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