Back to the Books

So, we never made it to the zoo yesterday as planned. By the time we got ready in the morning, had breakfast, sorted out some stuff for our classes, and then had lunch, it was 1:30pm. It takes 1.5 hours, 3 MRTs, and a bus to get to the zoo, which closes daily at 6pm. And the zoo's not cheap. So, we decided to go to the night safari instead, and go to the zoo/bird park part another day, when we can spend the whole day there, and get our money's worth......and so Janene can sit and stare at the penguins for as long as she desires.

Since the night safari doesn't open until 7:30pm (it gets dark here really quickly around 6:30/7pm), we all of a sudden had several hours to kill. Guess what we decided to do? Yup. We went to Orchard Road, and shopped all afternoon. We didn't buy much, because we were more window shopping, since Orchard Road is so expensive. We went into Dolce & Gabbana, and a keychain that I wouldn't spend more than $3 on was $300. Thanks, but no thanks.

After walking around Orchard Road for a few hours we had dinner at Food Republic, which is essentially an upscale foodcourt found in various malls around Singapore. We had the most amazing Thai food for dinner. Pad Thai here is fantastic. I can only imagine what the Thai food will be like in Thailand when we're there later this week. Mmmmmmmm......

We then took a few MRTs and a half hour bus ride to the Night Safari, which is where the zoo and bird park are too. It cost $32 for admission which included a tram tour throughout, which gives you access to see more animals than if you walked through the whole park. When we first got there, before going into the park, there was a Tribal Fire Dance going on, where all these half-naked Thai men were dancing around with big torches, and eating fire. It was really entertaining, and a fun way to start off the evening.

Then we got on the Tram to start our tour. All the animals we saw were nocturnal, and in the areas where they are kept there was low lighting just light enough that we could see them well, and low enough that it didn't bother them. We saw some amazing and exotic animals. From Asian deer, to these pig/elephant crossed things (not sure how that one started out originally.....), to elephants, lions, tigers, hyenas, and giraffes. It was actually really exciting, and I wish that I could have taken pictures, but we weren't allowed to take pictures with a flash, since it would startle the animals. Fair enough, I didn't really want to tick off the giant lions on the other side of that tiny little fencing.

By the time we got out of the tour, it was after 10pm, and we were exHAUSted, since we had been walking around shopping since early that afternoon. We had class early this morning, so we decided to just give in and take a cab ride home, rather than taking the long bus-MRT-bus ride home. 15 minutes and $12 later, we are at our dorm building's door. Wow. Seriously? Had we known we were so ridiuculously close to the zoo, we would have just gone in the afternoon. Instead I think we went as far as we could the opposite direction, and travelled the perimeter of the country back up to the zoo. Next time we'll just cab to the zoo from campus, and save ourselves the hassle.....at $4 each, it'd be silly not to. These are things I wish someone would tell us. Oh well, now we know.

So we started classes today. This morning came early with an 8:30am Service Marketing class for FOUR HOURS. I think it's going to be one of our easier courses, so it's probably good to have it early on a Monday. It was, however, extremely difficult to stay awake in, and if it weren't for the half-hour break he gave us half way through, I don't think any of us would have made it. We were all pooped. I was tired because at 4:40am this morning there was a big group of people in our dorm hallway yelling, laughing, and running up and down the hall for what seemed like forever. Not sure what they were doing, but hoping it doesn't happen tonight. Janene didn't hear them at all, due to her fantastic idea of earplugs. I clearly need to invest in a pair.

After our four hour class we were home free, because our Malay class that we usually will have on Mondays doesn't start until next week. So, we went to the bookstore to get some school supplies. Bad idea, it was really small, and half of Asia was lined up to buy their school supplies too, and we decided to go elsewhere. So, off we go to the mall to go back to FairPrice Xtra. Two things struck us as odd on this trip: 1.) All binders are two-ringed, instead of the standard three-rings we have at home....it's just two rings, closer together. and 2.)We're pretty positive Singapore does not sell loose-leaf paper. The only lined paper they sell is in a book, or a pad, but no loose-leaf. That was unexpected and threw us all off. But, since we are extremely adaptable, we got around it. It was challenging though.

Tonight was a little stressful, because we were given access to our course adding/dropping system online at 7pm, and we weren't able to get into some of the classes we wanted to. We're hoping that we can just go to the class, play the exchange student card, and hope the prof lets us in. Our reasoning for wanting to get into these classes? So that we can travel Thurs-Sunday without missing classes....but we'll have to come up with a more convincing story than that I think.....fingers crossed that we don't have to resort to bursting into tears.....cuz I'm willing to do that.

Janene and I did laundry for the first time today, which was rather interesting. Thankfully the washing machines are free for us to use, and we just have to go downstairs to use them, which is nice. The thing that makes it interesting is that there are no dryers here. Outside our dorm room windows are two metal drying-rack thingys, which we have to hang everything up on. So, currently our bras and underwear are hanging outside for the world to see. Wonderful.

We've discovered that there is a firing range (military?) right behind our campus. We've heard a few gunshots over the past few days, but today we were walking to the bookstore, and there was a "BOOM" so loud that I swear the earth shook. I screamed and Janene grabbed onto Heather, and then we realized that it was a canon! After that there were several more. Not only do they shoot guns, they shoot cannons? Then tonight when Janene and I were hanging out our windows trying to hang up our laundry, it sounded like there was a fleet of fighter jets going by several times. If I didn't know any better (....and I guess I don't really), I would think that Sinapore was gearing up for war. It's just really weird to hear all these military-type noises. I'm sure we'll get used to it though. "Oh that? That's just a cannon...no big deal".....Hmmm I wonder.

It's only 9pm, but I'm utterly exhausted. First day of school, big day! Tomorrow and Wednesday are 8:30am starts too, so an early bedtime tonight couldn't hurt.

Goodnight

xoxoxo