First Impressions

When meeting Singaporeans, the most common question I get is, "How is Singapore?" There are other common ones, such as "Where are you from?" (this is a fun one cuz most haven't heard of Iowa, and I love hearing their pronunciation), "Which university are you from?", etc. Without fail, I will be asked for my impressions on Singapore, so here are a few observations.

• It's pretty warm. It never really gets below 81 in my room. Maybe 76 outside at night. Daytime it's pretty common to reach the 90's. They say it's been fairly cool. One guy welcomed me to "Sweat-a-pour."
• It's very clean. It doesn't take long to see how it stays that way. There are a lot of foreign workers, mostly from India and China. They are daily sweeping streets, parking lots, and sidewalks. Removing litter, leaves, and everything else.
  
• Singapore is a garden city...meaning there's a lot of green stuff around. The foreign workers can be credited with this as well. They are constantly planting, watering, grooming, everything from flowers to trees. Singapore goes to great lengths on these things. I was told they'll "replant" 100 year old trees, rather than cut them down when they're in the way.
• Singapore seems VERY crowded to me. This is kinda relative however, as I generally prefer the wide-open spaces of rural Iowa. Once, in the mall over the Chinese New Year holiday, my friends kept commenting on how empty the place was. Picture Cross Roads Center Mall during Black Friday...
• There are harsh punishments for breaking the rules. Fines are large, e.g. S$5000 for fishing where you're not supposed to. For some crimes, the fine may be the last of your worries, depending on how many lashes of the cane the judge gives you. Yes, there is capital punishment.
• There's a lot of...interesting rules. A few I've heard include a limit on building heights, buildings are torn down when they reach a certain age (there's a lot of construction here), cars must pass a rigorous inspection to remain in the country (all the cars are quite nice), and of course the classic ban of chewing gum.
• The people are generally friendly, although many times to get to know someone, it's me that has to take the initiative. I suppose that's pretty natural.
• Everyone is in a hurry to get somewhere. Running to catch the bus when there's another one in 5 min. is the norm. They don't pack 'em in like Cyride, though...or taxi buses in Africa.
• People are very physically active. I think I can count the number of fat people I've seen since I've got here on one hand...probably two fingers. (I don't think they were even American!)
• Classes are competitive
• The people trust the government way more than we do in the US (I'm taking Gov't & Politics of Singapore...don't judge me)
• For it being a very multi- enthnic, racial, religious population, they get along quite well. Although I get a feeling there is a general distrust of the foreign workers here.
• Most people speak pretty good English. British English is what's taught. And then there's Singlish, which in almost like another language because they will often times not use it when speaking to me (at least not as much). Everyone is bilingual and you hear a lot of Mandarin, Tamil, and Malay even though English is everyone's common language.
  

A Little Catch-up

Alright, three weeks in, I suppose I should write something...so I will.

I arrived in Singapore on Jan. 8, almost on schedule. We would've been on schedule, too, had my last flight not been canceled. It wasn't a big deal, really, because upon arriving in Narita in Japan, they announced our flight was canceled, but that we could rebook on one of their partner airlines. Rebooking wasn't difficult (we spoke in English, there was a nice orderly line, and no one was yelling at me in Arabic...it was great). The problem arose upon my arrival in Singapore. There was supposed to be someone to meet me, so I hadn't bothered writing down any addresses or anything. It turns out United doesn't direct you to the rebooked flight when they cancel one...who knew? So there was, just a small town boy, alone at 3 am in Changi International Airport with horror stories of non-English speaking cab drivers who don't know where Prince George's Park Residences are haunting my thoughts. Then I waved down a cab, told him where to go, got there, checked in, and went to bed.

The first few days were kinda crazy. I registered for classes and got my student visa about 5 hours after I arrived. Systems of payments are quite interesting. Credit cards aren't accepted for a lot of things and sometimes cash isn't either. Things run on all kinds of plastic cards and nothing seems to be universal. Eventually I figured out which cards I needed, where I could get it, and how to use it. For example, to get my visa, credit cards weren't accepted. To pay with cash you had to go to the post office. To pay on the spot, a NETS card was needed. To get that you had to go to 7 Eleven. Of course, had I not been running on 2 hours of sleep and a little jet lag, I might have remembered reading that...

The first 2 weeks of classes were pretty laid back, minus the initial confusion. You see, classes here, mostly the registration of those classes, is quite different than ISU. The normal process for registering for classes is an auction. You bid with your alotment of points on the classes you want. Fortunately, the exchange students don't have to partake in this exciting...stressful process. Our classes were given to us according to our preferences in our acceptance packets. The confusion comes with determining the actual schedule of said classes. First off, let it be known that classes are generally taught in two parts: lecture and tutorial, lecture meaning lecture and tutorial meaning recitation (for you Iowa Staters). Usually there is only one lecture, and you sign up for tutorials and they start 2 weeks after lectures, so all you have to do is figure out when your lecture is online. Had I known these things, the first week would've been a tad easier. First off, I couldn't find out where the schedule of these lectures was online. The places people told me to look didn't have it. Second, once I did find it, I had 2 or 3 options for lectures...did it matter...hope not. Thirdly, there's all kinds of tutorials...how do you sign up for those and don't those start, ya know...TOMORROW?! Talking to the NUS students was helpful and they alleviated some of the confusion by politely informing me that tutorials don't start until week 3. They, however, register for tutorials using a system that exchange students don't get to use. After several emails, it was determined that exchange students must register with the head of each department of the classes they enrolled in. Not my first guess, but alright.

Other than that, classes have been alright. Tutorials have now begun, and homework has been accumulating so I will now begin studying...tomorrow...maybe.

I can't help but mention the weather, sorry Americans ;) Since I have arrived, it has been sunny about 47% of the time. About 50% of the time it has been night. The temperature is generally around the mid 80's. I don't have AC in my room, though, so that's pretty rough...nope, I lied it's not bad with the fan.

Ok, my attention span has run out, besides you're probably bored. Tune in next time for Borneo and Chinese New Year.

Yep...I'm blogging

Due to high demand, I've created a blog. The purpose of which will be to update you on my "samscapdes" (get it...like escapades but with my name! ...I crack myself up) and also share my insights and observations of SE Asia. I make no promises that they will be interesting and post frequency shall be dependent on my allotment of free time.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy....or not.