Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Monday, February 25, 2008

Singapore Trip Day 3...

When I woke up, I got ready with my clothes and all and took a bath. The shower was constructed really weirdly. The handle was so far away from the shower head and I don't use the bath tub because I'm not used to it. Anyway, while I was taking a bath, my uniform fell on the floor and seemed to get wet. So I changed into something else and headed up to 1728, Toia, Brianna and Lizzie's room. Dani was already there and so I asked Dani if I could borrow her extra set of uniform because I knew she brought one. So we went to her room, 1941. Then I changed and left my clothes at her bathroom. Then we went all together and went to Kopi Tiam to have our breakfast. We had to give our room numbers again to the person at the front desk of the restaurant. Then we all ate mostly the same food we ate from yesterday. When we were done, we went all together to the lobby area where we always meet but then I forgot to get something so I had to go back to my room but I forgot to get my key out of my pocket which I left at Dani's room. So I got the key from Dani, went to her room, went to my room and got my stuff I forgot. Then I ran back down to the lobby. It always seems that I'm the one that goes to everyone else's room. Maybe it's because mine is farther from everyone else's and I'm the one staying with the person we don't usually converse with. Anyway, we went to the buses and were going to SMU aka Singapore Management University. They said that Filipinos that enrolled there are gonna show us around campus and tell us more about the college and all. First, we went to this big room with cool foldable tables and even internet plugs for your laptop. Anyway, the talk was really long and I was getting kinda sleepy so I was trying to keep myself away by reading this booklet thing they gave us about SMU and all. And the only time i dozed of a little, Sir V just had to see it. So from then on I was awake but was just leaning my head on my hand while reading the book thing. Then Toia sends me a message she wrote saying, "Sir says sit up or else green slip." Ok, at that moment I was thinking, "What in the world?!?" I am awake just reading a book and your gonna give me a green slip because I normally sit like that because of my back problem? Wow. How amazing. Anyway, we toured around the school and they have super cool entrance things. You have to slide your ID or card in or something then the glass doors would swoop sideways and let you in. I also found cool that the whole school had internet. There was even a time where a lot of us were on an escalator and it just stopped. It was really funny. It was like we broke it because there were so many people on it. I don’t know why but I just find it really funny. Alhough we had to walk all the way down which was making the tour even more tiring. It was very interesting though. They brought us to one of the lecture rooms but they said the one we were in wasn’t the good one because the better ones have projectors and hidden microphones and cameras and stuff, which I find really cool for a college to be so high tech because you wouldn’t see that in the Philippines. Everyone was also so amazed when one of the guys slid the white board. It was really funny everyone was amazed because it’s like they never seen one before. For sure I have seen those before. Siting in the chairs made me feel like an actually college student. I found it really cool.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Singapore Trip Day 2...

The first thing I heard in bed was a ringing. Usually in the morning, I never hear a ringing. That’s when I realized I forgot I was in Singapore. When I got up, I fixed some of my stuff and took a really long bath. Usually I take an average of about 30 to 40 minutes to take a bath. Then I got dressed and went to Brianna, Toia and Lizzie’s room which was 1728. Then we called Dani to up to the room. We spent a long time in the room because we were fixing our hair and all. When we were all ready, we went down together at about 9 or 9:30. We didn’t really know how to go to Kopi Tiam but there were signs everywhere so it wasn’t so hard to find it. When we went to the front desk, we had to give our room numbers to the person then enter. There was a breakfast buffet. We chose a table at the very end and went to the buffet. I came back with lots of food and they even had one of my favorite sandwich spreads, kaya. It is a green thing that taste a bit like pandan. They even had this rotating toaster thing that my Malaysian cousin also had during the chinese tea ceremony, celebrated after the wedding. After, I headed back upstairs to change my shirt into one of the Reedley shirts then went back downstairs. We were going to go to a Catholic Church to attend mass. We had to walk all the way to the church and we saw some Singaporean students. When we entered, there were many people and fortunately my friends and I immediately got a seat already. There were also people who helped others find a seat and some of them were Filipinos. Then they gave us a book in where the verses were arranged according to day. It was sort of like a companion. Before the mass started, the priest was rehearsing with the everyone the songs that will be sung. When the mass finally started, they sung lots of song which were really long. I was really sleepy at that time and I saw that everyone was as well. I just couldn’t wait to sit back down because we were standing for a really long time already. All the songs were really so long and I just could take it. Then the priest told a really really long gospel and during the gospel you have to stand up which made me even more tired than before. When the gospel ended, I was so relieved that I could sit back down and usually it would only take a few more minutes after the gospel then the mass would end but I was wrong. The homily was even longer! What the priest did was repeat everything he said in the gospel and elaborated on it. We were all so sleepy already. Good thing my hair was long because that way I hid my face and was pretending to read the book they gave us. After, we went out of the church but then they told us to come back in because we have to exit another door. Then we all gathered outside the entrance and the priest talked to us. Then we took pictures. We had to remove all jackets, bags and whatever we were holding because they said that picture will be used for the newspaper so we had to look our best. After the picture taking, we went back to our buses and went to Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. It was really nice and big. There was an old vintage car sticking out of the facade on top of the entrance. When we entered, there were a lot of people, mostly foreigners. We went to the second floor and there were many old records and monuments on the walls. There were a lot of collectibles signed by famous singers and performers. The bar upstairs was so cool and the beer dispencer was a saxaphone. We order our food. It was either a choice of chicken pasta or steak. Dani, Cinta and I chose the steak and the other people at our table ordered the pasta. We got our appetizers first. We were given tomato soup with some pasta in it but it was very dilute. Then the pasta arrived first. Thank God I didn’t get the pasta because you had to add this white creme sauce on the pasta and I hate cheese. Whem my steak came, it was quite small but very tasty. It also came with mashed potatoes. Usually I don’t like eating mash potatoes except the one in KFC. I usually don’t like other mashed potatoes because they have too much cheese or milk in them. I really don’t like cheese or white milk. Some would ask if I was lactose intolerant but I’m not. I just don’t like the taste of cheese and milk. Plus, I do like butter on bread and ice cream. The steak was a bit bloody but I enjoyed it anyway. I was glad that it wasn’t so hard. While were eating, we were also talking about things and Brianna cried but I won't say regarding what. Then we went down to the Hard Rock Cafe Gift shop. There were many nice shirts, jackets, hats and other stuff but they were quite pricey and I didn't have my money with me at that time. When we went back up, we had ice cream. It was really good it was vanilla and was all sweet. I really enjoyed it but then we had to go already and a bunch of us hurriedly engulfed our ice cream. Dani got a brain freeze. I think I got one too but I'm not really sure because I don't know what it feels like and I never had one before. When we went out, we were waiting for our rides but then I forgot to ask someone inside the Hard Rock Cafe why there was a car sticking out on top of the entrance because we had to know that to answer one of our questions in the module we have about the Singapore trip. I find it so tiring that even though we go to all these places in Singapore and are sleep deprived becasue of having too much fun, we still have to do our modules and a 30 page journal. Meaning we have to have 6 pages of information per day. I guess it would be easier if you would write in the journal while your in Singapore but I'm not really the type that would do that so I am writing everything that happened after the trip. I know it isn't a very smart thing to do but I wanted to enjoy my stay at Singapore instead of just staying inside my hotel room writing on my journal. Anyways, after we ate lunch, we went to the Science Centre. The Science Centre was really big and had a map for it. There were so many places and so little time. When we went inside, we had to watch this electron show thing. Then I saw an robotic manikin that was going up and down a rope. At first I thought it was a really man. I felt so foolish. Hehe. Anyway, we went around and there were so many things to see. We let Dani go on this electric chair thing and it was so funny. You should have seen her expression. It was just too hilarious. After a while, we watched a performance on rats since it is the year of the rat. There were many types of rodents there and there were there two huge rats that looked like they were drunk. On was laying on it's back, exposing his genitals and all. While, the other one was under the food dish, which was really weird. Then Kyle volunteered to help the guy so the guy gave kyle things to smell. The first thing he gave was a orange Frutella. Kyle didn't guess it but he did say it was edible. The second one was soap. Kyle said it smelled fruity but not edible. The last one, Kyle said it wasn't edible. Well, of course it wasn't. It was a plastic banana! Haha. Then we went to the Omni Max show where there was a show about Mummies. It was quite interesting but it would have been something my brother would definitely enjoy. See, my brother likes history and how things came to be. It's like he got the traits I'm lacking and I got the traits he's lacking. For example, I got his math skills because I am good at Math and he isn't so good. My brother got the enjoyment and of History because he is really good at it and really enjoys and learns while I, in the other hand, don't or can't. It just wouldn't stick in my head too much. Eventually, we had to leave and went back on our buses. We went to a restaurant called Straits Chinese. My favorite thing there in particular were the lamb saute. I really like lamb and I've always eaten saute. Since I am half Malaysian Chinese, I got to Malaysian dinners and eat Malaysian foods which are quite similar to Singaporean, Indonesian, Indian and Chinese. Anyway, after we ate, we just hung out then everyone had to outside. Sir Recio gave us a talk and he said that some people are going to an electronic store so the students would have to split, who was going to the electronic store and who would go back to the hotel. I wanted to go back to the hotel and rest. There were only about 46 seats in the bus and thats how many we could only bring back to the hotel. So we counted off and we were just right. No one had to go with the other group of people. So we used bus 3 to go back to the hotel. The tour guide with us at that time was an adult named Fifi. She had purple highlights on her hair and wore bright red glasses. She would speak really funny sorta like Ellen Degeneres but with a thicker accent. She would also say "Hai" all the time and that is a Japanese word for yes. Fifi introduced herself to us. She told us that she has 2 kids, is 49 and has a husband she still has to get rid of (but in a obviously comedic sort of way). So Lizzie and I were curious what her nationality was. So I asked her and she replied, "Why? Do I look like some sort of freak?" in a funny playful way. Then everyone in the bus said, "NO!" Then she said she was Chinese. Anyway, when we got back to the hotel, we planned to take a bath first then meet up at 1728, which was Toia, Brianna and Lizzie's room. So I went back to my room, got my clothes, took a shower for about 20 to 30 minutes then got dressed. The shower is really weird and strong so my hair kinda got wet a bit. When I was going outside, I heard a noise. I opened the door and there was Enzo de Guia. Then I went outside and I saw Jumbo, Patrick Leus and some other guy with Enzo. They were looking for Ito's room which was 2128, just two doors from mine. Anyway, they started laughing at me and so I just walked passed them. Then Jumbo asked me, "Bakit ka basa?" In english, why are you wet. I replied, "Kasi naligo ako." Meaning, because I took a shower. My hair was also kinda dripping on my pajamas. Oh, and yes I wore matching pajamas. ANother reason why they were laughing at me. Then Jumbo called me Ms. Guimoc just because I was her student teacher. I was annoyed but just ignored them. I went up the elevator then to 1728. We hung out for a bit then when it was curfew time, I went back to my room and fell asleep on my bed. I was planning to wake up early the next day but I forgot to turn on the alarm. Hehe. So that's pretty much all I did on the second day of my Singapore trip.

Saturday, February 23, 2008