More details on my trip to Singapore.

So I just spent the weekend in Singapore. Wow, what a neat country. I enjoyed it a lot. After a month in Indonesia, it was so refreshing to be in a first world country for a few days. I loved that I could drink the water anywhere I went; my sinus' did so much better in the polluntion-free air; I could communicate to others and ask simple questions; no taxi driver drove me around in circles; there were other blonde haired and light-eyed people therefore I didn't get started at like I was a lunatic; I ate some Ialian, and American food; and how could I forget that they spray for mosquitos twice a week, so I didn't have to worry about Dungay Fever or itching. Anyhow, I enjoyed myself a lot.

I stayed with an American woman and her Austrailian husband that are in the church in Singapore. They were so hospitable and took me everywhere. I even got to enjoy the Night Safari at the zoo. It was so neat to see Asian, African, South American animals in the nighttime. Since it is so hot in the day time, most animals are lazy and sleep or hide. In the night they come out to do their feeding and play. So I got to see some Rhinos playing in the mud, a tiger eating its dinner, all sorts of exotic birds and other animals. It was quite entertaining.

I had to shop on Orchard street in the down town area. Singapore is known for their shopping. And now I know why, they had everything. They had maybe ten or 15 shopping malls just on Orchard Street. On the street level of Orchard is very expesive shops. The malls are made for extremely wealthy people with stores such as... Coach, Dior, Prada, Luis Vultton ect... it made me sad, that never will I be able to shop like the people I saw there. :) But further a long there is the Lucky Plaza which is more for the local people (and less fortunate people like myself). This is more like Indonesia, with shops crammed together and less quality of things, its full of souviner shops. I bought a shirt with all the funny rules of the coutry (example, NO CHEWING GUM, NO SPITTING, NO FLUSHING THINGS DOWN THE TOILET)... I'll have to look at my shirt for more.

My favorite place, though in Singapore was the electronics mall. It was so huge and had everything you could ever need. (Dad, you'd love it.) It was 7 stories high with only electronics. This is the best place (with good quality of things, plus the cheapes) to buy computers. So I spent a lot of time in this place. A girl from the Singapore church went with me to find the perfect computer. She knew a lot about computers and is also from Indonesia so she knows how to bargain. I ended up leaving with a brand new MAC ibook. The store I bought it from wanted my buisness so bad he threw in a case, scratch protector, key protector, mouse, and speakers. And because I bought it in Singapore I got a tax refund from the airport. I think I did pretty well. Now all I need is the internet. :)

I spent almost all of my time with the people from the church. They have been so good to me. My friend from church (Kelly) that works with me in Jakarta set me up with all the people in Singapore. So I wasn't a lone a lot of the time. And people showed me everything. I got to go to a single woman's devo on Saturday and then out to dinner with the speaker. The speaker is from the states but has lived in Africa, Iraq (during the war), Suadi Arabia, and is now in Kruate. (Sorry my country spelling is terrible, but you get my jist). She was absolutely amazing. Sunday I got to go to church in English and sing in English and it was fabulous! They have about 800 people and they just built a new church building (Daren and Karla, I took notes and have so many ideas for ours). They had a book store in the church and I purchased a New Testament(12 cd's) and Old Testament (12 cds) series with a book for each along with cds of lessons, written by Douglas Jacoby. I'm so excited to start my new Bible Studies. Sometimes I just need to hear a lesson in English for myself (instead of translation).

Then I went to lunch with the singles and they are having a huge campaign this month so I helped them invite people to it. Then Monday morning they had a prayer and song devotional. So I had a full weekend. Of corse all of this along with my sightseeing. I was exhausted by the time it was time to go. I was pretty ready to leave and find my bed at home. But then when I got off the plane in Jakarta it was a quick realization that I am no longer in a 1st world country any more. :) It is good to be back in Jakarta, despite being started at and the communication barrier. I am beginning to make friends here and realized that as I was away. So it was good to come back to people who missed me, even if I've only been here a month.

Oh, some excited news I forgot to tell you. Now for some of you this may come as a shock so be prepared. I'm a TRACK COACH for the lower school here at NJIS! Isn't that funny. I'm sort of excited for it. We had ome practice already and the kids had fun. Don't worry, I'm not the only coach, I'm just an assisstant, which in reality means I'm just there as another adult. Ha! But I'm coming home with a COACH t-shirt!