Singapore and Christmas stress at 33 degrees

Somehow delayed but yes, even here in Bali there is the so-called pre-Christmas stress. Mainly consisting of preparations for the various Christmas parties of the individual ministries. And then there is also the shopping for gifts for all the people you have met here - not to forget family and friends in Germany. All in all, more stress than at home. Because there are not just one Christmas party, but three. From which I was allowed to organize one all by myself.

My trip/visa-run to Singapore is now already almost three weeks ago.

The main purpose was actually to extend my visa in Bali. Theoretically, you only have to leave the country once and can fly back in the same day. But I thought that Singapore should be seen at least once and a little luxury would be nice for a few days.

I flew from Bali in the morning and arrived in Singapore after a 3.5h flight at noon. After familiarizing myself with the transport network (luckily everything in English), I headed towards the city center to find my hotel. Which turned out to be not that easy.. Despite Google Maps and five other directions, it took about 60 minutes for a 10-minute journey. (The Singaporeans were helpful, but just as bad at giving directions as the Balinese.)

So the air-conditioned hotel room with king-size bed, Wi-Fi, TV and private bathroom was all the more valuable, not to mention the warm shower - but the view from the window of the Singapore skyline was the absolute highlight.

On that day, since it was suddenly 4 o'clock, I only went towards Marina Bay Sands and the Botanic Gardens, very worth seeing - but then I was ready for my long-awaited warm shower. That was my first warm shower after two months. I put my iPad on my bed and watched one movie after another through the glass pane that separated the bathroom and bedroom.

The next day, I got up early to see more of Singapore. I opted for the easiest way and bought a day ticket for the hop-on-hop-off bus tours. Within one day, I saw all of Singapore. From Little India, China Town to the Botanic Garden. It was only there that I realized, because of all the (exaggerated) decorations, that Christmas is just around the corner (in Bali, because of all the different religions, there is no difference from the rest of the year).

I got off at the stops that I found interesting. By early afternoon, I was done with my Singapore tour.

To be honest, at that point I already missed the beach. So I went to Santosa 'Fun-Island', an island that is only 15 minutes away from the city center by train. For amusement park fans, a real paradise: Whether it's Universal Studios, water parks, SEA Aquarium, this little man-made island just outside the gates of Singapore has it all. Personally, I liked the two beaches, Palawan and Siloso Beach, the best. In the evening, I treated myself to a glass of wine at the Marina Bay Sands rooftop restaurant with two other Germans that I happened to meet.

The rest of my short trip, I was on my own, which I was actually looking forward to, because I hadn't had a second for myself in three months and was always surrounded by people. But already after the first day, I missed my 'second family'. So I was even more grateful that I only stayed for three days.

I spent the last day doing some sightseeing and mainly shopping. For shopping addicts like me, Singapore is unfortunately not recommended, because no matter where you go/drive, you are surrounded by shopping centers. Shopping and spending money are practically programmed here. For my standards, I held back, especially because I only had one trolley. I can't quite confirm the rumor that Singapore is so expensive. The prices are normal, what you would pay in European stores. What is extraordinary is the number of all the designer stores there.

At 3pm, I headed to the airport and flew back home. As a matter of fact, I was picked up by a friend on a scooter. The suitcase and all the shopping bags just fit.

In my opinion, Singapore is a nice big city that you must see - but it doesn't come close to New York, Los Angeles or London. Although the city is very clean and despite the countless skyscrapers, there is a lot of green to see. I suspect it's just this Asian big city atmosphere that I didn't like so much.

Back in Bali, the preparations for all the Christmas events at the base started right on the next day.

The first party for one of the ministries already took place at the end of November. Fortunately, in an air-conditioned room, because it would have been impossible to handle 50 children at 33 degrees outside.

One of my few strengths is organizing, so I agreed to take over the planning of this Christmas party.

The only pity was that the Indonesians involved hardly got anything done. Fortunately, I still had my two other volunteers and an outreach team from Australia who took care of the crafts and preparations as well as the set-up. The theme of the party was 'Frozen', the kids here (yes, even boys) love Frozen. There were 4 stations and 4 groups named after the main characters from Frozen. There were games like cookie decoration, snowman mummy (the kids had to wrap one of their group members in toilet paper and stick carrot nose and eyes on their face in the shortest possible time), cookie catching and snowman bowling (we had a homemade snowman made of boxes, with Olaf's face, and the kids had to try to knock down all the boxes with a ball). The games were played for the first few hours, in the second hour we taught the kids a Christmas song, watched a short film, and explained to them why we celebrate Christmas.

In the end, there was a small goodie bag and then the kids went home again. You could see from the children's faces that it was a successful party.

The next party will likely unfold in a similar way, and then it will be vacation time.

In less than 2 weeks, I will already be on my way to Australia. There I will also spend Christmas and New Year's Eve with friends. And with one of my friends, I will embark on a little road trip towards the south. We will also fly to Byron Bay on January 1st for the Falls Festival. So again, some variety, but this time for almost 4 weeks. Until mid-January, when I will return to Bali to continue teaching.