New Year

I stayed up to 1am to watch the inauguration. My Finnish roommates kept me company, but they weren't really invested in it. I can't believe that Chief Justice Roberts flubbed the oath. Anyway, this is my favorite picture of the inaugural ball. Maybe I'm a huge sap, but you can see just how much love they have for each other.

There wasn't much fanfare around Singapore for the inauguration, although I did watch the ceremony live on Channel News Asia. The bigger celebration is Chinese New Year. Classes are canceled on Monday and Tuesday. Don't be too jealous because we have make-up classes on Saturdays. I know, the Singaporeans are really intense about schooling. Since all the exchanges don't have families here, most everyone is taking the long weekend for adventures. I know a bunch of people who left for Bali today, some left for Phuket yesterday. I'll be in Singapore because I didn't make plans early enough. Everything closes early Sunday night and reopens on Wednesday, so I'll have to stock up on groceries if I don't want to go hungry.

Last night, one of our tour guides gathered up a group of 25-30 exchanges, and we went for a traditional Chinese New Year dinner. The restaurant was on open air place out at Toa Payoh.

We started by tossing up a colorful salad. It was mainly carrots, but there were oils and sauces and stuff. Anyway, everyone brings up the salad with their chopsticks. The higher you toss the salad, the better fortune you'll have for the new year, but if any spills off the plate, that equates to bad luck. The food was soooo good. I finally had chili crab, which is one of the most famous Singaporean dishes. Also, the little deep fried bread nuggets were really tasty, especially when you sop up the chili crab sauce. Even though there was 9 at our table, we couldn't finish all of our food.

This weekend should be pretty low key and relaxing. On Saturday, I'm going to see a musical at SMU with my buddy and her friends. I think the roommies and I are going to explore Chinatown before the decorations get taken down. Hopefully, I'm going to get some travel plans set. To get a jump start, I checked out Lonely Planet - Laos today from the library.

I heard it was freezing at home. I miss y'all a lot and stay warm!