A Weekend in The Windy City

For those of you who checked in on Friday you’ll remember one of my “Get Outa Town” travel tips was to scope out cheap airline tickets to cities close by.  You’d be surprised how easy it is to find cheap (like less than $200) tickets for cities that are 3 hours or less by plane. 

A few weeks ago my friend, Emily, had found $150 roundtrip flights to Chicago from Boston.  Besides the great deal, the best part was that we would be able to stay and visit with our college friend, Lindsay for the whole weekend!  Based on that, I knew that the half day of vacation I would need to use would be well spent, so off we went!

Last weekend in Singapore (for now)

The final weekend in Singapore has come and gone.  My emotions are a mixed bucket.  One second I’m feeling like the end of this trip is SO close and I start feeling all sentimental.  And then the next second it feels like I’ll just keep going on with life here in Singapore.  But this isn’t my final Singapore post so I’ll keep the sappy I’m leaving Asia and am so happy for the adventure and am ready to plan my next trip back but am also so excited to be reunited with my boyfriend, family, and friends post for tomorrow.

Let’s recap the weekend to take our minds off of the fact that its Monday and there’s over 3 feet (3 meters for you metric folk) of snow outside your windows!

Australia Part 1 - A Christmas Story Down Under

Another country in the books and more fun adventures to share with you!  In case you didn't catch on, I headed down to Australia for a nice Christmas break.  Usually in the US my company gives us from Christmas day through New Year’s day off but I have to follow Singapore’s holiday schedule which only allows Christmas Day off.  Luckily I saved up a couple vacation days to make for a nice 6 day trip. 

Weekend Recap - Chili and Black Pepper Crab and Cuba Libre

As you probably have noticed if you've followed along, Ethan and I have had quite a number of visitors joining us in Singapore!  Most of them were last minute trips and so it’s been good excitement being able to try new things with our guests as well as show them what we have come to enjoy here.

Last week Sucheta, a fellow co-worker from the US and alumni to our rotational program, came for work related reasons.  But lucky for us (and her of course) she was able to extend her time here to get a couple extra days to explore.  Later in the week, Ethan’s close friend and one of my former roommates Tracey came!  She was able to get a full week off to come and explore!

Food Friday 7 - Century Egg

Well here we are once again recapping what Laura (and friends) ate this past week.  Lucky for you all I did not eat any heads, feet, or organs this week…though I did ingest part of a century egg YUCK!  (google it because if I write it I might get a bit sick).

For this week I want to focus on 3 meals because let’s be honest here, I’m sure you all don’t want to keep hearing about my undying love for xiao long bao (aka steamed dumplings) which I of course enjoyed on Niles last visit to Chinatown, Monday night!

Korean BBQ

Per request of Niles, we enjoyed some Korean BBQ for one of his last dinners in Singapore.  We chose a buffet style restaurant which meant all the delicious beef bulgogi Ethan could possibly eat!  Our grill included: bacon, marinated chicken, beef bulgogi, onion, and garlic.  As they were cooking, we enjoyed some sesame noodles and (not in the picture) some pancake type think?  Think scallion pancake – esk.  Once the meat and veggies were cooked, we took them off the grill and started assembling our lettuce wraps.  My favorite way to chow down was in this order – lettuce, white rice, sauce, meat, and maybe a piece of kimchi.  Yum!

7 Weeks and Goodbye for Now

This Wednesday marked 7 weeks since I landed in Singapore!  It’s incredible how fast time passes by yet I feel like there is still so much more I’d like to do while I’m here.  Looking at my first few blog posts it’s amazing to think of how far I’ve come from the shy, nervous girl in a new country.  Some days it feels like I’ve got the whole Singaporean life down and others I still feel completely new.  I guess it’s a good thing to be comfortable in a place where you are still stretched out of your comfort zone.

Today (Thursday in Singapore time) has been a rainy and surprisingly cool day.  The sad part of me would say that the weather is mimicking my emotions.  This morning I brought Niles to the airport.  For those of you who have been following along, Niles was able to have a nice long stay with me.  In those few weeks we had so many adventures together and I am so very happy that we could share this time with one another.  We’ve been in a relationship for a few years, most of which has been long distance.  His time here with me in Singapore was the most time we’ve spent living that close to one another in almost two years.  I wish I could tell you the secret to keeping a strong relationship with lots of miles in between but there isn’t really much secret to tell.  Some days it’s easy and others feel like it’ll be forever until I see him again.  This morning as I went to work I turned around to kiss him goodbye but he wasn’t there.  This afternoon I’ll arrive back from work and open the door but his smiling face won’t be there to greet me.  It’s tough but I have to keep moving forward.  Each day without him is another day closer to be with him.

All dressed up on the MRT!

Chinese Gardens and Dempsey Hill

On Saturday in the late afternoon, Niles, Ethan, and I took the green line farther west than any of us have ever ridden before.  Our destination was the Chinese (and Japanese) Gardens.  Of course once we got off the MRT it was starting to drizzle and none of us had an umbrella.  It wasn’t raining too hard to we continued our walk through the gardens.  On our way to the entrance we saw 3 games of cricket being played.  Bonus points to whoever can tell me the point of the game and how it all works!

A Brewerkz Sort of Weekend

This weekend was definitely the most low-key weekend I’ve had since being in Singapore, which I happily accepted.  It’s hard not getting overwhelmed with wanting to see everything and make sure to check off everything from those “best things to do in Singapore” or “things you must do before leaving Singapore” lists.  While 6 months seems like plenty of time to get things done, it also goes by SO quickly, as I’ve learned from previous rotations.  I spent the last 6 months exploring the Midwest (shout out to my Indy friends) and I feel as if there is so much more I could have done!

This weekend started out with our gang of three having a few things on our list to check off.  While some of them didn’t make our final itinerary, I feel like we had a great weekend anyway!