Top five reasons to be creative

5. You get a day off timetable, and if you're really lucky you won't teach at all.

4. You get to go home early.

3. You get a chance to do all the things you meant to do already.

2. You can go to Ikea when it's quiet.

1. You can listen to Chris Moyles live.

Go on, light your creativity spark!

Plusses and minuses

Minus - Yesterday I messed up the bus again. Seriously do I have some sort of bus transport learning difficulty?

Plus - I completed my first display board of my teaching career. I hope they all don't take six weeks to do! Although I am quite pleased with it, maybe a photo tomorrow.

Minus - I had to sit through the most uncomfortable meeting of my life today.

Plus - The bell rang and I had a reason to leave.

Plus - Tomorrow is 'Creativity Day' which means the students are in art, music, drama and dance workshops. I'm as much for creativity as the next person, but much more when it means we're off timetable and I have no classes tomorrow, then the more creative the better!

Minus - I have to tidy my room as it is in no state to have outside visitors in. That means I have to get up early, early as in 5ruddy:30. I hate mornings.

Always a plus - Bed time for Tinas.

Chez Tina

Now that my Ikea furniture arrived, I thought it was time I showed you my apartment.


This is it! It’s the ground floor apartment. My living room has a lovely view of that tree trunk. The glass is tinted, that’s why it’s black but that shouldn’t fool people in to thinking they cannot be seen when the lights are on as yesterday I had the misfortune to see what looked like a girl waxing her boyfriend's chest.

Master bedroom

Note the peach curtains. Lucky me, they are a theme throughout the apartment. You can just see the bookshelf, that’s Expedit. (I have taken to calling my Ikea things by their Ikea name. Also in shot is Ethel Blad, my duvet cover and Final, the reading light.

Master Bathroom

I believe the real estate word for it would be compact. Just out of shot is the bath and shower. I don’t use them at the minute, as the shower head doesn’t go high enough for me.

Guest bedroom

Interested parties should email me. (You may need to click the photo.)

Guest Bathroom

This is the shower I do use. Isn’t it nice to have options?

Kitchen

Again, notice the peach curtains. They’ve gone for a student hall of residence kitchen theme here. Lots of grey and ingrain dirt but really, how much time am I likely to spend in here?

Utility area

I have a little balcony area which serves as my utility room with washing machine and dryer and garbage shoot. I don’t know why that excites me so much, but it does.

Living room

The peach curtains beautifully frame the massive tree trunk. Ignore the wires going across the floor, I'm getting wireless, it just hasn’t arrived yet. You can just see Uplighter Not from Ikea. Not shown are my cushions, Fenja Rand and Grönö the table light. TV is provided was included with the apartment, cable and internet by Starhub.

Flärke the Bookshelf and Alleby the Snake

I was in serious need of surface space for books and Flärke was the cheapest Ikea make. I was in much less need for the snake. They were on offer and everyone, no seriously everyone was buying them, apart from me so I was given this as a house warming gift. I think I might use it a bit like a draught excluder only for geckos that invade the kitchen at night.

Dining Room

A green farmhouse tiled table and peach curtains have been teamed together to provide a dining and study area.

The Facilities:

Tennis courts

Swimming pool

Water feature, pond and fish

(not shown is the little gym and squash court.) I think I will be most successful at lying by the pool but the thought of possibility of actually playing tennis is always there.

This is my post box. It's empty. I think you should send me mail.

So there you go, home sweet home. I've definitely lived in worse places.

One month in

Yesterday was my one month anniversary. It really doesn’t feel like I’ve been here that long. Anyway, there was a staff barbeque organised. I don’t think it was celebrate my month, just a happy coincidence. It was great craic and a good chance to get to know some of the people I work with (although there are still a good few names I don’t have a clue about). Afterwards a few of us went to a pub for some more drinks (yes, read that sentence again, alcohol on Methodist property?!)

One of the guys there found out that a couple of us were Christians. We fielded question after question. It was a proper mature adult conversation, and the questions asked weren't in a nasty way. He just wanted explanation about why we believed in the things we did, especially when it came to sex before marriage. Although something else came up which maybe isn’t so obvious – Noah and the ark.

I know some Christians really relish the opportunity of talking about all these kinds of things, but I am not one. I feel like if I say something I believe to be true that they’ll get all pissy about something I said. The thing about last night was that was disappointing though is the way we were dominated in the conversation. It was more ‘why do you believe this?’, not us asking ‘why do you not?’ if you know what I mean.

I don’t really know why I am writing about this but it’s just something I thought about today as I dossed around. Which reminds me, my Ikea stuff arrived today so maybe photos tomorrow.

Further notes on buses

Buses in Singapore are unremarkable. Nothing ever happens, no one talks, no even makes eye contact. It’s a Singapore thing apparently not to look at people. Very often there will be people standing even when there are seats free because they face the rest of the bus (we used to call them the ‘four seats’ when I got the bus to school).

Today on the bus was entirely eventful. A fight broke out, like full on fisticuffs up and down the aisle. Women were protecting their children and men ran to break it up. In the end the bus driver had to stop the bus and separate the two men. He brought one man down to stand by him as we carried on the journey. Although it was clear it was not over. Death stares were flung up to the man at the back and shouts of ‘we’ll take this outside, I have a weapon’. He further demonstrated his aggression issues as his next move was to smash the back of his head off the pole that you’re supposed to hold onto. His day got even worse when he dropped his half kilo bag of rice spilling little grains all over the place. (It’ll maybe indicate just how tense it was on the bus that I didn’t even laugh at this.)

When I got off the bus the man ahead of me turned to me and said ‘there’s war all over the world, and two men can’t even ride a bus together’. Too true.