Sitting in ze library

Salaams my dears

Sitting in the Library on a Sunday afternoon with the thunder raging outside whilst I'm snuggled up in a wrap due to the airconditioning, I am indeed meant to be reading about the UN's relevance but thought a little blog would be appropriate right now.

This last week has gone incredibly quickly, its been quite scary. In a way it is a blessing but it also shows to highlight that time really does seem to be going by faster now - I'll be 40 tomorrow :( hehehehe

Classes have been interesting - only in singapore do you not finish classes until half 9 on a friday night :p serious dedication to education out here Alh its amazing and I'm grateful to experience it - hopefully it'll mean I'l get my head down in 4th year when it really counts (oh yeah also my resit next August, how awful does that sound!)

Now a 1/3 of my way through my Intensive - Islamic Law - and its really very very interesting and inspirational. The lecturer is inspiring and quite barking mad at times, but he speaks with passion and thats why I'm so enthusiastic about my research paper. Having not yet come up with a topic of course... Its a really interesting mix of Islamic history and Usul al Fiqh, which I can not even begin to describe how fascinating it is or how amazed I am at the abilities and capacity of the peoples at that time as well as the way society operated that is so different from the State system we are used to today. Totally requires thinking outside the box!

I discovered the Botanic Gardens were literally 5 minutes walk from the door of my seminar room. Took a wee walk around there on Friday, I'm so lucky man! I seriously know it when I get this just outside my door - I don't take it for granted like we do in Edinburgh. In Edinburgh you can't sit with your back against a palm tree reading about post 9/11 constitutional theory :p its usually tax in a cold flat !!

And yesterday I went shoooopping! Ooops...I discovered Arab Street and bought quite alot for reasonable prices in comparison to the UK - spent about $250 but thats only about £90 which is quite good considering the amount I bought Alh. I can safely wash my clothes and still have stuff to wear, which reminds me I have washing hanging out to dry in a thunder storm, that doesn't make sense on so many levels but I can't be bothered moving...

Karen arrives on Wednesday and I hope to show her the madness of Chinatown and places and hopefully take a trip to Indonesia or Malaysia whilst she's here iA - maybe both! Will see what she fancies. Not been seeing enough of folk because of the late classes so I'll be really grateful when the intensive finishes and I only have a 3 day week Alh

So anyway battery is dying on laptop so need to find somewhere to charge it - photos should follow iA hope you enjoy your read of what I've been up to on the other side of ze world from you guys

gailxxx