So by the time I finish writing this post I will have been in Singapore for exactly one week! I am seriously amazed that I have only spent 7 days in this crazy, beautiful, hot, humid, crowded, green, tropical island, and skyscraper filled city/country. My group has kept itself pleasantly busy with multiple welcome dinners, orientation, trips into the city, visits to Little India, Chinatown, Arab Street, recovering from 12 hours of jet lag, and of course classes. I'll try to give you a quick update on what's been going on recently without going into too much detail, and I'll mention a couple themes which I hope to keep exploring all summer.Recap: Just got back from the Singapore vs. Uzbekistan World Cup qualifier game. Singapore lost in a tragic 7-3 defeat, but awesome opportunity to experience a football game in a foreign country. I kind of enjoy being part of the crowd here (although 25 Americans walking together does draw attention, and my hair catches a few strange looks).
Check my pictures on Facebook for a better idea of the places we've been, I have just about everything up on there from the week (3 albums worth). However, on Saturday I decided to leave the camera at home and enjoy the city just for the moment, not worrying about documenting everything. We went to a cool event downtown called VietFest, celebrating Vietnamese culture, music, and food. The night included a stop at Wala Wala, a club nearby our residence that plays live music. We rocked out to a very cool local cover band, The Unexpected, and my group enjoyed dancing and singing along at the top of our lungs despite the strange looks we got from people around us.The thing that has hit me most this week, besides the heat each time I step out of the A/C, is the interesting mix of cultures, ethnic groups, and religions in Singapore. The country has 3 main ethnic groups: Chinese (76%), Indian (7%), and Malay (15%). In many parts of the country the population is very well integrated and diversified. However, yesterday I went to Little India and was surprised when I stepped off the train to find the normal diversity lost in a crowd of almost entirely Indian faces. This is partially caused by the influx of foreign workers, but still sticks out in a city that has tried so hard to integrate it's diverse populations into a single people.
I'm excited to learn more about the recent history of Singapore in my classes the next few weeks while we also study political and economic change in the region of South East Asia. It's only been 3 days of class, but good stuff is coming up already. I also hope to comment later on in my blog postings about a question I have been asking myself recently in light of our reading: which is more important: liberal (free) democracy or economic/political stability? I'd love to hear any preemptive thoughts on that or responses to the rest of this post. For now I leave you with a few pictures!
2 comments:
hey dack! in response to the liberal-free democracy verses economic and policical stability...is that in reference to your negative views towards the 2 party system? first off, i apoligize if punctuation sucks in this bc im typing on a spanish computer and dont know how to change it. so here in uruguay, there are tons of parties and a lot of instability that involves many things that apparently arent suitable to mention in public so ive been told. but then i look at America and say that I dont really like either the dems or repubs and want some more diversity and freedom for other parties to make the ballot...but then i look at what has happened in uruguay through that system and now im leaning towards the 2 party system. being in a foreign country i realize that all the things i thought sucked about America truly arent that bad comparitively (see my last entry). hugs!
i'll have to check out your latest entry to see your other thoughts. my comments are more related to the single party system of singapore which has established a very healthy economy and civil stability, but lacks rights like full freedom of speech. and oppose that with say indonesia which has a better democratic system at the moment, but not much benefit for the people in terms of quality of life. you can really learn a lot about american politics by seeing the alternative for a bit. we had a great discussion about all of this in class today and should be continuing that throughout the course!
Post a Comment