Since Eli left I've spent a lot of time inside getting caught up with emails and getting my life organized. Otherwise, I've gone out on errands. Today it took me over five hours just to go to my old apartment to pick up a package, to the post office, and to the grocery store. There went my entire day! I'm used to things taking a long time when I have to wait for the bus, etc, and then the grocery store was packed because of all the holiday shoppers, and the taxi queue was soooo long as well! grrr, well at least that is done and I am back in this cozy condo drying off from the rain of the day.

I really miss having Eli and other friends around already. Life seems to have returned to the momentarily mundane. When friends are here I go out and explore Singapore and learn to really love this city. Then they leave and I retreat back into the life of studying and more studying, and the time goes by and I can barely convince myself that I know Singapore at all.

Some of the highlights that Eli and I had hanging out in Singapore included: treetop walk and monkey sighting, the zoo where Eli was kissed by a sea lion, Chinatown shopping spree, drinks at the 70th floor New Asia Bar, excellent dinners at La Cave (Italian) and Cafe Iguana (Mexican), "The Promise"- Chinese epic film by Chen Kaige. And... here are a few more photos of Singapore.








And here's an idea of the cheesiness the Singapore infuses into its Christmas decorations (kind of fun actually):