Where thou art, that is home. -Emily Dickinson

Yesterday, we went on our much anticipated homestays! Two to four SEAS participants were paired with a local Singaporean to spend a day together. Danielle and I were paired with Raihana, who happens to be best friends with Nadiah, our NUS contact and all-knowing guide here in Singapore, who happens to be good friends with Amir, another host for the day. All these wonderful connections led to the combination of three homestay groups and subsequently the most fun day ever!

We began our day with lunch at Pizza Hut in Tampines (Singapore's most populated town). Pizza Hut may not sound very exciting, but all of the food at this Pizza Hut was halal, meaning it is acceptable to eat according to Islamic law. Meghan was skeptical knowing that her pepperonis would actually be made of chicken, but was surprised to find them even better than usual! After learning about the Islamic religion in the Harmony Center the day before, as Stephany discussed, we were all very excited to know we were eating a permissible Islamic lunch, and at Pizza Hut nonetheless!

After lunch, we headed to Pasir Ris Park. Raihana told us the private houses near the park ranged from 1.5 to 3 million dollars in value! Since only about fifteen percent of Singaporeans' income levels are high enough to qualify for private housing, these numbers were not nearly as surprising as one might think. The park was gorgeous and led right up to a small beach beside the ocean where we made sure to take plenty of picturesque photos. Then, it was play time! Though the expansive playground was missing a few U.S. staple pieces of equipment like the seesaw and tire swing, all the futuristic additions definitely made up for it. From the fifty foot spider web tower to the spinning disk that threw me for a loop, literally, this playground was like nothing we had ever seen before. Even though ten teenagers playing alongside little kids may have looked a little strange, we had a great time and a new experience!

The Mind Cafe was our next stop, and was definitely my favorite part of the day. After sitting down at a huge circular table and having our drink orders taken, Raihana and Amir brought over board game after board game for us to play. The Mind Cafe is like any other restaurant, except all the waiters can explain the rules to any of the nearly one-hundred games available in addition to serving food and drinks. The manager was so excited to see a group of foreign exchange students that he offered to take our group's picture and send it to all of us. We came to the consensus that these board game cafe's need to come to the States immediately!

As the day wound down, we rode in Amir and Raihana's cars to Simpang Bedok (translating to Bedok Corner) for dinner. I asked Amir about the small gray box above his steering wheel which turned out to be a device holding a cash card that all Singaporeans have in their vehicles so that when they pass through designated Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) stations, a fee will be automatically deducted, therefore eliminating the need for time-consuming toll booths like those found all over the U.S. Dinner was delicious and after a long and fun-filled day, we all returned to share stories about our different experiences.

As an added bonus, Nadiah invited the entire SEAS group to her house for dinner tonight! We got to see the inside of HDB housing which was very nice, eat some delicious food, and meet Nadiah's amazing family.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more exciting SEAS 2009 adventures!

-Emily