a lil record of our thoughts...

changing to a new blog host

2006-08-12T10:48:00.000+08:00

we have to do it! blogger is continuously not publishing our posts, so we are trying out a new blog host. please bookmark our new blog site: www.sawyerjackson.wordpress.com

my lab can party

2006-08-06T18:51:00.000+08:00

oh yes they can. we had a great time this past friday night, drinking some coronas and playing water polo. everyone left work early and we convened at the head professor's condo for a late night. we munched on tofu curry (for the few vegetarians amongst us) and barbecue stingray (no, i didnt try any). john stewart whipped some of the chinese in pingpong (he's got som' skeelz) and then was whipped himself by one of the indians. tee hee.

if you want to view some pics, they are here .

saturday night we met up with two friends from the lab and enjoyed a philharmonic choral concert at the esplanade theatre as well as a tasty dinner in little india. look out, alabamians are becoming cultured over here! we've had a great weekend. this week we are checking out some art classes and potentially registering for a few sessions....

not much on the homefront

2006-08-03T09:31:00.000+08:00

things are a bit quiet around here these days...i guess that means we are settling into a routine? work is picking up and im keeping quite busy playing with my little rabbit stem cells (are these the replacements for my sweet kitties? hmmm...).

ive learned more bluntly stated things about myself this week from some of the locals. 1) my glasses are old, ugly, and look like they are from the 80's; 2)im much more endowed than the local women and huge objects on your body are definitely strange and potentially harmful to passerbys on crowded buses; and 3)im still obese. people really dont hold back what they are thinking here!

i went to a yoga class tuesday night and now can barely squat over a toilet or cross my legs. this was a good class.

john stewart's brew is coming along and we are anxiously awaiting the first taste. we've been keeping ourselves busy at night by watching the second season of LOST. yes, we are addicted.

we bought houseplants for a patio this past weekend...lots of orchids, cactii, and palms. we even convinced the delivery guy to give us a ride in his truck back to our apartment. the three of us rode happily, crammed into the front seat of a tiny truck with a flat bed full of plants.

this friday we have a "lab party" that apparently is being catered by all the companies we buy reagents from (is this legitamate? hhmm...sort of like sales reps taking doctors out to lunch? oh well, we'll take it). the party is at our PIs condo and i know they are barbecuing sting-ray for part of the meal. should be interesting. reports will definitely be posted.

sort of a quiet week. we are just bumping along, missing all of you of course.

johor bahru schmaru

2006-07-31T09:43:00.000+08:00

so we took an adventure this past saturday...we rode bus 170 all the way to
malaysia. quite convenient because we simply hopped on the bus
outside of our apartment and rode it straight there. went over a
little bridge and jumped out at the border, collected some stamps in
the passport, and then ventured right into johor bahru, a city on the
south tip of malaysia.

i have to say, though, johor bahru was not that great. it is amazing
how different malaysia and singapore are regarding cleanliness. i
guess we have grown accustomed to it because johor smelled like an armpit and was
polluted and crowded. apparently most people cross into johor to buy
cheap dvds (yes bootlegged) and chewing gum! since we really werent
in need of either, we didnt have much to do. we strolled around for a
bit and landed ourselves in one of the hundreds of shopping malls
that seem to decorate every corner. it is crazy how many there are
of these multi level complexes. talk about overstimulation. usually
there is some type of full concert going on in the bottom floor and
about 8 levels of shops after shops and hundreds of people trying to
spend money. we were stranded for a bit when a monsoon arrived (or at
least it seemed like a monsoon) and all we had was a fluorscent pink
umbrella (with little purple flowers) that we bought the other day in
another sudden monsoon attack. js looks really good with it, too.

we eventually made it back to the border and took our faithful bus
170 all the way back to our neck of the woods. we continued on to
little india (just down the road from our place) and enjoyed a dosai
(lentil flour pancake with lots of indian dipping sauces) and
cardamom tea. we spoke to rajan (sp?), our new friend in the
restaurant who prepares the cardamom tea. this was a nice way to end
our day

let's see...projects on the homefront...we are learning to cook thai
and indian food, and js is brewing australian lager in our
apartment! more to come on these ventures.

check out some of our most recent pics here.
xoxo

the bed

2006-07-27T18:39:00.000+08:00

for those of you who have asked, here is a pic of the bed that js made...well he made the bed frame, which is hardly visible from the pic, but it is pretty awesome in my opinion.

the frame sits low to the ground and lifts the mattress about 5inches from the floor. the wood is really nice (but dont ask me the name because i have no idea!).

our nice new bed sheet came from a small store in little india.

not much news on the homefront today. i think we may go to malaysia this weekend for a day trip (to johor bahru). we'll keep you posted (or blogged!).

miss you all.

a

little burnt piles

2006-07-26T09:46:00.000+08:00

lately as i have been wandering around the city between work and home, i have noticed little piles of burnt ashes in random places. at first i thought this was just a way to get rid of trash, but then i started noticing odd bits about these piles.

some would have tin cookie cans. some would have paper money. some would have a paper car (a nice, 3-D model). some would have several incense sticks, a few burning, a few burnt out. some would have attendees, usually chinese men or women just hanging around the pile watching it burn or adding handfuls of paper.

these piles have come in all different sizes. some are large enough to roll in (not that i have tried that), and some are hardly noticeable. some are in the absolute middle of the walkway, and some are under a tree in the distance. i think i even saw one IN a tree.

last night as i walked through the gate of our front patio, i saw another pile, just adjacent to the scooter our neighbor rides. this pile had a cone shaped dome of burnt ashes, a few fake dollar bills lingering around the edges, and a little paper motor scooter (very closely resembling the real thing sitting a few feet away).

ok, so i finally ask one of the singaporians in the lab--what is all this about?

ahhh, this is a chinese ritual that takes place somewhere around the months of july and august, coinciding with the chinese lunar calendar of the rabbit and horse (i think--if i understood correctly). these piles are offerings to their ancestors. they believe material gifts are the greatest resource in the afterlife and therefore, send them money, cars, computers, ipods, couches, etc, etc via burning these items to ashes. (however, it should be noted that they simply burn paper models of these material things. the ancestors understand if it cant be real--although maybe they'd appreciate the latter?). additionally, during this time of year, one will find that the movie theatre reserves the front two rows for ghosts. the ancestors may enjoy a film during the calendar of the rabbit and horse. (i didnt ask what type of film is most popular)

so interesting!! im glad i did not roll in the ashes or choose to throw my own rubbish in the pile. and im certainly glad i did not kick my feet through one (left over urge from running through leaf piles).

while i find some of this very foreign, and honestly a bit amusing, there is also a piece of me that is in awe at how amazingly different are our cultures, religions, and beliefs. to learn of different lifestyles is one of the main reasons we chose to make such a huge move! i cant wait to see what other interesting cultural rituals we are able to witness.

jsj at work

2006-07-25T20:10:00.000+08:00

he said he was going to do it, and let me tell you--he did! js traveled around singapore looking for some wood and convinced the lumber warehouse to sell him some materials and to deliver them to our home. he then bought some tools and turned one of our rooms into a working studio.

here he is working on our bed frame. he finished it in less than a day! and it is beautiful!

(blogger is only letting me post one pic at a time, so ill be sure to post a photo of the finished product as soon as i can).

jsj at work
Originally uploaded by draasawyer.

happy blender

2006-07-24T17:52:00.000+08:00

Photo 35
Originally uploaded by draasawyer.

This is the infamous blender.

blogger is going crazy

2006-07-24T09:40:00.000+08:00

ok bear with us...for some reason we are having a super hard time posting to our blog!

as of right now, i cannot post any blogs using our computer at home. interestingly, the computer at work will let me post blogs, but not upload images.

so hopefully we will work this out....in the meantime, know we are thinking of you and will try to give updates when we can!

amber

ps any ideas on this blog madness?

how many men does it take to fix a blender?

2006-07-22T20:22:00.000+08:00

that was the question of the afternoon (or at least saturday afternoon when this occured)...

we bought this super nice blender from a place called Mustafa Centre in Little India about two weeks ago. Before we brought it home, the personnel plugged it in for us and demonstrated that it was working properly. it is a brand new blender by the way and we found out that they plug everything in before you take it home to prove their appliances are not defects. good idea we thought.

anyway, we use this handy blender several times and this morning, after i had it completely full of the last of our fruit and milk and the 2 ice cubes we had made, it wouldnt turn on. hhmmm..."were we scammed?", we asked ourselves. we've been lectured over and over about not getting ripped off over here and we definitely have had our fair share of a few mistakes so far, so thinking the blender was a malfunctioned product wasnt too far from reality.

great, so we have to pack it up, find the warranty and then make a trip all the way back to Mustafa Centre, which means walking to the bus stop lugging a huge box, taking a crowded bus on a saturday afternoon (hot with lots of armpits exposed), finding our way through a crowded market and then convincing the sales people using our excellent singlish that we need a replacement.

so we arrive in Mustafa and march up to the sales counter, a little peeved because this blender should not have failed already. we hand over our warranty card and ask them to plug it in (they have official plug in stations). immediately, FIVE salesmen come to our blender plug-in station. everyone looks perplexed and there is a lot of local language being passed between them and steady glances at us. we all hold our breath. 3-2-1...and...nothing. the blender does not turn on. (phew, we are thinking "see, told you so"). they study the blender for several minutes, turn it upside down, look inside it, shake it a little, put it back on, no power, tap it a little...hmmm...magically broken.

and then, between the five of them, they realize that WE assembled the blender incorrectly after we cleaned it. yes, that is right. we accidentally flipped the dumb rubber lining the wrong way on the base of the blender. and ta-dah, it works. easy as pie, the malfunctioning blender was really due to the not-so-smart Americans trying to put it back together.

So everyone has a good ol’ laugh at the two of us, and we pack our blender back in its box and our ratty grocery bag, hang our heads a bit, try to laugh with them to ease our blown pride, and mosey back to the bus.

Guess it happens to the best of us. At least we have a blender.

we're on the grid!

2006-07-22T11:13:00.000+08:00

yay! we finally got internet and a land line at home! we are really excited about this. we have a brand new imac and now we can connect to the web, which means connecting to you more often!

it is a little after 1am here, so i think we are headed to bed. just wanted to update you on a few things....

the ofoto website is just not working out for the photos very easily. this evening i uploaded photos to iWeb, a program that comes with the mac. you can now see our photos by clicking HERE. additionally, you can access them through our website (which i updated as well). we have photos from our botanical garden trip as well as pics of our home. so take a peek!

also, we have a new joint email address. if you want to email the two of us, send a message to sawyerjackson@mac.com. it will come up on our desktop and will be easy for us to access.

we are downloading skype this weekend and cant wait to talk to you!

xoxoxo,
A and JS

a typical day

2006-07-20T08:28:00.000+08:00

"what do you do all day over there?", is the question i have been asked the most, and i assume it is because some find it difficult to imagine me actually working again after my 6 months-play-in-honduras-plan-a-wedding-lifestyle...

so i thought id account a day in the life of me, over here.

6:45 am: grudgingly wake up to BBC on our battery radio, roll off of my foam mattress onto the teak floor and sleepily walk to the shower. wash & dress. eat fresh pineapple and toast.

7:30 am: grab a water bottle, my big bag, and walk speedily to the bus stop (1/4 mile away). pass by multiple people waiting for different buses who love love love to stare at me (whether it is because they think im beautiful, or an obesely big builded girl, or strangely pasty white with large eyes--i have no idea).

7:35--8:00: wait at the bustop wondering where the bus is...there is no schedule. sometimes i get it within 5 min, other times i wait for half an hour. no idea how they plan these things here.

7:45 (on a good day): board bus, swipe bus card, find open seat in the back, pop in ipod headphones and listen to Blondie. i strangely notice that i am ALWAYS the last to have my seat taken. again, dont know the reason, but most of the locals do not enjoy sitting with foreigners. ok--brief interjection here--now we know what it is like to be a minority. this will have to be a topic for another blog, but it does make you wonder whether you are paranoid about being different or whether people actually do treat you differently. id say it is a mix of both.---at any rate, no one likes to sit with me (and certainly not talk to me) and i dont really mind (since i am big built and obese anyway, i need the room). on the bus i will occasionally watch the rerun of the european fashionshow, which is always playing on the bus tv. yes, they have tvs.

8:15 am: arrive at the bus station in holland village. walk through the chinese strip of shops and then the muslim strip of shops, all graced with scents of old fish, incense, and fried eggs. also walk past some type of gambling shop where lots of men hang out, holding strange slips of papers in their hands. All the people watch me as i walk past them. sometimes i slip in a "tsao an" (good morning) and they become perplexed.

8:20am: walk to my building, take off headphones, wear my dangling fancy schmancy security card around my neck, and breeze through security to the talking/video elevators.

for the rest of the day, i work in the lab doing experiments or read lots and lots of scientific papers, trying to understand the background of the work being done here. i listen to american jokes from some of the lab members, pick up a few words of chinese from others, and mainly try to stay low for the time being (this is a huge lab). ive done 2 rabbit surgeries already...we isolated stem cells from the bone marrow of a rabbit and im currently growing these cells. another interjection--these animal experiments are mentally very very tough for me. probably another subject for a blog one day. yesterday i had a meeting with the top scientific individuals in singapore. we are collaborating on a project and one of the men happen to be the second in charge of ALL of science in singapore. not bad.

12:30pm lunch--i either bring it from home or i go to one of the local shops outside and eat chinese or indian food. yum yum. if im feeling brave, i go to the really local shops and point to something to eat (although i have to say about 5 times--NO ANIMAL?)

6:30 or 7pm: catch the bus or MRT home

7:45pm: take shoes off, walk inside the apartment, greet john stewart and notice he has cleaned the whole house, done all the laundry, has dinner in the making, and is happily listening to reggae. well, ok, not always like that...but close enough. :)

we eat dinner together, swap stories for the day, and pretty much crash out by 10 or 11pm.

the days are seeming to pass by pretty quickly. i dont know whether that is a good thing or not--but they do seem to go by rather fast.

lately we have broken up the routine by js riding the bus with me in the morning to work and then he sits at the muslim or chinese shop for coffee (usually attracting some attention for himself while he sits there! rather funny.) and sometimes he meets me for lunch.

ok, so my day is sort of on the boring side...but js is definitely entertaining himself. yesterday i came home and he had bought 3 4x8 sheets of plywood, a circular saw and drills, a bag of cement, and plastic for the floor. how he talked these guys into delivering all that for him--i have no idea (especially since the people he bought from dont speak english). i know that last week he spent the day fishing with a homeless man. yesterday he sipped coffee at the muslim shop most of the morning. this weekend he is building us a bed frame...so id say he is keeping happily busy as well.

good news--today our couch is being delivered and the internet is getting set up at home. we can finally lounge and communicate--all from the same room!

*** if you want to see some pics, i posted them on ofoto:
www.ofoto.com
login: amber@sawyerjackson.com
password: pictures

enjoy!

contracts r' us

2006-07-17T08:40:00.000+08:00

im learning a few things over here in singapore...and the latest is that they love contracts. everything is on a contract.

for instance, we have the normal contracts like cell phones (2 years) and aparment rental (3 years...they dont mess around with one year contracts here.)

but then there are additional ones--
internet (2 years)
power (2 years)
pilates class in the gym downstairs (10 weeks, no trial class)
yoga in a yoga studio (2 years, no trial class)
public library card (1 year, 20 dollar yearly fee and 20 dollar start up membership fee)
newspaper (1 year)

etc, etc.

im sure there are more contracts that we dont even know about yet. im not exactly sure why the singaporians love contracts so much. is it they are worried about competition and therefore want you to commit for x-length of time (although every company has been the monopoly so far...hmmm)? are they scared you will only be a customer for a variable duration? will they lose money with a shortened membership? or maybe they like this whole control thing? dunno. either way, we are learning you really have to make a committment to things here when you make a decision!

luckily, the botanical gardens did not have a membership fee and they were absolutely beautiful. we took a trip there this weekend (only a short bus ride from our place) and we enjoyed walking through the rainforests and smelling pretty flowers. the orchid garden costs money though, so we will hit that next time. :)

a little jsj news: he currently has a new project. he is going to build us a bed frame. he is locating lumber warehouses, bribing workers to somehow deliver wood to our apartment, scoping out power tools at the local shops, working on his bartering skills, and getting creative with workshop space in our home. more updates on this as it happens...

xoxo
amber

dont get a PFA in asia

2006-07-13T19:29:00.000+08:00

PFA...personal fitness assessment. sounds like a good healthy plan, right? hmm. let me think...uh, no.

so my big fancy schmancy work place also has a conviently located gym on the bottom floor (all new equipment plus studios for additional classes). they offer this service for free if you are an employee, and to top it off, they also include a free PFA with a personal trainer to tell you all of your problem areas and then outline a new workout routine for you.

ok, it has been at least 10 years since i had any sort of fitness test, but ive been holding my own with the whole healthy lifestyle thing....or so i thought!

for starters, this is an asian PFA. secondly, i have a feeling you always think you are a tad bit healthier than you really are (maybe all those daily beers really are having an effect?).

this is the result of my test, which was handed to me on paper:

body build: BIG BUILD --yes, i am in sumo proportions compared to the rest of singapore

body weight: OBESE and in parentheses, FAT --just in case you didnt get it the first time.

fitness level: BELOW AVERAGE what the heck happened here? dont 12 oz curls count for anything?

so bottom line, the personal trainer is "concerned about me", as he put it mildly.

guess i will have to add exercises to my repertoire (like using chopsticks more frequently, eating rice, driving a rickshaw, cramming my feet into size 4 shoes, and wearing capris as bellbottoms). then maybe i'll meet the asian PFA requirements.

dont they know everything is bigger in the states?! we should at least have a handicap here...

some pics for you...

2006-07-13T09:16:00.000+08:00

ok, here are some pics. well, only a couple. but we will upload more soon.

this one is of us at the hong kong airport, after 14 hours of flying from san fransisco on a flight that left at 1am...not bad...not bad.

amber sipping fresh coconut milk at a thai festival. yum.

alright, that is to satisfy some of you photo beggers for a bit. we will post more soon!

goodbye to hydroxyapatite

2006-07-11T12:56:00.000+08:00

hydroxyapatite, my beloved and most analyzed material from my doctoral studies, is long gone! i have officially started my postdoctoral research with the singapore group and now i get to play with exciting and naughty things like heparan sulfate proteoglycans, dextran derivatives, polycaprolactone electrospun fibers, and much much more.

really, walking into this lab is a breath of fresh air and an exhale of pint up anxiety. for one, i have not worked (and i mean really worked)in about six months. and quite honestly, i was afraid i might have bumped off one too many brain cells during this little stint and been a bit worthless when it came down to doing research again. however, my vocab is quickly expanding and little things are coming back that i thought were long gone (like how to wear a lab coat and how to spell carboxymethylcellulose).

my lab is the definition of diverse. we have nine different countries represented within our group, a complete mix of introverts and extroverts, male and female, languages, looks, and personalities. the lab seems to enjoy happy hours together, diving excursions, and analyzing molecular structures of epitopes. just kidding. well, maybe not.

the building i work in is absolutely beautiful. it is called Proteos and the program is part of the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology. The entire building is part of a complex known as biopolis. we have security cards for every floor, the elevators, and the labs. everything is run on automatic sensors--the toilet seats, the sinks, the lab doors, the hand dryer, the alarms. it is a smart building. i have my own desk, a window seat, and my own computer. the budget for research here is in the billions so we can do all the creative science we want without worrying about funding. awesome. and i even get my own glue stick from the administration stationary hand out.

so far so good. im feeling ok about being in the lab again. today i took a bus during lunch to holland village and ate a typical chinese dish. it was pretty tasty. yesterday they had wine and beer in the conference room, which i of course helped myself to.

js is occupying himself with fishing holes and saltwater catfish. we recently bought a teak table from a second hand store, as well as an office desk and a sofa...so things are looking up. we are settling in and finding our way.

now i just have to get used to working again. i know, hard.

hot peppers and secret groceries

2006-07-07T19:26:00.000+08:00

this is a big city. there are shops and restaurants and bars everywhere, not to mention all the secret alcoves and underground retail. a few days ago, we found ourselves among huge auto dealers--subaru, honda, toyota, etc, and suddenly we were at the doorstep of a buddhist vegetarian cafe. awesome. we both ate delicious curry tofu and some gelatinous soupy dish. it was quite tasty except for the hidden bite of the absolute hottest pepper i have ever eaten in my life. within seconds, i broke into a full sweat, beads were dropping from my nose, i felt nauseous, and could barely put down the chopsticks before downing the gelatinous soupy goo from my cold soup bowl. im pretty sure everyone in the cafe was a spectator for this show. ahhh, we got a foreigner again!

yesterday we made a trip to little india. this amazing section of town is only 3 blocks from our apartment and i think js and i have found an area that we will visit frequently. incense, nose rings, endless vegetarian restaurants, ethnic prints, yoga, meditation, fresh veggies...sounds like a good match to me!

we went there this morning and a little man latched onto js and tried to tailor him some indian trousers. he told us if we buy from him, he will give us all the good luck we need in singapore. yes. ok, so js definitely needs some clean pants, but these were going to be 300 dollar trousers (plus endless good luck). we told the guy we would think about it.

we then noticed a woman carrying two plastic red bags full of green leafy veggies...and she came from underground....we followed her steps like good tourists and discovered this amazing wet market/grocery two levels below the ground! cold fresh fish everywhere, live crabs, rows and rows of fresh fruits, leafy greens, asian and indian spices, rice in bulk, cooking oils, nuts, eggs, etc...and super cheap! and cheap beer!! yay!!! yes we were the only whiteys in the place, but no one seemed to care as long as we had money. we bought loads and carried it all the way home. sweet.

so we are settling in and learning the ropes.
one week in and id say we have learned a few things:

how to ride metros and buses
how to swipe our card like a local
look right first when crossing the street
stand on the left of an escalator
dont go to western groceries named Cold Storage
talk the hawker centre down on the beer prices
shop two levels underground for real food
eat indian food with your fingers but dont ask for a napkin
everything has a fine
everything has a connection fee
american plugs blow up pretty easily in singapore sockets
queen foam mattresses can be stuffed into a maxi-cab
nothing is for free in singapore
type A personalities fare well here (efficiency efficiency efficiency)
ocd disorders involving cleanliness also fare well here
cutterfish is not catfish

id say we are doing pretty well.

so our home phones and internet service will be turned on july 20th. until then, we will keep you posted when we can through internet cafes.

i start work on monday and will give you a full report soon!

pics are on the way one of these days, we promise.

cheers,
a

thank you rubin studdard

2006-07-06T10:52:00.000+08:00

and all the other american idols...everyone here knows of alabama! as soon as we say we are from alabama, they immediately say something along the lines of, "oh, you know american idols. taylor hicks. bo bice. rubin studdard. very famous." way to go rubin, bo, and taylor (we learned their names from the asians. awesome.) so alabama is known world wide (and for something other than civil rights...american idol? hmmm...).

the past few days have been a whirl wind. we finally found a place to live and it is perfect! it is centrally located and near to just about everything. it will take me a good bit to get to work, but i guess pretty much anything would because the lab is located towards the west. we are close to the MRT station, little india, and the botanical gardens. as soon as we get the internet and power adaptors at home, we will post some pics.

we made our first trip to IKEA yesterday to look for some furniture. we learned several things from this adventure: 1) cars (in particular, jsj's truck) are extremely useful and practical; 2) IKEA is just a fancy word for walmart; 3)nothing is cheap in singapore and 5) Maxi-cabs (aka mini-van taxis) can hold a queen size foam mattress, much against the opinions of the locals.

today on the to-do list: purchase cell phones and internet, locate some second hand furniture, and enjoy the 6$ beers we found (yay! we found cheap beers. and they are 650ml too).

hopefully we will be online from home soon and can update the blog more often! write me an email and i will send you our address.

A

cutterfish is not catfish

2006-07-03T10:43:00.000+08:00

in fact, it is quite different. not even similar what so ever. imagine going for a spoonful of curry catfish and suprisingly slurping up a chewy octopus-like leg of something rubbery and squid-like. mmmmmm...

we had our first experience eating in a hawker centre the other day and it was awesome! we went with a couple who is helping us to find a place to live and they treated us to a delicious meal at this completely packed out asian food centre. we chowed down on curry cutterfish and shrimp, veggie spring rolls, and fried carrot cake (and the latter was a concoction of fried white carrots, eggs, and flour. it was tasty, too). to top it off, we drank freshly juiced raw sugar cane. yum yum.

so far we have found all the singaporians to be extremely generous, helpful, and friendly. they are definitely making our transition easier. yesterday we believe we found a place to live! the paperwork is going through now and we will know for sure by the end of today. hopefully it will work out and we will send you some pics and details soon. negotiations are a bit strange because the renter needs a realtor who will then negotiate with a middle-man that works for the landlord. everyone receives commissions and the paperwork involved is super lengthy.

today on the to-do list: find our missing freights (heard they are at the airport), locate a beer under 10$, go to a lab safety meeting (fun fun), withdraw more money AGAIN, eat something besides cutterfish, and try not to jaywalk or spit (accidentally did both yesterday).

Am

two different birthdays in one day

2006-07-01T12:13:00.000+08:00

happy birthday to butterbean (june 30th) and to molls (july 1st), all in one day! we've been celebrating for the last 48 hours as we have experienced each day ahead of those of you at home. we can confirm that tomorrow will arrive.

so we have made it to singapore! it was quite a long journey, however it was easy and uneventful. we only delayed the plane slightly when js broke the overhead cargo compartment of the airplane with my gargantuous carry on luggage. oops. the mechanic quickly made it on board and we were set to fly in no time. americans.

we slept like little babies, thanks to our new friend, Ambion, and soon found ourselves in hong kong. a lil' layover and we eventually made it to s'pore and easily slipped through immigration. yay! we pulled one over the s'porians! all our luggage arrived and we are still in search of the two crates we shipped a week ago. hhmmm.

everything we heard has been confirmed...this city is super clean and quite beautiful! there are orchids, palm trees and mango trees lining the roads, and incredible architecture. we are actively curbing our urges to spit and grafetti car bumpers. so far so good.

the first night we spent way too much money at the recommended western grocery down the road (grapes are 10 bucks, beer is 98 bucks per case, and cheese is 20 dollars...). who needs western food? show us the underground market. we'll find it.

we managed to land in the only french restaurant in china town during a state of absolute hunger and hypoglycemic shock. we are challenging the locals with our southern draw and quiet voices, and are in awe of actually being on the other side of the world from you.

yesterday we met my lab mates and toured my new building (awesome awesome awesome). more on this later. we also met with hazel, the housing agent, and viewed 5 different apartments. one was a possibility, but we are searching for more today.

went to the bars last night with the lab and had 10 dollar beers and got a feel for the new crew. this morning we successfully obtained our employment passes, learned to ride the MRT, and drank coconut milk and grazed on thai noodles at a thai festival down the road. mmmmm.

so all in all, we are doing great. we are happy, a bit disoriented but finding our way, and definitely feeling a warm spot for home. we love you! --A

wedded under the moon

2006-06-16T09:15:00.000+08:00

who would have guessed there was going to be a full moon the night we wed?! some were thinking we consulted the almanac, but in all honesty, the full beauty appeared without our knowing and it was magical.

thank you to everyone who celebrated our wedding with us. it was truly amazing and more than we could have hoped it to be. we were absolutely overwhelmed by all the love surrounding us. thank you for being a part of our union.

it's amazing how you plan and plan and anticipate...and then before you know it, the big day is long gone and you are facing new moments. today we are sorting through every nick and cranny and creating piles of material things we can live without...this is quite a process.

less than a week to go and we are on our way to singapore (with the stopover in cali for some reggae tunes of course). dont know when we can blog again, but we will be sure to do it as soon as we have access to the grid.

keep in touch and send us comments...emails...pictures...letters...phone calls...and come for a visit! you are always welcome with us. we will miss you so much. thank you for being such an important part of our lives.

so long birmingham. so long US. see you on the flipside.

love,
A & JS

it's an exodus

2006-05-24T06:31:00.000+08:00

this past weekend, john stewart had an art opening, Exodus, at sloss furnaces (his place of work and refuge for the last 5 years). the show was incredible and the wonderful turn out of friends and family means so much to us. what a great community of support. seeing all of his work in one place really put things into perspective--1) he has done A LOT of work in 5 years and 2) we are REALLY leaving. This is the end (at least for now) of his time at sloss and it is an exodus of our own from birmingham. needless to say, i felt a bit emotional walking around his beautiful cast iron sculptures and burrowing within my reflective thoughts. If you get a chance, drop by sloss to check out his work. it will definitely move you.

so 3 weeks to go until the wedding! we are happily and busily preparing for the big day. no huge catastrophes yet and all stress has been kept to a minimum with our daily beer vitamins. i am finally out of my pajamas and am trying to keep hypothetical worries at bay.

i have to say, we are READY to enjoy our remaining 4 weeks in birmingham!

--amber

Big changes are approaching...by A

2006-04-26T00:09:00.000+08:00

what is life without change? we are all familiar with it. we all know it. we all expect it. well it is coming, and coming fast for us. as most people are already aware, js and i will be marrying on june 10, 2006, and only 12 small days later, we will take a flight to singapore (with the brief stopover in sunny cali for a reggae festival of course).

so singapore, here we come. for 3 years. maybe more, maybe less. who knows?

this morning, i stayed in my pajamas for a good 3 extra hours, consistently asking google for advice. oh google, how you are all knowing! what should we take to singapore? can i use my blender? what about my laptop (oh please tell me i can use my laptop). what do apartments look like? will i find shoes my size? I hear bras only come in A-cups, is this true? will js find work as an artist? does singapore have chocolate? beer?

the magic 8 ball, said, "yes, certainly" to just about everything. although the truth will be known when we show up in less than 2 months. oy and vey.

knowing that we are about to completely uproot our lives has changed the way i view everything in our house--from our sweet kitties with whom we will soon part, to my favorite ayurvedic toothpaste and home comforts like thrift store furniture. im looking at our material possessions with a since of relief, in that we will soon simplify drastically, and with a sense of longing and sentimentality because i know we will no longer have these ten thousand things to surround us.

this move also brings about a certain nostalgia with all of our friends and family. how we have become so used to seeing them regularly! all the good times spent on our porch drinking beer and listening to reggae through the window. all the family meals and recent births of new babies. sloss. the garage. george ward. dominos and red stripes. yeilding lake. lucy's.

but...we will have each other, and a new marriage at that. and we will have the internet, which makes each of you only a Send message away.

we are so excited about all the events approaching. we want to keep in touch as well as we can and hopefully find the creativity and time to write a bit about our experiences.

more to come...