Singapore

Two weeks ago, I left the island of Java for the first time in 7 months. It was like tasting and feeling freedom at the same time. I desperately needed a change of scenery. I chose Singapore to be my first getaway because my family friend, Monica, currently lives there. When I booked my ticket last July, I was excited to explore Singapore. But as my departure date came closer, I became more excited to see Monica than Singapore. I was desperate to reconnect with someone outside of the Peace Corps bubble.

Monica had to work during the weekdays, but we still managed to catch up each night. She took me out twice to enjoy Singapore’s nightlife. She even convinced me to smoke a $40 Cuban cigar on a rooftop bar. What luxury!

During the weekdays, I explored Singapore by myself. This was the first time I had ever explored a foreign country alone. It was exactly as fun as I thought it’d be! I didn’t make an agenda or force myself to go to touristy places. Each morning I looked at a map, found an area that interested me, and then went for it! I liked the idea of exploring a city and not being tied down to a strict agenda.  

On the first day, I literally sat inside Monica’s apartment enjoying the air conditioning and free wifi. I barely got up out of her bed. When I finally did muster up enough motivation to leave, I ended up across the street from her apartment building and into a comfy seat at the movie theater. It was a lazy, rainy day in Singapore and I felt as if I had lived there for years.

On the second day, I acted like a true tourist and headed to the Asian Civilization Museum. When I got to the museum, tangled wires, loudspeakers, and a microphone scattered the atrium floor. I asked the staff if here was a performance going on later. They said, “Yes, there is a jazz band playing here later today.” Obviously I stuck around to enjoy the live music!

A college professor from Singapore asked his students to play a few jazz numbers at the museum. They played songs by Duke Ellington and Frank Sinatra. They even played Moon River, one of my personal favorites! I’m so glad I went to the museum on that particular day. I think I enjoyed the band more than the museum itself!

Overall, Singapore was fun, but I did not fit into the local culture. Everyone was dressed in expensive outfits complemented with Louis Vuitton bags, Kate Spade shoes, and Gucci watches. I did not fit in with my long, hippy flower shirt and my baggie t-shirt that reads “Help the Homeless.”

I once read an article stating that a country’s best quality is also the country’s worst quality. Singaopre’s best and worst quality is….

Drum roll please….

It’s perfect.

It’s perfect in the sense that everything is clean and orderly. There are many rules and regulations in Singapore. These are the ones that intrigued me the most.

 1) Each animal is quarantined and observed for a month before being allowed into the country.  This ensures that the animals is disease-free and safe to enter the country.

2) The license to own a car is sometimes valued higher than the car itself (this expensive license helps regulate the number of cars let into the country).

3) If you are found homeless in Singapore, the government will place you in housing until you land on your feet.

Overall, the country is also incredibly safe. According to Monica, you can leave your wallet on the table of a busy café, come back an hour later, and discover your wallet untouched. She also told me that many Singapore residents chose to leave their doors unlocked. Now that’s trust!

However, the country has no flare, no zest. Everything in Singapore looks and feels  brand new. It’s as if they forced the personality out of Singapore and left only the orderly, well-dressed people. Don’t get me wrong. Singapore was great, but it just wasn’t my cup of tea.

H2No

In college I took a course on Latin America. During one class period, I studied the Water War in Bolivia. In 1999-2000, Bolivian citizens protested the privatized water systems. The leading water resource Aguas del Tunari soon monopolized the water industry. The price of installing this system was incredibly high; many locals could afford the price of water, but not the price of installation. As a result, many Bolivians began to collect rainwater in attempt to eschew the private water companies. The government soon discovered these tricks and made collecting rainwater illegal. Water became scarce and sacred.

“That must have really sucked,” I thought as I walked out of class.  Later, I filled my water bottle, went home, took a shower, boiled some pasta, ate dinner, and put my dirty dishes into the dishwasher. The thought of water never crossed my mind again even though I was using water all day. I never stopped to appreciate the precious liquid gold until today.

Right now, my village is going through a drought. It’s nothing as severe as the Water War in Bolivia, but it is a serious issue. Let me explain my water situation:

There are two types of water in my household. There’s potable water that comes from a water cooler and there’s tap water. The drinking water is more expensive than the tap water. In fact, the tap water is paid for through taxes. The tap water is the stuff they warn you about in travel guides. You don’t want to drink that…ever. I still have potable water that gets delivered to my house every week. That’s not the issue. The issue is the tap water.

My bathroom has a large square basin on the left hand side. The basin is usually filled with water. Most of the time, the basin is overflowing and spills onto the bathroom floor. This water is used to mandi (bucket bath) and to flush the toilet. The toilet is a porcelain squatty potty. You pour water in the squatter (hey, that rhymes) until your excrement has been flushed down into the abyss.

Recently the water in the basin has been either 25-50% full (or 50-75% empty for all you pessimists out there). Indonesians usually take 2 bucket baths a day. Last week, my ibu asked me to skip my second bucket bath because there was hardly any water in the basin.

“We have to save it for the toilet,” she told me.

Just yesterday, I went into the bathroom in the morning to take a bucket bath. Unfortunately, the basin was nearly empty. I chose to only wash my bottom half in order to save the water for other purposes. Later that night the basin was full again, so I was able to fully bathe.

My ibu also tells me to be incredibly careful when I’m hand washing my clothes (I don’t have a washing machine in my house). To relieve some of her stress, I started washing my clothes only once a week as opposed to twice a week like I used to. I also wear the same clothes twice in order to avoid washing more clothes. It’s sort of gross in this climate, but I don’t want to be the cause of more stress.

In front of my house, there is a large dust lot. The lot can fit about 2 cars. My ibu “waters” this dust lot. When I asked her why, she said, “The dust flies up into your face. When it rains, I will stop doing this.”

I thought this was pretty counterintuitive seeing as we are in the middle of a drought. But here’s the logic behind it: if the dust constantly flies into my face, then I cough and need to drink water. Potable water is expensive, and therefore I am spending more money on water. By pouring tap water onto the dust lot, I am reducing the amount that I have to spend on potable water.

As I said before, the water in the bathroom basin sometimes overflows. To prevent the loss of water, my ibu has been saving the excess water in buckets. This water is used to water the dust lot.

I asked my host parents what we will do if the rain does not come until December. They said we will have to cut our bucket baths to only once a day and we will stop watering the dust lot.

Although the drought isn’t severe yet, I have developed a new appreciation for my water supply. I knew the lack of water is a concern around the globe, but I didn’t understand  how the lack of one resource could alter your lifestyle.