Mornings Off

I found out that for the majority of the time working in Singapore I will have the mornings to myself. Today I worked out at IYSWIM and then went to pick up my Camera Hunan IT Mall. The fixed it up quite well and guaranteed the work for atleast 3 months for only 11 dollars. I then Met up with Stephen Haynes and Paige for lunch in front of Caltex House. We went for lunch at a Malaysian place. Malay food consists of rice topped with an assortment of choice meats and vegetables. It is different from other Asian food because of the variety in one dish.

I then headed back home to change for work. Amir is stationing me a day at every part of the restaurant and the factory to learn the entire process of the company from production to consumption. I met up with Anwar the operations manager and I learned to grill Satay. The meat is cooked on a long slender grill with open coals. The fire must be fanned to keep the coals from getting too hot.

The majority of the people I work with are Singaporean's of Malay Decent. The facial features of Malay are very well distinguishable from Chinese, Japanese, and other Asians. Facial hair is more common in males, and the eyes and nose is a lot different.

Through work I am learning about Islam and what the Muslim people believe. One of the older gentlemen is called Hajj because he has made his pilgrimage to Mecca, an Islamic Mosque that is considered the holiest Islamic Land.

Every year, millions of Muslims gather in Mecca, Saudi Arabia for the annual pilgrimage, called Hajj. Arriving from every corner of the globe, pilgrims of all nationalities, ages, and colors come together for the largest religious gathering in the world. For several days, millions of pilgrims in Mecca will pray together, eat together, and celebrate the glory of Allah. Following the pilgrimage rites, Muslims around the world will celebrate the largest holiday of the year, called Eid-al-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice).

He has told me to feel free to ask whatever I want about his religion. I want to learn as much as possible from him to share with others. Islam, in today's American Society, holds a negative light. I want to share the better side of this when I come home. It is the few extremists who make this religion looked upon in ill light.

Wednesday has been declared Family day! We decided that we have activities planned every night and are away from our Host Families too much. Wednesday nights for the remainder of the trip will be spent in the Host Family Household or doing a family activity. Everyone thought that this was a great idea.

Family night for me consisted of going to Eng Chiang's daughter's(SUSAN) Condo for dinner. Eng Chiang's grandbaby is named Ran Xi, Chinese for Noble Pure Fresh Spring Water. He is only 8 months old and is very active beginning to walk.

Susan comes in from work around 8PM from the Ministry of Man Power where she deals with securing a work force for the growing population of Singapore. She deals with this in as an international perspective of immigrant workers from Indonesia and Malaysia. She also suggested some activities to do in my mornings off and invited me to go to church with her when I am here on the weekends. Hearing her stories about Oxford and the challenging curriculum was interesting.

I turned in early because I wanted to get up at 6AM to tour Little India.