I'm in love with Asia! (The blog title is a Buddy the Elf quote just in case you're not well-versed in ridiculousness.) I've been in Singapore for a little over a month and a half and this place has exceeded my expectations. The people, the languages, the food, the flora and fauna. God has shown me more of himself through His undeniable provisions in a God-centered school, a rich church community, and unending coffee dates with new and fascinating people. I have a friend who is an Australian ballet dancer (Shoutout to Ruth!). People here are so unpredictable. People will look Asian but then have a British or Australian accent. Everywhere I go is like a treasure hunt. Finding people's flats, a restaurant across town, or fun vintage dress shops are just a few that come to mind. I'm going to make an effort not to obsess over grammar, sentence structure, or being perfect in this post or in posts to come. These posts will be more my stream of consciousness, so please forgive me.
It's hard to fit into one post what I've experienced since I've been here. All I know is that I am right where I'm supposed to be. This place is stunning and so refreshing. I was blessed to be able to go to my church's church camp in Malaysia last weekend and make some new friends. We had a speaker from South Africa who gave me a renewed view of the Most High God. I needed this. I've been a Christian since I was sixteen and needed a fresh encounter with the living God. He preached on three different men who encountered God in the Bible. Moses, Isaiah, and John. Are you bored in church? What is your Biblical view of Jesus? Are you going through the motions? Read this passage in Revelation about John's encounter with the Son of Man:
Revelation 1:12-18
"Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades."
If we are bored in church then I think we need to pray that we would be diligent in reading God's word and seeking His face. Pray for a love of God's word. Listen to the Holy Spirit. Get quiet and listen to what he wants to tell you. He wants to spend time with you. He loves you with an everlasting love. He wants to dwell with his people. This is the glorified Jesus. Does it make you tremble? Are you in awe? I am guilty of approaching God casually, flippantly, and not seeing him as the Most High God. I am so thankful that we have a majestic, powerful, romantic, loving, and sovereign God. If you are in Christ, then eternity has already begun for you and me! Our job is to run with forbearance the race marked out for us. A race that was planned before the foundations of the world were laid. I love the Tim Keller quote, “God will only give you what you would have asked for if you knew everything he knows."
Switching gears, I am reveling in this Saturday morning. I am sitting in my chair in my room with the air con on. Air con is like a window unit but it's not in the window. Each room has one and you only turn it on when you're in the room. The kitchen and bathroom don't have air con but they remain semi-cool because we keep the windows open. A SLOW COFFEE IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE LIFE EXPERIENCES. You might be wondering what's different here.
Here are just a few things that come to mind:
-most people take public transportation here, whether it is a bus, train, or taxi (cars are uber expensive) I take bus 1-9-8 to work and take the green line train to church.
-you have to turn a water heater on 5 min before getting in the shower
-I haven't seen a bathtub yet
-We don't have a dryer because it's so darn hot (but really it's bearable...you just get used to being sticky...really it's no big deal...I drink probably 4 water bottles a day)
-I've only had one minor pimple since moving here. My skin LOVES it here. Also, my hair is very poofy here which I don't mind.
- We hand wash dishes.
-Cheese is super expensive and so is wine. Cutting these two things out of my diet abruptly has probably been a healthy change.
-All the hallways in the school are outside so you go outside to get to a bathroom that does not have air con but they do have ventilation. I don't mind it.
-I'm eating a lot more fiber, rice, and salty vs. sweet--sweets are not as sugary here. You can definitely find them but they're not as big of a deal. But ironically, local hawkers (food stalls) serve black coffee and other hot tea drinks with sweetened condensed milk. So there's that.
- Delightful bread stores are everywhere.
- Fresh fruit juices are common and cheap.
-There's a milk tea place called Gong Cha and my favorite is a taro milk tea. It's purple. No sugar. Caffeine for days.
-Life is simpler for me now. All of my stuff is fit into the size of a dorm room. I pay rent and utilities. That is all.
There's a Chinese season that's been going on called the Mid-Autumn Festival. It happens on the fifteenth day of the eight month on the lunar calendar, essentially on a full moon. People eat mooncakes which are a traditional Chinese bakery item. A friend (Shoutout to Aimee!) brought me a Lotus-paste mooncake to school the other day. Moist, not overly sugary, and very lotus-pastey, haha. Other traditions include lantern festivals, gathering of friends and family, and burning candles and offering treats such as sweets to appease the gods of the underworld. Everywhere I walk there is someone burning candles and making little shrines of candies and cookies. They also offer fake money. Packages of sweets, fake money, candles, and lanterns can be found in all the grocery stores. It would be like finding a Halloween mega-pack at Walmart. So fascinating!
Also, I'm thankful to be living in what's called an "HDB" which stands for Housing and Development Board. These buildings were erected by the Singapore government in the 70s and 80s as an effort to provide better housing for people living in slums. 82% of Singaporeans live in HDBs. I get to interact on a daily basis with elderly Chinese men and women, children taking their bicycles down the "lift" to play in the HDB playground, and working people lugging their groceries home from the neighborhood grocery store. (My grocery store is called Sheng Siong. It's a less expensive, not as American type of grocery store.) It is common to see elderly men (they very well could be 100+) sitting playing checkers or chess or some Chinese game I don't know about.
Because mostly everyone can speak English here I didn't consider learning Mandarin on the front end. After being here for a month and half, I've become intrigued by the characters and think they're beautiful. They are a mystery that I want to decode. So I'm going to start Mandarin lessons with another teacher at my school next Thursday. It's supposedly the second-hardest language to learn after English. So we'll see. It's worth a try!
Lastly, I want to say thank you for your prayers. I know that God hears our prayers and answers our prayers. He has been working in a mighty way here in Singapore and I can't wait to get more involved in people's lives here. My school is an incredible blessing. First grade has been a welcomed challenge and I cannot tell you how adorable my students are. They are from all over and have the best accents. My administration is very encouraging and supportive. The school is entirely a Google school so I'm getting better at Google Docs, Slides, Photos, Excel, Sharing, Copying, etc. The ICS staff is committed to teaching excellence for the glory of God. And they're so much FUN.
Please continue to pray for adjustments. I'm wondering when this will get hard. I feel like I might still be in the "honeymoon" stage of moving. I do miss hugging my parents, brother, and sis-in-law (who's due with my first NEPHEW in Dec.) but we have been able to FaceTime and WhatsApp. I'm so thankful for technology. Now I just have to get my parents to book a flight to Asia. I just won't even believe it if they are ever sitting on a bus with me in Singapore.
Please pray that I would be in tune with the needs of my students.
Please pray that I would love parents and families well in tangible ways.
Please pray that I would be in God's word and sitting at the feet of Jesus every morning.
I cannot tell you how thankful I am. I cannot tell you how at peace I am. The South African preacher at church camp said, "If you obey the Lord you get to live life in full technicolor." Life as a Christian is not boring.
It is a rollercoaster but yet a placid sea. A whirlwind but yet solid ground.
Ps. 61:2 "...lead me to the Rock that is higher than I."
Here are a few pictures...
These men are making my favorite, DUMPLINGS!
Home away from home. It's cozier now that school has started.
This is a hawker in an HDB community. It's a like a cafeteria with local food for people who live there.
People leave their shoes outside their place. I forgot to mention that one of the biggest adjustments and blessings has been how safe it is here. I walk around alone at night and it's fine. Weird! People don't have guns. There's swift punishments for crime. Things don't get stolen. Example: I dropped my school ID and bus pass one day and thought it was lost! It was week two and was thinking "I am so organized. This could not have happened to ME." A lady, a complete stranger, picked it up one night, called the school, and said she could drop it by the school if I was unable to come pick it up. I was so relieved and thankful!! I could not function without a school ID or bus pass. Being safe is a relief and bizarre. But I do know that low crime isn't no crime. I still use my head, don't worry. :)
This is the Star Vista mall. It's adjacent to my flat. It has a grocery store, clothing stores (expensive), lots of restaurants, and there's a train station attached and it's only a five minute walk from my place.
I wait at this bus stop in the dark every morning before school. There is a friendly elderly Chinese man who greets me with "Morning!" in a cute accent most mornings. If I catch the early bus there are the same group of people on the bus but they're mostly asleep, haha.
The number of coffee shops and breakfast/brunch places here is a dream. And they're all really cute.
The famous Raffles Hotel. Fabulous gift shop. Looking forward to High Tea here someday.
This is my local grocery store.
Love this local product. It's kind of like Vick's Vapor Rub. You can put it itchy skin, aching muscles, and just about anything else. One of my favorite things has been discovering new goods like coffee from Vietnam, an adorable British store called Cath Kidston, and new lotions, etc.
Scooters are big here. For children and adults alike.
Bake Sale at the school put on by the PTF. We have wonderful parent involvement. These goodies were very impressive.
In addition to finding dinosaur bones, the big trend on the playground right now is making worm houses. Man I love kids' free play. I bet kids did this in the first century. LOVE. Death to iPads and video games. But don't worry...I'm definitely not condemning parents who have these/use these. They can be a helpful and useful learning tool or just a mere saving grace!! (I'm real, yo.)
A typical school lunch. I was a happy girl because I didn't have lunch duty and my awesome principal brought us Starbucks from the neighborhood mall! SAY WHAT.
Throwback to Malaysia after a day at the beach, pre-massage. Pretty pumped because my CG is planning a trip to Indonesia by ferry at the end of October and massages, facials, and pedicures are dirt cheap.
Some friends at RHC church camp (kinda janky pic but I had to get some pictures of peeps in here)
This is my friend James Kuan. He's an amazing photographer and one of his photos will be displayed in a local gallery soon. He introduced me to Teh tarik (hot milk tea). We both love The Valley of Vision. He's in my CG.
Lotus paste mooncake
Solidifying kids' reading skills is a big responsibility! Pray for me!
Thank you for reading!! I enjoyed reflecting on the past month and a half. My plans for the rest of the day include shopping for some essentials, getting coffee with two peeps, and then a friend's luau-themed poolside bday party tonight. I want to make an effort to not be too busy, though. To steal a quote from a friends' Instagram (@emyoartwork):
"Beware the barrenness of a busy life."
-Socrates
