Makalu

Somtimes, life kicks you when you're down. Like today for example. I woke up to the crappy news that my man did not get accepted to uni here in Singapore. Later in the day I found out that my old doggie in Canada, Makalu is not doing well and is going to be meeting the big dog in the sky tomorrow.

When I left Canada I knew it was likely I would not be seeing him again, he's outlived most dogs of his breed. It is still heartbreaking not to be able to say a proper goodbye to a creature who has always been an amazing companion to my family.

Mak is a giant Alaskan Malamute and if you aren't a part of our family he may seem like he is about to eat your face. However, if you are part of the family you will know that he is the most easy going, gentle spirited dog you could ever hope for. He loves to stand beside you in the kitchen and lean his hundred pounds or so into your knees while you stand or sleep at your feet while you watch television.

His favorite game was always to play goalie in the kitchen when we would try and kick his toys past him into the dining room. He is also an adept singer, enjoying classic Elvis tunes and "Happy New Year."

I am very grateful that he came into our lives and that we had him for as long as we did. He's been an unfailing companion and his big furry neck was always there to hug and hold whenever I felt sad. There's no neck to hold on to now so I will just have to hold on to the memories I have of him instead.

New Cultural Experiences

Coming to Singapore I have been exposed to a number of new cultural experiences. I am now adept at eating with chopsticks to the point that I don't like using a fork anymore, I have increased my wretched grasp of Chinese to the point that I can sometimes discern what people are saying when they are speaking and I can vaguely communicate a few rough ideas. I have tried lots of new foods and begun to get my head around the iteration of English that is used here.

This week I had my first health situation while in Singapore and had to attend a clinic. It wasn't too serious, and you don't want the deets, but I had the exciting new cultural experience of attempting to provide a urine sample over a squat toilet.

For my Western friends who are unfamiliar with these, they are essentially a hole in the ground that you, as the name would suggest, squat over. Strangely enough, it makes aiming for a little cup slightly easier.

Don't worry, I am ok, and I found that the doctor here was very nice and that my Public Service card worked to provide me with coverage. I just thought it was a good example of how no matter where you go here you never know when you will be confronted with a new challenge.

(15 days now until Ben comes to Singapore!!!! And next week our school goes on a staff retreat to Malaysia, so I will make sure to take lots of pictures and post them on photobucket for you all to see!)

Preparation Time

My Ben Comes to Singapore Countdown is on Day 18. This weekend I made the quest to IKEA to get a bedding solution for when he comes. The problem you see is that I currently sleep in a single bed. Now, I won't complain because for about six months before I came to Singapore I was sleeping on an air mattress on the floor, so any bed is an upgrade. However, two Canadians are not about to fit together in a single bed. So, it was off to IKEA for some solution.

I love IKEA. Just so you know, when I was moving here I googled to see if there were certain shops here and when I saw that IKEA was in Singapore I knew that living here was going to be okay. I have outfitted my room in IKEA and I absolutely love it. When I have survived hard times in the past I realized that making the space I live in nice and clean and pretty is a quick way to make yourself feel better. Having a nice plant, or some scented candles, or even just some good colors are a quick way to feel brighter and happier.

I managed to get an AS IS mattress that I can put under my bed while I'm not using it and on the floor when we are using it. I also got a whole bunch of candles and a plant and some cookware so that I can start making my own dinner.

I also got Ben an MRT card so that when he arrives we will be able to take the bus and the MRT around Singapore on our adventures. I have a whole list of things I think we might like to do, like go to the Casino, the Botanic Gardens, the Singapore Flyer, Haji Lane, Little India, Sentosa, East Coast Park Beach and more. I'm getting very excited for his visit and the time we are going to be able to spend together.

So that's pretty much the excitement in my life right now. Iain is leaving to go back to the UK for the month this weekend so I will probably spend the next two weeks being relatively lonely, though I might see if some of the other expat teachers I know will be around for a while to go out next weekend.

Field Trip!

Now that exams are over, and marking is over there is sort of a strange lull in between now and the end of school and start of holidays. Students are checking their exams scripts to make sure that there were no errors in the marking of them and this leaves me once more loafing about in the staffroom and not really having much to do. Which is why I'm ripe for the pickings when teachers need people to undertake other tasks.

This is how I ended up on a bus today with 8 kids and 11 pieces of art headed to the other side of Singapore to deliver some art pieces for a show that the kids had won a place in. My history of field trips is rather sordid (involving me alone in the Eaton's Centre with 20 kids from Gananoque and a whole lot of fear) but I took on the challenge. I am relying on my new found sense of adventure and Independence and figured if I couldn't manage to corral 8 kids, then how could I expect to corral 40?

The entire thing was really not a very big deal but of course for someone fairly new to Singapore it seems somewhat daunting to try and take a bunch of kids around the Island without anyone else there to rely on as an interpreter or guide.

The only hitch was that one girl was looking rather peaky and when I asked her what was wrong she started saying "sweet" which confused me for a moment until I realized she was having a hypoglycemic episode and needed sugar. No one had anything, and the only sweet I had was a nicorette and I'm not about to feel kids nicotine, so we got the bus uncle to stop at a 7/11 and get her some mentos.

Problem solved!

For the weekend I don't really have any exciting plans other than going to IKEA to get some sort of a mattress for when Ben gets here because I currently sleep on a single bed and there's no way it's going to suffice to support the girth of two Canadians. We'll see if I manage to have any exciting adventures...

Bedroom Intruder!

This little guy was climbing up the wall in my bedroom last night when I came home from a course. I caught him in a plastic container and let him outside my flat into the free world that doesn't involve my bedroom. My friend tells me his is a house gecko. He was rather adorable. For a lizard thing that could have climbed on my face in the night..

The Dali and Van Gogh exhibit was fun, I much preferred the Van Gogh. Dali was a bit too sexually disturbed for my feminist palate. Van Gogh was also a multimedia presentation type thing that was kind of a cool way to show an artist's work and enmesh the audience into an experience that isn't just oggling some art but living inside of it. I am going to bring Ben back to the ArtScience Museum when he comes to visit. (Only 22 days!!) 

I also managed to get my fist sunburn in Singapore which makes me look like a pink ang mo, which I am rather embarrassed of but my friend tells me I look very nice pink. I think that's just because he's black so he thinks other colors are exciting. Most of the people here don't really change color as dramatically as I have managed to. Hopefully it turns into a nice tan in a few days. 

I think I posted the art pictures to my photobucket, so you can check them out! 

Van Gogh and Dali

My awesome new desk was stolen by an unnamed colleague, so I am a few seats over now and just close enough that I can scowl and loudly complain whenever people mention what a nice spot he has.

Today is Vesak Day which is some sort of holiday for some sort of religion and it means that for the fourth consecutive week in a row we have a four day work week. I spent the morning and early afternoon at an Educator's Preview of Salvador Dali and Van Gogh exhibitions at the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands which was both fun and free. I have posted new pictures of it up on PhotoBucket. Now I am home and shall return to the fresh pile of literature marking I volunteered to mark.

Embracing Your Inner Canadian

My Mom sent me this interview with Dame Edna and k.d. lang which I thought was rather funny and I would share on here. http://www.youtube.com/embed/nW7HLqOgM20

The new staff room at the school was opened on Friday and we were all able to get our first glimpse of our new working space. In Singapore teachers don't have their own classrooms, they have a space in what they call the Staff Room which is like a teacher's office. It's really beautiful and my space is spacious and lovely. I am sitting with mostly other arts teachers which was a bit of a snafu because I am of course considered to be only an English teacher here, but we all know what I am in my heart. Here is a the picture I took of my new workspace:

Blogs

I finished my first round of exam marking and students are currently writing the next round of scripts so I have a bit of time this morning to come on here and post. In the mornings I tend to spend about an hour reading the news, I start with the Straits Times, the newspaper here in Singapore and then I move on to the CBC so that I can see what's afoot back home. When I lived in Canada it seems I was much less interested in what was going on there but now that I don't I like to know what's going on. I check the news for Ottawa, Toronto and Windsor usually every morning because I have lived in all of these places and have loved ones there that I like to check on. However, CBC seems to think that I am in BC because of my current location so it tends to give me BC news first.

Today there was an interesting story about a blogger who had cancer and wrote his last letter to the world. You can read his beautiful last words here, and it got me thinking about the reality that this blog, and the one before it, are my digital legacy. I already go back and read blog posts from years ago, or when I particularly miss Ben I go back and read what I wrote about him in those early, confusing days when we both liked each other and didn't think they other one liked us back. It made me wonder what it will be like in the years to come, looking back on this blog and if I will one day show my kids the stuff I wrote when I went to Singapore. I wonder if one day when I am gone people who loved me may look back on this as a record of my mind and if this will become more than just a way for me to tell you all back home what I'm doing, but also as it's own entity that will live on past me.

I remember backing up my old blog and being struck that I had hundreds of pages of writing, as I never even consciously blogged, I just sat down and vomited out whatever was streaming through my head. But at the end of that I see that what I managed to create was actually something of some significance and something to be proud of. I suppose only time will tell what becomes of the blog but for now it's been a comfort and a good way to start the legacy I will leave behind.

Two Months

Today marks two months since I first touched down on this little Island. It feels like it's been much longer than that and working at Starbucks and hanging out in Kingston, walking through miserable snow seems like a distant memory.

Thinking back on leaving it was one of the hardest things I've done. Walking through the gate into this world was one of the most painful, exciting, sad things I've ever done. Being this far away from home and the people who love me hasn't been easy but it gets a little better as time passes. I miss Canada deeply, I long for the beautiful time of year I know it is there when the snow melts and the air is fresh and the trees are budding. It's getting hotter here and the humidity is oppressive but I like the sunshine and my skin is turning a golden brown.

I guess this adventure is still just starting but it's certainly been an interesting one so far. Thanks for following and for reading my blog, even if it isn't always the most lucid thought train around...

Three Day Weekend: Round Three

Now I wouldn't want anyone to get the idea that we don't work very hard here in Singapore, but I can't resist the chance to brag that I have another three day weekend ahead of me. I have absolutely no plans yet, and I know I'm going to have at least 80 exam papers to mark after the students write them this afternoon. However, I really love that I've had this many long weekends because the weekend is the time that I can keep a crazy weird sleep schedule and be awake to call my friends and loved ones back in Canada. 12 hours is a very weird time difference and it usually means that during the week if I want to talk to people I have to speak to them early in my morning before work, which is their evening, or right before I go to bed which is their morning. Either way there's usually a lot of sleepiness and not a lot of clarity of thought. So on the weekend I tend to nap in the afternoons so that I can stay up later at night and get the prime afternoon time when I can Skype people back home.

Exam marking is probably going to be eating my soul soon so if I don't post on here in the next little but I assure you it's not because I'm dead or anything, just busy. Hopefully I will get a bit of a break somewhere in there.

Snoopy Dance

You know when Snoopy does that dance when he's super happy? That's how my heart feels right now because Ben booked his ticket to come and visit me here in Singapore for my June holidays!! That means that for more than two weeks I will get to have Ben here and we will be able to explore Singapore and eat lots of food and just be super happy. I'll have two weeks of not having to figure out time differences and work schedules and sleep schedules to try and get to talk to him. Needless to say, I'm super pumped.

Also, for our school's staff retreat I just found out that we are going to Malaysia for a day of activities as sort of like a staff bonding thing which I think is really cool. I haven't been to Malaysia yet so I'm excited to go. How many people can say they go to Malaysia for their staff retreats?

At the school right now the students are writing exams which means that there aren't any classes, instead there are mass exams writing times. I have invigilated a few exams which essentially means wandering about giving kids stink eye if they look suspicious and making sure no one is up to anything dodgy. It's a bit strange to be on the other side of the exam, after spending so many years writing them myself.

As well, this weekend is yet another long weekend. If you've been counting that makes three in a row. So I am happy to have another extra day to loaf about and Iain got a bathing suit last weekend so maybe we will finally find out way to a beach without getting rained on.

Still getting showered in random spurts of support from back home and it's making things easier every day. Knowing there are lots of eyes on me cheering me on makes it all the more important that I rock this thing. Thanks everyone!

Election in Canada

I know I just posted a little while ago, but I'm at my desk right now listening to CBC Radio online and I want to give a shout out to Canada for having an awesome voter turnout, for the many people who voted in this election for the first time and for the fact that it looks like the NDP is going to be the official opposition. I feel very proud of my nation right now.

Never Alone

As you may have noticed, I've been feeling a little down lately. Homesickness is starting to catch up to me and the grating element of being in a long distance relationship is starting to take its toll. However, as I have been reminded time and time again when things get rough, I am never alone.

I would like to send a shout out to all of the people on facebook who responded to me posting that I wanted to go to a Shopper's Drug Mart and especially Nicole who actually went to one, bought me the stuff I needed and sent it out in a package. When it arrives I will post pictures and I am sure to send her an awesome package of cool Asian stuff.

Also, I'd like to shout out to Christina Steinhaus, who is there for me no matter how far away we are from each other and if I Skype her with tears in my eyes she immediately tells Louie to get out of the way and gets to work on making me feel better.

I'd like to thank my Dad for always being there for me and caring enough about me to be worried all the time. I can't imagine how scary it is the be a parent with a kid in Asia but I am grateful that he loves me and trusts me enough to let me come here.

I'd like to thank my Mom, who Skypes me with a banana in her hand and checks out if there are music festivals in Australia when I say I'm sad to miss Hillside this year.

I'd like to thank Kirstyn Logan for giving up her breaks at Starbucks to Viber me and see how I'm doing and for calling me when I'm on a patio on Emerald Hill because she reminds me that I have good friends when I need to be reminded the most.

I'd like to thank Nicky for always sending me updates on her random adventures, even though I'm on the other side of the world. If I didn't get those updates I wouldn't feel like I knew what was going on in the world.

Thank you everyone on facebook who comments on my pictures and tells me they are proud of me. Thank you Kat Quinlan for sending me a message to remind me that I can be a good friend to people and that there are good people who love me.

I'd like to thank Dave Harland for Skyping me and sharing his happiness with me, I'm glad that you are in a good place and I'm glad that we have stayed such good friends.

Thanks to James, to Scott, to Ariel, to Micheline, to Tim Johnston, to Ali Foster, to Juanita, to Ruth Anne, to Denise and Marlon, and everyone else I might have forgot who has been so supportive of me on this crazy quest.

Lastly, thank you to Ben who loved me enough to encourage me to leave him, who takes the effort every day to call me and manage his time around a 12 hour's difference, who finds a way to make me smile no matter how down I feel and who send me love letters when I say I feel insecure. Thank you for thinking I'm beautiful, and for believing in me enough to support me on this adventure.

It's all of you who constantly remind me that I'm not alone in the world, not even close and I never, ever will be. Thank you so much for the support and the myriad of ways that you have all helped me to be a little stronger or a little better. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you.

Makeover!

This week I've been feeling sort of down and missing home so my friend decided I needed a makeover. He started with some new shoes and convinced me that I needed something with a little heel. I'm not the heel wearing sort, but I needed professional shoes that cover my tattoo for work so I got them. I found that while I was walking about I actually felt kind of fancy. I guess the lesson of the week has been dress for sucess and that I'm a hot little lady so I ought to dress the part. Seeing as I'm a professional with a salary and stuff now, so I let him take over the other parts too.

We ended up going yesterday to Little India for facials and to have our eyebrows threaded (highlight being Iain getting his done and watching him flinch and curse while the lady ripped out his eyebrow hairs, but he was a good sport about the whole thing) then we went and got some new clothes for me, two of which are nice dresses. I've also not been much for wearing dresses and really not one for showing leg, always opting for shorts that went down past my knees. But dang it, it's time to be a lady and stuff. So I got some nice dresses for work that will go with my heels and we finished it off with a new hairstyle, and a new colour.

The thing about Asian women is that they are incredibly beautiful and largely really well put together. Walking down the street I feel like I giant hobo next to these heavily coiffed, perfectly put together paragons of femininity. So I'm trying to up my game a little while still being me and I think that this weekend helped me get closer to there. Feeling confident isn't just about knowing you're awesome, because I already do, but it also comes from the way that you present yourself. So I guess my focus now is showing the world on the outside what a badass I am on the inside.