Arrival in Singapore
hello everybody, recording live from somewhere.....
I have arrived in Singapore. I don't have access to the internet at the school's facilities yet because I need to register and then get a number and stuff...so this is the first chance i've had to write. It's actually really nice just bumming around here with not much to do. I'm not actually sure that I'm looking forward to school starting. I'm sure I'll be able to handle it. I'm going to try to get all my classes on as few days as possible so i've got time to run around and play. I am hoping that I will be able to make it over to Malaysia before school starts. It's actually only a few hours away, so I might end up making it up to Kuala Lampur (sp?) and maybe stay over night. I've only met a few people here, but they are really great. The two guys I met are also exchange students, one from Holland and one from Germany. The guy from Germany, Daniel, and I have gone into downtown Singapore twice now. The residence where I'm staying here is really huge so I sort of took my time getting oriented around here before Daniel insisted that we have to actually see Singapore and that the campus doesn't actually count :) It's been good. Yesterday I bought a low-end mobile phone and now y'all can reach me if you've got deep pockets. The country code is 65 and my number is 9395 8143. I also spotted the nearest skate park and you can all be assured that I'll be ripping soon. It rained here yesterday but it was still really warm. It is normally really warm here and humid also but I don't find it problematic at all. In fact, I got shivers my first while being in the heat because it felt so nice. From Vancouver to London, it's been a while since I baked in the sun. It's funny because when I was searching for a phone card for my cell phone, I realized just how much Daniel and I stick out. Well first of all, we had each just bought pillows, so we were walking around with pillows under our arms and we are also a serious minority here being white, so everyone was offering us these totally wacky deals on the phone cards. Long story short, I paid about $10 more than I needed to on my SIM card (the first card you need for a phone to give you a number) but that was by far the best deal that I had been offered so I took it. Serious negotiations take place over price here and I'm still not really used to it. It's hard to not feel like i'm being a total jerk when I go through the motions, basically because it's really not the standard way of shopping in Canada. So, in case you're all wondering what Singapore is like.... there IS litter on the ground, there IS hay-wire stuff around (not dangerous, just dodgy stuff), people don't have to wear seat-belts and it's not some futuristic metropolis the way that you might imagine it to be. I guess it is relative to the rest of south east Asia, but it's actually really nice to discover that it's really laid back and i did in fact jay walk yesterday and no one came over and cained me. Don't worry, other people were doing it too. My apologies if this email is really rambling but I've just been using a computer at someone's desk in the residential management office and i feel rushed. I haven't seen any internet cafes around either, so my internet access has been very sparse. Within a week or so you will all be recieving an email invitation to look at my online photo album. I know i've been promising it for some time, but it'll happen, I promise. That's it for now. By the way phone cards are a really really good deal here, so if i haven' talked to you already, feel free to email me your number (i don't have my phone book here) and I'll give you a call if you'd like. K, bye!
-jeff
I have arrived in Singapore. I don't have access to the internet at the school's facilities yet because I need to register and then get a number and stuff...so this is the first chance i've had to write. It's actually really nice just bumming around here with not much to do. I'm not actually sure that I'm looking forward to school starting. I'm sure I'll be able to handle it. I'm going to try to get all my classes on as few days as possible so i've got time to run around and play. I am hoping that I will be able to make it over to Malaysia before school starts. It's actually only a few hours away, so I might end up making it up to Kuala Lampur (sp?) and maybe stay over night. I've only met a few people here, but they are really great. The two guys I met are also exchange students, one from Holland and one from Germany. The guy from Germany, Daniel, and I have gone into downtown Singapore twice now. The residence where I'm staying here is really huge so I sort of took my time getting oriented around here before Daniel insisted that we have to actually see Singapore and that the campus doesn't actually count :) It's been good. Yesterday I bought a low-end mobile phone and now y'all can reach me if you've got deep pockets. The country code is 65 and my number is 9395 8143. I also spotted the nearest skate park and you can all be assured that I'll be ripping soon. It rained here yesterday but it was still really warm. It is normally really warm here and humid also but I don't find it problematic at all. In fact, I got shivers my first while being in the heat because it felt so nice. From Vancouver to London, it's been a while since I baked in the sun. It's funny because when I was searching for a phone card for my cell phone, I realized just how much Daniel and I stick out. Well first of all, we had each just bought pillows, so we were walking around with pillows under our arms and we are also a serious minority here being white, so everyone was offering us these totally wacky deals on the phone cards. Long story short, I paid about $10 more than I needed to on my SIM card (the first card you need for a phone to give you a number) but that was by far the best deal that I had been offered so I took it. Serious negotiations take place over price here and I'm still not really used to it. It's hard to not feel like i'm being a total jerk when I go through the motions, basically because it's really not the standard way of shopping in Canada. So, in case you're all wondering what Singapore is like.... there IS litter on the ground, there IS hay-wire stuff around (not dangerous, just dodgy stuff), people don't have to wear seat-belts and it's not some futuristic metropolis the way that you might imagine it to be. I guess it is relative to the rest of south east Asia, but it's actually really nice to discover that it's really laid back and i did in fact jay walk yesterday and no one came over and cained me. Don't worry, other people were doing it too. My apologies if this email is really rambling but I've just been using a computer at someone's desk in the residential management office and i feel rushed. I haven't seen any internet cafes around either, so my internet access has been very sparse. Within a week or so you will all be recieving an email invitation to look at my online photo album. I know i've been promising it for some time, but it'll happen, I promise. That's it for now. By the way phone cards are a really really good deal here, so if i haven' talked to you already, feel free to email me your number (i don't have my phone book here) and I'll give you a call if you'd like. K, bye!
-jeff