Well, I am finally in Singapore and have begun student teaching! The first five weeks of the semester I spent on Hope’s campus, taking the “6-hour-block,” which is a block of three education classes which all special education majors are required to take during fall student teaching. Although I loved being able to spend time with friends and experience beautiful Holland at the end of summer, I was very anxious to be able to leave for Singapore!
Last Wednesday, I had my final exam and after saying goodbye to my Hope family, I drove back home to Chicago for a flight on Thursday. On our way to the airport on Thursday, I was notified my flight was delayed…meaning I wasn’t able to fly to Singapore until Friday. The 4+ hour flight to San Francisco went quickly, but the 16+ hour flight from there to Singapore seemed to drag on and on. I arrived on Sunday morning, and attended church just a couple hours after I arrived with my aunt, uncle, and cousins. I began student teaching bright and early on Monday morning, and really just jumped right in. We had three days of classes, followed by two days of parent teacher conferences. Although it was an overwhelming week, it was exciting as I learned more about what I will be experiencing the rest of the semester. I am loving my student teaching placement and am looking forward to exploring more of Singapore and surrounding countries.
My focus this week was on adjusting to student teaching, but I have had a chance for a couple other experiences! The highlight of the week was going to 
Little India, an ethnic district in Singapore. There, I tried my first real Indian food, and thoroughly enjoyed every bite. I also got my first henna!
For those of you who know me, you know I hate running, but after sitting all day in conferences, I decided to go for a run Friday afternoon. I ran through the
Singapore Botanical Gardens, which was just beautiful. I may not mind running so much with scenery like that!
Singapore American School has a fall break this week, so I am headed to Thailand! More about that adventure next week…
After this day, UCT tried to have class once again – and that Tuesday I did have class, but I decided not to go due to the circumstances. I choose to email my professor and express that I could not pretend nothing was happening outside of my classroom window when private security was all over campus and students were protesting and standing up for justice. I chose not to go because deciding to partake in my classes felt like supporting the current injustice and furthermore living into the privilege of ignoring the problems of marginalized communities. Eventually as that week progressed, classes shut down for the rest of the week and then the next as well.
o see and be a part of – I would look in front of me and behind me and see numerous people – students and workers alike. I would hear songs of apartheid freedom songs. We walked together in solidarity to show how so many people stood behind a free decolonized education. When we got to parliament, it became very chill and people stood, sat, and just relaxed outside of Parliament. During that time, a friend I was with became dehydrated and we left to get some water and get her health back up. We played a role of being one of the bodies marching and showing support for the movement and it felt 
good as well as powerful to be a part of. Not even an hour after we left, violence broke out. And it wasn’t violence instigated from the protester’s side – but the police. The police threw a stun grenade into the group of protesters making fear and violence begin. Rubber bullets were shot, more stun grenades were released, people running were targeted, students were manhandled, and what was a peaceful and legal protest turned into a battle and crime scene.
When someone studies abroad – there is no guarantee what their experience will look like. The only guarantee is that they will come back changed either drastically or even a small amount from the person they were when their journey began. I had no idea I would be caught up in this radical and progressive time and that those characteristics would rub off on me. I knew I would come back changed – and I have in so many ways.
southernmost part of the North Island, the city of Wellington is New Zealand’s second largest city with a population just under 400,000. The city is seat of government for New Zealand, also earning the title of world’s southernmost capital of any sovereign state.
Sunday morning we got up and our first stop was the local market. There I had a brunch of fresh fruit and veggies, all for $4 – absolutely unbeatable. There were buskers playing guitars and singing who added to the atmosphere of the place.
tops of the tall buildings. Coming from the Midwest it still is so strange to me to see such steep hills integrated into cities here in New Zealand. It adds an intricacy and a beauty that I did not know exist. We also walked to the entrance of Zoolandia but did not feel that we had time to get in. It comes highly recommended as a wildlife refuge top attraction; I will just have to go next time!
and took place over the course of the evening, but the music was far better. There was a LIVE BAND playing all sorts of music and with the low lighting with color strobes the party atmosphere was perfect. I soon saw the rest of my friends from church and we got a table for our group of 16.
Spending the night dancing, talking, and puzzling through clues with these new friends made for an awesome evening. During a pause in the music they ran an awards ceremony for cutest couple, best dressed etc. I was sitting at my table when I heard, “and the award for ‘life of the party’ goes to…. Jonathan!” at first I looked around to see who else shared my name, and then when my friend Nav started shouting and pointing at me I realized that I was the Jonathan. They were referring to me – I had won the prize!
bay that the city is situated on. Queenstown looked like it was a small city that was picked up out of Switzerland or Austria and placed in Southern New Zealand. When the sun shines, the city and views from the surrounding hillsides are absolutely breathtaking. I would definitely recommend doing the surrounding hill walks to get a view of the Queenstown basin.
of jumping headfirst into a canyon, I decided not to bungee jump, but I was up for doing the Nevis canyon swing. This is the world’s largest swing with 70meters of free-fall. You can reach speeds exceeding 120kph which when only strapped to a swing feels far too fast to be healthy.
Apparently these are the best burgers in the entire country. I didn’t believe it until I tried them. Don’t be fooled by the lines outside the restaurant. These are worth the wait.
at Cass up in the Southern Alps. We stayed in a wooden cabin that was built in the 60’s but was warm and friendly. About a stone’s throw away from the cabin was a very small, low building, set 
into the ground. This was the laboratory, with enough wet desk space for about 25 students. It fit our class perfectly.
freshwater streams, braided rivers, creeks, ponds, and lakes. At each we took benthic invertebrate samples and worked at identification and classification. On the evening of the second day we assembled into pre-organized teams of three and worked on experimental design – the ultimate goal of the trip.
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