Good Evening from Singapore!!! As most of you know, I got an internship here in Singapore and will be working out here for the summer. To tell you the truth, the thought about living overseas again was a little daunting at first, but I was excited about the new experience and met it head on. I flew out here through Tokyo the day before yesterday, and got in around 1 am Singapore time. Walking off the plane, I was greeted with a warm embrace of the extreme humidity and heat causing my body to immediately start sweating from every body part known to man. (try to contain yourself ladies) All things considered, all things being the little Asian lady who had the window seat next to me that had to pee 9 (seriously) times in a 10 hour flight, don't ask, the trip was not too bad. I am still unable to sleep on planes so I was extremely loopy upon arrival. Luckily for me, my hostel that I was staying at did not open until 9 am so I only had to sleep at the airport for 8 hours! As I was getting settled on my bench, a lady holding up a sign that said "AMEER ABELATY" waved at me and pointed to the sign. I could not help but laugh, and remembered that she could have written Amber. My coworker Sarah was so kind as to meet me at the airport to take me to my hostel, as she did not know it opened at 9...oops. So we went back to her parents house where I slept in their guest room and was force-fed food until I almost threw up. For those of you who know me, or have seen a picture, I am a pretty large man so I can certainly eat. However when you fly for so long, the last thing I wanted to do was eat. I promised to come back when I was feeling better and eat them out of house and home, lets see if I actually get invited back. So after walking around Chinatown (yes they have Chinatowns here too-go figure) for a couple hours and getting molested by about 300 tailors begging to make me a suit, I made it to my hostel on the complete other side of the island. The hostel was everything it said it would be. I had my own room and A/C, which is very very necessary on this island. What they didn't say, was that it was an hour from work, there were roosters roaming outside and I am pretty sure I saw a monkey in a tree near my window. That's right, I said a monkey. You get what you pay for, and in this case I paid for a monkey. Despite the monkey, I was so jet-lagged I slept for about 15 hours last night and my appetite is slowly coming back. Needless to say I was not happy with the conditions, and decided to look elsewhere for a better hostel the following day. I found the original hostel I was slated to stay in, (16 people to a room) and it turns out this place is great! I moved all my stuff over here in the hot sun, pretty sure I have sweated off about 10 lbs since yesterday and I am now a resident of the tree in lodge about 10 minutes away from work! Did I mention that there is Yoshinoya across the street???? Winning. And I found an arcade in the mall that is having a national pop-a shot competition... I really hope they let foreigners join. I will get used to the snoring of 16 people, but the location is so much better here and I haven't seen 1 animal yet that wasn't hanging in a restaurant window so I am happy. I start work tomorrow morning, and I am very excited. I have a Singapore phone now (15 minutes of which have been used to call overseas- thanks Prashant now please get a damn phone) and living in the hostel is giving me plenty of ways to make friends! It has been an effort getting situated that's for sure, but I feel like I am finally in the right place and I am excited to start work. That is all for now, I need to go shower (again) and get to bed. Talk to you later!
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Day 1-2
Good Evening from Singapore!!! As most of you know, I got an internship here in Singapore and will be working out here for the summer. To tell you the truth, the thought about living overseas again was a little daunting at first, but I was excited about the new experience and met it head on. I flew out here through Tokyo the day before yesterday, and got in around 1 am Singapore time. Walking off the plane, I was greeted with a warm embrace of the extreme humidity and heat causing my body to immediately start sweating from every body part known to man. (try to contain yourself ladies) All things considered, all things being the little Asian lady who had the window seat next to me that had to pee 9 (seriously) times in a 10 hour flight, don't ask, the trip was not too bad. I am still unable to sleep on planes so I was extremely loopy upon arrival. Luckily for me, my hostel that I was staying at did not open until 9 am so I only had to sleep at the airport for 8 hours! As I was getting settled on my bench, a lady holding up a sign that said "AMEER ABELATY" waved at me and pointed to the sign. I could not help but laugh, and remembered that she could have written Amber. My coworker Sarah was so kind as to meet me at the airport to take me to my hostel, as she did not know it opened at 9...oops. So we went back to her parents house where I slept in their guest room and was force-fed food until I almost threw up. For those of you who know me, or have seen a picture, I am a pretty large man so I can certainly eat. However when you fly for so long, the last thing I wanted to do was eat. I promised to come back when I was feeling better and eat them out of house and home, lets see if I actually get invited back. So after walking around Chinatown (yes they have Chinatowns here too-go figure) for a couple hours and getting molested by about 300 tailors begging to make me a suit, I made it to my hostel on the complete other side of the island. The hostel was everything it said it would be. I had my own room and A/C, which is very very necessary on this island. What they didn't say, was that it was an hour from work, there were roosters roaming outside and I am pretty sure I saw a monkey in a tree near my window. That's right, I said a monkey. You get what you pay for, and in this case I paid for a monkey. Despite the monkey, I was so jet-lagged I slept for about 15 hours last night and my appetite is slowly coming back. Needless to say I was not happy with the conditions, and decided to look elsewhere for a better hostel the following day. I found the original hostel I was slated to stay in, (16 people to a room) and it turns out this place is great! I moved all my stuff over here in the hot sun, pretty sure I have sweated off about 10 lbs since yesterday and I am now a resident of the tree in lodge about 10 minutes away from work! Did I mention that there is Yoshinoya across the street???? Winning. And I found an arcade in the mall that is having a national pop-a shot competition... I really hope they let foreigners join. I will get used to the snoring of 16 people, but the location is so much better here and I haven't seen 1 animal yet that wasn't hanging in a restaurant window so I am happy. I start work tomorrow morning, and I am very excited. I have a Singapore phone now (15 minutes of which have been used to call overseas- thanks Prashant now please get a damn phone) and living in the hostel is giving me plenty of ways to make friends! It has been an effort getting situated that's for sure, but I feel like I am finally in the right place and I am excited to start work. That is all for now, I need to go shower (again) and get to bed. Talk to you later!
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Will you be staying in a hostel the entire internship??
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