I haven’t posted in a couple days mostly due to sending off the person I replaced here in Singapore,
checking out of the hotel, and getting moved into the condo I’ll be living in while in I'm here. So here are two short stories from the last couple days that I’d like to share with you.
Just like Popa Lake
One thing I love about traveling is finding little things that connect me to home even though I’m 10,000
miles away. At work I have been eating lunch at the canteen (cafeteria) with everyone in my group.
Lunch includes rice (big surprise there), a random green veggie (and yes, I literally have no clue what
kind of plant I’m eating), and some type of meat/protein. Now this meal doesn’t bring any reminders
of home or my mom’s cooking by a long shot. The part of the meal that puts a smile on my face is
the utensils. A fork and a spoon, no knives (well technically you can ask for one but I haven’t got the
slightest clue who/where to ask). And who does a fork and spoon remind me of? None other than Popa
Lake himself!
Popa Lake is my mom’s dad and someone who did things his own way most of the time including eating
meals with a fork and a spoon. To my knowledge my popa never traveled to Asia and I have no clue
where he picked up this Asian style of eating but low and behold that Vermont-born farmer boy knew
what he was doing! It’s taken only a few meals for me to realize how much easier it is to use your fork
like a rake to put food on your spoon and then the spoon is an excellent vessel to transport to your
mouth so you don’t lose everything through the cracks of the fork! It’s especially excellent when eating
rice. I mean come on, tell me you haven’t ever been frustrated trying to get those last few grains of rice
on a fork but surprise surprise they fall through the cracks!
As silly as it may sound, it’s a little connection to home and makes me wish I could tell my Popa Lake how he would fit right in with the locals of Singapore.
Cara Okay
To get home from work each day I will take one of the free buses work provides to a MRT stop and then
hop on the MRT for 1 stop and walk to my condo. It’s an easy way to get home after work and I have to
say its much more enjoyable than my previous traffic-filled commutes. Wednesday this week a woman
that works in another finance group here offered the empty seat next to her. As most people here do,
she asked about if I had been to Singapore, if I had siblings, if I was married (am I in Utah again??), how
old I was, and if I had any hobbies.
So in the mix of our conversation music was brought up and I asked if she enjoyed live music. She
replied that she liked to sing what they call here in Singapore “Cara Okay”. I had no clue what she was
talking about and figured it must be some local activity or maybe it was Choral Okay? So I admit I’ve
never heard of it and she goes on to tell me how she and her husband will go to Cara Okay and they play
music on a CD and sing-along. She then spelled out what it was because she was shocked I had never
heard of it. K-A-R-A-O-K-E.
Everyone here does speak English but with accents that have taken me a while to get used to. And not
to mention I’ve noticed Singaporeans will pronounce things differently than we do in the states. So I
explained that we pronounce it as Kerry-Okee (I’m not good with the whole phonetic spelling of things
so that’s as good as I got for this one).
Well those are my short stories for you all today. Tonight I plan to finally unpack my bags and get
settled into this new routine of mine. Pictures and recap of the condo to come once the hurricane of
unpacking has settled!
checking out of the hotel, and getting moved into the condo I’ll be living in while in I'm here. So here are two short stories from the last couple days that I’d like to share with you.
Just like Popa Lake
One thing I love about traveling is finding little things that connect me to home even though I’m 10,000
miles away. At work I have been eating lunch at the canteen (cafeteria) with everyone in my group.
Lunch includes rice (big surprise there), a random green veggie (and yes, I literally have no clue what
kind of plant I’m eating), and some type of meat/protein. Now this meal doesn’t bring any reminders
of home or my mom’s cooking by a long shot. The part of the meal that puts a smile on my face is
the utensils. A fork and a spoon, no knives (well technically you can ask for one but I haven’t got the
slightest clue who/where to ask). And who does a fork and spoon remind me of? None other than Popa
Lake himself!
Popa Lake is my mom’s dad and someone who did things his own way most of the time including eating
meals with a fork and a spoon. To my knowledge my popa never traveled to Asia and I have no clue
where he picked up this Asian style of eating but low and behold that Vermont-born farmer boy knew
what he was doing! It’s taken only a few meals for me to realize how much easier it is to use your fork
like a rake to put food on your spoon and then the spoon is an excellent vessel to transport to your
mouth so you don’t lose everything through the cracks of the fork! It’s especially excellent when eating
rice. I mean come on, tell me you haven’t ever been frustrated trying to get those last few grains of rice
on a fork but surprise surprise they fall through the cracks!
As silly as it may sound, it’s a little connection to home and makes me wish I could tell my Popa Lake how he would fit right in with the locals of Singapore.
Cara Okay
To get home from work each day I will take one of the free buses work provides to a MRT stop and then
hop on the MRT for 1 stop and walk to my condo. It’s an easy way to get home after work and I have to
say its much more enjoyable than my previous traffic-filled commutes. Wednesday this week a woman
that works in another finance group here offered the empty seat next to her. As most people here do,
she asked about if I had been to Singapore, if I had siblings, if I was married (am I in Utah again??), how
old I was, and if I had any hobbies.
So in the mix of our conversation music was brought up and I asked if she enjoyed live music. She
replied that she liked to sing what they call here in Singapore “Cara Okay”. I had no clue what she was
talking about and figured it must be some local activity or maybe it was Choral Okay? So I admit I’ve
never heard of it and she goes on to tell me how she and her husband will go to Cara Okay and they play
music on a CD and sing-along. She then spelled out what it was because she was shocked I had never
heard of it. K-A-R-A-O-K-E.
Everyone here does speak English but with accents that have taken me a while to get used to. And not
to mention I’ve noticed Singaporeans will pronounce things differently than we do in the states. So I
explained that we pronounce it as Kerry-Okee (I’m not good with the whole phonetic spelling of things
so that’s as good as I got for this one).
Well those are my short stories for you all today. Tonight I plan to finally unpack my bags and get
settled into this new routine of mine. Pictures and recap of the condo to come once the hurricane of
unpacking has settled!
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