The End is Near!
Things are winding down now. I went to the Science Centre, which was disappointing -- I'd seen many of the exhibits at Science World (in Vancouver) 15 or 20 years ago. And it was a lot more kid-centered than Science World... or at least, it was much more kid-centered than I remember Science World being. From when I visited it. When I was a kid.
I discovered that there was a "snow centre" right next door. Judging from the website, it's an indoors area with snow! The temperature in Singapore has only dipped below 20 degrees once in recorded temperature-history (since 1934, IIRC) -- and it was still 19.4 C degrees then! So it must be a real novelty to natives here.
On one hand, I wish that I'd discovered this months ago -- I could have spent every Friday evening there, or something! On the other hand, it's probably good that I didn't discover it, because I would have spent a lot of money there. :)
Yesterday, the research group went to MacRitchie Reservoir, went along the Tree-Top Walk (it's like the Capiliano suspension bridge in North Vancouver, except long and narrower -- it's one-way only). I think we ended up walking about 10km. Inside the canopy of the rainforest, it wasn't as hot as outside. Sometimes I think it was even below 28 degrees!
Near the beginning of the journey, we saw a few monkeys in a tree. While most of us were saying things like "aww, so cute!" and taking pictures, one of the few Singaporean citizens in the group commented that monkeys were viscious little buggers and were not cute at all. He went on to explain that he'd been chased by a bunch of monkeys, and it wasn't fun at all.
I proceeded to mock him for running away from cute little things like that (he'd served in the army, making the mockey especially irresistable for me), and claimed that I could intimidate a dozen of those cat-sized critters. I then paused, and remarked that this was the perfect setup for ten monkeys to swarm down from the trees and beat me to death.
That didn't happen, of course. Comedy: 0, hubris: 1.
Later on, we were walking down a hill on the trail, and the dirt track had a few loose stones (size of a fist) scattered along it. He commented how annoying it was to avoid the rocks or balance on them, and I proceeded to boast about how easy it was, when you had proper footwear and experience doing so. "I love jumping from rock to rock when hiking in the mountains in Canada, and--"
-- in mid-sentence, I put my right foot down on a rock that rolled to my left, causing my weight to descend on right ankle at an angle that the human body was not designed to support. Yep, perfect setup, perfect timing. Comedy: 1, hubris: 1.
After a few moments of pain, and longer moments of dizziness, I limped on. There wasn't much else to do, and it didn't seem too serious. As long as I walked funny, it didn't hurt. Any injury that you can walk away from is a good injury, right? For some value of "good", at least.
Three hours later, after a great meal at pizza hut with the group, I got home, had a shower, then looked up "ankle sprain" on wikipedia (the most reliable source of medical diagnoses and treatment in the world). I put some ice cubes inside a hand hand towel folded in half, then settled down to watch Singaporean TV while alternating between having ice on my ankle, and putting my ankle on the top of the couch (the only way to elevate it above my heart, which is apparently one of the recommended treatments, according to the ultra-reliable source).
The first few times that I got up after being stationary for a while, it was worse than ever. But later in the evening, it felt better, and I could hobble around the apartment without a steady stream of obscenities. It's a good thing that all my roommates have moved back to their countries! May 13, May 20, May 28... we've been counting down the days anxiously. :)
Anyway, right now (approximately 24 hours after the injury), I can walk almost normally, and I can rotate my ankle with only a few twinges of pain. I'm going to be fine... so this just makes for a great story of comedy and hubris.
(I will, however, note that I did not literally fall down. I'm still agile enough to pull my weight off the foot, reposition it, then catch myself before hitting the ground.)
Only 4 days until I return to Vancouver!