Economists - Don't we all love the way they speak?

Wonderful quote in the paper this morning. Consider the following from a spokesman for MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore): "While the global economy should be relatively less volatile next year, its growth momentum is unlikely to pick up significantly as the deleveraging process in the advanced economies will be protracted".
I think that they like that kind of crap language here. The other day I received a utility invoice from the university housing office. The cover letter ended with the fantastic statement that the invoice was attached for my "easy and convenient perusal". I thought that perusal was mostly for flashy charter travel brochures...
Oh well I am on Jurong Island right now, a *HUGE* petrochemical complex on reclaimed land just off S'pore. Mind-blowing. When they need more land here they send bulk carriers to Indonesia to fill up with gravel and sand and get on with land reclamation.

E4-04-03 for the last time

E4-04-03 is the classroom where I have my lectures and tutorial classes. Today the students wrote their exam there on the second part of my class. As I walked out of there with a bundle of exam papers under my arm I realized that today was the last day for me to set foot in that room. That is in a way my general feeling: I have worked very hard since Aug 1st and feel that it is time to have time to fo other things as well. One of my plans is to go on a short trip to Cambodia (Kim Wilde lyrics: "He's got a job to do: Fly to Cambodia") to visit the vast temple complex at Angkor Wat. Cool!
But before doing so I have a lot of wrapping up to do...

Mindfulness meditation with a True Brit

Well done Carro for convincing me to get a smart phone. It is unbelievable how many brilliant Apps there are out there. My new favourite is one called "Headspace - Get Some" with a real Brit called Andy guiding you through meditation techniques. But instead of trying to create a Budhist Munk style mystique he prefers the checked shirt Jamie Oliver approach with the same kind of voice. It's really MegaBrill!

This is also my first Blog using the Google Blogger App - also thanks to to Carro's gentle prodding

A day in town with a museum visit

Finally! A day on my own, no stress, still pretty happy about the week's accomplishments, no need to compromise about what to do, had a good sleep.... Went into town, bought the Straints Times at the entrance to the MRT, and headed stright for the Asian Civilisation Museum in a beautful colonial building at the mouth of the Singapore river. I wondered around for 1,5 hours, some pretty good exhibits. What struck me most was a small exhibition about the Singapore River, how it is so little (only 4 km long) yet so significant for the country's history. And more to the point, how it was totally abused for about 150 years, to the point that the smell was totally unbearable. But 10 years of effort in the 1970s managed to restore it. Sad in a way that the hussle and bustle of small ships bringing in cargo from the larger ships anchored further offshore is a thing of the past, but it is still a pleasant spot.

Check out the Rolls parked outside the Fullerton Hotel (old central post-office, just accross from the museum).

Lunch on a shady terrace overlooking the river, then a walk accross Fort Canning Hill and along Orchard Rd before coming home to indulge in a monster clean-up before Marina, Donatella and the children show up tonight.

Last lecture at NUS yesterday

Yesterday I held my last lecture and tutorial session at NUS. It went well and I feel pretty satisfied at all that I have accomplshed here in Singapore. 25 new lectures, 10 sets of homework assignments. The students seem satisfied (and they are demanding students so I don't think that they are happy because I let them off lightly). ALl that is left is to put together a small exam for Tuesday and then read and orally examine 8 project reports. Today the director of the agency that funded my Fellowship was here to meet with the three Swedes on Teaching Sabbatical here in Singapore. Pretty positive, and we also discussed ideas for making it possible to come back in two or three years to refine the concept. As we all agreed today, when doing what we have done for the first time there is not really time for innovative teaching methods, but if we were to come back we would be able to experiment in a totally different way. We will see if that idea comes to anything.
Great day, I feel pretty proud of myself!

Thank God for massage joints round every corner

Wow, there are massage joints all over the place here. Timo and I went for a minor foot massage the other day (totally killing just in case anyone thinks that it is only about having someone tickle your foot....). But since I came back from 4 days in Malaysia with a really bad back blockage which sent pain shooting down my leg all the way to the knee I gave the local Chinese massage people a chance to show their skills. Pretty impressive and pretty cheap. No problem getting an appointment same day. Pretty painful when they poke at sore and strained muscles, but I survived and feel a lot better.

T-shirt and Poster for Dell
It's always cool when something actually works in the global village, so I feel that I should share this occurrence of functioning global logistics.... The battery on my Chalmers (Dell) laptop suddenly collapsed (albeit after several months of somewhat strange behavior). I didn't feel over-excited at the prospect of tracking down a new one here, especially after my first scan of the Dell web-site seemed to indicate that my particular model was never sold in Singapore. However, Chalmers has a 3-year service agreement for all Dell computers. Wow: you punch in your service tag, and up comes the full list of all components of the computer with part numbers. AND a list of all items covered by the service agreement & the expiration date. Usually this type of agreement expires a few months before component failure, but in my case I had just 9 days left. What luck! Email to Dell Service Centre explaining the situation. A couple of hours later I received an email back saying that they would deliver a new battery free of charge at the address of my choice. An hour later Dell Logistics called to make an appointment, and next morning the doorbell rung at there was a beaming Singaporean with a DHL shirt and a new battery in his hand. Signed the delivery receipt and checked that the new battery worked. End of story. Pretty impressive to see the whole chain work so smoothly.

And here is a picture of the beautiful umbrella tree outside my office.