Singapore, How I WIll Miss You

As our fourth week in Singapore has drawn to an end and our fifth week here has begun, we have all started to feel a bit panicky about our quickly approaching departures. There is so much left to do and so little time to do it all. If you had told me at the beginning of this trip that I would be so reluctant to leave my little room in PGP, or that it would come to seem so much like home, I wouldn’t have believed you. We have all been rushing to see every corner of Singapore, while also getting our school work done and trying to somehow find a little time to sleep in between. It is always entertaining to leave class in the afternoon and see the little trashcan outside the door overflowing with our coffee cups.

Colleen and I have made our own list of things that we must do before leaving Singapore, and we have been working on ticking them off one-by-one as our time here winds down. On Saturday our whole group visited the island Pulau Ubin and enjoyed another afternoon of bike riding. However, to my relief, the bike trail was much milder and the bike seats much more cushiony than those from the Malaysia bike ride. The trip to Pulau Ubin marked our last mandatory activity in Singapore as a group, and now we have the remainder of our afternoons to squeeze in everything on our lists. I have spent many of the past days venturing out with just one or two other people, enjoying not attracting the attention that a large group of 25 Americans tends to receive, as we explored Arab Street, shopped in the markets at Bugis, and visited the Chinese Gardens. And of course, some of my favorite memories are the long dinners in hawker centers, just people-watching and enjoying one another's company.

We are constantly amazed at how much everyone has been doing for us, whether it is enabling us to come on this trip in the first place or planning picnics in the park and Karaoke nights for us. We appreciate it all!

Goodbye lah. (I’ve been working on my Singlish!)

Nisha

Pictures of our Singaporean Adventures:



Haw Par Villa, where we walked through the Taoist 10 Stages of Hell



The Buddhist Temple outside Chinatown



Enjoying one another's company and...eating (a Singaporean pastime)

What I've Learned (Outside of the Classroom)

We're in the home stretch now, here in the closing weeks of our Southeast Asian journey. Time has both flown by and crawled on. Even if we began the trip missing the States, we all know that we'll be missing Singapore soon enough. We have about a week to fit in everything we said we wanted to see here but haven't quite gotten around to yet... It's going to be quite the sprint.

We knocked a few things off the "must see" checklist this week, including the Botanic Gardens, the zoo, and the Night Safari. All of these were even better than we anticipated (and we had pretty high expectations). Since pictures speak louder than words about things like this:



Waterfall at the zoo.


Fire eaters at the Night Safari.


If I had to pick a theme for Carolina SEAS 08 so far, it might be wisdom. Everyone has gained at least a little of it by coming on this trip. We've shared wisdom in the classroom, but also in the Prata Shop, on the MRT, in the parks, and through the late-night conversations about life that just seem to happen around these kind of people. We've challenged each other on the wisdom we've grown up with, and watched what we thought we knew fade into the background of crazy new travel discoveries. We couldn't even escape wisdom in the middle of a mangrove forest in Malaysia:




So, stemming from the theme of wisdom, I thought I'd share a few things that I've learned during my stay here in Singapore:

The humidity here is ridiculous
Even if you don't think you have jet lag, you do
There is a swimming pool in the Singapore airport
Emus will eat cameras
You can get free mangosteins (tasty fruit) if the lady at the market is nice enough and you look pathetic and sweaty enough
Prata Man wants exact change
You can never have too many fried bananas
There is no such thing as a good hair day in Southeast Asia
Little children make everything better
Waking up with the sun in a foreign country is a lovely feeling
So is watching a sunset

Having a digital camera with a zoom feature means that you look slightly less like an awkward tourist taking pictures of random things
Ben & Jerry's ice cream is expensive everywhere
Any kind of food can be breakfast food
EZ Link cards (to use public transportation) really are easy
Karaoke is embarrassing in every language
Egg can be combined with chicken and it can be delicious
Thunderstorms here are INTENSE but refreshing
It is possible to eat a seven-course meal without being able to fully recognize any of the seven courses
Filling out paperwork for student visas is equivalent to the most confusing test you will ever take in your entire life
Bean curd juice is a bad idea
Sunscreen is a good idea
Umbrellas don't work if you don't use them properly and immediately
One temple can have three religions inside of it
Water bottles are essential
Birthdays parties are drastically improved by monkeys
Bowling is the universal ice-breaker

(Patrick can jump really high)
Being sick in another country is no fun at all
If you smile and say thank you, the man who sells duck rice at PGP will love you forever
Any adult in Singapore who is not one of your parents is called "uncle" or "aunty"
Bus rides with 25 loud American students will be deathly quiet at 6am
Mountain biking through a Malaysian jungle when you haven't been on a bike in 10 years is both the best and worst idea in the world
The effectiveness of bug spray entirely depends on the luck of the person wearing it
Street markets are the best place for people-watching of any variety
Otters (and people) can recycle if they are trained properly
Kaya is my new favorite flavo(u)r of anything
Regardless of location, no student will ever truly want to do their homework
Really really do NOT feed the monkeys. Really.



Seriously. Don't feed them.

I hope that gives you a little sense of the daily life we've gotten used to here, and have to depart from far too soon! Thanks to everyone who's been helping us out all along the way.

Peace, love, and durian.

-Maggie

The road is life.

A week is a seemingly short amount of time in the span of a lifetime but quite a bit to attempt to cram into one blog entry- a day in the life type entry is more my style. Every day I encounter new people, ideas and practices that make me pause and reconsider what I think to be “the norm.” Even everyday activities like biking take on new meaning when done in Southeast Asia! On Saturday the SEAS group headed to Changi Chapel. Afterwards we biked around the Singaporean owned island, Pulau Ubin.

To get to Pulau we carefully bordered rickety, wooden boats that hiccuped as they sped towards the island. After the whole group was accounted for we haphazardly picked out bikes. At 2$SD a day the rental price seemed kind of absurd. The nearly three dozen of us split up into little biker gangs and set off to explore the island which has an assortment of different terrain including wetland, forest and reservoirs.

I rode around the island for a bit with a small group of people and we soon ran into Alexius and his girlfriend who are both NUS students. They led us up (and eventually down) a very steep hill. They showed us the somewhat sketchy way to a beautiful reservoir. We admired the view for a bit and I eventually left with another group of riders.

We headed for the marsh land. The path there was definitely more strenuous than we had anticipated. Quite a few times I was worried that the rocks and steep slopes would send me shooting off the hill into the overgrown jungle below. Once we reached the wetlands we had to park our bikes and proceed on foot. The scenery was beautiful and we even ran into a grazing wild pig. We took a break on the boardwalk over the water and goofed around. No strenuous exercise is complete without a refreshing, isotonic drink like 100 Plus! (I swear, the company didn't pay me to say that.)

Our time on the island was coming to a close so I headed back to the assigned meeting area but not before taking a side trip to a neat little “Secret Garden” with Lisa.

I always find difficult physical activity to be particularly rewarding but as I lay in my bed that night, I found myself in awe of where I am and all the wonderful adventures I’ve been on thus far. Not to mention the amazing group of people that go on said adventures with me!

People from home often ask me how I like Singapore. Though I tell them to ask me in a month, after everything has sunk in, I'd be lying if I said that my experiences here haven't already left a noticeable impression on me.

I was on a Bill Bryson kick before I came to Singapore so I’ll leave you with this fitting Bryson quote:

“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.”

The aforementioned 100 Plus break! (photo courtesy of Maggie)

Best to all of you!
-Alex

A Weekend in Malaysia

This past weekend we in the SEAS crowd packed our bags, left our dorms behind, and boarded a bus for a long weekend in Malaysia. I think that it was welcome break from academic commitments for all of us, and an exciting opportunity to see a country with which we’d become familiar in class, to which we are so physically close, and yet which is so different from Singapore. One doesn’t want to be politically incorrect or too broad in labeling the nation a part of the developing world, but it is certainly clear that Malaysia is a nation that has not developed to the same extent as Singapore.
After going through customs, first leaving Singapore and then arriving in Malaysia, we went to Tanjung Piai National Park, the southernmost tip of mainland Asia. It’s worth noting that this was the second time I had visited a “southernmost tip” of Asia that week, the first in Singapore. How is that possible, you ask? Singapore counts bridges. It’s in things like these that you get a sense for how competition between Malaysia and Singapore extends beyond the football field. Whether or not, we were really as far south as we could be on the continent of Asia does nothing to change the beauty of Tanjung Piai. After walking alongside wild monkeys and touring the ecologically important mangrove forests, we looked out onto the Straits of Malacca, Indonesia in the distance and ships carrying all sorts of goods to as far away as Europe passing in between. The juxtaposition of the natural beauty of the mangroves, critical for the protection of nearby towns and the local economy, and the complex realities of globalization, which the cargo ships represented, certainly gave us something to think about.
After a brief stop for some delicious seafood in a small town, we continued north on our coach, as we have learned to call buses, to Melaka. For dinner we went to a restaurant serving Portugese-Malay cuisine, which comes from the marriages of Portugese colonizers to Malays in the sixteenth century. It was a day of seafood, which I loved.
The next day we toured a house-turned-museum and where we learned about the Peranakans, who are of both Malay and Chinese descent. The house was beautiful and full of beautiful antiques and art. After the house we went on a bus tour of the area, which included stops at two markets. At the first we learned about spices and herbs and I bought a bag of mangosteens (which I will miss back in the States) and the second had a lot of local crafts. We then went on a scavenger hunt in the downtown area, which allowed us to see a lot of the city. Melaka is similar to Singapore in the existence of many different cultural influences and it was interesting to see preserved colonial landmarks of the Portugese, the Dutch, and the British next to Chinese shophouses and Malay markets. That night, we went to the night market, a mix of local jewelry, souvenirs, bags, art, and food (my favorite part).
On Saturday we got up, ate breakfast, and headed off for a bike ride in the rural areas surrounding the city. We rode through palm oil and rubber plantations and past farms, houses, and all sorts of fruit trees. It was a great way to see the countryside. That afternoon we were free to wonder and the group of people I ended up with walked around a part of the city that we hadn’t yet seen, which contained mostly shophouses with antiques and statues of Buddha. At night most of us went back to the night market for a last chance to get souvenirs and to spend the ringgits we still had before heading back to Singapore in the morning. All in all, it was a great weekend adventure!

-Patrick

Week Two, continued

This week, fortunately, has been slower for us all. Our classwork is beginning to catch up with us, to say the least! After the phenomenal homestays we were all able to experience this weekend, our main visit this week was to the Economic Development Board of Singapore to learn about its role, naturally, in the economy of Singapore. We were able to ask as many questions as we wanted and the trip was very informative! :)
Patrick will be providing the update after our highly anticipated trip to Malaysia this weekend (which starts tomorrow, bright and early, at 6:15 AM sharp!) I, however, get to ramble on about Singapore for a while and about this wonderful opportunity we have all been so privileged to experience.
I was having a really profound conversation with Jared, a fellow SEAS participant, today when we talked about the blog - about what to share, and how to convey how much of an impact this trip has had on us...but to the outside world, our audience. It has made me realize so much about life, especially since this is my first real trip outside of the country (and lasting eight weeks, at that!) I'm not going to deny the waves of homesickness I've had. And my occasionally ambiguous feelings towards having rice two times a day, seven days a week, and not knowing the names of ANY of the other foods I eat. It's an experience, however, that's only available once in a lifetime. And I'm learning more to step outside of my box and embrace new things. We've all learned so much about ourselves and the societal, economical, and political systems of other cultures (experienced first hand!)...and it has only been two weeks! We've also gotten to become such close friends in a short amount of time - and I know that some of these friendships will be the kind that last, even once college is done :)

(A prime example of the wonderful kind of companions I have on this trip, and the bizarre foods we've come across! :D)

As for classes, which are still an integral part of the study abroad (can't do study abroad without the study part, at least), we have learned SO much. The political and economical structures of Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia...it's all becoming clear to me now :) Which is an amazing feeling! A huge thanks to our wonderful professors who came with us (yes, I'm hoping for brownie points via blogging) as well as to our NUS professor, who has been an absolute delight for us all. Not only do they all go out of their way as we are accompanied on all trips by our UNC professors, but our NUS professor also scheduled two movie meetings for us to learn more about Singapore's culture via videos. Singapore Dreaming was absolutely wonderful, and incredibly enlightening!
If you want to hear more from any of us, several already have blogs existing on the interwebs :) You can check out my own from my website or directly go to my blog!
Hope everyone is enjoying hearing our ramblings about Singapore!


Zai jian!

-Megan Carriker

Week Two!

It really is hard to believe that we have already been in Singapore for two weeks. It seems like the time has flown by and been packed with activity though there is still so much to see and experience. This past week we had the opportunity to gain some insight into the education system in Singapore while visiting Hwa Chong Institution; get a better idea of how the public housing situation pans out at the Housing Development Board and see a performance that was part of the Singapore Arts Festival. We would have seen a taping of BBC Asia, but Barack Obama was busy winning the primaries back at home, so they weren’t filming the show that morning and our visit was postponed.

This weekend, however was the highlight of my trip so far. Each student got to stay with a Singaporean family at their home and experience a taste of what it’s like to truly be a Singaporean. Most of us were paired with one other UNC student, though some groups had 3 or 4. My homestay was with a student, Nessa, who will be attending UNC next year as part of the joint degree program. It was fantastic. For the afternoon we hung out with George and his homestayers- Elliot, Catherine C, Elaina and Jared. First we went to a little Hainan Restaurant and had traditional Chicken Rice, a very popular local dish. We also ate amazing Chinese desert soups. They were iced, fruit and sago- refreshing and light, which is exactly what you want after being out in the Singapore sun. Then they took us to Mindcafé , a local board game café frequented by teens. It’s a genius idea! Snacks, drinks, board games- what more could you want!?

After this Colleen, Nessa and I headed back to her HDB flat for a traditional steamboat dinner with her family. It is usually had on the Chinese New Year or at family celebrations. The meal consists of tons of raw food, which you cook at the table in broth in a fast cooking crock pot type thing. After, we made pineapple tarts from a family recipe! It was a really great experience to get a little insight as to what it’s actually like to live in Singapore. In the morning I went to church with Nessa. She attends a Baptist mega church, as she called it. At the youth service alone there were about 1000 people! It was a very different experience from the Episcopalian church that I was raised in, but a good experience none the less. I stayed with Nessa and her sister at a hawker center (outdoor food court) and then explored Chinatown.

Returning to PGP it was really interesting to hear about all the different experiences that people had at their homestays. Some lived in private housing, others in public. Some attended church, others didn’t. Some had home cooked meals, others ate out. Family structures were different and opinions varied. Singaporean’s make up an incredibly diverse society that is being revealed to us layer by layer as we listen to each others experiences and open our eyes and minds to the nuances around us. This week we begin learning about Malaysia in our history course in preparation for our departure to Malacca on Thursday where we will be immersed in one of the cultures that has contributed to making Singapore what it has become. Hopefully connections will abound, and regardless the experience will be amazing.

From here in Singapore,

~Katie

Less than 2 weeks into the program I have already learned so much. Beyond our courses and expeditions in Singapore, the chance to interact within our group of 25 Tar Heels has really reminded me of what it means to be human. We are all blossoming into very different individuals and being forced to live and work together has allowed me to make some wonderful friends I know I will cherish forever. This has been a wonderful opportunity to both reconnect with old acquaintances and develop new friendships. There is also something to be learned in seeing everybody out of their elements, because our struggles remind us that we are all human and essentially the same despite our cultural, ethnic, religious and socioeconomic differences.

We were fortunate enough to have our trip coincide with the 2008 Singapore Arts Festival. Daniel and I attended “Radio and Juliet” on Tuesday night, a ballet interpretation of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” by Romanian choreographer Edward Clug, accompanied by music by the British band “Radiohead.” The ballet was wonderful, but the real significance is that all of these seemingly random pieces fit together into a beautiful and complex show. This is not unlike the culture of Singapore, which contains a mishmash of all types of people, foods, languages, religions and cultures. During our trek to the performance we also saw a free performance by traditional Indian and Flamenco dancers, who first performed individually and then together. It was extraordinary to see East and West collide on the dance floor through such passionate choreography, and I am confident in saying that only in Singapore could you find the desire and ability to create such a show. Daniel also brought me to an underground B-boy dance scene (I am not quite sure how to describe this so please see the posted video). I was amazed not only has that such a place existed, but also that the government allows these youth to loiter in the underpass, whereas in the U.S. it would have been broken up immediately. The safety and security of the city allows these wonderful opportunities to gather in public places and makes wandering so much more enjoyable!

I am frequently asked what my favorite thing about the trip so far has been,
and it is definitely the people. There have been so many amazing
opportunities to interact with our professors, other program participants,
Singaporeans and other students studying abroad that everyday seems to be
an adventure leading to a new friend. After being both physically and
mentally lost the first week, it was an amazing feeling to find my place
this week in both the group of participants and the city itself. My growing
sense of security, knowledge and understanding would not be possible without
everybody involved (whether through funding, organizing, studying or
teaching) and for that I am extremely grateful.

Zai Jian! Poyitu varen! Selamat tinggal! Goodbye!
-Leia

“You cannot travel the path until you have become the path itself”-Buddha

This famous Buddhist quote exemplifies how being fully immersed in another culture is an excellent method to understanding the way of life and culture of other people. Certainly, reading about locations around the globe in class is one way of exploring customs of different ethnicities but actually being able to eat, sleep, and live in a foreign place is an incredible journey that has opened my eyes to countless things, including how my western perspective influences how I think about Asian culture. The relevancy of this quote to my personal experience is twofold, the aforementioned realization of being in another place and secondly it alludes to the paths or new experiences unfolding daily in Singapore.

My first new adventure started in the United States before I even left North Carolina. I tearfully left my parents and many things familiar to me, to board the American Airlines plane to New York, my first plane ride. My feelings of anxiety about turbulence and being so high in the air were not as high as I had dreamed they would be the night before I left, which was good. As we stepped on the plane, I was horrified to the think this could possibly be the last time I would see my family and actually be on the ground. We took off and Megan, another program participant, was extremely helpful in easing all my worries. She generously offered me gum, which is something they do not sell in Singapore, gave me a “play by play” about what I was getting ready to experience, and offered me a hand to hold for takeoff.

As we glided through the air, I could see the highways, cars, and homes from my window seat slowly disappearing. This flight and the ones to Hong Kong and Singapore were absolutely incredible, almost indescribable. I absolutely loved flying because we were able to see so many things from the air that we could not from the ground. At one point, we were up higher than the clouds.

Since we have been in Singapore, I have had the most amazing experiences thus far in my life. From going to the top of Mount Faber and seeing Indonesia to being on Orchard Road, experiencing tropical rainstorms, and getting accumulated to the National University of Singapore. Singapore has such a diverse population as a multi racial nation it was so interesting to be able to interact with everyone. Chinatown and Little India were fabulous glimpses of these cultures and peoples.

I want to give a special thank you to everyone affiliated with making this program possible, especially Alston Gardner, Barbara Lee, Dan Gold, Zhiqi, Layna Mosley and Andrew Reynolds, as it has truly changed my life.



Jazmine Carter

Welcome to Southeast Asia!

My introduction to Southeast Asia has been nothing but incredible since I stepped on the plane in New York and stepped off in Singapore. It's so hard to try to summarize everything that has happened due to how busy we have been running around town, getting used to using the MRT (the Singaporean subway), trying new food, seeing museums and shows, taking boat rides, having banquets, and starting classes and getting acquainted with the University. However, in between all the action, what has impressed me the most over the past week, besides how clean and efficient the city of Singapore is and how much there is to do and see, is the people. The Singaporeans themselves are so diverse--Chinese, Malays, Indians, and many interesting visitors from every other country. I've met ex-pats, tourists, and other foreigners from Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Mongolia, China, Britain, Switzerland, Morocco, and Egypt--just to name a few! One example that just proves how small our world is: Yesterday, I was waiting in the line for the MRT and started up a conversation with the woman besides me. Turns out she is from Buffalo, NY, too, and is backpacking through SE Asia right now! It was so incredible! This also brings me to another point--how friendly everyone is! Besides the "big city let me just push you out of the way so I can get on the subway first," which holds true for just about any metropolis, the people are so welcoming! Jazmine and I found ourselves running into a cheerleading squad on Orchard Road yesterday, and since we were both cheerleaders in high school, we wanted a picture of them to show our friends at home. Surprisingly, when we approached them, they all ran over to us and smiled hugely for our picture and afterwards clamored around us to find out where we were from. It had been raining(it DOWNPOURS every afternoon here) all day and we had been a little lost before, so this encounter really picked up our moods by showing, once again, that the Singaporeans are AMAZING!! Our "Singaporean guides/friends", Zhiqi and Alexius and Yongmin, among many others have been so helpful, as well, and so eager to show us their country! I can't thank them enough, from explaining what food is what to giving me napkins (since there are none), to giving flawless directions to get across the city.

I'm also extremely pleased because I've been able to use my Chinese skills here in Singapore more than I ever thought. Going into Chinatown, I don't let myself speak English with the vendors at all. I get some strange looks sometimes, since they don't expect a blonde, American girl to be able to speak Chinese, but when I do, I'm also rewarded with smiles, polite corrections, and steep discounts for my attempts! I was even able to get us directions to the bus station from a woman who couldn't speak English the other day. It was so rewarding to be able to exercise my language skills!

All in all, I'm still in awe of this tiny nation-state that has to much to offer. I have a list the size of the 747 we took to get here of things to do, places to go, people to hang out and share a conversation with, and, of course, readings to do for class! Luckily, I'm not even remotely homesick with all this excitement and adaption to my new life. It's starting to feel like home when we pull up to the PGP after a long day of activities. I know where to go, how to get there... and I'm absolutely in love.

Signing off for now as I go to sip my DELICIOUS fifty cent coffee from the canteen and read about the Asian Economic Crisis,

Elaina Giolando

I'll leave you with a few of my favorite pictures so far: