion City.  

Steven Wiltshire is famous for his drawings of iconic cities across the world, including Hong Kong, London, and New York.  He was originally diagnosed as autistic, but he amazed the world with his ability to draw accurate aerial perspective drawings of the cities with only a short helicopter ride for reference.  The rest is all from memory.  He has been sketching Singapore for 4 days now, from 10-5 each day.  Today, I got to see him in action for about an hour before his lunch break.  A gallery was also set up to display some of his other works.  I was astounded by the amount of detail and accurate scale of the drawings.  I can only hope to be half as skilled as him...if that!

After lunch at Takashimaya, I joined the boys on a quest to find some monkeys out at Macritchie Reservoir.  They had seen the elusive critters only a few days previously, so I followed their lead out on the boardwalk of the reservoir.  I thought hope was all but lost as we stumbled upon squirrels, lizards, and spiders, but still no monkeys.  We took a different trail on the way back and as luck would have it, we finally saw them!  There were 3 or 4 little monkeys with long tails playing in the leaves, jumping from branch to branch, and shimmying up and down the trees.  It was incredible seeing these animals so close in the wild!  Lots of locals don't like the monkeys because they are notorious for stealing food and other goodies from the reservoir visitors.  I was just happy to get to see them in person!

And what blog post would be complete without a statement about food?  For my final meal in Singapore (wow that sounds melodramatic...) I ate one of my favorite dishes: sliced fish soup with rice.  It's simple, healthy, and delicious - just the way I like it.  The CV fellows and I killed some time in Chinatown while souvenir shopping.  We then parted ways to pack up for our big flight tomorrow! 

Wow. Time sure flies.  I cannot believe it's already time to go!   

[deniseberger]

Day 58

Joy

Today was easily my favorite day in Singapore.  I had so much fun and enjoyed the company, food, and events that unfurled throughout the course of the day.  

For starters, I got thrifty at a Salvation Army outlet near my homestay, picking through rooms of secondhand clothes and gadgets.  I settled for a water bottle because I didn't want to come out empty-handed.  

My usual group of companions joined me at our advisor's cafe - The Assembly Ground - for a delicious lunch of (once again) hipster-style western food.  I gorged myself on truffle fries, a mushroom panini, an iced green tea latte with ice cream, and assorted cakes.  

The highlight of the day, however, was THE KITE.  Remember me saying that I bought a kite yesterday? Well, I am so glad that I did.  We went to Marina Barrage, a beautiful green-roofed dam that happens to function as the number one destination for avid kite-flyers in Singapore.  There were dozens of multicolored kites drifting in the breeze.  Some of the more interesting ones took the shapes of cobras, squid, tigers, and even a 3-dimensional cat!  My kite was a simple green dragon, but it flew just fine.  In fact, we were able to unroll the reel of string the whole 100m into the sky, where my green dragon was just a little dot in the clouds.  Of course, it took a little trial and error to get it up into the gusts of air among the other kites.  We spent hours on the Barrage rooftop trying to keep our kite airborn, taking lots of pictures, sketching the Marina Bay skyline, and enjoying the nice weather.  

Once the heat started to kick in, we stuck our feet in the water fountain at the base of the Barrage while we sipped on some ice-cold drinks.  We made our way to the nearby Gardens by the Bay to take on the Supertree skybridge.  It was actually pretty impressive structurally; it is suspended from the tops of the man-made purple trees.  It rises to the height of 20m, meant to be the approximate height of the canopy of trees in the Amazon.  

Back on ground level, we all dozed on the grass while we waited for dinner.  Esther's generous aunt and friends treated us to dinner at a nearby restaurant, much to our gratitude.  Afterwards, we rushed outside to catch a glimpse of some fireworks!  These particular pyrotechnics were the rehearsal for the upcoming Singapore National Day - August 9th.  Prior to the actual event, there are weekly rehearsals of the parade and fireworks show to be caught at Marina Bay.  I was happy to see these since I missed all the fun on July 4th.

By the end of the day, we were exhausted, but we still met up with our advisor, Mey, to say our final goodbyes.  It's pretty incredible that I've made such tight bonds with people just in the course of 2 months.  I'm going to miss Singapore so much!  But I will miss my friends, bosses, and advisors the most.  I feel so lucky to have been able to meet such great people.  [Getting sappy again...sorry friends.]  

-My advice to everyone: buy a kite.  Seriously.  It is one of the cheapest hobbies you can stumble into that will instantly put a smile on your face.  

-Esther deserves credit for basically all the kite pictures.  You can follow her photo blog at https://culturalvistas.exposure.co/ 

[deniseberger]

Day 57 Perseverance I'm free, I'm free!!! Eight week internship, check! In other news, I waited in the queue for some soya sauce chicken rice for almost an hour for lunch today. It was soo worth it. The chicken was the most juiciest and most flavorful I've ever had. (It's becoming apparent that I'm making exceptions to my no-meat diet...) After work, I bought a kite! We'll see if I get around to flying it tomorrow. Aside from that, I met up with friends at Chomp Chomp - a famous hawker stand - for dinner. After 2 failed attempts at dining at this location, it would appear that the third time's the charm! I tried an oyster omelet, which wasn't my favorite. We meandered around the area afterwards, enjoying the cool night air. We also grabbed some crispy prata from a nearby curry house. This Singapore specialty is quickly becoming one of my favorite foods. It's essentially this thin tossed dough that is folded and fried to maintain an airy, doughy texture. It is served with a bowl of curry sauce for dipping as well. It turns out that being patient works in my favor. (At least in terms of the satisfying feeling of finishing my last day on the job or snagging some tasty dishes.)

[deniseberger]

Day 56

Satisfying

What an excellent day!  I awoke to the sound of rolling thunder, which I have mentioned previously is actually a positive thing - meaning the temperature and humidity drop down to bearable levels.  It felt wonderful all day.  For lunch, the other two interns at my office joined me on food street in Chinatown (complete with selfie-taking).  I got to try two very traditional dishes from the Hokkien culture, only available this week during the Food Festival: rickshaw noodles and rice cake bowl (wa kueh), both of which were delightful.  

Work seemed to go by especially fast today, so that was also a good sign!  At the end of the day, I met up with the other fellows at the National Museum of Singapore to check out the free exhibits on display.  One was about the history of food culture in Singapore, and the other, a historical photography exhibit.  The food culture one was actually really fascinating! I saw old tools and methods used to make the traditional dishes that I have been able to try over the past two months.  It is so fascinating to me to see how not only the recipes are handed down through generations, but also the art of mastering each dish.  This is why I get so excited about food from Singapore.  It is really the strongest aspect of culture that you will find here, and people are incredibly passionate about it.  

It only seems fitting that I try yet another new traditional dish for dinner as well.  Tonight's dining experience brought to you by roti john, an indonesian dish thought to have originated when a westerner asked a hawker stall owner for a burger.  To improvise, the cook created a sandwich of sorts with toasted bread, fried mutton and spices, onions, and topped with chili and mayonnaise sauces.  The result is somewhat of a sloppy-joe style sandwich, best eaten with a fork and knife (or in my case, spoon).  It was definitely the most substantial meal that I have eaten here in Singapore, and I am fighting the urge to run a couple miles just to burn it off.  Too late for that, though.  Maybe tomorrow will be nice and toasty again and I'll just sweat it out; that seems far more likely!

[deniseberger]

Sketch - Chinatown 

[deniseberger]

Sketch - Wet market fruit vendor

[deniseberger]

Sketch - ArtScience Museum 

[deniseberger]

Day 55 Fizzling As my trip in Singapore draws nearer to the end, I'm finding myself a little worn out. Work isn't even that strenuous, but I'm still exhausted by the end of each day. Oh well. Now that I've been living here for so long, I think I can start forming a solid opinion of Singapore. Having come from a small town and a house literally back in the woods, it's been a tough transition to living in a city of 5 million+ people. I've definitely had to readjust my perception of personal space vs public space. I do enjoy being able to walk from place to place and discover new things around every corner. There are so many quirks and nuances that I've just stumbled upon, and that's something that only happens in big cities. It's also so easy to meet new people and try new experiences. I'm not a huge fan of how pricey everything is in the city, but it's still easy enough to find cheap/free things to fill my time. I'll reflect on city life more later. For now, I need to get a good night of sleep. (Those have been pretty hard to come by as of late.)

[deniseberger]

Day 54

Sweet

Another average day at work down, with only 3 to go! (Not that I’m counting). I’m definitely going to miss the people at my office, and I’ve loved the crazy opportunities that have been given to me.

Anyway, I grabbed dinner with a friend at a little hipster café on my street tonight. Hipster here meaning vintage-style dining with overpriced, albeit delectable food. There are tons of these style eateries here. Supposedly that is the trend now - European style, primarily. Even the clothing style that most people wear would be categorized as “hipster.” Although, I’m told that Korean fashion is up-and-coming right now so go grab yourself a big poofy skirt and platform heels.

Dinner for me entailed a crispy waffle topped with vanilla bean ice cream and chocolate truffle sauce. Literally, sweet. “The best thing to hold onto in life is chocolate,” claimed the sign outside the café. My sweet tooth would have to agree.

[deniseberger]

Day 53 

Successful

I got to venture into the temple in Chinatown during my lunch break today - it goes by the name of the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. It is absolutely gorgeous inside, filled with traditional Buddhist sculptures and architecture. All the colors are bright and inviting, and all the visitors were chanting with sticks of incense. Luckily, I was dressed “appropriately” because I saw a few tourists that weren’t allowed access because they had exposed shoulders or shorts deemed too short.

For dinner, I successfully navigated the bus system to make it to a delicious Indian curry restaurant famous for it’s crispy prata. We also splurged on some naan that was fresh and hot. It was well worth the trek out that far.

[deniseberger]

Day 52

Goofy

Today was all laughs and fun conversations and spontaneous events. We ate lunch on a “Riverboat” which consisted of some very western food, much to our delight. Back at Takashimaya, Esther and I tried ice cream out of candy-cane shaped corn crisps bought at the food festival. On the way to the mall, Esther got stuck in a swarm of people on the MRT and was smushed up against the glass. It was hysterical.

We chatted at a cool little café over tiramisu and a cake named “When you eat it, life is good”. Aptly named; life was good.

Afterwards, we wandered around Bugis to souvenir shop - with great success! We had to go to Esther’s office for some last-minute errands, so I had the pleasure of meeting Duke, the office cat. He and Camaray bonded. Too precious.

[deniseberger]

Day 51

Detox

I sweat buckets today. Honestly, I probably did. I tried out hot yoga for the first time at Pure Yoga today and LOVED it. The heat in the room was cranked up to 100 degrees and the session lasted 90 minutes, so I got a solid workout in this morning. I’m signed up for a similar class at a different location tomorrow morning so I’m going to feel all flexible and purified by the end of the weekend!

Afterwards, I wandered around Raffles place and grabbed lunch before meeting up with my friends. We spent the remainder of the day relaxing on the beach at Sentosa. (Starting to see a patten here?) I was perfectly content to get some quality Game of Thrones reading time in (given that I just started A Dance With Dragons and I’m so excited!) and just hang out on the sand.

I also want to add that my days left in Singapore have reached the single digits. Time flies!!

[deniseberger]

Day 50 

Connection

I got the day off work to attend the Technical Forum on Environmental Sustainability - a day long event focused on well, sustainability. It was really informative, and I learned a lot about the systems that Singapore has in place to measure, analyze, and improve environmental practices.

My favorite moment was when they hosted a panel discussion open to questions from the audience. I decided to sum up some courage and walked to the microphone to ask a question about the Green Mark certification process - comparable to LEED certification in the US. The answer was good, but not the highlight of this situation for me. After the panel, we were released for refreshments and networking. The gentleman that sat next to me (who had not said a word at this point) struck up a conversation with me, asking about my company, education, and architecture in general. Then the panel member who answered my question came up to me and started asking similar questions. Later, yet another person struck up a conversation with me! It seems that since I stuck my neck out there and asked that question, people were interested to hear about my connection to the forum. I got business cards from them all (I really need to get some of my own at this point!) and I feel like I am starting to get the whole networking thing down.

I might end up a savvy businesswoman after all. Who’d have thunk it?

[deniseberger]

Day 49 

Struggle-bus

Today was uneventful if you exclude the fact that I still cannot figure out the bus system here and got lost on my way to a new yoga studio. I missed the class and ended up 3 MRT stops away from where I started. Oh well.

On the plus side, the Singapore Food Festival begins tomorrow! Check out the link to watch a video about the “rojak” or “mix” of foods that Singapore boasts as its national dishes!

[deniseberger]

Day 48

Bonding

I saved the day at work today! Well, sort of. Either way, we finished some final presentation material, so to celebrate, I rejoined the boss, architects, and their designer friends back at club street for some socialization over drinks. Everyone was in high spirits because of the project, and even I felt relieved that everything went well.

After a while, I toasted the group to say goodbye then met up with the fellows for karaoke night! We all bonded over shared music interests and less that stellar singing voices. We were surprised by the music selection, which had quite a lot of throwback songs that we were familiar with. We enjoyed belting out some Britney Spears, Fall Out Boy, Michael Jackson, and Alecia Keys, just to name a few. All in all, it was really fun just to kick back and laugh with one another.

[deniseberger]

Video from the light show at Marina Bay