Woot woot positive blog entrrryyyyy

So Singapore was ah-mazing. I was pretty excited about it and it pretty much fulfilled all of my expectations, and then some. We stayed in this swanky hotel which was kind of like gothic-style luxury, as in there were no ceiling lights, all dimly light lamps and the bathrooms were all black marble(ish). The bathtub was greatness and large and deep but I have the bad habit of making my baths too hot and scalding myself while also dehydrating myself, but it ended up being great because all the dead skin came off my body! We had free reign over the breakfast and lunch buffet, and there was a chocolate fountain every day at lunch. So that's the hotel.

 Second, the people. The youth representatives are great. There were 26 of them, and I only got to know a fraction of them, but I still really enjoyed them all. Li Leng, Dewy, and Mel Rose were by far the closest to me though. We bonded like immediately. These were strong, assertive, smart, friendly, un-biased girls from all these different countries. I didn't have to pretend to be someone else, we got along so well as it was, and I just can't believe these girls are so far away from where I live it just breaks my heart. Li Leng wants to bring me to her hometown so I think I'm going to go with her at some point. Then there was Ronil. Ronil is from Fiji. At first I didn't know what to think of him, but then I loved him. Just like that. He's super intelligent and fun and loving, not shy of anything, loves talking people up. He only sleeps 2 and a half hours a night! Apparently thats somewhat common in the islands. craziness. He just...made you happy just being around him. He even charmed the receptionist to such an extent that she bought him a card before he left (he was only there for 4 days!). Tegan, from New Zealand, was also really great and HILARIOUS. Sometimes she would just say something and it was be SO tegan it was ridiculous. These are the kind of people that you meet and hope you one day can grow up to be like them. 

Every night I went out with a group of reps. Little India in Singapore is like none I've ever been to, and far exceeds what I've seen in Toronto and Kuala Lumpur ( but I will be visiting the one in Toronto much more this year). Very bolly. Bright things everywhere. Lovely.

Did you know that Singapore has a bajillion malls and hotels? I'm not sure I saw a building that was not either a mall or a hotel. What's really fun is that Singapore, while a really repressive soceity law-wise (bubble gum is illegal), they have some pretty wacky things to make up for it. Please see the photo album for examples. So the malls and the hotels, though kind of lame, always have these weird things happening in them that just make you wonder what is going on in Singapore that makes them come up with these things? It was, from what I can tell, a very creative and clever place. For example, it was the Great Singapore Sale month where everything is on sale (like, really. it was pretty amazing) and they had ads every where with giant signs on like churches and statues and government buildings that said "THIS IS NOT ON SALE but practically everything else is" and they planted stop signs that had it on as well. Very clever.

On Friday night we were invited to a dinner at the Shangri-la hotel (oh la la, very fancy) to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Singapore Planned Parenthood Association. The deputy prime minister of singapore came (ohhh) and Jacqueline Sharp, president IPPF (aaahhhh) and Gill Greer, Director General of IPPF (also known as my new hero). We had 8 courses which were all fantastic. There were really weird performances and an over-enthusiastic MC and really cheesy music. This was basically the singaporean equivalent of the bar mitzvah of the rich kid whose parents invite the whole school and the teachers and all their business colleagues and then give them a photo album full of your pictures. Except in a super fancy hotel. And without any jews or religion.

At one point, the background music was one of the songs from Star Wars. Not THE star wars song, but the one they always play when Leah and Hans Solo make out. At another point, the MC sang. And then sang again. There was a Singapore dance group that looked really bored, and then there was a woman who performed something called UMBRELLA MAGIC which was probably one of the best things I've ever seen. This girl just made umbrellas appear out of no where, like legit they would open in her hand, and you just had no idea how they appeard. And she danced around in a chinese gown while doing it. There was also an award winning salsa-dancing duo, which were pretty hott. Then they got all of the stuffiest members of ESEAOR IPPF to get up and dance the YMCA. The programme officer for migrant workers led a congo line around the room. Sarah and I could not contain ourselves for most parts of it, and my cheeks hurt by the end from laughing so hard. It felt so very good to laugh. 

There was no alcohol at this event either which made it VERY surprising that eventually everyone from my office was up and dancing.  I was forced to join after my mango pudding (amazing) and was really glad I did. I ended up dancing to Michael Jackson with the President of IPPF. That is a moment I will not soon forget. Sadly, I have no photos because i did not bring my camera.

In terms of the actual Regional Council, that was pretty cool to watch. The president of IPPF fell asleep 4 times the second day of meetings though, so I don't feel bad saying that I was quite bored for a lot of it. The youth representatives, in their working group, put forward a resolution to endorse 20% youth participation in the governing bored of every member association at national level. There was a little huffle about it, until Gill Greer spoke and said "men were terrified to give women the vote. The world did not fall apart then and Planned parenthood will not fall apart if you give youth a voice. Please take this step for human kind." Which was pretty much the end of THAT and the beginning of when she officially became my hero. This woman can just command a room with her voice, and she really reminded me why I am so passionate about sexual and reproductive health: because no one else is, and women are dying.

Unfortunately I don't remember a lot more than that; it was such a rush of a week! I was very inspired, and very grateful to everyone I met for being so kind. I hope the photos do it some justice.

 Clara