Singapura, The Lion City

I’ve now been officially living in the Lion City for a little over a week now. I’m adjusting, I think, quite nicely. In many ways Singapore is little different from other major cities across the globe. I take the bus and MRT nearly everywhere I go. Rush hour is nasty; the skyline is beautiful.

I’ve adjusted, much to my surprise, to the heat and humidity. The language barrier (Singlish and English are two distinct languages that are similar the way Spanish and Italian might be) disintegrates with the passing of each day. The bus system, an indecipherable system of numbers and location-based stops (opp block 92//shell station//Ngee Ann Polytechnic) has become a slow, but otherwise easy method of transport.

And then other things are vastly different. What I have noticed more than anything else is the constant presence of the government. Billboards across the city reinforce anti-mosquito messages. Constant vigilance against terrorism is required on the trains and buses, again at the bequest of government-sponsored advertisements. To my western eyes it seems both invasive and pervasive. It has made me appreciate the liberties of the United States in ways I had not anticipated.

On other cultural notes, I’ve now visited my school and met my principle, HOD (Head of Department), and buddy/co-teacher. I’m very excited to start school next Monday. What few students I’ve met seem shy, but inquisitive. I’ve also discovered that they read my blog – a proper hello! to all my future students. You’ll be meeting me in person soon enough.

I had the good fortune to attend my schools mid-autumn festival the day I met my bosses and coworkers at Clementi Town Secondary. The mid-autumn festival is a Chinese holiday celebrated, you guessed it, in mid-autumn, officially on the 12^th of September. The festival itself involves lanterns, mooncake, and a general celebratory air. Mooncake is a pastry filled with some sort of sugary curd and egg yolk. I found it unexpectedly bland, but very tasty nonetheless. I was particularly fond of the green tea variant.

The schools festivities included performances by dancers, musicians, martial artists, singer(s), the school drama club, and other various entertainments. It was not, all together, that different from a Halloween celebration (minus the costumes, of course) in the United States.

Keeping the festive mood, I attended Night Lights, Saturday night. In recent years, the government of Singapore has been attempting to generate a more developed artistic culture within the city. Night Lights is an event designed to propagate such artistic culture. To begin, all the museums were free from 7:00pm to 2:00am, completely open to the public. A screening of “Thirteen Ghosts” an old, hokey, wonderful, horror movie took place at 8:00pm. Various different artistic, light based, installations could be observed in the downtown area of the city. Green space invaders (think back to the old game) descended on a park. Cars iced and filled with fog created a light show on the green of the National Museum. A projector distorted the façade of the National Art Museum with the auditory cues from a microphone open to the audience. Jellyfish descended on the courtyards of the Art Museum. And a lightning disturbed cloud lit another wall. It was, in my opinion, a grand success – a perfect example of successful government activity.

On the home front, my new apartment is massive. It’s three bedrooms with a massive living room and separate kitchen. Sadly, it lacks an oven. I’ve spent the past week attempting to make it feel more home and less like a sparsely furnished barren set of walls. I’m winning the battle, but the next step is carpet or rugs and wall fixtures. I think I’m going to have several of my pictures printed in grand; do any of you have suggestions for your favorite(s)?

I’ll have more soon, but am, alas, still without internet. Updates shall continue to be sporadic at best. I’ll attempt to upload pictures soon.