Made my way to the dance floor, danced til I wasn't drunk anymore

This is quite a cute coffee shop in Singapore called The Reading Room, and I would very much like to go, sit and read. Books, coffee, city, architecture, sounds perfect to me.

Photos from Cafehopping. Post title from Is Your Love Big Enough? by Lianne La Havas.

She pulls on this heart like she pulls on the sea

Oooh. Travel photographer, Sivan Askayo, took beautiful images of hanging laundry in different cities in his series, Intimacy under the Wires. It reminds me of staying with my grandmother during the summers growing up; the laundry was always hung out the window to dry. One time my t-shirt fell down onto the apartment below, and it was quite the struggle to get it back.

 Barcelona

 Florence

 Venice

 Buenos Aires

 Post title from That Moon Song by Gregory Alan Isakov.

I had nothing to lose and I had nothing to prove

Yesterday my friend met up with me during my lunch break to check out the Poetry Foundation's free exhibit, Images of Afghanistan.  The exhibit showcased landays, a form of oral folk poetry that is often one of the few forms of expression for women in Afghanistan. The exhibit is over now, but definitely check out the articles on Pulitzercenter.org because these poems should be read.

The exhibit was small and simple but informative.  What I really enjoyed was the space, the physical building of the Poetry Foundation. I had applied for an internship there a few years ago to no success so that's a little awkward now. But man, wouldn't it be amazing to work in that space. I will definitely have to come back during my lunch breaks to sit and read some Adrienne Rich in that library. Yep, Chicago has some gems.

Post title from I Wanna Go by Summer Heart.

You and me, we got our own sense of time

My best friend is studying abroad in Athens this summer. I've been keeping a list of the things she needs to bring back for me, like new sandals. We spent four days in Athens when we backpacked through Southern Europe together last August. I miss it a lot. I remember we could see the Acropolis from our hostel balcony. Yeah I know, I got the travel bug again. Whenever I think of moments in my short life of intense happiness or fear, many of them fall under that period of traveling. So I can't help sometimes wishing I was somewhere else sometimes (especially when exams are close).

I stumbled upon some beautiful photos from The Colors of Travel 2012 by The New York Times. Stoooop I want to go to there.

Enjoy your Friday! I'll be sleeping on the Warren Dunes tonight in Michigan, which is the closest thing I have to traveling these days... :)

Post title from Hannah Hunt by Vampire Weekend.

Montpellier, France

Turkey

Penang, Malaysia

  

Hyderabad, India

Can I get a minute of not being nervous

I love this. One lady put up a wall where folks can write down what they want to accomplish before they die. It started in New Orleans and has been continuing in other cities and countries. I need to find the one in Chicago!

"It was an experiment and I didn’t know what to expect. By the next day, the wall was bursting with handwritten responses and it kept growing: Before I die I want to… sing for millions, hold her one more time, eat a salad with an alien, see my daughter graduate, abandon all insecurities, plant a tree, straddle the International Date Line, get clean, live off the grid, build a school, be someone’s cavalry, be completely myself…  People’s responses made me laugh out loud and they made me tear up. They consoled me during my toughest times. I understood my neighbors in new and enlightening ways, and the wall reminded me that I’m not alone as I try to make sense of my life."

Berlin

Chicago

Johannesburg

Brooklyn

Post title from Slow Show by The National.

An Ode (of sorts) to Singapore

Let's talk about Singapore.  I found this blog, This is Naive, that has some pretty awesome photos of Sing.  I haven't gone in two years, and whenever I went I was always super bored and overheated, but there are some things I miss for sure.  First off here are some photos of the beautiful hotel where my parents had their engagement party back in the day :)

Oh and we cannot forget the food.  Oh the food.  I spent 20 minutes going through all these photos with my mouth watering.  If you must go to Singapore for one reason, it is the food.  Let's start with kopi and desserts.

Side note to my mother... can you make Pandan cake again? thanks :)

Ok now lets get into the real food. Oh my goodness I'm so hungry.

Ok I promise I'm done now.  Last question to my mother, after you make Pandan cake, can you please make me some Hainanese chicken rice?  Ooof.

This morning, my sister and mom went for breakfast near Chinatown. They had their favorite kopi (coffee) and some other local delights. My sister took all the photos today. After having buffet tea at a hotel we went to the Singapore National Museum but most of the galleries were closed because of National Day weekend. The last photos are from the museum: the building, my new haircut in front of the Singapore early opera display, some vintage bottles in the display case, a vintage can, shadows of my mommy in the display case, and later a little courtyard called the Chimes where a wedding was taking place.

These first photos are from a neighborhood near Centre Point. If I were to live in Singapore, my home would be this first white one with the balcony and open windows! The area was so quiet and relaxing compared to Orchard Road just down the road. The architecture was old-style and so open and breezy. You can always click on the pictures to make them bigger.







These are some uploaded pictures from my mom's camera. The first is a huge mountain in the clouds that my sister took in the airplane over here. WOW. Then are some pictures from dim sum last week. Look at the size of those pastries! It was yummy!