Palau Ubin

Yesterday I visited the small island of Palau Ubin. With a population of around 100 inhabitants, the island is on the north coast of Singapore. To get there, I took a small Bumboat that took about 10 minutes to cross the Johor Strait between Singapore and Malaysia. The ride costs $2.50 each way and you pay the "captain" once you're on. The island welcomes you with many bike rental shacks and local food stands. After renting my eight dollar bike I ventured around the island with a hand drawn map. Many palm trees and mangroves surround the island as well as some camouflaged wildlife. As I was enjoying my ride down a green path I noticed what I thought was a vibrant green branch. To my surprise it was a snake, which I believe I scared off either by running over the end of it or with my high pitch scream. Many crabs, spiders, blowfish and other marine life, live happily on this island as well as wild pigs. Many beaches surround the island but they are not swimmable. As mentioned in a previous post, Singapore has one of the biggest ports and thus the ships waiting to unload their cargo, unload their waist in the sea. Fortunately mangroves also surround the island which are known to absorb pollutants even heavy metals. Here are some pics of the day...

Third Week In

Hello everyone,

 

I’ve now been in Singapore for three weeks, three very busy weeks to say the least. I found a condo, a 20 minute walk from school, which isn’t so bad if it weren’t so hot and humid. I live in an eclectic part of town with many shops, restaurants and a few sketchy businesses. Other than the few 6 legged visitors to my condo, I can ‘t complain. The pool is just a few steps from my front door and hardly used. Most of the time I have it all to myself. A few kilometres from my condo is the East Coast Parkway…a great place to bike and run (slowly).

School has also been keeping me busy. We have had many staff meetings, going over procedures, programming, organising and team building. Everyone, I have met has been extremely welcoming and helpful. Although, I am excited to start the school year, which is Monday, there are few things that will take time to adjust to, such has having no bells to designate the start and end of classes and no intercom/telephone in the classrooms. If you forget to send your attendance, the office staff comes to your classroom. Could you imagine Bonnie?!! I will be teaching French to students in JK to grade two. I share an office with the other language teachers, who are mostly Chinese and have a classroom for my grade one and two students. Most of the students opt for Chinese as a second language, as would be expected. That being said, my classes are fairly small.

 

Attached are a few pictures of my surroundings

Along the river we go

Last night the new staff and department leads were treated to yummy treats at the RedDot Brewhouse 
and a boat cruise along the river. Here are some of the sites along the way...