Cheers to the New Year!

January 1st, 2014:
What better way to start off the New Year than in a different country!?  2014 has started off wonderfully for me... Yesterday we took our time waking up, and then we went and had lunch at the Boon Lay Market.  I had a chicken, green bean and noodle dish that was to die for - a great first meal of the year (and it was only $3)!

After lunch, we went to McDonalds to get a soft-serve cone (yum!) and then made our way back to the hostel.  We decided that that evening we'd venture to the Vivo City Mall (the largest mall in Singapore) and go to dinner and a movie.  When we got there, (green line to the purple line, same way we had gone to Sentosa island), we found a delicious-looking pizza place that we decided to try - the view was also incredible, and overlooked the night skyline of Sentosa.

Katie and I shared a greek pizza and an avocado salad, and we really enjoyed the cool night air.  We decided to see Frozen, and were so excited as we ventured across the huge mall.  The movie was fantastic, the music was great (minus some of the lyrics;)) and Idina Menzel is incredible!

After the movie (which made me miss Cory and Chloe so so much - sister love!), we made our way back home, into our beds, and fell asleep.  It was a great first day of the new year.

January 2, 2014: 
This morning, we woke up around 8 to head over to NIE for a meeting with Sunny and the rest of our supervisors.  It was a quick and easy bus ride on the 199, but when we got there we did get a little lost on campus.  Mostly because it is HUGE - it was so beautiful though, and really nice to finally meet everyone!

We had a meeting with 5 of the NIE staff members, including Sunny, who will be our advisors during our time here in Singapore.  They were so nice and welcoming, they answered all of our questions, and were able to give us a heads up for what to expect in the classrooms at the start of next week.  We also registered for our student ID cards for NIE that we'll get next week, and discussed dates and timelines for the rest of the month.  I'm already thinking about the fact that this is definitely not going to be enough time to really immerse ourselves in their education system, I wish we had a longer time period.  5 weeks seemed like a really long trip at first, but when it comes down to it, this first week was mostly exploration and touristy-fun, next week will be mostly acclimation and observation in the classroom, and then we only have 3 weeks to do and see everything!  Luckily everyone is willing to help us do as much as we possibly can.  We are going to got to an NIE class in a few weeks, we are going to get to observe other schools ("independent," and "future" schools), and we're going to hopefully get to experience as much of the co-curricular activities as possible.  Sunny mentioned that he thinks my school is themed towards performing arts, so if that's the case, I'm really looking forward to that experience!

After finishing up at NIE, we made our way back to Boon Lay station and took the green/purple line to Little India to have lunch and explore.  It rained on us a little, and was 90 degrees by the time we decided we needed to go home, but it was a really fun day.  We walked up and down the different streets, shopping, eating, and browsing.  I bought some great souvenirs and had a delicious Indian meal - spicy chicken with yellow rice, a hard-boiled egg and an egg prata (which is my new favorite thing). I also got my eyebrows threaded!! It was a little painful, but really not that bad, really inexpensive, and now they look great!... it was an awesome day!

A beautiful building in Little India!

We were really tired around 5 o'clock, so we headed home on the MRT, are now resting (and blogging;)) and will eventually go get dinner a little later on.  We'll probably be mellow tonight in preparation for a fun-filled weekend ahead!  Tomorrow I'm getting a local phone, we're having lunch with the NIE staff, and then we're doing as much as we can before work starts Monday!! - the zoo, Night Safari, River Safari, water park, maybe a day trip to Malaysia?! Hopefully we can do it all! 

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Cat of the Day!

Today's Cat of the Day is this cutie that we saw last night when we were coming home from Frozen.  You can't really tell, but he has a nub tail like Simba and Nala!! 

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On a sadder note, I got an email from my mom today saying that Hoppy died, our rabbit that we've had since I was in 5th grade.  Rest in Peace Hoppy, I know you're in bunny heaven and I'll miss you and your fluffy ears so much! <3