Cornell Club of Singapore

A few weeks ago I attended the South East Asia Cornell Club meeting at the Museun of Asian Civilization, very close to my office by the Singapore River. Leaders from Japan, The Phillipines, Korea, Malaysia and Japan (among other places) came. The idea is to have a better integration and help with the fundraising campaign "Far Above" What I found very interesting is that at least 2 people flew from Ithaca to the event. I guess that shows the interest Asia is receiving recently.

I met some interesting people and I learned more about the new campaign that is raising funds for physical additions, scholarships and higher salaries for future professors. I'm planning on attending future events to learn more.

Bali

Last weekend we visited Bali, Indonesia and here are some pictures.

At the Club Med



Danny and me playing by the beach



Happy family!



Riding the elephant






At an Hindu temple at Uluwatu. There is a sheer drop of more than 100 meters (300 feet)and lots of monkeys

Frustrated

Today I wrote along blog and...it did not save it!! I guess I will rewrite it some other time.

I want to mention that today I had Krispy Kream doughnuts! A team from Corea came to work with us an brought us the doughnuts. Go Corea!

Taxi regulations

There are taxis everywhere in Singapore. Since most people don't have a car and public transportation, while very good, doesn't reach all places, taxis provide a convenient way of trasportation. We don't have a car so everytime we go out as a family we use taxis.

The new rules that came into effect two days ago state that in the BCD (Business Central District, or downtown) taxis can only pick up or leave passengers at taxis stands. No more chasing cabs in the middle of the road, I guess. The best way to get a cab is to call ahead and reserve one. They have a pretty good system: When a user calls multiple times, the system "remembers" previous calls at the same tme and there are two options that, if selected, can get people a cab without talking to a human operator. Very efficient indeed.

Singapore Air Show

Last Sunday Sarah, Daniel and I went to the Singapore Air Show. I'm posting a few pictures for aviation enthusiasts.



Here we are next to the A380



Here with a KC-135 refueling aircraft from Okinawa



The kids with a US Air Force pilot



Sarah with a crewmember



A380 during a demonstration flight

Acquarium

Here is out new acquarium. Sarah and Daniel feed the fish daily (well, almost)and they take their responsibility seriously. Sarah is wearing a Chinese dress and Daniel his Cars pjs.

Youth Olympics

Singapore won the right to host the first Youth Olympic Games in 2010 and people are very happy about it. Singapore had been lobbying strongly to be the host country and finally a positive decision was made.

Today I attended a marketing event at Nanyang Technological University where Coke's marketing director was the key speaker. He said that to celebrate the Youth Olympic achievement, Singapore's Coke will sell tomorrow 201,000 coke cans with a specially designed conmemorative logo. With all the due diferences, it's a bit like Beijing's award to host the Olympics. Now it's Singapore's time to honor the newly orginized Youth Olympic games.