Beauty World – A Miraculous Place

Who needs fancy graphics when you can perform miracles? I have a feeling that the last miracle took place around 1996 when this Word Art poster was probably made! If I could perform the odd miracle then my job would be so much easier.

I found this sign in my local shopping centre, Beauty World Plaza. It is a place so crap that it is actually good. I love it. This place is a million miles away from the bright lights of Orchard Road. Enter any time of day or night and you will be arrested by the pungent aroma of durian, which resonates throughout the whole building. The escalator has been broken since April and has a sign promising it will be fixed as soon as they manage to procure the correct spare part. There’s a tacky clothing and accessories shop that provided me with the best leg warmers and a pair of neon green and orange striped fingerless gloves for an 80s party. You can get your feet pummelled in the reflexology centre or buy a selection of weird and wonderful remedies from the Chinese medicine shop. If you’re looking for a CD of Wham, Celine Dion or Richard Clayderman you are in the right place.

As you know, I am a big fan of funny signs. They entertain me for hours. I was delighted to see the one below for the ‘saloon’. Uglish meets Singlish!

I’m not the only one with a soft spot for this place. Somebody in the Singapore town planning or transport department must also be a fan since they are naming the future MRT station ‘Beauty World’ rather than the more obvious tourist and recreation spot  ’Bukit Timah Nature Park’! Yes that’s right folks – come 2015 and Beauty World will be a mere twelve minute tram ride from Newton Station. It’s the next next big thing – you heard it here first!

Reports: could do better … at looking after yourself

If you’re a teacher you will know that reporting season is either upon you or looming, depending on where you live. If you’re not a teacher, you probably know a teacher and have most likely seen a multitude of Facebook updates about writing reports. At this time of year, the status updates come thick and fast. When they are going well, we applaud ourselves and tell the world. When we are struggling, we share our frustrations. Most of all, we need to be reassured that we are not alone. We are, after-all, social creatures, rarely working in isolation. Our days are busy teaching, organising and helping the little people or collaborating with colleagues.

I’m not going to debate the rights and wrongs of writing reports. We have to do them and that is that. I do think we can think a little more about our attitudes though.

One overwhelming thing that many of our updates have in common is a feeling of guilt. We feel guilty if we stray away from the laptop to get on with other aspects of life. Friends feel bad for doing a few loads of laundry, doing the grocery shopping or taking the time to do some exercise or cook some good healthy food. But why? We should not berate ourselves for getting on with things. We need to eat well or else our immune systems will go down and we’ll get sick. Going for a run gets the bloody flowing and sends oxygen to the brain, while a dip in the pool is relaxing. Sometimes we just need to do nothing.

We care about our students. We care about doing our jobs well. I think it’s time we all start to take a little care of ourselves too. So, dear teacher friends, it’s Sunday evening and time to shut down your reports and close the laptops. Read a book, watch a movie, have a swim or pour yourself a glass of wine … whatever floats your boat. Whatever you do, take a rest so you can be at your best in the morning.

Milo Dinosaurs Versus Godzilla and King Kong!

I’ve long had an obsession with Milo. For the uninitiated, Milo is a powdered chocolate ‘food drink’ that you can enjoy hot or cold. It’s popular in many developing countries because it claims to provide you with lots of essential nutrients (erm like huge quantities of sugar I believe). I first came across it when I went to Ghana. There it was the breakfast of choice. Rock up to any street stall in the morning and you could tuck into a fried egg sandwich in a sweet bread roll washed down with a Milo made with hot water and a big dollop of condensed milk for good measure. A great start to any day I am sure!

Then I didn’t see it for years. Not until I went to Colombia, where the kids brought it to school in little tupperware tubs of the powder and ate it for snack. Heaven knows how they all maintained their glowing complexions, glossy hair and healthy looking bodies on such a diet. I do remember them being charged with energy though.

Two years later, on my return to Africa, Milo made another appearance. I always kept a tin in my cupboard in Uganda for comfort on those cool days in the rainy season. There is nothing like curling up on the sofa on a rainy Sunday afternoon with a good book and a cup of Milo while the tropical rain pounds down outside. My hike up Kili was positively charged by bucketloads of hot Milo. Our team of teachers and students consumed so much of the stuff that we had to borrow from other hikers and send for reinforcements.

Today I discovered that in Singapore takes Milo to a whole new level.

First there is iced Milo – perfect for such a balmy climate. Nothing too exciting about that, I hear you say.

Well let me introduce you to the ‘Milo Dinosaur’ – I had been wondering for some time what this could be. Let me explain. First you make the Milo with hot water and condensed milk. Sound sweet enough? Well it isn’t. Once the initial serving of Milo is dissolved, spoonfuls of Milo granules are piled up on top of the drink to give it an extra punch.

As if that wasn’t enough, you then have the ‘Milo Godzilla’. A ‘Milo Godzilla’ is a ‘Milo Dinosaur’ with a scoop of ice cream and strawberry sauce on top. This is served in a 3/4 pint tumbler.

The ultimate, for those with a hearty appetite and a stomach of steel, is the ‘Milo King Kong’. This is a ‘Milo Godzilla’ with a double scoop of ice cream, plus whipped cream, plus chocolate and strawberry sauce and a liberal scattering of hundreds and thousands on top!

I ordered a ‘Milo Godzilla’ and have to say I was defeated by the three-quarter full mark. Far too sickly for my liking. From now on I’ll be keeping my Milo consumption pure and simple and will reserve it for mountain climbing situations!

My Guest Post – A Postcard from Myanmar

A couple of weeks before the Easter holidays a fellow blogger ‘liked’ on of my posts. I took a look at her blog and discovered that she is a travel writer who often features guest posts on her blog. With a visa ready for my trip to Myanmar, I thought it was a great opportunity to put my blog ‘out there’ a little more.

Take a look at Emily Luxton‘s blog  if you want to see travel reviews from around the world alongside some fab pictures.

You can find my post here –  Postcard from Myanmar

Thank you for letting me be your guest Emily!

8 signs you live in Singapore

1. Your fingers are always within tapping distance of your iphone (although many may have ditched their iphone 5s for a Samsung Galaxy s4 now I suppose)

2. You take the aisle seat on the bus and make it incredibly difficult for anybody else to get past. At best, you move your legs in for somebody to struggle past and at worst, you stare straight ahead and refuse to budge at all

3. Even though it doesn’t make any sense, you understand that the phrase ‘one for one’ means ‘buy one get one free’

4. You pay $20 for a glass of wine or a pint of beer and don’t even balk at the price anymore

5. You have at least 3 bank accounts so that you have half a chance of managing to get cash out of an ATM machine

6. Your wallet is also stuffed full of loyalty cards and discount cards

7. You give the right answer when a taxi driver asks whether you would like to go PIE, AYE, BKE or CTE. No wonder the fares were steep when you circumnavigated the whole island

8. You no longer cringe when you find mould growing on your favourite bag or shoes. You simply reach for an antiseptic wet wipe, remove the offending growth and carry on

 

What else could I add to this list? Can anybody help me make it a ‘top ten’?

Shakespeare in the Park

I was very excited to hear about the Shakespeare in the park even. I love the informal atmosphere of outdoor theatre – gathering outside, sharing a picnic and a glass of wine, whilst watching a play on a balmy summer’s night. If anything, I was a little surprised to see that they were staging Othello outside as I have always associated these events with comedies.

With an industrial looking military set comprised of camouflage shipping containers, clanging metal ladders and walkways and a giant radar screen, this looked like no ordinary Shakespeare production. This is Singapore after-all. The action was fast paced and gripping, feeling more like an action movie than a play written over four-hundred years ago. Desdemona was feisty and flirty. Iago was played like a ‘diamond-geezer’ you’d meet down the pub, with a very dark side. And Othello … oh Othello. I think there were more than a few ladies who would have happily switched places with Desdemona last night (or his shirt if you could switch places with an inanimate object). He was big and strong, he was sexy, he was eloquent, he was a hero and yet he was vulnerable. I can also say categorically, that no woman in possession of a pulse would push him aside for the short ginger bloke that was Casio.

The photo is a bit blurry but you get the idea.

*** Unfortunately the writer got distracted when writing this post by Google stalking the actor who played Othello. He’s called Daniel Francis and has apparently recently appeared in a UK TV series called Homefront. Having being away from the UK for the past seven years, I thought that the programme called Homefront was one of those home make-over shows where they knock down supporting walls, paint everything cerise and lime green and replace your antique furniture with MDF. Clearly I am wrong on this account, although I am sure he would still pull in the viewers.

Having lost all train of thought, I will end by saying I highly recommend seeing this play if you get the chance.

Happenings in the neighbourhood

I love the way that my neighbourhood comes to life at night. Local restaurants are packed out with families, couples and singles eating and chatting. There are pockets of life everywhere you look.

This evening I went out for cake with a neighbour and stumbled across this performance in a local temple. There were few people in the audience and folk just strolled in and out. If I had my camera with me you would be able to see the ornate make-up on their faces. I’m not sure what it was all about and neither was my friend (who is Chinese but speaks Mandarin and not this local dialect). My guess is that it was some kind of traditional tale. Any other ideas?