Are you doing the Abercrombie Gig?

Friday was another day where I only was able to hit the gym. It’s been raining a significant amount lately really putting a damper on my pool and poolside reading. After this and some catching up with my favourite tv shows, I headed down to Ion Orchard mall to meet up with Rafa and chill for a bit, as well as pick up a new shirt. 

It rained most the morning and early afternoon so I didn’t take my umbrella. Clear blue skies and not a cloud to be seen I thought I would be safe. I was, for my walk to the bus. Getting off the bus I earned my stripes and got soaked. Although I was only exposed for maybe 20 seconds, I was dripping wet for the next hour.  It was a good opportunity to check out a mall I never would visit, while I was waiting out the rain. The rain didn’t stop though, but I eventually found an underground path to my destination.

Next goal was to find UNIQLO, a Japanese retail chain with high quality clothes at reasonable prices.  Mel had recommended this place and was she ever right. I found a very nice polo for 14.90 and a pair of shorts for 19.90.  I thought I was going to be paying more, but the discount brought these to be much more reasonable. 

Rafa was getting his ears lowered so I killed a bit of time until he was free. I walked around the mall, got lost many times. Found myself then lost again.  Browsing through many stores, I tried to learn about all the different stores that aren’t LV expensive.  I found this store called edit. I liked a shirt but passed on it. Only to return with Rafa an hour later to try it on and pick it up. 

Rafa and I chilled for a bit, until we had to part ways, myself to an Internations Gathering and Rafa I think to his buddies place.  

I met up with Mel and a few new friends and we headed to Prive Waterfront Bar. Internations is a collective group of expats (there are branches all over the world), who gather and mingle. This seemed like it would be a great opportunity to network and meet new friends, and that is exactly what it did for me. 

The location for this gathering was stellar! Looking out into the bay you could see a beautiful bridge, the cable cars going to Sentosa and the fantastic skyline that is Singapore. Our entrance gave us one drink and the night began. Mel was funny in that she set a goal for me to get 15 numbers/business cards. After arriving she said “go find new friends I will see you later” and off she went. I went to one of the first groups of people I saw, introduced myself and chatted. It’s incredible how many countries were represented at this party, this first group Ireland, Australia and China.  A turned around a few minutes later and met another Aussie and someone from Norway. An hour or so later, I ran into Mel again and she introduced me to an American and a French. The last people I met in the evening were an awesome couple from the UK. An incredible night it was for meeting new friends. I am excited just thinking about the next one I can go to. 

It was rather strange to tell everyone that my job is strictly modelling. Everyone asked me if I was doing the Abercrombie gig. Obviously the modelling isn't something for the rest of my life, but it has been a ticket to adventure and experience. 

After leaving Prive we drove around for what seemed to be forever in Circles, ending at the Esplanade (the giant durian shaped building) and grabbed some food at a hawker centre. I had satay with compressed rice, it was very good, not spicy though.

O and we parked by a Lambo. And I also found out how much a BMW 640i costs.

If you can't see, thats $335,800

I am going to write a lot today I think, next blog very soon. 

A walk in the rain

 With a beautiful morning under my belt, I spent time poolside followed by some time in the gym. The standard for a morning. I contacted my agent here to see if anything new was happening. To my disappointment nothing again. It’s a slow time of year, but I will keep optimistic. I did work 5 jobs in 2 weeks.

With such a beautiful day out there I decided to take a walk to the Botanical Gardens and read my book. Walking by the Embassies, British, American and Thai I developed an appetite and picked up a Korean bbq hot plate.  It was good, by far better than any food court food back home. 

Feeling content and energized I made my way to the Gardens. The same gardens I visited with Alex a week or two ago. It started raining when I was ¾ of the way there. The rain continued for at least another 3 hours. After stopping at a bench for a bit the wonders of the gardens intrigued me and I pulled open my umbrella to explore.  I walked around for 2 maybe 3 hours just amazed. The things I saw were so foreign to me. Next time I go I plan on checking out the Orchid Garden.

I have been terrible for distracting myself and forgetting to write. I checked out the ginger garden, the evolution garden, the rainforest and the healing garden they were all incredible. Here are a few of my favourites for the rest check out the album I loaded onto Facebook

After walking through only a portion of the garden I was ready to eat again. I pulled out my trusty google maps and asked her where the closest hawker centre was. In luck I was only 1 train stop away from Holland Village Hawker centre.  I decided to try something new. Laksa and Otah were on my menu for the evening.  Laksa is a curry-based dish with cockles, shrimp, cuttlefish, vegetables and wide rice noodles. Otah is a fish paste, with spices, wrapped in a banana leaf and cooked over charcoal fire. This is one of my favourite dishes so far. I keep saying this. I never realized how much of a foodie I really am.

I thought this was interesting to spot at the train

A whole new world, shining, shimmering, dazzling

After my late night adventure I was gassed to say the least. I am not meant to be up at the bars until all hours of the night. I stayed in bed until about 1:30. Alex and I met up to go tour around Little India and to introduce her to the hawker centres.

To the busmobile! This was my mode of transport to meet up with my beautiful model friend.  Shortly after we met up it began raining and we searched for the nearest hawker centre. After a solid half hour of walking, Barbara (the google maps woman) steered us to the wrong place.  We eventually found a place to grab a coffee/redbull. Good timing too, because the cats and dogs were coming down hard.  This rain started and continued for the rest of the day, in spurts of heavy rain, thundershowers and mild drizzle.

A few blocks away we entered little India. It becomes evident very quickly that you aren’t in Kansas anymore. The buildings take on different shape (less sky scrapers), the streets are bustling, the clothing is both traditional and modern, and more people look at you strangely. There are shops lined up all along the sides of the streets.

After a short period of exploring we found a hawker centre.  This was the busiest one I have seen yet. The timing was a little different as well, being 5 o'clock on a Saturday. I took Alex on my standard tour of the hawker market, scoping out the lines and the cuisine.  The fresh fruit juices, to which I ordered a sugar cane juice with lime, to scoping out the fresh meat, seafood, vegetables and fruit. We spent close to half an hour walking around before scoping a food vendor. The menu for this evening was Chicken Biryani. This is a traditional southern India cuisine, spices, chicken, vegetables and basmati rice (as many of you know is lower GI than regular white rice). I was so hungry; I almost forgot to take a picture. Here it is:

While sitting down to eat and discussing dehydration (my present feeling, I was so sweaty) and sore throat/cold (Alex) a wonderful Indian woman enlightened us. She shared that coconut would be great for both of us. It helps your body recover from dehydration and with a little mint it can be helpful for your immune system. Upon further conversation she shared where else to go eat, some must try foods and some shopping advice (a must stop is the Mustafa Centre).

I pulled up the Mustafa centre on Barbara and headed in that direction. The street levels stores are packed with gold. Every second store had gold and lots of it. The other stores have watches and clothes for very cheap. I am thinking about taking them up on the 3 watches for $10 deal. Obviously the quality isn’t there, but hey 2 for 10 why not. I may also pick up some shorts at some of these places as I only have one pair of casual shorts here and then gym shorts and board shorts. The quality of all of this is certainly sub par.  At one store I did pick up some red bull. It was 3 for 1 dollar. 

And then onto Mustafa centre, this place puts Wal-Mart to shame. The building is about the size of Chinook centre but 6 floors. They sell everything there, from 2 kg of almonds for $8, to luggage, to clothing, DVDs, sunglasses, you name it and you can find it.  13 types of dark chocolate almonds. After easily an hour of wandering Alex and I were lost. Another 20 minutes of searching we figured out how to get to the street.

The time now ticked onto 8 o clock and it was still raining.  Alex and I parted ways for the evening and I dodged raindrops the remainder of the way home to the train station. A fun afternoon and evening to say the least. I managed to experience much of Singapore and another culture I had yet to see. I think I will head back there again sometime, if anything for the food. It was amazing.

White people can’t tolerate the heat

 Sorry I couldn’t treat you with 2 posts today, but it was a very long day. As I had mentioned in the previous couple posts, I got the gig for the corporate video and it was expected to be 10-12 hours of “work”. 

Today wasn’t too bad of a start; I needed to be at the Marina Bay area for 10am start time. A quick jump on the train and I am there in less than 30. We were told to meet at #11. Well folks, if you get told to find #11 good luck! There is no address signage for there because well we were actually in a big field overlooking downtown and the Marina Bay sands. After wandering around aimlessly for 5 or 10 minutes I found it. Actually very hard to miss, this was a much bigger production than I expected. Easily 50-60 extras, and 6 of us featured extras.

Shortly after my arrival, with carry on case full of close, I was assigned one of my long sleeve t-shirts and jeans to wear for the day. This entire shoot was to be done outside, in 30-degree weather, that’s the temperature before the humidity so closer to 50 today.

An Aussie woman and myself were to be a couple for some of the shooting. I can’t for the life of me remember her name, but she was wonderful to work with. Very easy for the two of us to chat, I was excited for her and her twin 9-month-old boys. Makes it very easy to smile when you think about that. We were the first set of people filming. The orders were very simple, walk up to the cooking counter, talk with the chef, point at a few things, and receive bowls and walk away smiling.  While doing that they needed extra’s just strolling in the fairgrounds around us. It took a while for the extra’s to look normal in the background so we had to do maybe 5 or 6 takes. A couple different positions for hand-offs etc. This wasn’t to bad, but waiting for things between takes was ridiculous. It was very hot and humid out so I was sweating like a mad man. They put some make up on my face so I wouldn’t be so shiny from sweat. At this point I was feeling like a prince. I had one assistant dabbing my forehead and neck of sweat, with another one waving a hand fan for me. 

 

After that we just hung out for a bit in the shade, while 2 other models filmed stuff with t-shirts. The following part was cool and I hope the pictures turned out. Waiting for them to develop. The goal was to make the big field look like a carnival, so we all had to walk around with balloons, check out the stands and have fun. This was easy as Geri; the girl from South Africa was also there today. Her and I and the Aussie just hung out and checked out things. After who knows how long of doing this, on a count of three we all released balloons. I thought this was interesting as littering in Singapore is a $1000 fine. I reconciled that it’s not littering until it hits the ground, likely miles away. We did a second shoot of the same thing again.

Next up were myself and my girlfriend for the day. I wonder about continuity of the shoot, she had her wedding ring on the entire time and me well, no ring for me. I don’t think they noticed though. Back on task. We were sitting down at a table just hanging out and eating food. Sorry no pic as this was working. The cuisine was delicious and looked incredible as well. Black rice with mixed vegetables and chili beef, or chicken dishes or pork dishes and tofu as well, all incredible.  It was funny too as we were expected to use our chopsticks. I am starting to get a handle on them. Another week or two and I will be snapping a fly out of the air. 

Shortly after finishing these shots, darkness set over the sky, one that would not lift for almost 4 hours. The Aussie and I hurried back to the tents and set up camp. It rained, and then rained some more, then it drizzled, then cats and dogs fell from the sky, you catch my drift. Geri and I chatted quite a bit, where she is living right now there are a lot of beautiful cars in the garage. This conversation was all sparked by our heads turning every time a Maserati, or Ferrari or Lambo zoomed by. Cooped up under the tent it was uncomfortable, sweaty and boring.  But we all survived.

While under the tent I received a text from my agent regarding tomorrow’s gig. We are meeting at a hotel restaurant at 8:45 sharp. Geri got the gig too, so we are meeting at the MRT station then rolling in together. Thankfully, the only thing I need to pack is my black shoes. So flip flops and shorts for tomorrow.

While waiting for the rain to stop, I took my time to chat with one of the women responsible for getting me the job. We had an awesome conversation about food. Singaporean’s love their food.  She recommended a few really good hawker stations and some dishes that are a must to try. My newton station experience the night before she said was nothing on what I can get at a few other places. She was surprised I like the hawker food, as most white people can’t tolerate the hot flavor. Another great conversation, people are so friendly here. As usual, networking. If they are looking for a Caucasian male for a role in something, I just might pop into mind.

Finally after the rain let up, we resume shooting. Only one more thing left, a movie theatre type thing. A big screen was set up, chairs were in place and extras were lined up. Well all except the 6 of us. We were assigned specific seats as couple’s all relatively close to each other. On the screen they put up a trailer for a Korean film, based on WW2. It was funny though that the actors were portraying Russians and they were Asian.  This whole scene took about an hour and a half maybe 2 hours. Many extras struggled to look normal when the camera was that much closer to them. There was one extra that did awesome at getting some of the others to loosen up which was great.

Finally, what I had been waiting to hear all day. IT’S A WRAP. The day was over.

As I rolled out I made sure to thank everyone that had helped along the way. If I remotely had contact with anyone I wanted to express my gratitude. There was an American fellow who was directing people what to do. He was awesome with the food shots earlier and funny with the popcorn/theatre thing. I chatted with him for a little bit about football, we are going to go grab beers before my time is up here. He also expressed that they were very happy with my performance and attitude and that if another role comes up he would give me a shout. Thumbs up!

It was now 8pm I was tired and a little hungry. Lunch was provided and Geri shared her chicken with me so I could have a “man’s portion” and she didn’t like the chicken (rightfully so, it was very almost wet). I had a few granola bars packed with me and drank a ton of water. Ah that reminds me I forgot my 1.5 L bottle there, it was empty and I bet it got recycled (don’t worry it was just a normal bottled water bottle). I stopped by a place called Asian kitchen and splurged on dinner, full service sit down kind of dinner. I ordered this beef (the menu mentioned frank Sinatra in it) and rice and paid $9. It was awesome, another epic meal. Do I have low standards or is the food really that good here. North American food can be so plain and boring, here they are so adventurous with spices and everything is hot. Not unbearable hot but Zach loves kind of hot. 

I finally made it home shortly before 9, exactly 12 hours after I left in the morning. My first stop was to my room to grab my swimsuit and then half hour in the pool. Tonight I did a few laps, did some of the P90x stuff in the water and added something new. Wide claps under water, this just killed my chest. The harder you push the greater the resistance, it was awesome.

Good night everyone, another long day is ahead tomorrow. 

And look another Gecko. Same Place again today.