It's a Wonderful Life

So, I missed a day and already I am getting grief for not posing anything!

The last couple of days haven't exactly been choc ca-block with  activities, but I've still been seeing new things, and experiencing new unfamiliar surroundings on an almost daily basis.

It's difficult so state intently after such a short period of time that I have "settled" into Singapore, but I am most certainly comfortable with my current state of being in South East Asia!

Both yesterday and today I have been spending my time "working". I use the term loosely because coaching for a couple of hours on Thursday and Friday barely counts.

Yesterday I spent the morning on the computer replying to the messages and emails that very kind and generous people back home had been sending me, before planning an activity for an afternoon session of coaching.
The first port of call was at Sembawang Secondary school which is viewable from my window, and about a two minute walk away. On the way there James (the head of English Soccer School) explained his philosophy on football and explained how the company hopes to develop in the future.

The kids we were working with first of all were teenagers from the school who had chosen to do football an extra-curricular activity during school time. From that I can tell there were plenty of other activities going on at the same time, but some privileged kids were about to get a taste of Yorkshire-style football knowledge whether they liked it or not!

We had some dinner before starting, a strange mix of Rogan Josh with rice AND noodles before beginning our session.
Just a side note to mention that as in Korea, portion control is definitely not a consideration that the Singaporean culture has taken in! For the measly sum of $2 (£1) I had more than enough food for two people, and a drink! I thought it was meant to be expensive here!!!

The session we coached was enjoyable. The kids warmed themselves up and then we headed into a drill about passing and controlling, before working on some dribbling with the ball and finishing off with a game. Fortunately enough the way we split the teams up, there was uneven sides so I volunteered to play!
As you can imagine, the heat was pretty ridiculous, and the game (by me anyway) wasn't played at a very quick pace! Sweat isn't the way to look good I don't think!

After the session we took a walk back discussing a few ideas, about what I will be doing while I am here. Despite not actually doing that much, the middle of the afternoon heat had clearly got to me, and it was time to conduct the second of a now routinely taken post-coaching shower to revive myself a little! It's amazing how warm it actually is here (I suppose not because it's just above the equator, but bear with me.) Perhaps it's coming over from the UK which admittedly has been warm recently, but in all honesty, not a patch on what Singapore has had to offer in the last three days. The surprising thing is, I don't even think I have seen the sun it.

From this picture however, my wrists definitely have..... 


A three-day watch tan! It looks slightly better after being in the shower, but still, I'm going to come back with that as proof that I've been as close to the centre of the world than I have ever been before.

Yesterday evening was spent mostly working on a few session plans an brainstorming a few ideas with James.

He hopes to pretty much conduct global domination.... only joking if you're reading James.....!!! Without giving too many details away he's looking to open up an Elite Football Academy along the lines of several European models which have been successful to pick out the 'cream of the crop' in terms of Singaporean football. He also wants to create a website for the Asian market and then develop the soccer schools that he has in Asia including Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei and Indonesia.
We've been attempting to come up with a name for this academy but so far come up blank, so if you have any ideas and you want to score me some points while I'm out here then feel free to leave me some points (As much as the Ben Small Academy of Football sounds good in my head, probably isn't going to attract too many people in!)

Today has really been more of the same in terms of work in the evening, I have a couple of files to work on to do with the academy and also James put me in charge of deciding what equipment we might need to use. I've also got to come up with some ideas for sections on the football based Asian website so I have been doing that.

This morning was an early one though as we were working at a secondary school called Henderson which is in and around the Orchard area of Singapore. For those of you who haven't done your research, Orchard area of the country, it is a shoppers paradise (interested now aren't you?!) Not that Singapore isn't a shopaholic's dream anyway, but this is the place to be in terms of shopping malls at the centre of the country!

Anyway, from there we went to the school where we were coaching two sets of girls. I found that a good challenge actually, having very little experience coaching the female species. And I must confess that they took in the information that we were giving them, much better than the boys that I have come into contact with in the past. We finished our session off with a game, which again brought uneven numbers, and meant that I had to be an honorary 13-year-old girl!

After our session we traveled back to Sembawang for some more planning and coaching talk before dinner. James had very kindly brought us some dinner when we were out earlier on so it was just a case of heating it up and tucking into some chicken and rice with potatoes and some extremely spicy sauce!

This evening I met one of the other coaches, Matty, who is originally from Malaysia, but has been in Singapore almost all his life. The four of us, including my current room mate Abdul, sat and watched some television before I decided to take a break from screens and monitors and take a trip out for some fresh air. 
I walked into the Sun Plaza building where I had eaten out on the first night, and enjoyed the fruits of air conditioning for a little while!

I also went into a little library that they had at the top floor of the building and had a look around for some holiday reading material! Not that I don't have enough to do already, but, you know!

Tomorrow hopefully holds in store some more coaching in the morning (love a good 6am get up) and when we get done for 10.30am I will have a little explore around some more of the island. Not exactly sure where I plan to head yet. Perhaps to Orchard for some window shopping retail therapy or maybe to Marina Bay which is the most famous part of Singapore or even over to Sentosa which is the home of the beach and also Universal Studios!

The first three days here in Singapore really have flown by, and although I have been doing my best to retain as much as possible I've been so busy taking everything in that it is often a struggle to be able to get down exactly how I am feeling when typing out my blog.
I have enjoyed my time here so far, I like the culture, partly because it reminds me of my former Asian home, and also because of how comfortable I have been made to feel already.

I hope to get some exploring done so I can see a bit more of the familiar Singapore skyline with the famous Merlion structure or their version of the London Eye, but I am more than contented with what I have been able to get out of the trip so far!

Time for me to end this latest exploration into my South East Asia journey, hopefully I will be able to post plenty more in the coming days after some exciting events occur!

Clarence: Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?

The Eagle Has Landed

'Catching Up, Touching Down and Breaking Ground'

At about 3:30pm Singapore time I arrived dazed and confused at Changi Airport in the South East corner of the city state.

My flight between Sri Lanka and Singapore went off without a hitch, no loud earphone-less imbeciles to report though there were at least three screaming babies surrounding me so we had whining and crying in dolby digital stereo sound at take-off, landing, and during the flight – just for good measure.

The plane was relatively empty once again, and in the row of three I was sitting in, only two people were there. 

I was at the back of the aircraft this time so no need to wait until everybody else has piled off, as I had no choice but to be the last one to leave.

Despite the smaller size of the aircraft there was more opportunity to be entertained, with a video system which let you pick and choose exactly what you wanted to watch. Having missed the start and end of one film, and the start of another on my previous journey I caught up with both ‘Rise of the Titans’ and ‘A Thousand Words’ before starting to watch ‘The Three Stooges’ -  a film I knew would be terrible, and wasn’t disappointed by.

It obviously didn’t hold my attention that well, because the next thing I can remember is the credits rolling and me sleepily taking the headphones away from my ears to get back to my slumber. No idea how long I slept for again, but about half the flight, and as you’d expect it wasn’t exactly the best quality sleep I’ll ever have whilst I’m here (or at least I hope now anyway!)

Once I’d got through passport control, and filled in the correct immigration form, which I was told originally I didn’t need to do, I set about waiting for my bags to arrive.

I waited, and waited, and waited..... and panicked..... and waited..... until a very helpful man from Sri Lankan Airways came and asked if he could help me locate my luggage.

Originally I was slightly worried that I’d end up with a repeat experience of my return from Korea when I travelled to London via Russia, but my bags only made it as far as Moscow!

I was sent over to a lost and found area, and was still slightly worried after not finding my bag there, and just as I was about to report it, the guy from the airline came and wheeled it over to me which was a relief!
Looks like I will be able to get dressed properly in the morning!

Working my way through the signs, I followed the trail to the MRT (Singapore subway), and after taking in four escalators with my newly found bag I attempted to buy a ticket. 

It was all going so well until I attempted to actually deposit some money in the machine, and it wouldn’t accept it. A man came to me and explained that it didn’t like my $10 note (which still looks pretty fake to me!) and I went about getting some change before having more success the second time around.

The ticket ended up costing me $3.60 (roughly £1.75) including a $1.00 deposit for the travel card which you can get returned! I can see myself getting rather alot of $1.00 returns if I get to be my tourist self whilst here.

The station I was heading for was called Sembawang (pronounced sem-BA-wang, not Semba-Wang) as I presumed. It was quite a few stops on the metro, and the first train I got on only took me three stops before terminating. Good start. 

I persevered and rode the Green Line (not the district line in Singapore, surprisingly) which is the East-West line which took me to City Hall, before changing onto the Red Line (nope, not the central line either) which is the North – South line which would take me to my destination.

From the outset the metro was pretty busy, I expected it to be in all honesty, though it was beautifully air conditioned, and unlike the Tube, quite spacious. I know the Singapore Metro is rated as one of the most efficient and best in the world, so I wasn’t disappointed by my first effort on there.

I eventually arrived at Sembawang to a wall of humidity, the hum of people, and the sight of tower blocks of flats.... I had officially arrived!

Thankfully I had managed to print off a map before I left and was looking for block 322 which nicely had it’s number right on the side so it was easy to find. Navigating the lift I made it to the 8^th floor which is where I am staying and showed up right outside my resting place for the month (well most of it.)

The person whose employment I am seeking (James) is also British and is basically, in his words, running the company from his bedroom. We chatted for a while about what he hoped to have me do whilst in Singapore (I won’t spoil the surprises or you’ll have no reason to read my blog) and he gave me the important things like a guided tour and the Wireless Code for his apartment. I will be staying here for a few days before moving to another apartment a few stops down the line which I am likely to make my permenant home should I decide to stay out here.

After having a shower, and sending emails to important people to let them know I got here, I decided to go out for a walk and get some dinner. I ditched the tracksuit bottoms which had been my home for 24 hours and put on some native style shorts ready to go.

I had seen on my way out that there were plenty of food outlets in something called the  ‘Sun Plaza’ which is next to the station. 

It still freaks me out how much English there is around the place. Already I feel like I am in a hybrid world between the USA, Middle-East and Asia. There seems to be lots of different cultures all mixed together in this area, and unlike my previous trip to the continent, there is no lack of English voices – a reassuring fact.

Searching for food was never going to be an easy task, but immediately I felt at home searching for something to my liking. My trip to Korea taught me that I enjoy the fine cuisine of Asia, so although KFC and McDonalds were on offer, no need to head to them just yet!

I walked around for about an hour before settling on a place called ‘Spice Cafe’. I had probably the simplest meal they sold which was chicken cutlet with rice, and it filled a nice gap, as did the strawberry milkshake and oreos I picked up from 7eleven!

Already I feel at home in Singapore. Comparisons can probably be drawn to Korea because of the sheer number of people, and as strange as it is to say, the atmosphere. There’s alot less staring here than in Suwon, but from the Asian Washrooms to the abundance of food choices to the crossing symbol which counts down how much time you have left, I already feel like I belong. There is plenty of time to go before I make a decision of course, but the opening signs are promising that I will enjoy staying here.

Of course that can only be done in the right environment, which means WORK and hopefully a chance to do some sightseeing. I know that Singapore might not offer as much tourism as other Asian countries but I have read at least four books on the city, and hope to get the chance to go for a walk round the centre at some point.

That however, will have to wait, as right now my tired body is probably in need of some sleep. It feels like it has been a long time since I left England, though in reality at the time of writing it has only really been 24 hours, but I have come a long way, and seen so much already.

I’ve harked back several times to my experiences in South Korea, and I think that has helped slightly with the culture shock of this strange, new, intriguing-but foreign land. This is just day one, in what I hope will be an exciting and interesting journey spent travelling in this second of the world!

Stay tuned for more soon J

Colonel Kurt Steiner: I have no intention of dying now. But if I'm going to, allow me to choose where and how.

Airplane

'Sleeping Positions, Volume Control and Time Zones'

Arrived safely at about 2:30am English time 7:00am Sri Lankan time into Columbo Airport. Currently sat watching that famous national Sri Lankan past time, baseball, on one of the country’s most popular stations, ESPN..... Isn’t globalisation a wonderful thing.

I think the flight from Heathrow took off late, but it seemed to arrive into the airport in Columbo at the correct time. Something to do with passengers in transit being late on board.

I was seated by the window towards the back of the plane, and despite the plane being apparently full, there was a spare seat next to me, and a row in the middle line adjacent to me that had just one person sitting in it.

Not too many complaints about the flight itself, I was fed twice and also managed to get up a cup of tea and several glasses of apple juice. Almost ended up with a glass of tomato juice as clearly my Yorkshire accent caused some problems!

There was a good choice of films and programs on the plane, slightly confusing to work out first as it took a few minutes to work out what the schedule was from the in-flight magazine. Due to catching some shut eye I missed the first ten minutes of the film I wanted to see which was Rise of the Titans, but later on I also managed to catch Mirror, Mirror and a Thousand Words (although I didn’t quite catch the end).

In between times I did my best to get some sleep, which as usual on board, wasn’t easy. I probably slept for about five hours or so, but not straight through. Even with a spare seat next to me, it was a tough ask to find a position that was comfortable. I was blessed with two pillows and two blankets but I still managed to wake up each time with a slightly sore neck.

It’s funny looking around and seeing what positions other people are opting in order to get some sleep. I don’t think there’s a stead fast way to be able to do it, and on a ten hour flight like the one I was on, sleeping for half of the duration is a decent effort. It doesn’t however mean that the first thing I do when I eventually get to where I’m staying isn’t sleep!!!

It’s a pretty good job that the three seats next to me were unoccupied as I’m sure the one person occupying it was as much of a handful as a full row for people around him. Clearly he was oblivious to the rules about turning your phone off on the plane, and he was even more confused to discover that in mid-air wasn’t the best place to try and check your facebook account.

He also clearly had some hearing issues as at one point one of the stewardesses had to come along as ask him to put some headphones on as he was watching a film at full blast so that everyone around him could hear. Not the best idea when everyone is trying to sleep. 

Felt like stealing his iPad when he fell asleep with it on his knee before we landed.

It seems Sri Lankans are just as impatient as other races of people when it comes to getting off planes as they were all up and getting their bags out of the overhead lockers before the plane had all it’s wheels touched down. After waiting for all the people to get past me some lady remarked, “Don’t you want to get off?!” I believe my response was something along the lines of, “I’m going to wait until the doors are at least open so the queue starts moving!”

Thankfully the connecting flight from Singapore appears to be taking off relatively close to where I departed the plane from Heathrow so I still have some time to wait before the plane starts to board.

I’m still slightly confused about Colombo’s apparent time zone, since when can you be +5.30 ahead of GMT. I guess there must be a huge section of ocean somewhere and a significant lack of land that felt it necessary to have a semi time zone. I can’t even change my watch because without checking I don’t have any idea what time it is! Good job I won’t be spending very long here.

Saying that, I would like to come to Sri Lanka for a holiday. I know its meant to have some excellent beaches and some wonderful scenery that I would like to see! It’s also not far away from the Maldive islands which is a good excuse to visit and dip over to the islands of true paradise next door.

Anyway, time to give the blogging a rest, whilst landing I felt like my head was going to explode due to the changing pressure, and I wouldn’t expect this would be helping my symptoms!

Rex Kramer: Striker, listen, and you listen close: flying a plane is no different than riding a bicycle, just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes. 

Killing Time (Not literally) and other Airport Tales

Time to break out the laptop almost instantly to write the first entry in my new blog.

Seems like a long time since I prepared to head off into the relative unknown of Korea. At that point I had no real idea what to expect, and although almost four years have passed since I departed London bound for the Far East, I still remember each and every single moment of that fantastic experience.

I remember waving goodbye to my teary-eyed Mum at the airport wondering exactly what I was letting myself in for, but after acclimatising to my surroundings, and thanks to my now good friends Kevin and Charlie, I felt a sadness I never expected when I departed Suwon bound for England in the Spring of 2010.

Two years, and many experiences on from that, I feel strains of the same childhood enthusiasm as I prepare to travel to Singapore. Although it is more of a known quantity than South Korea, I really, and truly have no idea what to expect. From what I have seen of the city-state it seems to be an intriguing fusion of western and eastern cultures with bright sunshine and skyscrapers.

I hope it lives up to my expectations, and after studying my travel books and the Internet heavily I am hoping that it will be an unforgettable experience.....

.... every unforgettable experiences has to be surrounded with a downside however.

I managed to board the correct train on time from St Neots this morning, and despite the troubles with my huge four wheeled suitcase I rode the Picadilly line all the way to the end of the track until I reached Heathrow Terminal 4. 

Opting to use the escalator instead of the life (perhaps my first mistake of the day) I was pleasantly surprised to see that the check-in desks for Sri Lankan airways were straight in front of me.

Bizarely the guy behind the desk asked me to put my hand luggage on the scales first, and naturally he informed me that it was overweight by 6KG. To say that the limit was 7KG that was some achievement. I put my checked in bag onto the scales which were 26Kgs so set about moving some things around. Clearly the heavy thing in my bag was the laptop which I am currently typing on, and upon seeing that the member of staff from the airline said that I should have mentioned I had a laptop in my bag as that is OK.

Erm... are you sure about that my friend? Your ‘One piece of hand luggage’ rule said an umbrella, a coat, a purse or other lady type items were OK, but never a laptop. Anyway, I decided to stuff it back in my bag before he changed his mind. Mental maths also told me that considering my bag was 4KGs below the limit and my hand luggage was 7Kgs above it, I was clearly going to struggle to balance that equation!

Deciding not to hang about I headed through the security checkpoint, or at least attempted to.

Clearly a lost old man on a day out who happened to be at the airport was standing in the queue in front of me (I soon discovered he was French when he started trying to speak to me!) and I briskly had to conduct an overtake, a somewhat unfamiliar move in a narrow airport line, but please, either know what you’re doing or get out of the way of people that do.

Next problem was the security itself. Somehow the Frenchman had managed to make his way back in front of me although he didn’t seem to be the major problem for the line almost immediately backing up.

Now I understand that the airlines these days can have trivial rules about what is permitted, but they are in place for a reason. 

If it says no more than 100ml worth of liquids then guess how much you are allowed?

If you have a drink and it says no drinks, work out what beverages you can’t take?

If there’s a sign saying take your laptop out of your hand luggage and put it in a tray, then guess what piece of electronic equipment needs removing from your hand luggage, and needs placing in a tray?

It’s not rocket science people.

The one guy who was emptying his pockets for about five minutes and forgetting to take his things out of his bag should probably not even be allowed near an airport. Clearly it wasn’t his first rodeo, but he must be unable to read and not have turned his hearing aid up. 

He wasn’t helped much by a very unhelpful member of staff who was getting extremely frustrated at having to keep asking the same questions, but still, it’s your job. Own it.

If you haven’t got any inter-personal skills with people, then the airport isn’t the best place for you.

When it came to my turn I was more than ready having been there for five minutes waiting for the people in front, but for some reason I had to move each item into its own tray. 

Do you seriously want me to put my watch in it’s own tray, and my jumper, and my laptop, and phone, and ipod, and plugs, and charger? No wonder the line was so long.

After eventually managing to convince him that I didn’t have a belt on my tracksuit bottoms and my glasses weren’t made of metal I was eventually allowed to pass through, and then spend the next ten minutes repacking my bag having taken everything out of it! What a joke.

At least I wasn’t one of the unfortunate people who beeped when they went though the metal detectors, as they have some new crazy looking machine which apparently means no more frisking when you forget to take your belt off, or as I did at the Olympics forget that your phone is in your pocket!

Had a wonder through to get some food and then found which gate my plane is taking off from.

Can’t say I am looking forward to sixteen hours of flying, but I’m hoping it will be worth it in the end!

Will report more when anything of interest happens. Or if anyone else comes up and asks me a ridiculous question. Clearly I don’t work here so I’m not sure why two people have asked me if I know where their gate is.....

Welcome to my new blog

Greetings blog reader!

Welcome to my new blog 'Greatness from Small Beginnings'.

I've decided to start this blog pre-travel to the Far East. Last time I started to produce a blog I was heading into the unknown of South Korea. This time I am heading to Singapore to begin the latest chapter in my travelling 'career'.

As usual I will be posting as often as possible about what I'm getting up to, and hopefully you will enjoy reading about my adventures.

Once I have arrived and started to take a few pictures when I will do my best to set up a photo gallery website so that you can also take a look at my photos!

BFN,

Ben

"There must be a beginning of any great matter, but the continuing unto the end until it be thoroughly finished yields the true glory" - Sir Francis Drake, 1587