(From Mary Bohan)
Its been five weeks since I’ve been in Singapore, and one thing that has become more and more apparent since arriving in this small island nation is the discrepancy that exists between the rich and the poor. Singapore has gained status as one of the wealthiest nations in the world in the past few years, and by 2010 it will have more millionaires than Hong Kong. Walking along Orchard road past boutiques of all of the top fashion houses, with Ferraris driving down the road, you could easily believe it. A friend of my family is living in Singapore as an expat due to her husband’s job, and through my few encounters with her I’ve seen the lifestyle of the machine gun guarded American Club and luxurious homes. It’s easy to assume that everyone here has it easy.
What I’ve found even more interesting is learning about the lives of those who are working every day to make ends meet here. Walking down the street at night past construction sites where the new train station is being built, there will be foreign laborers working past 11 at night, and you can see groups of them driving around, 20 or so on the back of a truck, clearly not the safest of all conditions. A few weeks ago I would up alone in a housing project in Singapore, trying to find a bus ticket to Malaysia, and was surprised by the conditions, with cockroaches at my feet and men calling out to me. It seemed to be an entirely different country than the Singapore I was used to, and opened my eyes to how diverse a country it really is. Even more extreme is the poverty seen in Indonesia and Malaysia, where one taxi driver told me that he had never left the small island that he lived on, and that he could barely support himself driving his taxi 48 hours straight with a 12 hour break every three days. And he has to be one of the more fortunate individuals.
In terms of healthcare, however, I have yet to see so much fragmentation. The lab in which we work is a few minutes away from the National University Hospital, one of the top hospitals in the country. There are no beggars or visibly unhappy individuals around the hospital; everyone seems very calm and satisfied. Apparently the government pays for around 80% of the basic public healthcare services, and has a system of mandatory health savings accounts to ensure that everyone is prepared in case of an emergency. The hospitals are required to publish a price list, in order to facilitate comparative shopping for treatments. I know my dad would love to see something like this in the United States, as he always notes how there is rarely a set price for any procedure at home. The Singaporean government only spends less than 3% of its GDP on healthcare, compared to the 15% that the US government spends. The results are amazing, as Singapore has a lower infant mortality rate and a higher number of years of average healthy life expectancy than the United States.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
95 Degrees and 90% Humidity
(From Mary Bohan)
It’s been hot in Singapore, to say the least. After spending the year in a non air-conditioned dorm at Duke, I thought I was prepared for the heat. I wasn’t. I remember exiting the aircraft after our 25 hour flight from the US, and feeling the surge of heat as soon as I stepped onto Singaporean soil. After a two hour adventure on the train and bus we arrived on the campus of NUS, each carrying more than our body weight in bags for our ten week stay in Singapore. We asked everyone we could find where our residence hall was but no one could tell us, and we dragged our belongings in circles around the nearby hospital. I remember the final ascent towards the residence hall a few hours later, taking two steps at a time and thirty seconds to recover each time, just enough time for the black spots to clear my head and for me to regain full consciousness, dripping with sweat and more exhausted than I had ever been in my life. To say the least, the heat is a bit much. Our rooms have no air conditioning, only one ceiling fan, and we have three huge windows to open but no screens, so we have many bugs visiting us daily. Our bodies have somewhat acclimated, in that we are no longer dripping with sweat and drinking six bottles of water a day as we were. I’ve completely given up on doing anything with my very curly hair, as any straightening or blow drying will be destroyed by the humidity within minutes. During the first few days of our stay in Singapore, we were so worn out by the heat that we would take the free shuttle bus in circles around the campus in order to take advantage of the air conditioning. I said to Tammy, half seriously, that I would consider taking a nap on the bus and seeing if anyone noticed. It was that bad. Every day on our way to work, we are faced with a huge hill, probably 20 stories high, which we must ascend and descend in order to reach our office. It’s become a given that we will make a stop to the sixth floor to get a glass of water each morning after our climb. So much for being 1 degree north of the equator!
I can definitely see where the conditions here contribute to the potential for diseases such as Yellow Fever and Dengue. The humid weather, lack of air conditioning, and open windows seem to be asking for mosquitoes to breed and spread disease. In my own room, part of a newly constructed residence hall at the biggest university in the country, I often there are often many different types of bugs coming through the windows and even the walls. The bathroom has a constant stream of ants, as does the refrigerator in the kitchen. I have yet to see anyone use any form of bug spray, or any form of netting to prevent against these insects. In my few weeks here I’ve gotten quite bitten up by bugs, and even joked to Tammy on the ferry from Indonesia that perhaps given my symptoms of a fever, nausea, and many bug bites, perhaps I had contracted one of the diseases we have been researching! So far I’ve been fine! After seeing all of the work that is being done from a virology and vaccine perspective, I wonder why no one is implementing any other preventative techniques against these diseases. It’s definitely something I’m going to look into.
It’s been hot in Singapore, to say the least. After spending the year in a non air-conditioned dorm at Duke, I thought I was prepared for the heat. I wasn’t. I remember exiting the aircraft after our 25 hour flight from the US, and feeling the surge of heat as soon as I stepped onto Singaporean soil. After a two hour adventure on the train and bus we arrived on the campus of NUS, each carrying more than our body weight in bags for our ten week stay in Singapore. We asked everyone we could find where our residence hall was but no one could tell us, and we dragged our belongings in circles around the nearby hospital. I remember the final ascent towards the residence hall a few hours later, taking two steps at a time and thirty seconds to recover each time, just enough time for the black spots to clear my head and for me to regain full consciousness, dripping with sweat and more exhausted than I had ever been in my life. To say the least, the heat is a bit much. Our rooms have no air conditioning, only one ceiling fan, and we have three huge windows to open but no screens, so we have many bugs visiting us daily. Our bodies have somewhat acclimated, in that we are no longer dripping with sweat and drinking six bottles of water a day as we were. I’ve completely given up on doing anything with my very curly hair, as any straightening or blow drying will be destroyed by the humidity within minutes. During the first few days of our stay in Singapore, we were so worn out by the heat that we would take the free shuttle bus in circles around the campus in order to take advantage of the air conditioning. I said to Tammy, half seriously, that I would consider taking a nap on the bus and seeing if anyone noticed. It was that bad. Every day on our way to work, we are faced with a huge hill, probably 20 stories high, which we must ascend and descend in order to reach our office. It’s become a given that we will make a stop to the sixth floor to get a glass of water each morning after our climb. So much for being 1 degree north of the equator!
I can definitely see where the conditions here contribute to the potential for diseases such as Yellow Fever and Dengue. The humid weather, lack of air conditioning, and open windows seem to be asking for mosquitoes to breed and spread disease. In my own room, part of a newly constructed residence hall at the biggest university in the country, I often there are often many different types of bugs coming through the windows and even the walls. The bathroom has a constant stream of ants, as does the refrigerator in the kitchen. I have yet to see anyone use any form of bug spray, or any form of netting to prevent against these insects. In my few weeks here I’ve gotten quite bitten up by bugs, and even joked to Tammy on the ferry from Indonesia that perhaps given my symptoms of a fever, nausea, and many bug bites, perhaps I had contracted one of the diseases we have been researching! So far I’ve been fine! After seeing all of the work that is being done from a virology and vaccine perspective, I wonder why no one is implementing any other preventative techniques against these diseases. It’s definitely something I’m going to look into.
A weekend in Singapore : Dengue, Sentosa, and Church
(From Mary Bohan)
This weekend was the first time I relaxed in Singapore since I've been here. While in Southeast Asia I've been trying to take advantage of all of the amazing places that are nearby, so I've taken buses, ferries and planes to Malaysia and Indonesia each weekend. It's been amazing but I'm exhausted, too many 4 am flights and 8 hour bus rides have been taking a toll on me. I finally decided that enough was enough, and planned to stay here and enjoy the city.
Friday night I met up with a few friends that I had met by chance a few weeks ago, a girl from Australia, her Singaporean friend, and a few Chinese acquantances. We had a great time, and I had the chance to speak with the group regarding my research this summer. I mentioned that I was studying Dengue, its genetic makeup, and trying to make some small steps towards finding a vaccine. One Chinese boy said that many people he knew had been infected with Dengue, and that if I ever wanted to interview a few people he could arrange something, so I'm considering taking him up on his offer. It was quite satisfying to hear someone interested in Dengue, and appreciative of the work that is being done to combat it. His words really brought home the real life implications of the work that is being done in my lab, and renewed my interest in Dengue.
Early Saturday morning I went off with a friend to Sentosa Island, a tropical resort which was created from scratch by an American developer a few years ago. It's an eerie feeling, taking a bus from a busy downtown area similar to New York or Boston, and ten minutes later being greeted on a faux tropical island with Jamaican reggae drifting off towards the sea. After taking a quick tram ride, on which the recorded announcement finished each sentance with "have fun!" we arrived at a tropical scene filled with tons and tons of imported sand, swaying palm trees and sea views of the largest tanker ships I have ever seen in my entire life. Beyond tropical islands connected by bamboo bridges were ships larger than the most cruise liners carrying hundreds of tracter trailer crates full of cargo. The entire project was quite impressive and illustrative of the achievements of the Singaporean people, but at the same time eerie, with a Disneyland feel to it.
On Sunday I had the opportunity to visit a local church with a Singaporean girl a few years older than me named Yinglin who works in my lab. She had warned me that in the entire year only one other Caucasian had visited the church, and four of her friends had to spend the entire mass translating to him. Since coming to Singapore, I had been hoping to make it to a different worship service each work, and so far having only gotten to a Catholic mass and a ceremony in a Hindu temple, I was anxious to try it. I met my friend at the local MRT station, and we walked to the apartment where mass was being held, as the church was having construction. I asked her what type of a church it was and she replied "charismatic." In 13 years of Catholic school and religion class I'd never heard of that denomination! We walked into the apartment, took off our shoes, and behind a large curtain stepped into a makeshift meeting room, about ten rows of ten chairs each separated down the middle. In the front there were two men who looked more like rock stars than ministers, in dress clothes holding guitars and wearing microphones. On the ceiling there were two huge speakers and a man controlling the sound with a high tech computer sat near the front. The men sat on one side of the church and the women on the other, so as to minimize distraction and allow the individuals to be able to dance to the music without feeling self-conscious. The mass was closer to a Southern Baptist service than anything else, and consisted of lots of singing with swaying arms and clapping, a long sermon, and then a gathering with food afterward. It was all in Mandarin with my poor friend trying to translate everything to me, but I got the general idea though. It was quite an experience!
This weekend was the first time I relaxed in Singapore since I've been here. While in Southeast Asia I've been trying to take advantage of all of the amazing places that are nearby, so I've taken buses, ferries and planes to Malaysia and Indonesia each weekend. It's been amazing but I'm exhausted, too many 4 am flights and 8 hour bus rides have been taking a toll on me. I finally decided that enough was enough, and planned to stay here and enjoy the city.
Friday night I met up with a few friends that I had met by chance a few weeks ago, a girl from Australia, her Singaporean friend, and a few Chinese acquantances. We had a great time, and I had the chance to speak with the group regarding my research this summer. I mentioned that I was studying Dengue, its genetic makeup, and trying to make some small steps towards finding a vaccine. One Chinese boy said that many people he knew had been infected with Dengue, and that if I ever wanted to interview a few people he could arrange something, so I'm considering taking him up on his offer. It was quite satisfying to hear someone interested in Dengue, and appreciative of the work that is being done to combat it. His words really brought home the real life implications of the work that is being done in my lab, and renewed my interest in Dengue.
Early Saturday morning I went off with a friend to Sentosa Island, a tropical resort which was created from scratch by an American developer a few years ago. It's an eerie feeling, taking a bus from a busy downtown area similar to New York or Boston, and ten minutes later being greeted on a faux tropical island with Jamaican reggae drifting off towards the sea. After taking a quick tram ride, on which the recorded announcement finished each sentance with "have fun!" we arrived at a tropical scene filled with tons and tons of imported sand, swaying palm trees and sea views of the largest tanker ships I have ever seen in my entire life. Beyond tropical islands connected by bamboo bridges were ships larger than the most cruise liners carrying hundreds of tracter trailer crates full of cargo. The entire project was quite impressive and illustrative of the achievements of the Singaporean people, but at the same time eerie, with a Disneyland feel to it.
On Sunday I had the opportunity to visit a local church with a Singaporean girl a few years older than me named Yinglin who works in my lab. She had warned me that in the entire year only one other Caucasian had visited the church, and four of her friends had to spend the entire mass translating to him. Since coming to Singapore, I had been hoping to make it to a different worship service each work, and so far having only gotten to a Catholic mass and a ceremony in a Hindu temple, I was anxious to try it. I met my friend at the local MRT station, and we walked to the apartment where mass was being held, as the church was having construction. I asked her what type of a church it was and she replied "charismatic." In 13 years of Catholic school and religion class I'd never heard of that denomination! We walked into the apartment, took off our shoes, and behind a large curtain stepped into a makeshift meeting room, about ten rows of ten chairs each separated down the middle. In the front there were two men who looked more like rock stars than ministers, in dress clothes holding guitars and wearing microphones. On the ceiling there were two huge speakers and a man controlling the sound with a high tech computer sat near the front. The men sat on one side of the church and the women on the other, so as to minimize distraction and allow the individuals to be able to dance to the music without feeling self-conscious. The mass was closer to a Southern Baptist service than anything else, and consisted of lots of singing with swaying arms and clapping, a long sermon, and then a gathering with food afterward. It was all in Mandarin with my poor friend trying to translate everything to me, but I got the general idea though. It was quite an experience!
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Dadi's and the East Coast Park
(from Tammy Chin)
This week has been great. My work in the lab is going well. We had some good results today and my supervisor offered to buy me icecream, but of course I refused her gesture. The principal investigator of our lab brought us all Dragonfruit from the Duke-NUS GMS building today. There are plenty of new faces at work. An NUS honors student is spending some time here working on antiviral strategies for Dengue.
This week has been great. My work in the lab is going well. We had some good results today and my supervisor offered to buy me icecream, but of course I refused her gesture. The principal investigator of our lab brought us all Dragonfruit from the Duke-NUS GMS building today. There are plenty of new faces at work. An NUS honors student is spending some time here working on antiviral strategies for Dengue.
Over the weekend I went to East Coast Park with a hall mate from India. East Coast Park is known for its nice scenery and pathways and its delectable seafood. Everywhere you look there are people running, biking, and rollerblading. They even have underpasses with ramps to suit bicycles. The first thing we saw was a cable ski park, which I had never seen until then. We had Singapore's famous chili crab, and although we had a hilarious time trying to pry it open, the food was amazing. On the way back to our residence, we passed many prisons. They are all strategically located on the edge of the island, near the international airport. We saw a sign for a women's prison and talked about how the conditions inside must be unfortunate.
Yesterday, we went to eat at a place serving North Indian Cuisine called Dadi's, located right by a Cheese Prata Shop. The Cheese Prata Shop has been continually trying to shut down Dadi's because of its increasing popularity. Dadi's does not legally have a right to let people sit down and eat, and there are illegal workers inside. An inspector from the government had come that night to take pictures of the place, and the owners were pretty nervous. They made most people take away their food, and many workers were told to hide. The whole situation was confusing for Mary and I, especially at the beginning when we had no idea what was going on. The food was delicious, though, and we hope the place doesn't shut down. We had sweet lassi, mutter paneer, and palak chicken. Yum.
Singapore: A Mix of Cultures and Religions
(from Mary Bohan)
During the past few weeks one thing I have found is that there is a huge mix of people from completely different backgrounds, living very peacefully together. In food stalls there are Indian and Muslim food stalls right next to each other, on the train you'll see Chinese and Japanese people talking to each other, and a mix of European and American expats are always around as well. I even found it very interesting that the people I work with, who have distinctly Chinese and Malaysian names, do not identify with these cultures, but insist that they and their families are Singaporean. I was speaking with a girl from Singapore that I work with yesterday, and she asked if she could ask me a very personal question, so I was a bit hesitant and worried about what it could be, and she asked if there was racism where I came from. I explained to her that most people in our country are not racist at all, but that there had historically been problems in the South of the country, and that for the most part people are trying to move on. She responded "Oh, well if you were racist, you wouldn't have come to Singapore!" which I was quite surprised at, as racism hadn't even crossed my mind the entire time I'd been here.
This weekend I went to Indonesia which was definitely an interesting experience, it's a completely different way of life than in Singapore. It's odd to think that Singapore is such a modern and westernized country in between two developing countries, there are such huge differences within an hour or two of leaving Singapore. In terms of religion, in Singapore there is a huge mix of religions, I was speaking to a Hindi girl who grew up here, and she was saying that most people take notice of all of the religious holidays, but that no one religion gets more attention than another. The country is 43% Buddhist, 15% Christian, 15% Muslim, and 4% Hindu, while Malaysia is 60% Muslim and Indonesia is 86%. I found this difference to be very clear as all the women dressed a lot more conservatively, the food was clearly defined into that with pork and that without, and there were prayer rooms next to the departure gates at the airport.
During the past few weeks one thing I have found is that there is a huge mix of people from completely different backgrounds, living very peacefully together. In food stalls there are Indian and Muslim food stalls right next to each other, on the train you'll see Chinese and Japanese people talking to each other, and a mix of European and American expats are always around as well. I even found it very interesting that the people I work with, who have distinctly Chinese and Malaysian names, do not identify with these cultures, but insist that they and their families are Singaporean. I was speaking with a girl from Singapore that I work with yesterday, and she asked if she could ask me a very personal question, so I was a bit hesitant and worried about what it could be, and she asked if there was racism where I came from. I explained to her that most people in our country are not racist at all, but that there had historically been problems in the South of the country, and that for the most part people are trying to move on. She responded "Oh, well if you were racist, you wouldn't have come to Singapore!" which I was quite surprised at, as racism hadn't even crossed my mind the entire time I'd been here.
This weekend I went to Indonesia which was definitely an interesting experience, it's a completely different way of life than in Singapore. It's odd to think that Singapore is such a modern and westernized country in between two developing countries, there are such huge differences within an hour or two of leaving Singapore. In terms of religion, in Singapore there is a huge mix of religions, I was speaking to a Hindi girl who grew up here, and she was saying that most people take notice of all of the religious holidays, but that no one religion gets more attention than another. The country is 43% Buddhist, 15% Christian, 15% Muslim, and 4% Hindu, while Malaysia is 60% Muslim and Indonesia is 86%. I found this difference to be very clear as all the women dressed a lot more conservatively, the food was clearly defined into that with pork and that without, and there were prayer rooms next to the departure gates at the airport.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Prevention Policy & Lab Progress
(from Tammy Chin)
My stay so far in Singapore has been very enjoyable. I had the chance to do lab work without supervision, isolating the RNA from the culture supernatant. At first I thought the precision and careful pipeting would overwhelm me, but I got used to it in no time and had 50 extractions of RNA done. We have found the optical density of all the RNA samples, and there seems to be an ample amount of RNA in all the samples, which is very good to hear. We did reverse transcription on the RNA collected, and tomorrow I will start the polymerase chain reaction. It seems like I will be quite occupied in the lab until the end of my stay here.
My stay so far in Singapore has been very enjoyable. I had the chance to do lab work without supervision, isolating the RNA from the culture supernatant. At first I thought the precision and careful pipeting would overwhelm me, but I got used to it in no time and had 50 extractions of RNA done. We have found the optical density of all the RNA samples, and there seems to be an ample amount of RNA in all the samples, which is very good to hear. We did reverse transcription on the RNA collected, and tomorrow I will start the polymerase chain reaction. It seems like I will be quite occupied in the lab until the end of my stay here.
People here are very conscious of Dengue and its dangers. There are posters plastered on the MRT trains and signs all along the streets that warn people not to leave water stagnant and to protect themselves. Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease has also been brought to attention in Singapore, as I have noticed. The Ministry of Health recently gave a press release about its prevalence here. It seems though, from the cleanliness of most of the bathrooms and just from my own observations that the people here are actively trying to take good care of themselves and believe that good personal hygiene is a must.
As for other experiences, Mary and I had some good Mexican food yesterday night in Holland Village, a nice little place with fine eateries and shops, and tonight we ate the best naan I have ever tasted, in a canteen on campus. There is such a wide array of food here, and I am enjoying every bit of it.
As for other experiences, Mary and I had some good Mexican food yesterday night in Holland Village, a nice little place with fine eateries and shops, and tonight we ate the best naan I have ever tasted, in a canteen on campus. There is such a wide array of food here, and I am enjoying every bit of it.
Kuala Lumpur
(from Mary Bohan)
I went to meet a friend from Duke in Kuala Lumpur over the weekend, and found that to be a very interesting experience. I found it to be very similar to Singapore in terms of the attractions to the city, but overall it was less developed, had more poverty, and not as clean. I was only there for 24 hours so it was very quick but I did make it to one site that was very interesting, it was called the Batu Caves, which is a sacred place for Hindus in Malaysia, and you climb 272 nearly vertical stairs to reach a cave with lots of statues and temples. There were many people who seemed to be sick climbing the stairs, some had their heads shaved and some yellow or orange cream on their heads, we're still not very sure what it was for. I also had to go to the hospital to get information regarding getting vaccines for India and found it to be very efficient, a woman was able to see me right away with no appointment and tell me all of the information I needed, and the payment system seemed very straightforward and fair, unlike lots of the confusion with insurance and everything in the US. Apparently all of the children here are vaccinated from just after birth and every few weeks, so in some ways they're even more advanced than the US.
I went to meet a friend from Duke in Kuala Lumpur over the weekend, and found that to be a very interesting experience. I found it to be very similar to Singapore in terms of the attractions to the city, but overall it was less developed, had more poverty, and not as clean. I was only there for 24 hours so it was very quick but I did make it to one site that was very interesting, it was called the Batu Caves, which is a sacred place for Hindus in Malaysia, and you climb 272 nearly vertical stairs to reach a cave with lots of statues and temples. There were many people who seemed to be sick climbing the stairs, some had their heads shaved and some yellow or orange cream on their heads, we're still not very sure what it was for. I also had to go to the hospital to get information regarding getting vaccines for India and found it to be very efficient, a woman was able to see me right away with no appointment and tell me all of the information I needed, and the payment system seemed very straightforward and fair, unlike lots of the confusion with insurance and everything in the US. Apparently all of the children here are vaccinated from just after birth and every few weeks, so in some ways they're even more advanced than the US.
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