Sunday, July 19, 2009

Monday

I haven't posted for a couple of day -- sorry about that. The teaching schedule in Singapore is Friday night 7-10pm, Saturday 9-5:30pm, and Sunday 9-5:30pm. Between reviewing notes for the next day's class, getting adjusted to the time difference, and trying to spend a little time chatting online with Heather and Michael, I haven't had a lot of idle time.

I had thought about going to an island for some snorkeling, but the schedule was going to be really rough to make work. It was looking like a 4-hour bus ride, then a 2-hour ferry ride to get there, and the same to get back. I'd get back late on Wednesday evening, and then do an all-day seminar on Thursday, an open house for potential Baruch students Thursday night, and then class again Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The time just wasn't seeming to work out for me, given some of the other things I need to get done while I am here. So instead I am going to get out and see some of Singapore, which I didn't get to do really last time I was here. I'll try to get to Little India, Chinatown, and Arab Street. If I get to one of those spots each day Monday to Wednesday, then I'll be in pretty good shape.

Last night after class, I went to dinner with two of the students at a local hawker location -- a place where there are lots of little food stands all together. They just kept getting more stuff for me to eat! I had barbequed stingray with a really spicy sauce, which was quite good. We also had several varieties of satay, as well as two different types of noodle dishes. To drink I had sugar cane juice, made fresh as I waited. An excellent, and filling, meal.

Conversation at dinner was good and interesting, as well. One of my dinner companions was active in the ruling party, and the other not much in support of that party. Both acknowledged -- to me, though not so much to their compatriots -- that democracy in Singapore is not quite what most Westerners would think of as democracy. There are restrictions -- both real and perceived -- on free speech and expressions of disapproval of the government are not welcome or wise. The parliament has 81 seats, 79 of which are held by the ruling party, with the other two seemingly token opposition from two different parties. We talked about whether third world countries or developing economies should have open democracy or authoritarian leadership -- one argument was that under open democracy, the leaders are there for only a short time and so have no incentive to act in the country's best interests, and so instead act in their own best interests, as compared to an authoritarian ruler who can bring the country up economically by the rigid pursuit of individual vision. There were, of course, counter-arguments to that position.

After dinner we went to Wesley Methodist Church, which is withing walking distance of the hotel. It is the oldest Methodist Church in Singapore, celebrating its 125th anniversary next year. It is also very large -- the list of new members and baptisms from the past week was probably 40-50 people. The Sunday evening service is a prayer and praise service, which was not quite my typcial style -- I didn't know any of the songs, for example -- but I was glad to have gone. The general conservatism of Singapore was evident in the service and sermon, but I was warmly greeted and welcomed, and it was a good experience. The Singapore Methodist Church is affiliated with the United Methodist Church, so I saw familiar symbols on the hymnals, and when they started the communion liturgy, I was right at home.

I am going to get a little lunch now, and go see some sights. This evening, I may make it out to a movie -- it seems that "Harry Potter" is playing on just about every screen in town.

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