Tom Pepinsky

Author: tompepinsky

  • Hello from Chinatown, Singapore

    We’re in Singapore now where we will be meeting TP’s sister for a week of travelling and sightseeing.  We took a very silly bus down here.  The busline is called "Aeroline" and they pretend that their company is operating a plane.  For example, not only did we have a snack, we had a steward, and a "shuttle captain" instead of a driver.  The downstairs of the bus even had a first class lounge and a bathroom (for "light use only", though).  We, of course, held up the whole bus when leaving Malaysia because we have too many stamps and papers connected with our entrances and exits from Malaysia over the past couple of months.  Once again, though, whipping out a little bit of Malay expedited the process.  Much better than the alternative, which is bribery.

    Singapore is crazy.  A long time ago we posted from Singapore, but that time we were only staying the night in a hotel while waiting for a connection.  Today we got a chance to really walk around.  The biggest difference between here and Malaysia is that Singapore is spotless.  Really, it looks like they have people who sweep up and wash a couple times a day.  We can’t figure out where the dirt goes.  More than that, there aren’t even any leaves next to the highway, let alone trash.  We have been reacquainted with two things we’ve missed over the past nine months: wine bars and pork.  It’s not that they don’t have these things in Jakarta and KL, it’s just that they are few and far between.  We walked by half a dozen wine bars this evening, and our fried rice with dinner came with pork bits instead of chicken skin and fish balls (customary in Indonesia, at least).

    My poor sister has been on her plane for about 9 hours now, and she’ll be on the plane for 9 hours more.  We’ll go to sleep tonight, wake up tomorrow, and then pick her up.  Now that’s a long flight.

  • Visas and Trips

    Lately at work, I (jm) have been flooded with visa aplications.  I guess it’s that time of year, everyone has gotten into college, and now get to work on the fun part, getting into the US.  It’s kind of funny, some people come in and are overly organized and have every possible document that they could think of (such as elementary school grades and childhood pictures) in a beautifully organized folder bought expressly for the purpose.  And then there are the other people, who have papers falling out of every pocket and can’t seem to find anything, or left half of the things they need at home or in the car.

    I saw one kid and his dad today who had a very sad story.  He’s going off to CSU Fresno, where he won a scholarship for almost all of his yearly costs.  However, he still needs to show that he has $5500 available per year from his family in order to cover the total costs.  They have applied for the one scholarship that MACEE administers, although jointly with the American Chamber of Commerce in Malaysia, which is $5000 per year.  The poor kid was going to go for his visa appointment next week without hearing back about this additional scholarship (they won’t hear until July), and I had to tell him that he had to show family funds of $5500 times 4 in order to get his visa.  The father looked at me like I was nuts.  They don’t have any money and are counting on this other scholarship.  If he doesn’t get it (there is only one given out each year), he can try his luck at the embassy, but he probably won’t get a visa.  The kid has worked so hard, overcome so much, won a good scholarship to a good school, and might not be able to go.  It was very sad.  Our office is rooting for him to win the scholarship, but the other people involved in the scholarship get to decide, not us.  So if someone else comes waltzing along with an admittance letter from a school with a prestigious name, my new friend has no prayer. 

    On a happier note, we’re off to Singapore tomorrow morning to meet TP’s sister (who just graduated yesterday from Wake Forest, yeah Betsy!).  We’re excited to be taking a bus there (never thought I’d write that sentence) because it is a double-decker luxury bus with a lounge downstairs.  They even have "stewardesses" who give you snacks and drinks.  It’s only five hours, and flying wouldn’t have saved much time, so we figured we would  see some scenery and save money.  We are crossing our fingers that we will see some sights other than palm plantations like we did in Sabah.  After a few days there the plan is to head up to Melaka on the west coast of the peninsula, and then come back to KL for some fun here.  We’ll be in touch when we get a chance.