After much ado getting to my apartment, my friend Shannon has arrived in Singapore to continue my travels with me! I told her beforehand that she'd have trouble with the cab driver finding my apartment; cab drivers don't know where anything is in Singapore, and on top of it they can't understand my street name. I get in the cab. "13 Suffolk road please." "Huh?" "Suffolk Road please. Between KK Hospital and United Square off Thompson Road." "Fussolk?" I try phonetically speaking. "Suf-folk, not suf-fuk." Blank stare. "S-U-F-F-O-L-K. Just start driving and I'll tell you." 20 minutes later. "There! There! Turn there!" "Oooooh, Suffolk" Right.
Anywho, she arrived and slept a good 9 hours and we were off. She ate at one of the food courts for 5 bucks and tried her first Cendol. She was not a fan. I finished the rest of hers (sidenote, I'm writing from an internet cafe in Thailand and literately salivating at the thought of Cendol) and felt disgustingly but happily full the rest of the day. I took her on a Singapore duck tour. Cheesy? Yes. However, it's a quick view of the city and she had only a few days. It was ridiculously hot and the tour goes in the water and gets a pathetic attempt at a breeze, so it was worth it. We learned not much new about Singapore but got to see some sights. We then went to Chinatown. She bought a few things and we had sushi for dinner. I dragged her out to Raffles for a Singapore Sling after that and she was about falling asleep in her drink. Her jet lag brought us home (no need to be ashamed, Shannon. I was lagged for about a week!).
The next day we had an all-you-can-eat sushi buffet. Good idea beforehand, horrible stomach pains after. There was an interesting twist to this buffet. If you took the sushi off the conveyor belt and did not eat every dang crumb, they charged you for it. Needless to say, at the end, Shan and I ended up almost vomiting when we had to stick one last sushi roll in our mouths when we could no longer take any more. Kind of ruins the experience a tad when they're watching you like a hawk to see that you don't leave a speck of ginger on your plate.
We ventured to Arab street to wander around like fatties full of sushi until the time ticked 4pm and we had to hurry off to my final presentation at the hospital. We gave a presentation on depression and oncology. It's a topic that I am passionate about; clinicians continue to treat the body and not the head attached to the body. I did a lot of research and believe we gave a thoroughly convincing presentation on why it is so important to assess for, diagnose and treat depression in oncology patients. You can imagine how difficult it can be in this particular patient population because some of the somatic symptoms of cancer actually mimick depression. Nonetheless, it is so important to continue to work towards better ways to attack this issue.
After the presentation we geared up for dinner at Clarke Quay. Had some tapas to the tunes of some Singaporean men singing Spanish tunes. We walked around the Quay and found a bar called Forbidden (alluring, no?) and went in to find they had an ice bar inside. We squealed like little schoolgirls on Christmas and ran to put the coats the provide on and run in to do a shot of vodka on ice. It tasted gross but was one of the funniest few minutes watching us all slide around in our heels on the ice floor.
Wednesday (the long awaited ladies night) we had some spicy Indian food for breakfast (Shannon was not used to this to say the least) and went on the Singapore Flyer. Singapore likes to boast about a lot of things that are the biggest, first, tallest or fastest. The Flyer is the largest observation wheel in the world. It goes around for 37 minutes and you get to see an amazing view of Singapore. You can even see the Malaysian mountains to the north and Indonesian islands to the south. Call me a blubbering fool but I got a lil emotional on the wheel. I didn't shed a tear, because I'm no sissy, but I did get a chance to look at the country that I've so enjoyed the past seven weeks. I came down and in the spirit of lovin' on Singapore, we went to the Singapore National Museum. Now I love museums. What I love more are museums that give you those headphones that talk to you about the exhibits while you walk around. Lookin like a huge dork, we trodded around the museum for about 2.5 hours listening to a man with a cold (why didn't he postpone the taping a few days so that he was actually able to say "amazing" instead of "abazing?") talk about the history, food, fashion, film and photography of good ol' Singapore.
We went to Chijmes for dinner at a mediteranean restaurant before beginning ladies night one last time. It was outrageously crowded but luckily (embarassingly?) the guy at the door recognized me and pulled us in quickly. Shannon got to experience the bad 90s music, the Village People, 20 Sing free-flow drinks and the crowded bar filled with men looking for the women at the ladies night and the ladies avoiding the men looking for the women at ladies night. It was good.
Thursday was the dreaded 16th of July - the day I leave Singapore! I went to an interview at the hospital. Oh, I should explain - I decided not to take a job right now. Too many things going on at home and I will get a better springboard jump into nursing at Hopkins in Baltimore. I told them that I'd like to be officially interviewed so it's on record and I can apply in the future. I am happy with my decision and the contacts that I've made are happy that I'm looking to possibly come back in the future. I have my MSN/MPH to attain and when I'm done I'll probably be better suited to come back and work then anyway. So, I had my interview (which was filled with 20 minutes of side-bar conversations about rowdy patients from two of the interviewers. Guess they interview the way Americans grill - I mean interview new grads) and said my goodbyes one last time.
We made it to the plane in time this round and lifted out of Singapore. I cannot express in words how much this experience has give me. I have learned about myself and my goals in life, met amazingly interesting people, tasted rich foods, watched a sunrise in Bali, made connections with extremely ill patients, found a place I love and had a fantastic time.
Next stop: Thailand.
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