viva vivocity

Whoops. Has it been THAT long already without an update?

Work, as usual, has been mundane. My principle investigator (PI) admitted to me that he hasn't thought through much of what I should do during my remaining 2 and a half months here. In the mean time, he's put me under the care of a postdoc doing population genetics- the whole purpose of the study was to find out man's earliest ancestor. -___- This is why I never liked genetics- I just don't see the whole purpose in finding who/how Adam's DNA looked like. And just like that, my PI assumed that we are all not Christians, and thus don't need to take leave for Christmas holidays. Gah, now I'll have to tell him that I'm considering taking a day off to go home for the holidays and to attend cousin's wedding.

Believe it or not, I'm still searching for an accommodation here. Let's just say things are not going as smooth as possible, and I'm hoping to find a place to live closeby to work which is reasonably cheap as soon as possible. Thankfully there are friends helping out in that, so fingers crossed, next time I'll be able to announce the good news!

So we went to the SITEX pc fair at expo last Thursday night to check out prices for my laptop. Finally decided to buy a HP pavillion, not the dv-5 that I originally wanted, but dv-6 something something can't remember the last few digits of the model. The specs are lower, but come to think about it, I don't even need a high-end laptop for uni purposes for now, at least. So that will do for now- and the price is good- SGD1788, excluding the 7% GST rebate I can claim. Going back to the expo tomorrow afternoon to buy it, FINALLY! =)

We went to VivoCity (huge mall, biggest in SG) Friday afternoon/night after work. First time there ever. I'm impressed! We were feeling a little lacklustre earlier on, kept complaining about not having enough money to buy all the nice things on sale haha, but thankfully felt much better after watching the beautiful sunset- pictures are as below. 

Big Christmas tree at the rooftop of Vivocity @ Sky Park

shallow pool- children running around, splashing water everywhere

pretty designs everywhere

notice that guy swinging around on the bar towards the right?

I thought it was real- it sure looked real.

did I mention that I loooove sunsets? =)

sigh the colours so nice... notice the tiny dots in the background which are actually the cable cars leading to Sentosa Island

the harbour.

the palm trees.

the boats.

i love the colours

bridge/monorail going into Sentosa Island

finally... sunset!!!

that big ship is the starvirgo, btw. 

imagine if Dunedin harbour is as pretty as this...

I'd go there every weekend :P

...and this

PDA sighting on the viewing decks

love the circular designs 

the Christmas tree illuminated

I can go on and on about how pretty this place is, really

Scenery wise, VivoCity/the harbourfront is probably the best place to go for beautiful sunset views and for taking awesome photos. Can't wait to take the cable car across to Sentosa Island someday, soon. 

Finally met up with my CouchSurfing friend, Jaslin this afternoon! The crowd at expo was HUMONGOUS! Had a little trouble recognising each other, haha. Probably more than 10,000 people going to the pc fair and another half of those going to church. So now I can say that I've been to City Harvest Church! =) Service started at 5.30pm, ended just past 7pm. 

I love the music, would love the opportunity to be part of the music team, even if it's just going to their weekly practices, but would have to check for prerequisites to join. Auditions, eeks. We'll see. Jaslin introduced us to her friends from cell group, which we went out to dinner with, and maybe will join them for cell this Thursday if no other plans crop up. 

Ah, the anticipation for my new laptop.... =)

Week 3, SG

My original plan was to meet up with Jaslin who would take Ron and I to the City Harvest Church yesterday afternoon. Then I got a text from her saying that though the service starts at 6pm, there was already a looooooong queue outside the expo centre by 1pm. It’ll be CHAOTIC. So we decided to go to the normal service next Saturday instead when there will be less (but still heaps) of people.

So I googled to find out about other potential churches to visit and decided to go to the famous Joseph Prince’s church- New Creation Church. So we went there this morning, the queue was humongous! Even longer than the queues to withdraw money from ATM machines in Tabuan Jaya (Kuching). How shocked we were when we were led into a big room with projector screens everywhere- then realised that we just went into the overflow rooms, not the actual auditorium where the “live” service took place. haha! So blur. It was a little weird having praise and worship in front of a screen, feels as if we were watching a taped recording/movie. Might actually go earlier to the auditorium (find the actual place) next week to get a feeling of the “real thing”. Overall, really enjoyed the service- took a little getting used to listening to a pastor in full blown Singaporean accent, took lots of notes, and laughed at his funny comments. Quite surprised at the short worship session- 3 songs only, all slow. No new Hillsong songs =P but they did sing 2 of their own composed songs. Listening to the music made me really miss playing the keyboard for church and cell group... Ah the nostalgia. 

Went around shopping with the guys today- didn’t buy anything except for marker pens to write on mirrors/glass surfaces at the book expo. Can’t wait for Janice to come back to SG this Thursday. 

I’m STILL undecided on which laptop to buy: a macbook or my currently more preferred HP pavillion dv-5. Price and specifications wise, I’d go for the HP. But looks and stability, mac wins hands-on. Then again, the HP has really good built-in Altec-Lansing speakers as well. Ah the comparison goes on and on. I’ll wait till the IT expo end of this week, then it’s time to make a decision.

It rained late afternoon today, so we walked around the Esplanade a little. Had dessert at this really nice chocolate cafe called Max Brenner- similar to the chocolate boutique at Parnell.

Been walking around so much around shopping malls lately. Ron's trying to get me to buy a CROCS sandles- I never liked their designs, to me it's hideous to be honest, but I admit that after trying it on, it is very comfy despite the price of $54 a pair. Yesterday from 4ish till 9pm. Today, left home at 10-ish am and got home before 9pm. Early start tomorrow and time to meet the boss. aiks.

I have no idea what they're selling here

walked around in circles trying to find the fountain of wealth

we stayed on to watch the "fountain show" at 7.30pm

Well worth it. (sometimes) nice music, somewhat romantic atmosphere haha though the whole proposing at the fountain idea is too common nowadays

The colours kept changing- blue, red, purple, white, yellow etc.

Suntec convention centre- the queue just to get into the overflow rooms for New Creation Church. The entrance is to my southwest btw, so imagine how long the queue was.

Besides the Anime expo (bumped into Ian who attended the expo!), the book fest was also held at the convention centre. 

So interesting looking at many people dressing up as their favourite anime characters- to the extreme. Books, stationeries, IT stuff, etc were sold at the book fest.

Celebrity sighting at the book fest- JJ Lin?

I didn't even recognise/know this guy here until Ron told me who he was =P

He has the EXACT same pose (thumbs up sign) for every single photo during the photoshoot session

At the Millenia walk- we saw 3 Lamborghinis surrounding the double helix structure. 

Had lunch around here- super expensive and flashy Japanese restaurant

The durians Esplanade upclose

Too bad it was cloudy

view from the upper deck, wanted to go down but it poured soon after

oh wells, another day then.

i never knew the durians were so.... green

i ordered- strawberry white chocolate float for $8.90 YUMMY!

the straw is metallic- was wondering how hygienic can it be (reusable)...? =P

Greg holding his (can't remember which) chocolate drink in a hugmug

so cute the design

Ron ordered- suckao! $6.90 (melted choc chips w/ milk)

the spoon has dual purposes- to stir and as a straw

little candle to melt the choc chips

Really nice place to chill out and enjoy chocolate- for all you chocolate lovers. I'm not a big choc fan, but the menu sure made me want to go back for a 2nd visit. Too bad they only have 1 single franchise in SG, and at a few other cities - excluding NZ and Msia of course.. =(

So many shows lined up at the Esplanade! We're wanting to watch Snow White (early January) and maybe some other Christmas events as well. 

Christmas- will I be back in Kuching then? No idea

CNY- also no idea. 

I want to, but chances are really fat at the moment. Expensive fares and probably not possible to take leave from work. We'll see.

lit up

Looking at the Lighthouse videos Jacq posted on facebook brings back fond memories =)

I'm not even calling the past 2 weeks work. More like training and meeting the colleagues, getting familiar with the place, and get ready to finally meet Mr Big Shot aka my supervisor who's finally coming back from the US next Monday. There's so many people ready to report to him about results, new and ongoing projects, postdocs and postgrads alike... that I wonder if he would even have the time to actually "supervise" me through these 3 months. Must prepare on saying the right things and remember to bring all the important documents!

Spent tonight ahem window shopping along Orchard Road again. We went into the super expensive brand shops while trying to look less like poor students =P It's amazing how much an effect of the simple word SALE can affect one's spending habits.

Pearl milk tea is so cheap here! I tried one yesterday at the Jurong mrt for $1.20 ONLY, and it was one of the best. Just tried a recommendation by Chyi - at the Koi cafe @ Chinatown, quite yummy but a little more expensive at $1.60. The ones that come with smaller bubbles actually cost more! Too bad they ran out of the smaller bubbles tonight; it's something I'd definitely want to try next time. So this is how and why I've been drinking pearl milk tea almost everyday I've been in Sg- and the main contributor to my gradually increasing, unflattering waistline. 

I wonder how much is the Sg government budgeting for LIGHTS alone for Christmas...

again- pretty lights

at the orchard underground pass

little girl waiting for her Christmas present

yup- the Christmas tree is made up of green, white, and red teddy bears!

Was browsing through the City Harvest Church website a while ago and saw some statistics. The highest attendance ever recorded was more than 40,000 people!!! CO2 overload...?

I'm still undecided- whether to book that flight back to Kuching and Sibu (to attend my cousin's wedding) during Christmas OR to stay here in SG. I'll find out soon enough if I can actually take leave from work.

to wonder or to wander?

Pretty decorations @ Orchard Road.

YAY. Thanks to the SITEX IT fair coming up end of this month (27th to 30th Nov) here, I might have a chance of getting my laptop at a cheaper price. Can't wait!

Work today only lasted just over 2 hours for me =) The bad part of this is that I (still) don't get to do actual lab work and spend time/money going to and fro from the workplace. The GOOD part, however, is that I get to explore more places in Singapore.

Who cares if I'm doing that alone anyway?

It's probably not as fun, but I'm slowly getting the hang of exploring new places by myself. This morning, I got off at Jurong mrt, explored the surrounding area a little, bought myself a cup of watermelon bubble tea, sat down at a stool, and people-watched till it was a quarter to 2pm. 

The next 2 hours or so was spent stuck in a meeting with colleagues and two Americans who were here showing us how to use a software for the new platform. It was pretty straightforward, though I fail to see how this so-called training might prove itself useful to me in the future =P One thing I noticed: many locals here (even now) still practise the "caucasian worship culture". They seem to talk more animatedly with angmohs, smile a little too wide, laugh a little to hard at their jokes, etc you get my point. 

Then I went off happily to the library (again!) to read my favourite book series- the Left Behind series. I'm now up to the 2nd last book, which means I finish a book in just two library visits as the stories are too good to NOT read! Tears welled up in my eyes when another character died; I wanted all of them to survive till the end- but of course that's impossible. It's only fiction- but it felt so real- the stories, the characters, the missions. If you're stuck in NZ with nothing to do, I highly recommend you make use of the free facility by the public libraries and borrow the left behind books =)

There's still so many places to see, walk around, take photos, and (not forgetting) shop here. Weekends would be the time to do that. Still getting used to going to church on Saturdays instead of Sundays- looking forward to that huge conference at CHC this Saturday, also I get to meet Jaslin for the first time. My first time meeting face-to-face with someone I got to know through the net, how exciting! 

Meanwhile, I'll keep myself busy uploading some photos onto facebook.

The mosquitoes seem to love me. Now I know why I love the cold weather- no mozzies!

Counting down days to new laptop

Today marks the 11th day in Singapore!

Today was full-on day. I arrived at GIS at 9am-ish, training for a new platform used for microarray was carried out for new/old staff. I didn't have the chance to do hands-on lab work yet, but was grateful of having the chance to learn new things. One thing I learnt was BE CAREFUL not to break even a microarray glass slide, which costs from $1000-2000 each. And it looks like any other microscope slide it's scary that it's so expensive. Even the alignment tool used to ALIGN the slide with a so called mixer costs the same amount as a second hand car in NZ. Don't play play.

Had free lunch courtesy of the trainers/salesmen from a distinguish supplier company. Then training continued till 4pm something. Then I went to observe another group do a totally different field of work- PCR.

Not that any of these make much sense to you.

Anyways. I saw the photos uploaded on facebook. Envy envy those of you still in Dunedin. It may have 1000 times less shops or 100 times less food places, but for me, it's home =)

A few random/not-so-random events which happened today:

1. After texting with my newly made friend (which I have yet to meet)- Jaslin, I confirmed in joining her for church this Saturday at her church, City Harvest Church. Then I got a reply saying that there's a conference going on this weekend and that Ps Benny Hinn is going to be there this Saturday!!! Is this God-given timing or what?
   
2. Was waiting at the mrt station when I saw this familiar face. Guess who? It was none other than...... the singer from pharmacy! aka Lee Hong Meng aka Evans Lee yo-yo. Barely said hello and he was on the phone, rushing off to meet someone already. Gosh I laughed at the coincidence. We both said "What are YOU doing HERE?!" haha. Classic moment.
   
3. I met Kenny Sia on the plane from Kuching to Singapore almost 2 weeks ago. =P
4. I was mistaken for a Muslim. -__-
   
5. I bought pearl milk tea for $1.20!!! So cheap compared to what we paid for those diluted ones from Golden Harvest.
   
6. Speaking of shopping, I bought a pair of shoes (for lab/walking around). I know, I know I have plenty of shoes. NIKE, very nice PURPLE ones ok. I'll claim the 7% tax rebate =)
7. Someone made it very clear to me (again): "WAH so you're actually WORKING during your holidays?" I try to convince myself this is for "the experience". Of course it is.
   

5 more photos for your viewing pleasure.

Orchard Road- taken last week. 

Still 2 months away from Christmas and yet all the pretty colours and lights are out.

Pie Kia OR pai kia?

Btw it's a franchise selling mini pies with many flavours- very yummy, each for $2.20.

View from Greg's place @ Choa Chu Kang. 

Lovely view of the bridge connecting to the grand Raffles Hotel (that big golden building to the left- apparently a very high star hotel). We went in =P

Mirrors everywhere! Janice & I.

An underground pass leading out of Raffles Hotel.

Arrived home past 10pm. I'm getting old. And I can feel my waistline expanding already from the foooood. eeeeks.

SG- the 8th day

Sorry for the lack of updates, guys. I'm planning on a getting a new laptop soon, which would solve my problem of having very limited access to internet. I'm missing Heroes.

My accommodation is settled, or should I say, settled by my parents. They've decided that I continue to stay with my aunts as it'll be a hassle finding another place to stay and moving stuff around. It's not the nearest to work- 4 bus stops, 16 mrt stops (about 1 hour) but it'll do. Can't complain. Poor Ron- his bro's house (where he's staying now) doesn't have the basic furniture, i.e. no washing machine, stove, tv, etc. At least he's buying new furniture, slowly but surely.

Visa problem has been settled. The next problem was that due to the fact that my research supervisor is out of the country until the 24th of Nov AND another lady who's supposed to show me around and tell me what to do is also away at some conference till Tuesday I assume, I've been going to the workplace every day since last Tuesday just to see if she's back at work. Which she hasn't, of course. And no one knows when she's coming back to work, either. So disorganised! I had expected more preparation, really. Oh well. Compared to Ron's case- his supervisor is funny, loves karaoke, and even sang the monkey birthday song to him. And while I had only seen another research officer run a gel, he's done so much lab work already. Jealous-nya...

So what have I been doing in this big apple of Asia?

I've discovered the ultimate place to relax. That place, my friends, is the library. =) There are so many libraries here in SG, the one nearest to me is called Bishan Community Library. Too bad "foreigners" like myself have to pay a close to $50 membership fee to borrow books, but hey nobody said I can't just stay there for hours reading, right? ;) What's more, being the big Left Behind series fan that I am, I was soooo happy to find that this library has at least 2 copies of each book from that series.. and more! Today alone, I spent 3 hours plus reading the 8th out of 12 books in the series, but was sad to find out that one my favourite characters was killed off by the authors in the 8th book... :(

Food, of course, is a big part of the Singaporean lifestyle. I try to not eat at the same place twice, unless the food is super delicious ;) Even tried a special kind of ice cream- it's called milk tea ice cream with bubbles (just like pearl milk tea, but with tiny pearls on the ice cream!) for 4 dollars- quite expensive but can't get it in NZ. I'll try to tick off the food places to visit on my long list soon, would have to google map many of those as have no idea where they are (yet).

I wish people would smile more here. Especially in the mrts, I look around and see people frowning, falling asleep, reading the papers, listening and flaunting their ipods, avoiding eye contacts- anything but smile. All I see are people of all ages/races rushing to their destinations without a care in the world. Once in a while, I'm comforted seeing young people giving up seats in the bus/mrt for the elderly/pregnant.

Anyway. Greg and Janice are now in Kuching, Greg coming back in a few days. Went to his apartment the other day- my first experience stepping into a local SG flat! Cute niece, and may I add, Janice looks very at home with the family. hiak hiaks.

Where I work- the building on the right (Genome). 

You can see part of the skybridge which links Genome to another building (Proteos, I think)

Free shuttle buses from the mrt to each of these buildings in the biopolis

Dim sum! At the Tak Po restaurant at Chinatown with The Gns.

Ron's 20th bday at a Shanghainese restaurant (can't remember where)

We bought him a devotional book, that cute cake in the pic, and a postcard :P

With the Gns at the Qian Hu fish farm- doing a "fish spa". Paid $10 to let the little (and big) fishies nibble our toes/legs for 30 mins.  The most ticklish (and unique) experience ever- we all felt that our feet had never been so clean before :P

The merlion spewing in all its glory. heheh. The round durian-like building at the centre/right is actually a theatre/convention centre called the Esplanade; haven't been inside yet, maybe someday to watch a musical.

So many places yet to visit! Finally went to town 2 days ago to see and take photos of the merlion and surrounding night scenery. Mesmerizing. It has been raining almost every night since I got here, and it was no wonder that on that clear night, many professional/amateur photographers were there to take pics of the scenery. Yeap, we did the "pretending to be swallowing water coming out from the merlion's mouth pose" of course.

So many more photos to share, I'll upload it on facebook or more here soon. As usual, missing all you Shiners- wishing all of you were here to share with my tourist-sy experience in this country!

Kiasuland adventure

I'm in Singapore!!!

The night before I came back, it was snowing.

The morning I came back at Christchurch, it was 4 degrees.

Today, it is just over 30 degrees. I'm sweating like a pig. Have to change clothes more often now. Bleh.

So, what went on so far?

It's been crazy. I'm being more blur than usual. I lost a pink umbrella I borrowed from the HR lady (oooops) and had to go back to the Sony store and another electrical store to take my folder and map respectively.

This morning, I reported to work at 9.30am. Took me 1 hour to get from where I live to work. That's a short bus ride, 17 stops of MRT rides and a free shuttle bus. I hate MRTs btw, it's soooooo crowded in the morning (peak hours). It was crammed to the point that I could count the number of spots/oh-kis on the neck of the ah ma standing in front of me. The worse thing that could happen was if someone farted.

Oh wait, it did happen.

So I got to GIS, had a 3 hour health and safety seminar (so boring the Bangladeshi uncle kept going on and on about how many people die each year from work related injury GOSH), then the HR lady told me I cannot start work unless I get my work visa! Which I couldn't get earlier as I arrived in Sg at 1-something pm on Saturday but offices close at 1pm. I intended to get it done by Saturday actually.

But as I couldn't start work at all until the visa thing is done, I went (in the rain) to meet Janice and Greg at town, where we had dim sum for lunch, then waited LONG to get a number THEN to get called to be asked to come back tomorrow to collect my visa and passport. The Grapes say I am an illegal immigrant now without a passport. 

So I have to go back to the Ministry of Manpower tomorrow morning at 8am, then rush off to work before 9.30am. Craziness. So after I did the visa thing this afternoon, we spent the rest of the day shopping around, eating good food, taking pics of the Christmas deco on Orchard road etc. It was FUN. =) Minus the heat which of course wasn't as bad at night.

So why did I suddenly decide to stay at my relatives' instead of the original hostel? I took the keys and opened the door to my room, only to find my Indian roommate sick, the room smelling of cigarette smoke, very tiny room, liquor store just downstairs, dodgy dodgy all the way. My parents insisted that I check out immediately (despite not getting back the $500 downpatment fee), stay at my aunty's house at least until I find a better place (or permanently for 3 months). 

So here I am. My phone number is (65) 82768445 should you miss me too much and had to call/text me. Plan today was to meet Chyi but AHEM girl, where are you???? Called/texted your ahem friend so many times we're convinced you'd eloped with the guy and disappeared from the face of the earth already. Ron's arriving today as well, but no chance to meet up yet as no idea what time he's arriving.

I notice that church services are mainly on Saturday afternoons. So weird! Still have to go to my dad's friend's church this Saturday, then maybe go to another one on Sunday. 

Ok then. It's late, I'm still a little jet-lagged. Waking up at 6.30am for another long and interesting day. I hope the HR lady doesn't get angry with me for losing her pink umbrella. I'll give her my black body glove umbrella, it's not pink la, but that will do for now.

Till then people. Missing you guys heaps (you know who you are) ;P

You're 4!

I just realised that this blog has been my faithful area to rant and grumble for
4 years & 1 month now (and counting)!!!

Looking back, my first post ever on blogspot was on the 1st of October 2004. Little would I know that I would maintain it until now. It's been an on and off affair, really =P I'd switched to many others before settling down with blogger- xanga, blurty, multiply, you name it. So far, blogger is still my favourite- for the many reasons of being able to customise more, easy-to-use layout, flexibility, and of course, it's free.

So I'll continue to blog until I reach the age when my fingers can no longer type, or when this blog no longer serves its purpose. But for now, thank you all for reading my barely illegible rants.

Thank YOU, dear blog, for bearing with me for the past 4 years. And with that, I'd like to wish you a happy belated 4th birthday!!!