Apprehensive

Not sure if I want to download the app that uses my phone to show me where I am in Singapore. I have thought about it a lot, even to the point of having it ready for purchase, only needing to tap the screen, just one little tap. . . and have curled my index finger back each time. There is something in me--and I am sure it is because I am an English major through and through--that eschews the use of technology for an Occam's razor-like clarity in everyday life. 


In other words, I like a bit of uncertainty. I like the human element. I'm not convinced we need to know everything that the tech world can show us (he wrote on his blog).


Several times since arriving, I have relished the idea of being uncertain about where I am and learning to navigate the subtle, mysterious, difficult, and earned cartographic ecology of a new city. To feel the city rather than know it--maybe that is my goal. Having lived in Denver for 20 years, I didn't have to think about where I was anymore; I could get anywhere without becoming lost, ever because of the time I spent getting lost during my first years as a resident. I "felt" Denver because I had lived in so many parts of it and had used a bike (sans car, that is) in my 20's there. I knew what each streetcorner looked like, what hills were steepest, where to cut through. I still remember well the awe I felt the first time I rode down 32nd to Irving to Speer and, sensing the city was close, rounded the soft corner by the Denver Zen Center just west of Federal and saw Denver lit up and radiant and waiting for me across the Speer Boulevard bridge. 


With a phone app, there's not a lot of work involved to know a place. Just look at the screen, and it will tell me the best way from A to B by train, by walking, by taxi, and by bus as well as how long it will take me to get there or how long I'll need to wait. I can even find out where the coffee shops are along the way (or whatever else I might want to find). Where's the fun in that? Where's the "feel" in that? I might have missed that first glimpse of Denver if I had been staring at a phone app (though this was 1993, so I wouldn't have had the option anyways).


Oh, the humanity!


In Denver, 32nd and Lowell feels a helluva lot different to me  than Speer and Market. Arapahoe and Aurora Parkway feels much different to me than Dayton and Belleview. 88th and Wads does not feel the same as 44th and Wads, nor does that feel the same as 6th and Wads. Neither does Hampden and Kipling vs. 3nd and Kipling. Or . . . 17th and Broadway  vs. Broadway and Evans or 3rd and Detroit vs. 2nd and Fillmore . . . each makes me think of different times, different events, different people, different experiences. Different weather, even.


I want the same feelings here, but it will take a while. 


No App for now, I think. I'll be the guy asking questions or walking in the wrong direction.


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I ate a cup of avocado ice cream last night. It had a sweet and savory flavor--not as terrible as you'd think. Leigh had a bite and almost barfed. Ethan and Laney would not try it and acted as if it were kryptonite (and it looked kind of like kryptonite, actually).


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Watching the Olympics through the Singapore feed is such a pleasure and a relief. I do not have to endure all of the NBC-style framing of events and athletes and "storylines." It's a bit like watching the Olympics if they were presented by CSPAN rather than corporate America. No narrative. No propagandistic, stirring music.  No commentary, no background info. No Costas or anyone else. Few commercials. Rarely-seen countries (on American TV, that is) competing on-screen: for instance, I watched a Bangladeshi gymnast and a Ukrainian shooter last night. I kept thinking, "Those guys would have never made it to prime time back home." Downside: Olympics begin late here and are on through the night. I would have had to stay up until 4 a.m. to catch swimming events. 



Yin and yang, Olympic-style.




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Had coffee and buttered toast this morning at a kopitiam that has been open since 1915. It cost about two dollars US. The coffee was dark, thick, and sweet and served to me on a saucer with a spoon. The toast was hot and sugary. The service was brusque--perfect for my morning mood--I don't like chit-chatting in the mornings at all. I think they'll be open another 97 years if they keep it up, and I'll be back soon.


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Another new teacher and I were talking about how well we have been treated by SAS since arriving last week. She then said, "I hope it's not like The Firm at the beginning, you know?" That made me laugh and then nervously scratch my neck. 


But seriously, folks: teachers are treated differently here (at least so far) than we are back home. Much, much more on that to come. I feel that the two-column diagram of US/Singapore teaching differences might become a heartbeat for this blog. Who knows. 


We begin our first formal work day tomorrow morning, 8 a.m. Cannot wait. 


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