Showers and other blessings

The rain has been the main constant for me this week. As I mentioned in a previous note, April isn’t the driest month, but neither is it in the top half of the wettest. Yet we have had rain every day this week. Usually at morning or evening rush hour.

The office is about 17 miles from the hotel. My work day typically begins with an arranged taxi ride from the hotel to the office. We usually leave a little after 7 AM, and arrive pretty consistently about 40 minutes later. The office is on a small island developed as a major industrial center protected heavy military security (think men with big guns and finger on the trigger). Each morning our bags are checked, trunks opened, and IDs scanned in.

Lunch is in the office and usually consists of rice with either a small bit of chicken of fish. Fortunately, one of the employees always brings a supply of fresh fruit, so the meal is capped with tasty bananas, oranges, mangos, or pineapple. They keep a lot of snacks around the office – cookies, nuts, crackers, and Mentos (the closest thing you will find to chewing gum). They have plenty of coffee and tea available, too, including a version of tea called “Teh Tarik” which is hot tea mixed with condensed milk. It is a bit sweeter than I prefer, but is a quite common after lunch drink and would seem rude to turn it down when someone brings you some every day.

We end the day at 5 PM. Very few people work later than that. Many do not have cars so the office provides shuttles to the nearest bus or train station for their ride to and from work. You miss the bus, you take a taxi which can be difficult to arrange on short notice. My taxi driver also picks me up, as arranged in advance, about the same time. The trip back to the hotel should only take about 45-50 minutes, but if it is raining (which it has nearly every afternoon) the trip is prolonged considerably. Friday night the trip back to the hotel took 1 hour and 45 minutes because of rain, people leaving work a little earlier on Friday, accidents, and what seemed like the entire truck population of the entire island between me and the hotel. As one friend put it perspective when they heard about it, “Why did you go all the way to Singapore for that experience? You could have had that back home.”

On the few days that it did not rain on the way home, it rained while going to or coming from dinner. I haven’t ventured too far from the hotel, but haven’t had to. There are at least four food courts (not like American food courts, but an assortment of different kinds of Asian cuisines) within 5 minutes of the hotel, plus a few American or European chains very near. And Starbucks. There are 4 within a short walk from the hotel and not just little kiosks, but full blown cafes. And there are several other chain coffee houses near as well. This may be tea country but coffee is a power player.

Friday evening I met a co-worker who is from the U.S for dinner. We ate in a popular area called Clarke Quay (pronounced “key”). It runs along the Singapore River and it full of restaurants and cuisines from all over the world (they even have a BK Whopper Bar and McD Café). It is a very popular nightspot for the young and young at heart, and is one of those places that seems to get more crowded the later it gets. When we finished dinner and dessert from an entertaining Greek ice cream stand, it had become very difficult to just walk down the plaza without bumping into someone. This was a bit much for either of us, so we found a relatively quiet café serving cold coffee drinks, and chilled there before heading back to the hotel.

I have been asked about my spiritual perspectives of life here. Like Paul said about the Athenians in the book of Acts in the Bible, these are a religious people. There are many churches, temples, shrines, and mosques wherever you look. But the religion of many is not of God or of any spiritual being, but is of achieving success in this life (or for just a day). By all measures of this world, they are a very successful people – as successful as any culture in Asia. I cannot see their hearts or their faith, but I wonder what their faith is in? Something here or something greater than here. And I wonder how different we are back home.

It is a beautiful island and as diverse a culture as nearly any you could ever see. I’ll write later more about what I saw over the weekend.

Pictures of the trip are at http://scottshots4.shutterfly.com/593