The World is Ending

Okay, the world actually isn't ending until 2012 or whatever. But my nice, happy, homework-free world ends tomorrow because I'm back to school. I haven't really done anything recently except sit around on my butt and sort through the stupid 13-18 second clips I took at the aquarium. That's a long video to edit, so it'll be up when I'm done with it.

Last night was the Halloween party which was pretty fun overall considering there was exactly one teenager there, yours truly. Here's me in my costume, I pretty much took a dress I've worn to many events, a belt, socks, high-heels I wear all the time, and false eyelashes to create the look. (No shoes in the picture)

I was entered into the "Best Dressed" contest in the adult category (One of five) and took second place! It really broke down into commercially purchased costumes, creativity (me) and epic face paint (Dracula, who won). What was really lovely is I got $150 in food vouchers, and they work at Cold Stone Creamery! Needless to say, we went there today and I had strawberry with M&Ms and gummi bears.
I'll keep working on the video. In the mean time, I'm going to go make instant noodles <3

Sentosa!

Today was, surprise, another busy day. Because I'm a teenager there was no physical way for it to start before 12 noon. We took a taxi to the cable car stop and rode in a beautiful cable car to Sentosa, which is basically Singapore's playground. It has Universal Studios (which we didn't go to), museums, aquariums, a casino, hotels... anything you can think of, it has. My parents and I are super cool and ended up spending most of the day in an aquarium. There were lots of really interesting fish and massive stingrays- the video I intend to post tomorrow will show all of that. I was surprised by how interactive the aquarium was- you could touch fish in certain areas, feed rays and even feed sharks. We also attended a dolphin/sea lion show but naturally it got rained to an early finish. Anyone else noticing a pattern of, "we got there, it rained"?
Afterwards we wandered around towards the massive Merlion of Sentosa, which is like 30 something meters tall. Lots of the island was decked out for Halloween (including the inside of the Merlion) so we couldn't go inside without paying extra. Halloween on Sentosa is just more gory than in the US. I think the US relies more on surprise scaring people as well as some gore, but based on the posters all around Sentosa, gore is pretty normal here- I mean twin "schoolgirls" that were clearly dead with an eye missing and... I'll stop. It was pretty nasty. Perhaps I have a low tolerance for that sort of thing- but if I was a mother of a small child, I'd have my hand over my child's eyes!
We ended up at this shopping mall on the mainland to eat dinner, I forget what it's called but it was spectacular. The mall was, at least. In terms of food, I've had better spaghetti and meatballs. Those meatballs tasted sort of... deep fried? Whatever. It was a really fun day. Tomorrow is a Halloween party in our apartment building, I'm still trying to throw my "haunted doll" costume together. There will be pictures!

Okay, so I realize that it's Friday, which means yes I stayed up and waited for my video to upload. I figure since I don't have school, I'm good to go. If anyone wants to comment on this post, (if you can figure out how to) tell me if you think vlogging is cool or weird! I like writing blog posts, but I'm going to be trying to add more media to the blog. So, maybe make some sort of photo-sharing account on some website and put links to albums here? I'll figure it out when I sort through bird pictures.

So I clearly need to sleep. Enjoy the video :)

Chinatown and Birds

I've had a busy past two days over my fall break! Yes, fall break. It's from Diwali, which was yesterday, until Sunday. Then I have another day off soon-ish, though I can't remember exactly when. Yesterday we went to Chinatown, in the shopping areas. Except in China, I have never seen as many stalls of vendors selling PJ's, clothes, traditional clothes, baby stuff, cosmetics, perfume... you name it, it was there. I'm working on a video I will hopefully put up tonight if all goes well. Video editing is a slow process, and I do apologize for not putting a video up lately. We had a lot of fun looking around and I actually bought a traditional Chinese dress that I'm pretty happy about. Lunch/dinner was pretty nice too, we went to a Szechuan restaurant that was pretty spicy! The fatty pork was amazing, and all you Americans wrinkling your noses clearly need to go try it. 

Today it poured off and on all day, and we went to the bird park. It was amazing. There was every kind of bird you could think of and them some birds you've never dreamed of. There was a really cool African themed section with the largest man-made waterfall in the world. In addition, there was a Lorry-bird area in which the birds were pretty much hopping around and interacting with the visitors- you could pay  for a cup of nectar to feed them. Actually, you could just look interesting as well and the birds would fly over and land on you. Apparently my whole family was interesting-looking enough because at some point or another we all had a bird on our shoulder, playing with our hair/collars. My dad got some good photos of me, and I got some photos of my mother. I look very... flustered. I took about 200 photos there but I still have to sort through them before I post. Maybe tomorrow, if I'm not too tired from Sentosa. 

Time to go video edit/photo sort. Hopefully this isn't my only post for today, if it is, then the video will be tomorrow. 

Subway is Good

As I sit here eating my 6-inch turkey and ham sub that is nice and warm, I started going on the computer. Since I don't have any homework because of Diwali, I thought I was going to go on YouTube and waste time. Then I pulled up Google News by accident. There were over 200 new stories from the past week, some celeb news that no one actually cares about, and some big occurrences being covered that I hadn't been paying attention too. Libya is still big in the news about the rebellions, Turkey had a terrible earthquake, the US ambassador from Syria was pulled out. For some reason, just seeing the sheer number of stories that I haven't read made me realise that in terms of knowing what is going on around me, I know nothing. I've been focused so much on getting good grades that I haven't kept up with the world like so many other people, and I think that's sad.

On another topic fall break starts this afternoon. Which means 5 days of no homework and going to different museums and attractions of Singapore to get to know the area better. I can't wait. School is great and everything but sometimes we all just need a break, especially my dad who's always working. Sentosa, here I come!

The Leaves Are Still Green

I am really missing autumn this evening, and I think it's because I was just drinking some Swiss-Miss that my mom picked up at the store. There's something about burning your tongue that just transports you back to jumping in leaf-piles, getting snow all over the red kitchen floor, and getting stuck in snow pants. However, I'm here in Singapore where the leaves are still green even though it's technically the rainy season which is the equivalent to "winter". There was also a lizard in the kitchen yesterday and I'll post the video to that soon. Apparently that's a common occurrence! Well, back to History of China homework.... fun fun fun.

LET'S GO EAGLES

The easy way to explain yesterday and what today will probably be is simply, awesome. I was let out of every class yesterday for at least half an hour (math was out completely) to watch soccer and volleyball. The schools involved are SAS, ISM, TAS, ISB, ISKL, and JIS (Manila, Taipei, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and Jakarta). Essentially I've done nothing productive in the past couple of days and have actually gotten to bed at reasonable times lately. I have dance on Saturday, which is basically because we need more practice for this one dance that looks a bit like an explosion, but it will  get better soon hopefully. Can't wait to go watch soccer!

Being Thankful

Today in dance class we had a guest hip-hop teacher who was very good and I liked her a lot. Halfway through the class a girl started stretching out her shoulders and moaning about how "hip hop is so tiring". For whatever reason, this made me stop and think. I've heard complaints before, and I certainly complain about being sore as much as the next dancer. But when complaints at SAS go from sore shoulders from a guest teacher's class to that there aren't enough European Interim Trips, I can't help but start to wonder if we expats really having anything to complain about. There are the aches, pains, and blisters the size of 10 cent coins in dance that are all painful, and understandably painful. But interim trips? And that the cake sold in school is twice the price of a bakery's cake? What about how Facebook loads really slowly in school on the laptops our parents bought us for learning?

There are difficult aspects of being an expat. It's hard to figure out a new culture, where exactly you are on Orchard road, and making new friends. It's hard to have parents travel (though I'm pretty used to it) to places you can't even say or find on a map. Broken families are relatively common, moving is often frequent, loneliness is a constant state. And I understand that to the best of my ability.

What I don't understand are the spoiled kids that have forgotten the good fortune that has brought them to Singapore, or China, or where ever in this world they've lived. Singapore is a beautiful country and to be a live-in guest of the country is a privilege. It is not a right to be able to get bubble tea whenever you want, be surrounded by sky-scraper malls, and experience a mixture of cultures just by walking down the street. So even though I can't tell them this, I do hope someday they realise how good they have it now and that it doesn't really matter where you go on interim, from Japan to Thailand to London. We expat kids are so fortunate and I feel thankful every day to be here. I wish they were, too.

Here's a picture of me and my friends using a Japanese photo booth. It's a bit random, but whatever

Quick Lunch Time Post

Okay, I've only got 2 minutes until the bell rings and I'm in History of China, but I just wanted to update that this weeks is IASAS! I hope I spelled that right. But anyways it's all the American International schools who compete in sports and such. Today I'm wearing my green Snoopy shirt to show my sophomore spirit. I actually have no idea why IASAS is such a big deal because I don't really care about sports, but I do care about dance so I'm looking forwards to trying out for that.

GO EAGLES!

Be Amazed, Be Very Amazed

So I just realised that black hair on a black shirt means absolutely no contrast whatsoever, but I got my hair professionally cut for the first time, in like, 3 years! Ok, maybe it's been more recently than that, but I honestly can't remember the last time I got my hair cut. The Korean guy cutting my hair was super nice and did a great job dealing with my super damaged long hair. Then he informed me I actually have quite curly, Japanese sort of hair... well, you learn something new every day.

I hung out on Orchard Road with my friends Hilary and Susan. We've been meaning to do this for a while but we never could remember to do so. It was very sad. We ended up spending most of our time in Far East Plaza. We all got our nails done, and Hilary got her hair cut as well. There was a lot of wandering around dead lost happening as well- FEP is so confusing! Overall it was a very girly day filled with laughing.

By the way, did you know according to people here I don't look full Chinese? I've been told I look half Chinese a lot. Or half Japanese. Or full Japanese. That definitely doesn't make sense, but whatever.

Tomorrow will be a lovely, homework filled day... yippee.

For Some Reason, Everything Works Out in the End

I am so glad I don't have to take the PSATs again until next year! They were such a bore and very strangely phrased most of the time- I feel terrible for non-native English speakers! There were words I have never heard of on that thing, and I'm not going to lie, any word with a "x" or "z" in it tends to scare me.

That's not what's really important about today though... it was a half day so I came home to find my beautiful desk and bed waiting for me! I'm so weird that I'm actually looking forwards to studying this evening, which of course I have to do even though all my work is due on Friday. Without further ado...

So I sort of forgot to take a photo of my desk as a whole but I'll do that later. I think it's time for lunch now!

Appu's Last Day

Hello,

Today was Appu's last day of school. We all signed her very attractive white uniform shirt and made it even prettier with lots of different colors of Sharpie ink! And gave her stuff and whatever. I'm pretty upset she's leaving but I'll see her again hopefully.

Tomorrow is the PSAT. Which means I have a half day of school. Apparently half-days aren't common here unlike on the East Coast, so everyone is really excited about it. If I'm lucky I'll hang out with people. If I'm unlucky I'll do a bunch of home work that I've been putting off. So be it. It's also college career day tomorrow, so people with these really cool (or uncool) careers come and talk to us. Since there's no psychology I think I'll head to the law speeches. How's international law sound?
My friends always say I'd be the funniest FBI agent/lawyer because I'm so short and non-threatening. Well, that's according to Natalie Bina who thinks I look like a teacher. Whatever.

I have Dance Club again this afternoon, and I have to say while I like it, I wish I had only signed up for two days instead of three because I don't like dancing five days a week every other week and then doubling up (I take dance class in school) two days a week the other weeks. Consistency is much nicer!

Hopefully I'll be less busy so I can blog more often (haha). Until then... More History of China reading!

Sleepoever Saturday

Hello there,

This was an extremely busy week, for a change. It was also a bruise-filled week because of dance- seriously I've never had my knees completely purple until now! It's shocking.

My friends Appu and Deepti are coming over tonight for some shopping and sleep-overing. It's Appu's last weekend here so we're going to simply do as much fun stuff as we possibly can.

I'm meeting lots of new people through dance and through my classes, which is pretty nice except I've been associating people's names with places and can't remember them in the hallway later! So far this move hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. I have friends that I can talk to and will laugh with me when I screw up and walk on the wrong side of the hallway.

On another note, my school does this thing every year called interim. It's basically a week of school without walls... in another country! Most of my friends are going to China or Myanmar... but not me!

I'M GOING TO JAPAN!

So come February, you'll be hearing a lot about Japan. And me attempting to learn Japanese with a computer program I bought yesterday. Japanese is hard!

Sayonara!

Mondays are TIRING!

Wow, I'm glad today is over!

I actually had a decent school day today, but I'm tired. History of China was lots of movie-watching, which was a lot of fun. History is really interesting when you're not just memorizing facts all day long. I went to my new math class and they're still doing stuff I did the first week of September. Or the third week in August, I'm not certain which. So I don't think that class will really be much of an issue or anything, which is nice I guess. I had to haul the textbook around with me today though- I was actually carrying about a quarter of my weight on my back up and down stairs today! I'm sure that's really healthy >.<
Since today was an easy-ish day I went home and ended up playing the Wii again. MySims is strangely addicting, not going to lie. Now I just got back from eating Mini-Wok and am sitting with one of those weird sheet masks on my face. It smells a bit like milk and a bit like ice cream, which I'm not complaining about. The food is really top-rate here, I know I keep saying that but it's every teenage boy's dream- relatively inexpensive, delicious, and filling. Maybe that's why so many of the SAS guys are tall- I mean I know I'm short but they are like freakin' giants.
On another note, I just realised tonight that even though I can't see the stars because of the city lights, in some areas I can see the moon and it made me really happy because everyone sees the same moon at some point during the day :)

Shopping in Singapore is Amazing!

Hey everyone, ready for a super girly post?

So I can't remember if I've blogged about SaSa, but it's essentially a combination of CVS, Walgreens and Sephora Asian-style. In addition to having Western brands, they have Asian brands and various products that Americans wouldn't understand. For example, whitening everything! Asian girls prefer to be pale then tan, because tan people were working out in the fields, when pale people were rich enough to stay at home.

Needless to say, I went to SaSa yesterday and bought some sheet masks, which actually was a German thing that spread to Asia, then exploded and is now heading west.
Isn't the little picture on the package adorable? It's a milk mask.

On another note, my friend Appu slept over on Friday night. I put her on Rainbow Road in Mario Kart Wii... she fell off 15 times and was delighted with me. Whatever. It was purely for my entertainment, which is rude but what can I say? It was hilarious!

So yeah, sorry this was such a random post. I'll get better about that. In theory. :D