initially i got home and felt so fucking tired that i wanted to crash right away, but i gotta pack for Arts Camp and settle some stuff before i could go to sleep in peace. but then after i finished my agenda, my fatigue faded away as well.

first official post after returning home.

hot. Singapore is so hot. we should enclose Singapore like the Simpsons Dome and air-condition the whole damn island. we can still get our sunshine and it will never rain.

in a nutshell i went for language immersion/cultural exchange. 3 weeks gave me just the right amount of time to experience life in Muenster and pick on some of the habits they practise. perhaps you people should be interested to know what i experienced (alright maybe not, like how many of you actually read thru everything that i typed)

they cycle to almost every where they go. every pedestrian pavement is divided into 2 paths, the left (red) path and the right (black) path. the red path is always reserved for cyclists. the locals really adhere to the paths they're supposed to take. there were times when we got too carried away (the usual Asian on-the-street yakking) that we forgot that we were occupying the red lane, resulting in awkward stares from the locals. actually we have this too, in East Coast Park, but its evident that people dont really care. you see pedestrians on the cycling path and cyclists on the walking path. doesnt it just take a small effort to be more mindful or where you are supposed to go? after 3 weeks of cycling, i have the sudden urge to cycle around Singapore too. (wait till they air-condition the whole island..)

they even have an underground 'bicycle-park' solely for all cyclists @ Radstation Muenster Hbf

they dont have frigging plastic bags in the Supermarket. like one my friends commented, they save plastic bags for us Singaporeans to use. haha true that. dont expect the cashier to provide you with a plastic bag when you purchase your groceries. plastic bags come at a hefty price tag (okay just 30 euro cents, but still, paying for a carrier?) and the locals have come to a consensus to bring their own carriers while shopping. can you imagine if our NTUC starts going bagless, all the auntie complaints might start pouring in to The Straits Times forums.

Singapore is a food paradise. you will never really appreciate this statement until you have gone overseas for a substantial period of time. my host, sadly, does not take breakfast (and sometimes even lunch too, yea i'm not kidding) so forget about a scrumptious meal to start every day off, just plain bread (like Gardenia bread) and cheap ham and cheese. sobs :'( no thats not typical, its just me. they usually have a wide variety of bread, cheese, ham, spread (jam, nutella, mustard), bratwurst, etc etc. 3 weeks of the same breakfast every day just made me miss carrot cake, pau, economic beehoon even more. its not surprising that i gorged myself with local delights the moment i touched down.

transport. buses that run on day service come every 20-40minutes while night services come every 30-60minutes. good luck to you if you just missed your bus. the long wait can get excruciating. especially when there's usually only 1 bus that gets to your estate. all day services end by 9pm but fortunately all night buses run all night long. despite the long waiting time, the buses get to each stop accurately. if it states 0843 at the bus stop, it will, 95% of the time, reach at 0843. so you can count on the buses to bring you to your destination on time. if the bus happens to reach at 0841, it will wait until 0843 before moving off. if your SBS bus came earlier and the bus driver waited for 2 min at the bus stop, just imagine how annoyed the commuters will get.

okay i'm getting tired. thats all for the time being. hope you had an interesting read.

Arts Camp day zero tomorrow! having mixed feelings about it.

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