A bit of work and a lot of laughter

Day 26

The rain was so intense and non-stop today that I had no choice but to be a proper Singaporean tourist (or at least one who reads the Lonely Planet). This meant visiting the National Museum and then venturing into Orchard Road, which is a street not just of many shops, but of many shopping centres, some of which have 12 floors and stretch on for what seems like forever. It’s a scary place I tell you!

I really enjoyed the museum – first I joined in with a public tour led by an extremely sweet and entertaining lady and then wondered around independently. Although Singapore may seem young at first glance, looking deeper reveals a rich and fascinating history like no other. I loved the creative and diverse design of the museum which included a 360 degree video themed ‘daily life in Singapore’ in which you could experience markets, temples, jungles, investment banks and so on (it could complement my blog quite well actually J) There was also a gallery showing amazing photographs of Singapore in the 1940s, which have been donated by National Geographic – this means that my crazy collection of National Geographic magazines may be useful in 90 years!

Then I moved onto Orchard Road (I had avoided this shopper’s paradise for so long, and everyone from Singapore seemed very confused by this). Inevitably I got lost within the humongous shopping centres and had to keep coming out for some fresh air once in a while. I’ve never seen so many Guccis or Chanels on one street, but I did also find a mini roof garden on the 12^th floor of one of the shopping centres, and an amazing modern art gallery.

Back at home, I decided to take an early evening nap - being a proper tourist is tiring! This was the perfect boost of energy before a super night... A ‘new’ friend (who it strangely feels like I’ve known for ages) introduced me to yet more people and we laughed the night away on a great rooftop bar, and moved smoothly from classy cocktails to beer (also classy of course!)

Day 27

I decided to embrace tourist life once again today by spending the morning shopping for souvenirs. I chose China Town for this so that the ‘made in China’ souvenirs could be that little bit more authentic! J

Now, before I came to Singapore, I knew embarrassingly little about the country, but I did know about the Infinity Pool, and had put it on my ‘to do’ list long ago. However, when I got here I was very disappointed to find out that only the people staying in the Marina Bay Sands (MBS) hotel could swim in it…

But luckily there can be a way round these things, and sometimes it really is about WHO you know. One of my Wednesday night exercise pals (who are actually architects rather than bankers and appropriately specialize in ‘green’ architecture, although I haven’t done an audit of their buildings so I can’t confirm) knew somebody who was staying at the hotel and had a visitor pass for Sundays. Soo he very kindly lent me his pass and up I went to the 57^th floor, and straight into the infinity pool.

The sky was a radiant blue and even thought the pool was too busy for actual swimming, I was more than happy to just float and gaze at Singapore from above. Just WOW J there were many palm trees up there as well, under which I enjoyed some perfect me-time with my book, stopping to take the occasional dip in the pool. Swimming up to the edge is actually quite scary, but once you get there, you forget all about that and really do feel on top of the world.

I stayed to watch a glorious sunset and eventually came back down. The ambience on the ground was equally wonderful, with city lights dazzling along the river and highlighting the city’s architectural delights. I watched the light-water show (which also features fire, music and… bubbles!) and then crossed the river to watch the next show from a different position, from which I could see the laser beams being emitted from the one and only MBS (I think I’ve seen it from every possible angle now!)

After a day like no other, I went to bed with a huge smile on my face. I’m incredibly glad and very grateful that I was invited to join in with bunny hopping on my second day in Singapore.

Day 28

Monday’s at work are so quiet. It feels like every single person in the office is so busy lamenting the weekend that they can’t bring themselves to talk to anyone else. I had a great day of research though! Firstly I hunted down all the recent books about sustainability which have been praised (so that we can recommend selling them to the university book shop). There are so many! I was especially surprised at how many there are which have been written by highly successful business people about how the future of business lies in sustainability and how being socially and environmentally sustainable is the only way forward... Let’s just hope that they’re right! And there were so many others, including an absolute gem called ‘Eco-wolf and the Three Pigs,’ about a wolf who protects the forest from being cut down by three high energy wasting and highly consumerist pigs!

Then I tried to design potential workshops which could be held in the university about how to live life in a more eco-friendly manner, which was also great fun. Again, there are so many ways to do this (I strongly recommend that everyone should type in ‘75 ways to live sustainably Kentucky’ into Google and have a read! Do it!! Please J)

In the evening I did something which I vowed never to do in Asia – I had Italian food!! But I was with a Singaporean and it wasn’t in a touristy area (and I then bought a crazy amount of local fruit), soo I think it’s justified...

Day 29

Today I finished my report on healthy and eco-foodcourts which aims to integrate healthy eating and sustainable eating messages across the NUS campus. I love the diversity of projects which I’ve been involved with during my time here. There was also a staff meeting with the student environmental society SAVE – Students Against the Violation of the Earth! So cute J I found the meeting quite funny, firstly because I spoke from a staff point of view whilst knowing that I’m just a little student myself, and secondly because Singaporeans use acronyms for everything (HDB, CBD, NUSSU, NEA, SWCBC... ETC) so at times I had no idea what was going on!

Anyway, in the evening SAVE invited me to join them for dinner so we enjoyed chatting in a much more informal environment and then I sat in on their meeting in which they planned some groovy green things like Climate Action Day and an eco-bazar.

Later still, my friend picked me up and we drove to a public house (an actual house for the public rather than a Pub) called the Pinnacle at Duxton. Following a mini trek through the car park to find the right place, we took the elevator up to the roof garden on the 50^th floor. It was so peaceful up there and the breeze, which is usually rare in Singapore, was very welcome. There was even a ‘beach’, although its authenticity was dubious - it was actually some concrete deck chairs and big rocks next to a sign which read ‘beach’. I guess it’s all about using your imagination...

Then I was introduced to the concept of Singaporean parking coupons, which I found quite entertaining because it involves setting your own time by pushing out circles from a piece of paper (that might sound bizarre, but check out this official website http://www.hdb.gov.sg/fi10/fi10327p.nsf/w/CarPark1TypeOfCoupon and all will become clear as can be.) We had a midnight snack of dim sum and rice porridge, which according to the food expert was terrible but I couldn’t tell – clearly there is still work to be done in terms of my Asian food critic skills...

Day 30

Did I mention that I’m always the first or second to arrive at work? I don’t know why but I’ve just got used to arriving at 8.15 and just chilling out for a bit (by which I mean getting straight into hard work of course).

I met with the boss today and all of a sudden it seems like I’ve got SO much work to do. This is what happens when I’m too keen to get involved with all things green! I don’t mind of course, but I really do have to crack on with all my presentations, reports, posters, campaign plans… One new project which she’s given me is to come up with a proposal for a ‘sustainability corner’ in the NUS bookshop, not just the books and events but all the décor, set up and themes as well. Fun stuff!

There was no crazy exercise today because the architects were busy working super hard, but tonight was ladies night once again, so there were of course other plans on the agenda. We started off in a lovely bar and then moved onto Ku De Ta (the club at the top of MBS – clearly I just can’t get enough of this building!) Crazy dancing with these wonderful girls was fun as always, and as one of the girls is French, we were introduced to lots of French people. Seriously, which nationality or culture cannot be found in Singapore?

Post clubbing snack: what else but a Vietnamese dragon fruit J  

Day 31

Every morning I try to vary the journey to work by getting off the bus either one, two or three bus stops before mine and walking the rest of the way. Today was clearly going to be a wild day when I decided to get off four stops before mine. I arrived at work very smug because I actually beat my bus to work (mostly because I don’t have to make a circle around ‘Computing Drive’ when I walk, but still!)

A few colleagues and I were given the task to come up with a ‘recycling blitz’ today, which we took to mean go and discuss ideas over avocado milkshakes. Our first challenge was to decide what is meant by a ‘recycling blitz’ and only then could we move on to planning the actual thing. I won’t give away the details (this is top-secret private and confidential stuff!) but we had a really fun morning planning a recycling flashmob which will feature synchronized can crushing AND MORE.

We were invited to a conference lunch by the Office of Health and Safety today, which was great – free king prawns and cray fish without having to listen to a single talk about chemical waste disposal (although I’m sure that the talks were just as interesting as lunch J).

In the evening I met up with my local buddies who took me to a Malay market – still shopping, but a very different type of shopping to the kind offered by the glamorous air-conditioned shopping centers which dominate Singapore. What can I say? Shopping to Arabic beats is pretty fun, especially when it also comes with culinary treats and good company.