Game Over

OMG! That is all I have to say about little India and Arab street! Complete chaos! There were people everywhere, and I mean everywhere! We all started to feel incredibly claustrophobic and irritable. It wasn’t necessarily that it was a bad experience; I just think that at this point everyone is mentally checking out and is sick of constantly being around other people. As much as I love the friends I’ve made on this trip, my introvert is screaming to have some much needed alone time. At least we have all talked about this and we are comfortable enough to just say to each other, I love you, but I really just wish I could be alone right now! After we trampled through little India and it’s massive amounts of people, we headed to a restaurant called Raj. It is an all vegetarian Indian restaurant! It was awesome! We had garlic naan, basmati rice, and a bunch of different vegetables in different curries and spicy gravies! Afterwards Emma’s brownie and chocolate ice cream convinced us that we also needed some chocolate! So we all split a huge brown with ice cream! Wonderful! After dinner we caught the MRT and headed over to Chinatown! We did a little more shopping and then Danielle and I caught the bus while the other girls stayed to do a little more shopping! Yesterday was mostly a free day for us! The sun came out bright and early and we were able to lay out by the pool for a good chunk of the morning/afternoon! After the pool we got ready and went to class. We had our diversity class again and we did an exercise which consisted of us putting headbands on in a Rambo like fashion and then Len gave each one of us a card with our age, race, gender, occupation on it. We did not know what was on our card and we were instructed to interact and use stereotypes when speaking to someone else to help them identify their card. This was uncomfortable and eye opening. You really had to remove all of your filters and just say some of the very taboo stereotypes that we hold about others that are different from ourselves. This is something we are not used to and do not condone.  Despite the discomfort, I felt that it helped me realize the impact that stereotypes have on us personally and professionally as counselors. It is always something that has to be present in the back of our minds so that way we can work through our biases and be more effective and empathetic towards our client. After class my roomies and our adopted roomie, Amanda, went out to Modesto’s for pizza! It was relaxing and low, considering all of us have reached the point of check out! Today is another relatively free day. It’s looking a little gloomy out so hopefully the sun will come out and we can get some more pool time before class tonight! 

1, 2, 3...Mousedeer!

The last few days have been busy busy busy! On Friday I woke up and early and went for a run. Afterwards it was still cloudy and we were feeling lazy so we all went back to bed until 11:15 when we were forced to get up and shower for class. We went back to NIE for lunch in their cafeteria and then we had class. In this class Len interviewed Dr. Benny Bong (cool name, right?). He was another therapist nominated by his peers as a master therapist. He had some great commentary on self care. He basically said that at the end of the day you just have to say to yourself, “I don’t care” and leave work right where you left it! After the interview we were put into groups of three Americans and four Singaporians to discuss our top three characteristics of therapists. We then compared what the singaporians nominated as their top three and what we nominated. We found that we all had pretty common factors across cultures, which was encouraging and helped the whole class see that we really have more similarities then differences. After class half of the group went to the Marina Bay Sands casino. We decided to pass because really we just wanted to go to the top but the class was going more to check out the casino. So we came back to our apartments (after a 45 minute cab ride, the traffic gets horrible at rush hour), we had “dinner” which consisted for pretzels and nutella along with some Pringles! We then headed to Chinatown where we shopped excessively! I found some great things for my family and myself! I’m so excited to show everyone when I get home! It is the start of the Chinese new years celebrations so Chinatown was packed and there were twice as many vendors than when we went last time! They have such great deals and beautiful things to buy! After we spent close to four hours there and most of our disposable income, we headed back on the MRT! The MRT is so clean and it is such an easy system to use. One trip is usually around two sing. If you return your ticket after your ride you get a dollar back! Awesome! We stopped at McDonalds on Orchard on our way home to get Mcflurries! So so good after a night of shopping! Yesterday was a long, hot, sweaty, tiring day. We met down in the lobby at 8 a.m. where we got on a bus with Len and his family for a day trip to Paula Ubin. Paula Ubin is an island (about an 8 minute boat ride) off the coast of Singapore. It is essentially what Singapore looked like in the sixties before the government stepped in and turned it into a business hub filled with concrete! It is mostly wilderness with a few small houses, shops, and restaurants. There are dogs and cats that run around the small village and are taken care of by shop owners etc. After a quick look at the small village we took a bus back into the forest. Vilma D’Razario and Andrew who is a friend of Karrie and Len’s. They are nature experts! They lead us out onto the rocky shores of Paula Ubin. These rock structures were granite, which was mined for quite some time on Paula Ubin. We then went on a long boardwalk around one side of the island. It was breathtaking! The ocean, the sandy beaches, the mangrove trees with their roots exposed, the mudskippers and fiddler craps! Absolutely wonderful! We headed back into the forest where we spotted a wild boar. This wild boar, however, was really not too wild. It must be used to being fed and approached by people because it had no problem coming up to us and the kids to get a closer look! This whole time Andrew and Vilma had great commentary about the flora and fauna of Paula Ubin. They pointed out wild animal tracks and took us up to a perch that was easily 5 stories high! This perch looked out over the beautiful forests, beaches, and ocean! During the entire tour Len's Daughter, Emma was attached to my hip! She is such a wonderful, smart, precocious little girl! We had fun talking about mousedeer, wild boars, her pink bedroom, and many other things that came to her wonderful imagination!  We then had lunch at a small restaurant on Paula Ubin. We had chili pepper tofu, Lemon chicken, rice, a spicy seafood noodle dish, vegetables, chili and pepper crab! The chili and pepper crab are big hits here in Singapore! After we successfully managed to eat our body weight in food we all zonked out, mentally and physically. We decided to head back to Singapore and since we had to wait another hour for our bus to come pick us up we went down to the beach, collected shells and sea glass, and just relaxed! We then headed back to Treetops where we all sat around and watched MTV for four hours before calling it an early night! It felt great to get 11 hours of sleep! I guess I really needed it! Today we are going to Chinatown, Little India and Arab Street with our class. We plan on touring some more temples, shopping, seeing the Chinese new years celebrations and eating so

Funk Nasty Plus

Hello all! The last few days have been busy busy busy! Sunday was had a walking temple tour which kind of turned into a walking tour of the different areas, housing, shrines, and food in Singapore! Our tour was led by a friend of Lens, Timothy Pwee. He gave us a lot of information about how Singaporians live their daily lives, their spirituality, religious practices, and other odds and ends about the Sinaporian culture! After a long day of walking he invited us to his house so we could see his house. About 90% of Singaporians live in government subsidized apartment complexes. This is simply because of the small amount of land available in Singapore. Each individual has the opportunity to buy out a 99 year leas on a flat. These complexes are required to have a mix of races. Timothy was telling us that in his building they could have over 80% of Chinese in their building, which is proportionate to the percentage of Chinese in Singapore. We then headed to a local food center down the road. Timothy, his wife, and Len ordered us all the best dishes at the food center! We had prawns coated with something that tasted like frosted flakes, curry, pork pot stickers, a dish with fried yams, chicken, vegetables, and fried rice noodles, bock choy flavored with garlic, and a vegetable stew with an assortment of seafood (including sea cucumber which I tried and DO NOT recommend to anyone!) After we were stuffed we headed down to a small bar that had beer, and MANGO MARGARITAS! After the other Amanda I downed a very large jug of margaritas we headed home and spent the rest of the night with chocolate, wine, and great conversation! On Monday we had a short lecture in the early afternoon! Our plans to lay out before class were disturbed by the rain and lack of sun so we headed back up to our room to catch up on our blogs and talk. Clearly I did the latter of the two!  That night we had class at NIE which is one of Singapore’s largest colleges, mainly for education. We had a diversity class with other Masters Counseling students. We were paired up with another Singaporian student and did icebreakers and discussions on how we, as future therapists, challenge ourselves culturally and how we work to understand and become more aware of our biases and reactions to culture! It was wonderful to actually get to talk one on one with a Singaporian student that is in the exact same position as you! On Tuesday we went to the Tanglin shopping center! I splurged on a beautiful maxi dress. I will post pictures of it soon! Thank you Jennifer for talking me into trying it on! After shopping we had brunch at a little café. The rest of the afternoon we spent talking and hanging out. We are all starting to get a little burnt out. In the evening we went back to the NIE campus where we partook in a group counseling class. We once again were paired up and got to know another student one on one. We then observed how Singaporian classes are run. After a short break we were split into groups of half American students and half Singaporian students to discuss characteristics of a good group counselor! It was so refreshing to have different views and opinions! After class Len took us to the Raffles hotel. This hotel is huge, expensive, and full of very rich people. The Raffles hotel is where the Singapore Sling was created. We went to the Long Bar inside the raffles where we split six Singapore Slings between the twelve of us because they are 30 sing a piece! Yikes! Personally I thought it tasted like cough medicine but I had to try one or else I would dissapoint uncle Al! Yesterday we started off the day with more of the class sharing who they were culturally speaking! I feel like these presentations really make you appreciate each of the individuals on this trip that much more! We then had a two men who run an organization called OogaChanga. Which is a community run program to help support gays and lesbians in Singapore. In Singapore the act of gay relations is still illegal in Singapore although it is rarely enforced. Still, Singaporians have much more resistance coming out if they are gay or lesbian. People, especially teachers, can lose their job or be refused a job if they openly come out. This made me appreciate the steps that America is taking to accept the GLBT community. We still have along way to go but we are making progress! We then had a poolside pizza party, request of Keeton (lens six year old son). We had a little while to lay out and then we headed to the Singapore zoo. The zoo is amazing. The enclosures for the animals are so natural and provide the animals with a lot of space. We watched Len’s kids feed a giraffe and we got to take elephant rides! After a quick dinner break we went a night safari! We road an open tram through different habitats! We were able to get so incredibly close to the animals! We also were able to venture into the flying fox and bat cages where we were being dive bombed by bats the size of cat! Len found this hilarious!  Overall it was a wonderful experience! PS the otters were by far the cutest things ever and I may go back and steal one to take home! Surprise Mom! Today I woke up early and went for a nice long run! The funny thing about running here is that I do not think about anything while I run! My head is so clear! Love it! The sun is out and shinning. We have an off day so we plan on getting all bronzed up!

Red

Yesterday was our day off! We spent the day poolside with the rest of the group. My spf 30 failed me. My tummy and chest are all kinds of red! We went to the market later in the day and stocked up on snacks and wine. Mostly wine! We have priorities! We finished the night off with pizza, wine, chocolate and some wonderful conversations! :) 

            

Baby God

It is Saturday morning! My body is all kinds of screwed up! We made it home last night around midnight, our latest night thus far in Singapore. We were giddy as all hell and sleeping was not going to happen anytime soon because our bodies were convinced that it was 10:00 in the morning. Finally around 1:00 we made ourselves go to bed. I awake at 6:30 unable to sleep. Ugh. Today is our day off for the week. This morning Amanda (the other Amanda in the group) and I are going to go for a run at the botanical gardens. Hopefully we do not sweat out our entire body weight. After that hopefully we can catch some sun by the pool! It is Singapore’s raining season so there have been bouts of rain for the past few days. Yesterday was probably the rainiest day so far, which was ok. We had an early morning poolside discussion. Where have the group shared who they felt they were culturally. The other half will go next week. After that the rain stunted our laying out plans so we headed to the room and chatted for a few hours. It is so enjoyable getting to know these wonderful ladies! It already feels like we go all the way back to high school! After that we met up with the group and headed out to visit a Traditional Chinese medicine doctor. He explained to us how the Chinese anatomy looks at the body holistically. If someone is coming to you with a mental health issue it is become something within the body is causing sorrow, insomnia, or anger.  According to Chinese medicine if there is something wrong with the lung it correlates with sorrow, lover correlates with anger, heart correlates with happiness, and the stomach correlates with worry. The abdomen is a very important part of the body because it’s health is vital to your energy, especially the kidneys. We also were able to see an actual patient get treated for a dislocated elbow. There was a lot of massaging of abdomen, arms, and shoulder along with a foot treatment that required burning the bottom of the foot repeatedly with a hot needle. Umm Ouch!  The Dr. and his wife had us try some herbs to help with energy. It felt like chewing tree bark and tasted like honeysuckle! After the Chinese medicine doctor we took the longest and probably worst bus ride every over to the Malaysian part of Singapore. Over here they do not believe is coasting. It’s either hitting the gas excessively or slamming on the breaks! Hello motion sickness! We all got off the bus quezy and ready to throw up! After we adventured around and saw the preparations for a traditional Malaysian wedding and were bombarded by a security guard our stomachs finally setting down enough for some food! We went to a Malaysian food court and shared Mi Laksa and Noodle Wanton. Both excellent suggestions from Len. He also suggested their desert with is fruit flavored jelly. Definitely not the same kind of dessert you find in the USA. It was light and no chocolate! (That is something I am missing, chocolate!) After dinner we adventured out to our Shaman visit. We had a little bit of an issue with direction and ended up very near the red light district. It was pretty apparent by the women that were giving us directions. Len thought they were “very nice women.” When we finally found the Shaman.  The ritual started out with lighting of incense, which gave all of us red, puffy, irritated eyes! It was a small cramped room filled not only the thirteen of us, but many other regulars as well as volunteers that help the ceremony flow smoothly.  The shaman did a ritual and then the volunteers began to chant while the shaman began to take on the spirit of the baby god. After the transformation we could consult with the baby god. We had to each go through a short ritual before we were able to consult. The consultation rang true for some and for others it seemed to strike a cord that was hurtful. After we had time to decompress about our experience with the baby god we came to realize we had really had to take this experience accept it for what it is and know that others really do use this as a source of coping and stability in their lives. It may be hard for us, who have come from such a modern, westernized culture; to really take this ritual and give it meaning in our lives but we can accept and appreciate the others find solace and peace through these means. Overall it was an experience I will never regret or forget.

            

Pictures!

Our first injuries in Singapore! Danielle bonked her head on a door and I bruised my knee during Bollywood dancing! 

China Town

The Streets of China Town

Sri Mariamman Temple

Buhda Tooth Relic Temple

Chinese Medicine Buddha Prayer

Today has, by far, been the best day of Singapore yet! This morning we met up with the group and took a bus to the Counseling and Care center near China town. We watched Len do two cross-cultural interviews with expert therapists. We interviewed Tan Boon Huat and Juliana Toh. Both of these therapists had such insightful messages pertaining to counseling across cultures. Two of my favorite nuggets of information were that we, as counselors, need to master our basics. “Basic skills are profound.” I loved how simply boon put this notion, but it really is capturing the heart of therapy. The other tidbit of information that I loved was “The ability to help is received.” What Juliana meant by this was that we as therapists are able to help when we receive help from others. Personally, this is something essential to my work as a future therapist, due to my incessant need to avoid help from others.

After our interviews we headed to Chinatown for lunch. Jen did a wonderful job of picking out a place for all of us to eat. It was a little shop right on the street called Yummy Viet. The other Amanda and I shared spring roles and chicken curry with rice noodles and potatoes. It was amazing! The food here has such a wonderful, rich smell, and it has so many authentic flavors. There is never a dull dish in Singapore! After lunch the whole group headed into the heart of Chinatowns shopping centers. The streets were lined with beautiful lanterns, teapots, Chinese scrolls, silks, robes, and flowers. Just to name a few. We then headed to the Sri Mariamman Temple. This temple was mostly an outdoor temple filled with vibrant statues and shrines. The colors were so incredibly vivacious and eye catching. At this point the majority of the group headed back to treetops and my roomies and I stayed in Chinatown. We stopped a Chinese medicine shop and bought something to aid in the horrible travel digestion and then we splurged on some Placenta Face Cream. Apparently women by this store out of the stuff. We will see what happens! We then went to the Buhda Tooth Relic Temple! Words cannot explain this temple and the ability it has to entirely center you in just thirty minutes. The entrance of the temple welcomes us to a Chinese Medicine Buddha Prayer. There was chanting, offerings, and prayer. After taking a few pictures we seated ourselves and just soaked it in. My mind went blank and you could feel the chants and prayers all the way into your chest. I’m not one to just sit and just let myself soak in all the sensory information I am presented with at any given moment, but I could have sat in that temple all day. It was the most peaceful experience I’ve had for years. We toured a few other floors of the temple but saved a few because we are tour temples with our class in a few days. On our way out of the temple we lit incense, prayed in silence, and rested it in ashes to burn. An indescribably experience.  Now we have returned to our apartments for a little down time. The heat drains you terribly.

SANGRIA!

Hello all! Its our third day in Singapore! It just keeps getting better and better. Yesterday we were up early to join Len and his family for a tour through Singapore's Botanical and world renowned Orchid gardens. Len’s family has to be the cutest thing I think I’ve ever seen. His three kids have so much energy and are so willing to join in on the “big kid” activities. He has two sons Tristan and Keeton and a daughter in the middle named Emma. Emma is so willing to talk to anyone and everyone and she loves to hold your hand and give you hugs!

The gardens were breathtaking. There are more species of flora in Singapore’s botanical gardens then the entire North American continent. Stunning! I have around 80 pictures of just flowers that I will have to post at some point. The orchid is Singapore’s national flower and the garden houses some of the most beautiful flowers I have seen! After the gardens Len showed us a shopping center where we could get groceries for the best prices around. However, its still insanely expensive, 5.50 sing for a Yoplait yogurt! Crazy! He also showed us where we can get a great Indian meal for $3.00 sing! Naan is now becoming a staple of my diet! We then headed back to our beautiful pool! We laid out and played with Emma for about an hour! It’s amazing how much sun you get here. I have tan lines after an hour! Woot woot! (Don’t worry mom, I’m wearing my spf 30 everyday!) Once we had enough of the scorching sun I went for a quick run and then we got ready and met up with the entire group for our Baliwood dancing lessons! I was a little skeptical, as we all were, about this class. What the hell are we getting ourselves into? It turned out to be so fun! We learned a dance from the new Baliwood movie called “Shelia” it’s all about being sexy and bouncing all your goodies about! Fun, until Len came into videotape, then it just got a little awkward! The instructor had Sonja, one of the ladies on the trip, wear a Baliwood dancing outfit! Sonja rocked that thing out with her amazing body and dance moves! So fun! We then headed to Bodega and Tapas down the street from our apartments! The palella and tapas were amazing along with the two for ones Sangria! The other Amanda and I then finished off one of our classmates glass because she couldn’t finish it! Holy alcohol! As Amanda had stated “You can tell we are grad students when two drinks gets us wasted!” Apparently our tolerance is lowered! 

exhaustion.

Well we made it through our first day in Singapore! We arrived at the airport at 6:00 a.m. and were taken to our apartments at Treetops. The drive was amazing! We got our first look at how stunning Singapore really is! The best part was when the Marina Bay Sands came into view. It's sheer size is stunning. (I would suggest everyone look it up online, although the pictures do not do it justice). We arrived at our apartment, which is beautiful, by the way, and we dismantled just about everything we brought with us. We then headed out to Orchard road, one of Singapore's best known avenues for shopping and entertainment! We then had lunch at Song of India. We felt a little out of place, first because we were the only group in the restaurant, and second because this place was decked out in chandeliers, gold plates, expensive paintings, and elaborate wine glasses. I guess from now on we ask for the cheaper restaurants! Either way it was wonderful for our first day! We then headed back to our apartments before the rain hit. I went to work off some of the water and toxins from traveling! The gym here will suffice but holy crap, it's lacking in some major AC. It is now 6:40 p.m. and it's bedtime. I think we made it pretty far after 35 hours of traveling! Go team, go!

Tokyo... "hey are we going under water"

We are now officially in Tokyo. We arrived at Narita around 3:00 and had to take a two hour long bus ride through Tokyo to the Hedena airport. We all slept for most of the ride. We attempted not to and in the end we all failed miserably. Once again we faced another round of bag claim, check in, and security. Our efficiency has bottomed out. The exhaustion has managed to make us delirious and unable to manage our way through the airports. However, we did manage to find some food, wine and a skylounge with comfy chairs, internet, a shower, and drinks to hold us over for the remaining 5 hours. Then its one more eight hour flight to SINGAPORE! Right now our tentative plans require a swimsuit, sun, and a pool! Thank you Len Jennings for giving us a day off on our arrival! The ladies I have been traveling with are nothing short of amazing, it makes the 30 plus hours of travel more enjoyable. If that much traveling can be enjoyable?

Frozen Engine Valve.

Happy New Year! I rang in my new years sleeping. In fact I was in bed by 10:00 and back up by 2:30 a.m. I had been panicking about the weather for the last week, wondering how delayed we were going to be going out of Minneapolis. I guess in some respect we lucked out, the weather turned out just fine. We got to the airport with plenty of time, checked in, went through security and boarded on time. Then the fun part came. We ended up having to deplane because an engine valve was frozen! Lets just say I ended up hanging up on my mother when they announced we were being deplaned. Hello panic! We waited at the gate for another 40 minuets and finally got rushed back on the plane only to have to sit at the gate doing absolutely nothing for another 40 minutes. Finally we pulled away and then once again another delay…we had to be deiced. At this point we were all pretty much beyond panic. Our flight was not a connecting flight but rather two separate flights on two separate airlines. We miss our flight our of Chicago and we are Screwed, Capital S. Anyway finally we get up in the air and arrive at O’Hare at 9:00 on the dot. This gave us an hour and a half to claim our baggage, change terminals (mind you O’hare is gimongous!), re-check baggage, check-in, go through security, and find our gate! Well you see these girls that I’m traveling with are kind of amazing and we pulled it off with time to make a Starbucks stop! At this point we met up with Jen, one of my favorite people in the world! Now it was time for our 14-hour flight. I was immediately antsy and didn’t want to face the fact that I was going to be on a plane for what would be an entire waking day for me usually! Now that we are about an hour away I feel as though it has gone relatively quickly. I managed to get through one book (I would suggest “Letter to my Daughter” by Maya Angelou to anyone!). I watched The Social Network (good movie, makes me wish I could make a change in society that profound), and I slept for about an hour or maybe two hours. At this point who the hell knows, my concept of time is completely jumbled!

P.S. Jen is staying an extra week in Bali. For $50 I could change my flight and go with her for relatively cheap. Since when am I spontaneous? All those in favor…