11:55pm
I just caught the last train to Changi Airport. Matt's plane arrived at 11:50pm and if I don't make it to the terminal before he gets out I'm going to be sick. I mean what if he came out of those glass doors looking for me and I wasn't there? What a terrible start to the vacation. Anyway, there is a guy sitting across from me on the MRT holding a bouquet of flowers and I'm pretty sure he's thinking the same thing. We give each other comforting glances. Our eyes tell each other that even if the plane has arrived, it will take them a long time to get off of it, go through customs, pick up their bags, and we will be there in less than five minutes.
Sunday, February 22nd
12:10am:
Okay for a moment I was panicking. I got to the arrival/waiting area and saw people picking up their bags. I surveyed the crowd looking for something recognizable. A boy with a hat? A boy in sweatpants? A boy looking towards the window for his girlfriend? Anything!? I see nothing. I stand there patiently eyes toward immigration. and then...
I SEE HIM. I SEE HIM!! HE'S HERE!!!!!! HE'S WAVING AT ME! HE'S JUMPING UP AND DOWN! HAPPINESS.
12:30 (or what feels like forever it could have been 12:15):
WHERE IS YOUR BAG? HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY BE THE LAST PERSON ON THIS AIRPLANE TO GET YOUR LUGGAGE?! It's amazing how much of a tease this is. He finally finds it and is heading towards the door when uh oh, the checkpoint lady tells him to go through one last screening. SURE, pick HIM out to get scanned. The wait continues...tick tock tick tock...
HE"S THROUGH! HE RACES THROUGH THE DOORS AND DROPS HIS BAG AND LIFTS ME IN THE AIR AND KISSES ME. "YOU'RE HERE! YOU'RE HERE! YOU'RE HERE!"
Monday February 23rd
10:00am
It is a beautiful morning. We decide to lay out at the pool for a little. The sun is burning into my skin but I do not care. When I look over at my right, he is there. ( :
feeling a little hungry...we decide it is time to have some lunch. we change and I give him a quick tour of the Novena area. "here is the stabucks I go to...here is the build-a-bear kiosk with the hello-kitty bear...this is united square which is solely designed for mothers shopping for their small children...etc" After visiting Velocity which is the "sports-themed mall," we head back for some brazilian meat. Tastee. :p
After lunch we went on a small shopping/tour of Orchard Road. We spent a lot of time on our feet and realized that we should rest because we were attending a dance hip hop class at night! I've been going to Studio Wu every Monday night for dance classes because it's just downstairs from school and it's so fun (http://www.studiowu.com). For the past 4 weeks, I've been learning a dance to Britney's "Circus" and it was really exciting to see Matt join in on the class. I finally didn't feel alone and awkward and we got quite a work out in. But even after the long day of walking on Orchard and dance, I thought it might be fun to explore the city at night. The streets were quiet as we took a little stroll to see the Merlion, Esplanade, and Marina. The night didn't seem like it should end, but we headed home to get some rest for the next day. Here are a few pictures from our night walk:
Tuesday, February 24th
The weather was a little muggy but we went to Sentosa anyway. We caught about twelve minutes of sun before the raindrops starting hitting us. Lightly at first, but then the clouds opened up. Luckily, Cafe Del Mar was open and we managed to snag one of the beach beds and watch the rain fall. I didn't take many pictures, but here's a picture (from someone else's blog that pretty much shows what the bed looked like. do note the similarity of the asian girlfriend and white boyfriend. haha. not intended purposely. I just typed in "cafe del mar" into google images and got this one.)
Wednesday, February 25th: Matt and Jes go to the Zoo!
2:00pm
I love that when you enter the zoo they make you take photos at the entrance way to buy later. If you agree to let them snapshot you, they take three pictures and make you pose different for each one. 1) "This one is normal--be happy tourists" 2) "Give us a thumbs up for the Singapore Zoo!" 3) "Hug each other like you are happy" My statement about me loving this experience is not sarcastic at all. It was just the beginning of the most amazing day at the zoo EVER. :p
The Singapore Zoo is maybe one of the best Zoo's in the entire world. Each habitat is done as if you are actually visiting the animals "in the wild." Plus, there is just SO much to see you can literally spend an entire day there (and night). Being touristy and prepared, the night before we discovered that the kangaroo feeding time was at 4:30. This left us two hours to see the Treetops Trail (which included the Siamong--a sloth monkey bear looking type of creature--and the false gavial), Sea Otters, Tapir, Babirusa, Flamingos, Gibbon, White Tiger, Pygmy Hippo, Warthog, Hamadryas Baboons, Primate kingdom, Elephants of Asia, Penguin, Manatee, and Orangutans (which they pronounce Orang-U-taan and spell Orang Utan on the signs). We saw much more but those are just the major animals listed on the map. :p And that wasn't even half of the stuff we saw! The highlight of the morning was definitely the White Tigers. They are just gorgeous creatures and we were lucky to see them during feeding time. I tried to catch some action shots but my camera was too slow.Here's the best I could do:
Anyway, it started to drizzle right after we saw the kangaroos. But rain couldn't stop us! We did what any sensible couple would do. We bought Ponchos! :p They say Orang Utan on the back. Here are some more pics from the rest of our Zoo trip. (Oh yes, we did the fish spa).
Thursday, February 26th
10am
We were determined to get some sun and headed back to Sentosa for round two at the beach. Venturing away from Siloso Point, we settled down at Palawan Beach. This beach was much more secluded and private than Siloso and is also where you can reach the southern most point of continential asia. COOL!!! It was cloudy for a little bit and then it started to rain but the sky looked promising so we took our chances and stayed. Best idea ever! The sun came out in full blast and Matt got a nice little burn on his back.
8pm
One of the more fascinating parts about the Singapore Zoo is that they have a Night Safari as well! We decided to skip out on it on Wednesday night because it was raining and wanted to catch the "Creatures of the Night" show. So we headed back on Thursday night and saw animals animals animals.
Highlight of the night: Visiting the Giant Flying Squirrel and actually seeing it fly!! SO AMAZING. 1) it is indeed a GIANT squirrel. it has the cutest face and the longest bushiest tale but it is GIANT and quite scary. 2) when it flies it glides so gracefully and its wingspan is like over a foot.
Terrifying moment of the night: nearly being attacked by a bat in the bat/flying fox cage. Matt discovered I was not so brave when it comes to winged animals.
The last few days with Matt were spent shopping, relaxing, and just spending time together since he was leaving so soon :( The week went by so quickly yet we were in the moment at every moment. Saying goodbye at the airport was devastating but I look forward to my last few months here in Singapore. I know this was a quick wrap up...but this post is quite long as it is already and well, I still may be a little sad from his departure and find it a little difficult to post about the days that have just passed.
But I cannot dwell for too long. I have mid-terms and projects and papers and schoolwork?!?! I guess my extended vacation is finally turning into a real exchange program. :p
Goodbye for now! Miss everyone and can't wait to hear from you!
<3 Hootie.
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