Hack ‘n Roll

NUS SOC (School of Computing) student group created an evening for students to create their own projects in an environment with other programmers for an all night competition.  The event was held on Saturday January 25th starting at 2:00 pm running all weekend through Sunday at 5:00 pm.  I hope they don’t have a Monday morning class!

It’s a Saturday night and the SOC lounge area is filled with budding hackers.

   

Students were also in the computer lab.

In the auditorium they ran video games on the large screen. The kids hung out there and played Super Mario with a couple of NUS students. They could have stayed there all night if we let them.

  

The organizers made it very comfortable for all the participants. They provided snacks and drinks and even blankets and pillows on a comfy sofa. Kira, Simaya & Ethan eyed the candy the whole time.

We all had an opportunity to talk to the students and what student life is like in Singapore. It was great to hear their perspectives and what their goals are post graduation.

Arnold with some of the senior students on the SOC organizing committee.

Now that’s what I call an event! Kudos to the organizers!  Arnold also took the kids to a Games Night that SOC students organized a few weeks ago.  They enjoyed that a lot too!

Between hanging out with Midtown teacher candidates at OISE/UT, Comp Sci students at UTM and SOC at NUS, our kids are eager to go to university. Though I think their perspective on university may be slanted by all the social events they’ve attended from our work, at least they are excited about it!

Exploring Little India

We decided to see what Little India was like.  We took the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) and got off the Little India stop.  How easy was that!

     

It was a great little place with lots of little markets along the side of the streets.  Food prices were pretty good!  They also sold interesting kitchen ware.  There was a really cool wooden ladle that I will have to pick up for home.

  

Many fruit and vegetable stands and flowers for prayers were sold.  Simaya loved the flower arrangements and asked them if they would make a necklace for her.  

Kira also got a string of flowers she made into a flower crown.  Ethan really wanted to surprise the girls and bought them their flowers.  I used mine to make an arrangement for the table.

We walked into a couple of places to sample some food.

We tried the hawker stalls here. We had some butter chicken, butter naan, curry puffs and coconut juice.  YUM! Not as spicy as I thought it would be but all very good!

   

Ethan though wasn’t too thrilled with the fresh coconut juice.

Just beside the hawker stall was two-floor market which sold mostly Indian dresses and tops.  They were so beautiful!  Material was so soft and elegant.  I will definitely be back to buy something here.

 

Kira found a place that would do Henna.  She was waiting to find someone to do this for her.  There was a school group doing a tour of Little India for a school project.  The kids were all excited to get their henna designs as a souvenir from their school trip.  The lady was really nice and gave Kira a discount.  It was a beautiful design!

        

We walked down a street that was full of hostels and backpacking hotels.  Low prices and definitely a place where many backpackers stopping by are staying.  It was cool to see a whole strip of them.  You can also see the old buildings with the air conditioning units outside.

A beautiful temple was also there and from the outside we can see many footwear laying outside the doors while people prayed.

As we were walking, we came across another camera crew who approached us.  The kids just can’t keep out of the media!  They were putting together a New Year’s segment for Singapore’s Indian Channel Vasantham.  So if you happen to watch it, look for the Rosenbloom kids wishing everyone a Happy New Year!

We will definitely be back here to shop and try out a few restaurants!