October 30, 2012 Canada or October 31 2012 Malaysia

I was chatting with a friend who lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada this morning.   Tomorrow is Halloween there. That means little children go out trick or treating and collect bags of candy.  Not sure how many will be doing that this year.  The weather pattern that has hit the city is not the norm. However, it can happen, and frequently does. She said it feels like mid January right now.  I guess I can say I am glad I wont be taking in a trip there this year.

My friend turned on her web camera and showed me the street below her house through her window. Oooh, not nice!

I am in a fog here early in the morning of October 31st.  We will be having a +35 degree day, and very likely a full-blown monsoon later in the afternoon.

Freezies in Singapore!

On my rapid trip for shopping and indulgence I spied a Muslim family perched on a concrete structure as I was heading to the shops. They sat there with these tubes of colourful 'stuff', squeezing the tube and holding one end in their mouths.  Egad, is that a freezie?

These, along with popsicles are unheard of over this way. I think I have figured out why.  In heat that is constantly at 33 or more celclius and humidity that could cause one to drown just breathing, a freezie or a popsicle does not stand a chance.  However, this family was happily stuffing these colourful plastic bag tubes into their mouths and I was jealous. I approached them and said 'is that frozen'?  Yes, yes, lag, and into her bag of treasures she dove and gave me one. I declined, but they insisted. I offered to pay, no, no, a gift.  Yay!

The freezies were a bright Barbie Doll pink. I guessed they were either a nasty sweet sugary taste or rose water. I wanted to cool off before I began traipsing around the streets. Lucky for me, they were rose water.  And cooling for the body.  I did stumble around trying to open it though. Finally, after attempting to untwist the heavy duty elastic band holding the delightful frozen treat inside the bag, I asked my new friends how to do this. Good thing I did. It seems you leave this twisted elastic intact and bite off the other end and then bite and squeeze the contents into your mouth.  Could have had quite a mess with my first method I guess.

Countdown to Canada

then I get see this:

I will have to teach them how to make a water geyser in the bathtub. Not my house!

Glad to be Home - Finally

With no gps hag,  I managed to find my way home. My buddy, Irfan, told me to follow him. He rides a scooter. I stayed close to his tailpipe and began to think we are going in a big circle. But he lives in the area, so accepted this route.  I did think we passed the correct road, but resisted saying anything. Finally, after some weird turns and re traces, we ended up at a Petronas so he could fill up. I wish he would have admitted that he got lost and took the wrong road. But he is a guy. What guy admits these things? Not him.  So off we went again, at which time I pointed out to him that indeed we were driving in a circle. I managed to prove this as we drove past the hotel where we started from.  I again watched him pass the turn I knew I should take, so tooted the old buggy and waved and took off. So, after an hour of driving like Mr Bean, I was finally on my way home, but of course now in knee deep traffic.

I guess I should be greatful for a friend sticking around and helping. This kind of help, maybe is not useful. But his intentions were good. And I did get home. It really is nice living in this little place without the hustle and bustle of the big city.  Listen to me. I am sounding very much like a local. My city is not tiny. It is at least 70,000. At home that is not tiny. But I guess over this way it is, lai dat lah.
Now to make the coveted popcorn. Can, can, lai dat making in the popper lah.


(just a bit of Singlish for you to translate)

g'nite

Singlish anyone. lai dat? How about one for SLinglish?

I referred to my buying a Singlish book yesterday when I presented teaching writing in English.  Some of my former mentees were in attendance and they admitted to reading this blog. Not sure if they find it amusing, offensive, or just drivel.

Neh mine lah. Is ok lai dat.

Because I so many time catch no ball, this book is going to be a great help to me.  I have learned another phrase to replace the it finish, it finish one that I have heard so many times in the past.  I kinda like this replacement one.  no more arready.  Of course it means we do not have that size, that model, that item, or whatever you wanted - they do not have.  Never really sure if they every had it, will have it again, or simply don't know what you are talking about. But, for now, forget about finding whatever it is, there!

So, are you smart enough to decode some of those words?  I am slowly doing so, and having fun on the way.  And all your Westerners, please get off your high horses.  I have heard many of you speak such pathetic English here as teachers, that there is no room for pride.  Maybe I should write a sl-inglish book for that lot. (slang, slur, and sloppy English from native speakers)

Now time for breakfast before the day starts. I eat now, can, can.

I Can Hardly Wait to do This

Everyone in North America can identify with the issue of receiving junk mail that is sneaked in with our utility bills.  You scratch your head and wonder why some goon has put a coupon or some advertising for something completely unrelated to the bill you have been sent. Well, the marketers of that product have struck a deal with your utility company, and have piggy backed on them to reach a whole  new audience. But, there you sit, with a pile of recycling that should never have been yours to deal with.  Read on, it can be fun to deal with this without having to sort and deliver unrequested junk mail.
The next time you find your utility bill stuffed with one of these, do this

Send an ad for your local chimney cleaner to American Express. Send a pizza coupon to Citibank. If you didn't get anything else that day, then just send them their blank application back!

You can definitely have fun, and get your recycling done very efficiently when you receive a free postage paid envelope. It costs them nothing if you throw them away! The postage was around 50 cents and increases according to the weight. In that case, why not get rid of some of your other junk mail and put it in these cool little, postage-paid return envelopes. 

What fun!  You can even send the envelope back empty if you want to just to keep them guessing! It still costs them 60 cents.

Remember -- you are keeping the postal service happy. Kind of a make work project that you have devised by recycling through the channels that caused the problem in the first place.

Singapore is Good for the Soul

Took a cab across the causeway. I was going to splurge and take a cab directly to my hotel, but then some man said he would share with me, as he was also going in the same direction. Then it turned out we just joined others and ended up only paying RM15.  Then, after checking into the hotel, we visited over lunch at a Turkish cafe that made a great beef, cucumber, tomato and flat bread treat. New friend works for Petronas in KL and also takes quick trips to S'pore to get a western fix. I then went on my way to get my popcorn popper and popcorn for the machine. Two items I bought did make me laugh, Organic Brown Basmati rice - all the way from California, and calcium pills from Canada.  Did a power shop on Orchard and then returned to the hotel and thought a luxurious bath would be just perfect.  Turned on the hot water - and was sadly disappointed. Warm would be the word to describe the water temperature. Oh well, off to find a few trinkets on Arab Street. Didn't really do much in the way of buying but enjoyed every vendor there.  I will definitely come back here to wander the streets again.  Even though the hotel has been a bit of a disaster, I will likely stay here again.  They are located right at the head of Arab Street, so there is no better place to stay than right here. Besides, it is clearly a very cultural hotel regarding patrons. Chinese, Indian, and Malay are the norm. I am the odd one out. And right across the street there is a charming little restaurant that serves 'the best tenderloin steaks in the region' as well as lamb shanks and rack of lamb. The rack of lamb is definitely worth returning to in the future. I have not had rack of lamb since I have been over this way. So what could go wrong in a hotel besides no hot water? Well, the mini safe in the room would not shut. Seems, after a few service people coming to my room, it had to be replaced. The card to open my room would never work in the elevator, so I was at the desk more than the desk clerk, resetting the card. I cannot understand why people in this part of the world refuse to just replace a card that does not work. They just don't seem to want to admit that a card is defective. So, I have still got the nasty card, but checking out tomorrow morning, so who cares.  Ah, yes, the TV. Lots of non English channels, the local Singapore English channel that I watch at home was mucked up here, so cannot watch it. HBO is drivel in the way of entertainment - Julia Roberts this and Julia Roberts that.  And still no hot water.  So, a warm shower and tuck myself into bed early for the trip back to forks and spoons.  Yes, I will stay here again. It is quiet, clean, close to what I want to do.  The whiney things I mentioned are still 93 3/4 % more than I have in my house.

iPad Mini?

I am getting weary with all the new technology.  I have just received an e-mail from Apple that the new iPad mini is ready for me and just a click away from being mine.

Good grief!  If one bought every trinket that Apple developed they would need to carry a piece of luggage to carry all these things.  And, why would I want an iPad mini in the first place. Think about it.  If they really knew their audience, maybe they would get age categories before the sent out new technology items.  I would use an iPad as a book, but I could not use an iPad mini for the same purpose. If I did, I would have to view one sentence at a time in order to read it.  Kind of defeats the usefulness of the machine, right? I'd probably get carpal tunnel syndrome from all the scrolling I would have to do.

Good thing they synch everything. Imagine this - sending someone a message on your iPhone, saving it on your iPod, and sending it to your iPad to then forward to the iPad mini, so you can read the message anywhere.  Oops, almost forgot to synch it with the MacAir and MacBook Pro.  Better keep it on the desktop of the desktop computer too.

I wonder if airlines allow all these trinkets onboard?

They claim the iPad mini is every inch an iPad. So if this is true, why own both?

or

I think at my age, I am a two hand user.  

I guess I better show all the trinkets so that Apple does not get all the advertising here.

does size really matter?

I am on a roll. I love these little guys. If you feel the same, take a look at the one I just watched regarding the MRT breakdown.

Dr. JiaJia addresses the crowds

My favourite:

Meet the Bully

You can find them all once you view one.  Don't forget to click 'like'.

Singlish? I am still laughing......

I am going to pick up the book of Singlish when I go to S'pore. It will help you to understand what I encounter every day.  I had a book in the past - called 'as cold as a baystreet banker's heart'.  That book could amuse one for hours. It was a book of phrases common to prairie folk in Canada. The words were unheard of in other parts of the country.

Well, Singlish is kind of like that. With an Asian slant to pronunciation of English. Hence - Singlish (as in Singapore)

I have pasted a youtube to get your familiar with what I encounter when asking directions, ordering food, and many other daily tasks.  You have to watch this. Two little gaffers poking fun at the language which has been very seriously attacked by the government.  The government frowns upon Singlish, and watching this, you will understand why.

Singlish in my life

I love the dramatic music between the sets. I used the same between sets in a documentary I produced with a couple of friends.  If you hear and see lah  in the messages it is the same as westerners constantly saying  you know what I mean. Be sure to watch through to the end. There is a scenario of the two pretending to order room service for a breakfast order. Hilarious!

Is This Where I Am Headed?

A friend sent me some very funny Christmas pictures.  This was among them. But it made me ponder my life. Is this the direction I am headed?

The annual Christmas picture of the "I'm never going to get to sleep with a man" club. 

Then, I realized, things could be a lot worse:

This takes Christmas to a whole new level.

OR 

This puts a whole new spin to the phrase "family tree"!

Gigantic Green Mangos

Ok, I stand corrected yet again.  Yesterday at the wet market I stopped in to pick up some of those incredible big juicy yellow mangos. Sadly, they have finished their cycle for this year, so was prepared to go home mango-less.  My buddy tried to entice me to buy the huge green ones. No way, Jose, I know what I think of green mangos.  Wrong again sunshine.  He gave me a taste, and I dragged a sack of them home last night. Even bigger than the yellow ones from last week, these babies weighed in at 1 kilogram each.  That is 2.2 pounds of delight for you who do not know metric weights. It is the size of a small watermelon!

last night's dinner - it was devine!

I’m what I am, and what I am, Is back on Boogie Street.

Boogie Street, is actually Bugis Street and that street is in Singapore. For you younguns' the first sentence is from a line in Leonard Cohen's song. That is where I will be hanging around on Sunday.  I need to reintroduce myself to western culture, and know that a bowl, a couple of sticks and a spoon does not define a place setting.  I have to be sure my young grandchildren are not more aware of how to set the table than old Nana.

What I love about my adventures to Singapore is that I never decide where I will go, where I will stay, or what I will do.  The first task is to find the cheapest best hotel and then the trip builds from that.  I have stayed at many fine hotels in that city and it is not because I part with my ringgits easily. The deciding factor is the best deal on the website I belong to, and that sets the rest of the journey.  Going on a Sunday has made it a new pattern which has allowed a completely new set of prices to ponder. I got  the best rate ever because of that, so naturally, I had to take it.  I have some items I can only get in Singapore, and instead of hauling that sort of stuff back from North America, it can just get this done in preparation for my return in the new year.

Now, I have to admit my item burning a hole in my brain is a popcorn popper. I have decided I cannot spend another year here without popcorn. Especially when I go home and have that delightful aroma filling my nostrils on a regular basis and know that it will be over once I board a plane.  So, doing my detective work, I tracked down one that will work on the electrical system here. I don't think one would get the service I found here, back in N.A.  The department store not only responded to my request, but checked to be sure of stock, put one aside for me, and have alerted the staff to watch for my arrival.  Maybe instead of dinner I will just go back to the hotel and pop up a feast of dinner there. I will have to purchase the little kernels at Mustapha centre before I come back to the land of nothing familiar.

I have two speaking engagements in a hotel in JB right at the border on Monday and Tuesday. That is the reason I am going on Sunday. I have arranged a driver to pick me up at the Singapore hotel and deliver me to the JB hotel hours before I have to give my talks.  Very clever, very clever indeed.  My nice travel agent in KT has made that arrangement for me.  Now, tell me, have you ever had a travel agent that is willing to have your mail sent to them - because your own mail box gets raided on a regular basis?  Well, mine is doing just that for me. They are the same ones that found the SPCA version here and helped rescue the dog on the highway.  They are the BEST!

So, now to clean up the hovel and pack a few items for the workdays in JB, and then relax with Big Bang Theory gang for the night. I have to go into JB and find a restaurant to entertain my mentees for a year end party, get some laundry done, and fine-tune my ppt presentations for next week.  As for Boogie Street (Bugis), the lyrics go like this:

So come, my friends, be not afraid.

We are so lightly here.

It is in love that we are made;

In love we disappear.

Tho’ all the maps of blood and flesh

Are posted on the door,

There’s no one who has told us yet

So come, my friends, be not afraid.

We are so lightly here.

It is in love that we are made;

In love we disappear.

Tho’ all the maps of blood and flesh

Are posted on the door,

There’s no one who has told us yet

What Boogie Street is for.What Boogie Street is for.

I feel very local when I go there. Singaporeans still gather then regularly. Tourists don't.  I love Arab Street and the Mustapha Centre - both are a short walk from this street made even more famous by Leonard Cohen. I am a lucky girl. I will be saturated with the culture there in a couple of days.

Cohen's explanation of the song is:  "Boogie Street to me was that street of work and desire, the ordinary life and also the place we live in most of the time that is relieved by the embrace of your children, or the kiss of your beloved, or the peak experience in which you yourself are dissolved, and there is no one to experience it so you feel the refreshment when you come back from those moments… So we all hope for those heavenly moments, which we get in those embraces and those sudden perceptions of beauty and sensations of pleasure, but we're immediately returned to Boogie Street."  

yes --  I will be returned to Boogie Street in a couple of days. 

gotta log off here - I have been disconnected 10 x already!