Christmas Vacation: Asian-Style

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Aw, the adventure! I returned to Perth Monday night after a 5-day excursion to Singapore. It was a whirlwind of a trip, but I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the place and being introduced to a new and exciting culture. I stayed with a local Singaporean, Jeffery, so had the opportunity to completely immerse myself in the lifestyle—eating authentic, home-cooked dinners, interacting and conversing with other Singaporeans, and learning much more than a city tour guide could ever teach me through listening to and dialoguing with the people I met throughout my trip.

I took the red eye, budget flight to Singapore Wednesday night and arrived at 3am on Thursday morning. I was picked up at the airport around 4am and went back to the apartment to sleep for a short 5 or so hours. I was too excited to get out and explore to lie in bed any longer. Jeffrey worked both Friday and Saturday so I had both days to myself. Luckily, the apartment complex was only a short 5-minute walk from the train station. On Thursday I took the train to the main shopping district, Orchard Road. I spent the day walking up and down the strip, browsing the shops and maneuvering my way around the tiny, compacted crowd of people. This was one day when I was especially grateful for my height because I could see over everyone else and strategically plan my next step in the human stampede. I got pretty tired of window-shopping by mid-afternoon, so I came back to the apartment for a nanna nap before going out to dinner with Jeffrey. He took me to his favorite restaurant called Fatman’s Satay. Satay is a local dish of barbequed chicken on a stick (think: kebob) dipped in peanut sauce, accompanied by cucumbers, onions, and rice cakes. These rice cakes are made by putting rice into a bamboo shoot and allowing the rice grains to expand into each other to form a solid circular “cake.” We also ate fried carrot cake, which is a savory stir-fried dish of chopped radish, spring onion, egg, and soy sauce: very different, but enjoyable. Thursday evening Jeffrey took me into Chinatown and Little India. The Mustafa Shopping Center in Little India stays open 24/7 and at 11 pm when we arrived, it was still bustling with people, even little children, moms, and babies. This shopping center carries anything and everything, from food to electronics to clothes to household appliances to you-name-it, at discounted prices.

Friday, my endeavor was the Singapore Zoo, which was quite fantastic. It took me about two hours to actually arrive at my destination: apartment→ train→ bust→zoo. So, I was definitely ready to start exploring upon my arrival. I walked the entire zoo in 2.5 hours, hitting all the major spots. My favorite exhibits were the Australian Outback (featuring the infamous kangaroos!) the white tiger, giraffes, elephants, and orchid gardens. Did you know that elephants eat 18 hours of the day and only digest 40% of it? Aw, the things you learn at the zoo…

Friday evening I ate dinner with Jeffrey’s friends Peter and Catherine. They, along with a group of twelve people from their church, are preparing for a mission trip to the Philippines so we spent the evening packing boxes of goodies for the Philippine children and preparing for the trip.

Saturday was another active day. From 11am – 8pm, I was on my feet, walking Singapore flat! I took the train to the cable car station, where I boarded a cable car and rode it over the water to the Island of Sentosa. This island is a man-made beach, so no wonder it looks like a postcard picture of paradise. I enjoyed hanging out on the various beaches, yet it was extremely hot and humid. I spent the entire day with a thin layer of perspiration covering me and continual sweat beads dripping down my temples and over my upper lip. It added to the ambiance, to say the least. The neatest part of Sentosa was crossing the rope bridge and walking to the southernmost point of Continental Asia. Pretty cool, eh? That evening, I ventured back to Orchard Road for some dinner at this great little place called Thai Express that served me some hot noodle, veggie, and soy sauce dish. I topped it off with a cup of ice cream, of course. I then spent a good deal of the evening in the enormous Borders Bookstore, which made me feel a little closer to home.

Sunday morning, I went to church with Jeffery and then out to eat with the new friends I met at the Friday night dinner. We had a delicious meal of noodles, big surprise! That afternoon, I had about 5 hours to kill in an area called Toa Payoh before walking to Jeffrey’s mother’s house to eat with her, Jeffery, and his sister Isabella. Isabella cooked the traditional Asian chicken and rice dish, but the best part was the freshly sliced mango, papaya, and jackfruit. It was my first time to eat jackfruit, a light-orange colored fruit similar in consistency to cantaloupe yet much sweeter. I enjoyed the intimate fellowship with Jeffrey’s family. Again, I think one of the perks of staying with a local Singaporean was being able to fully engross myself into the culture and get a deeper glimpse into the normal, everyday lifestyle of the people there.

All in all, I had a marvelous time during my brief jaunt. I gained a new sense of independence, broadened my understanding of the Asian culture, met several wonderful individuals, made lasting memories, and, most importantly, improved my sense-of-direction skills, which we all know were lacking. Ha! This trip just reinforced my love for traveling and adventure. Let me know when you get the itch to explore the world and I’ll seriously consider jumping on board…

A Merry Christmas to you all,

Sarah Kate

p.s. beats me why this whole post is underlined. sorry if it is distracting…argh!

Surf’s Up

This past Saturday morning I had the opportunity to participate in a really exciting volunteer experience, Disabled Surfers’ Day. Both mentally and physically handicapped people throughout the city come to Leighton Beach for the chance to join in on something that they typically can only watch from the sidelines: surfing. Obviously, these handicapped individuals couldn’t actually go out into the water and ride the waves while balancing on a surfboard, but us volunteers catered to their specific needs and helped them gain as close to a true surfing experience as possible.

Many of the participants were physically disabled, paralyzed from the waist down. Some had Down Syndrome and one man was even blind. Before the event started, all the volunteers went through a debriefing, which helped us understand what to expect and how to engage with the participants. The volunteers divided up into teams of roughly 10-25 people, depending on the level of care required by the handicapped surfer. Each team helped one surfer at a time to insure safety and efficiency. The disabled participant was wheeled out into the water in a water-friendly wheelchair with large floatable wheels. Then, they were lifted and transported to the surfboard, where they either lied flat on their back or stomach, depending on their disability or preference. The team of volunteers carried the occupied surfboard over the water and waves several meters out in the ocean. The team of volunteers formed a tunnel-like path on either side of the surfboard as the handicapped participant, along with a designated Disabled Surfer Association Member, rode a wave in. We formed the tunnel to insure that the surfer didn’t fall off the board. The water was quite chilly so each participant rode about three waves and then came to shore to warm up, before expressing the desire to brave the waves again.

When I wasn’t out in the water helping transport and cheer on the elated surfer, I hung out on shore with the other handicapped participants. I had a great time throwing a Frisbee with Glenn, a 10-year-old boy with Down Syndrome. His brother and mom had come out to support him on this special day. I also had the chance to chat with several care-taker and families about the annual event. Apparently, Disabled Surfers’ Day takes place 4 times each summer and is a big hit in Perth. Saturday was the first one of this summer, but I hear that by February, roughly 70 participants and over 300 volunteers turn out to have fun and help the community. What a great way to serve a disadvantaged population, making it possible for these people who don’t normally have the opportunity to get in the water to live out the surfer’s dream!

Tomorrow I am flying to Singapore. Since I came to Australia on a tourist visa, I am mandated to leave the country every 3 months. Leaving Perth is a drain on my funds but a convenient excuse to travel. My initial plan was to come back to Nashville at the 3-month mark and celebrate Christmas with friends and family back home. But, I later decided to save some money, take the opportunity to see another country, and turn this trip into a mini-vacation. I will be in Singapore from Wednesday, December 12th through Monday, December 17th. I am traveling alone, but am grateful to have been provided with free accommodations. A lady in my church here in Perth has a house in Singapore. I plan on spending a day at the Singapore Zoo, which is rumored to rival the world renowned San Diego Zoo. The zoo offers a night safari that sounds really amazing. I also want to hit up Chinatown and Little India, as well as spend a day on Sentosa Isle. Be looking out for a blog update upon my return next week.

I’ll keep this on short and sweet since most of my blogs are more like novels. Only two more weeks til Christmas! Anticipation galore!

Wishing you all peace and joy,
Sarah Kate

p.s. This was my first attempt at uploading photos, so bear with my doubles! I hope you enjoy them!

Schools Out For Summer….

**Disclaimer: this blog is quite blunt and revealing. Don’t say I didn’t warn you—haha!

This past week was an eye-opening and exciting experience. I, along with Josh and Taylor, journeyed 3 hours south to a town called Dunsborough to participate in a volunteer opportunity called “Leavers.” The name stems from the fact that kids are “leaving” high school. Each November, thousands of seventeen-year-olds graduat and head to Dunsborough to celebrate their freedom and accomplishment. Now, I am sure a small percentage of these teens are wholesomely spending the days laying on the beach or surfing and the nights watching chick-flicks and eating popcorn in their pajamas, but the majority of the kids party all night and sleep all day, in order to gear up for another night of hard-core partying.

During our volunteer training day a couple weeks prior to Leavers, we got debriefed on what to expect down south. I left the session enthusiastically, envisioning I’d encounter a Panama City Spring Break-ish type atmosphere. My oh my, did this experience far surpass my expectations. Actually, “far surpass” doesn’t do the week justice. The experience blew my expectations clear out of the water!

Monday morning Josh, Taylor, Mike Norman and I left Perth and headed down to Dunsborough. Mike drove one car and I, the other. We arrived to Dunsborough mid-afternoon and found the Baptist Youth Campsite that we would be lodging at for the week. Around 4 pm we headed to the “Zone” where our volunteer work would take place. The Zone was an area about the size of a football field where we set up several large pavilion tents, each for different purposes—food & lounge tent, DJ dance party tent, Band/MC tent, First Aid tent, and the “Recovery” tent for kids who didn’t know their drug and alcohol limits and spent the night passed out on the floor. We also set up 20 port-a-potties, a rock climbing wall, a dunking booth, a mechanical bull, and bouncy castle. We would spend an hour or so setting up each afternoon and then go eat dinner with all the other volunteer groups at a local post. The Salvation Army volunteers did a scrumptious job of keeping us fed and fueled.

At 7 pm we’d head back to the Zone and ran the area until 1 am. Each night roughly 4000 teenagers showed up to party hard, high off pills (think: Ecstasy) and drunk off alcohol. I think the females were having silent competitions on who could get away with wearing the least bit of clothing and still be allowed in public. Daisy duke skirts, bathing suit tops under overall-shorts, skimpy sun dresses…all causing the boys to lust profusely. Aw, mission accomplished, ladies! It also gave the horny boys easy access for fondling and gratuitous sexual engagement.

We had about 30-40 volunteers in our crew—the green hoodie group. We all came from various churches and universities around the Perth area and wore matching sweatshirts and badges to identify ourselves. There were also volunteers from the Red Frogs Organization, Drug Arm, AIDS Awareness, as well as several local security guards and policemen, even a handful on horses. So professional! Each night, we paired up and took turns guarding/looking after/operating each station. My favorite jobs were:

(a) the front gate bag check—I got to talk to all the kids as they passed through, and even bust a girl who tried to sneak in a bottle of whiskey. Seriously, this girl was desperate. She cut a hole in the lining of her purse and shoved the bottle between the inner lining and the outer covering of the bag and re-sewed it back. Did she think I was stupid? I may not be a seasoned drinker but like I can’t make out the shape of a Jim Beam Whiskey bottle! It was invigorating watching the cop slap her with a $200 fine for her blatant offense.

(b) the DJ dance party tent—before coming to Australia I wasn’t too keen on techo music but after my Leavers experience, I have that hypnotic beat running through my head all hours of the day. At the DJ tent, I would stand behind the barriers guarding the spinning equipment, making sure no drunken kids rushed the stage. Ear plugs were my life saver, as the speaker was blaring right next to my ear. The most interesting, shocking, and vulgar things happened in this particular tent each night. Not ten feet away was oral sex being performed, and I got really uncomfortable when a guy was fondling his girlfriend (or probably more accurately, the no-named girl he just met 5 minutes before-hand) about 2 feet away from me with only the waist-high metal barrier “protecting” me. No shame, I tell you! I am sure you are wondering why this tent was a favorite of mine. Well, when I wasn’t feeling personally violated by others’ actions, I had a fun time dancing to the beat along (not specifically with, of course) the kids. I also staked out this tent during the night because it was freezing outside once the sun went down and the body heat from the tent kept me from going numb. The tent was conveniently nicknamed “the Sauna” because it felt sticky from perspiration and moisture droplets started falling from the ceiling by 11 pm—Eew! Yea, I know it is gross to think that I was enjoying the warmth of sweaty body-heat, but I go to great lengths when I am desperate!

(c) the Band/MC tent—this tent was very similar to the DJ tent, but there were 3 MCs who kept the crowd entertained, and the music was more mainstream hip-hop and punk rather than the monotonous techo tones. Each night, they had a band play for a bit, as well. The last two nights as midnight approached, I threw any shyness out the window, let loose and got up on stage with the MCs to dance in front of the massive, electrifying crowd. The adrenaline rush gave me a second wind. And boy did I need those second winds—all my friends know that I am usually in bed asleep by 10:30 pm each night. So, you can imagine how much of an exhausted zombie I was after 4 nights of staying up past 2 am!

My least favorite job was toilet duty. Luckily a good-hearted gentleman named Trevor offered to clean toilets each night, so as a volunteer, I just had to make sure girls and guys used the appropriately designated toilets and didn’t go into a port-a-potty together. I never caught any couples “getting it on” in the stinky, mingy toilets, but I did hear some juicy stories from the other volunteers. I guess God knew that the DJ tent escapades were all I could handle. He does promise not to give us more than we can bear. Haha, I crack myself up sometimes. (Bust!)

So, like I mentioned early, we would operate the Zone until 1 am. We’d then clean up copious amounts of trash, debrief about the night, and head back to the campsite to collapse in sheer exhaustion. I’d usually sleep until about 11 am the next day, spend a couple hours on the beach, take an hour-long power nap and then head back out around 4 pm for another crazy night of mayhem. By Friday, my body was so fatigued and sore that I almost started hallucinating about a hot, clean shower and my comfy, warm bed.

All in all, the week was one crazy ride! Yet, I believe that it was definitely a beneficial experience. I made some new friends with the other volunteers and networked with them about future volunteer and job opportunities in Perth. My eyes were opened to the real lifestyles and temptations of today’s teenagers. I was inspired and rejuvenated to see all these volunteers, many who are not Christians, come together to serve the youth of Australia, not seeking any recognition or reward, but solely helping out of the goodness of their hearts. I come away from this riveting experience a little less naive, a little more grateful for my upbringing, and a lot more excited for the Kingdom of God.

Initially, I was a little hesitant to blog about this experience. I knew I didn’t want to sugar coat things and tell you all that “I had a great time volunteering at a week-long graduation event,” but I did have fear about being totally honest and frank in accounting the week’s circumstances, mainly because I didn’t want to offend anyone. Yet, just like I overcame my inhibition and boogied on stage, I decided to throw my hesitancies out the window and be completely blunt about the Leavers experience. I hope you can take something from reading my blog, whether it be a fresh insight, inspiration to get involved with your own community, motivation for change, thankfulness for your personal circumstances, or just a 10-minute literary enjoyment.

On a lighter note: only 3 weeks til Christmas! Time to whip out Amy Grant’s Tennessee Christmas album!!

Wishing I was by a crackling fire,

Sarah Kate