t minus one month!

I had my last classes last week. *tears* But not really for the classes. I realize there are so many things I wanna do and so many people I've met that I want to hang out with more! I'll have to budget my time in the next few weeks well. And Mom and Erin fly in TONIGHT, which I am so pumped about. I can't wait to show them the exciting things (and the not-so-exciting things) I've been up to... And the food ;)

So as much as I want my time here to go on for much longer, I'm looking forward so much to going home, as well. I can't wait to see my family and friends, move into my apartment in Madison, finish out my last semester of school (exciting new classes that I think I'll like), find my dream job, and EAT CHEESE. :) I may have spoken a little too soon about never being homesick-- I got a little sad a few weeks ago. To be fair, it was probably more about just finding a job and graduating and figuring out my life than it was about Singapore, but making these decisions would have been much easier if I were at home with all my resources there and the ability to speak face-to-face with people, etc. So I came to the conclusion that this semester has been a trade-off, as is every choice, right? I get the ridiculous exposure to a region I never would have had another way (not even by working here), but I maybe am set back a bit on the school (as in engineering bc I'm only in business classes here) and career fronts. So worth it.

Since I last wrote, I've had class on 3 Saturdays in a row (!) and...

We've also frequented a few new nighttime spots. The other night we stopped at New Asia Bar to get a few drinks and enjoy the view (from the 71st story!), and then went to a club/bar called Supper Club. It had a swanky atmosphere (all white, beds around the edge of the upper floor and a dance floor below), but the music wasn't all that great. We also celebrated the REAL Halloween (on Oct 31) by going to the Screening Room bar. I guess the building near Chinatown used to be a hotel, and now it is a bar/lounge/screening room. We hung out on the top deck, which was a neat atmosphere, as well.
A few nights we have been hanging out on the Clarke Quay bridge, which is right near a bunch of clubs. Conveniently, there is a 7/11 nearby where we often buy a few beers (2 for S$5 is a STEAL!). One night we tried to go to Butter Factory and then Dbl O, but things get so expensive when it's later at night (S$30 for guys), and they sometimes make up this "must be over 23" rule for guys... I'm not sure why-- it even happened to David when he was with us (with 4 girls)!
We also went to Rain for karaoke (it's near Dbl O) the other night. It was so fun! We went for Elin's birthday, and arrived around 7pm. We stayed till 2am! They had to kick us out at that point after we had been dancing on the couches and singing our hearts our all night. :)

New food experiences:
I've been trying to keep up my exploration of Singapore dishes, and I also found a neat video on how to make some of them. This 3-part video (1, 2, 3) explains how to cook chilli crab, chicken rice, and bubor cha cha among others. Check it out.
My friend Matt and I went to the Newton Hawker Center and had a whole feast of Singapore delights. We had an oyster omelette, some carrot cake, chilli crab, satay with that yummy peanut sauce, and of course some tiger beers to go with it all!
Ice Kachang... oh, ice kachang. This is a truly Singaporean experience. These desserts are basically shaved ice with syrup and anything and everything on it. I recently got the "dinosaur ice kachang" at the Tiong Bahru Food Centre. It had Milo (like powdered chocolate milk), peanuts, sugar syrup, red beans, longans, and a mixture of jellies on it. It looked disgusting but it was yummmmmy.
Steamboat laksa. Laksa is kind of like a red curry soup with coconut milk in the broth. We went as a big group and shared a large pot of the broth and added in all sorts of goodies: chicken, corn, beef, shrimp/prawns, fish, mushrooms, fish balls (see how they are made), squid, tofu, and of course lots of noodles!
Lau Pa Sat: In my attempt to visit all 10 of the top ten hawker centres, Katie and I went to Lau Pa Sat the other day and we were overwhelmed! It is such a big hawker in the middle of the city, so there were way too many food stalls from which to select some yummy delights. We settled on two things: fish porridge (or congee), and fish dumpling noodles. The fish porridge was actually really good! And of course the "fish dumpling noodles" was fish, (chicken) dumplings, and noodles instead of fish dumplings, and noodles. Although there is an abundance of fish, seafood, and vegetarian dishes here, it seems like there is a little bit of meat on everything-- I've seen a lot of minced pork or chicken in most tofu dishes. And for dessert we had fruit sago (kind of like ice kachang, this one had many different fruits and sago pearls in it) and bubor cha cha (by FAR my new favorite dessert! It's just so pretty!). Bubor cha cha is a coconut milk "soup" with sago, other jellies, yam, and sweet potato pieces-- and it's often served hot or cold (with shaved ice). I like it hot.

Shangri-La brunch... My tummy feels full just thinking about it! Yong took us there, which was SO nice of him, and we ate for the full 3 hrs we were allowed. The place has EVERYTHING from Japanese to Malay, Western, Indian, not to mention the array of dim sums and spectacular display of desserts (including a chocolate fountain!). It was so good. Highlights include salmon sashimi, choc covered marshmallows, cheese tortellini, sun-dried tomatoes, lamb from the India section, and that yummy "disc-shaped egg tofu" dish that I get a lot (a staple, for sure).

High tea at Tian Fu Teahouse. We went for the Imperial High Tea at the Tian Fu Teahouse, which is in the UOB Plaza on the 60th floor-- beautiful view! We had three different kinds of tea (Silver Needle, Fenghuang Dancong, and Pu'er I think), and dim sums (carrot cake, sweet corn dumpling, barbecue pau, wontons, glutinous rice pancake, steamed custard bun). It was soooo good. The rice pancake was the best, I think, but the custard bun was a close close second.

Not quite related to fooood... The election! Oh my, the hype was intense for the election. I'm sure it was insane at home, but we definitely felt it here, too. My professors would mention things in lecture, especially with the economic crisis (I got blamed quite a few times as a joke, lol), and right around the 4th I heard, "...Obama..." "...McCain..." on the buses and MRT. And the bus TVs and newspapers were covered with pics of the candidates immediately before and after the election. I was so glad when it was over just so people would stop wanting to talk about it with me! And I was happy about the results, too. :)

Trip to the Science Centre! The Science Centre here in Singapore is very highly recommended, and despite a few exhibits being under construction, it was really neat! I totally indulged my nerdy side. They had a special exhibit for the Formula 1 race, and they had some cool displays including a huge water tornado thing (ykno, like you used to have with the two 2-liter pop bottles?), virus exhibit, a climate change exhibit, and special nanotech section. Videos: parallelism in the nano building process, dengue diagnosis, jam session, hyperbolic slot (this would have been helpful in math 234), voltage jumping an air gap and water tornado.

NUS Exchange Ball. Some of the ladies on exchange, Maria, Claire, Amberly, and others, planned a lovely evening for us at a campus venue with amazing food, good music, and lots of good company. Most of our friends from the exchange program attended and we danced and ate and drank. It makes me realize this is really coming to an end! The farewell gatherings have begun...


Pictures since last post:

the REAL halloween, food, beg of science centre - SG 22
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2469819&l=e56fd&id=8605287

science centre, sakae sushi, china one, and desserts - SG 23
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2478856&l=605ba&id=8605287

karaoke, high tea, the ball, lunch@matrix... - SG 24
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2479166&l=a9b80&id=8605287