Singapore Day 26: A list of Other-ness (or "This place is not like home!")

Everyone who travels experiences moments when they realize, "This is not like what we're used to!" I thought you'd enjoy a short list of some things that are different between Singapore (or Indonesia) and Seattle.

Jakarta traffic

• Human cargo: 
• To save space on the roads, work teams of foreigners sit on the bed of pickup trucks. Rails on the sides and a canopy suffice for moving people efficiently, protected from the weather. (In the US, animal rights activists sometimes protest dogs riding in the open back of a truck.) A taxi driver explains that employers move huge numbers of people this way: having them crowd into buses in their workclothes would be inefficient and dirty.
• About 270,000 men from China, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, India, and Bangladesh provide the bulk of a work force for landscaping and construction, while female Filipinos and Indonesians help with housework and nanny-ing. Most support their families at home with wages from Singapore.
• In Indonesian cities, middle and upper class households hire drivers and maids. City commutes can be hair-raising if you're not used to lane changes, cars zipping by on the shoulder, or motorcycles squeezing between the lanes. People walk through any space provided (at their own risk).
• Locals who have been down-sized sometimes join the taxi workforce. Singapore's taxi drivers are AMAZING: they find the address quickly, are fountains of info on food, shopping, and local sites, and fees are regulated. (Here's a funny video about taxi drivers: click here, and get a feel for the language, too.)

Electrical socket and plug

• Electrical plugs: 
• voltage is 220, not 110 (so you'll fry Ami electronics that aren't wired for dual voltage). 
• The plugs themselves are varied, but mostly British style - big and clunky. 
• You have to turn on the out at the wall and on an extension cord before power flows.

•  Kitchens: 
• Many Singapore kitchens have no oven and some have no stove. Why would you cook and bake when there are hawkers stalls within walking distance?
• Every neighborhood has food courts with individual vendors in hawker stalls. Eating outside (on the open ground floor of a building) is cheaper than eating inside (enclosed air-conditioned space).
• Most parents work late. Children eat with friends at the food courts. Many kids become picky eaters: from the time they're little, they can choose whatever they like from a variety of cooks. A family eating together will have many different kinds of food from various food stalls.
• Restaurants that serve supper are open until 10 or later. Friends or family often hang out together after work. Little kids run around their parents' table area with no fear of danger or getting lost.

Change of style: you may have to
squat not sit

• Toilet stuff: 
• The bathroom is called a toilet here, as in "Where's the toilet, please?" It's called a WC (short for "water closet") in Indonesia. 
• In many places, you'll use an old-style toilet, a hole in the floor.
• In most flats, tap water runs only cold (that is, a tropical lukewarm). We flip a switch to turn on point-of-use heaters for showers. (Hardly anyone has a tub.)
• Some Singapore toilets and every one we saw in Indo come with a bidet: manual (a water hose running from the wall beside the toilet) or automated (a water jet sprays from inside the toilet rim).
• In areas of limited sewer capacity (like Indonesian cities), the garbage bin in the stall is for toilet paper. Do not flush it! Before you say, "Eyew!" keep in mind that it's the same in Israel and other limited-water/sewer areas.

  

Shopping in Chinatown

• Getting around:
• Walking? Watch your step. You need to know what's underfoot, both in style and stuff.
• The curbs and sidewalks are smooth and uniform in newer neighborhoods. In others (like Little India), every shop has paved or tiled its own frontage. Steps up and down, level or slanted walks, and variations in width are just a few of the hazards. In Indonesia, there seems to be no regulation. When pavement is dug up for repairs, it might be replaced by uneven blocks (18"X32" near our hotel) or repaved in any fashion. The sidewalk can serve as a motorcycle passageway if roads are too congested, or may disappear entirely in some places.
• Instead of following the curving roads on sidewalks, most housing is built with an open ground floor. You can take shortcuts through courtyards and under buildings.
• Buses and taxis are commonplace. The SMRT (trains and buses) that run through Singapore are efficient, routes are easy to figure out, and the cost is reasonable. If it takes an hour and a half to get from city center to our eastern side of the island, there's a lot to see from the bus window. Long lines wait to get on the trains during rush hour. People are polite, even while queuing and jockeying for position. However, sometimes Chinese or Indian grandmas elbow their way past us without qualms.

 

Wave down a taxi when
the green roof sign is lit

• Service:
• Whether it's food or shopping, Singapore takes its experiences seriously. The people go out of their way to give great service. Check out this "Goldfish Birthday" video. Made me laugh.
• Singaporeans are hard workers. Competition for education means tutors and after-hours studying. Then the workplace demands a lot of overtime.
• Singapore is CLEAN. If there's litter, it disappears in a hurry: mostly foreign workers sweep and wash public spaces. Garbage is efficiently disposed of. From shop windows to bathrooms, surfaces are wiped down and sparkling. Back alleys and ethnic neighborhoods aren't always as tidy or hygienic.
• The Singaporean government uses ad campaigns, fines, and other incentives to enlist locals' help in wiping out mosquitoes. Standing water is forbidden and inhabitants are strongly cautioned against providing breeding ground for bugs that carry disease and fevers.

How we love this part of the world!

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*O God, you have taught me from my earliest childhood, and I constantly tell others about the wonderful things you do. Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God. Let me proclaim your power to this new generation, your mighty miracles to all who come after me. Psalm 71:17-18  NLT

Singapore Days 19-20: Loving it! Singapore to Malaysia

Google Hangout with family

We take the kids across the border to JB, Malaysia, on the weekend and talk to family on Google Hangouts today. (They're 15 hrs. behind so it was last evening in Seattle and morning here.)

I'm tired when I finish teaching and grading each day. My course (Research Methods and Writing) requires a lot of assignments, which I try to get back by the next morning. Someone gives me a ride back to the flat after I clean up and prep for class in my office. Then, while W and the kids are downtown and away from the flat, I study, grade, and rest. Sometimes we head out for supper; other times, the others have eaten and I make ramen for myself. (No condolences needed: I love the S'pore varieties of ramen and they're easy to cook.)

JB: a mix of old and new

Kirsten finds a good rheumatologist Friday and is encouraged by the office visit. Jeremy and Rebekah have strolled through various parts of the island, with and without the others. We spend Saturday browsing Chinatown and local shops.

Sunday, we head through the Singaporean and Malaysian customs and into JB. One of my students pastors a church in JB, but we don't have phone service to connect with him once we crossed the border. Sadly, we miss the service and his offer of tourist guide and van.

W and I have a regular circuit in JB. We're usually on the run, but the kids are less nimble so we take taxis instead of busses, and plan an overnight stay. For lunch, we eat at our favorite Australian hot-stone restaurant: flat lava is super-heated, food arrives raw, and we cook our own meal. Yummy. Everyone loves it: lamb, steak, chicken, fish ... and fantastic mashed potatoes with black pepper sauce.

On a previous visit (2010), W took Kirsten and Jonathan to a seafood restaurant outside the city. This time, we cram into a small car (all five of us! plus the driver). I kneel sideways on the floor between W, K, and Jer. Ouch for 20 minutes. 

However, our taxi driver waves us off our destination. "Not there. Not that one. I take you to much better place. Near. Is near same. This Restoran Todak much more food for local and Singapore-people." Singaporeans are notoriously picky about their food: my students know exactly where they like to eat local specialties. So we figure we'll follow the taxi driver's advice to a place Singaporeans frequented. 

The place is crammed. A server finds us a table: "Outside, yes?" -- on the deck overlooking the water and the opposite shoreline. We ask those around us what we should order. "Steam fish," they say. We liked that, but the pepper crab, mayonnaise prawns, and Chinese greens were amazing. We eat family style but can't finish.

Kirsten and I overlooking the water

Between cracking open crab legs and slurping sauces, we need to wash our hands a few times. The sinks, fastened to the bayside railings, drain right soapy rinse-water into the ocean below. The pink lights warm the faces of hundreds of diners.

Little kids climb on the railings: no one falls over or into the sea. They run back to their parents, among other tables, wash their hands, and stare at the big, light-skinned foreigners. There's an assumption of responsibility and self-awareness here = if you do something stupid and get hurt, it's your fault. But parents don't fret over every little thing about their kids, either.

Sink draining into the ocean

Monday, after a nice stay at the Citrus Hotel, we head to a mall for some last-minute shopping. I try to find a few Indonesian movies. The shop-keeper takes ages running them for English subtitles. We use up our time waiting. Time runs out, which is really disappointing. (I have to teach, so we can't stay late. We miss our second visit to places we'd seen yesterday.)

We've planned to meet at the bridge to immigration, but it's hard to find. When Jer and Reb find K and me, W's gone across to see if they're already on the other side of the street. I lean over the railing beside the bridge, three storeys above eight lanes of traffic, and whistle.

I don't think my whistle was that loud. I didn't put much force into it. But the two teens smoking beside me open their eyes in shock and a few passersby stand still for a second. W comes walking back out from the heart of the immigration building ... because he hears the whistle. Oops! Guess it is louder than I thought, echoing across the street and into the big building.

View from our JB hotel

We take three buses home and are back by 7pm. I review my study material, grade the papers that came in over the weekend, and watch a movie with the family.

Wednesday, W and I have supper with Shane, administrator and trainer for a network of 6000 community and house churches. He gives us great ideas of what's working for church-planters in Berlin, Uganda, and East Timor. Missions may not look like what we thought. We're open. We're interested. And we're going. Only God knows what the church plant will look like, but we're making connections that will help us do God's work. We need to ask and trust that spiritual doors will open and people will find Him.

The college administrator picks me up at 7:50 each morning. There's a speaker and worship leader from 8-8:30 before classes start. I give the school devotional Thursday (today) on Luke 11-12: staying on task of reaching the world without hypocrisy or trying to be someone we're not. We're wrapping up class time today: students will meet in groups tomorrow and do their research.

Timothy and Melissa call us via Google Hangout. It's such fun to watch 2-year-old Kinsey squirming and shouting, "Oma! Opa!" She flops on the carpet beside her dad to wave, look at our pictures, and call to us. We'll be doing this often when we move to this part of the world next year.

Tonight, W and I fly to Indonesia to explore the city we'll teach and live in. Can't wait to see the family who stayed with us in Seattle. Both girls have married and one is expecting. Very exciting! Our family continues to grow.

Read more:

*Later, the LORD sent this message to King Ahaz: "Ask the LORD your God for a sign of confirmation, Ahaz. Make it as difficult as you want—as high as heaven or as deep as the place of the dead."

But the king refused. "No," he said, "I will not test the LORD like that."

Then Isaiah said, "Listen well, you royal family of David! Isn't it enough to exhaust human patience? Must you exhaust the patience of my God as well? All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign." Isaiah 7:10–14a NLT

*From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work. Psalm 104:13 NLT

*Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT

Moravian Prayer: Most Gracious God, help us each day to remember the gift you have given us. Rain or shine, in times of sadness or joy, let us thank you for the greatest gift of all – your Son, Jesus and his love for us. Amen.

Singapore Day 5: Food. And more food.

The day starts up with two small pastries I picked up from a bakery last night. I share, but still ... I'm eating before I'm hungry. Cheryl takes me along to Mr. Prata, but I can only tolerate a TeeO (black tea and sugar). When the gals head back to work after 10, I look for W, who's on breakfast break with his students. I order a plate of noodles and long (green) beans. They're cold and greasy but I eat most of them.

The students remark on the way I hold my chopsticks. "You know how to hold properly," they exclaim. "We never teach our children so they hold any way. How did you learn?"

From the pictures on the back of chopstick wrappers, of course.

I ask the younger students for a demonstration. "Why do the elders say you don't know how to hold?" They show me how they cross the sticks and randomly stab at food. It's funny to watch. They weren't taught so they just pick up the food however they can. Most Singaporean Chinese alternate chopsticks with a fork and spoon.

"We have to start teaching children to use chopsticks," sighs one of the women. "And you from USA can use it?" The young gal beside me asks how I do it, and with a quick demo tries it out. "I drop food lah." Oh well. You can hardly starve to death here. With spoon. Fork. Or chopsticks.

A food stall in a hawker marker

Cheryl knocks on the office door at noon and invites me along to an official luncheon. They're saying goodbye to a coworker on her last day. However, nothing is mentioned "because she might be emotional about the farewell." Goodbyes will be said privately to this greatly appreciated helper.

Where do we go? To a buffet. Our options:

• Chinese stir-fry and rice (snow crab and noodles; scallops and tofu...)
• Japanese sushi (beautiful. Lots of variety)
• Curries and meats in sauce (mutton curry; Indian beef, etc.)
• Tempura (shrimp, beef, taro, tofu)
• Laksa (coconut and meat soup)
• Satay (beef, chicken, squid, etc.) For this you clip the table number to a stake of the type of meat you want and the chef cooks it up, clips your table number to the skewer, and servers bring it to you.
• Dim sum (5 enormous steamers of buns and assorted offerings)
• Pizza and other western foods
• Ben and Jerry ice-cream bar
• A pudding and fruit bar: the guava slices with plum sugar are fantastic. I spoon a bit of mango puree into a little cup and put a half-scoop of "B&J Chocolate Therapy" on top.
• Cake desserts (brownies, squares, etc.) I skipped these entirely.
• Drink bar: assorted teas and coffees (hot and cold), pop, fruit drinks, water

The variety of food is staggering

A small Malay motions me forward at the ice cream bar. His feet are injured so I wave him ahead. The longest line is at that counter. Everyone grabs the same ice cream scoops and plunges them into the cold water pot when they're done. (That can't be good for us.)

I try to limit my portions but we eat for an hour and a half, between laughing about our common love of Korean drama, miming Bollywood-style motions, and chatting about kids and school and recipes. It's delightful, but we're all so full we just want to sleep when we get back to the office.

Typical neighborhood: looming housing

After work, W and I walk from the flat to the nearby neighborhood center. There are skyscrapers on every side. Once we explore, I have wonton soup and W gets dim sum. We snag a few mini Magnum ice cream bars, stuff them in a freezer bag, and head home. Pistachio ice cream. Groan. Even if it's a little bar, I'm stuffed from lunch, never mind from supper.

We have emails to catch up on and a bit more work to do before bed. I watch an hour of KBS (Korean TV). Cheryl and her kids have a supper appointment before she comes home to pack. They fly out in the early morning hours. (Jay flew home Sunday night. That was a close call: he'd though his flight was Monday until they checked the ticket Sunday evening. Oh my!)

We'll be in the flat on our own until Kirsten arrives early Saturday. I have a pile of research to finish before the weekend. Can't believe it's going to be Thursday when we wake up. It's nearly the end of June. Is anyone else feeling like summer is rushing by?