Sneak peak at the Lemelson Center

I arrived in Washington, DC on the afternoon of Wednesday, June 17. Since my internship does not start until June 22 and I have some time on my hands, I decided to re-visit the National Mall the following day. It has been almost seven years since my last visit and I have forgotten how many people come to see its museums! If only visiting museums could be as popular in the Philippines...

Flashback: Amazing Race Macau and Hong Kong 2008

Well, its not really that we joined amazing race, but that was how we felt during this trip in March 2008. From Singapore we went to Malaysia to catch a budget airline. We left at around 4 am because we were worried about getting stuck at the border due to heavy traffic (long weekend and tightened security checks). When we got to the airport in Johore Bahru, we slept because everything was still closed (it ws 5am!). Woke up and took our time eating breakfats around 7am when the plane was in fact departing at 730am. Talk about crazy. I suppose we got carried away talking about various ways to survive a plane crash. Someone suggetsed using guns to shoot the water to lessen impact when you hit the water. Great idea! Except, they don't really allow big guns on planes these days.

So as we took our time checking in, we realized that the immigration counter has already closed. What?!? They took us to another office where our passport are to be processed. While the rest were waiting for the passport stamps, i went ahead to the gate to sort off hold off the plane. No, I didn't have to lie on the runway in front of the plane. Nothing dramatic.

After arriving in Macau, we walked from the tip of the island to the bottom, where the port to HK is located. My friends love to walk! But it wasn't so bad as Macau is not that big. We had lunch at the nearest restaurant we could find when we got hungry. I had baked pork chop, which was, I was told, a traditional macau favorite.

Of course when you're in Macau what else do you do aside from the usual sight-seeing? We went to the Macau Tower so my friends can try the tallest sky jump in the world. Not me of course, no thanks. But we didn't make it there in time so they had to skip that. I think it was because we stayed a bit more than we planned at the Lisboa Casino. Hey, they had dancers! You know the typical vegas-thong-wearing-leg-raising dancers! There were three guys (Emil, Brian and Koen) and just me and Ozana, we weren't strong enough to drag them out hahaha. Oh and I won 70HK$ in the slot machine. Purely beginner's luck as I didn't even understand how the thing worked!

We bought our tickets to HK island with but a small window of time before the ship was to depart (don't ask me why). So we had to run to immigration then run faster after the immigration to catch the ship. We like lots of excitement!

For dinner, in HK, we went to a noodle house that gives you spicy choices such as hot, very hot, super hot and no hot. So you basically you can order cold noodles served hot but no hot :)

Bedtime. We could stop laughing when we got to our hostel. It was a dorm-type hostel with four double decks and two bathrooms/toilets that are way too small you almost have to stand on the toilet to shower! A few of the things one has to deal with when one travels on a budget ;)



The good thing about staying at a hostel though is that you meet new friends. When we left to watch the symphony of lights the following night and then go clubbing, we have two recruits with us: one from Australia and another from USA.

Then it was time to go home after only two days of walking our feet off. We woke up early because our flight leaves Macau in like three hours?!? and we were still in HK. This meant that we have to take a cab from the hostel to the port, cross immigrations to exit HK, cross yet another immigration to enter Macau, take another cab from macau the airport and then again cross immigration to exit Macau. Crazy huh?

But as crazy and stressful as all these may sound, I really had great time during the trip :)

Greetings from Gainesville

I have safely arrived in Gainesville, Florida after almost 48 hours of travel! 

I left Manila on Monday, August 11 at 9am and flew to Tokyo. However, my flight from Tokyo to Chicago was delayed for over two hours due to a volcanic eruption somewhere and the plane had to divert its direction to avoid the volcanic ashes. Due to that, I missed my two connecting flights to Charlotte NC and then to Gainesville FL. So I ended up spending the night in a hotel (and a fancy one at that!) in Chicago that the airline provided and continued my journey the following day. It was actually a blessing in disguise because otherwise I would have been travelling continuously for almost 30 hours! Since I could hardly sleep on the plane, I was afraid my eyebags would have to undergo checks at the airport too! At least on Monday night I was able to get a decent sleep, take a hot bath and have a real breakfast!

I am temporarily staying at the apartment of a fellow museum studies grad student who was kind enough to accommodate me since I cannot move into my permanent apartment until the 23rd.

It's been very rainy and very windy these past few days but sometimes it gets sunny and hot too. Although it’s not too hot either- it’s just like how it is in the Phils or in SG. 

My 1st three days were very prductive. I was able to open my bank account and get my univ ID already. They have instant ID processing (when I say instant I mean like 5 minutes or less), so cool! The University of Florida is just like the UP Diliman campus although with bigger ang buildings and roads. They even have a bus which operates like the UP IKOT, it only goes around the campus on a one-way route. They don't have TOKI that travels the other way around. But it's very lovely, lots of trees and brick buildings. Actually, my first impression of Gainesville as my plane was descending towards its airport is that it sooo green! 

Technically, the school is still on summer break so I haven't really seen a lot of people yet- or overwhelmed by how big they are compared to my tiny Asian size hahaha. Gainesville is a university town mostly populated by students from the University of Florida. UF alone has a population of 50,000!!! In fact we students get free bus rides in school and in town, we just have to flash our school ID :) 

I only have nine units per semester (which means i only have three three-hour classes per week) but since I have a graduate assistantship, I might still go to school almost daily. Plus according to my 2nd year museum studies grad student roomie, with tons of paperwork and reading assignments, you will have your hands full studying. So now i'm enjoying the lull before the storm- so to speak :)

One Month After

Today marks the 1st month anniversary of my relocation to Singapore. So it is a perfect time to take stock of what I have done for the past 30 days. Here they are: 

- Wept from sheer joy upon receiving news of my acceptance to Fulbright

- Boarded the DHL hot air balloon

- Closed a fantastic deal to rent a room in an awesome condo

- Got lost a couple of times- erase erase those were unplanned "sight-seeing"

- Ate at hawkers centers; binged on satay at Lau Pa Sat; learned how to eat Xiaolongbao at Legend Chinese Restaurant; watched in amazement at how Roti Pratas are cooked; and sampled Moroccan, Indian, Egyptian, Malaysian & Indonesian food

- Overspent on shopping

- Drooled over hi-tech gadgets & gizmos at the Computer Expo

- Fantasized about actually living in one or more of the demo rooms of Ikea

- Volunteered for the National Museum of Singapore

- Fell in love & got my heart broken- oh wait that was a couple of years ago. Totally over that one!

- And finally, I met, interacted and exchanged contact information with 2 extremely inspiring people: Illac Diaz and Anousheh Ansari

Now isn't this such a fabulous start? What a sweet sweet life indeed- la dolce vita!

10 Reasons Why I love Singapore

1. Singapore is a gateway to other Asian Countries
Just a couple of minutes to Malaysia, over an hour to Bangkok and Cambodia, 2.5 hours to Bali and to Hong Kong. Furthermore, there are budget airlines that can get you there without depleting your life savings!

Check out: www.jetstar.com or www.airasia.com

But of course the best part is that IT IS JUST 3 HOURS FROM MANILA!
It's just like getting caught in traffic on your way home from work if you were in Manila! Cebu Pacific flies daily, book at www.cebupacificair.com

2. Multi-cultural Society
Different religions: Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim. Each with its own traditions and holidays :)

Food food food: Chinese (Dimsum), Indonesian (Satay- ooh i love these!!!), Malay (Mi Goreng), Singaporean (Laksa). But you wont be deprived of the western food as fast food giants are abundant- McDonald's, Burger King, Kenny Rogers, KFC etc. There are also a lot of mediterranean food especially along Arab street. There's Moroccan, Turkish, Egyptian etc.

3. Shopping Galore
It seems to me that there is always at least one shopping mall at every MRT station! Singaporeans love to shop. We Pinoys just love to hang around the malls--- hehehe. On my first week here, since I was feeling a bit homesick- I bought 2 pairs of sandals and 1 shoulder bag! Shopping therapy hahaha.

Plus they have Electronic Gizmos and Gadgets Sale. And when they say sale they mean SALE! As in HUGE discounts!!!

4. English is the generally used language
No need to buy a translation book, you just have to get use to the-ir accent and Singlish

5. Tropical Climate

No need for bulky coats and clothes or shoes. You can wear flip flops, shorts, spaghetti blouses. Don't you just love wearing sexy sandals to work?

6. Transportation is very efficient and reliable

7. SAM - Self-service Automated Machine
You can do the following on this amazing machine:

Postal Services, Pay Telecom Bills, Utility Bills, Hospital Bills, Town Council Bills, HDB Bills, Credit Card Bills & Loans/Insurance, Fines, Top-ups, Tax & Licence Fees/ Carpark Renewal, make a donation and etc.

Visit their website at www.singpost.com/sam/sam_services.htm

8. Amazing Libraries with superb service features

The Robinsons Children's Library was inspired by the Bukit Batok Community Library at the West Mall. Singapore has a National Library, regional libraries and community libraries.

Check them out at www.nlb.gov.sg

9. Free Events and Activities
There are so many things to do here which will not cost you dime- you just have to know how and wehre to look!

10. Singapore is very clean, organized and safe
Need I say more?