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Hmmm, how did THAT happen?

Well, the last week has been a busy one, though I've taken some time (not much, but some) to chill this weekend.

Sunday was a day to catch up on some things around town, then meet Alan (not to be confused with Allan) to see Bpdy of Lies (not a bad picture) and try out the pizza place across the street from my apartment (yummy seafood pizza!). Alan's a friend of friends that I met a couple weeks ago and a nice guy who can carry on an intelligent conversation and is fun to hang out with.

Monday night I was off to the gym and then got to welcome DanielHenry and Froggy, along with Ben and Nicholas (whom I hadn't met before but am now glad I did!) to Singapore. It was nice to welcome them to MY city for a change (even though, as DanielHenry points out, I still have a US passport and only live here temporarily). They were in town for Kylie's concert Tuesday so we met up at a cute little bar called Clinic where the seats are wheelchairs and hospital beds and you can get drinks served in IV bottles and blood bags. Tourists stopped to take photos with us.

Tuesday night I went running at school then got back and met up with a fellow from online for a couple drinks, a Singaporean who has lived in US for 14 years and is back for his twice-a-year family visit. He was trying to find out about gay life here so I told him we could meet and I'd pass along my wisdom. I love the fact that I can provide info to a native. Also, he'll be in DC next week so I gave him all the gay bar info he was looking for.

Wednesday night I got home from work and my friend KK came over. he was headed to Cambodia the next day and since I'm thinking of going to Siam Reap next month we went over his travel plans so I could get an idea of where to go and how to get around. He gets back today so I'm hoping for a debriefing before I have to finalize my plans.

Thursday I was at the gym again, then headed out for Thanksgiving. Allan had arranged dinner with me and 4 other expats (one American, one Canadian, and two Brits) at the local Hyatt, which was offering a traditional (and somewhat high-class) dinner. A nice time was had filled with good food, though I'm pretty sure that since I had one drink and others were splitting bottles of wine, I ended up subsidizing them when we split the bill evenly.

Friday night I relaxed for a bit...got back from work, fixed a little dinner here, downloaded a couple TV shows from iTunes. I've found that I can't access Hulu.com or Fox.com outside the US, so if anyone has suggestions about how to find Heroes, Family Guy, American Dad, and Simpsons without buying from iTunes, please let me know. I later wandered out for a drink but made it a short night...one drink, one hour, and I was headed home (it's nice living only 5 minutes from the bar).

Saturday I ran errands during the day then went to the World AIDS Day Concert with Alan. There were half a dozen local groups, including a singer named Stephanie Sun who's not well known in the US but who people around here definitely know. The concert was actually sponsored by the government, which sounds cool (can you imagine the US government sponsoring a concert to educate people about HIV/AIDS and discourage discrimination about afflicted people?), but I talked to the producer later and he said the government folks actually had problems with things like mentioning the word "condom" (that finally got back in) or saying anything about gay people (that never made it into the script). Craziness.

Oh, and yeah...work's going great. I started with 13 students, but ended up with 24 for the term. Either I'm popular, or something else got cancelled.

As you can see, I'm keeping busy. Next week will be a little slower. Not much, but a little.

And I'm really, really, really going to try to post more than once a week. :P

Labels: Bars, Friends, Living in SG, Running

After a good night's sleep (for a change) and quick trip to the gym I headed down to the Singapore River to see the River Regatta, an annual dragonboat race. Having some affection for the sport I decided to wander down and see how it was going. The fact that NewUrbanMale has a dragonboating team (and their schedule for today was posted on the Facebook page) had nothing to do with it, of course!!

Singapore Dragonboating

I spent a nice couple of hours there. The weather was good (though a bad storm seemed to be coming just as I left, and they weren't done for the day yet) and the crowd was very festive. There were a lot more teams than we see in the DC Dragonboat Festival, though that's to be expected...every school, every big company (and plenty of small ones), every expat group, EVERYONE seems to have a dragonboat team here. I was pleased to see that most of them didn't seem to be all that much better than the AQUA team, but of course, things look very different when you're watching from the side rather than sitting in the boat.

I'd love to get involved with NUM's dragonboaters but my guess is there aren't any too many other competitions between now and the time I leave, plus they probably don't have any need for an American, short-time resident, with little experience. But at least I can watch!!

Labels: Living in SG

Last weekend was fun, and this one will be good, too. Last Friday my friend Clev took me to see Quantum of Solace, which was a great little action film, and I'm glad I read the plot synopsis from Casino Royale on Wikipedia before going because this movie picks up ten minutes after the last one left off, and I would have hated to be confused (the Chinese subtitles were distracting enough, and would have been even more distracting if I actually read Chinese). Fun flick, and good times were had.

I'd gotten a text that some friends were going to be at a nearby bar so I decided to join them but needed to take a rest first. I met up with my friend Jonathan and through him met his friend Alan, a very nice guy who works at a school here. The bar closed around 3 so we all walked over to my place (it's nice living 5 minutes away), picking up some food on the way, and just hung out for a bit. I got to bed around 5, which kind of messed up my gym plans for Saturday, but I had fun so it was worth it.

Saturday afternoon I met up with Jimmie, whom I've known online for quite some time but never met. We met at Starbucks (the source of all evil, according to Stan, but they have red bean buns here so it's OK) in the same shopping center where Mos Burger is located (which reminded me I have to take Stan there when he visits next month). We hung out and talked for a bit, then went to the Botanical Garden, which I have never visited before. I appreciated Jimmie showing me around and I think he'll show me parts of Singapore I haven't seen on other trips. He also has a business over in Bintan, an Indonesian island about 45 minutes away by ferry, and is going to take me over there some weekend to show me around.

That evening, after some chatting with friends and a power nap (sorely needed after little sleep the night before!) I wandered back over to the bar to see Jonathan and Alan and whoever else might show up. My plan was to go dancing at a club across the street but I was way too wiped out, and also wanted to get up at a decent time Sunday, so I just had a drink and hung out about an hour. I was tired, I needed sleep, so there.

Sunday I actually woke earlier than expected so I got some laundry done and headed out for coffee. Noon came and it was time for me to move downstairs into the apartment where I'm staying the rest of my time here. Jasen (another online friend I hadn't met yet) came over and helped me move bags, then we wandered out to lunch. He's a very fun guy, lots of fun to talk to and very knowledgeable about things like nutrition and psychology and fitness and such, so there's lots I can learn from him. He also has a boyfriend who sounds fun and whom I look forward to meeting.

Sunday was a night for more sleeping…still pretty wiped from the weekend plus the jet lag hadn't disappeared. I think it's all gone now. Hope so, anyway.

So I'm keeping busy here, mostly with meeting people that I've wanted to meet for a long time and getting to know them better, and some new folks as well. I'm hoping to maybe bring some of them together, not as a matchmaker, but just to enlarge their circle of friends if they're so inclined. They're such nice guys, it's a shame the don't know each other.

And now I'm off. Jasen and I are going to dinner and Ikea. Because that's what you do.

Labels: Friends, Living in SG

I've been a blog slacker. So spank me.

Last Friday's first day of class went pretty well. I had over 20 students show up, which wasn't bad since the original class list showed only 13. The students have 2 weeks to add and drop courses so many of them were coming to check this out.

Earlier in the week a student had come by to chat with me about the course. It seems people were wondering about it and nobody knew anything about me, so he was basically elected to come find out my background and report back. Apparently my bio never made it onto the school's website. I subsequently added it to the class website.

So yeah, I got a big crowd, and though I lost a few during breaks in the class I still had a bunch when we were done. They are quite a mix...I'm not the oldest one in the room, that honor goes to a guy from Pakistan. I also have a Saudi, four or five Filipinos, two Indonesians, a Sri Lankan, a Canadian (thank goodness, at least one more Western perspective), a Chinese guy, quite a few Malaysians, and of course some Singaporeans, including 2 lawyers, so of course that will be fun.

Since then I've talked with with a few students and it seems like many are planning to stick with it. As one guy told me, "you're more entertaining than our other professors." Not exactly the scholarly praise I was hoping for, but I guess I'll take it.

They got engaged in the class, which was good, but I'm going to need to watch a couple of the guys near the front who want to talk a little too much. Perhaps I'll move around the room more and get to the folks in the back. I didn't cover everything I wanted, which is not unusual for me, so I'll need to watch my time management.

A couple guys came to talk to me today and said a lot of people are concerned that the class seems more demanding than many others. Most professors seem to just want them to memorize and then replicate on the exams. As one guy put it, "we Singaporeans are practical...we just want to do what it takes to complete the course." While I tried to be sympathetic, I also pointed out that if Singapore wants to compete in the world with countries like, you know, the US, Canada, Britain, France, then maybe, just maybe, the time has come to get rid of the "just do enough" mentality. When he told me that, I pretty much lost my concern for him, and to be honest, if he chooses not to stay in the course, that's probably OK.

That afternoon the school held a panel discussion on the US elections the previous week and i was pretty much the featured expert, which was an intriguing role, and it also provided most of the faculty their first look at me. And there were reporters there. But hey, no pressure, right? Anyway, it seemed to go well, and I demonstrated I'm willing to give a straight answer to a straight question, which means folks would do well to dispense with their rhetoric and really focus on facts if they wan to have a meaningful discussion with me. Yeah.

Labels: Teaching

It turns out one of my colleagues is a runner. By having that sort of athletically-heterosexual-thing in common, I am now "one of the guys."

In other news, I have almost, but not quite, figured out the difference between the 179 bus and the 179A bus.

I ate at a school reception tonight and have no idea what any of the food was.

Finally, I took a walk around more of the campus today and found it has a lot of really nice scenery. And no, I am not talking about the buildings (though they don't suck either).

Labels: Living in SG

My first day of work Monday went well.

"Well" means "I got off the bus at the correct stop."

The commute takes about 1h 15m.

I need to start downloading podcasts of NPR and take the iPod with me.

Tonight I changed Blogger's language setting to English(Singapore).

I'm not even sure yet exactly what English(Singapore) is.

But I so wanna be ah beng because it's a cute look regardless of what Janvier said lah.

I have been tapped as an "expert" for a panel discussion Friday on the US election, as the only US rep.

The media have been invited.

I finally got a computer in my office today.

I ate prawn rolls on the street tonight.

Before tonight I didn't even know what prawn rolls were.

The guy cooking them was cute.

I spent an hour before that talking American politics and religion with the managers of the neighborhood community club.

The community club does not have a gym, but they do have ballroom dance classes.

They also have managers who can carry on a good conversation about American politics and religion.

I am winning hearts and minds.

I don't know where the hell these people train for marathons.

I am the only white person on my train during my commute.

Maybe this is what it feels like to be Chinese in North Carolina.

Friday morning I start teaching.

Labels: Living in SG

Well, I'm here. Now what?

I got in late Thursday night and hit the hotel about 1am. Thank goodness for late checkout because this boy was going nowhere before noon.

Got to my apartment about 3pm. It is a cute little place and in a GREAT location. 5-minute walk to the subway and also 5 minutes to the bars. Scarily convenient, though I will say that I was a pretty good boy this weekend as far as mixing bar-hoping and jet lag.

Actually, jet lag has been the story of this weekend. Friday evening I met up with my friend Luke who showed me around a bit then took me to dinner. (in the "small world" category, I got an e-mail from a Fridae friend that said "nice to finally see you in person" -- he'd seen me and Luke while we were out) I was headed home by 10:30 but wasn't tired, so once I realized my friend Allan was going out primarily to see me, I figured I should go out too. I thought I'd only go out for one drink, but I got to the club at midnight and was there until 3, so I had more than one drink.

Naturally, sleep didn't really kick in until about 7am, and instead of getting up and getting stuff done I climbed out of bed at noon, ate a little something, then promptly went back to bed. It was 2:30 before i woke again and I said "screw it," and went back to bed, just making sure I got up in time to meet Clev for dinner (Clev is one of the guys who checked out apartments for me and helped me find this one - even though we'd never met before. What a great guy!). He showed me an area near City Hall that I hadn't visited before and we grabbed dinner there. By 10:30 he was telling me "you look tired," which is never a good sign. This time, though, I said "not tonight" when the Bad Idea Bears came a'calling, and crashed by midnight with the help of a sleeping pill. I still woke up every hour (due in part to a fabulous thunderstorm) but got some pretty good sleep and only got up about an hour later than expected.

I managed to run my errands today and get stuff ready for work tomorrow, with one exception: I went to inquire about membership at a nearby gym and they said they only have 12-, 24-, and 36-month memberships. Nothing for 4 months. So, instead of getting my money for 4 months, they get nothing. Why they prefer that is a mystery to me.

It'll be a while before I get into my habits so for now I'm taking everything slow. I'm curious to see how the commute goes (it looks like an hour each way) and what the working situation is like at school. I also want to check out the gym there to see if that might be preferable to going to a gym in town. But I will be going to a gym somewhere!

For now, though, I'm off to bed.

Labels: Friends, Living in SG, Work

My last weekend at home was a good one. It was an interesting, and unexpected, mix of old and new friends.

Friday night was Josh and Angelo’s annual Halloween party (how odd that they called it that…Josh gets worked up about people saying things like “PIN number” [you know, “personal identification number number”] but if you think about it, would a Halloween party be anything BUT annual?). A good time was had by all. The theme this year (and yes, there’s always a theme) was Royalty. Stan went as Caesar, and I went as...a condom. Specifically, “Royal Nights King-Size Condom.” Yeah, it fits. There were some really amazing costumes there (mostly of the drag variety) and lots of bare legs and bare chests. Nice.

We had a great time Friday night, leaving around 1:30am, then spent Saturday watching TV and running errands. Needless to say, I had a few things to wrap up before leaving. Friday was my last day in the office and everything after that was all about final preparations. Stan helped me do some work at home…they’ll be doing some work on the outer wall of our building starting this week and naturally we had to seal up windows and such. Yay Stan for helping me!!

Saturday night we headed up to Bethesda to catch a play, Altar Boyz. About 20 of us went thanks to Ethan who suggested it. We enjoyed the show a lot and I got a big surprise as soon as I opened the Playbill: one of the stars was an old friend of mine from my early blogging days. Michael Busillo used to write a blog while he was a college student and when I was in grad school we used to read each other’s stuff and write each other every now and then (he’s the guy who turned me onto Don’t Tell Mama in NYC). We met up while I was in school in DC when I took the train up to Philly to meet him while he was home on break. I later ran into him in New York 3 years ago when he was in an off-Broadway show. We’ve e-mailed on occasion since then but it’s been a long time, and I had no idea he was in this show. Afterwards we met up in the lobby and talked for a bit, though I couldn’t get him or the other guys to come out with us (they had a matinee the next day) and of course, now that he’s local and will be here for a while, I’m leaving the country. But it was cool to see him and I’ll put him in touch with my friends.

We went out to JR’s that night, which is just about my least favorite bar in DC, but with the right people it can be OK. We got home about 2am, and then remembered that this was the night we reset our clocks and end up with an extra hour of sleep. Yay!! Getting up Sunday Stan and I wandered into town and met up with my friend Christopher for brunch. We got to have a fun couple of hours with him before I needed to head back, as I still had a few things to do to prep for the trip.

Sunday night was dinner with Linh, and he was going to fix dinner for us, but a paper draft that was due on Monday suddenly got in the way of that. He took me instead to an Italian restaurant nearby that I hadn’t been to in a couple years, and we had a really nice evening. Hard to believe that when I get back he’ll be only a couple months away from finishing his master’s. We’re hoping to meet up when he’s in Asia over Christmas.

Monday and Tuesday were mad dashes to get packed and get everything ready for the trip. I had to do some financial stuff regarding my apartment, and get a new copy of all my course materials off of my work computer because the disk the IT folks made for me was unreadable (that’s a good example of how my last couple days went). Monday night I hung out with Adrian, and then we went and voted together Tuesday. Ethan made a point of seeing me one last time that afternoon, then Stan and I spent the evening together, with him bringing me to the airport Wednesday morning.

And unlike 2004 (and especially 2000) there was no question who the new president of the United States would be. I’m kinda proud of my country today for doing the right thing. I’ve been awfully unhappy with some things the last few years, but this was the right decision, and I’m glad so many people made it.

I’m typing this on the plane, during the 15-hour flight from Chicago to Hong Kong, and expect to upload it once we land. Next stop: Singapore!!

Labels: Friends, Travel

I'm in Chicago for about 3 hours waiting for the next flight, going to Hong Kong with a couple hours' layover before the last flight to Singapore. And no, I didn't get around to writing about last weekend. Maybe on the plane.

Labels: Travel

I'm at Washington National Airport right now waiting for my first flight of the 27-hour trip to Singapore. When I applied for this exchange program almost a year ago I pictured this moment, but can't believe it's actually here. The good-byes were tough, but hey, it's only 4 months. And I'll even be seeing some important people from here during that time. (right, Stan??)

As I prepare to run off on a new adventure, so does the country. This is wild.

I had all sorts of things to write about this last weekend, but I'll have to catch up on those later. Maybe during my layover in Chicago.

Labels: Travel

Stan and I are sitting here watching election results. My stomach is feeling funny. I don't know if it's because of the results coming in, or maybe just nerves because I'm leaving in the morning, or possibly too many pepperonis on the pizza.

Adrian and I voted this morning. We were in line for more than 2 hours, then spent 20 seconds in the voting booth actually casting our ballots.

I have a friend running for Congress back in Colorado. He has a chance of winning. That would be so cool. It would also be proof that anyone could grow up to be a Congressman. :P

We're still waiting to see which way Virginia will go. But we all did our part today.

Labels: Stuff