- Singlish Word of the day: I don't know. Any one of the words the old lady that checked me out at the grocery store said. I just kept nodding and smiling.
- Amazing Advertising Learning: So far, I've seen a wide spread of stuff. The crazy colors and asian scenes like that Lindsey Lohan commercial she did and then Gap ads that seem to also have a 'global checklist' of ethnicities.
- Dumb American moment: The easy answer here would be when I kept nodding and smiling to the old grocery lady. However, I vow to be honest so I'll say my dumbest moment today was trying to get out of my building. 6-7 people crowded in the hallway, and I go flying up to the door to get out and it doesn't budge. The Indian man next to me kindly pressed the exit button you have to press in order to open the doors. It's times like that, I wish I didn't have Blonde hair.
After this next statement, I will start from the beginning and go in chronological order of the last 2 days (3 days? this time difference stuff is tricky). But I wanted to set you're mind right. This is the view from where I'll be writing my updates, the view from my living room. I love it. Shout out to McCann Singapore for picking a place that couldn't be any closer to everything I would need.June 28th - 29th:
11:30: Ellie and Courtney kindly drop me off at the airport and lug my 3 gigantor suitcases to the curbside. 
And they earn bonus points for staying with me until I'm checked in b/c I may or may not have been totally freaking out. I get checked in and through security in a measly 20 minutes. Pfft. So much for showing up 2 hours ahead of time.
And they earn bonus points for staying with me until I'm checked in b/c I may or may not have been totally freaking out. I get checked in and through security in a measly 20 minutes. Pfft. So much for showing up 2 hours ahead of time. My flight is delayed until 3:00 so I've now got 3 hours to kill. What's that you say? You can get in the Sky Club when you fly first class? And it's right next to my gate? Don't mind if I do. Thank you IPG. I spend the next 3 hours in the lounge to ease my anxiety. I would say I was pounding some drinks but I was a nursing major compared to the characters in that lounge. Not a soul wasn't drinking and several, SEVERAL people lapped me when going back for their 2nd, 3rd, 4th Scotch and water. I do not tell lies. Scotch and water was a popular choice at 1:00 in the afternoon. I honestly felt sorry for the white wine so I had to have a few sympathy glasses.
I could go on forever about the characters I saw in that lounge, but I've got a lot to cover in this entry. Let me just say that Mr Miyagi was there in full force, as was a very scary pedophile Asian man playing video games that I wasn't fortunate enough to catch on camera and all of the senior citizens of Atlanta. Average age of the Sky Club is 78. And if you're not 78, you were definitely weird. I wonder if that's what people thought about me.
I finally make it on the plane (cutting line of course, b/c you can when you're Sky Priority...I'll never be able to fly the same again...ever) and get situated in my pod.This is where I spend the next 22 hours. With a short hour layover in Tokyo where they make you get off the plane (even though you'll get back on the same plane in the same seat) but no worries, they have a Sky Club there too. But this time I don't drink. The jet lag is hitting me, I feel a little wonky. As does David after Dentist sitting next to me with his parents. "I feel so funny, am I going to feel like this forever" No joke, the kid really said that. (If you haven't watched David After Dentist, you're missing out, seriously, watch it now...this means you mom).
Finally arrive in Singapore, get all my luggage (thank god) and step outside to the driver's van. Oh good lord it is effing HOT outside. At 1:00 AM. The humidity is suffocating. I contemplate just turning right back around and getting a return flight to Atlanta b/c if it's this bad at 1:00 AM, how will it be in the day?! The driver says "you'll get used to it". I hate it when people say that. They say that about the South too. I've lived in the deep south for most of my life and I still hate stepping outside 100 days of the year. When do I get used to it? B/c it certainly won't be in the next 3 months. HOWEVER, I want to add, that when I was out and about this morning, it was quite nice on the streets and I currently have the window open in my apartment. Totally manageable as long as you're not directly in the sun. But good god, when you're in a stale environment with no air conditioning aka my elevator lobby, I can't differentiate between my sweat and the humidity. So for now, no ruling on whether or not I hate Singapore weather. Stay tuned.
Apartment:
Ahhh, now to the apartment, I have to admit, at first I was a little sketch b/c of all the wood, the steps down to the living room (hello Ron Burgandy) and some sort of semi-awful stench. But in the daylight (and admittedly after some sleep in a bed), I actually quite like it. The location is ridiculous. And I like the view. The light switches are all upside down - meaning you flick it up to turn it off and down to turn it on - which I guess they would be everywhere so I can't blame the apartment.
The weirdest thing of all is that in both the bathrooms (yes, I have a 2 bedroom, no idea why...anyone want to visit?) in the shower area is a grate that is open to the outside. Literally, no screen, no way to shut it, just straight outside air. Not that anyone could see in, but still. If you know me at all, the fear of bugs coming through that thing is incapacitating. I slept with the bathroom door shut and showered with one eye open.
Here's the address if for any reason you want to send something 9,000 miles.
Somerset Orchard Serviced Apartments
N 160 Orchard Road
#06-01 OG Orchard Point
Singapore, 238842
I'm apartment 6-11
After getting, 3.5 blissful hours of sleep in a bed, I was up and at em, at around 7:00. Grrr. Computer was dead, didn't have plug converter and couldn't access internet yet anyways. Phone was also easily under 10%. So I decided to go ahead and get a move on, no point in forcing sleep that won't happen and wallow on lack of communication. I'm not gonna lie, not having access to the internet or being able to use my phone made it really, really lonely for the few hours I was without it. It's scary how much I depend on it. I thought it was just for information access but it actually affected my mental well-being. Anyway, onto more exciting things, apartment has complimentary breakfast, delightful. I think I will take advantage of that every morning. I explored the rest of the complex, exercise room, pool, good god it's hot up here.
And then I hit the road. Went to the mall and walked around for about 30 minutes b/c even though it's open to walk around in, most of the stores are not open yet. So I anxiously await the tech store to open so I can get converters to charge my accessories and convert what little USD I have into SGD that I have no idea what each bill and coin means. In the waiting, I circled the whole mall and found a McDonalds, a Haagen Dazs, a Long John Silvers (with neon blue chairs) and my favorite, a SUBWAY! Woohoo.
I just may make it over here afterall.
I believe I will be trying the metro system tomorrow as I will need it to get to work. But for now, I've got to go find something to do so I won't nap and so I'll have more to write about later this week. Until next time.
P.S. Eclipse premiered here as well today. I will also be making a trip to see that this week. If someone could overnight my Team Edward shirt I'd greatly appreciate it.
