Welcome to Singapoo!

Greetings from Singapore!

What a roller coaster of a time I've had already! But let's not get too excited and jump to the nitty gritty of lah lah land right away, gotta take it slow just like John Legend would say.

So Alina dearest leaves for Dubai, Vi departs for her adventures in Cali and Sasa is left to fend for herself. But not to worry boys and girls, I managed quite well. I actually had a wonderful week packing, seeing friends and loved ones [to those of you who stopped by: thank you and sorry for being so crazy**DAN you da MAN** - to those who I didn’t get to see: I love you, I’m sorry and you get priority viewing once I get back PROMISE] and getting non stop advice from my parents. Oh man, I did the biggest mistake telling my mom the two suitcase maximum. The morning before my flight, with no surprise at all, I found one suit case filled with cooking appliances/food including and not short of a frying pan, a stainless steal pot, spoons, honey, granola bars, oatmeal, nuts and dried fruit. The other suitcase was doomed as a giant sized first aid kid; I swear I could gauze up all of South East Asia and clean every bathroom from Indonesia to Burma with dettol!! I had absolutely no room for underwear but not to worry boys and girls, I managed to take all the essentials- as Vi would say, I’m a packing expert - it’s called the rolling trick, I don’t mind sharing the technique so do give me a call if you’re ever in need.

So I get to the airport and leave my parents with a bit of water works. Didn’t think it would be so hard but what can I say, I love my mamany and baba! My flight to England was nice, I got an aisle seat with a free seat next to me and was surrounded by British business men. (Please Monica/Bahar don’t get too excite, they were married and vertically challenged). I watched ‘Catch me if you Can’ and remembered why I use to obssess over Leo Dicaprio when I was younger..ooof what a man! The food was okay, ate all the dessert of course, read a wonderful book Geet bought me before my travel and slept for the rest. I landed and was astounded with how big Heathrow airport was! It took a 20 minute shuttle to get me to the next terminal! I was there Christmas Day so not a lot of things were open, I needed to find things to keep me busy for 12 hours. So I walked around a bit, had an overpriced tuna sandwich at Starbucks, read my book and decided to sleep for the rest of the time. So on my hunt for a bench [Way back play backs to the first night we get into Barcelona and have no place to stay, desperately looking for a clean bench to be hobos on for a night – love you girls!] I find an open comfortable series of chairs but the only problem was that a woman was sleeping on the series of chairs right next to open series of chairs I was hoping to crash on. We’d be super close and felt a little uncomfortable about it, but I was way too tired to give a hoot so I just passed out Sammy in hand (for those of you who don’t know Sammy, he’s my teddy that I got when I was 4 and is one I can’t be/sleep without). I wake up 2 hours later and see the woman smiling at me. Oh man, I thought, what a creeper. So I introduce myself and in no time we are talking and connecting like peanut butter and jelly. She was born and raised in Singapore, studied in Australia, now works in New York and was on her way to visit her parents for the Christmas Break in Singapore. We spoke business, religion, love and silliness and shared a wonderful dinner together.

Our flight to Singapore was long but relaxing. I was so happy on our decent down. I saw beach and lots of greenery and was told over the mic that it was 30 degrees Celsius. I went through customs, got my bags, exchanged money and got into a cab in less than 30 minutes- damn the airport was efficient, but I can’t say that about the ICA which is a totally different story. My cabbie was a wonderful man, he answered all my crazy questions and laughed at my giddiness. He helped carry my luggage into the hostel and left with a beautiful smile. Sleepy Sam’s was the hostel and boy did I hate it! It was a dinky little place packed with people. I was in a room with 10 other girls, sleeping on the bottom bunk at the furthest corner of the room- the part that did not get any blast of AC. There were two bathrooms that were absolutely nasty and the hostel was located 5 steps away from a Mosque (a beautiful one I must add) that jammed out prayers and sermons every second. Though I hated the area, the hostel and the non stop singing, it was there that I was able to meet wonderful people and find awesome roommates.

I spent my first day apartment hunting. We went agent to agent, apartment to apartment and came home exhausted. Each had there pros and cons and the pressure was definitely on. One real estate agent was so keen on selling us the place that she went as far as asking me what kind of men I like and assured me that she would bring them to live in other units of the apartment. The trick we found later, was not to act too interested and play the Supply is way Greater than Demand game and not vice versa. The second day was spent much the same and it was on this day that Alina and I saw the apartment of our dreams. A beautifully furnished 3 bedroom flat in a superb location [5 MRT(subway) stops away from school, 2 seconds from mall/grocery/food, exchange student run, decently priced and safe].

My third day involved a toilet, a bucket and Alina holding my hair back. Yes, I had a bad case of food poisoning. It was the result of a combination of things. The climate change for one, the fact that I was hardly sleeping bc of jet lag, anxiousness to find a place and the introduction to East Asian food. It was probably the worst day, but I was lucky to have Alina and the random auntie my dad found on the ‘Singapore Zoroastrian Association’ website. Oh yes he did! As soon as I told my parents I was sick, they got on google and worked their connections - I had phone calls coming in like I was a radio station giving away a free trip to Honolulu. One of which was a sweet parsi lady who brought Alina and I to her place for the night. She took us to school, immigration and helped us move in the next day too. It was then that I realized the power of community. Damn homes, can’t mess with the Z blood, we stick together like crazay glue.

Alina and I settled in.. I was still a bit sick yesterday so she made me some delicious ‘sick food’ as she calls it. Rice, yogurt and mashed potatoes seasoned with onions and garlic… it was wonderful, she’s wonderful and I’m so lucky to call her my best friend. Our roommates include 2 boys from Finland, 1 boy from the States and 1 boy from Germany. Yes, its Alina and I with four boys.. but they are awesome respectful and we get along great! Last night we were sitting around discussing life, religion, love and cultural values and norms. It’s awesome to see how different we are yet how similar we are at the same time. The German boy Florian, is a professional ballroom dancer and promised to clean up my moves this semester, super excited about that one!

Today marks the 4th day of me being here, but boy it feels like I’ve been here forever. I went to school in the afternoon and spent the rest of the day with Alina and Sameer…snapping pictures of cute fat Asian babies, eating subway and not gagging – YAY for me! Think I’m going to stick with the American food for awhile… but that doesn’t mean I wont overindulge in all the Asian desserts.. yuuummmieee!
Well, I think this marks the end of my first post. We’re thinking of going out for the first time tonight..maybe see some sights.. it’s now time to really see and experience Singapore and I can’t wait! The hard part is over… and now it’s time to explore!

I love you I miss you and I will be posting soon,

Sa