Accumulate Memories

One of my colleague says that a place is only as good as the people you know there and I think he is accurate. Singapore doesn't have much in terms of sightseeing or activities, but I love being here because of my friends at work and home. 

Life is good as I feel like Singapore is not longer a place I am visiting but somewhere that I belong and I am making memories that I will cherish. 

Every day is a good time with friends. At work in the morning sometimes we have breakfast together and lunch is always with different colleagues. Spontaneously we do things together in the evening usually it is dinner but once we went to watch a movie together (Lucy). But for a typical day I go home to eat out with friends at the hostel and then we usually talk and play card games until late in the evening. 

Sadly I lost a card game (Spit) and as a consequence I had to cook for Vatalji (the boy in the stripped shirt). He is from Latvia, but he is Russian. Miko and Vatalji made a Russian cherry dessert and I made mash potatoes, fried potatoes, baked potatoes with bacon, and honey mustard chicken. It was a good evening together as we prepared the food and ate.

 Although the sad part about making friends overseas is that eventually someone has to go back home... We had to have several goodbye parties and the first one was for Akshay from Sri Lanka. He came here for three months for an internship. So we had a goodbye picnic for him. We set everything up and then we lead him there with his eyes closed. haha It was a fun evening as we all hung out one last time and took a lot of pictures. As you can tell in the picture we are having a good time :)

In the picture below are my two of roommates with our "boyfriends." The one on the right is Jaehee and she is from Korea and the one on right is Alice (her American name) and she is from China. 

                                                                                                                                                                 

One weekend I went with some roommies and Karolis to Johor Bahru (Malaysia). It took forever to get on the bus and through security in both countries, but we made it after like 3 hours! Anyway, it was an ok time, we hungout at the mall while we waited for Wenpo (boy on the right) to come back with the car to take us to a message parlor. Guess what? I got my first message ever!! I took an one hour Thai Aromatherapy. It was really awkward for me since I had to take off all my clothes and got touched in places I've never been touched. She squeezed my butt! Somethings she did felt good, but I don't think I will be having another message for a long time. In the picture below we are having dinner at a popular outdoor foodcourt.

Then we had to have another goodbye party for Danny (Korea) and Ryusuke (Japan). It is always nice to see their reactions as we bring out the cake and say our goodbyes. 

I cooked one evening for my friends. It was a good time as we all worked to put together dinner and have it together. I made fried potatoes with different kinds of chicken and a salad! 

Then the next weekend I went with Balal, Jaehee, and Vitalji to Kuala Lumpur. Our bus left at 12pm on Friday night and we left a little late and so we had to run to make it to the ticket office in time. We arrived in the city at 4:30 in the morning! So we walked around, found our hostel, had a traditional Malay breakfast hung out at McDonalds and then we went to the Batu Caves. The area had a lot of monkeys so I took some candy that someone threw to them and several monkeys came and took the food from my hand!

The cave entrance is almost 300 steps. It was am exhausting walk but we made it to the caves. In the cave is an hindu temple and while we were there they were performing a ceremony so it was interesting to watch.

Then we decided to go to KL Tower, massage (I slept in the lobby), Little India, and Petronas Tower. Behind the Petronas towers was a lake full of lit water fountains and they put on a show. It was beautiful as the colors and water shot out in different patterns. In the evening we ate at Middle East restaurant and bought fruit at food stalls. It was a long day since we mostly walked everywhere. The next day was a boring since we couldn't find the lake we wanted to see and then we found out after walking for a couple of hours that it was closed. Then we went shopping the stuff is cheap, but the style is weird so I didn't see anything I liked... Anyway, we were late again in leaving for our bus home so we told the taxi we were in a hurry so he sped a little for us and then we ran to get our ticket! But we made it and we got home around 3pm...

It was the Mid-Autumn festival and we had a picnic to celebrate. We lit lanterns, ate moon cake with fruit, and drank Jasmine green tea. It was a good time with everyone as we learned about the story behind the festival. http://www.travelchinaguide.com/essential/holidays/mid-autumn-legends.htm

Each day brings wonderful times with friends. I am glad I came and life here is good as I collect memories to cherish. 

Take Chances

It is so wonderful being here and being surrounded with so many friends. 

I was considering moving to another Yoha location that would be closer to downtown (Marina Bay), the beach (Sentosa), and other cool places, but I think I will stay at Jurong East since I love being able to hangout with the friends I made here when I come home. We usually gather in the evenings to talk and play card games. Sometimes we have dinner together at the Hawker center near by and other times we play sports together. I have played basketball twice now and I was happy that I got 3 baskets in a game! Although usually the players are boys, but I think I did well considering they are all taller and better than me. :)

One evening after work I went to Karolis' house and we baked banana bread and chocolate chip cookies. He converted the measurements for me and I baked. It was fun and I am glad his brother liked it so much :D! He is the only one I know with an oven so I think I will have to visit his home more often since friends and colleagues are hoping for more goodies. I think I will try to cook apple pie and brownies next. 

Good news! At work, we finally finished the MRR A&SP Budget consolidation!! So much effort and time went into that project so the evening we finished it, we decided to have a celebration dinner. I am elated that it is completed! Akram and I along with Karolis and Sathyan went to Holland Village for dinner. We went to a Lebanese restaurant and later Akram's girlfriend and roommate joined us. It was a nice area and we sat outside so it was a good time. After dinner we went to a local ice-cream parlor, perfect ending to a good day :) 

On the Singapore's National Day (9th), I went with some friends to watch the fireworks show at Marina Barrage. The barrage is up on a hill so we could see over the buildings, but unfortunately most of the fireworks were position behind the Marina Sands Bay hotel (below, left side, the three buildings together with a top connecting them). The nice picture of the fireworks is from a friend that was watching it from an apartment building on the other side of the bay... such a good view. But any we had a snack picnic and the weather was so nice up there. There was a breeze, people were flying kites, and we watched the sun set as we waited for the fireworks. Then after staying there for awhile we decided to go to Sentosa beach. We stayed there so late that we missed the last train back home so hung out at the beach. We found some trampolines to sleep on until the trains ran again at 6am. It was a different experience, but it was fun to do something out of the ordinary. 

Today, I just stayed at home. I went to dinner with these girls. They are Miko's roommates and they are both funny and fun to be with. The girl on the right is Jing Wen and the other one is Camila. We had dinner together and it was sooo good! We had sometime of soup and a claypot dish. Both were sooo good. 

After Karolis arrived with went swimming near by and it was a good time. Although the slides wasn't that exciting, we had a good time in the wave pool and the lap pool. I went with several boys so they were mean since they threw/pushed me in the water easily... :( Vitalij wanted to bet on a race between us that who ever was the winner would cook dinner for the other person. But he is like almost 6 feet and pretty fast so I didn't bet him, so unfair! But earlier I bet that whoever won in a game of Spit would have the other person cook. So I hope I win!    

After swimming, we went home and I cooked ramen for some people and shared fruit and cookies. It was a good ending for a good weekend :D!!! 

I am glad I came to Singapore. 

It was a lot of waiting and work to get here, but it was extremely worth it. I will take chances more often because they lead to better things. Better to take chances than to live with regret. 

One Month

It has been a month now since I arrived in this tiny country in Asia. Living here is significantly different then what I have experienced before and I am enjoying every minute of it! 

Even though the hostel I stay at is not the highest quality, the friends and hostel mates that I have here more than make up for the dysfunctional toilets and ques for the shower. It is nice to come home and see all my roomies and usually I spend a couple hours hanging out before I study. 

Since the Indian girl left I got a new roomate, Nicole, she is from China but she only stayed a week because she want to the hostel located at Tiong Bahru since it is closer to her school (actually I will also move there in a couple of weeks since it would be faster to get to work and it is closer to places that I like to go on the weekends). Also, Miko has new roommates and some European boys moved into the Indian boy's room. So there is never a dull moment here at home or on the weekends :) 

Doing a class while interning 40+ hours and hanging out with friends has been tough and usually I only got 3-6 hours of sleep per evening. But this past weekend I finished my last exam and I have 2 weeks of freedom! 

On the holiday, I went around Singapore with Sathyan. He was an inter at Bosch a couple of years ago, but now he works there full-time. We went to Bugis (cheap shopping market), Chinatown, Marina Barrage, and then we meet up with Miko to have dinner at Karolis' house. In Chinatown there was an Hindu temple and it was interesting to walk though it with him since he was explain a lot about the building and traditions. At Karolis' house we ate mushroom soup that he cooked and then Miko tried making her favorite avocado milk. It was a good ending of a relaxing of a 3 day holiday. 

Work is going well and I am extremely happy that Shuyi is back from her honeymoon. Now working on the MRR reports (each country's budget plan) is clearer and Akram and I know what is expected of us. Now we are putting data from the MRR budgets into PPT for presentation to the next level boss. 

This is my desk! It is a new desk and I am the first intern at this desk (feeling special ;) Anyway, since Bosch is undergoing hierarchy structure the COM shifted down the corridor so we will be near the SMS teams because COM-AP will change to be SMS3 (Customer Sales). So now I am cube mates with Sathyan while Akram and Karolis are further away (which is weird placement since I will be working with them on projects and not Sathyan, but hey management know what they are doing?).  

This past weekend I took my exam early Saturday morning then took a nap before meeting Karolis, Akram, and Ivy (the intern I am the successor for) at Orchid to open a bank account. It took forever! The ordinal was about 4 hours! Anyway, now I have a bank account so I can get paid. After that we went to the President's residence and we toured part of the house, walked around the grounds, and watched (tried to dance along...) some cultural performances. 

  

I am doing well and enjoying my time here. Mostly, I will be working but everyday brings something new and memories are added. The little things is what makes it a good time here. Lunch every day with great coworkers, laughs with friends, eating good food, seeing new places, trying new things, and appreciating the small blessings God sends my way <3

Food Adventures!

These past three days has been a wonderful break! No work and no studying. It was so good just hanging out and enjoying good food!!

Since I last wrote nothing much happened at work. Akram and I are still working on the MRR reports... But another intern came, Karolis, and I was in change of giving him a short orientation. He is nice and we will be working together on some projects. 

I am happy that I am meeting other interns! I have gone out to lunch with several other coworkers and it has been a good time getting to know them. 

Monday is a public holiday called Hari Raya Puasa which is a Malay Muslim holiday. It is the celebration of the ending of Ramadan. Because of the holiday there is an area called Geylang Serai and it is filled with food stalls. Therefore this Saturday, I went with Karolis (the new intern) and Miko (a hostel mate). We decided that night we would try many different types of food and be opened minded. During the evening of our food tasting we decided we should have our own show called Food Adventures. The food we tried was really good and it was fun just looking at the different foods and walking through the open night market. 

This is how they decorated the street. 

Uncle making for us. 

Fooood!
So many options!

Octopus on a stick! 

                                                                                  Having coconut milk from an actual coconut!

Then on Sunday, we did episode 2 of Food Adventures! We went to Little India to eat and sight see.  

Then we meet Danny and Akshay at Douby Ghaut. We watched Hercules and then we went to Marina Bay. We walked along the lake, walked along for the festival, and had dinner together. It was a good evening together. 

Hope We Meet Again

Minnal (on the left) is my roommate from India. Miko (middle) is my neighbor from Hong Kong

It has been a while since I last wrote because I've been pretty busy with balancing work and school while finding time to hang out with my hostel friends. I worked 43 hours last week while finishing 3 assignments and a paper. God is so good because He gave me the ability to stay up with only about 3-5 hours of sleep to finish the assignments and for the two nights I only got about 3 hours of sleep in order to finish my essay. 

Just 2 more weeks to go and I will be done with my class!

Work is going well. A new intern came last week, he and I will be working on projects together. He is from Tunisia, but he studies in Germany. Even though I am still relatively new, I was put in charge of training him! So I spent one day orientating him to the company and informed him on the current projects that was happening. It was somewhat amusing that in my second week at Bosch I would be training the new intern. Some information I was able to explain well while other things I had no idea what I wast talking about. Anyway, thankfully he is better at numbers than I am so auditing budget reports together has been very beneficial. Each country sends their quarterly budget plan and current spending amount. We are to analyze the report and make sure the numbers match and make sense. However, neither Zann (my department head) nor Shuyi (assistant to Zann) told us what to look for so we are going through the reports and trying to make sense of it all. Worse yet, each country has a different idea of how to present their budget so each report means a new way of approaching the assignment. And now tomorrow another intern is coming and I am in charge of training him as well. So I will get very good at training new interns! 

The only aspect that I hate about making international friends is the fact that usually there are goodbyes. I became fast friends with some hostel mates. However, their internship only lasted 6 weeks and they all had to leave today. Even though I only knew them for 2 weeks, we developed a good relationship. Since we lived close together, Minnal was my roommate and the boys lived next door to us, we saw each other a lot. In the evenings we would chat and we went shopping and food hunting together. Since yesterday would be the last day to hangout , we decided to go to the beach. It took forever to there since we took a lot of detours, but it was work going. The water felt so good and the place was just beautiful. We went to Sentosa for Palawan beach. Ruby and her friend were there as well so we meet up. We played frisbee and then we crossed a bridge to visit the southernmost part of the continental of Asia.

Then later that night we had a goodbye cake. It was a nice taking pictures and hanging out one more time.

They were a fun group of friends and I hope we can all see each other again. 

Friends and Good Times

This weekend has been tons of fun because I got to hangout with friends and see more of Singapore. 

After work on Thursday I met Ting, Abi, Ruby and their friends to go to the Night Safari. It is a nocturnal zoo and there were so many animals that I have never seen before! (I'll share photos later once I get them). Some of the animals I saw were Tarsiers, Wallabies, Deer Rats, Slow Loris, and Malayan Civets. 

I liked it because the lighting looked like natural moon light and animals were not caged, (of course the nore dangerous animals were behind class) but separated by natural barriers which made the place more open and more authentic. 

We got to see an amazing fire breathing show. They would change the amount of oil they would blow out and change the direction and how big the flame got. 

It is still amazing to meet that I am in Singapore with all my Singaporean friends I meet in the States! 

Then the next evening I met my roommate and some friends on either side of my room went to Orchid Road for shopping and dinner. The whole road was full of shops and malls. We went to Lucky Plaza since they are known for their cheaper prices. Then we went to a mall for their food court. I love the food courts here since their is so many food varieties from all over Asia. You can choose from Thai, Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korea, Malaysian, Indonesian and probably even more. I tried Carrot Cake (Chai tow kway), a traditional Singaporean food, made of  eggs and daikon (radish). I tried the white version the other version which is black is sweeter. It was good and it is now crossed off my list!

 Yesterday, my hostel friends went to Chinatown for shopping and sightseeing. There were so many shops and a lot of good deals :)

This is the inside of the temple and I had to cover up since they don't allow exposed shoulders inside.

This is Miko. She is from Hong Kong and she is doing an marketing internship until November. The Indian friends are all leaving next week so I am glad she is staying a long time so we can hangout together longer.

For lunch we went to a hawker center and tried Singapore's well known Chicken Rice the famous food stall. It was good and there was a thick slightly sweet soy sauce mixture you put on it. 

Here are some pictures of us

Trying on the glasses that the other three bought. hehehe