Busy bee

Wow...this week was pretty darn busy followed by a busy weekend. I'm just sitting down to write after my first race here in Singapore.

Let me start with the week. It started Sunday night when I went out with Akira and Sydney (his girlfriend) to a chef friend's place near Little India. This place had an amazing pool. There was even a separate pool with underwater workout equiptment- like a treadmill for double resistance (and less pounding on the joints). Back to the party--there were a ton of chefs there from other posh restuarants in Singapore including the head chef at Wolfgang Puck's, which is a restaurant opening up at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel. Google the Marina Bay Sands Hotel--it's pretty famous here in Singapore- it's the 2 buildings with the "boat" on top. It has this "infinity pool" in the boat--the pictures make the pool look scary like you're going to fall 40 stories off the top of the building. One of my students' mothers is the general manager there. My student wants to go on a field trip there ;)

Well, Akira and Sydney told me that the chefs at this party were chefs from celebrity chef and shows like that on TV. I don't know any of those shows- so it didn't faze me that much. The chefs seemed to be having a good time because Sunday is usually their only day off. Work hard in the kitchen, party hard with food and alcohol on Sundays. I guess that's what they do. I didn't end up getting home too late because it was a school night, but I ended up taking Akira and Sydney to the Banana Leaf Apolo restuarant in Little India because we were all hungry and I knew that this restaurant is good. It's a recommendation from Niko Molinos, also, so I knew it would be good when I first got here to Singapore. It was nice to be able to show necomers a place- like I've been living here a while or something. I'm so glad for a Farmington person!!

Monday night I went to Eat, Pray, Love with Nadiah after school. I liked the movie and it was fun to see Italy and Bali- both places I went to. Now I'll have to get to India at some point.

Tuesday I met up with Sydney and Akira for dinner. I had them try Din Tai Fung (dumplings) and they were awesome. Sydney is getting adjusted to being here in Singapore...Akira seems like he's the same wherever he is. Too funny.

Wednesday I went to our school play at SAS (totally seemed like a professional production) of Grease, but I left early cause I was stressing about getting miles in for this 10 K race I just did. It's like you have to do your homework (putting in the miles) if you don't want to feel like crap on race day! Also...you have to adjust to the climate, which was difficult. But more on that later...The grease production was excellent and I loved the third grade school counselor's son in the play--totally sounded like the counselor, who helped us with our class play! Carmine (the school counselor), told me that the performers had been practicing this production since the first day of school (August 15) for 2 hours after school- 5 days a week and 6 days a week in the month of October. That is dedication! It paid off and these high schoolers were super talented! Reminded me of mhy high school days when we would do stuff like that...good old FHS (similar to SAS in many ways)...

Thursday- meeting after school and just ran--but getting very tired...

Friday saw Grease AGAIN! because I missed a lot of it on Wednesday and I wanted to watch it not stressed out.

So much more--but those friends and other people reading that are like, "why is she just talking about her days"?? Just ignore all that stuff....I'm keeping people I usually talk to daily up to date with what's going on so they know why I'm not in touch--there aren't enough hours in the day!

I ran a 10 K this morning with the teacher that works next door to me and it was my first Singapore race. It was sooo hot! Truly don't know if I would be able to do a half marathon here...the climate is difficult. Carmine has done a midnight marathon here. He said it was so humid he was sweating before the race began--at midnight. He said it was hotter than during the day. Was all the heat trapped or something???

Anyway, Happy Halloween everyone- I'm running out of steam and need to recharge! I also saw dragon boat racing on my way home from from the race...I'll talk more about that next time, but it looks cool. XOXO. This is more like a journal entry than a blog! How do we define blog anyway? I saw The Social Network last night, too. Makes you think!! Loved those North Face jackets--felt like I was HOME!

Poetry and Georgia

We had an awesome speaker come to us from the States named Georgia Heard. She's very inspiring. She's a poet, writer, and teacher. I read one of her books about teaching poetry on the beach in Bali. Her work with students in Harlem and other places in NYC has helped me with my students. I feel like I'm finally learning more about teaching poetry like I've wanted to in the past. Laurie Young always had these "poetry doors" that she always talked about, but I finally have the time and resources to learn how to really do this stuff. I'm going to have to tell Laurie.

The kids were cute today and I've been hanging out with Akira and his girlfriend. Tonight is finally a night when I'm coming home before 9 PM.

And...Just got sidetracked by Facebook...see what happens!! Now I need to shower and go to bed. How time flies and you get sucked in by the Internet.

Smoggy air

So neighboring Indonesia (Sumatra) has been burning trees for the past 4 days. They're clearning land and apparently they do it every year. Burning is the option that they choose year after year because of the cost- it's cheap. Well, the wind blows all the smoke into Singapore so we have this constant fog/haze that smells like burning wood. It gets into your lungs and makes your eyes burn a little. I can't wait until it's over! Naidah calls it the flu- and she hates it. She says that she remembers the fog ever since she has been alive- 22 years. Indonesia is causing so much pollution- let alone where all those animals are going??

It's going to be a quick posting tonight- tired- and Lawrence- sorry that our schedules never lined up- the time difference to Minnesota was not on our side. Do you know anything about "the burning" for land clearning? And what about the traffic in Indonesia? My friend Tom told me today that the traffic in Bali is nothing compared to Jakarta. Denise- I know you said that the traffic is crazy--and that was 20 years ago! I guess some things don't change.

Hope all is well with everyone...xoxo

Return to Life in Singapore...

So the Bali trip was amazing. It was just what I needed. I definitely recharged the batteries and relaxed. I got my first massage on the beach! I was sore the next day and wondered...why am I sore?

Gretchen, the PE swim teacher for the primary and intermediate kids, came to Bali and we ran on the beach in the sand 3 mornings in a row. It was awesome. That was actually my first time running on a beach. One of the mornings, many Balinese people were by the ocean for some type of ceremony. All Gretchen and I could see as we were running we people wearing white. They had prepared flowers and were releasing things into the ocean that I couldn't see. It was pretty cool.

Bali is approximately 8 degress south of the equator- so now I've been to the Southern Hemisphere! I have to say the weather was pretty awesome- I liked it better than Singapore's weather. It seemed less humid and more bearable. Singapore is 1 degree north of the equator- so it's just super humid and hot. I looked at the weather forecast today (October 19) and it's 90 degress and hazy like all of the days. Whoa!

Anyway, I'm not going to talk about weather anymore because I'm missing the fall weather back in the States. It feels weird not having a change in weather for the seasons. I'm probably going to be in shock when I get back into cold weather...December here I come!

Back to Bali- I've never seen so many motorcycles. Not even in Italy or Europe. Tons and tons. We walked to most of the places- we stayed in Seminyak- and there was a restuarant we went to- Ku De Ta that I highly recommend. Awesome sushi- I'm getting into sushi now. Probably cause it's just so hot here and that is cold!

So just so you know, 300,000 rupiah (their currency) is about US$29. Seems weird. Our meal at Ku De Ta was over $1,000,000 rupiah! Haha...it was the million dollar meal.

Richard (banker friend) wants to see Eat, Prey, Love (gotta love Richard) so I think we may go this weekend...lots of the movie is set in Bali! I admire Richard's seize the moment in Asia way of living...he's here for a few more months...I got to meet some his Singaporean friends this past weekend. That was fun and nice to branch out.

Love from Singapore- time to start winding down- I have this thing called "Bootcamp" tomorrow- we'll see how I survive!

Gettin Itchy to Leave the Island!

So....I'm leaving for Bali on Wednesday night- I'm so excited! It will be nice to have a change in the routine and actually RELAX a little! Of course the pace is hectic, but it keeps my exercise on pace- I run faster here! Crazy!

I had a nice weekend- a balance with doing things I wanted to do, friends, and doing what I needed to get done, done. Saturday I ran and then ate lunch with Richard in the "Food Republic" in Somerset. I had Korean food for the first time- some chicken and vegetable soup with egg in it. It was weird because I wasn't expecting the egg, then I saw it in there- like sunny-side up- and I hate yolk- but oh well. Becca would be proud. There were all these sprouts in it- and I was trying to be healthy- but the chicken wasn't the best grade chicken- oh well. Richard was funny all day- and we went swimming after in Barbara's pool and he couldn't keep up pace with me, swimming-wise. He knew. When you're not used to the water, you get out of breath quickly and easily. After we swam, we just chilled on the side and Richard was trying to get me to update my Facebook status with weird updates like "looking at maps- 17 out of 20 on the fun scale!" I was looking at my i phone- the maps trying to find out where a movie theater was located. Looking at the map was actually really cool- found out I live near a nice park- and I've been here for 3 months and still haven't gone to it.

Saturday night I went out with some girls from school and then met up with Richard at this place called "Pump Room". I walked in around 10 PM and it was like SAS central. So many teachers were there and a lot of PE teachers! One of the PE teachers was celebrating her birthday, so I was the PE teacher that teaches my kids and it was cool to see him out. It was nice to be out on Sat. night instead of staying in like I did last weekend. You have to force yourself to do those things sometimes, especially if you were homesick!

I went to a brunch on Sunday for 10/10/10 and started getting excited about Bali. Gretchen, the swim teacher for the primary and intermediate school, is coming and she was at the brunch. We siked ourselves up. 4 single girls in Bali!! Woo hoo! I had a nice run in the afternoon and actually made food for the second time in my apartment, which was also fun. If I had more time, I would probably cook more- or if I was cooking with someone. Isn't that the story of our lives!! Food is such an interesting phenomenon if you think about it...

Speaking of food- a high school classmate of mine is moving here October 20- and he's a chef! It will be interesting to hang out with him- most likely I'll get more into food if we hang out a bunch. I've never known any professional chefs before! We weren't friends in high school, but we knew of each other- our friends were friends-and he dated one of my best friends! For all of you who know Farmington High School- it's Aikra Akudo! He's coming to live in Singapore for 2 years...yay!

Gotta go shower- more parent/teacher conferences tomorrow--I'll write about Bali and tell more about the Singapore Sling! I don't remember what is in it...

XOXO.

Laying Low

So it's Saturday night and I'm sitting on my couch with my leg elevated. Feels like the story of my late 20's- elevating my leg! I feel like I may be getting a shin splint again, so I'm icing and being careful. I'm also on my feet so much and moving around all the time, so it's good to get the blood flowing in my legs in the opposite direction.

So while sitting on my couch with CNN on in the background (whatever CNN is on here in Singapore), there was just a segment on about Sorriso- a pizza restaurant in Cleveland Park. It pretty much hurt to the core seeing Cleveland Park all the way here in Singapore. City Fitness is just across the street- and man- do I miss that area when I see it. I can't believe it was just on TV!

All other things are well in Singapore. School was great this week and my students performed an assembly on Friday which went over very well with everyone. My students, Ms. Nadiah (my aide) and I had such a good time in the process. Nadiah and I have been laughing so much in class (well, when the students are gone)- it's been an experience. Nadiah is awesome and I am so lucky to have her with me everyday with the kids :)

That's it for now...nothing too out of the ordinary...just feelin tired and staying in for once on Saturday night. I still have a bunch of work to do tomorrow! Ah! And i worked today! It's never ending! But it's good...