Ah Lian!

So. My semester in Singapore begins. Aiyah! (Translation: "Oh dear!" in Singlish).

This is my first post, but as I have not left yet, I have no pictures, stories, or really anything to add . . . except for the fact that I will be posting with (some) regularity. What will I write about? Not sure. But write I will!

The name of this first entry, "Ah Lian" means "teenage hooligan (female)", according to remembersingapore.org. I chose this because I liked that it was one of the first translations I found when I googled "Singlish", and because I am not a male and therefore could not choose the "teenage hooligan (male)" phrase; ah beng ah seng.

I also highly considered "chio gao gay sha sha", which means "teeth-bearing laugh", and "giam cai" -- "messy; very lucky." The latter is an interesting combination of something that I very much am (messy) and something that I very much am not (very lucky), all compressed into one term.

The most interesting, though, is this Singlish listing: "sat sat bo chio".

It translates, evidently, into "stylish, no joke." This left me wondering. Because it has no semi-colon, does it mean "stylish, no joke", altogether? Like "Even though she wears highwater jeans and clogs everyday, I think Lucy is really sat sat bo chio". Or does it mean both 'stylish' and 'no joke', in different contexts? Could one say, "Those novelty-patterned Tevas are really sat sat bo chio, Carl!" (stylish), and then also, "I burnt my foot on a George Foreman grill today, sat sat bo chio" (no joke)? I'm still not sure.

I guess I'll discover my answers in the Great Beyond [some 9,746 miles away]. . .

**Also, I feel that two things should be noted:

First, when I was running this blog name by my dear friend, Marshall Moore, she thought I should replace "A Broad, Abroad" with "A Bra Abroad". . . Hmm. She also thought I should take a bunch of pictures in places with a bra in the background. Hmm, again. Do with that information what you will.

Second thing: Apparently my dorm is near the Botanic Gardens in Singapore, but since I haven't actually been, I thought it'd be cheap to pull a picture from online. I used this print I did for an art class instead, because I'm excited about the trees.

Finally, I've been told (by many) that no one will read this unless I keep it short. So this is all.

So long, America!

#vietnam #southeastasia #photo