Singapore…. back online
The internet is now up and running in IHQ, so I can post a bit more about things here!
I arrived early on Monday morning, the first of the OCers (OC = Orientation Course) and have been looking around and getting to see a little bit of Singapore as I recover from jetlag and settle in. The weather is hot and humid, it isn’t as hot as I thought it might be though. High 20/low 30s most of the time, but it is pretty humid. This is the rainy season, though there hadn’t been much rain on Monday or Tuesday. Today is a different story, after a clearish morning there was a burst of thunder and the skies opened!
Singapore itself is interesting, the OMF IHQ seems to be at the swanky end of town, yesterday I headed up to Little India to see an electronics store and stepping off the train felt like stepping into a different country! The most curious thing is that English is the common language, and signs, labels etc are all in English. Which almost makes it feel as though it’s somewhere tropical and American, like Guam or Hawaii or somewhere, but the English is all British! There are all kinds of hints to the colonial past as well… My only experience of Asia really has been Japan, and so to arrive in Asia, go to a shop and be able to understand everything, be greeted in english and answer seems a bit weird!
So that’s about it really so far, it’s been quite uneventful, but the real stuff starts tomorrow!
November 5th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Ah yes, but do they have rich tea biscuits?? now that would be weird!
November 6th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
hope your settling in well mate. right with you.
November 7th, 2008 at 11:58 am
Well Emma, They not only have Rich Tea biscuits…. They have McVitie’s Rich Tea biscuits!
November 8th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Oh my gosh!! Do they have Sainsbury’s?? Haha- my Singaporean friends were just here, they were astonished to find that our roads are tarmac’d and we have Marks and Spencer’s. Apparently their impressions of Norn Irn thus far have been based on Seamus Heaney’s poetry. Not so good given that he didn’t like Ireland particularly and usually wrote about bogs. Be our ambassador! Hold your head high Ormo!!
December 9th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
Lol, McVities, eh? Fab! You’ll feel at home then
Do they eat potatoes much in japan?? I think I would miss ye olde potato if I left these sunny isles….
I thought the fake snow sounded rather freaky, not sure I’d be up for getting that in my eyes!
Keep the posts coming!
xx