Week 2 Highlights

Week 2!  Time is going by so fast and so slow at the same time.  I still haven't settled into a routine.  Some days I get up early and scoot to work, others I really sleep in and bum around before ubering into the office.  It's dark in the mornings since the sun doesn't rise until 7:30am, I'm still having nights of crazy dreams and lots of tossing and turning and I also really need to start to exercise again.  Hopefully that will appear in next week's highlight reel :)

I sampled a kebab from down the street one day for lunch.  It was so delicious and served in a brown bag, yet still cost $9.

I decided to partake in Iftar, which is the daily celebration of breaking the day's fast during Ramadan.  Singapore is FULL of religions, Muslim being one.  And since I'd heard that sharing in this celebration was something non-Muslims could do in Singapore, I jumped at the chance.  I can think of almost nowhere else where this would be possible/encouraged/welcomed.  There's a large mosque on Arab street, which is right by my office and one of the cooler neighborhoods in SG I've been in so far, so I headed down there just before sundown (as that is when the fast is allowed to be broken).  I walked around and took in all the different vendors that were set up, collected a sampling of food (no idea what anything was) and attempted to find a seat.  There was a tented area next to a BUSTLING restaurant and I peeked in, but I already felt like I was imposing on a celebration that I hadn't fasted for all day, so quickly went to make my exit when an elderly lady waved to me and motioned to an open chair across from her.  I was SO taken by this act of kindness from a stranger, from a Muslim to an obviously non-Muslim.  Being the emotional wreck I am these days, it made me tear up a little.  I'm so grateful to be having these amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experiences, but I'm still doing it all alone.  This woman's warmth was an assurance I needed at a time I needed it.  So, I sat and she offered me her dates and I offered her my bag of fried ball things.  I wish I knew better what to order, but I did okay.  And then I walked home sipping a canned cucumber juice (so much caramel coloring in it it actually tasted like candy - yuck!) and was very happy that the sun had gone down.

As I mentioned, Arab Street is very close to the office, so I popped over there to get a coffee with coworkers and opted for the fresh kiwi, apple, cucumber and mint juice instead and it was SO good. At $6 that's not bad and healthy! Which can be hard to get in Asia.

On Friday, we did a work outing to an indoor climbing gym.  It was so awesome!  Some of the other ladies in the office got great pics, so I'll have to share those later.  Then, we had dinner at Crab in Da Bag (yes, that's really the name of the restaurant).  We opted for just the traditional steam, but if you pick flavors, they steam them in a bag...hence the name.

Sooooo delicious and sooooo much!

Then, I went out with one of my flatmates, Karl, and his friends.  I met them at a mexican restaurant and then we took a "party bus" to the next bar -- basically everyone pays $10, there's disco lights, and smoke and the driver pours drinks WHILE HE'S DRIVING and takes a very long route to the next bar (so you can get your $ worth).  It was hilarious and awesome and apparently something people do often.  It's almost like expats don't have enough things to throw their money at.

We took our party "bus" to Club Street, which is a very expattastic place to party.  Buying bottles is very typical here and actually a better deal than individual drinks.  You can also cork it and take it with you, which is just what we did when we went to this secret underground bar (which isn't really a "secret" because everyone knows about it, but the entrance is in kind of an alley and there's no marking on the building.

The inside of the underground bar.  I love crazy lighting.  

This delicious drink, and the cucumber spear rolled in a variety of sesame seeds, was delicious.  And $25.  Gasp!  

But this neightboord and the area where the mexican restaurant was were very fun with lots of bars (more to add to my list for visitors!)

Saturday night, my same flatmate, Karl, and the same one who won Junior Masterchefs, hosted a dinner party for friends and let me tag along.  It was so fun to cook with him and host and so many great conversations were had amongst all the guests.

Alyssa, on the left, is an adorable Kiwi who spent the first 13 years of her life in COLORADO.  #nativesunite Christine, is a brilliant German woman and Lyn, on the right, is a fellow (and hilarious) American - yay, Merica!  [Not pictured is photographer and boyfriend to Alyssa, Jerome, and the Masterchef, Karl.  He was slaving away in the kitchen.]

 As they tend to around here, a lot of conversations revolve around life as an expat, and the fact that we are all so diverse ourselves.  We chatted about differences in politics, currency, ways of life, how foreigners are ostracized, etc.  We talked about travel and, of course, everyone was curious about pot being legal in Colorado.  However, they were much more interested in the policy and economics around it versus ("Dude, so do you go to like pot shops and stuff?"), which is a nice change.  We talked about Asia in general and its potential to gain superpower status over America.  And then we went and played beer pong because we don't take ourselves or our situations *that* seriously.

Team USA vs the world.  Typical.  

Sunday I finally got a blender, hair dryer and straightener.  The hair stuff was so expensive!  I also got groceries, painted my nails and wandered around near my apartment trying to find some neighborhood gems.  Not much out there, but the park area was nice...not sure how I didn't take any pictures.  Like I said before, a theme.

One thing that struck me this week, no uniformed police.  At least none that I have seen.  Word on the street is that there are lots of undercover police officers, but something tells me, no matter what, they're everywhere....