WARM Christmas Wishes from the Equator

Singapore is like Clark Griswold for Christmas (click here)...and I love it! Sing, I wholeheartedly appreciate your enthusiasm for holidays! Double-confirm. 

Orchard Road (at the heart of the city) is famous for its Christmas lights and this year is no exception. Some of these pictures are mine and some I borrowed but please know, these are only a few snapshots, the Christmas mega-decoration goes further beyond your wildest Christmas decorated dreams. 

I.LOVE.CHRISTMAS!...and better yet, I will be hugging on some Comers this Christmas! Making the trip home to South Carolina TOMORROW to a shocking below 80 degree climate. (yesssss!) My hair is already singing the hallelujah chorus. 

But before I go, here are some highlights:

The Singapore Flyer (officially the tallest Ferris Wheel in the world) converted into the tallest Christmas tree. Genius.

Orchard Road                           

Lights over Orchard Road

Tangs department store front on Orchard

                                    

Raffles Hotel

Ion Mall on Orchard Road 

Just couldn't get enough Christmas lights?? (Can never have enough Christmas lights, right?) 

See more here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UnSC4e_lsQ

Singing: "I'll be Home for Christmas" -She & Him

The National University of Singapore

On my way in to work today, I was reminded how BEAUTIFUL my campus is! Want to have a look around? I'll take you through my normal commute into campus from my MRT stop:

Click here: NUS Campus 

 These are pretty common on campus and are HUGE covers for walkways. There are two reasons I love this. As a Ging, it takes T-minus 10 minutes for me to get a "summer glow" so now with these bad boys in place, I can prance around campus with abandon. #win. Also, we have just entered monsoon season (see picture below) so thank you NUS for fighting the elements on our behalf!

 Speaking of common, it rains pretty frequently...as in I can't remember a day where it didn't rain a little bit at some point. I kind of like it! :) It makes everything look so green and lush but it does get a bit confusing when everything is so green during Christmastime! 

This is right underneath where my office is and is probably one of my favorite views on campus. There are bazarres (markets) here sometimes and the campus "co-op" (aka bookstore) is out of the picture to the left. Seems like there is always something going on!

Palm trees everywhere! This is on my way to my office and you can always tell when it is about to rain from this view!

 This is from the 3rd floor of our department's main building. It's a jungle out there...literally. This also sort of reminds me of Dharmaville #LostLivesOn

Then, my commute to work ends at this door, the CARE lab! It's sort of like the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, when you go through this door, you enter a whole new world haha with so many different cultures that make up our team! #magical

The National University of Singapore

http://www.nus.edu.sg/

CARE

http://www.care-cca.com/

Dept. of Communication and New Media

http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/cnm/

And finally, this is my desk in the CARE lab. I wish you could see but out the window in the harbor area on the West Coast.  

Singing: "Lost in My Mind" -The Head and the Heart

The Best of You

Singing: "The Best of You" -Foo Fighters

After getting on the MRT (subway)/SMRT (bus) going the wrong way for the, let's just say, more-than-once time this week:

The realization after being on the MRT already for 20 min:

In an attempt to minimize casualties during transport caused by operator (me) error, I solemnly pledge to operate at 90% alert while on the SMRT/MRT  (leaving 10% of course for Scramble with Friends or Fruit Ninja...obviously non-negotiable). There will be no more leaving iPhones, keys, or bobby pins in cabs and no more riding the train in the wrong direction or taking the long walk back to the stop I just missed on the bus.

I am publicly declaring my pledge to be 90% alert while riding public transportation. #accountability #rideresponsibly

Sincerely,

Sarah Comer

Singing: "Runaway Train" -Soul Asylum

Singapore 101

How long have you been in Singapore, lah*?
(*"lah" at the end of a phrase is used by Singaporeans to soften or lighten the tone of a phrase. #endearing)

Here is a first entry (of many) into an ongoing glossary/reference of sorts as an intro to Singapore. If you come visit (which I hope you will) you will be ahead of the curve if you know these first things it has taken me a month to acquire:

"Have you had your lunch yet" means, "Are you doing alright?/How's it going?" Until this was explained to me a few days ago, when people would ask me this at work circa 4:30pm, I would think "I see what's going on, you are looking for someone to eat lunch with" and I would tell them I would go with them if they were looking for someone to eat with only to be met with a confusing look and a polite decline :) Now, I'm #intheloop.

"Ministry of Manpower" commonly referred to as "MOM" (Ministry of Magic anyone?) This is the Sing version of an American DMV...but bigger and with more "queues," and you must go through them for all your employment needs.

Community cats. No such thing as "stray" cats in Singapore...instead we (and the government) call them "community cats" #euphemism 

Doors. You MUST push the release button beside any door on NUS campus and also use the actual doorknob to exit and to avoid locked-in panic (advice from experience). It's easy to forget! Oh, and beware, sometimes there is also a light switch lurking (see below the red box) so you must choose carefully.

Elevator doors. The elevator doors wait for no one. I didn't understand in the first few weeks why no one ever holds elevator doors but then the first time I pressed "door close" when someone was clearly coming towards the elevator a little distance away, I realized, it's just too hot to wait in an elevator. It's an understood rule, if you aren't stepping in, it leaves without you.

Take away (translation) "I want this [insert food/drink] to go"

"Cannot." Literal translation: "not a chance" You may never be sure of the reasoning but the throwdown of a "cannot" means end of story, no ifs ands or buts about it. Sarah, use it in a sentence you may ask...sure, example: "Will you fan me while I'm waiting for the train in Sing's mid-day sun?" "Cannot." at which point you may wonder, a) can you but you don't want to? b) is it that you don't have a fan? or c) are you late to a meeting and you just don't have time? You may never know but bottom line: aint happening.

Alight: "This is your stop" (e.g. alight at 42nd Street in Times Square)

Durians. Explosives, drinks, and durians...all things not allowed on the MRT (subway) system in Sing. Although I have not given them a go yet, this fruit smells like...something dead, which it why it is not allowed on MRT. The smell is considered "offensive" 

Editing of TV shows/movies. Many shows/movies seen in Sing are edited for...well...we're not really sure the rules. When you're least expecting, you may realize, how did that guy get that gun? And then you get the sneaking suspicion you may have missed something...well you have just experienced a little TV/movie selective removal, Sing style. 

• Singing: "Carry On" -Kansas

The Tale of the Crow Cullers

This day started off like most others, I was walking to the bus stop to hop on the 33 to get to work when all of a sudden, I heard the loudest gun shot ever to grace my ears. I'm talking like Saving Private Ryan war movie loud. I instinctively ducked and covered only to look back and see a huge black crow drop dead to the ground from a tree over the bus stop about 20 feet away from me and a man in camo pants and black tee shirt with a gun. Umm...what? 

After a phone-a-friend to Kathryn, I discovered that I had just witnessed my first crow culling. What is a crow culling you might ask? Let me tell you...Due to strict gun regulations, few Singaporeans own firearms (which is why I thought Singapore was at war upon hearing a gunshot), so the Singapore Gun Club members were the only private citizens in the country that authorities could turn to for help with Singapore's "crow problem". Crows are said to be a plain nuisance in Sing but have also been the culprit of "dive bombings" on Singapore's own. In 2006, at the invitation of the government, volunteers from the Singapore Gun Club culled approximately 1,025 crows. Don't believe me?

This is the site of the culling...in the middle of our neighborhood in a tree right over that bus stop. But the good news is, I can now sleep at night knowing that I will have 1 less chance of being dive-bombed on the way to the bus stop. Now, about the man in camo pants with a gun...

• Singing" "Pumped Up Kicks" -Foster the People

Home is a story...your story.

I have been teaching the guys on my CARE team at least one American saying per week, and I realized how many sayings we have about "home." Home is where the heart is, There's no place like home, I'll be home for Christmas [fingers crossed] and so on...not to even mention the songs written about home. And for the proverbial icing on the cake, for one of our CARE projects, we are working with an nonprofit organization called HOME (Humanitarian Organization for Migrant Economies).

The identity we take in relationship to our "home" is certainly more complex than Phil Phillips' one hit wonder, "Home" (Anne & David Comer, that pop culture reference is for you two #Idolgroupies). When we say "Home is where the heart is," does that imply that we have only one place we call home, a single place for our heart to be tied to? Every city or house or season is just that, a plain old city, house, or season until you paint life into it by investing a piece of your heart in it, and in turn allow the place to become part of who you are. But doesn't it seem like a crossroad sometimes when we face knocking on the door of a new home? I am reminded that home is not really confined to earthly measures, and really, we are all migrants and nomads, some in different seasons of life or in different places geographically but we are all the products of loving and being loved by different cities, communities, family members, etc. 

 We are broken and weary travelers, and it is not a house or a town or a city alone that heals us, it is the promise of an eternal home where our spirits belong, with a loving Father in heaven. It is the promise of community for our temporary homes here on earth. We probably all know that deep inside, but when we think of home, we sometimes long for the places we used to know-familiarity feels like home to us. But what I have learned after my first few weeks in Sing is that it is not familiarity necessarily that defines home, home is where we get to be a part of a place, a people, a community that invited you into its story, and in turn, it becomes such a significant part of yours. 

Here is a snapshot of what my home in Singapore looks like so far: 

Top left: Marina Bay downtown Singapore. Middle&Bottom left: The
 "Sarah Comer" pose enacted by my sweet LifeGroup members. Top
right: My CARE family goofing off on the first day in our new office! Middle
right: Botanical Gardens in the middle of the city...so beautiful (more pictures
to come!) Bottom right: My cousin Kathryn (and Ed-who took the picture)
are such a HUGE part of how much I love this city! They have been the most WONDERFUL "relocation specialists!" I am so lucky! 

My encouraging, funny, and loving Life Group in Sing
 #LivingthePhilippinedream

Din Tau Fung (http://www.dintaifung.com.sg/)
My favorite thing I have eaten in Singapore!

The view from "The Deck" where I
eat lunch every day around the corner
from my office at NUS

                                                                                  A beautiful view of Marina Bay 

                                                                                                              from the pool!

Thank you for being part of my ongoing story of home! I have already shared so many stories of North Augusta, Clemson, Athens, Australia, and Houston with my friends in Singapore and will always consider those places and the people in them permanent residents of what I consider "home!"

                                          
                                                                       

• Singing:"Home" -The Wealthy West

WHEN I STEP OUTSIDE IN SINGAPORE

What I had hoped my hair would do: 


What I actually look like in the 80% (or more) humidity:

Singapore's climate: 1
Sarah: 0

Sing sits just 1 degree from the equator and is every bit of a tropical climate. Although it creates a beautiful landscape in the city, I am still trying to find a way to reign in the frizz. It's a long road ahead of me...

• Singing: "Rains in Asia" Jump Little Children

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and Soursop

There are several unrelated important moments of understanding that happened today so please excuse a no-themer...there's really nothing that ties these things together except that they happened to happen on this Wednesday!

1.We had our CARE team meeting today, and we have a new home! We are officially (almost) ready to move into our new lab space. (Couch to be added!) Check out my blog entry for our CARE website for some details about our time together today: CARE Blog-Listening

Kang and JT modeling with our new furniture!

My CARE family is AWESOME and I learned so much from them today...including that Daniel makes the most deee-lish oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. They reminded me so much of home...so naturally I ate 3 (or 4 but who's counting?)

2.I found out that what I thought were alarms going off almost all the time on campus over the last week are actually Cicadas (bugs). I thought I was in constant need to evacuate my office on the regular because I kept hearing "alarms" from my office. #fooledmeonce #fooledmetwice #canfinallyrelax

3. I visited a church last Sunday: EN Central and loved it! Everyone was so friendly and what I loved the most is how many different nations were represented in the congregation. I connected with a LifeGroup last Sunday and went to their first get together tonight. I felt so loved by them and have been receiving encouragement texts many mornings of the last week from them! Most of the members are from the Philippines, and they prayed for me and sent me home with hugs and even a personal escort on the MRT :) They are so funny and adventurous and I have already learned so many things from their lively spirits!

4.I finally learned what a soursop fruit is:

Besides knowing that it is 1 of the 2 ingredients in my favorite fruit slush served downstairs from my office, I had no idea. But here it is, an exposé -it looks like a spiny apple/avocado but tastes like  your favorite popsicle flavor . 

One.Great.Wednesday.

Livin' in a Muggle's Paradise

**Disclaimer: This is a Harry Potter nerd alert. However, for all the HP haters (Mike and Ben Comer), proceed with a Harry Potter gladdittude. I won't tell anyone that you both went to the midnight book release with me in NYC and wore the HP glasses...

Today I was reminded (not that I ever forgot) about all the things I truly love about HARRY POTTER! #gryffindor4life #HogwartsExpress #IheartMcGonogall Kathryn and I went to the Harry Potter prop/costume/movie set exhibit at the ArtScience Museum in Sing. Check out the exhibit here!

ArtScience Museum

First off, let me show you where the exhibit was (to the left). It's such a cool building, and it sits among some of the most interesting and unique architecture/buildings in the city.
Secondly, the exhibit was AWESOME, especially with my fellow HP fanatic, Kathryn! We learned all the behind the scenes facts (like the fact that they actually made a mechanical Buckbeak and later, the prop designers would make it follow different cast members around as a practical joke), and we saw all the costumes and set designs...we knew we were in the presence of literary and cinematic brilliance :) Unfortunately, we could not take any pictures in the actual exhibit but I can tell you, I was officially sorted into Gryffindor and Kathryn is an expert Quidditch player!

 Today was actually the last day of Singapore being home to this exhibit so we split a chocolate frog to commemorate the occasion!



All in all, one magical day well spent.

• Singing: "Hedwig's Theme" -Harry Potter

How I felt after getting an iPhone 5 today...

  That's right...I, Sarah Kathryn Comer, am the new owner of a smartphone. I have arrived. #latebloomer This was an especially big victory for me in Sing because it is quite a process to open a new cell phone line- it took many trips to Singtel (3) and many hours of waiting in the "queue" (ANYWHERE there is a line in Singapore, you type in your info, and you are assigned a number #orderly) It felt a bit like Hunger Games- and in fact, it seemed just as likely to be called for your turn at Singtel as it would for you to be reaped for the Hunger Games. 

Anyways, the moral of the story is that I did get a phone (I'm totally digging the new iPhone...well any iPhone is new for me) If you have "whatsapp," let's chat! +65 9178 9381. Also, I'd like to point out that in Sing, having 8's in your phone number is good luck and having 4's in your phone number is bad luck...so check me out, two 8s and no 4s! :)

Business all goes through mobile numbers here. For example, here are some new things I can now do in Singapore that I couldn't without having a cell phone number: Set up a bank account, text a taxi (that's right, text them and you can map when they will be getting to you), transfer money, spend less time getting lost, pay bills, and FACETIME (for all you fellow iPhone users...)

• Singing: "Call me Maybe" -Carly Rae Jepson

"When we are listening to stories, we must enact mindfulness and suspend judgment. We must remember humility which is what I hope for all of us with CARE. When you start by being humble, you can embrace being authentic."

-Mohan Dutta
9/26/2012
(Check out our new CARE blog: http://www.care-cca.com/)

   Today was a beautiful day!...I'm talking like drinking an original Diet Coke good! I met my fellow Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE) team members, and I am motivated, inspired, completely excited to be working with such a stellar team. As of now, the team consists of Daniel (MA), JT (post doc), Kang (post doc), Dr. Mohan Dutta, and yours truly. The members of my team are so smart and passionate with sunny dispositions and a true desire to see social change regarding health. Not only that, they have welcomed me in with kind words, encouraging reassurance, and fresh fruit smoothies. With the diversity of our backgrounds, ethnic origins, research interests, favorite smoothie flavor, etc., today was the start of our CARE family...and I love it. 

My first project will be focused on women diagnosed with cardiovascular disease (one of the leading causes of death for women in Sing), and I will be working with the National University Health Center of Singapore. I am excited about this project and also look forward to paying visits to JT and Kang's projects in other various locations in Southeast Asia!

The Department of Communication and New Media (where the CARE center is housed) was recently ranked #3 in the world for the subject of Communication and Media Studies! They have a wonderful faculty and everyone is so kind and they have made me feel so welcomed! The faculty and staff are made up of intelligent, quick-witted, and truly passionate scholars and teachers. Our department belongs in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences which equivalent to what in the US we call a "college" within a university.  I went to my first Faculty meeting yesterday and after the brief Sept. birthdays celebration at the beginning, I knew I'd be right at home!

 

• Singing: "Beautiful Day" U2

Me after not getting lost for the first time on the way to work today:

....even with no GPS or cell phone! I cut my 3 hour commute from yesterday down to a little over an hour today. beautiful. 

#Littlevictories

A slice of life

The last few days in a nutshell:

TODAY WAS MY FIRST DAY AT WORK! eeeek! After my 3 hour commute into National University of Singapore campus (a bit turned around without a phone...but hey, no better way to learn a city right?), I finally made it there-only 1 hour late for my first day of work. Silver lining: I have discovered 2 secret weapons to deflecting a possible meltdown/pressing of the panic button:                     

1. "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" NPR podcast-more specifically Carl Castle's voice on my iPod. A little piece of home and my connection back to the States. 

2. Hailing a taxi at anytime/anywhere (which I did unashamedly on campus... to take me somewhere else on campus)

...worked like a charm :)

NUS Campus on the walk from the correct bus stop!    

My boss (Dr. Dutta) is wonderful and the people in my department have been so good to me already! The campus is BEAUTIFUL even though I don't think this picture does it justice.I'm meeting the rest of my CARE (Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation) team on Wednesday which I am so excited and thrilled about! 

In other news...

 Chinatown in Singapore is a bit different than the Chinatown of NYC we know and love for sunglasses and handbags. Sing's Chinatown is rich with cultural history and tradition. We visited the "Tooth Relic" Buddhist temple in the heart of Chinatown. It is truly an incredible place. The emphasis to "just be" and to meditate on things that are good, lovely, and pleasing is such a treasure to remember and an honor to see carried out. There is nothing like a Chinese pagoda to really give you an Asian awe. 

It was also festival of the lanterns in Chinatown while we were there so it was especiallycolorful and decorated!

I have had the sweetest hosts, Kathryn (pictured to the right) and Ed (photographer), who have adventured around the city with me, shown me the sites, and have gone to the Singaporean equivalent of the DMV...twice #truelove. I'm so lucky to be with them here in Sing! 

• Singing: "Keep Your Eyes Open"                                         -Needtobreathe

You can get internet on Singapore Air?!

Me after seeing the sun rise for the second time while on my flight to Sing ...#timechange #marathonflight

Should be a cliche title about leaving on a jet plane or something...

   Well, I am T-minus 2 hours away from leaving for the NYC airport to hop on my flight to Singapore-what a whirlwind! eek.

 What a gift it was to spend a solid month at home in South Carolina watching football games, riding bikes, and toasting all small  victories with Anne and David at 1006. I got to see BOTH of my brothers and catch up with friends to help hold me over until the next time we get to spend time together! I had such an incredible adventure in NYC with my brother Ben, Danielle, and sweet nephew Levin, and new friends on the first stop on my way to Singapore! I love that city!!!

After packing, unpacking, rearranging, Dad and I sitting on my luggage so we could zip it up (and then of course me asking him to add just ONE more thing!), repacking a bit more and then bidding farewell to some things that didn't make the cut, I finally tagged all my bags with eclectic yet representative IDs at exactly the weight limit-the next year+ of my life in two 50 pound bags and a carryon.

  I will say, it's intimidating keeping a blog. It's hard as a rookie writer of one to separate the stellar from the snoozefest stories but I will hopefully be able to give you a glimpse of my time in Singapore through ordinary tales of living in an extraordinarily different place. Feel free to comment, ask questions, and I'll keep the songs across the top rolling-we'll be singing along together (just press play)! 

  Thinking about moving to Singapore is sort of like summer camp, while you never know what to expect you know you will come home changed in a way that allows you to see things with new interest and color, you'll undoubtedly discover your ability to eat something unusual when double-dared, and inevitably you will be SINGing a new song!

• Singing: "It's Time" -Glee