singapore observations: a running series
31. The waitresses at the Cosafé Maid Café are dressed in anime versions of a maid's uniform and smile huge smiles at the passersby, hoping that their cosplay atmosphere will attract the otaku on the street, or at least the curious. From what I can see, none of the girls looks over twenty years old, and yet there is a strain behind their eyes, as if they enjoyed dressing up and performing the part at first, but just wish they could drop the act and put on some comfortable clothes.
32. Like almost anywhere, Singapore has its trends, and one of them right now is doughnuts. Coming from the state that invented Krispy Kreme, I'm indifferent to the hype, but Singaporeans will line up in sectional queues all around the basement of Raffles City (where a queue will start in front of the store and last seven feet, then continue at a point down the hall and around the corner and last another seven feet, and so on, so that you get short queues all over the basement floor, connected by the spaces between) just to partake of the Donut Factory's offerings.
33. The sinfully delicious soffiato cake at Menotti Italian Café. I've taken to calling it "exploding cake," since it contains a molten core of fudge lava that oozes out once you break through the outer shell. The server takes our order on a PDA, and the service is blazing fast, even in the middle of a rush period, I suspect because I am trying to write all this down in my Moleskine notebook for blogging purposes later and am possibly mistaken for a food critic.
34. The insanely low prices at Mr. Tea, a tea house near the SMU campus. The almond tea was better than anything you could get at Starbucks, and a fairly large mug was only S$0.80. There was also a very college-coffeeshop-type atmosphere to the place, including card games and board games (Settlers of Catan!), and squashy chairs. I've really missed Cup A Joe, my old Raleigh haunt during grad school and after, and this place was the closest to it that I've yet seen in Singapore. On the way home, Janet gets an idea for a themed coffeeshop, and it sounds plausible and cool enough that it could easily work.
35. A red-headed young woman on the MRT, a tourist who from the side almost looks like Lena (except not as smiley), grabs a support pole in one hand and holds a French translation of Kafka's The Trial (Le Procés) in the other. I almost strike up a conversation, since I still retain a smattering of French and I both loved and hated The Trial in equal measure, but think better of it. The last thing she needs is to feel as if the only other white person on the train is hitting on her, even if that is not my intent.
Previous observations: 1-4, 5-8, 9-13, 14-17, 18-22, 23-25, 26-30
32. Like almost anywhere, Singapore has its trends, and one of them right now is doughnuts. Coming from the state that invented Krispy Kreme, I'm indifferent to the hype, but Singaporeans will line up in sectional queues all around the basement of Raffles City (where a queue will start in front of the store and last seven feet, then continue at a point down the hall and around the corner and last another seven feet, and so on, so that you get short queues all over the basement floor, connected by the spaces between) just to partake of the Donut Factory's offerings.
33. The sinfully delicious soffiato cake at Menotti Italian Café. I've taken to calling it "exploding cake," since it contains a molten core of fudge lava that oozes out once you break through the outer shell. The server takes our order on a PDA, and the service is blazing fast, even in the middle of a rush period, I suspect because I am trying to write all this down in my Moleskine notebook for blogging purposes later and am possibly mistaken for a food critic.
34. The insanely low prices at Mr. Tea, a tea house near the SMU campus. The almond tea was better than anything you could get at Starbucks, and a fairly large mug was only S$0.80. There was also a very college-coffeeshop-type atmosphere to the place, including card games and board games (Settlers of Catan!), and squashy chairs. I've really missed Cup A Joe, my old Raleigh haunt during grad school and after, and this place was the closest to it that I've yet seen in Singapore. On the way home, Janet gets an idea for a themed coffeeshop, and it sounds plausible and cool enough that it could easily work.
35. A red-headed young woman on the MRT, a tourist who from the side almost looks like Lena (except not as smiley), grabs a support pole in one hand and holds a French translation of Kafka's The Trial (Le Procés) in the other. I almost strike up a conversation, since I still retain a smattering of French and I both loved and hated The Trial in equal measure, but think better of it. The last thing she needs is to feel as if the only other white person on the train is hitting on her, even if that is not my intent.
Previous observations: 1-4, 5-8, 9-13, 14-17, 18-22, 23-25, 26-30