Today marks two weeks in Singapore. It feels as though I have been here much longer - life has been a series of professional development at work, meeting new people and learning to navigate the city. Throw in a 46th birthday party for the city, organising bank account / phone / gym membership / green card, trying the national dish: chilli crab and a whole week with my man, and it is no wonder I feel like I have been here a month!
There are 10 new staff at my new school, and I feel very lucky to have had my accommodation organised prior to landing in Singapore. My new flatmate was sweet enough to come and meet me at the airport and allow me to move straight into her gorgeous apartment. Everyone else has been living out of suitcases, madly rushing to and from appointments for share houses and meeting with agents at different condos in an effort to find a place to call home.
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| am in love with the pool...... |
My apartment is a 10 minute walk to the 'beach' located east of the city. It's proximity to the water sometimes brings breezes to flow down the streets which are always welcomed. To get to work I take one bus for 30 - 40 minutes depending on traffic, then have a short 5 minute walk along a river to the school campus. There is also an excellent hawkers market (local eatery) about a 20 minute walk from the apartment or another with a smaller range of food 10 minutes away. From the city home in a cab costs between $15 - $20 SGD.
Navigating the public transport is quite an adventure. Every time I want to go somewhere new, it takes about an hour on the internet looking at maps and timetables to work out which bus stop / whether to take bus or MRT / names of streets and stations at either end of my trip and which connections I need to take. Once I have all this sorted, heading out and about is a breeze - the transport system here really is fantastic.
All this said, it was really surprising how taxing I have found all of this as on the first Tuesday night, Tom took me to see Harry Potter - he had worked out where we needed to go, knew what time the movie was and the location of the cinema (seriously, the shopping malls are something else entirely over here!). It was so lovely to just go along for the ride with him.
My work environment is not at all what I expected, facilities are not anywhere near what I am used to back home and my classroom was filled with loads of leftover used schoolbooks and classroom materials from the previous teacher who has now left Singapore. So the past two weeks has also been getting my classroom up to scratch ready for the students who start back this Monday the 15th. On the flipside to the shock of lack of facilities, the staff have gone above and beyond my expectations of making us feel welcomed and a part of the school community from the start. This extended to a martini bar expedition on Friday night where we went to possibly the only place in Singapore where littering is allowed (peanut shells are dropped onto the floor) and 2-4-1 martinis. Alcohol is expensive in Singapore, a glass of house wine will set you back $10 as will a beer most of the time. So 2-4-1 martinis at $16 a pop was welcomed as you can see......
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| littering peanut shells |
My first week in Singapore was induction for the new staff. Basically, every morning we would have meetings regarding protocol and the afternoons were free for us to set up our classrooms, continue to get settled with time to organise accommodation / bank accounts / etc. This worked in perfectly as I was able to leave for home early to spend time with my man.
The second week, all staff returned for staff meetings and professional development activities.
On Friday morning the school had an open house for new families. I only have one new student whose parents are both from Britain, the family have been living in Japan since before he was born. As a result, he is fluent in Japanese and English. And this is my first student that I met.....
That evening a 'sundowner' event was held where all families are invited to meet their children's new teacher. There was an open bar and canapés and I couldn't help but think if we did this at my previous school, no-one would be interested in coming..... except for the open bar!
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I was quite apprehensive of this event, as we had been told that some parents can be quite demanding and invasive of your privacy. I was pleased to have the privilege of meeting some wonderful families who were not this way at all. Very much looking forward to Monday and getting some students in the school now....
Hope all in your world is fabulous!
xxx
