We then arrived at 5:30am and moved into PGP (that's Prince George's Park--our NUS [National University of Singapore] dorms). Singaporians brag that they use more acronyms than anyone else in the world. It's true--I'll try to define as many of them as possible. When we stepped out of the airport we were instantly introduced to the conditions of the rest of our stay--1,000,000-degree temperatures and 100% humidity. That is no exaggeration. It is hot. Very, very hot. Unfortunately Dad, I think I inherited your tendency to sweat profusely 24/7. My humble abode fortunately is equipped with central A.C.--but we're lucky, only 10% of NUS dorms have it.
We also get our own bathrooms!
First impressions of the city: stunning, self-dependent, fast-paced, delicious, HOT. It was a British colony until the 1940s, so it has a lot of european influences. Of the four national languages, everyone must speak English (in addition to a second, "more native" tongue) and everyone drives on the left side of the road. But at the same time, all the colonial life and architecture is juxtaposed by Little India, Chinatown, and everything that makes Singapore...Asian (which is a lot). At this point there are very new native Singaporians--almost everyone has come from somewhere else and something like 60% of the country is under the age of 30. Thais, Malays, Chinese and Indians are the largest cultural groups. And though the government mandates that they live together in subsidized housing (which, on the upside, is pretty affordable and fairly nice), self-segregation is obvious. I can site a few more examples of this in the coming days.
But to keep this from being insanely boring--I'll show you more pictures. In most of Singapore, people eat in Hawkers--outdoor food booths offering everything you can imagine. Here's NUS' on-campus one: (fun fact: our first day there, they played James Taylor's "Carolina in my Mind" in the hawker--made our day and the locals said it's one of their favorites):
My first meal: Seochew Dumpling Soup, followed by eel for dinner. My chopsticks skills dominate.
We've been out and about, touring the city as much as we can in the first few days. To keep this short, I'll make them brief.
This is a view from the top of the Singapore Bird Park. Swinging bridges cover the top to give an arial view. Beautiful...but a vaguely reminisent of inside Jurassic Park.
This Taoist/Buddhist/Confucist temple (yes, coming from so many different religions, Singaporeans wanted to make sure they covered all their bases) is purely local, but they made an exception and let us in. We couldn't take pictures inside, but it was awe-inspiring to say the least.
We finished out the day with a 360-degree view from the top of Singapore's highest point (which really, isn't so high). This is my home for the next 7 weeks:
Well that's all for me now. Sorry I haven't been responding to e-mails--we're still super jet-lagged and trying to get our feet on the ground. I'll be posting whenever possible, but check facebook for pictures.
I'm loving it all and may not come home, but I'm missing you guys too. Keep me updated with e-mails and posts. I'm going to go crank up the A/C now (did I mention it's hot?). Hope everyone's having fun wherever you are.!
很長暫且！... So long for now! (If that translated correctly...)
Lizzz
