On July 11th, I got up at 3:00am and drove to the Charlottetown airport with my mom and dad to catch a flight to Toronto first. Having to get up at that hour is just absurd and will never ever be okay. As soon as we got there though I basically guzzled down a cup of coffee and inhaled a bagel whilst taking things out of my checked luggage because it was over the weight allowance. I may have packed expertly light on my trip to China, but this time was very very different. I ended up having to leave a couple mugs at home :( (But today my new bank in Jakarta gave me a mug as a thank you for opening an account; I doubt they've ever seen someone look so happy about one of their mugs).
I said see you later to my parents and Emily (my kindred spirit who came to see me off as well), and then I got on my plane to Toronto. It was lovely to fly out of Charlottetown and finally see the Island from the air.
Now, the next part is about the Toronto airport. I warn you travelling types who are going through Toronto: things have changed! When you are going through US customs, it's all automated now, and supposedly it should have sped things up. I don't know about everyone else, but if something is different in navigating airports, I start to have a minor panic attack. Permission to call me a creature of habit granted. I'm calmed though immediately if I see someone freaking out more than me. Thank goodness for the lady with the fanny pack in front of me who had been "going through this airport since basically it's opened" and was flagging down customs officials every five minutes. (But you know what, that's probably me in 30 years).
After this though, it was smooth sailing. Here is the shortened version of my thoughts on the rest of my travel to Singapore.
See above for Toronto adventures.
Slept one hour to Chicago.
I had an incredible pesto chicken wrap and another coffee in the Chicago airport.
Got on a flight to Hong Kong.
Sat in one place for 15 hours with minimal pee breaks because of the two sleeping, heavily drugged, snoring Asian gentlemen on either side of me.
Asian gentlemen's sleeping helped me sleep for five hours altogether.
Got to Hong Kong.
Back to the expanded version. I arrived in Singapore, and I admit that I was pretty nervous about everything that I had to do between getting off the plane and getting to my hotel room. I’m grateful that it went as smoothly as it did! I got into the terminal, went through immigration, and got my bags. I was fortunate that I could leave my checked bags with “Left Baggage” at the Singapore airport as I’d be in Singapore for the next two and half days. I did not want to lug around that many suitcases. I grabbed a cab, and it took me to the hotel. Easy peasy. I had no need to worry. English is even one of the main languages in Singapore, so all the signage is in English!
I met up with a few fellow SPH teachers, and we spent the next day relaxing, hunting for free wireless (this does not exist in Singapore by the way), and trying to eat for as cheaply as possible. This is something we learned fast about this little island-city. They may as well ask for a piece of your body when you’re paying for things; it is ridiculous. At one point, we went out, and I realized that I had not put sunscreen on. As soon as we got to the mall, I went searching for sunscreen. Place #1 had some - price: $52.00. Place #2 had a travel size of banana boat stuff - price: $15.00. I bit the bullet.
That night I explored the bayfront with Hyunge, a teacher from South Korea who would be at a different school. Singapore is a very posh city with towering modern structures. It is a very interesting city with a Merlion spitting out a fountain of water into the river. I know you’re wondering what a Merlion is; well, it’s exactly what it sounds like: a creature with a lion’s head and a fish’s tail. Across the river is the famed Marina Bay Sands hotel which honestly looks like a space ship (think Star Trek Enterprise) with legs.
I woke up a little later the next morning, and went down to breakfast at the hotel. I found a table full of SPH teachers to sit with. After introductions (and my first coffee), we agreed that we needed to explore the city some for the day. So we navigated our way to the subway station. After a few wrong subway stops and escalator choices, we arrived at the Gardens by the Bay for a couple hours of exploring. It was beautiful! So many gorgeous flowers and incredible trees to see. We needed to get back to the airport in time, so we only saw probably half of it.
Later we arrived at the Singapore airport in a big thirteen seater taxi-van. We checked in nervously. The reason we were nervous is that we found out about some weight restrictions we were unaware of for our Garuda Indonesia flight :/ We planned on pleading, begging, smiling, and reasoning our way through being waived the fees. Unfortunately, no one was successful and we all had to pay for the bags we had that were overweight. After this, we explored the Singapore airport.
Most airports are pretty boring, but Singapore is the exception. We managed to go into a two storey butterfly house that is attached and get foot/calf massages for free! You could also go down the biggest indoor slide in the world (I think); you could watch a movie in the movie room; there were so many options. We all have to go back again to finish our visa process, so we won’t be bored in the airport.
Once we arrived in Jakarta, we completed VOAs and everyone was met by some of their school staff! Because there are five SPH schools, we were met by our own school and taken to our accommodations. Jen, Dylan, Zhang Li, and I are the new expat teachers at SPH Pluit Village. We were met by people we’d come to realize have some of the biggest hearts you’ll ever meet. Alexis, our lead teacher was there, and Alex, the head of all our departments was there. Yes, he is head of all departments because our school is in its pioneer phase. Somehow he still makes time to do things like take us out for dim sum and make sure that I’m not going to electrocute myself in my kitchen. Then there is Alexis. She is our lead teacher (she performs principal duties); she is our unofficial Bahasa Indonesian teacher and translator; she is our shopping buddy; and she just has an incredible heart for the vision of SPH. We are truly blessed to have her as our leader, and I’m so grateful for her. Plus, she loves Anne of Green Gables!! :)
Okay, so that is enough for my first post. I’m seriously behind in giving full updates. I will get better at this, I promise!
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