Day 14 - Like sands in the hourglass, so was the longest day of our lives.

Friday April 12th – Singapore (Round 2)

10:00am

After leaving Ercal and Itatch in Turkey we boarded the plane back to Singapore for a whole day in transit before boarding our Brisbane flight.  I really tried to sleep on this flight but it was near impossible given the music and movie selection.  The food and beverage cart didn't help either.  They always had to wake me up for a drink of water or a snack.  I thank them for the hospitality but closed eyes and snoring (in my case talking) in my sleep means to just keep walking.  Speaking of odd sleeping noises, Mal has the ability to go to bed on the call and then wake up in complete consciousness to hold a conversation. All of this is done while he snores up a storm.  I don’t think he’ll know until now that I timed his quickest night at 2 minutes 34 seconds after saying good night.  

Apparently my habit snuck its ugly neck out near the middle of the trip.  I tend to talk in my sleep.  I’m not afraid to admit it now, partly because I was apparently speaking French to someone in a dream.  

“Mate, you were having a full on conversation with nobody in French.”

“Are you sure it was French?  It could have been rabble and gibberish after hearing us try and use that language guide you bought.  We couldn’t even order a glass of liquid barley and hops without messing the pronunciation up.”

“I don’t know, but you talk a lot.  It’s not just random words.  You have conversations.”

“Sorry, bud.”

“Yeah sorry for snoring as well.”

I reckon it’s Mal’s ability to go through the birth and raising of four children that allows him to wake up that fast.

“WAAAAA!  WAAAAAAA!”

“Bugger.  Your turn or mine?”

(Jodie looks him with a sarcastic but honest facial expression)

“Yeah yeah I’ll get it, Jodie.” 

5:00am

As usual, we do the always entertaining “human check” with Mrs. Kelly. 

“Does everyone have their human with them?”

“My underwear is here,” I said with unusually energetic tones.

Most of the students went to sleep in the lounge and I went looking for something to eat. Our day was long but set up into sections.  Students had the ability to buy more duty free souvenirs and use the bathroom to freshen up from the long flight.  We changed terminals at 11:15 and then headed to a city tour at 1:45pm for a departure of 2:30pm.  Some students still need to learn how to listen to instruction but we’ll leave that up to the jet lag for now.  Those who didn’t organise themselves at the info counter to sign up for the tour were not granted a spot and stayed in the terminal with Mrs Kelly and Ms Doyle.  Tessa Donaldson also left her boarding pass in the other terminal and we had to stall for her as the guide wanted to push us early through customs to get on the bus tour.  We just waited as a group and didn’t go through until we knew she was on the tram heading towards us.  I waited at the top and kept making hand signals like a marine indicating her arrival from the tram.  She just made it and we went on the tour.

The driver must have just watched Speed considering his fast breaking and dodgy shifting throughout the city.  Taking pictures was a hassle as the focus would be just right before he suddenly missed a speed bump.  We were given 20 minutes to get out and wander around a souvenir shop before getting back into the bus and towards the airport.  We took as many pictures as we could.  It’s a rapidly growing nation with a lot of well to do buildings and engineering feats.  They tossed a boat on the top of a skyscraper!

Once we got back around 4pm a large group of students (male included) went to get their feet taken care of by some small fish.  Ladies went for some nail care while Mal and I hunted for a barber to do a straight-shave.  Ali Baba needed that mustache off pronto.  It’s not November yet.  No one did it but the shower room you paid $8.50 SGD (Singapore Dollar) for gave you a shave kit.  I declined to pay for the shower and used the sink in a restroom.  I also changed my shirt into one I bought at the airport.  I firmly believe that if the shirt fits and looks good you can buy it in every colour.  3 v-necks for $20.00?  I’ll take that any day.  You can never have too many v-neck shirts.

Phones charged, feet and hair cleaned and teeth brushed, we headed to the gate and boarded for Brisbane at 9:15pm.  Sleep was easy on this one.  I caught myself and the boys nodding off during the bus tour.  We had a few lapses (5 minutes) of counting sheep, but we kept ourselves up before boarding.   

Saturday April 13th 

5:48 pm

We’ve just done our final human call in Brissie.  They can‘t wait to get home while I still have a game of union to play in Townsville and some extra work to do for this term.  I hope you enjoy the last entry, which will be done around the end of next week.  Using the title for the new additions to the Phoenix, I’ll do a giant summary of what this trip meant and what it created so the ones involved can look back on it for years to come.  Thanks for reading!   Keep an eye out for the final word.

Yours Truly,

Mr. Sox  

Jake Kelly - a true Queenslander!