Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Day 1: Singapore

Alright, well, my Bible class is writing scripts for the Easter skits that they have to perform tomorrow, so I'm going to take advantage of the few minutes of focused work to get started on the story (because I've managed to get caught up on grading!)...

On Friday, I taught 5 of my 6 classes, then in the middle of 7th period, our team congregated in the lobby and started the parade to the subway station carrying our bags behind us. The trip to the airport via subway is almost 2 hours long, so most of the girls took a nap. A well-timed nap for them since we were up for almost 24 hours that day.


We finally boarded our flight about 7 pm after a quick dinner at the airport. We only had one issue with too many liquids in a checked bag and a bottle of bug spray being thrown away. I felt like that was pretty good!


Our flight was about 6 hours and thankfully the airport was pretty empty by the time we landed at Changi in Singapore, so we were able to get through immigration, customs, and baggage claim pretty quickly even with all 40 of us. We got our money changed (the longest process!) and were on the road to Praisehaven Retreat Center by about 3:30 am. We finally climbed in bed at about 4:30 am and we were up again around 10 am.


We spent our whole first day just sightseeing in Singapore. We went to Orchard Road in the morning for a late breakfast/early lunch at Pizza Hut which had the best pizza I've had in the last 9 months!


Then we let the girls shop for an hour or so in a mall where they were able to take advantage of all of the 3 for $10 deals on sunglasses and jewelry!


When we (as teachers) decided they were done shopping, we began our venture to the Singapore Zoo. We managed to get on the subway and get to one of the nearby bus terminals to board a bus to the zoo (all without losing a single child--or our minds!)


Unfortunately, by the time we actually reached the zoo (we needed to change all of our cash for smaller bills for eating and bus fares and it took forever!), we only had about an hour and half to check it out.


Most of us opted to hop on the tram that goes around the zoo so that we could see more in less time, but it did leave me feeling like I missed out on a lot!


Being from the Pacific Northwest, I've never been to a natural habitat zoo and it was incredible! All of the animals were so close, it felt like you could reach and touch them (if you wanted to!). I can't wait to go back with the kids!


I just have to mention that I know that everyone jokes about how clean Singapore is, but it really is impressive! There were some of the most amazing public bathrooms I've ever seen in Singapore. It was even more exciting when we returned from Indonesia, but the bathroom at the zoo was also what you might call "natural habitat". It was open air and had the most beautiful sinks. I wish I'd gotten a picture, but I guess I'd felt I'd taken enough pictures of bathrooms for one day when I got the shots of the signs.


By the time we were ready to leave the zoo, the clouds had rolled and thunderstorms followed shortly. Our bus ride back into the city was crowded, humid, and thunderous! We had dinner at the bus terminal  that was about halfway back to Praisehaven (and was equally crowded!). We finally made it back at about 10:30 pm. Needless to say, we were exhausted!


1 comment:

  1. What an amazing adventure! I had a friend in school that lived in Singapore for a long while. I was always so intrigued by the amazing things to see there.

    ReplyDelete

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