Easter in Singapore

Hey all,

I haven't done any traveling since Hong Kong, but I thought I'd do a post to update you on what we have done in Singapore and let you know about my upcoming plans. Time is literally flying by, next week is the last week of class (we have a reading week after it devoted to studying for the locals and travelling for the exchange students, and then two weeks worth of finals), however I have two final tests next Monday (in both of my finance classes, dreadful) so I'll mostly be studying this week. Because we have limited class and crammed in studying and travelling I know that these 5 1/2 weeks are going to fly by -- some of my friends who are only taking upper level business classes that do not have finals during finals week are leaving to go home at the end of next week! I feel like I will be an emotional wreck at the end of this journey.

After HK, I tried to catch up on some work and enjoy life in SG. Kerry and I went to apply for our visas for Vietnam (a little bit of a process compared to the other countries we've been to) and Charles, Kerry, Ben, and I went to see the Asian Civilizations Museum -- one of Singapore's best museums. we get in free because we're at NUS (always more of an incentive to go) and we had a nice tour (much shorter than the one at the Peranekan Museum). The special exhibit was on the Mughal Empire and naturally, as inquisitive college students, we took full advantage of the special exhibit:

they are literally crouching as this is clearly made for children

my friends found out how bad my coloring skills are

The week was rather uneventful - although we did attend a business lecture where we got to meet the CEOs of Google and Oracle (Singapore/Southeast Asia) and another prominent local CEO who owns a bunch of night clubs. Also I helped my friend John interview a man from Hong Kong who does a lot of different technically related things (I know basically nothing about how computers work) and one of the projects he's working on is attempting to break down the great firewall of China. Pretty interesting to talk to him and the CEO of Google, Singapore in the span of a couple of days. Especially now that google.com.cn does not exist anymore (its redirected through HK).

For me, Easter weekend was filled with church -- I probably have been to church more in these past three days than I have in the past three years (that's kind of a joke). Oh and I should point out all none of them were Catholic -- it was a pretty cool learning experience.

so quick run down

• Good Friday - woke up and went to an Evangel Baptist Church - I did not realize that there are people who when referring to themselves as "Christians" they mean born-again Christians and not any type of Christians. It was pretty interesting I went with two people who were members of the church (one is my friend who interviews people for his blog and the other who took us is someone I have helped him interview twice who is an alum of NUS Bschool) and a British woman who is the widow of a former Dean of NUS who was visiting. I was told pre going that one of the beliefs is that anyone who is not born again is going to hell, so that's good news for probably everyone reading this blog. The ceremony wasn't too different from what I was used to (although it wasn't a traditional Good Friday Mass). We did have great Dim Sum afterwards.
• Saturday - Out of the blue our friend Saro invited us to the Armenian Church which is the oldest church in Singapore (built in 1835, not still in use today) where the Armenian community in Singapore met to celebrate Easter (approx 35 individuals -- most of them not related to each other, there were some very cute kids running around). We had delicious Armenian baked goods and played this game where you try to crack each others' hard boiled eggs (I guess a lot of countries have that tradition) - Sadly I don't have any pictures because we thought it was going to be more of a mass. Oh and we went into the old church and two women and my friend Saro sang some hymns which were really beautiful. Saro was absolutely amazing - we had no idea he could sing so well. It was a moment that would have made my mom cry for sure.
• Easter Sunday - Charles, Kerry, and I got up and went to St. Andrew's Cathedral - at this point I was done with keeping track of what type of religious ceremony was taking place. It was certainly interesting - there was a mass baptism at the end (we left before that) and two of the people getting baptized stood up and talked about how they found god -- to be honest it was nice but a tad bit on the crazy side (the man talked about run ins with the mafia and losing one million dollars...) -- and to add to it, during the middle of these talks pop music started blaring somewhere outside and would continue for the rest of the mass. During this period of time I was laughing so hard/uncontrollably (as silently as I could) into the hymn book that tears started rolling down my face.

Kerry artistically captures Charles and I in front of church.

After mass, we were going to a western brunch, but I had to come back to campus for a group meeting. The meeting was about a presentation I just gave about Korean Chaebols -- which I would have had no idea what they were had I not come to Asia.

So that brings me to today -- time to start studying for my two finals next Monday.

Things I'm looking forward to:

• MRT Pub Crawl on Wednesday night
• Getting my two finals out of the way
• Vietnam a week from Friday!
• Whatever is going to happen after final week and before I come home (plans keep getting jumbled) I know I get to spend at least one day lounging on a beach in Southern Thailand, so I'm happy about that
• The fact that Mary Grace and I fly home on the same date and arrive at JFK within an hour of each other!

Happy Day after Easter.

I love you all.

Emily