A Very Foreign Language: life has tamed down...

as you can probably tell from my lack of posts, nothing remotely exciting has happened to me in like a week.

wednesday 19 august

to be fair, i did go out with my eastern european friends (well... as eastern european as slovakia & poland get, so maybe more like... central european...) on wednesday night to a bar called le baroque near city hall where it was packed with internationals listening to bad american music... food in singapore may be cheap, but things like alcohol and cigarettes are heavily taxed and cigarettes come with ginormous warnings about the health risks attached with engaging in such debaucherous behavior. (ie. pictures of deformed fetuses that take up half the box...) how very culturally enlightening.

thursday 20 august

on thursday night, one of my friends convinced me to go to a martial arts showcase set up through the school martial arts groups. instead of just doing demonstrations, the clubs decided to show off each of their skills through a unifying play. the storyline went like this: a non-descript country was taken over by an evil & tyrannical empire that used brute force and fear to rule its subjects. one young man decided to fight and rise up against the monster and formed an alliance of all of the martial arts groups in the country to take down the evil ruler.

now, everyone knew that this evil and tyrannical empire was japan, but no one actually said it. that is until someone messed up and said "the japanese empire is growing stronger!" HAHAHA. silly, japan.

there were about 10 different martial arts groups including your usual like judo, taekwondo, and wushu, but my personal favorite was silat, a form of martial arts practiced primarily in malaysia and indonesia.

as you can probably tell from the picture above, they kind of look like malaysian ninjas...

friday 21 august

once again, i am left behind in singapore by all of my friend trekking their way across the border to malaysia. (and by trekking i mean they're all aboard a nicely air-conditioned bus...) but it's okay, because i have plans to visit thailand and/or australia for one of my friends' birthday! one trip to thailand dear friends, is worth an infinite number of weekends in malaysia.

today however, instead of just being lazy and taking a nap in the middle of the afternoon, i decided to do something about my waning interest in singaporean food and went to the grocery store. i kept telling myself that i wouldn't cook while i was here, but i gave in. there's only so many times you can eat duck rice & prata without feeling sick to your stomach...

so, say hello to 110$ SD worth of groceries. that's right. 110$.

i was so shocked by spending over 100$ on food in singapore that i had to document this monumental day. 110$ SD if you don't already know, is equivalent to 10 days worth of buying 3 square meals a day for me. let's hope this lasts. i was also really mad that they only take "fair price visa" and made me pay in cash >:[ now i have to go and exchange money again!

to be fair, the food here is pretty cheap (as long as you buy asian products), its just that the pot, pan, bowls, & other household items cost me over half my total bill. oh, walmart... how i miss your super cheap deals.

also, i have never been so happy to see 신라면 in my life. i'm sure that the two of us and the gym will learn to be quite happy together.

my only problem with groceries here is that well... i'm not quite sure i trust them. i don't know the fda rules here in singapore, but i do know that all of their vegetables are imported from malaysia. uh... yeah. and as a rule, as was indoctrinated into me by our picky relatives, i feel like food made in china is a no no, but alas, it's singapore. literally everything is made in china. oh, and did i mention that they sell MSG in the grocery stores here?

this is the fake 고추장 i found because i couldn't find the real deal. don't let its appearances decieve you-- it doesn't taste very similar, but i guess i'll just have to deal until i find something better. what boggles my mind is, how can fair price sell "kimchee sauce" (just pour it over freshly washed and cut cabbage for korean kimchee!) and not sell korean pepper paste?

anyways, i don't know why i always talk so much about food... but instead of eating at the canteen today, i made myself some bulgogi & rice!

here is our apparently only 8 year old (they HAVE to be lying to us) kitchen... & some views from the window

& the bulgogi i made in all its stages! the marinade actually tasted like bulgogi sauce ( i know, i was surprised too!), it's just that the meat was a little dry.

i'm not quite sure if i overcooked it or if it's the meat itself. the beef was from australia, and the entire time i was thinking "oh my goodness... what if i'm eating a kangaroo?!"

and last but not least, here is my first (& actually very succesful!) attempt at making rice in a pot on our decrepit hall stove. for not knowing whether or not the stove was actually on, i think i did a rather good job...