Pictures of S'pore

Hello again! Today I am borrowing some shots from Tyler, as I have yet to find a nice digicam (short for "digital camera"). There are lots of neat sights around Singapore.

This is a pic of the campus. There is a lot of greenery, trees and interesting landscaping throughout; it looks more like a tropical resort than a post-secondary institution.

This is another picture on campus. As Singapore was once a British colony, there are subtle reminders of this, like driving on the left side of the road (and when on escalators, people who are not walking are supposed to be on the left side too). Also, they use words like "queue" instead of "line-up", "lift" instead of "elevator", and "sweets" instead of "candies". Thankfully, "booyeah!" is still the same here or there.

This is a picture of the International Student Orientation. There are a lot of international students here. Thus far it appears that the highest populus of int'l students from a single country is Germany. Also apparently there are 20-30 UBC students here this term, but I haven't quite met that many (yet).

Here is a picture of Tyler and I at the NUS bus stop. We are taking the (air-conditioned) bus over to Clementi, which is a nice little area of open-air shops and a couple of squares where people eat food, shop, and... well actually that's about it. The busses and the MRT line (which is like the Skytrain) have a neat "EZ-Link" card where you top it up at kiosks in the bus station so you don't have to fumble for change! But you have to make sure to swipe the card again when you exit the bus, or else you are fined.

This is a picture of said bus. It looks full, no? But it is usually quite comfortable because of the air-conditioning. Air-conditioning is very nice!!! Actually the A/C can even be set at around 25 celcius and it still seems REALLY cold. The weather network regularly reports temperatures "feeling like" mid-forties, factoring in the intense humidity.

And here is a shot of Clementi, where I was able to find electrical adapters, clothing, bedding/sheets, slippers (flip-flops) and lots and lots of other good stuff. There is also a ton of food here.

So that's about it for now. There is actually lots more that I am not caught up on - yesterday it was raining torentially so we went to Suntec City, Singapore's biggest shopping mall (shopping is big here). However, it really just felt like 2 Metrotown's strung together. Tonight, Little India is supposed to be jumpin', so we'll hit dat up.

Until next time, where I plan to discuss the food, my room in residence, and other particulars about this country.

(C)

the Single Unfitted Sheet Fiasco (SUSF)

So today involved more registration (well, trying to register without any luck) and more Intense Heat! It was really hot today.

An Interesting Tidbit (tidWhat?) about Singapore is that they don't sell unfitted sheets. They have lots of varieties of fitted sheets (i.e. those with elastics that go over mattresses) but not unfitted ones. They even have quilts, but not unfitted sheets. P.S. I don't want a quilt because it would be too hot with one'a those bad boyz!

Even in the IKEA of Singapore do they not have them, a trip down there today confirmed this; I assumed it would be THE place to check for unfitted sheets, single size. But alas!

Anyway I just spent the last 2 hours cutting the elastic band out of a fitted sheet but now there are little bits of thread everywhere...and the sheet is fraying, but I don't have to use my beach towel as a sheet anymore. Praise be!

(C)

P.P.S. I meant for the "bee" sound in "Praise be!" and the "see" sound in "(C)" to rhyme, FYI!

Do You Want To Reach Me In Singapore?

Hello Family, Friends, and Complete Strangers,

Thanks for reading my blog! If you would like to contact me, you can call me at:

+65 9340 4757

P.S. 65 is the country code. Singapore is a small country so it doesn't need area codes.

Also, if you'd like to text me, that might be easier. I don't have many minutes on this phone plan.

Also, I'm going to get Skype so I can call y'all easier too soon. Check dat out! www.skype.com

(C)

! Singapore !

Hi!

So I still need to write a BIG update about how I got to Singapore, but I may well have to do that later.

It was quite an adventure because I was supposed to my friend Tyler (not my brother Tyler) at the Singapore Changi Airport at 11:30PM, but he didn't show up...so I had to end up sleeping in the lounge of one of the residences here until a security guard asked me to leave at 6:30 in the morning. It was VERY humid and I was sweating profusely, to coin a phrase.

Eventually I got checked into my residence, and I walked around a lot in the morning. I checked to see if Tyler had found his way over at around noon, and there were no records of him checking in, but as I was leaving I managed to run into him! So that was a fortuitious stroke of fortuity.

Anyway a lot of what has happened so far is going back and forth to different places to register for things, buy things, etc. Today I finally have a cell phone, Internet connection and sheets for my bed which is nice!!!!

I also half-registered for my courses, but have to go back tomorrow to sign up for what amounts to the "section" of the course, in UBC-terms.

Next time I'll update with the more interesting stuff, like what Singapore is actually like, but I want more time to wrizzite that up.

L8z,

C~D

A Blogtastic Teaser

Hello faithful readers! Welcome to another addition of the blog!

What is new? Well I am in Singapore, and I just gained Internet access. Booyeah!

What has happened in Singapore? You'll just have to wait for the next installment. This is a teaser after all! Here's a hint about what happened: it's riveting!

Until next time,

Colin


P.S. I am staying in room A211 in Sheares Hall at the National University of Singapore!

New Additions

I have added some more things! I was checking ColinLand Xpress (the past iteration of ColinLand) and noticed that, as of today, I have 1615 hits on that website!

So a counter has been added to the bottom of this page. Take a look! Also, I added a link to ColinLand Xpress, although it has been collecting dust for 3+ years - I never did receive my Rings of Immortality.

Below: Remember me?