Ben and I have finally moved to a new flat! Yay!
It was a bit of a pain dealing with agents and finding a flat that had air con, internet and would allow an unmarried couple to live there (sometimes it feels like we're in the dark ages here, I swear...) but we did it!
One interesting story that occurred on the way:
In Singapore you can't just rent out a flat, you have to have an agent who represents you and finds you a flat, and the people who are looking for a new tenant for their flat has to hire an agent to find people to rent it. It's all a very silly system in my mind and it means that you end up paying someone hundreds of dollars that you would really rather have spent on buying shiny IKEA things for said new flat, but when in Rome.
So, we found this possible new flat and went to sign the papers. The agent representing the landlords of this flat was a total knob. Super rude, really standoffish and trying to constantly insinuate that our agent was incapable of doing her job (by the way, our agent was my roommate from my previous flat). It got to the point where he was arguing with my agent about some silly paper that the landlord needed to sign for her company and everyone started yelling in Chinese.
This is the part where having a boyfriend who speaks Chinese comes in handy. The agent was interrupting me at one point and that was when shit got real. Ben started yelling at him in Chinese, which I don't speak but I understand enough of to know that he was telling the guy that he speaks Chinese too and that he understood what was happening and that this guy was being a dick essentially. Super hot. Ben FTW.
At the end of it all, we've found a really nice flat in Bedok. We are sharing a flat with an older Chinese married couple and they seem like just the nicest people you could ever meet. The wife made us food a few times already and the husband has been showing us how to use everything and where all of the circuit breakers are and such, and all of the books on their shelves are things like "Living a Life of Happiness" and "The Way of Happiness" or stuff like that. There is also a really neat Buddha shrine. I feel like living with a peaceful couple who are interested in finding happiness and cooking with you is pretty damn nice.
The frustrating part is that now I have to get up way earlier in the morning to get the bus and MRT to school and now I have no idea what buses to take from all of my usual places in Singapore so it's a whole new learning journey of getting lost and confused to find my way around again. On the brightside, all of that is a lot easier to do when you have a partner in being lost. Also, an iPhone.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Just to add some stuff to the delirious writing of yesterday:
Having Ben here with me in Singapore is awesome. The feeling of content and happiness I have when I come home from school is hard to even explain. To go from 9 months of long distance, co-ordinating phone calls across time differences, feeling alone, trying to relate to each other's very different life experiences to having someone here with you, sharing dinner together and telling each other about our respective days at school is like going from having a large knife in your arm to being massaged.
Also, going from entering a totally foreign school system in the middle of the year where everyone speaks differently and there is an acronym for everything to starting a fresh school year with colleagues and students that you know and a system you now understand is a similar experience.
In short, my life quality is improving drastically. Add to that my end of year bonus still in my account and the security of knowing you have enough money for whatever you might need, even if it were an emergency flight home and I'm a pretty happy lady these days.
Sure, I'm exhausted, but that's just this week. I'm really looking forward to the next 6 months and the challenges and treats that lie ahead for Ben and I.
Ask me what's happening in June, and I've got no clue, but for now, I'm fairly happy.
:)
Having Ben here with me in Singapore is awesome. The feeling of content and happiness I have when I come home from school is hard to even explain. To go from 9 months of long distance, co-ordinating phone calls across time differences, feeling alone, trying to relate to each other's very different life experiences to having someone here with you, sharing dinner together and telling each other about our respective days at school is like going from having a large knife in your arm to being massaged.
Also, going from entering a totally foreign school system in the middle of the year where everyone speaks differently and there is an acronym for everything to starting a fresh school year with colleagues and students that you know and a system you now understand is a similar experience.
In short, my life quality is improving drastically. Add to that my end of year bonus still in my account and the security of knowing you have enough money for whatever you might need, even if it were an emergency flight home and I'm a pretty happy lady these days.
Sure, I'm exhausted, but that's just this week. I'm really looking forward to the next 6 months and the challenges and treats that lie ahead for Ben and I.
Ask me what's happening in June, and I've got no clue, but for now, I'm fairly happy.
:)
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
AH! Start of the School Year!
I'm sorry I haven't been updating much but that is largely due to the fact that I am running around madly working as well as adjusting to having Ben living with me and finding a new flat for the two of us so I just haven't had much time.
The last two weeks have been a whirlwind as the school year starts again and I get my head around my new students, new classes, new routines and living with someone when I've been living alone for the last 9 months in a sad little bedroom with some older ladies.
I am implementing lots of routines and things with my students this year because this is my first start of a school year with classes all my own so I'm testing things out to see if they work. This process is good but also exhausting because it creates a lot of work in the process of trying to ultimately cut down on the work that I have to do chasing kids around.
It's also exhausting because you are getting to meet all of your students, all 200 or so of them, little people who you don't know yet but you will spend lots and lots of time with, all with names that are hard to pronounce and special things about them that you want to get to know and learn so that you can be a better teacher to them. It's exciting, and interesting, and often funny because of the questions they ask, but also exhausting.
Add to that adjusting to sharing my life with Ben who is living here now and sorting out our own routines and ways of sharing space (we are both only children...so it's not always the easiest thing) and you have a zombie in the shape of a teacher. Despite all of that, one of my students wrote that today he learned that Ms. Jolley is hyper. Awesome :)
I've got this new thing I hand out where my kids write what they are wondering about, what they learned and what they are struggling with for every class. Some of my favorite things so far are:
I am wondering if the universe is infinite? (The next class) I am still wondering if it is infinite?
I am wondering when I am going to die :) (smiley face not mine....:S)
I am wondering if all of the grown ups have facebook?
I am struggling with Chinese. It is hard to learn.
I am wondering is Ms. Jolley likes Justin Bieber.
I am wondering why she came from Canada?
I am wondering how much water Ms. Jolley is going to drink today. (I had a flu and a cough so I was drinking a lot of water that day)
Also, I have given a few classes the chance to ask me whatever questions that they want, these are some highlights:
Why is your hair that weird colour?
Are you married?
How old are you?
Is it cold in Canada?
Why did you come here?
What books do you like?
My kids are adorable. My sec 1 students are 12, so they are precocious and hyper and fun to teach.
Also, Ben and I found a new flat that has a room that is much bigger, we move in a week or two. I am really looking forward to that!
My brain has stalled, so I am going to sign off for now. I just thought you'd all like to know I'm not dead, just super super busy.
The last two weeks have been a whirlwind as the school year starts again and I get my head around my new students, new classes, new routines and living with someone when I've been living alone for the last 9 months in a sad little bedroom with some older ladies.
I am implementing lots of routines and things with my students this year because this is my first start of a school year with classes all my own so I'm testing things out to see if they work. This process is good but also exhausting because it creates a lot of work in the process of trying to ultimately cut down on the work that I have to do chasing kids around.
It's also exhausting because you are getting to meet all of your students, all 200 or so of them, little people who you don't know yet but you will spend lots and lots of time with, all with names that are hard to pronounce and special things about them that you want to get to know and learn so that you can be a better teacher to them. It's exciting, and interesting, and often funny because of the questions they ask, but also exhausting.
Add to that adjusting to sharing my life with Ben who is living here now and sorting out our own routines and ways of sharing space (we are both only children...so it's not always the easiest thing) and you have a zombie in the shape of a teacher. Despite all of that, one of my students wrote that today he learned that Ms. Jolley is hyper. Awesome :)
I've got this new thing I hand out where my kids write what they are wondering about, what they learned and what they are struggling with for every class. Some of my favorite things so far are:
I am wondering if the universe is infinite? (The next class) I am still wondering if it is infinite?
I am wondering when I am going to die :) (smiley face not mine....:S)
I am wondering if all of the grown ups have facebook?
I am struggling with Chinese. It is hard to learn.
I am wondering is Ms. Jolley likes Justin Bieber.
I am wondering why she came from Canada?
I am wondering how much water Ms. Jolley is going to drink today. (I had a flu and a cough so I was drinking a lot of water that day)
Also, I have given a few classes the chance to ask me whatever questions that they want, these are some highlights:
Why is your hair that weird colour?
Are you married?
How old are you?
Is it cold in Canada?
Why did you come here?
What books do you like?
My kids are adorable. My sec 1 students are 12, so they are precocious and hyper and fun to teach.
Also, Ben and I found a new flat that has a room that is much bigger, we move in a week or two. I am really looking forward to that!
My brain has stalled, so I am going to sign off for now. I just thought you'd all like to know I'm not dead, just super super busy.
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