To keep you occupied during my temporary hiatus

"Singlish"

I haven't posted in 1 month

So sue me.


-Katrina, reporting live, from her cell in Singapore

So that picture post never happened; have a a big block of text instead

Hi! I’ve been here for more than a week now, and I wish I could say that it’s been an easy transition—you know, “no sweat” …………………………….:P but I can’t.

So much has happened - but before I go on about anything I ought to start from the beginning.

I landed at Changi Airport at 12:45PM SG time on Friday the 26th, after having sat on my butt for over 17 hours. (So, not so different from my average weekends). I was in a daze. I wandered around like a fool for about 30 minutes before I finally found the immigration gate, where I fell in line to “get in.” I hadn’t really broken out of my reverie at that point--I was exhausted, stinky, in Asia, and my hair looked absolutely horrible. It was hard for me to comprehend that I was so far from home—all I could think of was getting past this strange and magical barrier (flashing lights and everything) that was the only thing between me and getting into a car that would take me to Lying Down Horizontally on a Mattress.

And so I waited.

I’ve always been fascinated by airports… they are the crossroads of the world, after all. They can be incredibly sad places or places full of happiness and anticipation. You know how it is. The place to embrace loved ones after so long… they’ve grown fatter or thinner, older; maybe their hairstyle is different, and yet it’s the person you know, and you love them. But it’s also that awful place where you get that sick feeling in your gut and a frog in your throat because you have to say goodbye. And to others it’s nothing more than a temporary purgatory—a segue to the “other-world.” But not to me. Airports are full of all sorts of people; but not just ‘people’... because people are worlds all on their own. Just think: each person in that airport is on his/her own individual mission, each with his/her own story to tell—one that you’ll never know—but a story nonetheless. And none can complete his mission or story without first catching a few moments on this rotating carousel of people worlds apart…and yet inches close. It’s incredible! It blows my mind--the idea of being right next to someone (several people; hundreds) with a completely different childhood, language, history and culture from you. I like to think of it like this: walking briskly towards a door with your name on it at the end of a long corridor (the gate and flight to your final destination), and brushing right past hundreds of unlocked doors that lead to entire universes along the way. But you don’t dare to (nor have the time to) look into any of these doors, even if they are all unlocked, and right within your reach… (In short, no one wants to be CREEPY). (Sadly for me there is nothing I can do to avoid this which is why I have no qualms about talking to people at airports, and also in dangerous neighborhoods.) So there. Some people think that airports are a springboard to new places and time zones; but I think those worlds are already there. At the baggage claim; in that long line to get coffee at the Starbucks…

Speaking of coffee—

I wanted one.

And some decent food too. Standing in that immigration line felt kind of like waiting in a queue to get into heaven, or a big park attraction (same thing? HAHA jk). Just picture a bunch of yapping happy people waiting excitedly to be cleared for entry by uniformed, stern-looking Asian St. Peters, guarding the entryway to the sparkling clean tropical haven that is Singapore, where everyone speaks English and is particularly savvy with cell phones.

I finally got through at about 1:20. And all I have to say is that I am so glad that answering simple questions and being confused is my strong suit, because they let me in after about 15 seconds.

Hooray! (WHAT WERE THEY THINKING)

I stepped outside with my luggage 20 minutes later realizing rather quickly that this was not heaven at all because heaven is certainly not this hot. (!)

Hooray! (WHAT WAS I THINKING)

It was the pink sign that read “KATRINA” in all caps that finally brought me back to reality.


The journey was over. My plane ticket was now just a meaningless piece of paper, and there was an old Chinese lady with a neon sign with my name on it for goodness sakes, waiting to take me towards something that could very well be my doom.

As I went to open the passenger door on the wrong side of the car, I laughed.

I'm here

I feel like a regular zombie but I AM HERE!!!

Shakes on a Plane

Accomplishing “sleep” in the economy section of an aircraft requires a great deal of neck-bendiness and good ole’ circus-style contortionism. Thanks be to God I have neither, or else you wouldn’t be getting this “long-awaited” (jokes, jokes) update! Anyway, who needs shut-eye when you can… ramble at length to your friends over the internet? At least SOMEONE will be getting some sleep! ;)

That aside, I’m decidedly impressed by the offerings of this airline! (And yes, I’m typing this in a Word document after having been in here for nine hours. What you’re reading is something I’ve simply copied and pasted to the internet much later.) Anyway, as I was saying - free headphones and movies, maps and 3-D diagrams of our flight progress at my fingertips, and I even have my own electrical outlet for cryin’ out loud. SPOILED!

My dad, Mark and Richie dropped me off at LAX tonight (Last night? Yesterday? This morning? I don’t even know anymore!) and pretty much left me for dead at about 10 ‘o clock. It was a strange feeling, being alone. I was all smiles at the security gate (and just to make me laugh, the guard took a look at my passport and said “Is this YOU!? What happened? Did you grow up?” to which I replied, “not yet!”) but, as the figures of my dad and brothers grew smaller and smaller, finally disappearing into the chaos of the airport, I found myself feeling slightly sick to my stomach.

I boarded the plane at 1:10 and immediately tried to wrap my head around what was happening to me. All sorts of thoughts came to mind. I’M MOVING TO ASIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!! AND I’M ALL BY MYSELF AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! I MAY POSSIBLY RUN OUT OF MONEY and then I calmly sat down and buckled my seatbelt.

It’s a 14ish hour flight from LA to Hong Kong, and a 3 and a half hour flight from there to Singapore. My poor little brain is so confused by it! It’s 10:25AM on my watch and outside my window is complete and utter blackness. It’s trippy.

How HUGE this world is, and yet, how small! The Pacific Ocean is so vast… I can’t believe people used to try to cross this thing with wooden ships and only moldy bread and salted meat to sustain themselves. Sick!

So what have I been doing all this time? Well, apart from developing (and then discovering, ughh) my first zit in years on my forehead, I’ve managed to get in a little bit of sleep, meet this awesome Columbian girl seated next to me, eat dinner at 3 AM for the first time ever, watch “Exit Through the Gift Shop” and then proceed to become impressed by it (except for the French narrator who rips off of other artists and neglects his family errgh), read, pray, and contemplate the blackness outside my window. This, my friends, is what I call the ACTION PACKED itinerary for the seated traveler.

At any rate, it seems that I’ve accumulated a long backlog of stories, news, and other bits of nonsense from last week to share with you and the world wide web!

But where do I start? If it were up to me I would have documented things as they happened, but alas … I spent way too much time this past week trying to avoid anything resembling productivity! (This is also where I conveniently insert my famous “I work better under pressure” line.)

I think I’ll just do a massive picture post next, and throw in some spontaneous commentary to clue you in. It can be the Katrina Tabloid.

Can you believe it? The next time I write, I’ll be in Singapore, 8,700 miles away from everything I’ve ever known. (Stop sounding so dramatic, Katrina.) Maybe what the guard said earlier is going to come true after all. More than just an exciting adventure, this will be a time for me to do just as he suggested – grow up.

And if I don’t, then … well, looking 16 has its perks… ;)

Suitcases and shopping shenanigans

And now, it's time to pack all my stuff into two suitcases, a carry-on bag and a backpack.

(I nearly said "pack my 'life' into two suitcases", but that expression just doesn't do it for me as it implies that my clothes and toiletries are my life, which they are not...MY SEWING MACHINE is and I'm not even taking it hahahahahahha)

Rough life.

Today was my "shopping" day, which was basically an exercise in very carefully (not to be confused with 'casually') spending monies on delights such as deoderants, a few cotton blouses, dress shoes fit for walking long distances, and other things too boring to mention here.

Now, you might be wondering why I am spending time and money on items here in America when I could very easily wait to go shopping in Singapore, where basic necessities are readily available, and also highly sanitized. I'll tell you why:

THINGS ARE FLIPPIN' EXPENSIVE THERE

Now, back to my shopping. I was very pleased with myself because I really invested time (after avoiding it for weeks) into planning this shopping trip--I made lists of what items to buy from what store, drew up crazy maps to determine the most efficient routes to take from place to place, and in what order, collected coupons, and decided on how much money to allot to each category of items. It was a painstaking process, but I knew that I'd streamline and shorten my shopping by doing it this way. (You know, because there's nothing impractical about spending a lot of time and effort into finding a way to, well, reduce time and effort.)

That being said, I was out for four hours. -_-

You'd think that with all my lists and planning I would have reduced my shopping time, but I completely forgot to take into account (silly me) the fact that I was shopping alone. And when Katrina is alone, time spent pursuing any sort of activity involving "choosing" automatically gets multiplied by three.

This is what happens:

"Do I love it or just like it?"

"Can I use it for different occasions?"

"Could I find this at Wal-Mart for cheaper"

"What's the unit price, anyway?"

"Does this flatter me or fatter me"

"Can I use it as a rag"

"How long have I been staring at this"

"IS THIS EVEN ON MY LIST"

Etc.

Once I finally narrow it down to two choices, I basically give up hope and tell the spectators I've attracted to set up camp because this could, I'm afraid, take a very long time.

(The good thing is, after all this trouble, I go home with something that I do not have second thoughts about! I in fact have third and fourth thoughts about it, but that is the price of indecision.)

At any rate, today's shopping trip was a success! AND I was able to stay within my budget. Granted, I did end up crossing out a good number of the items on my list after realizing "ehh I don't really need _______..."

But I mean... who really needs toothpaste anyway?

LOL

Further developments and happy discoveries

Singapore is tiny. It's about 25 miles across from end to end!



Roughly the size of New York, New York.

(This map is taken from here, which has images generated by this nifty tool)


Update:

Apart from having received my plane ticket finally, (kind of important),

I'm now in touch with the ten other international teachers joining me on this "adventure," and I am pleased to announce that they are just as confused, alarmed, and strangely excited as me when it comes to the overall "lack of information" that has marked every turn of this employment arrangement. :) I'm sure the Ministerial bureaucrats in Singapore are getting a kick out of teasing us with this very slow trickle of information ... kind of like Chinese water torture. I'm trying not to be too hard on them though. I mean, what else can one expect from a culture that prohibits the begetting of pleasure and fun (let alone doubling it) through the chewing of certain sticky treats? It would make perfect sense to assume that the next best thing is to inflict pain and suffering on foreign employees... and, oh, on their fellow citizens. (Might as well!)

The other teachers starting work with me on the 29th are mostly from Canada and the UK. There is one other American, who I believe is from Oregon. How fun! I have to make sure I talk about In-N-Out Burger and Hollywood a whole bunch.

All in all, I'm feeling much more at ease now that I have my travel and [temporary] lodging arrangements settled. Thanks be to God! (For about one month I was biting my nails worried sick thinking my trip would not go through - I even applied to other teaching jobs as a back up). Yes - I'm still in the dark when it comes to what this upcoming position actually entails - cue nervous laughter - but then again so is everyone else in my group, and that is comforting.

Checklist

Plane ticket: Check

My departure date is August 25.

The trip is two weeks away and I'm ...calm. Odd.

Monday, Monday

Today I received my temporary work pass/visa.

BURGERS AND FRIE[ND]S

The old gang (roommates and friends from UCI) had our last get-together on Monday, the 11th. We're all parting ways starting next month. Trish and Preetham are headed to medical school in Virginia; Tiffanie and Michelle are moving to Chicago for their Masters in environmental engineering and mechanical engineering respectively; Alissa just landed a new job locally; and I'm headed out to Asia, as you all know, to pursue a glamorous career in torturing--er, teaching children.

Sadness! (And yet, I'm so proud of and excited for all of them!)

We met in Garden Grove for some burgers and Italian ice afterwards. We realized later that we were all wearing blue! It must be the color marking the presence of really cool and wonderful people, or champions. (Either that or the fashion preference of nerds because the server thought that we were from the robotics convention down the street.)

Here's a photo of us blocking traffic in the parking lot.

Gonna miss them!

Crime and Punishment

Actually, I should probably tell you that I made the costly mistake of waiting til today to submit my criminal background check papers to the FBI. According to their website, it could take up to eight weeks before anything gets processed. LOL.

Could this be a sign? COULD IT BE, THAT I'M MEANT TO STAY HERE? Possibly, maybe perhaps. But probably not. My guess is that it's the subconscious Katrina trying to find any excuse to stay grounded in the states. Bad Katrina. Bad girl!

I'm not getting cold feet at all...

The last weeks of June were hectic! I'd been helping some girls in a high school prep program, Avanti. Basically, the girls underwent a physical and mental boot camp (it was fun, I swear) to get them primed and artillery-ed for the pressures of high school, the hype of the media, and slutty cheerleaders. We used Sean Covey's 7 Habits of the Highly Effective Teenager as one of our references. Of the many fruits of the program, perhaps the most memorable for me, apart from that one parking ticket for $50, was getting to see each of the girls grow in virtue and maturity throughout those two seemingly short weeks. I mean, whoa. A lot of introspection goin' on there. There were other things too - I got to exercise my flabby teaching arm with classes on fashion/modesty, media literacy, classical music, and other topics within the realm of EXPANDING YOUR HORIZONS/CHANGING THE WORLD FOR THE BETTER, but I'll save those discussions for another post. The program was good, and I learned a lot about myself, too. I needed that.

So here's the part where I ask you to pray that it all (it = my plight with the FBI, borne of my laziness and ingenious disorder; all = all of it) goes through. I don't need any well-wishes or hopeful thoughts - however kind - why waste your breath on touchy-feely-fluffy when you can just send a direct request to the boss?

LORD HELP ME

43 Days

Why hello!

Here I am again, after approximately one month, with renewed interest in updating this blog.

Too bad that's about all I have to say.

Haha!


-K

Here goes nothing

So here it is! Ta-da!

My very own slice of cyberspace on which to record my adventures, and perhaps misadventures, while overseas.

Here's the thing - I'm still in California (HA! made you look). As a matter of fact, I'm in a Starbucks that is probably uncomfortably close to you. So since I've nothing interesting to report at this point in time, allow me to tell you a bit about the blog and how it got its name: singapowwow.blogspot.com. After all--titles of works (however full of rubbish) (!) can really make or break one's readership! I learned this from the guy who wrote Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

Let's start with the basics:

My intended audience

People, preferably, though pets are more than welcome here.

My purpose

To inform you of the goings-on in the life of Katrina Mae as she galavants throughout the far reaches of Asia. And of her efforts to not become burnt-out or imprisoned in the process.

The particulars

29 August 2011 - December 2012

(That's all I know, for now)

The [rather anti-climactic] story behind "singapowow"

I was determined to find a portmanteau of 'Singapore' and some other "cool" word, but since my brain only works properly during school hours, (on Tuesdays and Thursdays anyway) I sought out the help of the internet, which is more reliable--and year round.

I thought to myself "what are some words that begin in 'po'?"

I typed this casually into a search engine.

Some of the titles that crossed my mind:

Singa- Pox virus

Singa- popular

Singa- polygamy

Singa- polyps

...

...

And while these names certainly had a certain "ring" to them, none really captured the essence of what I was trying to do here...

So I forged onward.

Then, after what seemed like an eternity (about five minutes), out of the woodwork came the word:

"POW-WOW".

Definition: A North American Indian ceremony involving feasting, singing, and dancing.

!!!

I'd found it!

It was the perfect name, really. You see, not only am I a Native-born North American, but I also happen to love Indian food. Additionally, it is widely known that the sole reason I am pursuing this post in Singapore is for the feasting, singing, and dancing potential. Never mind that it will be in a classroom setting; I'm looking for a good time.