Love the smell of fresh laundry!

Thought I'd do a short post about what I did today - (Jan. 7th... yesterday's post was written yesterday, posted today, because of our internet restrictions at the hostel - but that's a whole other story)

Today Katie, Sunny and I went to the ICA, or Immigration & Checkpoint Authority Office to get our Student Passes (the other girls will be going later this month).  Unfortunately, that meant I didn't get to go to school, and instead had to sit in a DMV-esc room for two hours waiting for my pass to print.  It took from about 9-11:30, but eventually we were out of there and on our way to lunch.

I'm official! (and looking greatttt right now, haha) 

Sunny took us to a delicious chicken-rice place in the city.  Chicken-rice is a special kind of rice in South-East Asia (specifically, Singapore!) that is cooked in chicken stock and different spices in order to create a delicious flavor! It is served with roasted or steamed chicken and cucumber, and was one of the best meals we've had yet.  I couldn't snap a picture, but I'll definitely be going back, so I'll get one soon!

After lunch, Sunny drove us through the city, we stopped at one market in Tiong Bahru to get a steamed bun and dessert... (we like to eat here!) It was delicious, filling, and fun - and finally we made it back to the hostel.

Today was the first time that I've done laundry and I am a happy camper! Every piece of clothing you wear here is smelly after one use because of the excessive sweating that goes on in 100% humidity - so it feels so nice to have all clean clothes and clean sheets! There is laundry on-site at the hostel, which is really convenient, so I just have to take the 'lift' down to the 2nd floor (from the 15th) to switch it every hour! I did two loads this afternoon, just finished, and am about to start folding!

Katie, Rae, and I are going to go get dinner (and wine;)) at the mall, then early to bed for another day of school tomorrow! I'm really excited to go back!  I've been doing so much writing and reflecting after the first day, I can't imagine what I'll have after 16 more! (only 16 more, ahh! this is already going by so fast!)

Signing off for now, tomorrow I'll try and post before the internet goes off.  Long story short, they cut our LAN line (that's right, not wifi) off at 10pm, (curfew for the high school students) - which makes Skype-ing, iMessage-ing, and Facebook-ing all really nice and easy for my lovers back home in a different time zone.  My attainable internet hours are when they're all fast asleep... (Am I right Mike, Chlo, Cor?!)

And no one caught me, but I forgot to do Cat of the Day yesterday! So today's cat of the day, is my favorite cat so far that I've been saving for a special occasion - she gets to make up for yesterday and today!

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Cat of the Day!

Today's Cat of the Day goes to my favorite cat so far, the one that greeted me (and smelt Nala on my suitcase) my first night here, and every day since lets me pet her and say hello! 

My first day in the classroom!!

Just to put it out there - there won't be any pictures in this blog post, I didn't have my camera with me today on my first day of school (I promise that'll change soon!) So, if you're just here to look at pictures, scroll down ;) otherwise I highly recommend you read on, because today was the best day of the trip yet!

(unfortunately, due to the internet curfew at our hostel, I wasn't able to post this last night.  So this is from January 6th, 2014)

Here's an timeline of my wonderful first day...

5:50am - Woke up to 2 alarms set on my phone.  I didn't sleep too well last night as I was tossing and turning thinking about what to wear on my first day, what to say when I introduced myself to people, what the kids would be like... regardless, I was anxious to get up and the lack of sleep didn't seem to affect me.

6:30 - Left the hostel, dressed and ready to go - umbrella in hand because it was pouring rain (of course, happy first day of work)!  Walked to the bus stop to catch the 199, and made it to Westwood Secondary by 6:50.

6:55 - Checked in at the front office, and met up with my CT, Ms. Ivy Nyam.  She got me a staff pass, and walked me up to the staff lounge.

The staff lounge was the first, and one of the biggest noticeable differences between our school system and Singapore's school system.   In Singapore, teacher's switch classrooms and students stay put for all of if not most of the day.  I liked their philosophy on it - there are pros and cons to both, but this way, the students own their classroom.  They are able to hang their work for all of their classes, and feel a sense of community with their classmates.  Because of this system, teacher's have cubicles in the staff room where they keep their belongings, files, books, computers, etc.  I am sharing a cubicle with a part time staff member, so I'll have to put up a picture or two once I get settled in.  It is a nice place to do work though during my off periods!

7:30 - Staff meeting.  Monday mornings are late start days, similar to Thursday mornings at SBHS, where teachers meet for Professional Development (or PD time) in their Professional Learning Communities, or PLCs! (Same as back home!)  This morning, we met as an entire staff and reviewed the process for taking attendance/ updating  attendance throughout the day using the school's database system 'VIGILeye School.'

Attendance... wow.  At WWSS, students scan their fingerprint as they enter the school grounds, and that checks them in for the day.  If students are late, or for some reason weren't able to scan their finger is where the form teacher (or homeroom teacher) comes in to update the database system.  The fingerprint scanning allows the school to see exactly when the student arrives at school and leaves for the day, barring the fact that they take the responsibility to scan.  Apparently, tardies and truancies are as big of an issue here as they are in the states - students will often just leave partway through the day, or show up 10+ minutes late.  I won't explain all of the school rules and policies, but the attendance one really blew my mind... I can't imagine fingerprint scanning working out well in our school district - my students would never remember!

8:20 - Instruction begins, because Monday's are late start day, school starts an hour later than normal.  However, because my first class of the day is S1's (or freshmen;)), they were still doing induction activities and so my first actual lesson wouldn't be until 11!

9:00 - For about an hour, Ivy toured me around campus, explaining where all of our classes were held, how the buildings were organized, etc.  She showed me the MRL (or Media Resource Library) and both staff rooms.  We talked about school policies, rules and expectations, and my hand hurt from writing down so much information (I filled almost a whole notebook today!)

I also met a lot of the staff during this time.  So many unique names to remember, so little time.  I did meet another teacher from the states, Mr. Douglas Muller... as a matter of fact, every other person I met that day asked if I had met him yet - knowing he could relate to my transition from public education in the US!  He was really nice; he used to teach in Dallas, Texas, retired, got bored and applied to teach in Singapore - how awesome! He's a geography teacher at WWSS.

11:00 - This was my first lesson of the day with the Sec 3G's - third year students, about 15 years old, who are on the 'Express track,' or most advanced track at the school.  Singapore's education system is divided into 3 main tracks:

Students are placed into different tracks based on their PSLE Exam scores (Primary School Leaving Examination) which they take as P (Primary) 6's at age 12.

• N(T) - Normal Technical Stream = lower range 
• N(A) - Normal Academic Stream = mid-range 
• Express - (or Special) Stream = higher achieving students; higher marks/test scores, etc.

In the 3G class, Ivy and myself will be co-teaching with Mr. How. He taught the lesson today on cell structure and function, which was really nice to see as I found out I'll be teaching cells next week to the 1D students!

12:00 - At noon, the 4G/H students (also on the Express track) came in for their Combined Biology course.  These students are 4th year students who were in Pure Biology (more rigorous) last year as Sec 3's, and dropped the course to take Combined Bio this year - so there are only 7 students in the class, for now.

1:00 - By 1, our classes for the day were over! The time tables for the school are CRAZY and very convoluted.  Each day of the week is different from the last, and there are even and odd weeks, so the time tables switch every other week as well - it's a lot to keep up with, I had to write out my daily schedule for the rest of my time here!

On our break, Ivy took me to lunch with some of the other teachers at the Coffee shop just down the road.  I ate wonton noodles out of a bag (it was pretty embarrassing, of course what I ordered would come in a plastic bag!) and we chatted about the similarities and differences that I had noticed today.  We talked about how the students here are so quiet - it's really a challenge to get them involved in discussion, etc.  (which is not the case for me in California at all) and we talked about how we still have issues with tardies, truancies, and drugs and/or alcohol etc. (Drugs not so much here, but last week one teacher had a student in her class who was drunk!)  It was really nice to meet and talk with some of the other teachers, and it made me feel really comfortable and welcomed - I know I can now ask any of them for help!

3:30 - After lunch until our department meeting, I worked on my calendar and read over the syllabus and textbook materials Ivy had given me.  Then we headed into the meeting room for what would continue to be a 2.5 hour science department meeting.  I lied, I'll include one picture - my time table for the next four weeks!

As you can see, it's a lot to keep up with - I can't imagine being a student and remembering my schedule! At least for almost all of the day they are in the same room or with (generally) the same group of students (i.e. 3G's, like I mentioned, will stay together for most of their classes).  I'm really looking forward to my time here, but it's a lot to keep up with! 

The department meeting was so informative, and so productive.  They addressed so many different topics for the department, some of which I followed, some of which I definitely didn't.  They were all very nice and very welcoming to me - the principal even stopped the department head at one point and said, "Clarify! We have people here that may not know what that means!" and winked at me ;)  She is so nice, so welcoming, and so passionately involved with her school.  She was at the science department meeting for 2 of the 2 and a half hours, and I was really impressed.  

The meeting finally ended around 5:50, and it was time to go home! I gathered my things from my new cubicle, said goodbye to everyone, and headed out back to the 199 bus stop.  I'm sad that I'll be missing tomorrow, but I have to go get my Student Pass (like a temporary short term visa) from the Immigration & Checkpoint Authorities tomorrow - yikes! 

It was a wonderful, amazing, eye-opening first day, regardless of the hours.  I'm so excited and feel so fortunate to continue working here for the next month, and can't wait to learn so much more! Also, I'm already lesson planning for next week - I'll be teaching in all 3 of Ivy's preps starting next week! The Scientific Method and cells with the 1D's, Movement of Substances and Nutrients with the 3G's, and the Nervous System (my favourite!) with the 4G/H's.  I also have to keep in mind when lesson planning that they use British English, not American English, so some of the spelling may be different! A lot to think about, not a lot of time, but I'm super excited!!! 

                       

An Epic Evening at the Night Safari!

Sunday 1/5/14 

Today started off slow, we relaxed all morning while Katie and Elise went to church.  Rae and I went to grab lunch at the Boon Lay Market around noon, and had Mee Siam soup and 'Carrot Cake,' which was delicious, but had nothing to do with carrots:

Carrot Cake

After lunch, we went back to the hostel, made a game plan for the evening, worked on some homework, and took naps :) It was very nice and relaxing, I think we were all pretty wiped out from yesterday's island adventure.

At around 5pm, we headed to Jurong Point to catch the green line, transfer to the red line, and hop on a bus that would take us to the Night Safari! Before we could do that though, we had to find Katie.  We lost her before even boarding the train; she had gone ahead early to get her local phone number, and somehow we were all separated for about 45 minutes.  We eventually reunited, got on the train, were super excited to explore the Night Safari.

Upon arrival, we couldn't help but eat at the burger place - I had a delicious chicken burger and lemonade.  We also all purchased our 'park hopper' passes... 4 parks for $80 US.  I'd say that's pretty good!  (Night Safari, River Safari, Singapore Zoo and Jurong Bird Park!)

A delicious chicken burger and fries!

And then it was time to enter the park! We were all really excited - especially Rae who put on her serious 'Safari face' for this picture:

Katherine, Me, Katie, Rae, and Elise ready for the Night Safari!

The night started with a tram ride around the first half of the park.  We saw bharals, mouflons, flamingos, striped and spotted hyenas, and my favorite - the lions.  Did you know Simba means lion in Swahili?! (I miss Simba and Nala!!)

Since it was a night safari, none of my animal pictures came out great - It was really cool to see them though so close! (and not enclosed by anything but a bed of water!)

Halfway through the tram ride we got off and continued on the Leopard trail.  We saw different types of felines, cute civets, mousedeer - which look just like they're named - and my two favorites the giant flying squirrel and the fruit bats.  Unfortunately I couldn't get any pictures (no flash photography was strictly enforced. 

When we got back to the tram station, we saw the Zebra Cafe, and I was able to take a picture with this guy (twins!) ;)

#twinning

Our tram ride continued allowing us to see African animals including giraffes, zebras, oryx, and servals... Katie got to see her long-awaited sloth-bear (so cute)! and we got up close and personal with an elephant going #2.  (Our tour guide was hilarious, and cracked so many biology jokes along the way!)

Speaking of pooping, I got to touch rhino poop at one of the exhibits! (Shout out to my SST Science folk!) 

After the tram ride we saw the Creatures of the Night, which was SO fun and cute. The host was great, and we got to see otters recycle plastic, aluminum and paper containers - they're so smart, we can do that too! I loved the emphasis that the whole park put on conservation, education, and sustainability... it was wonderful! 

We ended the night by touring the East Lodge Trail, the Wallaby Trail, and the Fishing Cat Trail, seeing everything from barking deer, otters, and binturongs, to babirusas and buffalo.  I wish that my pictures would've come out clearer, but overall it was a great night.  

Also, kudos to Katie for getting one step closer to overcoming her fear of snakes!! 

School started today (yaayyy!) so as I finish up this post I will start a new one with my best adventure yet - the classroom! 

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Cat of the Day!

Today's Cat of the Day has to go to this sleepy kitty... We saw SO many cats tonight at the Night Safari, but the dozing leopard took the crown: 

(that, and it was the clearest picture I could get!)

Where the WILD Things Are...

What a crazy, wild weekend it has been! It's Sunday morning, I'm currently laying in bed relaxing and recuperating, getting ready for one more adventurous day!

Friday: Friday started out with a lunch date with our NIE advisors and staff members.  Little did we know we'd be going to one of the most interesting, unique, and different places on the whole island.  We arrived at Bollywood Veggies at around 1 o'clock, and were there all afternoon.

Our server was a hilarious man, who after deciding our order for us, played guitar and told us all about the farm.  The farm is owned by a woman named Ivy Singh Lim, and her husband, who we also met, and who was one of the most interesting people I've ever had the pleasure of talking with.

"She's very anti-government," our professor said to as, as we left the table, and that's putting it lightly.  Ivy talked our ears off about Singapore's history, slavery, the government and it's flaws, education and it's flaws... it was really interesting to talk to her.

She is a strong believer in fate, empowerment, and nourishment, and it shows in her property  - with a beautiful, delicious restaurant, amazing, full garden, and 'museum' that shows the history of food production in the world.  A nice man named Anthony Hopkin gave us a tour of the museum right after we ate.

 The museum was filled with beautiful paintings - a timeline of agriculture and industry in our world!

 This last picture shows the future - other planets coming for food from the famous Bollywood veggies! 

 Beautiful, woven baskets! 

Elise with Anthony, our tour guide.

The tour then continued to the garden outside... which blew my mind! There were SO many different types of plants (from edible to poisonous) and they were all healthy, plentiful, and pesticide free.  The garden tour was hot but so worth it - it was awesome!

 Such a cute puppy behind the restaurant!

 "Be ONE with NATURE" - loved this place and it's emphasis on the importance of education!

The group on our tour!

 Rice paddies... 

 Aloe Vera! Dad would've been happy! 

 "Children need action... let's go WILD!"

Loved this woman and her belief system... 

Bollywood veggies was a great experience that I will never forget.  When discussing Singapore's education system with Ivy, she mentioned, "Isn't this great that God brought you here to meet me."  It stuck with me, and the whole day I really did think about how grateful I was to have seen her farm and toured her garden (and eaten at her restaurant...yum!).  When I got home I started Facebook messaging with my older sister, Cory and told her about my amazing experience there.  She proceeded to 'tag' me in a picture from her Singapore trip almost 4 years ago: 

She had been to Ivy's farm with her group from NUS, and had a conversation with Ivy about the importance of female leaders and owning your own business, etc.  I wish that I could go back and thank Ivy for the impact she had on not only me, but my family! Who knew?!  This really was an amazing, eye-opening experience for me - one that I'll never forget! 

After leaving the farm, Sunny took us back to our hostel where we rested, showered, and got ready to go out to dinner.  We went to Clarke Quay, the 'happening' place to be for nightlife in Singapore.  We had dinner at Señor Taco's, and saw some beautiful buildings and restaurants.

After dinner, Katherine and I decided to stay out and go to a few of the bars, and Katie and Rae headed back to the hostel.  We went to a bar called China One, then to Zouk nightclub - which is apparently in the top 5 best clubs in the world ;) It was a really fun night, we stayed out way too late though... but it was a good time! 

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Cat of the Day!

Today's Cat of the Day is this cute 'cat' we saw at Bollywood veggies!

Saturday: Even after getting very little sleep, we woke up Saturday morning and got ready to go to Pulau Ubin, an island of the coast of Singapore.  We got on the green line, crossed the entire country, got on bus #2, and headed to Changi Village, where we would board a boat and head out to the island! 

Approaching Island Ubin! Pulau is 'island' in Malay. 

We got to the island and headed over to the 'resort' that allowed us to rent bicycles for the day and kayak for 2 hours for only $10.  It started to rain on us a little while we kayaked, but the rest of the day was absolutely beautiful, clear blue skies, a ton wildlife, and some amazing scenery. 

 Where we kayaked and rented bikes! They were so nice!

 Getting ready to kayak! (Mom, are you jealous?)

 My bike for the day... 

 Can you see it?! Look close....Spider!! 

A wild boar! We saw her babies too... check out the video on my Facebook!

The trek through Pulau Ubin was incredible and we saw everything from huge spiders, to wild boars, to monkeys!!! We eventually reached the Chek Jawa wetlands, and it was an amazing site to see.  

 Such a beautiful day!

 Katherine, Katie, Rae, Elise and I on the Chek Jawa boardwalk!

 Low tide!

The most amazing view of the day!

Our day on the island ended with a highlight of seeing not just a monkey, but about TEN monkeys all together on the side of the road playing around.  I was able to snatch a picture with one, but you can see a few of the others in the background! (My camera had died at this point, so I was begging the other girls to take lots of pictures!) 

Pulau Ubin really changed my life.  Seeing what Singapore looked like in about the 1960's, in comparison to how different the main island looks - I will definitely be back here one day! 

We finally made it back to the resort and returned our bikes... my pedal fell off on our way home (thankfully it was then, and not at the beginning of our trip!) We got back on the boat to Changi village, ate a delicious dinner from the food stalls, and got back on bus #2 to the green line MRT.  We left the island at 5:30 and got back to the hostel at 8:30pm, so it was quite an endeavor getting home.  I showered, (which was much needed at that point), got into comfy clothes and was asleep within about 10 minutes.  This morning I'm relaxing, blog postin' and getting ready to do an early dinner and Night Safari tonight! Then work starts tomorrow! I can't wait!!! 

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Cat of the Day!

Today's Cat of the Day is a tie between two kitties we saw in Changi Village.  

The first one we saw right after getting off the boat (he was a lil' bit grumpy) -

Kitty #1: 

The second one we saw while we were eating dinner! 

(He looked just like Simba and Nala with his nub tail!) -

Kitty #2:

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