Awesome Sauce

That's the name of the relay team Joel joined last week in a 516 mile race in Utah from Moab to St George called the Rockwell Relay.

By all accounts they had a great time and came in a very respectable 15th out of the 50 teams who competed. 

Graduation trip part two

I left off at the end of Disneyland. The family, filled with churros, had just left for Canada up the PCH and Joel and I moved into a suite in Santa Monica. Joel started back to work using the LA office nearby and I did what I do when Joel's working in LA: walk up and down the beach, stroll vintage stores, eat amazing food at little cafes and drink really great coffee. People like to hate LA. I get it, the highways inland are hideous, the urban sprawl is epic and there are some major cultural differences between the two sides of California. That said, LA is just a breeding ground of new music, new art new architecture and urban cool in all it's untamed forms. If you situate yourself somewhere like Venice, Santa Monica, Manhattan Beach or any of the west side beach oriented areas it's really not a bad place at all. I love living in jeans and flip flops, having salty wind blowing through my hair and knowing that the next whole foods is probably only five minutes away.

Graduation extravaganza trip part one

The one thing (I'm not joking about the singular focus) that got me through the last few months of my degree this spring was the looming date of completion when I'd get to board a plane and head to San Francisco. Somehow the portfolio came together, no one died in the process. I made it to the airport after a few weeks of four hour nights followed by one last all-nighter. I slithered into my seat in the front row of business class and only woke when the concerned flight attendant touched my shoulder and suggested I should have something to eat. I had actually passed out in my seat without even reclining which is arguably why one books one of these upgrades.

Reverse Culture Shock

I’ve never had reverse culture shock before but I think I can say I’ve finally experienced a bit of it on this trip we are on. In my first week I was in a state of cultural relief. I think it was mostly the joy of having all these conversations with people who could understand everything I was saying. Apart from some of our expat friends, most of the conversing I do in Singapore is with people who speak either English as a second language or they are are more used to speaking Singlish. I am constantly substituting words to keep within a common area of vocabulary. It sometimes makes conversations short and often a bit taxing as I search for the right way to communicate an idea. I like the multiculturalism and the fact that everyone around me is from somewhere else but there is a comfort when you get back to a place where you can make a play on words and people actually laugh.