Activities as of Late

This weekend, I felt the need for an outdoorsy activity, so I headed to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve for a hike.  Bukit Timah is the highest point in all of Singapore, at a whopping 537 feet above sea level!  In Malaysian, Bukit Timah means "tin-bearing hill" - no one is quite sure where this name comes from since it has never been known to produce any tin.  Historically, the hill is important because it was the location of the last stand by the British troops against the invading Japanese army during WWII.  Today, it's a nature reserve and one of the only places in Singapore where the original jungle landscape has been preserved. 

In going on my hike, I inadvertently made a friend.  I must have looked confused as I was getting off the bus to go the nature reserve, because an older woman who was also getting off at that stop asked me if I was heading to the nature reserve.  She was also heading off for a hike, so I walked with her to the reserve.  There were monkeys everywhere!  All over the visitor's center and the road leading up to it.  They were very bold and not at all afraid of the humans.  My new friend, Nery, was going on the 10 km hike around the hill (rather than the paved path that went straight up and down), and she invited me along.  This trail looked considerably less crowded, and that sounded good to me, so we set off.  It was quite warm and there were a LOT of steps to get up and down all the small ravines and hills.  My hiking companion Nery knew all the step counts and would happily report that "this section is only 175 steps up, we did 200 back there", setting quite a fast pace, while I huffed and puffed along behind.  (This was similar but not quite as shaming as the time Rebecca, Claire and I were thoroughly beaten on a hike up a mountain by a nine year old Nicaraguan girl named Bianca.)  Nery was a native Singaporean, so it was interesting to talk to her about the changes that she has seen occur in Singapore over her life.

One thing I was very disappointed about was that we didn't see any monkeys in the woods.  I was hoping to catch a glimpse of them in their natural habitat, which would have been much more interesting than just seeing them hanging around at the visitor's center hoping for some food from the hikers.  Because of this, I have no pictures of the super cute monkeys.  Maybe next time.  Anyways, here is a nice picture of the jungle:

 

And one more:

 

What else have I been up to?  Sleeping.  A lot.  The heat here is really killer - 85 or 90 F each day with really high humidity.  It's really the humidity that kills.  The heat isn't all that bad; I don't go outside and feel hot, but after about 5 or 10 minutes of walking I realize that I'm drenched in sweat.  It's also really hard to get used to the heat, because all the buildings, trains, and buses are super over-airconditioned.  Like, 70 F or below.  It's ridiculous - I have to bring jackets to school and on the train because it's that cold.  

 

I'm also taking a Mandarin Chinese class.  Because the intro Chinese class at NTU is only for undergrads (and being Singaporeans, they are really picky about rules), I'm taking a class through the NUS (National University of Singapore) extension service.  It just started last week, but so far I really like it.  Mandarin is really hard because of the tones and the character system of writing.  There are four possible tones for each syllable, and the same syllable with different tones can have completely different meanings.  The characters are pretty hard to remember how to write correctly, so I spend a lot of my downtime at work just copying down characters over and over again, much to the amusement of the Chinese guys that sit next to me in my office.  Finally, it's also pretty difficult to pronounce since there are lots of sounds not found in English.  And I thought Danish pronunciation was hard!  (I joke to my Danish family that I have finally found a language that is harder to pronounce than Danish.  And of course I picked that one to learn.)  But, it's good for the language part of my brain to get a work out again.  Also, I have the benefit of getting ridiculously excited whenever I see a character or two that I recognize when I'm out and about in Singapore.

 

Today, I have finally perfected my omelet making skills by making the most beautiful spinach and mushroom omelet.  Seriously, no holes, no toppings falling out, and cooked to prefection.  I was so proud I almost took a picture.  

 

I think that's everything I have been doing lately.