Asia – LEARNING TO FLY

Why I Miss China

When I got back from my travels, some of my friends and family asked me which country I preferred the most from the ones I visited. It’s such a tough question because all of them have aspects that make them special. New Zealand has the mountains and the friendly people, Australia has the beaches, but also the outback, which is unlike anything I have ever seen, and Singapore has a stunning skyline, and so much diversity. For some reason though, China seems to be the country I miss most. Every few weeks, I catch myself reminiscing about my time there.

Chicken feet are so popular in China. I don’t miss those though!

When I told one of my friends that I missed China the most, she asked me why. WHY? I hadn’t thought about it. On the spot, I told her it was because of the people…they are so humble, so hospitable, and so hard-working. This one time, for example, I was out for supper at a very small hole-in-the-wall kind of restaurant, and really needed to go to the bathroom. There was no washroom in the restaurant though, so the owner walked me down the street and let me use the one in her home.

Another time, I went out for some dumplings, and as I was getting ready to pay, the waiter informed me that the family at the table beside me had already covered my bill. Of course, this was all communicated to me with hand gestures because I could hardly understand what was being said in mandarin. I really needed to make sure that I was reading the situation properly and wasn’t going to walk out without paying! That wasn’t the only situation in which people offered to pay for me.

This picture quality isn’t great…but this person, who was my tour guide, deserves a special mention. When I was in LangZhong, I didn’t understand anything, and I was in one of the greatest ancient cities in China so I wanted to learn! I splurged on a tour guide, and she ended up spending two extra hours with me at no extra cost! We went for lunch together where she showed me traditional foods from LangZhong, and although I wanted to treat her, she beat me to it and treated me! I gave her a big tip at the end as a thank you, but then she went and bought me snacks with that tip money for my train ride home!

In terms of the hard-work, all the street vendors next to my school spent close to 12 hours a day, 6 or 7 days a week, working at their stall. Also, my students don’t know how hard they have it. Their schedule is PACKED with classes, yet they still fit in a bunch of extra-curriculars. Most of my students were so driven to learn new skills, and to excel at what they do. And they have the discipline to do it. I was truly in awe at how hard-working, disciplined, and respectful my students were. With 1.3 billion people with that attitude, it’s no surprise that China is becoming a super power.

This was one of my favorite street vendors! I picked up my breakfast from him and his mom every morning on the way to class! I have not been able to find dumplings and bao zi that are as delicious as theirs.

Another one of the vendors I visited regularly! He made a kind of Chinese sandwich. I sometimes crave it.

During the Dragon Boat Festival Holiday, my Chinese teacher invited me out with her husband and her parents. We hung out together, drinking tea and munching on sunflower seeds. Her parents did not speak a word of English, so there was lots of translation going on. It was so nice of my Chinese teacher to include me in her family that day.

So, the people of course influence the experience that a person has when they visit a country. I hope I have demonstrated in some ways what makes the Chinese people so great. I still keep in touch with many of my students through WeChat, so it could also be why I miss the place…I developed some real connections. When I think about China though, I very rarely think about my time at the school; I am usually reminiscing about a weekend trip I took. All the trips I took were on my own, except for when Mom visited me for my last two weeks. These are all the cities I travelled to: Dujiangyan, Qingcheng, Xingwen, Pengshan, Yibin, ChengDu (my home base), LangZhong, Chongqing, Kangding, Guilin (with mom), Xi’an (with mom), Shanghai (with mom), Beijing (with mom), Zhujiajiaozhen (with mom).

Navigating Downtown Yibin

Although Beijing and Shanghai are a little more tourist friendly, my home base of ChengDu, and many of the cities I travelled to weren’t as much. Very few people spoke any English, which made the culture shock stronger. But that’s what made it fun!! I enjoyed trying to use the broken mandarin I was learning from my mandarin lessons. And it’s amazing the connection that can be made between two people even if they cannot fully understand each other. A hand gesture and a smile suffices.

Although I was often very well-prepared for my trips by printing out maps, bus schedules, and words in Chinese that I would need to use, and could show to people, unforeseen circumstances do happen. But the challenge of trying to figure a way out when you don’t speak the language is thrilling! I spent a good 2-3 minutes one time trying to ask someone if they could take my picture. I tried to say it in mandarin, but that failed. And then I tried to hand gesture, but the person wasn’t getting it. Finally, they did, and it becomes an exciting moment after all that work! This other time, I was in a metro station looking at a metro map, confused about which stop I was at. I turned to the guy beside me, also looking at the map, and asked him where we were, in Chinese. He answered back to me: “no speak English”. But I wasn’t speaking English!!! So I just kept repeating the same sentence to him and finally he understood that I was speaking some broken version of Chinese!

Some of my most memorable moments involved negotiating with tuk-tuk drivers. One of my first Chinese lessons was about how to negotiate prices in mandarin: how to say something is too expensive, and asking for a lower price. That served me well countless times. I once negotiated down a tuk-tuk driver from 50 yuan to 20 yuan. That’s more than half the price!

Mom’s first tuk tuk experience! We managed to negotiate the price of this tuk-tuk driver down also!

It’s such a thrilling feeling when you are managing to adapt, and navigate your way through a country with such different customs, and a language than you can’t read, write, or speak (hardly)! It makes you feel like you can take on anything! I believe that it’s the challenge of the language barrier and culture shock, and the thrill of navigating it that makes me miss China so much. I miss that excitement. I look forward to my next trip out there! In the meantime, below are a few pictures of some great moments!

In this blog post, I didn’t mention that China is also very beautiful. Look at the landscapes it has to offer! This is at the top of a lookout point in Guilin!

Met this girl in Kangding. Both of us were waiting in line to eat at a popular sit-down restaurant in the city. We decided to eat together! Her English was pretty good. She had an adventurous spirit, and was stopping off in the city on her way to her next destination where she was WWOOFing for a few months! Turns out she was at the same hostel as I was too!

I can’t remember if this was Beijing or Shanghai…mom and I were so hungry, and it was late…not much was open around our hotel. We found this one place, but we could not read the menu. There were pictures of different food plates on the walls of the restaurant, so we went and took pictures of the pictures of food that looked good to us. At the cash, we showed them our pictures and that’s how we ordered!

Top of the Shanghai Tower, 3rd highest building in the world! Thanks for visiting me mom 🙂

A Sneak Peek Into the Chinese Education System

The semester is over now. Students have their last day of exams tomorrow, but I finished teaching last Friday. It feels like just yesterday I was very disoriented around the campus, thinking it was so big, and asking my fellow foreign teachers if there were campus maps available. What a joke.

Now I know this campus like the back of my hand (especially after trying to find new running routes around it – I completed my longest run ever here: 8 kilometers!) From experience and from discussions with students, I also discovered some of the very interesting, maybe even slightly disconcerting rules and bureaucratic procedures at this school. Here they are:

1. Curfews & set schedules

I would guess that over 95% of students at this college reside on campus, in the dormitories, which are surrounded by gates. Students must swipe their card to enter. This doesn’t seem too bad…except for the fact that the gates close at 10:30pm. So, everyone is expected to be back into their rooms by that time. On top of this early curfew, from Sunday to Thursday, the power in the dorms goes out at 11:30pm. This means that phones can’t even be charged with the power outlet overnight!

Let’s just take a moment and remember that my students are aged 19-22 years old. It blows my mind that their bedtime is being controlled at that age! Sometimes, as I pass the dormitories on my way back to my room after 10:30pm (thank god I get to control my own curfew and lighting!), I witness students who struggle to jump over the gate, but that’s their only alternative if they miss curfew, unless they check into a hostel or sleep at the 24-hour video game cafes (which some do). In some instances, I have gone out with some students (not my own) and helped them jump the gate after we got back at 5AM.

This is one of my classes reciting Chinese poetry. Despite their already busy schedules, classes are told to perform dance competitions, poetry recitals, etc.

That’s what happens at night, but during the day, students are also somewhat controlled, by their schedule, which they don’t choose. Every morning, freshman students must wake up for the 7:30AM exercise routine, before 8:30AM class. All students have lunch break between 12pm and 1:30pm, so the canteen is only open for lunch between 12pm and 2pm. Day classes finish at 5pm and the canteen is open for supper between 5pm and 7pm. Although there is street food galore and restaurants just around the corner, the canteen is the most popular amongst students, but the limited opening hours forces them to eat their meals between those specific times. You should see the dumbfounded look on my students’ faces when they run into me buying my supper from the street at 8pm. “You haven’t eaten dinner!? But it’s so late now!” Let’s not forget the evening “independent study” classes between 6:30pm and 8:30pm. Teachers take attendance and students sit at their desk and study. Why not just let students actually be independent and do that outside of a classroom setting?

I read an article online that was comparing Chinese students’ college and university life to being part of a military platoon, considering their strict schedules and the fact that they remain with the same classmates for their entire three years of college. I highly recommend the read, because it gives a more detailed explanation of the academic culture in China and even talks about the “gaokao”, which is the 9-hour college entrance exam that every student takes in their last year of high school. Click here to access the website.

I have mentioned to some people who I speak to at home that 19-20 year old students in China seem a lot younger than I was at their age. With such a sheltered upbringing, no kidding… Let’s just say, I am very thankful for the freedom I had during my college life, at John Abbott.

This was pictured during my weekend trip to LangZhong, considered one of the four greatest ancient cities in China. Here, I am standing in one of the ancient imperial examination halls. People of any age (even 80 years old) could sign up for an examination that lasted several days. Upon entry, they were asked to strip and given clothes in order to prevent cheating. Students were not allowed to leave their cell unless they, or a family member died. They slept, washed themselves, and wrote the exam in the cell. The examination was mainly about ancient Chinese literature and Confucius theories. Success rates were very low (in 1889, in Beijing, only 300/14 000 passed the exam). Those who passed received privileged status and worked within the high ranks of the Empire. It was finally abolished in 1905. Hard examinations have been a part of Chinese culture for centuries.

2. students are useful

Do you know what the responsibilities of a class leader are? Maybe not, and neither did I. Many teachers at this school choose the most responsible student in the class and make them the “class leader”. Throughout the semester, if the teacher must send any materials (such as powerpoint presentations) or let the whole class know anything in particular, they communicate with the leader who will then relay the information to the rest of the class.

This is supposed to facilitate the teachers’ lives, but I disagree with that method. First of all, I believe that it’s important for the teacher to be in control of the information that is given to the students. If a student claims to misunderstand/not receive an important piece of information, it’s not like the teacher can blame the class leader for being unclear. After all, it’s the teacher’s job! I also believe it’s important for all students to feel equally close to their teacher, in order to foster a better classroom dynamic. So, in my classes, there was no leader. I created a group chat with all the students and sent them information directly.

Besides the class leaders, which help the teachers free of charge, the school hires students to do some cleaning around the college. Some of my students clean the computer labs after class, others sweep and mop around the offices and take out garbage. Some of them even do maintenance apparently…

The other foreign teacher and I witnessed a student drilling new door handles onto the staircase door.

This one time, I created a handout for my students that was several pages long. I had hoped that the printing house at the school could staple everything automatically with their printer, but apparently it wasn’t possible. “No problem, said one of the teachers, we can have a student staple the pages together for you.” Umm no, I don’t think so. Students aren’t here to do my dirty work, so I did it myself. If students are getting paid a good wage for their part-time cleaning work though, this is a good way to give them a chance to earn extra cash without committing to very time consuming part-time jobs.

3. Bureaucracy for centuries

China’s bureaucratic ways have been around for centuries. During the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), there was one official for every 2927 people. In the Qing dynasty, more recently (1644-1911), there was one official for 299 people. Numbers from 2012 show that there were 50 million officials, which came out to 1 for every 27 people. Insane!

In May this year, Xi Jinping, current President of the People’s Republic of China, restructured the government body to streamline the responsibilities of the different ministries. So, he merged or removed a total of 15 ministries and created/expanded on 11 others. Despite this, China still has a huge government body, with 47 ministries when most rich countries have 20. This could probably be explained by the size of its population too, though.

Anyways, I digress…

What I’m trying to say is, bureaucracy within systems is a way of life in China, which I guess can explain why a simple task, such as printing a handout for my class, or leaving the school for a weekend trip, required so many steps.

On my first week at this college, I needed to fill out a form with a passport photo, my personal details and signatures and stamps from 9 different departments. The problem was that I could not get the signatures from just anyone in the department; it had to be from the boss. And these heads of departments aren’t easy to find…they are often in meetings, or out of town, in which case I was told to come back on another day. In certain instances, I came back several times without any luck, and it’s not a pleasant experience when you need to walk 10 minutes across campus, up 6 flights of stairs to get to their office, only to get turned down. Not only did I have to do this when I arrived, I also needed to do this last week, to leave the school. Thankfully, they cut it down to six stamps rather than nine.

Printing was also a hassle. I needed to have a teacher sign and fill out a form for me, indicating how many pages I needed, whether or not they were double-sided and what day I wanted to pick it up. This teacher did it for me because the form was in mandarin, but even if I had been able to do that all myself, I would have still needed her signature. Ideally, I would have wanted these materials immediately, but I needed to plan in advance, since the printing process typically took 2-3 days. Once this form was filled out and signed, I had to bring it to the printing house, in another building, and then return there 2-3 days later to collect everything and of course, sign my name to ensure it was well received. If my lesson was not planned 2-3 days in advance, I went to the family-owned printing shop nearby, but needed to pay out of my own pocket.

Last but not least, even though I am a teacher and 23 years old, I had to get a form stamped and signed by the head of the foreign teaching department and the international affairs office each time I left ChengDu (my city). This form was basically an agreement that I would act according to Chinese moral standards while travelling and that the school was not liable for anything that happened to me while I was gone. I can kind of understand why they feel the need to have that, nevertheless, when you are busy planning for a weekend trip, the last thing you want to be doing is running around collecting stamps!

All around the world, Chinese students are known for how well they do in school, so it’s certainly been interesting to witness academic culture, here in China. These are the things that you don’t learn about when you are just a tourist – this teaching experience has been very educational in many ways. Stay tuned for my next blog post on how being a teacher has made me realize the kind of student I want to become, as I begin my Masters degree at Dalhousie University this Fall.

Friend or Friendly? Teacher Struggles

First off, I would like to give props to all the teachers out there. It’s impossible to know the difficulties of being a teacher unless you stand in front of a classroom and teach…not just for one lesson, that’s easy. I mean, for a semester, or a year.

For someone who has never taught seriously before, I think I’m doing quite well. The biggest challenge I am facing at the moment is how to draw a line between being a friend, and a teacher. This is the kind of struggle that arises when teaching a group of students for a semester or a year, not just one class…

At the beginning of the semester, a few students asked me for my “wechat” and expressed interest in hanging out with me outside of class. Wechat is a Chinese social media platform that everyone uses. It has a newsfeed, where students post their thoughts and pictures. It has chat and phone calls, such as facebook messenger, but the advantage of wechat is that you can also pay with it, and the money is removed from your bank account directly. I was skeptical about adding them, fearing that it would cloud the boundary between friend and teacher. In North America, or at least in my experience, teachers and students don’t ever become friends during the semester. The relationship is strictly school…

However, the other foreign teacher, who has been at this school for 3 years, explained to me that in China it is not “weird” for students and teachers to hang out together outside of class. Still, I was unsure.

But this happened at the beginning of the semester…now I’m 10 weeks in, and of course, over these 10 weeks, I have gotten to know my students a little bit better. And I like them and WANT to be friends with them, not just a teacher. Half of me thinks that I should be more serious about the teacher/student boundary, but the other half of me is thinking: “well I’m only here for 5 months, this isn’t a long term thing, so who really cares about the boundary between teacher and friend…you’re here to learn the culture too, not just to teach…”

At the bus stop with students. Got photobombed by a street cleaner.

Last weekend, I played ping pong and badminton with some students from my business class. That same business class invited the other foreign teacher and I to their class barbecue and game day, which was also last weekend, on Sunday. They had asked us to plan a game for them, and we decided on organizing a relay race, which included apple bobbing, hopping on one foot, crabwalking and many other slightly crazy things. The relay race required lots of props, and the other foreign teacher and I had to meet with some of the students over the weekend to coordinate everything. Some of the students came to collect some of the game materials at my apartment. On barbecue day, I took the bus with some students from the class to get to the destination, and at the end of the event, some students gave the other foreign teacher and I a lift back to school. I have a couple of my students as friends on facebook now.

Let’s just say, it definitely felt a little strange to hand that same class their midterm exam on Monday morning…

On the midterm exam, I included a bonus question worth 1 point, where I asked students for their feedback: what can I do better as a teacher, what do they want to see more of, etc?

I’ve only read the replies of 40 students so far, and most people say that they enjoy the class very much, because I find ways to make learning fun and I’m always smiling, apparently. A couple of people mentioned that I should become stricter and punish students, such as when they arrive late to class. Not many students said this, there were only a handful, but these comments have been consuming my thoughts incessantly for the past few days.

This guy: one of my favourite students. Makes me laugh every class.

It’s true; I don’t ever punish my students… When some of them are late, I write it down on my attendance sheet, and this will affect their attendance grade, but I still greet them at the door with a smile. Honestly, I really could not care less if some students are late. Heck, I am someone who is always running late….

And at the moment, I am having this inner debate about what kind of teacher I want to be. This should have been decided at the beginning of the semester, but oh well, rookie mistake. Do I want to be the teacher that stops students from talking, playing on their phones and doing other work? Or do I want to be the teacher that ignores those things because if they don’t listen, it’s their problem, not mine?

Posing with the other foreign teacher, from South Africa.

Since my students are between the ages of 19 and 22, I don’t think I should baby them. If they choose to play on their cellphones, it won’t be my problem if they get a bad grade…at this point, they should know the consequences of their actions. On the other hand, if everyone started playing games on their cellphone, class would never be productive.

And how about talking in class? Sometimes I hear some chit chat, but I am unsure if it’s students who are asking their neighbour for help about something I just said. Those students are trying to understand, and I certainly don’t want to penalize those who try. Moreover, I don’t want my students to become afraid of opening their mouths, because I enjoy in-class, spontaneous banter. It makes it more fun for everyone, including myself.

Barbecuing on a hot summer day. 33 Celsius

Today, I had a video chat with one of my best friends, Alyssa, who is a teacher and she gave me great insight on how she disciplines her students. She explained that discipline is something that gets easier over time. She has become stricter, because she learned that she has to be, if she wants students who listen in class. All of this reminds me of when I used to referee ringette, but also when I worked at Lufa Farms. When I first started reffing, I hated calling penalties, but the lack of doing so made the game more aggressive, and the coaches became more difficult to handle. I gained better control of the game when I disciplined the players and called penalties, right from the beginning of the first period. At Lufa, I used to hate penalizing my suppliers. However, this made my job more chaotic, because they often sent products that had quality issues or did not respect Lufa Farms’ standards. It wasn’t until I started giving them fines for bad quality products that their deliveries suddenly took a turn for the better. It’s quite sad that people take advantage of leniency that way. And I hate disciplining people!!

I don’t think I will drastically change my teaching method. When I give the students back their exams, I will review it with them and I will probably casually ask them why some of them think I should be stricter. Based on their reply, I’m hoping that I can explain to them that they are now 19 years old and they should know what is right versus wrong, and respectful versus not respectful. I should not have to discipline them at their age.

Hopefully word will also get around that I gave one student 0% for cheating and I failed two other students for talking during the test.

Yes, I may be fun, but I’m also serious.

Five Days in China

I’ve been in China now for 5 days. So far, so good. I only start teaching next Monday, which is giving me plenty of time to settle in (and even feel kind of bored). But, this week I will start preparing my classes and I am also currently making a list of all the places I want to visit in the city and province I am in, so that if I have some free time, I can be productive and cross things off my list!

The two other foreign teachers at this school are extremely nice and helpful. One of them is from the UK, but he has been living in China for 6 years now. The other is from South Africa and he has been here for 6 months. We have gone to see a movie together (the movies are in English with Chinese subtitles) and we’ve gone out to eat many times. Today, I went and ordered street food on my own and tried to use some of the basic Chinese I know, which failed miserably, and that’s when I realized how much I had relied on the two other foreign teachers so far!! There is so much food I don’t recognize AT ALL, but they have been able to explain it to me. What is pork, what is chicken, what is beef, but it’s not as simple as that… it can be pork intestine, beef stomach, and all kinds of other weird animal parts! I’ve already eaten some pork intestine and beef stomach, but who knows what else, since to be completely honest, I have no idea what I am eating most of the time. Chicken feet are all the rage here… thankfully those are quite easy to recognize, what with the nail still intact and all. Another popular dish is spicy rabbit head, so spicy that it is apparently supposed to make you cry. I have eaten so much spicy food already (the Sichuan province is known for its spicy food). In some cases, the food was so spicy that I was blowing my nose at least every 5-10 minutes. I can’t imagine how spicy it must be if it brings tears to my eyes. How is that enjoyable anyways?

Spiciest dish I’ve eaten so far, but very good fish. Note the kleenex box nearby.

Besides the two foreign teachers, there have been two students who work with the foreign language affairs office who have helped me. They brought me to the bank to withdraw money (Canadian currency is 5x cheaper than the Chinese currency yay!!), and they brought me to get a Chinese SIM card. That whole process took 2 hours though, since the people working at China Unicom had never seen an LG phone like mine before, and had no idea how to connect it to data, despite me changing my phone language to Chinese temporarily. I also went shopping with one of the students to the major shopping street in Chengdu: Chunxi road. We waited 1 hour in line for the fitting rooms! I am actually surprised I was willing to wait that long…I obviously really liked the clothes I was trying on 🙂 Funny thing: the biggest size available in stores here is the size I wear. Everyone is so small, I even tower over the men.

We went shopping on International Women’s Day, since there are sales in stores! International Women’s Day is quite a big deal here… female teachers had half the day off, and there were games on campus. For example, one of the games was to drop a chopstick into a water bottle (which is obviously difficult the higher up you drop the chopstick from). Anyways, each time you participated in an activity, you received a coupon and you could redeem a prize with these coupons, which was….TOILET PAPER!! All jokes aside, that is a great gift, considering the toilets at the school do not supply toilet paper. So yes, I carry around toilet paper with me wherever I go, because you never know.

Although it might sound crazy that the school does not provide toilet paper, don’t let this influence your perception of it. The school is recognized for its foreign language department. Every year, students from all over the province come to compete in an English language competition. Also, there are always activities going on: just last Friday, there was a group from Japan and Brazil performing folk music at the cafeteria. The campus is comprised of a basketball court, tennis court, soccer field, track field and ping pong tables. The basketball court is always busy with students playing pick-up games. I have seen students on longboards and others on rollerblades. The student community is very vibrant.

One of my biggest regrets from University is not getting involved enough with the different clubs. I am hoping I can become involved with some of the sports clubs here, at this school, as a way of compensating, I guess. The other foreign teacher told me that all I really have to do is show up to one of the events and tell them I’d like to help out. His exact words were: “I don’t think you realize how much power you have here, being a foreign teacher”. I have definitely felt some of the excitement that students get from seeing a foreigner. One girl asked if she could take a picture with me, told me how beautiful I was, and kept saying how nervous she was to be meeting me… A boy in one of the classes that I was sitting in on today told me that I had beautiful eyes. Yesterday morning, I went for a run, and I stopped in the middle of campus. A student approached me and asked if I would like to become her running buddy. It’s so hard to turn down someone who is so excited about meeting a foreigner! At first, I didn’t know how I felt about having a running buddy, but now I am quite excited because I think we can motivate each other. I am meeting her for a run tonight.

I can go on for so much longer. I can talk about the crazy drivers, who make u-turns no matter where they are and love using their horns, or the moped drivers who don’t stop at red lights. While in China, you CANNOT take a green light for granted, and you must be aware of everything coming at you. I can talk about the squatting toilets, but I think you are already aware of the fact that that’s what they have in China.

So far, I am thankful with the support I’ve had since I got here. I can’t believe it’s only been five days…it feels so much longer. I’ve already learned quite a bit about the Chinese culture. I will learn so much more in the next four months though, about the Chinese culture, and about myself I am sure 🙂 I downloaded a translation app today which should help with communication and which will hopefully help me pick up Chinese quicker!

Impressions of Singapore

I started writing this post on March 1^st, the night I landed in Singapore. I was going to call it: “First Impressions of Singapore”, but since my arrival, my days have been action packed. In the evenings, I did not have the energy to formulate coherent sentences for a blog, so there it went, unfinished. Now, as I sit at my boarding gate on my way to China, my views on Singapore are more than just first impressions. I’ve had the chance to explore many different sides of the city/country.

The beginning of this blog post will be an excerpt of the first impressions I had started writing on my first night in Singapore. Then, I will list everything I have done since I got here, with pictures, and some interesting facts about Singapore!

First Impressions

Changi Airport

My flight was a total of approximately 7 hours from Melbourne. I was lucky to get a seat by the window and slept most of the way, which killed time. Changi airport is one of the largest transportation hubs in South East Asia and one of the busiest airports for international traffic in the world. I expected to be overwhelmed by people and confused upon arrival, but it was very easy to navigate myself to baggage claim. Besides the very clear signage, there was an abundance of airport staff available to help visitors, even in the bathroom, I might add. This took me by surprise considering my experience in airports and grocery stores lately has been increased automation and a decrease of human service. Moreover, as I came out of that same bathroom, there was a tablet prompting customers to rate the facility. As I passed through immigration, where I needed to give my thumb prints (first time I ever needed to do this at an airport), there was also a tablet asking visitors to rate their experience at the immigration counter. It seems that Singaporeans care very much about the customer experience.

Navigating the Train System

After collecting my luggage, I made my way to the train station. I was staring at the screens, wondering if I should purchase a tourist card, which would give me unlimited access on the trains for 3 days, or an EZ-link card, which I would need to re-charge with money as I travelled. Not just one, but two employees came to help me, giving me their advice after hearing about my plans in Singapore. In Montreal, whenever I had issues purchasing a train ticket at the machine, I would struggle to find a worker who could help me. Within one hour of my landing, I was already impressed by the Singaporean customer service.

I knew that my hostel was located near Lavender station, and I managed to find it on the extensive train map of Singapore. My guess was that I needed to make a transfer between lines to get there, but I thought I should confirm this with a local considering some of the mistakes I made while on the public transit system in Australia, such as going in the wrong direction. I asked the couple that was waiting next to me whether I needed to transfer and not only did they answer my question, they told me that they would also point me in the right direction once we got to the stop where the transfer needed to be made. As we boarded the train, we compared travel stories and they gave me recommendations on things I should do in Singapore. Most of their suggestions involved food. They were definitely speaking my language.

After they guided me in the right direction, we parted ways, since they were taking another line. A man, who had overheard my conversation with them and was travelling in the same direction as me, approached me and continued to ask about my travels and made sure that I knew where I was going. What friendly people! He got off the train 8 stops before I did. When he left, I people-watched those around me and realized that this is the first country I have ever visited in my life where I stand out so obviously as a tourist because of my physical appearance.

First Supper

Since I was tired from my flight, I decided to lay low for the first night. By the time I arrived at my hostel, it was 7pm, just in time for supper. I scoped out the cluster of street stalls around the corner. The choices were predominantly Chinese or Indian, which I was expecting, since these are the two predominant cultures in Singapore. What I was not expecting, however, was how inexpensive the food was! I was warned that Singapore was quite pricey, and it is, if you compare it to other South East Asia countries like Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia. But, coming from Melbourne where a similar portion size would cost me at least four times the price, my wallet and I were very happy.

I decided on some Indian cuisine, chicken mansala to be specific. Because the main spoken language in Singapore is English, I could read the menu. But, this does not mean that I understood what I was reading!! My Indian and Chinese food culture is very poor (won’t be for long though), so I still needed to ask the staff for some clarification. For example, I did not know what “mansala” meant. Tip: When an Indian tells you that something is not very spicy, don’t listen!

Some of the Most Interesting Things I Did in Singapore:

Friday:

Participated in a walking tour of Little India, where I tried some traditional
Inside the Buddhist Temple

Indian dishes, such as dosa.
Walked around Chinatown and visited a Buddhist temple.
Ate chicken rice, a classic Singaporean dish, and drank pure sugar cane juice at a Chinese hawker center. Hawker centers are a collection of food stalls and are where all the locals eat. The chicken rice was 2$.
Visited Sentosa island, which is essentially the playground of Singapore. This is where you will find a casino, amusement park, indoor skydiving, beaches etc. You can also visit the Southern-most tip of Asia here.
Went to Suntec city mall.
Visited Gardens by the Bay, an iconic tourist attraction in Singapore and multi-award winning gardens.
Ate Singaporean fried rice for supper.
Eating Chicken Rice and Drinking Sugar Cane Juice
Admired the light and water show at Marina by the Bay.
Took the elevator to the top of Marina Bay Sands Hotel for city views, and had a drink at the rooftop bar.

Southernmost Point of Continental Asia with my friend Dex, who I Had Met in New Zealand. I Was Lucky to Have Him Show Me His Home.

Marina Bay Sands Hotel. The Rooftop Bar is Located at the Top, In the Boat.

Posing In Front of a Supertree at Gardens by the Bay.

Pouring A Drink at the Top of Marina Bay Sands

Gardens by the Bay. These Supertrees are like vertical gardens and have more than 162 900 plants.

Saturday:

Rode the bus to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, where I climbed the tallest hill in Singapore (163 meters). That was a breeze compared to the hikes I had done in New Zealand!
Bukit Timah Nature Reserve Summit: Highest Point in Singapore.
Went to Esplanade, one of the busiest art centres in the world (over 3000
Free Show At Esplanade.

performances yearly), and watched Ajinai, a Mongolian band, perform a free show. I loved their music so much that I bought their CD.
Walked a full circle around Marina Bay and re-watched the light and water show, since I enjoyed it on the first night!
Visited Merlion Park, a landmark, to see the “Merlion”, which is Singapore’s national icon. It has the body of a fish and the head of a lion.
As I was looking at my map to figure out how to get back to my hostel, a girl approached me to look at my map as well. She was from Israel and we ended up spending the rest of our evening together. We went to eat Chinese food in Chinatown and next thing we knew, it was midnight and we had to catch the last bus back to our hostels!

Posing in Front of the Merlion at Merlion Park. Unfortunately my phone was on the verge of dying, so flash was not available and I am in the dark.

Sunday:

Took the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) and bus to Changi beach, a good place to spot airplanes coming and going. On the way, my friend Dex pointed out different estates and army training camps.
Nasi Lemak.
Ate Nasi Lemak, a Malay dish, at the Changi Village Hawker Center.
Also tried Singaporean desserts at this Hawker Center: ice kachang and chendol.

Ice Kachang and Chendol (Ice With Sweet Syrups)

Took the boat ride over to Palau Ubin and explored the island by bike. This island demonstrates what Singapore was like in the 1960s. It is considered to be one of the last “kampungs” (authentic villages) in Singapore. You can also see a variety of animal and plant life. I saw wild boars and long-tailed macaques.
Stopped at a local restaurant on Palau Ubin and drank coconut water from a coconut. Delicious
Ate supper at Swee Choon, a very popular local Chinese restaurant, with an automated waiting system!
Walked through Haji Lane and along Arab Street
Drank a Singaporean Sling at Clarke Quay, a historical river quay with dining and entertainment options.
Clarke Quay.

Palau Ubin: Kampung Living.

Monday:

Visited the URA (Urban Redevelopment Authority) in Singapore, which taught
Model of Singapore.

me about the urban planning strategies that Singapore is using in order to grow as a city-state economically, while maintaining its cultural heritage and preserving its natural environment.
Walked along Orchard road,
So Far Out of My Budget.

Singapore’s main shopping street with over 5000 retail, dining and entertainment establishments. I was especially curious to see the two-floor Abercrombie and Fitch I was told about. Fourteen year-old me would have been in clothing heaven and financial hell.

Did You Know? (About Singapore):

The Singaporean population is very multi-ethnic. The dominant ethnic groups are: Chinese (74.3%), Malay (13.4%), Indian (9.1%).
Singapore became so multi-cultural because its location made it an important trade settlement in Asia.
Singapore has four official languages: English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil, but Malay is the national ceremonial language and English is the main spoken language.
In order to accommodate the size of the Singaporean population and the small size of the island, most Singaporeans live in estates, which are condo buildings that are approximately 16 stories high. There are community centres that several estates share together. Housing is extremely expensive.
At school, there is one day a year where students must wear clothing from a different ethnic group.
In Little India.
You cannot buy chewing gum at any store; the sale, import and manufacture of chewing gum is not permitted. Only gum of therapeutic value is allowed and must be prescribed by a doctor.
Singapore’s goal is not just to be a garden city, it aims to be a city in a garden.

Impressions After Four Days:

The Singaporean friendliness and excellent customer service was still obvious through the rest of my visit. For example, I had asked an employee at a passenger service center which bus I could take to my next destination. He told me which bus number was best and pointed me in the proper direction. So, I made my way up the escalators of the subway station and started walking down the street. Shortly after, I noticed that the employee from the passenger service center was chasing after me. It turns out that he had found another bus number that would take me to my destination even faster and he just wanted to let me know!

I was very fortunate to have my friend Dex show me some of the local dishes and destinations. This absolutely gave me a better appreciation of Singapore. It was very interesting to experience the contrast between Palau Ubin island, Little India and Chinatown, which are made up of heritage buildings, and Marina Bay, with the lights, water displays and modern infrastructure. This contrast shows how much Singapore has developed over the past 50 years. It was also interesting to learn about how three different ethnic groups have managed to continue thriving throughout Singapore’s history. I would not be surprised if Singapore is used an as example of a successful multi-lingual, multi-racial and multi-religious society in discussions about immigration.

On to China…

As I sit at my gate before boarding my flight, I can’t help but begin to feel nervous about the journey to come. Communication in Singapore happened in English, yet I still felt a culture shock, mostly due to food. In China, the language barrier will be an additional challenge, amongst many other things.

But then I remind myself that many Chinese immigrants have arrived to Canada speaking very little English. The same goes for my Greek family who immigrated into Canada more than 50 years ago. They knew no English, their alphabet was completely different, they had never experienced snow…

So if they can do it, surely I can do it too, for 4 months…