Pictures!

The best part of the Botanic Gardens is the "cool room." It showcases gorgeous orchids that grow in the canopy of mountainous cloud forests, where the air is cold and wet. But I mostly liked it for the fans and air conditioning after walking around the gardens for a few hours. 

Chili crab is a popular food

One of the tallest buildings

The translation must have been messed up somehow because these signs are EVERYWHERE!

The infinity pool on campus is one of my favorite places to hang out. Especially because the nearby gym is the only air-conditioned one at NUS!

My building. All hallways are curved - pretty strange but I like it.

There is definitely a lot of English influence still in Singapore, including very British breakfasts served on China plates and out-of-date signage.

My favorite breakfast spot

The aquarium

Browsing one of the many hawkers centers around downtown

A popular dessert. Mango and sticky rice (dyed green) covered with coconut glaze. I didn't realize it was a dessert and ordered it for dinner. Oh well.

Marina Bay Sands is one of the most famous sights in Singapore. The three towers are hotels, and the boat at the top houses a bar, a casino, and an outdoor pool overlooking the city. Singapore residents are charged $100 just to enter the casino (to discourage gambling among locals), but visitors don't have to pay the fee (they want our money!).

Masjid Sultan (Malay for Sultan Mosque) in Kampong Glam, a historically Malay and Muslim neighborhood in Singapore. The area was given to the the island's chief and Sultan Hussain Shah after Singapore fell to the British. 

Raffles Hotel, named after Sir Stamford Raffles, the English statesman who secured British power in Singapore. 

Well this post was basically a bunch of photos! But I think it gives a pretty good summary of the past week: lots of delicious food and traveling Singapore. The work week itself was short because Thursday was an NRF tour of Singapore and Friday was spent at the ICA handing in a bunch of paperwork and picking up our Student Visas. Plans for the coming week include lots of time in the lab, taking advantage of the great gym and pool, finding some pickup soccer games, and planning next weekend's trip to Thailand!

Lab, Campus, and Beyond

In the Lab...

Tuesday through Friday were my first days in the new lab. Its... interesting. There are definitely too many people in a small space. Which wouldn't be a problem, except there is also SO much stuff!! I am spoiled because my boss is a new professor and we just moved to a new facility, so everything is clean and organized. But I sometimes feel overwhelmed and flustered by the pure volume of junk covering every surface in the lab (reagent bottles, Falcon tubes, pipet boxes etc.). It's almost impossible to find space in the fridge and freezer and to find empty bottles to use.
I also have been frustrated by the transition in general because everything moves very slowly. I wanted to get a couple plasmids transformed right away, but I had to make the necessary materials first, which involved a lot of help finding all the supplies, waiting for the autoclave, learning how to use the crazy ancient autoclave, waiting for the biohood (which is shared among five labs!), and being harassed by a very bossy French Post-Doc who insisted on autoclaving even the 1.5mL centrifuge tubes! Ah! And apparently after using the autoclave, you are supposed to put everything in a dryer overnight. Sigh. Not to mention, not having card access to the rooms complicates things. I'm sure I will get in the rhythm, but so far it's taken me at least twice as long to do simple tasks. I wonder what the Post-Doc would say if he saw me doing my transformations on the bench instead of in the hood. Eeek.
I'm actually writing from the lab right now (at 6pm on a Friday - this is very uncharacteristic!). Here we have to prepare our own sequencing PCR and PCR cleanup, which I am not used to. So I'm trying to get this finished so I can perform sequencing on Monday morning!

Sneaky pic of the crazy workbench I'm borrowing.

Around campus...

Despite my strange days in lab, I am loving Singapore in general. I have had a few chances to wander campus beyond just my lab and my apartment complex. I've hit up a couple "canteens" for lunch with my lab mates, gotten horribly lost while trying to pick up and cash my first check, and decided to walk to and from work instead of taking the bus. Sarah and I walked to work on Wednesday morning. It took about 15 minutes, but we were sweating so much by the end we swore we were taking the bus from then on. I walk home every day because it's a bit cooler in the evenings and I can definitely use the chill-out time after the pandemonium of the lab.

I realized the other day that campus reminds me of Jumanji - when Robin Williams comes out of the game after 26 years and he's all hairy and wild and wearing big leaves, and the jungle takes over the house with vines wrapping the staircase and tree roots busting through the tiling. Compared to the sparse and controlled landscape around Fort Collins, campus and the Singaporean flora seem to be in battle for authority. 

Campus is also a bit like a maze. Most buildings are connected to others by covered walkways, courtyards, and staircases. Kent Ridge Road runs along the top of a high ridge (from which you can see the ocean), and campus slopes steeply down both sides. The buildings are terraced upon one another so that as you walk among the interconnected buildings you may move unexpectedly from the fourth floor to the first floor. The rooms are also 'motel-style;' each lab opens directly to an outside hallway.

Interesting yet unnecessary architecture 

SCIENCE

Along the walk

Daily stair master

Rooftop mangoes

And beyond...

I have mastered the MRT! The subway system in Singapore is amazing. It's clean, fast, cheap, and even smells good. If you've ever been on the T then you know that's important. Jeff, Dan, and I hit up the Clementi mall on Monday afternoon. It was incredibly fancy, enormous, and busy. And of course I forgot to take any pictures - sorry. We failed to acquire SIM cards and cell phones, but got a bunch of random items for our rooms. 

We all headed downtown on Wednesday night for ladies night at Clarke Quay (pronounced Key). So much fun. I have a feeling this will become a weekly tradition. We started the night in Chinatown, which is amazing. You step up out of the MRT and are immediately in a different world. The stalls are bustling and everyone is milling about playing Go or drinking Tiger beer (or napping... I saw a lot of people napping). Of course we headed right for the food. After dinner and beers, we walked to the river. Clarke Quay is a strip of bars, restaurants, and clubs along what used to be an important port river that helped turn Singapore into a prosperous economy. Now only touristy sightseeing boats use the water. Generally Clarke is very expensive, but ladies night means no covers and free drinks. We ended up just wandering the streets and sitting at outdoor bars; the people watching is top of the line. I'm already looking forward to another Wednesday night!

A photo that doesn't do justice to Chinatown

My obsession with food (and Tiger beer) continues

Octopus legs in your miso soup?!

Skyscrapers as a backdrop for Chinese architecture

The infamous Clarke Quay

The trip has been a whirlwind thus far. Thanks for checking out the post :) I have a couple adventures planned for this weekend, so I'll try to add some more pictures by Monday! LOVE  - Ann

Day One

Mt. Rainier from the airplane in Seattle.

I arrived in Singapore early this morning local time. Of course, I completely forgot about the law and was chewing gum as I got off the plane. The first thing I saw was two military security personnel in full fatigues carrying massive machine guns. Yikes! I swallowed my gum. (Because I'm sure their main priority is offenses such as gum chewing.) 

After that close encounter with law enforcement, I made it through customs quickly, changed over some money, and got a taxi to NUS. My taxi driver gave me two bananas for breakfast. A campus security officer was there to greet me at the entrance to Prince George Park Residences. He carried my suitcase to my room (poor guy - it weighed 49.8 lbs). 

The first thing I did in my new room was take a shower. Even at 2:30am, it's incredibly humid. I also Skyped with Mom, Dad, and Leigh, who were out apartment hunting for Leigh in Boston. I unpacked and sent some emails and read my book and ended up staying awake until around 6am... oops. I finally fell asleep and slept until almost 5pm... oops again.

My room! Yes I stole two blankets from the airplane.

This evening, I ventured around campus and found a cafeteria for dinner. I ran into two of the guys from my group who I met in D.C., and we all ate together. The food was really good and cheap - plus the portions are huge, so I have leftovers for at least two more meals. I also went shopping at the market on campus for breakfast food and a notebook for lab. 

Tomorrow I have orientation from 8:30am-12pm. After that, I'm going to buy a phone and a Metro card, and hopefully go see my lab! Currently my DNA samples are in the shared fridge on my hall, so I should probably move those soon. 

A strange bug bit my thigh, so now I have a gross bug bite in addition to the massive bruise from skiing. Also I just saw a spider in my bathroom - ahhhhh! This is going to take some getting used to.

OK, I should probably sleep so I can get over my jet lag. Look for a post later this week :). Miss you all!!!! -Ann