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!