Skukuza part 2

Aaaaahhh craziness! I can’t believe I come home so soon!!! Anyway stories about work:

Insect collections

I am so happy it’s done! It was a bit of pain towards the end. Especially since we thought our first box (which had all of our work in it) went MIA, found the day after we turned it in though >:( Anyway it was hectic.

IP2

So it’s just me and Kyle this time around. The field work was a little crazy because it was freaking HOT and you know all the hippos and working in a male leopard’s territory and all that jazz! I was wearing shorts so my legs look like I stuck them in a blender or you know trekked through kms of knife sharp grass, which I did. It was hard work but it wasn’t so bad. Surprisingly I actually didn’t feel the heat so much. I think Singapore made me less of a weather-wimp. The first few days of writing were hectic because Kyle had a bad fever and was out of commission. It was a total struggle bus! But I made it through and work isn’t so bad hahaha. We’re polishing it up right now and I’m pretty hopeful. It actually is starting to look pretty good. I am happy we worked in a group of two because I got to do a lot m ore of the work and thus learn more.

Fun stuff/Day off;

We started the morning by waking up really early and driving of Elephant Whisperers. We meet these lovely elephants and one of them was almost double the size of the others! His name was Tembo and he was my favorite! We got to touch them and learn all about them. We also got to take some pretty awesome pictures with Tembo. I look so delighted! After we finished up there we went for breakfast and I had delish French toast and the best bacon I have had since I left the states. Seriously blissful start to the day! The pics from today are gonna be the best pics of my life not just cause of the awesome settings but because I look so truly happy.

Speaking of true happiness 2 words:

BRIDGE JUMPING

Soooo awesome!!!

We thought we weren’t gonna get to go because the first place we went to was closed. It looked for a bit like the remainder of the day was gonna be a dud, with us just driving around doing nothing. But then we found another place with bridge jumping. We drove over to the bridge and well it was a normal bridge with cars on it and everything. We were SUPER sketched out when we saw these two guys jut tying a rope to the safety rail. But it turned out to be really legit (ie the rope on the rail was just a signal rope we were attached to permanent stuff). So Kyle and I volunteer to go first. Kyle actually goes first and as he jumps part of me was Fuuuuuuuuuuuu…..

Then I was up. The man strapped me into my harness attached me to the ropes and over the railing I climbed. Poised at 30m above a river I braced my toes on the small ledge while he talked me through then next 30 seconds.

“Now on the count of three you jump, ya?”

“Ok got it.”

“Alright”he said. (My thoughts while he talks will follow in italics.)

“3” Oh my God! What kind of retard does this?

“2”  Well me for one.*shrugs*

“1”

                                Jump!

And I jumped. Mind you my jump was lovely according to my friends and the video. I didn’t fall off the bridge, have a false start or hesitate. I crouched and pushed off with the full force of both my legs, and then fell back with my arms out and my legs straight. I was also hollering like a hooligan, which took the grace out of it I’m sure. I stopped yelling when the harness caught the rope and I stopped falling and started swinging. Then I stared whooping again. I believe a transcript of what I was saying would have gone something like this:

WOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOO!!! YYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!

BEST THING EVER!!!!!!

YEAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA!!!!

I had calmed down by the time I was getting close to ground and waited patiently enjoying the swinging as the nice man at the bottom of gorge stopped me.

It was LEGEN-wait for it---------------------------------------------------DARY!  Hahahaha

Then I watched the rest of my friends jump. Not everybody was as willing to jump of a bridge as I was though. Some people freaked out big time, but in the end we all jumped and we all loved it! I’m trying to round up a group of people to go to the first place (its waaay bigger) on our last day off.  I loved it!!! I can’t wait to go bridge jumping again! I hope I talk some my friends at school into going!

Skukuza part 2

Aaaaahhh craziness! I can’t believe I come home so soon!!! Anyway stories about work:

Insect collections

I am so happy it’s done! It was a bit of pain towards the end. Especially since we thought our first box (which had all of our work in it) went MIA, found the day after we turned it in though >:( Anyway it was hectic.

IP2

So it’s just me and Kyle this time around. The field work was a little crazy because it was freaking HOT and you know all the hippos and working in a male leopard’s territory and all that jazz! I was wearing shorts so my legs look like I stuck them in a blender or you know trekked through kms of knife sharp grass, which I did. It was hard work but it wasn’t so bad. Surprisingly I actually didn’t feel the heat so much. I think Singapore made me less of a weather-wimp. The first few days of writing were hectic because Kyle had a bad fever and was out of commission. It was a total struggle bus! But I made it through and work isn’t so bad hahaha. We’re polishing it up right now and I’m pretty hopeful. It actually is starting to look pretty good. I am happy we worked in a group of two because I got to do a lot m ore of the work and thus learn more.

Fun stuff/Day off;

We started the morning by waking up really early and driving of Elephant Whisperers. We meet these lovely elephants and one of them was almost double the size of the others! His name was Tembo and he was my favorite! We got to touch them and learn all about them. We also got to take some pretty awesome pictures with Tembo. I look so delighted! After we finished up there we went for breakfast and I had delish French toast and the best bacon I have had since I left the states. Seriously blissful start to the day! The pics from today are gonna be the best pics of my life not just cause of the awesome settings but because I look so truly happy.

Speaking of true happiness 2 words:

BRIDGE JUMPING

Soooo awesome!!!

We thought we weren’t gonna get to go because the first place we went to was closed. It looked for a bit like the remainder of the day was gonna be a dud, with us just driving around doing nothing. But then we found another place with bridge jumping. We drove over to the bridge and well it was a normal bridge with cars on it and everything. We were SUPER sketched out when we saw these two guys jut tying a rope to the safety rail. But it turned out to be really legit (ie the rope on the rail was just a signal rope we were attached to permanent stuff). So Kyle and I volunteer to go first. Kyle actually goes first and as he jumps part of me was Fuuuuuuuuuuuu…..

Then I was up. The man strapped me into my harness attached me to the ropes and over the railing I climbed. Poised at 30m above a river I braced my toes on the small ledge while he talked me through then next 30 seconds.

“Now on the count of three you jump, ya?”

“Ok got it.”

“Alright”he said. (My thoughts while he talks will follow in italics.)

“3” Oh my God! What kind of retard does this?

“2”  Well me for one.*shrugs*

“1”

                                Jump!

And I jumped. Mind you my jump was lovely according to my friends and the video. I didn’t fall off the bridge, have a false start or hesitate. I crouched and pushed off with the full force of both my legs, and then fell back with my arms out and my legs straight. I was also hollering like a hooligan, which took the grace out of it I’m sure. I stopped yelling when the harness caught the rope and I stopped falling and started swinging. Then I stared whooping again. I believe a transcript of what I was saying would have gone something like this:

WOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOO!!! YYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!

BEST THING EVER!!!!!!

YEAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA!!!!

I had calmed down by the time I was getting close to ground and waited patiently enjoying the swinging as the nice man at the bottom of gorge stopped me.

It was LEGEN-wait for it---------------------------------------------------DARY!  Hahahaha

Then I watched the rest of my friends jump. Not everybody was as willing to jump of a bridge as I was though. Some people freaked out big time, but in the end we all jumped and we all loved it! I’m trying to round up a group of people to go to the first place (its waaay bigger) on our last day off.  I loved it!!! I can’t wait to go bridge jumping again! I hope I talk some my friends at school into going!

Western Cape

It was really lovely and I got a lot of sleep. Not much else to report… oh I henna-ed a bunch of people (myself included) and designed the T-shirt for our group, and did some art for a cool assignment so lots of art J Also got hooked on a new thief type show. Thank for the Leverage Keith… yeah other than all quiet…

Dev Hoop:

Just working hard mostly. My FFP was on Dung Beetles and Marcus our prof was supper cool and funny. The high light was actually on the day when I worked with the other FFP group in the tide pools. Lawrence wrangled an octopus!!!! He literally just grabbed it out of the water and we all got to hold it!!!! That was cool.

On our day off we went to the southernmost point of Africa, and saw both the Indian and Atlantic Ocean. It was a really fun, in a more hospitable beach we played around in the water. It was a lot of fun. I even learned a little bit of surfing (ie how to catch a wave, but not how to stand). My legs are little banged up (I actually scratched a hole in the skin!!!)  but appear to be healing nicely. 

We have also doing this thing called pillow talk. It is where we sit around and chat about all sorts of things before bed. I have lost so much sleep to pillow talk!!!!

I blame the lack of sleep for the cold I feel coming…. I don’t wanna be sick!!!!

Anyway I can’t believe how soon I will be coming home!!!!! Part of me can’t wait to get back but at the same time I know that after about a month of being home I’m gonna have itching foot and wanna get on the move again. Well we’ll see what happens. I plan to go abroad next summer also (either Europe or Costa Rica). 

cape town 2 (a lot of stuff)

Taylor:

So I got to meet up with Taylor here!!! Its funny how her whole life no matter where she goes, I’m there. Ahahahaha. Anyway so it was really nice we talked about all manner of things, but mostly about people from home. That was something that I didn’t even know I needed to do. J  We had a late lunch at a very tasty café then walked down Long Street to Green Market and back. I bought a pretty dress and belt to with it. She bought a fun skirt. Then we came back to the Backpacker’s and hung out till she had to leave It was pretty sweet!

Shark diving:

SUPAH FREAKIN AWESOME AMIGOS!!!!

I had such a good time!!! It was pretty cold that day so we were joking that people where more afraid of the cold water than the sharks (which was true in my case). We saw a bunch of shark real close up as well as a babyb Southern Wright Whale!!!! He was tiny!!! (aka two-three time my size) At the end of the dive was the best shark. She was huge!!! She was some 4 meters long. And she was working for the bait. She kept surging up from the depths, turning quickly, and all other supper awesome things. We (on the boat, they took us out of the water she was so aggressive and big) were screaming like crazy!!! It was so cool! And so was the water but we were all too excited to care.  We crashed pretty hard on the way back. I was sitting listening to music and the thing I knew I was waking up and had almost gone through the whole playlist. Then I curled up on Amy’s lap and took a proper nap.

More Clubbing/Bar Hopping

Let me start with the facts:

·         I still have never been drunk

·         I still have not had my first kiss (though it could have happened)

·         I still have not brought a guy/been brought home

·         I am still a pillar of moral awesome-ness

So deal.

On the second night of clubbing after a very boring start to the night we wound up at this club called Jo’burg. The music was great but the dance floor was tiny and packed. Once again I picked up a nice Scandinavian. This one was only a year older than me, almost as cute as the other guy and almost as bad of a dancer. So I did the same thing I did the other night and we danced for a bit, and then I thought he wasn’t interested (later in the night I came to realize that was part of his ineptness) so I jetted and danced with my friends…. A whole 2 feet away hahahaha. I actually ground for the first time. Well first I was ground on separately by my two guy friends. And in return I ground with them later. It was not as demeaning as I thought it would be. With the club being so small I couldn’t help but make eye contact with the guy here and there. He smiled at me so I smiled back and thought naught of it. Then about an hour before I left the guy tapped me on the shoulder. He wanted to dance. I was like ok. It was basically middle school dancing (you arms on shoulders and swaying back and forth) but without the space in between us. We kind of tried to talk to each other over the music and he sort of rubbed my back/sides. At one point he said “You’re from LA I’m not sure what to do from here” first off lame! Second I was like well how about a kiss(trying to complete the mission here) but he didn’t hear me and then I didn’t repeat the suggestion because something inside me thought better of it.  I tried.

One of my friends was dancing with a guy and I was giving her our nice job/ that’s sweet/ all things are good tight butt hole symbol (don’t ask I didn’t start calling it that but has stuck) and she was like WTF? This went on for a while until I realized the guy she dancing with one of our friends. She said my face when I realized it was just Kwaku was priceless disappointment. Yeah the following night was also at Jo’burg but it was filled with creepers so I left early and there were no cute guys to pick up L.

Point of Good hope:

Oh damn!!! It was sooooo beautiful!!! And ridiculously windy!!! We hiked about ran on this lovely beach (while getting pelted with sand) and just all around had a good old OTS time. The wind was so strong!!!!

The  later that day some of us stayed in the area and just kind of walked around. We saw cape fur seals up close and personal, African penguins (they are smelly) and did a little shopping. We also had a delicious dinner at The house of Waffles and Pancakes. It was cheap and super good. We were all lamenting the fact that it was so far away, but still it was very enjoyable.

Robben Island

It was a very sobering thing for me to be in a place were so much pain had been caused. I wondered about how humans could do such thing to each other. I decided they must not see their victims as human because otherwise there is something inside you that would stop from doing these things.

I also wrestled with my ideas of justice and amnesty. When hearing about people who did terrible things and got of scott free and part of me cried for justice. But really that tit for tat idea of justice is so low/unevolved.  Still forgiveness is hard (which is probably why I consider it to be a mark of a higher human). I found myself singing “Odey vo Shalom Allanue” I think half for my comfort and half as a prayer for peace.

Yep I think that’s it J

cape town 1

 Kyah! First night in Cape Town!!! First off all I love being in the city again! I am such a city slicker hahahaha. That’s not to say I wasn’t surprised at how much I loved the rural, no power uber gorgeous Hamakuya, but still It’s good to be back. Also its upper gorgeous here too! The cape is sooo nice! The water is so blue and Table Mountain is just magnificent!

Yesterday went out for lunch at this Mexican place called the Fat Cactus. The food was surprisingly good for being so far from Mexico. I couldn’t finish my meal though, it was just too much! Actually my stomach has been a bit off since our home stays…. A lot of people are having the same problems… we think we picked something up… Oh well I still feel pretty healthy lots of energy and all that. None the less I will keep a close eye on myself.

Last night we went out to a bar. When we first got there it was pretty dead, but sure enough us OTSer’s brought the party to that place. There was a wedding singer/bar mitzah type guy that singing and playing music. We jammed. It took a while but eventually as more people came they got swept up by our enthusiasm and we were all partying it up. So exciting part…. I picked up a guy *squeals!*

Anyway there was this cute guys who was drinking with his friends. He was blonde with blue eyes and little bit of scruff. I picked him out towards the beginning of the evening and debated whether I should go over and well... pick him up. He was older which was my main excuse for not acting right away. Anyway later with some encouragement from Ashley I went for it. I just walked up to him tapped him on the shoulder and out my hands out. Then we were dancing (tee hee) He was one of the worst dancers I have seen in my life!!!! But was almost cute how bad he was. He was also Norwegian… And super tall… yeah I go for tall guys but I didn’t realize how tall he was till I was dancing with him. His hands were huge I think my whole hand held about two of his fingers, and I didn’t even make it up to his shoulder. (This was source of some amusement to my friends who later said I was about 2/3’s his size).  He did this weird thing though where he would disappear for a while ( a long while; I didn’t think was gonna come back the first time) but he always came back *shrugs* Idk, I had fun either way (it was more fun dancing with my friends than with him… b/c he was really awkward) Anyway his friends were very friendly, I liked one of them and we chatted very briefly, and the other kept getting in the way >:/ Anyways he invited me to come to this other club with him and his friends, and I was like “Nope, I stay with herd!” And then he stayed until I left…. I think wanted to get in touch with me again b/c he was asking all about whether I would be around again and how long I was in Cape Town for. He wasn’t a creeper or anything but I didn’t really want anything much to happen anyway so I gave non-committal answers. He didn’t seem super motivated so I doubt he’ll come around the bar again despite me saying that we might come by again (I would be deeply shocked)

Anywho… I PICKED UP CUTE GUY!!! WINNING!!!!!! All my friends were high fiving me and all that. I felt like a total champ! Still do! I can totally do this!

Today a smaller group of us did those red double-decker buses. It was great fun! We went to the botanical gardens, a winery, and the wharf.  The gardens where lovely, we took some fun perspective pictures. The weather was super schizophrenic and it was alternately really cool, windy and raining a bit and them hot and sunny. We just dealt with it.

Wine tasting at the winery was fun. I found 2 things that I actually liked and bought to bottles to take home. We were a bit tipsy after because none of us had eaten since the morning and we were all hungry. We just laughed sang and were a little bit more inappropriate than usual but nothing much.

We wound up at the wharf around 3 and were all starving and freezing! We had some very tasty sea food (I had garlic prawns nom nom nom!~) Took some lovely pictures and then made our way back. Almost all of us passed out on the bus on the way back. We got very little sleep last night and had a super full day. Tomorrow is shark diving!!!! So excited!!!

catch up

Ahhhhhhh catch-up time!!!

Punda Maria

Baking/Birthday Madness!!! I was baking like every day for everyone’s birthdays. It was fun. We did our work for our IP1 (independent project). It was hectic. Laura was super stressed out but it wasn’t so bad. I felt like I kind of had to fight for my right to be helpful but I suppose that’s better than having to do the whole project on my own. People are getting to know each other well enough to start to actually form real opinions about each other. There are these two girls who are just all trouble and drama (aka total shit shows when they get drunk/ are waaaay to …. Hungry) there’s really just one of them that I don’t really like I don’t know how she is friends with her best friend. The best friend (who the other girl is like completely ignoring) is really nice super down to earth and really well adjusted, and the other girl… has vomited 3 times and makes a big production about something every time she gets drunk (I find her behavior particularly off putting). Other than that I am surprised at how well everyone is getting on.  The people who I was dubious about at the beginning, while still more scandalous than I am entirely comfortable are cool and fun to be around.  

I roomed with Claire which was mixed. She went to bed later than I did; I got up earlier than she did. It was nowhere near as estranged a relationship as it was with Ruby (Singapore) but I made me miss what a good relationship I had with Hannah (Burrak). I like Claire a lot as person but she was really stressed and upset about her FFP, and that was understandable but hard to deal with.

Random note: I’m not Singapore sick that much anyone, nor am I still pinning over my Singapore crushes. But now I miss places from home. I want to go to Venice (LA Venice not Italy) really bad!!! I think I miss cities a bit.

Also my water bottle leaks a lot… bleh

Hamakuya:

SOOOOOO PREEEEEETTTTYYYYY! It is criminally gorgeous here. Really one of the most beautiful places I have been in my life!!!! It was supposed to be super hot here but it’s been pretty cold (thank god!!!) There’s this soap in our bathroom it smells so good and manly!!! Kyle came out of different bathroom saying that the soap was so nice right when I walked over saying the same thing. We had a good laugh because my hands smelled like sexy man, and his hands smelled like a pretty lady. Other than that been working hard …. Yeah I have developed this weird art style in my time in Africa… it’s very strange, super simplified and very color oriented… I wonder if it will stay or whether I will revert to normal when I return… I wonder if want to stick with it or if I want to return normal style…. I was also pondering the self aggrandizing nature of a lot of my art, but you know what, my art is an expression of how I feel. Of course it’s me centric!! If I feel like I’m on top of the world (which I do) then I’m going to draw me on top of the world damnit!!! Also on that note I feel sooo happy!!! Sure I have my share of struggles but my life is unbelievably blessed. I feel so fortunate to have the people in my life that I do. That I can feel the love, pride, and support of my family 100% behind while I’m across the world means so much to me. Also that my life had been blessed with so many opportunities is amazing!!!! I have really traveled the world and I’m starting to really appreciate/feel the benefits of that. Not only that but the schools I have gone to, the books that my parents read to me, all the programs and education elsewhere that I’ve had… it’s all truly a blessing. I am so lucky and am over whelmed with a sense of gratitude towards this benevolent world I live in. GAH! So thankful!!!! *does full dogeza of gratitude to the universe* Like really I’m gonna have to slaughter a cow or something when I get back to show my thanks to the universe ahaha

Homestay:

4 of us stayed with a Venda family for 3 nights for our home stay. Kyle, Melissa, Katrina (one of the dramatic trouble duo) and I went with our translator Mulalo and stayed in the village of Fandani. You remember those world traveling benefits I was talking about? This is one of ‘em: People are people everywhere. Manner and societal trapping may be different but kids are kids old ladies are old ladies and as corny/cliché as it is its true we are all the same. There was no real moment of realization just the patterns of behavior (i.e. kids will come to you if you don’t look for them in hide and go seek, and old lady wants to show off to the guest and gets pissed at the kids for taking all the attention act) It was cool and towards the end a little overwhelming. I had kids all over me and that was fun. They all wanted to touch us Makour (white people) and play with us. It was great. They wore me out!!! We ran and jumped and played and held hand and I carried them and played and it was sooo much!

Funny story about my name: Tasha means to touch in Venda, so most people just called me Tasha instead of Natasha (the kids said like batman says “I’m batman” they would “Tashaaa!!!”). When I was introduced to one mother of a household she make a grabbing gesture at the sky and said something, which my guide full of laughter said meant: Natasha one who touches the sky.

I LOVE IT!!!!

That, my friends, is now the official meaning of my name!!! I am the one who touched the sky!!!! It is so perfect!!!! Mya!! So great!!! WHAT IS MY LIFE?! HOW IS SO MUCH AWESOME SQUEEZED IN?! I CANNOT COMPREHEND!!!!

Ahem yeah. I was already pretty close with Melissa; she is really funny and cool. I feel like we have a lot in common but we do but heads over stuff. Basically she’s the one who I had the disagreement over the use of facts and statistics (I talked about that right?) and she also doesn’t like Shakespeare…. I know am an elitist snob… but really?? I just feel like she’s is sometimes a little low-browed/uncultured…. This only makes me more grateful for the Renaissance style upbringing I had. I am glad I am so cultured, and yes I think people should strive to be instead of reveling in not being cultured. Anyway she is still awesome and I enjoy her company.

Katrina turned out to be much better company than I had anticipated. Turns out when you get her away from the other girl she calms down and becomes a sensible person (even if she doesn’t like kids). I can understand sometimes people make you into things you aren’t. So in all in all I came away with a much better opinion of her than I had before (even if she still gets too drunk and makes an embarrassment of herself).

Just realized I must sound very critical and rude. Yes I am judgmental and I know it’s not my place. I still respect these people and I know my faults are many but these things I say are true. I do not think I am a better person than they are, just that my values are different and I am entitled to that. This does not stop me from enjoying their company, and hopefully from them enjoying mine.

OH! And Kyle! We got along super well. Our sleeping bags where right next to each other and as a result we spent a lot of time in each other’s space. Plus we’re both cuddlers so it nice. I gave him lots of head scratches and massages and he gave ‘em back. I love cuddling. There a few time when I think that maybe we could be more than just cuddly friends and I am not opposed to the idea (he’s pretty attractive) but story of my life I’m not that actively interested…. Well we’ll see. I know I should pursue if I want something to happen but I just think “oh it would be nice if it happened” but as per usual I am not enthused… Why am I so not passionate??? Anyway yeah we played like kids (as well as playing with actual kids) and had a good time. I’m happy with things the way they are, though I am determined to get my first kiss before I leave this content (if just by being here it will be a good story, even if there no real passion behind it).

So yeah… now we’re back all finally clean and well fed. Life is good, people are cool, and I am happy, healthy and grateful.

Shingwedzi

In the past 4 hours I have seen over 50 elephants, a ton of buffalo (zitch buffalo!), been charged by elephants more than 3 times, had to pull over to let Giraffes cross multiple times, saw two honey badgers (the only honey badgers many of the South Africans have seen that’s how rare they are; also they super badass I would like the youtube video keith showed me but no youtube out here L ), drove parallel to a leopard for about 10 minutes and watched it eat a hare, sang songs with guitar while watching the sunset over the savannah from a fantastic 360 vista.

TIA and MLISFA (like MLIA but with super fracking)

It hasn’t all been fun and games. This morning I was bent over by the stats test … I studied plenty and think I did fine on the written portion (worth most of the “marks”) but the excel part killed me! Oh well the afternoon more than made up for it.

I have been having a lot of fun with the people here. I have learned all sorts of campy new games that I wanna bring back and picked up some jokes and lingo from all over the place. If Singapore was a fantastic meeting of like minded super awesome people this is a fantastic meeting of awesome people who are very different. It made me pine for Singapore and home for a bit but by and large it has been enlightening and fun.

Oh and I’m now the resident: a)baker and b) go to for random knowledge person. I have made so very well received baked goods for people birthdays. Yay baking! And people have started coming to me for stuff like : “how do I get rid of headaches?’ “how do I fall asleep” “what is the back ground on…” And I’m also a go to movie person thanks to Keith. My hard drive has been very well circulated, and probably has had more people read through it than the student drive with all of our resources.

Also people here are cuddly! I have got almost as much cuddle action as I used to get in high school! It is soooooo nice! Aside from that there isn’t much on the romantic front here. There’s like 2 guys who I would be happy if something were happen with but I have to say I’m still nursing those Singapore crushes.

Away about to embark into 5 weeks no internet! At least a week of which will be spent without power (NOOOOOOOOOOOO!) But w/e life has been pretty cushy so far and I’m happy about it.

Academics have definitely been intense as  promised… but I’m slugging through

Anyway having a great time!!!

Can’t wait for more!!!!

skukuza part1

Skukuza part 1

Field work! Its much better than lab! However a lecture of vet science has got me all excited about medicine again. Ahahaha

Anyway here Skukuza we have access to internet so I figured I would try to get this up.

Food here is really good, but I miss Singapore food. L Today I crocodile and it was pretty good but not as good as beef (or Kudu for that matter). Anyway I have discovered that I love bats, feel bad and accomplished when I hack up tree for bark samples, and am irrevocably in love with cheetahs.

But one at a time: We did a few big field days recently where we collected bat call data and bark thickness data. The tree work was hard chopping, cutting work in the sun and I’m covered in scratches. Also I felt kinda bad cutting huge branches if trees….

The bat data is really cool though, and we even caught one little bat. We called her Babs and all got to hold her. She was sooo tiny! And cute!!!!

Also we’re gearing up for our insect collections. I have discovered that I love insect hunting. Stupid butterflies they mocked me flitting about with all their colors- WHOSE DEAD IN MY FREEZER NOW BITCH?! Ahem… anyway catching insects is fun, but I feel bad when I kill them by hand, which is dumb because I’m catching them to kill em anyway.

The other day we did a memorial for 9/11  and at the end we got surprised by an elephant who got ridiculously close to us. So close that we had to all get back into the cars until she passed. It was crazy! My heart was thudding so hard!

A few days ago was our day off and we went to Moholoholo animal ancuary. We got a 3 hr tour from a pretty cute Afrikaner. But the man who stole my heart was Bullet, the cheetah. I am in love with them. They are just so … beautiful handsome cute majestic…. Everything awesome. I love em! We saw all sorts of animals and got really close (but there were fences between the animals and us) We got to touch a bunch of stuff like the cheetah (kya!), vultures (I got ambushed from behind by one, he only hit me with his wing while landed on my arm so I was more surprised than hurt), eagles ect. It was cool!

Today we ran around collecting and pinning our insects. I am a champ when it comes to catching insects! I wish i had done this sort of thing more as a kid. its waaay fun. I think i am starting to specialize in betterflies :D

Anyway… yeah I have been enjoying my time here. I like the people a great deal. I miss my Singapore crew though, I felt like I was more like minded with them. That doesn’t mean people here aren’t supper cool, just a little different than me but at the same time more similar (than my older part of my sing crew at least). There is a lot I can learn from these guys and hopefully a lot I can give back too!

SOUTH AFRICA!!!!

SEMSTER IN SOUTH AFRICA!!!!

And thus beginnings the 2^nd proportion in my Saga of S alliteration!

A week has passed since, I arrived here. The people all seem cool ( if not as cool as my Singapore crew, but really I doubt I mean meet a collection as cool as them ever again).  No internet… GAH! Just kidding I’ve been so busy i have hardly had time to touch my computer. Anyway there are about 25 students here, and about 5 instructor type people. My favorite and (probably everyone else’s) is David. If Snape is one side of the coin he is the other. He has much of Snape’s mannerisms in movement and speech, but he’s funny, jolly and very paternal. He lived through the end of Apartheid and was a happening revolutionary back in the day. He has such great stories!!!!

We have been running around Nyslvely park this week and have seen all sorts of birds, bok (buck in American English), Wildebeest, Zebra (pronounced Zehh-bra not Zee-bra) Giraffe and all that. There is no big 5 here which is mixed because everyone wants to see them but since they are not here we can wander without armed guards. I find myself strangely fascinated by scat, and prints. I have already begun learning to ID various species by what they leave behind. I want a track book and I want it to be called : Pooh and Prints hahahahahaha

My current roommate is a very nice young lady named Amy. She is so sweet. She dances back home and like many people on this trip is pre-vet.

Last night we had a Jersey Shore party, in people delighted in trying to dress trashily. My two wife beater’s wound up on 2 of the guys who then drew chest hair on their exposed skin, it was hilarious.  There was much drinking. I drank a single Hunter’s Dry (cider) over the space of 2 drinking games, kings and fire and smoke, which did not have near enough alcohol to inebriate a flea. I would say about 50% of people got pretty drunk, 30% stayed fairly sober, and the last 20%... were in a bad way. One girl who I will not name destroyed the chances of this being a vomit free trip, and provided much amusement (earlier in the night) by shameless pursuing a few guys 2 of which were trying very hard to get away. Overall I find I am still wholly mostly able to respect people this morning so I guess it wasn’t so bad.

Also did “the amazing race!” which is a euphemism for running around the savannah for 4 hrs in the hot African sun. It was fun. I have blisters…. Anyway my team won 1^st place! I made up for my lack of physical prowess with my mental prowess by answering all the questions for my group (well not all but most *puffs up*). Anyway the blisters are healing up well.

Also I will probably not post very much anymore since internet is bad here (THIS ALSO WHY THERE WILL BE NO PICKS OOPS CAPS)

Six days in South Korea

Note to fellow travelers: Beijing airport freaking sucks. I was delayed more than an hour both times I flew through there. Avoid it if possible.

Anyways it’s amazing how this s alliteration thing is working out for me hahahahha.

Korea was great! I did so much; let’s see if I can remember everything.

Stuff in general: it was great to walk around and see the celebrities that I know from music and TV! I took some pictures of adds b/c I was like “I know that guy! Oh and I him too! And her! I know her!” I blew a lot of Edwin’s Korean friends away with my knowledge of Kpop (and Kdrama) I also got me some boy band paraphernalia! (about $15 worth)

And also I have found out that I now say we when I refer to Singapore…. I think it’s similar to how I call where ever I’m going to sleep home. Anyway Edwin called me on every time, so I will try to kick the habit before I hit Africa (holy crap that’s in a week!!!!!)

Anyways on Tuesday I arrived and took the bus out to DongTan (Edwin’s town). The bus ride reminded me a lot of the Japan. The country is similarly wooded and green with rice patties popping up out of nowhere. If there had been more hills I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference between the 2 countries. I was taken back to Edwin’s apartment, where I rested up until he got of work. He called me on his way back home and asked me if I wanted Korean bbq. My response was possibly over excited. And filled with excited cussing. Needless to say my diet in Korea consisted of over 70% meat. I enjoyed every minute of it!!!!!! (actually not true I had one yucky meal at the Palace)

After we hung out and walked around one Korea’s many, many lovely parks. I mean really it’s called the Republic of Samsung (b/c Samsung is everywhere and owns everything) but I think land of a-pretty-park-around-every-corner is more fitting. One park had synthetic frog chirping though and that spooks us a bit (as in we thought it was creepy that it was fake).

On Wednesday I woke up really late (12!) sat on the computer for like 10 min before I was collected for lunch at the nearby mall, Metapolis. I spent a few hours in a Holly’s (super cute coffee store chain) while Edwin went back to work. When he got off in the evening we shipped off to Seoul. We meet up with his girlfriend Yaewon for dinner in MyongDong(sp???) Anyway MyongDong was a super cool shopping area where all the tourists come. There where boy band carts. You can boyband anything out there. The thing that surprised me the most were the boy band socks. SOCKS!!!! Anyway I bought some posters as I mentioned before. Not that anybody who reads this (my future myself included probably) I got some TVXQ!/DBSK/tohoshinki posters, a TVXQ! Hoe min poster, a JYJ poster, a SHINee poster, and a bunch of super junior ones(Edwin bought these for me). I was really excited that Super Juniors new music video came out while I was there. Youtube’s homepage was all kpop it was GREAT!

On Thursday Edwin and I went out to this fort and trekked about taking pictures and exploring. It was really cool! There was a mountain (a really small one) in the back and we climbed all the way up. The view was great. There was also this massive Buddha and that was Super cool! We didn’t bring anything to drink so we had to leave and get drinks then come back again. By the time we got drinks I was so thirsty that I downed an Aquarius all at once. We cleaned out that stores stock of Aquarius, b/c like everyone I have introduced the drink to Edwin got hooked.

For lunch we had the best damn pork I have ever had outside a shao long bao!!! It was sooo good!

Friday was my big day of solo exploring! Edwin was very accommodating and responded to my anxiousness at going around by drawing me many maps, and writing detailed instruction for how to get places. Very nice of him! So off I went via bus and subway to Gyeongbokgung Palace. I spent most of the day there taking pictures of everything (especially doors), there was also a museum that was free so I went to that after the palace. My favorite things were as follows:

 1) the lotus pond

2) all the really pretty doors

3)the old stamps and seals

Anyway lunch at the café there was ucky! Getting back from the palace was the hardest part of the day. First off it took over 45min to catch the bus back. It was rush hour, raining and I was left by THREE buses.  I almost took a taxi out of sheer frustration. Finally Yaewon (Edwin’s girlfriend) came and gave me some coaching, and then I knocked out a few Koreans and got on the damn bus. I also got a little lost on the way back from the bus, but I made it back in one piece and that’s all that matters!

Saturday: Edwin and I went to this other area of town for a tasty tasty breakfast of pancakes eggs, and hash browns! So good! Then we hit up the indoor (well half indoor) amusement park Lotte World. In many ways it was a BLATANT rip off of Disneyland, and nowhere near as good (but still fun). I think my favorite ride there, Atlantis, might actually be a ride from Seaworld…. Well actually my favorite ride was probably the GyroDrop. It was high, I mean HIGH! The drop didn’t really scare me except right when we first got let go, but the anticipation did hamper my enjoyment of the view the first time around. Also, when the ride falls you get hit with this huge wind while you’re in line, and it felt really nice. Dinner was more Korean BBQ, and a short hangout in MyonDong for some more boy-band paraphernalia.

Sunday we had breakfast, and picked up some FREAKING DELICOUS kimbap (oooo how I want more….). Then I got on a bus to the airport and left. I had so much!

Seeing Double!

This cleverly named blog post is so called b/c I went back to see some of my favorite places in Singapore… with the twins! As I discovered in Thailand the twins are just so much fun to run around with. Aaand they got a lot super well with Claire (who is officially the nicest person I could have ever hoped to be in a foreign country with). The four of us stayed at Claire’s apartment which was empty of all its usual inhabitants but her. We talked deep into the night (too deep, I’m breaking out from lack of sleep ug!), and enjoyed each other’s company. The four of us jokingly planed to invade Europe next summer so we could bounce around and visit each other. I’m thinking an internship in either Germany or Italy (Italy preferred), and they all want France (they all speak some French). Claire is also taking a suitcase full of things home for me with her and mailing it to my family for me. Isn’t she just the best?!

Anyway I made these awesome jam packed plans for us…. which of course we didn’t stick too hahahahha. Anyway what did happen is as follows:

Friday:

<Random funny stories of the day: Nick came back from Hong Kong and brought me some kind of sweet his wife likes as a souvenir. I’m glad he walked away right after because I was about to make a total fool of myself. I had a hard time opening the package and when I succeeded-POOF! I also succeeded in spraying myself with some kind of nut powder (the sweet was a nut powder cake thing) literally covered myself in powder. Like it was in my eyes up my nose all down my front and in my lap, I was coated with the stuff! I went to a trash can and dusted myself off. The sweet wasn’t very good anyway so I made a return trip and deposited the rest of it shortly thereafter. >

 It was Fufu’s last day at GIS and his goodbye party in the evening. I went to the party but just for about a half an hour then had to jet so I could pick up the twins. I almost met Nick’s wife!! I wish I could have got to know her, she seemed cool! Anyway… So off I went to get the twins. They found me at the airport instead of me finding them and we got in cab and went back to Claire’s hood. We got dinner at the hawker center near Claire’s place and Charlotte began what was an epic meal string bona fide “Charlotte food”. She started with a combo of 2 of her favorite things: duck and porridge. We actually went back and had almost the exact same things tonight for dinner before coming to the airport (I am 6 hrs early for my flight but w/e). Anyway she was totally pumped about every meal. After that we went back to the apartment. Where Claire and I had a very intense conversation ranging many topics while the twins watched on and added a few words in here or there. We actually went into some rather personal things in both Claire and my lives (grammar Nazis out there: what is the proper way to say that?). Afterwards and during we where both a little worried that the twins would be like “whoa these chicks are nuts!” and not like us anymore. But they were fascinated and told us the enjoyed listening and asking questions a good deal.

Saturday:

The next we woke up pretty early and headed out for dim sum. Claire had got absorbed in some work and did end up going till bed until 7am (crazy girl), consequentially she did not join us for dim sum. We went to Yum Cha and CHOWED DOWN! Ooooh it was sooo good. They we wandered the streets of China town, the twins bought some things (so did I hahaha). We took lots of pictures, then kinda hurriedly mosied on out. We were supposed to go to the islands that day. We didn’t go… at all even though we planned to go today too. Yeah the ferry’s schedule on Saturday is different than the one on Sunday(which was when I went last time). So we wound up meeting Claire and exploring Little India instead. That was nice because I hadn’t been yet. everyone but me got some henna done. We had some lovely desserts and Chai before heading back to Raffles to give the twins a taste of Singapore at Lau Pa Sat (famous hawker center).  We went for a lovely walk on the Marina/Merlion Park went home and crashed. It was fun for me to watch them (the twins) react to Singapore. It helped me realize I’ve gotten very fond of this fine* city. For them after roughing it in the much less well developed Chiang Mai even dirty bathrooms in Singapore were better than the nice ones in Chiang by virtue of the fact that they flushed. Charlotte had some bug bites that refused to heal in Chiang Mai. But once she got here gone! More healing in the space of days than they had had in the space of months!

 

Sunday:

We started the day early and went to City hall for a little shopping and some Kaya toast from Ya Kun. The shopping was sort on an improvised means to try to wait out the rain. As we got to the mrt to head out all the classic signs of impending doom down poor where present. I was hoping it would rain itself out while we ate but the sky was a little too full for that. Anyway the twins and I gorged ourselves on toast and half cooked eggs. We puttered around until the rain lessened up then took a taxi to the zoo. It was till raining a little when we got there but we bought ponchos (I had my umbrella but it’s just not the best cover). The zoo was just as great as before, even better a bit because it was less crowded and cooler for the rain. We saw parts of the zoo that I had missed last time. My favorite part this time was a fragile rain forest exhibits thing were mouse deer roamed free(I got with in less than a foot of one when it decided to come check me out) and more flying foxes(the really big fruit bats). It was really fun but we started to lose energy at the end. We left the zoo grabbed a cab and met Claire in China town at our favorite noodle place. It was sooo goood (as it always is). After sharing 2 orders shao long bao, 2 orders of fried tofu, and a bowl of noodles Olivia was still hungry so she grabbed a bao on the way out of China town. We all also got some ice-cream which was delicious!

The three of us took a taxi back to the night safari while Claire did some last minute shopping in China town. We saw more of thee night safari than I did last time we where there and I still haven’t seen all of it! I did get to go on the whole tram ride this time. A man asked Charlotte if she was a swimmer and the twins both got depressed. Olivia b/c no one ever asks her if she’s a swimmer and Charlotte because everyone asks her because she’s so buff. I just laughed it up.

We went back to the apartment afterwards and I guestimated at cookie dough again. This time was the best of all the times I have made it here (3^rd time’s the charm ahahha). We only had enough dough left to cook one tray of cookies (which Charlotte wiped out almost single handedly the next day). We talked and all went to bed. Claire left for work before any of us were coherent (we slept again for 2 hours after she left). Then we puttered around. I made a breakfast of eggs and toast, lots of toast (note: Charlotte actually made the toast). We went out to the botanical gardens, which hadn’t been part of the original plan. I wasn’t sure if the twins would like it but they loved it so that was a win. We went back to my place so I could shower pack for Korea and out together the suitcase that Claire is taking back for me. I needed the shower! We all stank after the gardens because it was sooo hot out. Then we went back to Claire’s where the twins showered and we killed a little time before getting dinner and heading to the airport.

We went our separate ways since my air line wasn’t open for checking and there flight was 4 hours earlier than mine (I saved $10 by just coming here early with them instead of waiting at home).

Now it’s time for Korea!

Well it’ll be time to get on a plane for Korea in….. a little over 3 hours, that is.

*this is a famous pun here in Singapore since you can be fined for almost anything here. 

Sunnday hiking with Collin

 Mini update!

Went hiking with Collin on Sunday and we had a lot of fun. We missed our stop and rode the bus past our stop. And thus the weekend of being lost on public transit continued. We eventually got to MacRitche reverse about an hour or so later. We had a fun chatted while hiking (it was a super easy hike). We saw monkeys, heard insects, and wondered at giant leaves.

I wish I had more time to get to know Collin. I feel like we have good chemistry. I also wish I knew things about flirting so I could know for sure if he’s flirting with me or if that’s just the way he is… well whatever no real time to find out anyway. Guess the proverb for this would be don’t count you chickens before the hatch. But in this case it’s really a don’t count your chickens they won’t have time to hatch. Lol he’s still a fun guy to hang with (and maybe try to fumble through flirting with). 

On my own

Written on sat afternoon:

So I realized I have been really good about updating this every week and then some hahaha. I think a travel journal was definitely a good thing to keep. This entry may be more reflective seeing as I will mostly be by myself today.

//Ants are attacking my desk for no reason. I have no food or nice smelling things. I don’t understand….

Anyway just came back from seeing Captain America (f*ck yeah!). It was great. The lead was freaking hot, the explosions were fun, the action scenes where entertaining, there was humor, and we saw the lead without his shirt on! Oh yeah and the plot and acting where good and all that jazz (lol). I had fun. I’m glad it was out this weekend otherwise I think I would feel the loss of my weekend crew more acutely (claire and co are out of country).

I think I will try to go to Henderson Wave Bridge this evening. I have no idea what will do tomorrow. I’m kinda banking on Collin being available which I don’t think he will be. :/ oh well

On work(be ready for a lot a bitching I feel frustrated. you don’t actually have to read this section it’s more a I will write it down in my journal/blog for cathartic reasons):

So yeah since Fanny left Saranya and I have had less and less work. The past few days have really been nothing days. I have discussed my frustration with this on numerous occasions with multiple people. What I’ve gathered is that is a common state for interns. Claire (who works separately in ASTAR) is also annoyed. The other day we wondered over dinner why they take on so many interns when they don’t have work for the interns or any real desire (or time) to train us. Basically they seem to be concerned with keeping us out from underfoot. Make no mistake, I have learned things here but I think will only have gotten about 3.5 weeks worth of solid work in the 2 months I will be here. I am enjoying the vacation like aspects but still…

Plus my fellow intern Saranya kind of bothers me. Her lab skills... well Fanny and I wondered if she had any before she got here. And what’s worse in what I’m sure is well meaning way, she tries to coach me through things, when I know what I’m doing already. Yes I make mistakes and yes she points things out to me that would have forgotten otherwise but it’s annoying.  She is both reliant on me and yet tries to tell me what to do. Plus I think we have some culture barriers: she mumbles, makes body language signs that I have trouble interpreting, and stands way to close to me. She’s a nice girl but I would kill for any of lab partners from school. Plus she is a much slower learner than I. I picked up the use of the microscope we have been working with quickly; to the point where I can find a better focus faster than a lot of the other people in our lab. I try to give her time so she can pick up lab skills too but after sitting in front of the microscope for about 10 minutes she gives up, and lets me find the focus (it usually takes me less than half the time, sometimes when I’m on fire it takes me seconds). When she gets it I cheer her on and high five her and everything because I want her to feel she is doing well. I don’t receive any of those positive vibes back. A lot of time I actually feel like she’s trying to cut me out. This is ironic because she is for some reason to afraid to ask for projects and pesters me into asking her questions for her. I wanted to work on my paper the other day and she wanted to do a lipid extraction so she was bugging me to ask Dr Liu for it. I told her no and that if she wanted to she could. She didn’t and she didn’t through a fit or anything after but was unhappy with me.

Make no mistake SHE IS A GOOD PERSON AND A NICE GIRL. She just isn’t someone I would pick to be friends or even lab partners with. I am not rude to her and am trying to work well with her (I say this b/c I can hear my parents starting to lecture me in my head).

Now I can move on to complaining about Dr Liu. First off he speaks very softly and slowly which make it hard for me (and others) to follow him. He is obsessed with “not wasting time” that phrase probably accounts for about 50% of what I have heard him say. And yet the other day when I asked for a project since Saranya and I had done nothing for the past few days he lectured me on…. well I’m not sure. It wasn’t that I wasn’t listening just that he goes on a lot of tangents. For example when I asked him for a project for the third time in this meeting he started talking about how most of the work was really prep work and people couldn’t just run into things. I understand that but it also implies that people have something think about and plan for; we had nothing. Finally I flat out (respectfully as I could) said “That’s fine then give us prep work we have been wasting our time doing nothing the past few days. We need to be in the lab.” That seemed to settle in his head that I was not going to be hot aired aside. He gave us something to do within minutes. Was that so hard?

I am happy and grateful to be here. It’s a great opportunity that most people don’t get and I appreciate how lucky I am to have it. I have learned a lot and accomplished what I set out to do here. I like Dr Liu and Saranya. I just needed to get that out.

Social life at work (back to funny things):

I swear I will get a picture with the people from work eventually….

Well almost back to funny things I swear. So Nick is gone to Hong Kong and Keith didn’t come in on Thursday. Jason was there abut was doing something else, so no one told me when the group left for lunch. I realized that I really only interact with those three (and I’m sure that ample description of them revealed). Even the next we did a pot luck type lunch thing. Jason came and told me when it was. When I didn’t show up right away Keith came and got me (nick is still in Hong Kong). Despite this little get together going from 11:30 till past one I think I talked to just Keith for about 80% of the time. And when I wasn’t just having a conversation with him we were in the same group conversations. One of which was an epic put my foot in my mouth moment (back to funny). Keith was telling a story about this sex shop mall that someone took him to. And well I had been reading damn you auto correct and sometimes weird stuff comes up in a few of the comics I read (they are mostly PG 13), and this sex act had come up. I wanted to know what it was. Naturally I didn’t want to google it. And the conversation was already on (or at least close to) the topic I asked if someone knew what it was. Then followed some of the most awkward moments of my life. Keith adamantly denied knowledge. Jason sympathized with my desire not google it. And Adelaide died of laughter b/c she thought that I was looking to Keith as big brother figure (I don’t) and he had let me down. People asked me where I had heard it and for once I thought about what was about to come out of my mouth before it did. I decided there was no way that this would make any sense taken out of context and just dropped it.  We dropped that topic of conversation on the whole  pretty fast but none the less Keith and I had a few laughs at the situation later (he teased me, I played the part of innocent person who was being teased). I still don’t know what it is….

Sat evening: going to Henderson Wave was an epic fail. But now I know where I went wrong and will try again another day… but I wound up at Ikea. When you’re bored, and tired of staring at a computer screen I recommend Ikea. It’s full of things to stimulate your senses. Plus who doesn’t like designing their dream house(s) in their head? I have decided that when I’m grown and have a home or my own I will decorate it with things from the children’s sections; I love all the colorful prints and cleverly shaped things! Also I must have a big cushy white love seat in which I curl up and read. I also realized that I really like nook-and-crannies type rooms. I feel they are cozy.

Few funny stories about trekking about on the public transport today. This lady was totally falling asleep in the seat next to me. She kept slowly leaning over onto my shoulder. i kinda wanted to teller her it was ok for her to lean on me but figured meh, she already was. A lady standing near by caught my eye and we giggled a little at the situation. Poor sleepy woman was really embarrassed when she woke up sleeping on some strangers shoulder. lol

I caught a toddler/baby's eye later and waved at her. She looked away real fast, then tried to copy the gesture; just wiggling her fingers to herself. Her mom looked down and made the funniest "wtf is this child doing now" face i couldn't help but laugh.  

I won’t actually be on my own tomorrow it seems just got in contact with Collin and it seems I will be hitting the great outdoors with him on the morrow. I’m sure I’ll blog about that too. 

Making the rounds!

I have been very tired the last few days as a result of all the socializing I’ve been doing. Let’s go in order:

Note: I will go on about the people here for a while cuz they are supper cool I will bold it of so you can skip to the stuff I actually did if you don’t want to know. it is also longer than what actually happened so i forgive you for skipping it

Tuesday: Dinner and drinks with Rajat.

We meet up after work, and Claire joined us. We all shipped out to that noodle place I had mentioned in China town for a tasty feast. Then we all went back to the Fullerton for Singapore slings. Claire and I are legal to drink here so we decided to take advantage. Yes I said we. I still “don’t drink,” which means for me that I have drank about 4 times in my life and will continue at that pace. Singapore Slings don’t really taste like alcohol at all. They’re pretty fruity, but a little too much pineapple for me. Then we followed it with amaretto, just 2 for the three of us. I sipped here and there from their drinks. I think I was a little tipsy. The room wasn’t moving or anything, just felt like I was speaking more slowly/taking longer to think. Claire says she couldn’t tell the difference but she may have been slowed down by the alcohol too. Amaretto was followed by Frangelico which was very tasty. Then we tried to go to the skypark but it closed 10 min before we got there :( We went back to the Fullerton had another round of drinks seeing as we had all sobered up. This time I got my own Frangelico Claire got a mojito and Rajat got rum and coke. We had dessert to this sumptuous chocolate founde and cheesecake (which I didn’t eat). We had to take all it was civilized and enjoyable. If that’s what drinking is, I could make time for it once every few weeks or so. 

Wednesday: it was Fanny’s last day so I went to dinner with her and her friends. (went to crystal jade for lunch on Monday with Wan Fan for the same reason too, it was tasty) The few times I have eaten with Fanny I have come to realize that as far as Asia (not India) is concerned I am not a spicy wimp. So there.

The writing of this had been interrupted by: http://damnyouautocorrect.com/10484/the-top-15-most-popular-dyac-texts-of-all-time/

Then after that I went to a quiz night at bar (where I only drank ice water) with Claire Collin and his friends. I had a great time even though we lost. It turned out one of Collin’s friends knew Claire’s significant other and it totally blew their minds. The bar also served complimentary Tiger’s Blood, yes as in winning Charlie Sheen tiger blood.

Thursday: Went home and took a shower and went to sleep. Thank god.

Friday: Starting to really feel the sleep deprivation. After work I went over to Claire’s to make cookies/eat cookie dough. We also ended up eating homemade mac and cheese. Ended up having an unplanned sleep over since I stayed to long watching dance shows and the like. I also woke up way to early then next morning. DX

Saturday: After hanging out at Claire’s till about 3:30 I went back to my place and got ready for the condo party. I have been excited for this all week! I should mention that this is like the friend group from heaven (ok that’s a bit much but still!) And it’s all thanks to Nick, who by the way is most adorable, nerdy little(well not so little) ex-marine you will ever meet! He’s tall, and lanky to the point of almost being skinny. I haven’t told the sharpie story here and I think this amply demonstrates his adorableness so here it goes: when I was working with him he opened a draw with a full set of color sharpies. He uses them to color code his work. He was embarrassed by this for some reason and started blushing while remarking: “ah you must think this is really dorky”. To which I could not help but snort: “no color coding is fine, it’s the fact that you have your name written on each pen like 50 times that dorky.” He turned even redder and made cute little embarrassed sounds while trying to cover the markers with his hands. So cute!!!!! XD

Ahem. On with the introductions in order of how I meet them:

Keith maybe the closest thing to an embodiment of my list (you know that list that all girls have of their ideal guy). He’s a PHD, he’s super fit (he’s going pro in MMA fighting in a month), he’s funny, into the same things I am (his nickname for me is “the browncoat” :D), owns may T-shirts I would like to steal, is confident enough that I don’t totally overwhelm him with my personality, a go-get-er (nick was my foot in the door for this social group but Keith brought me in) plus he has a cool/cute (not sure what word to use here) Irish accent, did I mention that he’s ripped, cuz he is. Regrettably both he and Nick are taken (why must you mock me Aphrodite! Just look at those mocking eyes! ), I could easily fall for either of them though. I pray to God no one in Singapore reads this before I leave b/c that would be totally embarrassing (the blog in on my google+ page and they’re all in my circles). Lol oh well rely on laziness/disinterest of other people. (do people read this??? [Other than Olivia, and sometimes Annie, and my mom])

Jason is super cool! While I am not infatuated with him like I am with the other 2 him I like him a lot. He’s definitely the father/older bro/cool-older-male-that-I-am-not-attracted-to figure for me here. We look like we could be siblings (probably more than Hannah and I do). He’s also a Jewish, Christian mix from South California. I enjoy his sense of humor and think I could get to be really good friends with him if I had the time (the same applies to the two above, and well most all of them). That covers the expats who are largely the people I interact with the most. Now for the natives.

Felicia is a really cool lady with hidden talents. I really like her red flats. She does pottery and is evidently really good. She used to play an instrument, the clarinet I believe.

FuFu (really name Fu Chen) a 110 lb stick of a smiley Asian boy. He unlike the others is only about 4 years older than me. Since day one at lab he has given me this big sunny smile that is totally infectious. He always styles his hair and wears nice cologne. He picture with that cute ol’ smile is on the shuttles at his university. It’s funny to think of him in the military (all boys have to be in the military here) because he is just soo… delicate looking. Also plays Clarinet in true Asian fashion.

Pei: the cute out of it one. She got so much shit the other day b/c she was going to see this X rated film (I’ll not even legally allowed to go see it, too young) movie called Sex and Zen (it’s in 3D lol). At the party she was feeding Jason’s dogs chicken but she would through the food at then b/c she was too scared to let these tiny pups eat from her hand.

Duke Nick, another Nick. He’s a native who was nice enough to drive me home after the party and can switch between a perfect American accent and a Singaporean one. I haven’t had much contact with him as he doesn’t usually get lunch with us. (Retract that statement he does but I’m usually sitting in corner boxed in by Jason and Keith and thus really only talk to them[and ex marine nick] much)

Kiwi and others: People I have meet and chatted with but for no significant length of time.

Back to the story:

 So I shipped out to Jason’s place. And got lost. But I made it without too much ado. It turns out getting lost wasn’t such a bad thing since I was still the first one there. I sat around the pool side talk with Jason until Nick showed up. Then we all chatted a little more and I took a dip in the pool. As everyone else arrived the dog Jason and his wife were dog sitting went loco. Poor thing, she was a scaredy dog, b/c the minute Jason picked her up she was ok. She was just scared of all the new people. The boys especially (Nick probably got the worst of it though). As everyone came they all brought food and we ate and chatted into the night. The pizza was slow in coming though, which lead to the first time I had ever heard Nick cuss. I met Keith’s girlfriend Serena and she was cool. Keith taught me her signature choke hold, which he actually uses in fights b/c it so effective. He taught me it by demoing on Nick whom I volunteered for this, to his dismay (which both Keith and I ignored). Eventually the pizza arrived and we moved the party upstairs. We watched a few episodes of the well loved IT crowd. It was funny but nothing that really excited me. Except that the main chick was the secretary from Doc Martin :D yeah then we watched Princess Bride (best movie ever!). By the time that finished it was 2 in the morning so everybody started heading out. Duke Nick gave me a ride home (as mentioned above), which was very nice b/c otherwise I would have had to get a cab.

I don’t know why I didn’t bring my camera D: so no picks of the gang

Overall and very satisfying week of socializing :D

The official weekend of chill

 Most relaxing weekend in Singapore thus far! So Saturday I went for kaya toast on my own. I also bought the stuffed Gigi doll I saw about a week or so into when I first got here. I didn’t buy him at the time b/c he was about 30 Singapore $s, but since I was still thinking about him 2-3 weeks later I caved and went back for him. Then I met up with Claire and we did a movie day. We watched Amelie then got some Prata (like Nan), and went to see Harry Potter. It’s cheaper to go to the movies here yay! HP was good but part of 1 of 7 was the best.

Then came the more eventful Sunday.

hermit crab!

So for so reason I thought the boat left at 11:40, so I arrived at 11:20. Which would have be fine if the boat didn’t leave at 11 |-( So the group went on without me. The next boat for Kusu island didn’t leave till 2 so I had some time to kill. I went to buy my ticket and the lady told me to just go to St. John’s island and wait there. I thought was a good plan and tried to pay her, but she started helping someone else. So I tried to pay the other guy, and he just sent me off to the boats- so I went for free. St John’s was gorgeous! I wandered the island of a little and was almost mobbed for affection by a pack of stray cats. I ended up making friends with this nice America lady and we chatted until the boat for Kusu came. Once there I joined up with Calire’s gang and ate lunch and played in the water. I found this cool little hermit crab, and some nice shells and just swam about. The water was warm and nice but there were no waves since you can only swim in these lagoon type enclosures. It was very relaxing. I got a few laughs at Claire’s expense. Evidently she’s part of that 1% of the population that can’t float. Plus she got a zebra like sunburn. My back and shoulders got a little burnt too. I thought that the burning sensation was my tight muscles but no, it was the sun ahaha.

the lagoon we swam in

I came back and grabbed a late dinner with Rajat who had just flown in. We came to the agreement that I would pay for things outside the hotel since he was guest there and he could pay inside the hotel b/c I was his guest there. All parties were satisfied with that.