Mid-Autumn in Singapore

It's mid-autumn in Singapore! And what does that mean? Jackets and cooler weather? Nope... Football and tailgating? No (and did you mean soccer?)... It means (among other things) midterms and mooncakes!

The Mid-Autumn festival is a Chinese harvest celebration usually during the second half of September. Here's a bit of info I borrowed from a website:

The Chinese believe in praying to the moon god for protection, family unity, and good fortune. The round "moon cakes" eaten on this festival are symbolic of family unity and closeness. Pomelos are also eaten on this day. The Chinese word for "pomelo" or "grapefruit" is yu, which is homophonous with the word for "protection," yu, expressing the hope that the moon god give them protection. Moon gazing is another essential part of this festival. On this day, the moon is at its roundest and brightest. This is also a time for lovers to tryst and pray for togetherness, symbolized by the roundness of the moon. Unlike most other Chinese festivals, the Mid-Autumn Festival is a low-key holiday, characterized by peace and elegance. -http://www.kevdesign.com/midautumnfestival

NUS had a gathering at the business school and one at our dorm PGP. We went to the one at the B-school and ate dinner, devoured way too many pieces of different mooncakes, lit lanterns and sparklers, and participated in a pomelo peeling (and eating) contest. Mooncakes are AMAAAAAZING. I'm not sure how to describe them well, but it's like a dense, sugary, mass of paste inside a think pastry(?). That doesn't sound that appetizing I guess but I guarantee they are yummy! Flavors I've tried include lotus seed, red bean, durian (remember that fruit I mentioned before that is very pungent?), sesame seed, strawberry, green tea, custard, and pandan (leaves used in a lot of Asian dishes-- our tour guide in Vietnam even said they make a good carfreshener? Pandan cake is a popular dessert that tastes kind of like angelfood cake to me). Besides the mooncakes, we got to know (quite intimately) the fruit called pomelo. It's like a grapefruit, but not as tart and flavorful. The peeling contest meant we got into groups of four and broke into and ate a pomelo. We got second place, though it was difficult to really know who finished when-- it was a little crazy. That's a picture of a huge pile of pomelos in Chinatown on the right.

We also celebrated Mid-Autumn by going to Chinatown a few nights. The first time we went we stumbled upon a Getai performance. We were trying out these yam, pumpkin, and rice cakes and heard the singing coming from the stage nearby us. After David and I saw the movie 12 Lotus, we were like "We have to see Getai!" so it was cool to see some people singing. Here's a video of a lady singing a song in Chinatown.

Other than the festivals, we've been partying a bit and eating a ton. In true Singaporean style, I should mention the food again. I have fallen madly in love with tofu. People here know how to cook it and it's allllllways good. And it's not even always a main dish! My new favorite dessert is tau huay, or soya bean curd (Check out: discussion of two rival bean curd stands, and Video: advertisement for Rochor Beancurd House showing tau huay and dough fritters). I had it first in Geylang one late night along with dough fritters-- basically just deep fried bread.

Another more healthy snack is dragon fruit! I'd never had it before, but it's so yummy. The ones that I've had are red/pink on the outside and white on the inside, and it tastes like a melon/apple/pinneapple-- quite sweet. Another dish I just tried but have heard tons about (mostly from Katie as she looooooves it, too) is carrot cake, or chai tow kway. It's not a dessert-- it's a main dish made with eggs, radishes, garlic, and soy sauce... I might never eat meat again because there are so many delicious veggie options!

We've been keeping up our Wednesday Ladies' Night tradition, going for dinners (We went to a great French restaurant the other day and my friends from France were telling me all about Paris and french food! I had fromage blanc with chestnut sauce for dessert-- look at me being all Singaporean and pausing to talk AGAIN about food...), a few movie nights, and mingling with a mix of exchange students and local NUSers. I've managed to make it to Central Library a few times to study, as well. :)

The other event I found awesome was a trip to an eco-friendly temple! The environmental club I joined set up a trip to see Poh Ern Shih, a Buddhist temple that is designed to be energy efficient, accessible to those with special needs, and water-conscious. It was truly inspiring. Features of the facility include the following:

• 3 different types of solar panels on the roof to catch the energy of the sun when it's sunny and also cloudy. They are also to serve as an example to teach others about the kinda of solar panels available. The three types: 1.) monocrystalline by Sharp- expensive but collect a lot of energy when it's sunny, 2.) polycrystalline by Mitsubishi- relatively inexpensive and aren't as efficient as monocrystalline, and 3.) amorphous by Uni-solar- the most expensive but gather the most energy even without direct visible sunlight. Energy is collected at 110 volts and inverted to 220, which is what most utilities use in Singapore.
  
• Hot water solar panels. These are black panels used to heat water-- no additional energy needed! Each unit (tank and panel and pipe) is $5,000, but you can purchase a smaller one for $3,000 that will heat all the water needed for a family of 5. The system has a 35 year warranty.
• A couple of small wind turbines paired with a small solar panel to charge a battery that provides power to lights used in the evenings. Wind in Singapore is stratified, so it would be great if you could adjust the turbine's height to catch the most wind power at any time.
• Glass pagoda. There is a large pagoda being built that will be covered partially with solar panels. There will still be enough uncovered area to let light through the structure, and the solar panels will be designed to look like art.
• 80% of the visitors to the temple are over 60 years old, so there are many accessibility considerations in the design of the facility. 1.) wheelchair access and Buddhas along the ramp to encourage visitors to use the ramp over the lift (to get exercise!), bathrooms with 2.) steady bars, 3.) doors that open out (not in) in case of a fall, 4.) rough floor tiles and water gaps to prevent slipping, and 5.) easy-to-use sinks at the correct height and with easy-turn faucets.
  
• Modular bamboo furniture that's sustainable and convertible so that a 6-piece bed can convert to a table and a workstation for studying.
  
• Rainwater is collected and used for hydropower to charge wheelchairs
• Water collected is also filtered through several tanks and reverse osmosis and is then used throughout the temple.
• Check out the Wikipage: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poh_Ern_Shih_Temple
  

Here's the link to some of the latest pictures from excusions and the temple, too.
tiger beer, lanterns, mooncakes... mid-autumn in singapore - SG 9
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2447710&l=6635a&id=8605287

a bit of nightlife & an eco-friendly temple - SG 10
http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2450583&l=bf38b&id=8605287

When you start college, or when you talk to freshmen, the typical conversation points are usually things like where are you from, what are you studying, etc... The question most exchange students get of course is "Why did you come to Singapore?" David and I were discussing this the other night. I'm never really sure how to answer or what people expect me to say--probably because I wasn't really sure about it when I made my decision... Half the people in the world are Asian, and I've never been to Asia? The business courses I needed are offered at NUS? I knew a few people from Singapore? There's definitely no shortage of answers, but we decided the best answer would be, "Ask me when I leave." :)

35 days into my Singapore experience.

.....BreadTalk...........Bintan Sunrise.............Durian............Bubble Tea...........Orchids.......

One whole month! Since getting here on August 1st, I've been doing quite a bit. I hope I can summarize in a way that explains what it's really been like here. I would talk about the weather but a.) that's boring and b.) it's been the same about every day since I got here, haha. Except that now it is raining a bit more--usually a little bit each day. It's quite tolerable, though, and I've been doing just fine without air conditioning in my room.

What I should really start by talking about is FOOD. It is an obsession here! And I am totally fine with that, haha. I'm in a veggie wonderland! I'm still loving the white rice with 2-3 sides at the hawker centers or campus canteens. My list of favorites now includes spicy tofu, eggplant (amazingly good at any food stand), curry vegetables, and duck (I've had it a few times, and it's been pretty good!). I finally tried the infamous fruit, the durian, and unlike the other exchangers in our group, I was not repulsed. I wouldn't buy it in bulk (it's kind of sweet, mushy, pulpy, and some compare it to egg yolk-- I know, not appetizing), but it's definitely unique and worth trying once. I also love the fresh cut fruits all over Asia. In almost any city we've been in, you can get fresh cut melon, pineapple, dragon fruit, kiwi, mango, watermelon, and others for 50 cents to S$1.
Another new favorite dish of mine is prata, or roti. It's an Indian/Malaysian dish-- I think roti means bread and prata means flat, and it's sort of like naan, Indian bread, but not as thick. Regardless, it's super-good and can be found all over Singapore. It's kind of like a thin pancake-like bread with all sorts of goodies inside. It's acceptable for breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert and you can get it with anything from pineapple, banana, CHEESE (!), egg, tomato, mushroom, various meats, and for dessert even with ice cream.
As far as drinks, I've found that Singaporeans don't necessarily drink a lot when they eat, but you can get any combination of those fresh fruits made into juice or choose from a selection of sodas and canned juices-- some with little gel bits in them. I've been getting along fine with my Nescafe as a substitute for real coffee. It's instant coffee, but it's pretty good. I bought a jar of Nescafe flakes and I've tried it from a can, too-- I even bought one at a drug store that was hot (they store them on a heating pad thing). You can get coffee at any place that sells drinks usually, too. And for a late-night treat, or actually a treat any time of the day, haha, we've been getting ice blended bubble tea! I really like the oreo or coffee flavors, but fruit flavors are also popular. Bubble refers to the way the tea was originally made, but now a lot of bubble tea doesn't even contain tea! They usually have sweetened pearls in the bottom unless for some crazy reason you didn't want them-- I think it's the best part. The pic on the left is of my friend YongMin and me at the bubble tea place by his apartment (he and the friends I met from UNC live in an HDB, housing development board, flat near the MRT station we always get on at). He's holding the oversized straws. Yum!

Besides a lot of eating and drinking, I've been keeping busy seeing Singapore. We went to see the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in the Botanic Gardens, which was really nice and chill. We also saw the movie 12 Lotus, which is a Singaporean film about a girl who wants to be a Getai (a performance held during the Hungry Ghost Festival) singer, but struggles with the men in her life who are motivated by money more than love. It is in Mandarin, and there were a lot of performances mixed in with the dialogue scenes, which was pretty effective. Check out the trailers at www.12lotusthemovie.com. We also visited the National Orchid Gardens at the Botanic Gardens-- they were so beautiful!!! The National flower of Singapore is the Vanda Miss Joaquim orchid, but there were all sorts of varieties and hybrids of orchids, even ones with corkscrew-like petals! Check out the rest of the orchid pictures in my album:
the orchid extravaganza - SG 7
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2439862&l=7c108&id=8605287

We also started watching a Singapore sitcom called First Class. It's about a bunch of misfit teachers who each have a quirkiness about them and a group of students who are struggling with fitting in and being good friends to each other. This is the episode where the kids are picking their CCAs (extra-curricular clubs): part 1, part 2, part 3. This one also totally mocks Mean Girls (with their "scrapbook of suck") and they talk about steroids and bulimia? The acting is actually pretty terrible, but it's funny. We've also been going out for ladies night every Wednesday, and so far have frequented Dbl O (and the O Bar), Ministry of Sound, and Powerhouse (by far the best music). It's free for girls to get in, but then in order to get free drinks you have to wait in like forEVER... It's usually pretty packed though, even with guys on ladies' night, so the dancing is really fun! Other fun recent events include a free concert on campus (with FREE beer-- ridiculous) and trying a Singapore Sling for the first time! It's a drink that was invented at the Long Bar at the Raffles Hotel, a ritzy hotel downtown, and it was pretty good-- sort of fruity, but quite refreshing. I went to the Long Bar with my friend Sean (from this summer at NI, his parents are living in Singapore) to try one. It will set you back S$24, though, but considering a pint of Tiger beer is S$16, it's not too much of a splurge, haha. It's all relative?

Here are some pics of these events and others:
bubble tea, pizza, free beer, and orchids - SG 6
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2438550&l=e525e&id=8605287

And don't forget traveling! It seems to be the opinion of a lot of Singaporeans, including our professors and tutorial leaders (tutors), that the exchange students are here to travel. One of my tutors even said we should make our groups such that most of the exchange students are together to accommodate our travel plans! Since I last wrote, we've taken trips to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia (truly Aaaaaasia - as it's referred to in the 2007 tourism commercials. It's kind of a joke because people say Singapore isn't the real Asia, so we like to add it on everytime we say Malaysia, haha) and Bintan Island in Indonesia.

Trip to Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia:
There's probably more to say here with pictures than with words, so check out my albums:
cantstudy. gottatravel. (KL i) - SG 4
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2437061&l=4cb0d&id=8605287

cantstudy. gottaPARTY. (KL ii) - SG 5
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2437562&l=a4b57&id=8605287

We went to KL on buses from Johor Bahru, Malaysia (just across the border from Singapore) and stayed from the 22 of Aug (Friday) to the 24th (Sunday). Many of the taxis in KL didn't have meters, so we had to negotiate a price before getting in, or at the mall they had a taxi stand where you got a ticket based on the distance you wanted to travel and then handed the ticket to the next taxi driver in line. The hostel we stayed at was SUPER nice (as were the owners) and I even ran into these two really cool women from Wisconsin!. But, to be honest, we did not do too much that was very cultural. KL is a big city, so we did a little bit of shopping... We did see the Petronas Towers and check out the local nightlife. Friday we got settled in and shared some dishes at a Chinese place on the street (bullfrog porridge, dumpling soup, seafood friend rice, mango Thai chicken, eggplant). Then we visited the Chinatown night market and hung out at the Reggae Bar. After a horrible night of freezing because our air conditioner wouldn't turn down (I had to sit in the hall in the middle of night because I was sick and wanted to warm up!), we got up and had toast and headed off to visit a mall about 30 minutes outside of town. We had some yummy sushi at Sushi King, a place with a conveyor belt of sushi (each is priced by the color of plate-- check out my stack!). Then we shared dinner dishes again that night and went to a local bar before heading out to a few clubs. The next morning (Sun) we headed home.

Trip to Bintan Island, Indonesia:
Below is the photo album from the trip.
the weekend i went to bintan - SG 8
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2441008&l=aae5a&id=8605287

We were thinking of just going for a day because the ferry was only 1.5 hrs, but my friend Ashima already had accommodation, so we stayed over Saturday night (30 to 31 Aug). I didn't call to get ferry tickets until the day before we left, so we had to take a 1pm ferry. It worked out okay though, because it was pretty rainy on the way there & perfect weather when we got to our secluded island spot. It was a good thing we planned to stay overnight because it took 1 hour on the MRT, another 30 minutes to wait for a take a bus to the ferry terminal, and then the 1.5 hrs ferry to Tangung Pinang. Bintan is behind Singapore by an hour, so it was sort of like 2 hrs travel time. We sat on the upper deck of the ferry and grabbed a taxi when we got to the island. The taxi ride was about an hour (our driver Dodo was awesome, and he took us to get our return ferry boarding passes and to an atm; the ride itself was quite an experience! See this video I took on the journey) and our spot, the Shady Shack, was definitely secluded. The "shacks" were all wood with two mattresses with bug nets. We hung out on the beach, had lunch/dinner (yummy veggies, fish, shrimp/prawns, eggs, and these fishcake things) around 4pm, played cards, and sat by the bonfire chatting till late into the night.
The whole time we were there we didn't really know what time is was-- it was actually nice not to worry about the time and just go to bed when it was dark and we were tired and get up with the sunrise. The sunrise was SO beautiful. The tide was low and the water was so still and warm. Then we hung out, went swimming, hung out some more, read a little on the beach, ate (fried rice and pineapple), and basically just chilled until our taxi driver came back at 4pm to get us.

School update:
Between the planning for travels and the actual travels, there seems to be little time for... what was it again? Oh yeah, school. But now that classes are in full-swing, I've had to make some more time for my studies. This is what my schedule looks like:
Which really isn't that bad, eh? My Wednesday tutorial is every other week, so I have every other Wed off and every Friday off.
I think I mentioned I was in all intro classes since I haven't had much business in school before, but the specific classes I'm taking are Intro to Finance, Intro to Marketing, Operations Management, and Asia Pacific Business, Ethics, and Society (that's a mouthful). Most of the local students are in their first or second year, and a lot of them are shocked when I tell them I'm in my 5th year. I haven't quite figured out how to convince them that 5 years isn't shameful in the US, haha.

I'm really liking my Operations Management course because it seems to be a little more technical than the others and is more closely linked with engineering. My professor is an engineer by education, which is cool, too (my marketing tutor is an engineer as well!). Finance is okay, pretty boring in the beginning; we've been going over financial statements and ratios. Asia Pacific Business, Ethics, and Society is interesting. The lecture is a little slow, and I'm getting lost with some of the economics terms (macro is a prerequisite, but I haven't had that yet). I think keeping up with the readings will help with understanding the concepts. Marketing is by far my favorite of the four classes. Marketing by nature is much more interesting, I think, and my professor is this spunky lady who on the first day of class made a HOT or NOT reference to Michael Phelps and how cute she thinks he is versus Michael Fay, the American guy who was caned in the 90s for vandalism. And this is why she says her lectures cannot be podcasted!
The other day in my marketing tutorial we were talking about different approaches to marketing and our tutor showed us these NUS Business school ads. They are pretty funny, well the one with the girl from the US (I assume US 'cause she mentions U of Chicago) is, the other one with the Singaporean guy is just plain cute-- and I can relate since it takes over an hour to travel from one side of S'pore to the other on the MRT. I'm still kind of amazed at how often we talk about the US in my classes. The operations management book I have, which is a special international edition, even had an example from Trek Bicycles in Wisconsin, haha.

And I joined an environmental club! This was one of my goals for going abroad-- to see how other countries view the environment and what they are doing to improve their impact on it. The club just had a Green Carnival on campus where they kicked-off their new initiatives including zer0waste (to encourage paper, plastic, and can recycling), 1degree up (to increase the temperature of lecture halls on campus & houses to 25 degrees C), rebate2earth (implementing a 10 cent charge for plastic bags to be donated to an environmental organization), save3s (encouraging professors to allow submission to papers and assignment online or double-sided, and setting printers to print double-sided by default), and food4thought (promoting a more sustainable diet). I helped out be encouraging people to write on the banner you can see at the left. Visitors were asked to write something they pledge to do to improve the environment or just some encouraging words. I'm interested in working with the rebate2earth campaign to minimize the use of disposable plates/cups and containers on campus.

And this is probably more than you wanted to know, so I'll end here. Check out those pictures because they are probably a better way to describe what I've been doing (and easier to digest!). Let me know what you're up to!