New Year, new hopes, new starts, new people - maybe new life?

I'm really done - after not sleeping almost 30 hours, dancing off my ass whole night and moving the past two days from the hostel sleepysams to my new "so called" home Havelock. My first impression of the dorm was "damn it" - but since I spread all my stuff everywhere it looks okey :) I'm lucky that I have the dorm experience from vienna so I wasn't expecting that much at all :) Some of us are very disapointed. But its only for few months and we'll just sleep there I guess -so no need for worry :) Actually the best part of it is that a lot of us stay here also - so we are all together again - might be fun :)

So now to the reason why I haven't slept almost 30 hours. I just came back from the big beach party at sentosa beach - was the greatest new years party I've ever been to. I wished all my friends could have been there too. Everything was great but there is always one part missing for the perfect evening when your beloveds are not around you - tough you spent the night with so many nice people :) Actually the popular question of this night was "resolution for 2010". I don't

have any :) Just "live more, work more, see more, feel more" ;) I guess I recognized in the few days how important it is to have a look around. You might miss so much beauty only because you pass it without looking. So this is maybe on of the things I would like to change. I also learned that you need to go for your dreams. Cuz going abroad was always a dream - now its real. And it was not that tough at all :) So maybe all of my other "non-po

ssible" dreams or "hard work needed"-dreams are not that tough at all - I just need some trust in me, in god and then go for it :=)

One other resolution might be "eliminating all stereotypes in your mind" - actually even tough I'm quite openminded there are so many stereotypes roaming in my head which need to be eliminated at all. They are harmless anyway but also that needles to have - so free my mind also in small matters will definitely be my next goal for the rest :)))

Quite a productive morning today :)) I just booked also my flight to phuket now. I'm curious what we get to see there. Keep you of course updated :)))

So....till Phuket (maybe before)...take care! I wish you all a happy happy new year. All your hopes, wishes shall be fulfilled by 2010 ....20000000 of years together with your beloveds and other good "things" which you need for your personal hapiness. Don't stop believing in a new chance - every day is some kind of new year - so catch it ;)

power of the water

I'm just back from a wonderful day. I went to the beach for the first time - and it was just great! I luv it! I was swimming and swimming all the time and didn't want to leave the sea. It was just amazing. Normaly I need much more time to get used to the sea to feel comfortable enough to swim out - but this time not :) I got in - and then I got frustrated that the swimming area was limited. Sooo nice! Was just the same like in Didim (TR) :) Felt like a salty pool :) Great! Also when suddendly the rain started...it was just awesome. I never swam in a sea when raining, I should do that more often its actually much more fun :) Great feeling. While swimming I just thanked god for making that all possible. I've felt happy and lucky all the time since I arrived in Singapore - but this happiness is nothing compared to that great happiness I felt out there in the sea! Actually this is the sea for which everybody was talking like "okeyy its there - its not very clean - its not very nice - but u can swim" - yeah I mean its not the best sea I've been to..but its great though and clean also :)) I don't know what they were expecting when "clean" :) I was sad that I had to quit very "soon" swimming cuz it started raining very strongly with some thunder also - so staying in the sea could have be dangerous. All my stuff was wet :))) I had to buy there something so that I could go back to hostel haha but it was fun though!

I'm looking forward to tomorrow cuz I'll go again...but this time much earlier to have enough time to enjoy :)

edit 2 days later: I went to Sentosa again today..and actually the sea was really messed up :)) So dirty! Not fun! No I understand what they meant! BuT nevertheless u can swim P but I didn't feel comfortable with that! ;( okeY..I luv it anyway! looking forward to other beaches :P

hot hot xmas

..yesterday we more or less celebrated xmas. Even I felt some kind of sad although I'm not celebrating christmas at all :)) But we had a lot of fun. U would never guess how connecting drinking games can be :) hehe Before that a little group went for sushi. I experienced for the first time Sushi!!! It won't never be my favorite I suppose! But people use to say "once tried u can never leave your fingers of it"...in my case this won't be the fact but we'll see. Maybe I give the japanese food one more chance in the future! I wanted to try sushi since ever in Vienna - but I'm happy that I've saved up this experience for Singapore :) Was fun. I didn't know what to order and at least how to handle with the chopstick :)))) But Julie and Judie and all the others assisted me very well :)))

The passing few days were more and more eased. Speaking in English becomes more and more natural. I think all of us have hurdled this fear of doing mistakes so it works very well. I can strongly feel the difference between the first days and now. I'm more fluent and as I have overcame my fear I'm making less mistakes ..:)) So thats it for the moment!

Take care!
Dudu

party there, party here, party everywhere :) I did it again :) Actually today was the first opportunity to go out, and we took it :) Was a great night. Ended a little bit earlier than I'm used to it in Vienna thanks friends but it was okey :) The motto of the night: ladies free night - free entry and drinks for ladies ! So just imagine a club full of girls - most of them asian :) haha u like this don't u?? :) Yeah some of the exchange studis did too :))))))) Beautiful asian girls wearing very hot, short stuff - yeah I mean - I wouldn't have said no either - so its okey ! :P

Before party I joined two french girls who were looking for a condo here in singapore since they didn't have a room at havelock like we do. I was eager to know how this accommondation stuff works here in singapore, so joining them was a great idea! But a bad one also - cause now I regret having a room at havelock. I should be staying with this girls in this beautiful condo too and should be swimming in the pool to forget of my daily smu-troubles (if I get any :P)! OH! I've never seen condos like that before which were realistic to get for students too :)) a great view..great district...a great noooo a awesome pooL infront !! I love it! I even considered cancelling my room at havelock but then I remembered that I'm here not for swimming in the pool but for travelling so what for do I need a huge swimming pool!! Yeah. I mean this thinking will help me over this very frustrated feeling of not having this utilities some how in a certain time latest when I start travelling :)))

The resümee of this day is full of nice people actually. I met some french girls - sooo nice! oh! I'm so glad I met them! I love their natural way of experessing themself not always considering if they say something wrong or not...they just say what they think :) its very refreshing :) I also had a very long talk to a indian guy who thought I was indian but then when he heard how I was talking - he was sure I'm not :)) Funny stuff! But he guaranteed me that I would pass off as an Indian girl from the south or from the north when not speaking :)) I'm not suprised I mean I would go for a nice person when I stop talking at all ...so :PPP

Today I felt for the first time this international flair here - I mean the past two days I was in the same hostel with the same people - I talked to them and I sat with them and had some smalltalk but today it was the very first time that we quit talking and started sharing :) Was nice! And I think it was the first time that I was the entire time alone with this new guys instead of being together with german speaking people :) Actually I prefer being with "foreigners" - I mean when u see something then u talk about how it is in austria and then u can immediately compare to other countries - so it adds more to your knowledge and to your personality at all if you're with some other people from other countries ;))) I had a very long talk to a marokkian girl who was feeling the same way I do in case of living in Paris. She told things that were so similar to that what we live and what we feel sometimes :) Was nice to hear what somewhere else migrants feel and identify with their "hosts" :)

Also the talk to this indian guy till early morning was so enriching. He has lived in Singapore for a while and then left and now he has further plans to settle down here again. I asked him a lot about Singapore and about this mixture of cultures which seem to be working here. I was told that its like business here. No culture at all. The people try to coexist and thats why its working. Lee Kuang Yen is the CEO of the entreprise Singapore. Ravi also told me that Singapur is a country working for objectives :) They have the objectives "strong independent women" so they go for that and start a campaign and make a lot of promotion ;) The same the mixture of the cultures. The quotas and so an ;) The politics are trying to define their own culture by ousting the chinese one in case of the majority for example :) He was sure that many of the young chinese people don't know much about their own chinese culture at all! I couldn't decide whether thats good or not. I mean is there any need for a real mixture?? Or is it good like it is here - working/coexisting together in one nation - they seem to be good with that. I definetely need more time to decide if there is a need of real "integration".

By the way above I was talking about the objectives. I was so shocked when I got to the MRT in the evening. I think one of the objectives of the politics is to reduce the ignorance of people and to make people more sensitive for terrorist stuff. :)) Anyway there a lot of announces during the day in the MRT stations for beeing sensitive for conspicuous looking people and in case to report them. I was used to that but yesterday in the evening I saw a weird video which was shown on the flatscreens in the station. The video shows that kind of conspicuous behaving person - but nobody cares and then the train was blew up!! At the end of the video they show some real pictures of trains in europe and so on where this happened followed by a speech telling the Singaporeans to be aware for ensuring that something like that not happens to their society! Weird and Fun! The audio-visuell workup of this theme was really shocking. I don't know if this going to help people feeling comfortable :))))))) so one example of the enterprise "having goals" and then going for this goals! ;)

So the day was more on learning by talking than seeing :) but very enriching at all ;)

Hope u're all doing fine in austria, germany, turkey or wherever u are ;)

Dudu

heLLo out there,

a new shiny day has startet here already...I love it here more and more just day by day :) its so great. the weather, the colors, the city, the buildings :) why the hell I need to leave this beautiful place for fckn cold vienna? :) hehe

last two days I finished all the formalities for staying here..so only school administration stuff is left in case of formal duties :) I'm some kind of eased now :) I'm not used having formalities done at the first time so I was happy that it took me not that much time and also the communication with the clerks didn't took any nerves :P even though they spoke more singlish than english :))) but they tried to assist me any way...so thats the mainpoint ;) the bureaucracy seems to be the same like in austria - but its more organized and the mood of the clerks don't seem to be that addicted to the person infront of them - so I'm more than pleased :)

After having our duties fullfilled at the immigration department, we had a little introduction to little india. Its funny there. Jason - a local - told me before that Little India is more impressive cause its more authentic and not that commercialised like Chinatown. Yeah. Actually it was. I mean there are lot of shops and so on - but it was not like "hey we have to attract all tourist - whatever it takes" :) They have their temples. At first it was a guesswork to decide which of them are hinduist and which one are buddhist. But after differing one - its obvious which one is which :) what they have in common is their greatness :) I mean all this little items building a one - but anyhow looking so several :)) fun! I mean when u enter the temple it looks like "ramsch-sale" - but the second look catches the spirit :) the spirit of this colors, the joy of the colors, the joy of worshipping their god :) Its beautiful :) We also visited some mosques in little india. they also look great. Some of them were colored white and golden. But the most impressive one was in the color of islam - green! Looked great! We were not allowed to walk in, as we didn't wear proper clothes (although there were clothes provided). In most mosques women are not allowed to go into the prayer room. this rooms are reserved only for men ;) a pitty cause the most interesting part of the mosque would definitely be the prayer room :) so we just quit the inside look on this day, any way the outside of the buildings was enough impressive tough :)

We had also indian lunch at that day - it tastes very good. It addresses my flavour more than chinese food but in the end also this experience ended up in a bad feeling :) Actually it was too heavy, I had some chicken with some vegetables in a spicey sauce with some home made bread! btw bread was fantastique! After lunch I was so happy for going back to the hostel. Even my last step to bed was exhausting :)))) I got to bed and feel asleep :)))) But for now indian food is going to be the top on my "what dudu can eat" list.

So the day was done at this day :) I wasn't able to wake up at night :)) I slept really from 8 pm till 7 am :))) The next day was full of shopping-sight seeing. I did some "dudu alone around singapore"-trip! I don't now how come but I ended up in a shopping mall :P There must have been some kind of a magic spirit attracting me there...because my plan was to get to know the surroundings of the hostel and looking for a coffee shop where I can get a turkish coffee (I needed one after this indian food - I knew that I will need one more urgently in the future :P)! Actually I found a turkish restaurant called "Sufi", run by a turkish man and playing turkish classic music all the time :)) Was nice there. I had "Sigara böregi", tastes not bad - but not the way we would define "Sigara Böregi" in turkey or even in austria:) But okey. I can live with that. I'm sure that I'll turn back to them after I've tasted all the local food here :))))

We met also the core of SMU exchange students by now. Lot of nice people. Many of them are from Canada and from the states. So they're lucky cause they all will study in their native language :)) I should stop comparing me with them...cuz then my english just frustrates me :P! But okey! Today I met girls from France. So nice! I don't know why but u really can feel the difference between european and american people :) Not in a negative manner - but the way they behave and so on ;) I think we europeans are more shy, but also more interested in others - while the others just do their things and yeah Its okey with them you joining - but if not..its okey too - they build up groups very fast as I can see :))) Their also more outcoming than we are I think! But okey...it just the first impact and we all know this doesn't say always the true :)

I'm looking forward to get to know all of them. So many different people, sharing the same "identity" here in singapore. Its a fine experience. I love it!

guided tour through singapore :)

Today was a great day. We had a fast tour walk through singapore with our local friends manfred, jason and iris. At the end of this day we all were just exhausted of so much walking, eating, watching people shopping and eating,...! The day brought some changes... I got rid of my camera :P and jasmins wardrobe got a sight richer :)
The resümee of this day just approve the first impressions of the past days - singapore is really a wonderland for shopping. Its incredible what king size the shopping malls here have and how crowded they are. You can see a shopping mall in nearly every street - and there are even more if you are on fabulous places like the orchard road, raffles place, east side road, and so on! You can satisfy almost every little desire u may have or even get new one by seeing all this stuff :))) very dangerous in my case! But I have my autocontrol mechanism on the high attention level..so I'm prepared for this temptations ;)

The highlight of the day was definetely our short visit to the SMU - our host university. I couldn't believe how fantastic it was. I mean we austrian students are not used to that kind of sophisticated education institutions. We have to be thankful for just having some classes - upholstered chairs are too much luxury for a student who has to face allotment troubles :)) I felt ashamed that Vienna with the highest ranking of living standard had never/will never have such great institutions. I suppose even the new WU-Building will be far apart from the SMU Building of NOW! So - this was really frustrating :))) I'm sure that I won't be happy going back to the WU and face all that shortcoming :) Maybe this shows how much importance the society pays for an academic education! I had only a short guide through but as I can see Singapore and further SMU supports the students with a lot assistance in technical, institutional way and wants hard working students in return. I talked to some and I think they actually come up to this expectations. Which bring us back to the cababilities SMU offers them to make their studies easier or let me say it another way...they can see that smu offers them the best environment to show good performance - I think they appreciate that! What we austrian now is: u got to be thankful for every additional chair in your classroom - don't expect more because you even don't pay for your education so wtf? :) I asked the local friends what they thought when they were at the WU for their exchange. They smiled and said that it was some kind of nostalgica because the time when their prof. used overhead was like 10 years ago :))) So they found it very rudimental any way and quit going to university and started coming to school only to the courses and leaved directly afterwards :)) Now I can understand why - what for should u stay longer at a building of this kind..when u are used to a athmosphere like at the SMU? :) hehe

:)) I'm trying hard not to think of the time when I have to leave singapore in may. Cuz I know I really won't be that happy about that. Even though all my beloveds are in Vienna...I'm sure that from now on vienna will just constrain me, frustrate me and I will face more the reality of "Vienna - as the dead-end village"! hehe but for now I shouldn't think of the possibilities when back home ;) for now I should think how - what to do tomorrow :))))))

Tomorrow we have our appointment at the Immigration appartment. This formal/official stuff makes me some kind of nervous - but maybe thats also an austrian trauma led by the austrian clerks :PPPPP hehe will see if bureucracy is the same machine down here :)


so take care of u ;) greetZ from heaven :)
Dudu
(21.12.2009)

First daYs in SingapuR

Also,

jetzt haben wir schon TAG 2 der aufregenden Reise nach Singapur. Heute habe ich mir eine Massage zu Gute kommen lassen, ich bin hin und weg – mehr weg als hin eigentlich! Ich spüre jetzt deutlich wie überarbeitet und unausgeschlafen ich bin :) aber seis drum – auch ohne Schlaf kann man diese wundervolle Stadt zum Wachwerden nutzen :)

Bevor ich mit Singapur loslege, ein kurzes Resümee des Fliegens, des Weggehens, des Alleine am Flughafen Dubai auf den Weiterflug nach Singapur Wartens ;) Der Abschied ist mir ja unerwarteter Weise schwer gefallen. Ich war immer überzeugt davon, dass ich ohne mit der Wimper zu zucken dahinziehe, egal ob für immer oder für eine längere Zeit eben. Aber in dem Moment wo alle Lieben um einen stehen und du genau weißt, du wirst für einen gewissen Zeitraum (der zwar auf Papier bestimmbar ist, aber nie eine hundertprozentige Gültigkeit genießt) nicht an ihrem und sie nicht 1:1 an deinem Leben teilhaben, beginnst du dich mit dem „Sinn des Weggehens“ zu beschäftigen. Dir fällt auf, dass dir eigentlich eh alles ziemlich gut gefällt. Du bist zufrieden mit deinem Leben – also wozu etwas verändern? Tja – als ich in Dubai am Flughafen ankam, hat sich das schnell selbst beantwortet. Dieses erfrischende, befreiende Gefühl alleine in einem unbekannten Land mit total unterschiedlichen fremden Menschen zusammen zu sein, hats mir angetan. Diese Freiheit, die man in diesem Augenblick


verspürt – ist unglaublich. Am morgen dort – und dann am Abend auf einem anderen Kontinent – ich kann gar nicht beschreiben wie stark, wie frei und wie glücklich ich mich da gefühlt hab. Auch meine Ankunft in Singapur mit diversen anfänglichen Problem bzgl Taxi, Change, ATMs hehe hat mich noch weiter gehyped.

Im Taxi sitzend ist mir wieder gedämmert, dass dies nun für die nächsten fünf Monate meine neue „Heimat“ sein wird. Und ich muss sagen – ich kann mich nicht beklagen. :) Skyliner wo du auch hinschaust pragen über die Häuser. Aber lustigerweise sind rundherum und sogar ganze Stadtteile in „Boutique“-Stil gehalten. Chinatown zb besteht vordergründig aus traditionellen Kleinhäusern, aber auch hier sind im Hintergrund die Bigsisters ersichtlich. Hab den heutigen zweiten Tag und so gesehen meinen Einführungstag im Chinatown gehabt. Unglaublich, aber diese Menschen stehen auf ESSEN & SHOPPEN :) Ich hatte das Gefühl der Lebensinhalt vieler gestaltet sich/definiert sich über diese zwei Dinge. Unmengen an Essenständen, Unmenge an Menschenmassen sind damit beschäftigt zu essen – oder zu shoppen. Kein Viertel, wo man keine Shopping Mall ersichten kann. Diese sind übrigens ebenfalls riesig gehalten mit sehr viel Angebot und auch natürlich vielen vielen Foodscorts wieder. Unglaublich und ich dachte schon ich wär dem Konsum verfallen - im Vergleich dazu bin ich ja noch sehr enthaltsam :)))

Die Massage heute hat mich wie gesagt ziemlich geschafft, deswegen war ich danach nicht mehr sehr aufnahmefähig :) Es ist eine wahnsinnig bunte Stadt. Der kulturelle Mix kommt definitiv sehr gut durch. Aber auch, wenn man eben bestimmte Districts hat wie „Indian“, „arab street“, „china town“...so ist doch überall von allem anderen auch dabei. ZB waren im Chinatown auch Moscheen usw ;)
So bunt gewürfelt wie Häuser und Menschen, ist auch das Essen hier. Ich bin leider Gottes kein Fan der chinesischen und mongol. Küche. Mein Inneres sträubt sich gegen gebratene Hühnerfüße (eine mongol. Spezialität, hab ich mir sagen lassen) oder Germknödel gefüllt mit Hühnchen usw! Spricht mich alles nicht wirklich an – leider Gottes zeigen meine interkulturellen Kompetenzen gerade im Bezug auf Essen sehr schnell ihre Grenzen auf :)

Zum Glück ist mein Hostel in einer arabischen Gegend, dh sehr viel libanenische, iranische und JA auch türkische Küche. Hatte leider nicht Zeit die türkischen Lokale zu begutachten, aber ich werd mich noch ihrer annehmen :)) A nsonsten wird hier auch Unmengen an Sisha geraucht. So viele Sisha-Läden hintereinander und alle immer voll. Auf der Straße (direkt vorm Hostel ist eine Pedestrian Area mit Sitzmöglichkeiten für die Restaurantkunden) ist ständig ein Kommen und Gehen und es läuft meistens tanzbare orientalische Musik :) You see, I'm in good hands till now :P...Das Hostel selbst ist etwas gewöhnungsbedürftig. Für meinen Geschmack etwas zu einengend, aber tja für die kurze Zeit bis ich im Studentenheim einziehen kann, dürfte ichs aushalten :) Aber eher nicht empfehlenswert!

Die Singapurer hab ich als eher neutral erlebt. Ich glaub da kommt es auch stark auf den Backround an. Die Malayer/Araber etc um den Hostel herum sind echt super nett. Alle Frauen tragen übrigens ein Kopftuch. Ich muss noch erfragen ob wirklich alle Muslimas ein Kopftuch tragen, oder ob da ebenfalls wie bei uns in der Türkei pros und kontras gibt. Aber es gibt auf jeden Fall sehr viele Kopftuchträgerinnen. Aber vielleicht liegt das auch nur an der speziellen Lage vom Hostel. Denn wir sind benachbart mit der größten Moschee Singapurs „Sultan Mosque“ - den Ruf des Muezzins hatte ich echt schon vergessen – ungewohnt und schön zu gleich ;)

Ich freue mich mal auf Tag 3. Morgen geht’s vermutlich viel aufregender zur Sache – ich erhoffe mir eine kleine Sightseeingtour von Manfred einem Exchange Student aus Singapur, der an der WU studierte ;)

Bis dahin! Take care of urself ;)