American Girls are Weather and Noise

my teacher asked if i liked eating cuddle fish. i said no, they are my favorite animal. she said,...

Fri, 17 May 2013 14:54:45 -0400

my teacher asked if i liked eating cuddle fish. i said no, they are my favorite animal. she said, favorite for eating? i said nonono favorite for favoriting. and she thought that was funny. and asked why. so i said marine biology. i’ve alwasy wanted to do it but it’s not very practical. she said here, work as a teacher, and work on a boat doing research about cephalopods. here, after i’m fluet, i would be an excellent lab student. don’t tempt me old woman. that is all i have ever wanted. hanging out with all those succered nuggets

Gross

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:30:32 -0400

Guru: Why are you upset
Me: beacuse all the men yell at me out of their cars and I think it's rude.
Guru: They just think you are sexy with your white skin and your short pants
Me: I don't care if they think it's sexy. I'm walking to class not selling my body.
Guru: It is rude. Why don't you write about that for homework?

We're Both Just Stating the Obvious

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:37:53 -0400

Little Boy: Bule!
Me: oh! anak kecil yang indonesia
Little Boy: I know!
Me: Then why are we talking?
Little Boy: ahahahahahahahahaha

A Little Perspective: USA and Space

Tue, 14 May 2013 09:57:47 -0400

Now, I’m going to point a finger or two, with full knowledge that I used to be, and probably still am, one of these people. People who are so in love with the idea of maps, or the world, or what have you that they get it tattooed on their bodies.

We all know I have a problem with white people who have always had everything they ever needed and they don’t appreciate that fact. Now, I have had everything I ever needed and more (especially around the mid-region) so why am I the one talking you ask. I will tell you: because living for 3 weeks on the other side of the world, in a Second-and-a-Half world country has really put things into perspective for me.

People who get maps tattooed on their body for their love of a world they have yet to see piss me off. I have just come to this conclusion while looking through some pictures of tattoos on white girls. If you have only ever lived in one or two cites in the Midwest of the USA you don’t know shit about the world; I would bet you don’t know much about yourself either. I am no expert, but to love something so fully that you tattoo it on your body is a big commitment, and I think you should be more sure about these kinds of things. Do you really want a country tattooed on your body that is full of corruption, filth, poverty, and pollution? This may not describe the country you are living in, but it does describe the country that some people on this massive orb live in.

Now if you live in America, let me put this further into perspective. There are McDonald’s restaurants here in Indonesia. There is one particular restaurant, right across the street from the school I teach at, that I have enjoyed a meal at and I must thank the USA for that meal. Now this McDonald’s has a parking lot for 20 or 30 cars, as well as some room for motor bikes. You say, yes-all-McDonald’s-have-parking-lots-goofy and you would be right. McDonald’s brings in so much money that in a city where there are no parking lots, McDonald’s has a parking lot. The police station next door rents out parking spots from McDonald’s for their cop cars. The police do not have enough money to buy a parking lot. My school has a parking lot that they share with the entire strip mall attached to my school. There are attendants there to help traffic flow because our school, on a good day, will get 4 or 6 parking spots total. That’s for every teacher, student, and parent in anyway involved with EF.

Across the street there is a parking lot that is 6 times bigger than the parking lot for my school and it is for a fast food restaurant. Only the rich people go to McDonald’s here too. That’s backwards, its fast food; it should be cheap! An American franchise has so much pull in a country where space is limited that they have extra space! The parking lot is never full, but you better be sure if you park your car there that you are going into McDonald’s, or the parking attendants will get you.

So when I say that I don’t like it when people get a world map tattooed on their body it is only because I have a different perspective than I had a month ago. In a country where people beg for money smaller than a penny—they have 3 coins that are worth less than an American penny—I have to squint really hard to see all the love that the white girls from the Midwest have for the world. It is only in the land of the plenty that you can get ink forced into your skin in shapes that represent a country ridden with pollution, corruption, and poverty.

**Note** I am a white girl from the Midwest. I have tattoos on my body.

so i scratched my face a little in my last class. my kids were horrified, but they are kids, so i...

Mon, 13 May 2013 11:48:29 -0400

so i scratched my face a little in my last class. my kids were horrified, but they are kids, so i let them out liek 2 minuets early, and we were done with eveythign anyway. i go downstairs and grab a paper towel for my bleeding chin, and Sydney sees me and freeks out. Like excuse me, there is no need to be so upset. He goes “Rach” (did i say you could call me nicknames?) “are you okay?!” and i’m like “yeah, yeah, fine I just got punched in the face” because honestly no one shoudl look at you holding a paper towel to your chin and think you got punched in the face… so he flips shit and Sam flips shit and i’m like “guys. i just have a little scratch.”

good lord, please don’t ever watch me fall off a motor bike and get road rash. you will both die of a kyniption

Rujak

Sun, 12 May 2013 09:54:56 -0400

Today I went with Mat and Alex to Surabaya for the Festival Rujak. We met up with Laily, and then were treated like royalty for the entirety of the festival. The festival was tables and tables of people making rujak to see who could make the best fare. We got pulled in for pictures with almost every group we came across. There was a group dressed up as dogs, a cross-dressing group, a group with crazy hair, and they all wanted to take pictures and shake our hands. We were let into the area where locals were not allowed because we are bules, and got to eat some of the mayor’s rujack. Rujak is peanuts and chilies ground up together to make a sauce. Then, they put in some tempe, some pineapple, some cucumber, and some cow nose. The cow nose is boiled to the consistence of chewy jello, and it’s not my favorite thing.

We then went up on stage to say some slogan really fast in Bahasa Indonesia, and after making a fool of ourselves Mat, Alex, Laily and I won free t-shirts. They are bright green, really soft, and mine actually fits! We dipped out after that, having enough of the people touching us bit. We walked into a Buddhist temple and got a tour though all the giant candles and incense. It was interesting and the building was very red and hot. We then went to the mall in an attempt to watch “The Great Gatsby” but it is not out here yet. So Laily and I looked at shoes, I bought a jump rope and looked at snorkels, ate some expensive coffee drink, and then helped Alex buy a guitar. In the same store, while he was doing that, I looked at little kids’ books in Bahasa Indonesia thinking I could get one to help me study. They were kind of expensive, and I needed to save money for the taxi ride home. In the bathroom, while washing up for prayer, I noticed my eyes have gigantic bags underneath them. I look like I’ve been punched. Mat says it’s the air here… the pollution makes you look 800 years older than you are. It is reversible; you just have to go to Bali, or somewhere else with salt water and cleaner air. I then went with Laily to the mushola on the top floor of the mall. It was nice and breezy while I waited for Laily to pray, and I got a good tall view of the city, which always makes me happy. It was a very fun day, and I think it is what was needed especially because the power went out about 11am this morning, so there was no internet and no showers for anyone.

McDonald’s and Other Friday Night Observations

Sat, 11 May 2013 04:39:00 -0400

I was really hungry last evening after teaching 3 classes. It was strange, because I was stuffed off peanuts only 2 hours before I got off work, but alas, the body is needy and that is annoying in and of itself. There is no pizza here, or any I would eat, and the amount of junk food that is available is close to zero. So, though I refuse McDonald’s while I’m in the States, I had some last night for dinner.

Before I went to dinner I went to get some sandwich fixin’s. I went to 3 different grocery stores to accomplish this feat. Living with other white folks they tend to know where things for making deli sandwiches are, but sometimes you have to take an hour taxi ride into Surabaya to get the things you need. I had to stop in at hero to get cheese and deli meat however. I found some gouda (not the best, but better than laughing cow spreadables), turkey and corned beef, and some tomatoes. Together these things cost me twice as much as the taxi ride to the city did to find the baguette bread. But let me tell you, it was worth it. I made a big samich for breakfast, and it was the closest thing to heaven I’ve had since I’ve arrived, especially because I drizzled peppered olive oil on there too, and melted the cheese onto the meat onto the bread in the toaster oven.

Now, I remember McD’s always disappearing really fast back when I used to eat it, but I also remember it being bigger. Here, the chicken sandwich is like 3oz of chicken, and when you bite into it it actually looks like chicken. It’s got the muscle lines, and it’s a little bit brown; looking nothing like the white mush they deep-fry in the States and call it chicken. Also, the give you a small drink and small fries with your meal, I’m pretty sure in the US it’s a Large of both, yes? But eating took forever. I remember fast food being consumable quickly as well. Apparently here that is impossible. It took me a whole chapter in my book to finish eating. I felt like the fries continued on forever, and the chicken sandwich even longer. I should not have eaten so late, though, I was up forever with my roommates, and then longer after that skyping with people who were supposed to be writing their senior papers.

Mat and I were sitting out back talking the way Americans do: aggressively, and about things that will never really happen in real life. Dylan had left us and in an absence of UK persona we got a bit carried away with inappropriate jokes and beer. After a while Alex, and his Kiwi self, came out to join us and Alex and Mat got into it. Jesus. I’m surprised punches were not thrown. The short of it is Alex said some demeaning things about Americans to get a point across to his class (“close-minded” was the vocab word), and whereas I did not take it offensively I think Mat did. He said he didn’t, and was just warning Alex to not say such political things while teaching because it could get him in trouble. What’s weird is even though insults were thrown neither of them got up and stormed off. If it were me in the argument I would have taken myself away from the situation. Perhaps because I don’t like confrontation (okay, that’s a lie, I cause confrontational things just so I’m not bored), or perhaps I have learned that I can say some mean things I really don’t want to hurt people’s feelings if I think they are genuenly a good person (that Alex is) but they are just kinda dumb sometimes. It turned into me and Mat telling Alex to get out of his head and grow up. His excuse (always, children have their excuses, don’t they?) was that he was 22 and was still learning how to grow up. I said, “Child, I am 22. Your age doesn’t mean anything. Open your eyes sometimes and see what is going on,” which was as nice as I could be after 4 beers and a witnessing the conversation I just had.

Then Dylan came back to us, and all the guys started smoking, which confused me… because both the Brit and the Kiwi were all like “we don’t smoke lalalalalalalala.” Now, Alex is off to the store to buy cigarettes and alcohol so he can write (which was half of the argument last night because he is a writer who is not writing [problem number one, don’t you think?]). And this whole past twenty-ish hours has been really strange. And being with Mat helps the homesickness in general, as in I don’t miss Chicago land as much as I thought, but the personal homesickness, for specific people has gotten really bad. But I’m sure it’s worse for the Brit and the Kiwi, as they don’t have people to play off of, and they have been here longer than me, giving them more time to develop some homesickness, and they don’t even speak Bahasa so I can only guess how hard a time they are having right now.

allaboutindonesia: A stunning photo of a bat cave in West Java,...

Thu, 09 May 2013 00:21:01 -0400

allaboutindonesia:

A stunning photo of a bat cave in West Java, Indonesia.

———

Sebuah foto gua kelelawar yang menakjubkan di Jawa Barat, Indonesia.

greater-reality: Everyone who terrifies you is sixty-five percent water.And everyone you love is...

Thu, 09 May 2013 00:18:36 -0400

greater-reality:

Everyone who terrifies you is sixty-five percent water.
And everyone you love is made of stardust, and I know sometimes
you cannot even breathe deeply, and
the night sky is no home, and
you have cried yourself to sleep enough times
that you are down to your last two percent, but

nothing is infinite,
not even loss.

You are made of the sea and the stars, and one day
you are going to find yourself again.

Little Bat Friends

Wed, 08 May 2013 15:34:00 -0400

I told you guys I was getting a bat when I moved to Indonesia. I was not lying. Today the cutest bat came and hung out with us about midnight. He (she) was eating an unripe papaya, and he just hung out there licking the juice out of that green little sphere like it was the nectar of the gods. Mat opened a beer, and the little guy covered his ears with the tips of his wings and I about melted from the cuteness! He looked at me with his blind little eyes, his ears all a’flickering cus he could hear me looking at him. I really want to talk to him every night, and tell him how cute he is. I’m supprised Dylan didn’t call me a girl considering the amount of times I told the bat (Glydas) that he was cute. Mat is convienced it’s his dead mother come back to keep an eye on him, all the way in Indonesia, so we’ve called him Glydas. He flew away after about an hour, so then we sat up for another hour talking about office drama, planning inside jokes, and enjoying the fact that we both have a little bit of black in our souls.

Why Am I Not a Child?

Tue, 07 May 2013 09:22:36 -0400

I was walking home from work, and there was this thing. it was amazing. it looked like a boat on wheels. and it had christmas lights all around the outside. and the boat was full of children. and on the front. on the front there was a giant plastic pegasus. yes. i about hopped on that boat myself, even though it was not going home. saddly, i am an adult, and i restrained myself cus i really wanted to go home and eat icecream for dinner :p

Observations about Non-American Boys

Sun, 05 May 2013 06:02:00 -0400

they are inordinately polite… they also use words like “inordinately”

today i made some cookies. when either the Brit or the Kiwi came out of their room I said “there’s cookies!” to me that means “please, have some cookies, i’ve made them you see, and i would like to be nice and share.” both of them (the yankee did not want cookies) then asked “may I have one” or “may I have another one” which was strange to me, because in my mind i already had offered…

the brit makes jokes all the time, like any guy my age. only he makes intelligent jokes about how stupid the movie is by subjugating women, or the state of his badminton birdie. never is it what i’m used to from guys my age; I have yet to roll my eyes at him!

the kiwi was offering me some chocolate milk and he said it was weird, that it tastes like chocolate and milk, and not like chocolate milk. being intrigued i took some, trying to think of what chocolate milk would taste like other than chocolate and milk… and to me it tasted like chocolate milk. so i told him perhaps american and indonesian chocolate milk are similar and new zealand chocolate milk is some magical thing i’ve never before tasted. he said maybe he’s the weird one… hm

but yeah… polite. no eye rolling. i got some good roommates who treat me like a human and not like a girl, even when i make cookies. fuck yeaaa

got a really long email from my best Mr Smiles. here are some highlights about why he is on my...

Sun, 05 May 2013 01:06:07 -0400

got a really long email from my best Mr Smiles. here are some highlights about why he is on my favorites list:

“The world seems quieter with you on are the other side”

“I am going to watch another classic Japanese film tonight, as I am continuing my exploration of classic Japanese directors. I’ll have my essay of film criticism posted to you by midnight, so you can grade it in your new teacherness.”

“Yesterday I noticed that I misspelled Jalan in my subject line for this group of messages we have. But it kind of makes me laugh, since I think it is emblematic of my butchering of Indonesian, and the enjoyment I get out of playing with the language.”

“One of her grandsons is a bit of a dick, singing about how she found some demon teeth to keep her healthy and burdening them with her appetite.”

“…eventually knocks the son off into the ravine after his father as a tremendous murder of crows flies up from it.”

“The idea of the folk tale, carrying elderly to die up on a mountain where they are no longer burdensome, is pretty interesting. The first thing that immediately came to mind was my own experience with the elderly at the nursing home I use to work at, and how families essentially made their own trip to dump the elderly in a Narayama nursing home.”

Adventures with the Mandi

Sat, 04 May 2013 01:44:31 -0400

Our house is the only EF house whose shower is stuck on hot, all the other houses are cold only. Which is nice, i expected to be taking cold showers twice a day, and it’s the little things that count, right?

EXCEPT FOR TODAY. I woke up late, and bummed around and went running about 11.30. You say, “Silly Rabbit, why would you do that? That’s the hottest part of the day!” Wrong. The hottest part of the day is 6-9am, and so if I get up anywhere after 4.30 am, I have to wait to run. Regardless, Indonesia is always hot, and the sun was out, and I probably could have ran more of my run, but I did not. It was longer than anything I’ve done since I’ve gotten here.

But to the point: I was super-hot, the shower was super-hot, and I was having none of it! However, our Mandi does not have a plug, so I’m over here turning it on and off to fill up my bath bucket. Let me tell you, washing your hair (even short little grandma haircut hairs like mine) with a bucket is hard work. I had forgotten until today. But the water was nice and cool, and I took a long time in the bathroom, and I don’t even care. I did stick my bike wounds under the hot shower, just to be sure they are clean and bacteria free (this is impossible, I know, SHUT UP THIS IS MY STORY).

Anyhow, I’m very bored already, and I haven’t even eaten breakfast or lunch, but I think I’ll make brunch now, and maybe play some harmonica, and transcribe some writing to the computer… and then maybe Mat will be home from work, and Dylan and Alex will come out of their rooms, and we can all have a party@! and I can stop being booooored.

Side Note: Call that lady and set up BI lessons

Hari Kamis

Thu, 02 May 2013 09:41:30 -0400

i took a taksi all by myself today, and got to the right place and everything! the australian kid is gonna get kicked, for real, and i haven’t even been here a week. do not wistle at me as i get out of a cab on my way back from a very lovely meeting with the head recruitment office. especially when at that meeting i ate a fish that still had a head and a tail on it but i did not cry, or gag, or anything.

i ate a sweet bun that looked like a kura-kura and it was delicious! and dylan made fun of me for being a child… i got a bungkus of nasi goreng; it is the biggest bungkus i have ever seen, and I’m going to eat it all! i have already eaten the three lomboks and i did not cry.

i neither stole a cigarette from Sydney, nor did I buy a pack while I was buying TP at the convience store (because the men in this house used all of it!), even though I really wanted to. It’s not fair that everyone else gets to smoke like chimneys and not worry about cancer. but i win, squares 0.

the gay man at work talks about love like that’s all you need to make it work…that the...

Wed, 01 May 2013 09:50:37 -0400

the gay man at work talks about love like that’s all you need to make it work…that the government was confused in thinking that he could have possibly gotten married for any reason other than love.

Day of Orientation #2

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 07:41:56 -0400

most people in the office are weird as shit. all the indonesian teachers (who teach english) are fairly normal humans… but the native english speakers are all socially incompitatnt, or just suck at communicating. I know I’m not the most outgoing or charasmatic person in the world, but c’mon guys… i should not be the most competant person in the entirty of the office.

there’s this kid from austriala, espically, who I can’t tell if he is hitting on me, or I’m missing something in our communication. yesterday he offered me cake… today he got me a coffee, and then told me i looked like i knew my way around a gym, insulted my bahasa skills, and later showed me some strange translation from bahasa to english that he clearly used the internet to translate, but he was still so proud. what? back up off my nuts, or back up off my space, or something dood. you confuse me.

the other two white women in the office are both really… like walking on egg shells. one is a super control freek, i can tell already. the other one just starts saying things and i don’t know what she is playing at. she yelled at the whole office earlier cus she couldn’t find one of her folders, and then later she staired at my feet, and i didn’t know why, till she goes “i like words”. swell man, you like words. I have words all over my body. 2/3 of my tattoos are words. say something of worth, or ask me a question or something.

but my director is awesome. i bought 380, 000 rph worth of food at the hero (38$ at the store). Granted I bought 2 Guiness, and that’s stupid expessive, that was 45,000, and then olive oil to make stir fry in for almost 100,000. and tonight i am doing a workout in my backyard (we have a backyard!) on my new workout mat (that is not a workout mat, it’s a kindergarden play mat, but it was cheaper) that Mat got for me yesterday (Mat got me a mat, yes). Then I will make stirfry and shower and then my roommates will be home!

whine session this morning is awful. i didn’t run, or go to the pasar like I was planning. i...

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 21:11:11 -0400

whine session

this morning is awful. i didn’t run, or go to the pasar like I was planning. i got into a real deep conversation last night involing rice wine, and how it’s okay to have feelings. and i’m trying to remind myself that even though Uragray passed equal marriage, and America still hasn’t, it’s okay to miss the stupid place. it probably doesn’t help that i’m listening to bon iver and all the related sad songs on youtube. but it’s been like an hour of tears this morning. everything smells like indonesia, and food is hard, and the roommates hang out in their rooms all morning, and I’m nervous for my first day, and blaah. i should really get off the computer, but i’m mad i can’t text people when ever i see fit because stupid international texting laws and prices and stupid shit. and skype and facebook are on the computer. it is still the first week. it is okay to feel weird and awful. i will look at Indonesian classes, and i will try to read the paper. all i have to get through is today. and i can start my 365 day count down today. we will see if I need to stop counting down in a couple months when i don’t sweat as much, and the language doesn’t make me so tired, and I have some friends and some teaching experence under my belt.

Day ½ and Whole

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 11:13:00 -0400

I arrived on the plane and met a fellow from the UK, and we went through security and immigration together, all because I noticed that he had EF paperwork too. He is working in Surabaya, and I in Sidoarjo, but we are flying back to Singapore on the same day, so I’m sure I’ll see him again. Immigration officials thought we were married… what? I literally just met this guy, guys.

I met my driver and said goodbye to Matt, or Dave, or whatever his name was. And we drove to EF to meet my director, and gather my tide-me-over money, and some treats (bread, nescafe, tea, and milk). Then I was driven to my new house, with roommates Alex (a Kiwi), Mat (an American, from about an hour from my parent’s house), and Dylan (another UK kid). They took me to dinner at a fancy restaurant, after I unpacked all the way. The first half of unpacking was a skype call, so I clearly got nothing done but bitch about all the shit I brought with me. Then we kind of hung out, but I had a shower and went to sleep pretty early.

I woke up at 4.45 this morning, a whole hour later than the past 2 days! I went for like, a 2 km run around the blok, I really was not in the mood to get lost that early in the morning. Then I came back and did my legs challenge and pushups with the sunrise. Then I had a shower, and tea, and some trail mix for breakfast. I talked to Laily, and took a nap.

I woke up to Laily banging on our gate, and feeling bad because I thought I was riding to Surabaya with my roommates and meeting her, but she came to pick me up instead. So nice! We went and saw her family. They said I got prettier and skinnier. I think I just got bigger boobs and hair that matches my complexion better, but I’ll take a complement, so thanks! The baby is now 3, and the little girl is speaking English! We had a famous lunch, a little bit of cow, and some rice, and a mashed potato thing, and veggies. Then we went around to everyone’s houses, and they tried to feed me more snacks and drinks. That’s how you show someone you like them though, right? Same as America… eat this food! Feel relaxed! Let us show you that we like having you here!

We got my a phone card, and I’m using Laily’s old phone, because I’m a dumb ass and forgot to bring my wallet to buy a phone with. And only had 10000 rph, and I needed 70000. Dumb. Then we went to the mall and tried to find my roommates (turns out they were at a different mall, and English to American cell phone service is all not time friendly, I got texts 2 or 3 hours after the fact). We looked at shoes, and drank some coffee (I had to try so hard to find black coffee). Kopi pahit was worth it though.

Laily drove me home, because I could not find my roommates to split a cab with. We stopped by the Hero, and I bought dragon fruit, salek, jimica, a vegetables I’ve never seen, some mushrooms, and a packet of black coffee. Coffee here comes with sugar and milk in it already, and I don’t want that!

Then I came home, and was alone for like 5 minutes. It was fine that they came home, I was not upset, but it was a nice 5 minutes by myself. I wrote a little, and got no reading of the newspapers I took from Laily’s parent’s house done, because my one roommate from the USA offered me some rice wine, so I took him up on the offer. Needless to say it’s way later than I was planning on going to sleep, but we had a deep talk, or six, about life here and life in general and being true to yourself, so I think it was not time wasted. Especially because the other boys locked themselves away after they got back. I’m sorry, I cannot do that for a few more days. I need human contact. I’ve been by myself for a week, and that is far too long. I want to talk, and inform, and understand, and read people. One on ones are good for that though, so huzzah that it happened.

Tomorrow I start teaching! I don’t know what to wear.

Singapore

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 08:32:00 -0400

I was homesick, and alone, and bored to tears till I decided to go out and wander, and may I say? “God damn.” Changi is pristinely groomed, and everything is green, and I daresay it is a cross between the USA and Indonesia. It’s got a little bit of Asian flair, but there are Starbucks, and McDonalds, and Irish pubs, and everyone knows English. The people… I mean, I was on the shopping strip, and everything looked very expensive, but every single person looked like they woke up and thought very long and hard about the clothes they put on their bodies. There is every style you can think of, and some I would never choose for myself, but everyone was put together.

I saw two or three House of Condoms and some other risqué things. Oh MY, those things are usually in the seedy parts of town, in the US, but in Singapore they are out there next to Marc Jacobs and other fancy things.

I treated myself to a Guinness and fish and chips and the football game at the Irish pub near my hotel after an hour and a half walk up and down Orchard road. I feel asleep very early both nights I was there. It was fine, because there was nothing to do, but that means I was up at 4, with a couple of hours to dick around before the gym opened. So I got a run in and my legs challenge every morning I was there, but no swimming (how I miss it!), because it was raining… I’m sorry that’s a stupid rule. If there is no lightning let me in the pool! I am a lifeguard, I know how these things work.

Had to pay a lot of money at the airport to get my overweight bags to Indonesia, and perhaps I should have sent all my books over via boat, it would have been cheaper, but then I would be complaining about how I don’t have any books right now. So, lots of nerves for the last few hours I was in Singapore. But, my roommates say that it’s the only place fun around. That, like, overnight Singapore decided it was going to be fun.

They have really strict laws for litter and cars, because they want to keep up appearances, and they don’t want the roads to be crowded said my taxi driver. And it’s the only place you can buy spirits around this area of the world, it being sandwiched between Malaysia and Indonesia. And it has clubs apparently, and way more swimming pools than Indonesia (please? I’m just going to fly there to swim, jesu mi krisa).

So in short, Singapore is lovely, but I was very lonely, and I’m not trying to do anything on my own for that long ever again.