Catching Up

It's been more than a month since my last post, so now is as good of a time as any to catch up on the blog.

I've now been in Singapore for almost seven months! But let's stay with the last one for now.

Golf

My buddy Ari and I went golfing at this amazing course in Indonesia called Ria Bintan. The place was stellar. The weather turned out to be perfect and all in all, it was a great day.
I'm stil not so good at the whole get the small white ball into the hole, but it was well worth it. The course is stunning, with holes right along the beach. Majestic is the word that comes to mind.

Grouping Up

My good friend Tamar came back to Singapore for a visit early in June. Having her back was great, as the crew was together again. Shabbat dinner that week was really something with everyone there.

SportsCenter

Two weeks ago, I got my first on camera time here by helping out with our SportsCenter Week In Review program. For me, this is a dream come true. The show is a round table format where we talk about, as you might guess, the week that was in sports. As much fun as I had on the show, I had an even better time the next day. A group of friends came over to watch the show. We had pizza, chips and guacamole, fruit and it was topped off by champagne that Alex brought. The past two Fridays I've gotten to do the show, mostly talking about baseball and basketball, but I chip in on the other sports as well. I'm getting more and more comfortable with the show. Hopefully, they'll keep asking me to be a guest.

Setting Sail

My friend Angela had an amazing birthday party at the New Asia Bar...this club at the top of a huge skyscraper. It was boat themed and I had a really great time, met some new people, and all in all just had a blast.

The Month in Sports

Sports wise, this has been an amazing month. Baseball has been amazing - the "Imperfect Game," Ken Griffey Jr. retiring and Stephen Strasburg's debut. The NBA Finals were as good as they get. The classic Boston-LA rivalry went seven games and ended with a real classic to finish them. It was great.

However, I've easily been most excited about the World Cup. Felix and I ordered the viewing package here and it's been awesome. The Americans are giving me quite a scare, but hopefully they'll pull it out and advance to the knockout stages.

Last night, a group of us went to watch the games at a big touristy area called Sentosa. We had dinner at this Irish pub and then after, my friend Natalie got us VIP seats at this massive viewing party. It was so cool, plus, after the game they had a spot on Michael Jackson impersonator. It was really crazy how much he looked and moved like him. After we went to this big bar for Yosel's (one of the Chabad boys) 21st birthday. It was really a blast!

Well, that's about it for a great month. I haven't been eating much in the way of new foods, but I'm trying to eat healthier at home - lots of salad, fruit juice, all that good stuff.

Amanda is coming here on Thursday! The days can't come fast enough.

Alrighty, that's all for now, hopefully it wont be another month before my next post.

Happy Father's Day everyone!

Michael

A Year in the Life

Somehow, I still can't fathom that only a year ago, I was getting ready for graduation. I had zero idea what was next, and yet, I've had one of the most important years of my life. In 12 months, I've worked at three different television stations, lived in three different cities and made one giant decision. Honestly, I can say I wouldn't change any of it.

After graduating last year, I had an incredible summer in Columbia. My friend Kevin likes to call it our summer of fun-employment and that's exactly what it was. About four of my best friends and I just bro-ed out all summer. We played lots and lots of tennis, some golf here and there, watched tennis, golf, USA soccer and the NBA playoffs - of course all this while also working at KOMU and sending off job applications. That summer in Columbia will be one of those things I'm think about when I'm 45 and talking about the good ole days. One of the best highlights of that summer was of finishing a night of tennis and learning I had a niece! I drove home the next day.

I couldn't have asked for a better way to wrap up that summer - a cruise to Mexico with Amanda's family. It's so funny to think now that I almost didn't go on the cruise. What was I thinking?

Right after getting back from the vacation, like magic, I started getting some bites on job stuff. After a month or so of looking and a couple of interviews later, I started working as a freelance sports reporter and news producer for KTEN. While I only worked in Texoma for about two months, I think it really developed my understanding of local tv news. Not only did I make some good friends, but I was lucky enough to cover the first college football game at Cowboys Stadium and also the Red River Rivalry at the Cotton Bowl (both dreams of mine).

Then came the big break. A year ago, I never could have imagined this is where I would be. I mean, how could I? All my life, I've said reporting sports is what I'd love to do, and here it was, the chance of a lifetime. Saying all this now, doesn't quite tell the whole story though.
Of all the interviews, I was easily the most nervous during my one with ESS. Funny enough, I thought the opportunity was gone. Then, I got the phone call from Sharon and was ecstatic. Still, moving to the other side of the world? It wasn't the easiest decision, but it's been one of the best I've ever made.

Pretty much since day one here, I've had a hard time believing that this is actually my life. I'm getting to live my dream each and everyday, and I'm looking forward to it only getting better and better.

It's been a fairytale year from me, and I know none of it would be possible without the support I get from Amanda, my family and friends. Everyday, I think about the fortunate things that have happened for me, but also the kindness people have shown to make those things happen. Thank you to all of you for your love and support.

There's a year in the life, here's looking forward to the next one.

Michael

Busing Penang Bro-Style

FRIDAY MORNING (48 minutes before the flight)

6:12 AM - I call Alex, no answer. I'm pretty nervous.

6:13 AM - Alex calls, "Man, I'm so sorry, my alarm didn't go off. I'm getting ready right now, I'll be there."

6:18 AM - (Me)"It's okay, I've checked you in. You just have to be here by 6:45 latest.)

6:35 AM - Alex walks through terminal doors. It's time to book it to our plane. Oh boy, we get there right in time. Talk about starting a vacation on the clock haha.

Going to Penang, Malaysia with my buddy Alex was fantastic! He's traveled quite a bit, and it helped me quite a bit to go with him, seeing as this was my first real trip in SE Asia.

DAY 1

After our exciting start, the rest of the day was just about going with the flow. We started by hanging out on the beach. After, we went down to Georgetown, the more colonial section of Penang. There were lots of beautiful temples down here and cool colonial buildings as well. After a nice lunch in Little India, we hung out in a very cool shop house full of beautiful glass work. For dinner, we ate at a Lebanese restaurant with excellent hummus. We then walked around the night market for a bit. We wrapped up the night by getting massages (I'd never gone for anything like that).

DAY 2

Our first day was pretty tiring (5 AM wakeup, didn't go to bed til 1 AM), so we took it easy in the morning. Despite waking up pretty late, this was my favorite day. That's because we saw the one thing on top of my list, Kek Lok Si. This Buddhist temple in Penang is the biggest in southeast Asia. It was stunning. There's no other way to put it. I couldn't believe how much detail was in every structure, every piece of art. Plus, the temple is situated high on a hill, so that allowed for beautiful views of Penang. The Kuan Yin statue may have been the highlight for me. It was massive, but not only that, the columns around it were stellar. Each had such fine artistry on it.

After our trip to Kek Lok Si, we hopped on a bus and just decided to pick something out. We ended up going into a mall to look for something, and stayed there to eat dinner at a Chinese place in the mall. We then saw "Iron Man 2" for a whopping $3 US! I couldn't believe how cheap it was to see it. I know, it seems weird to go all the way to another country and then watch a movie, but Alex's point was correct - we're on holiday, if you want to do something, do it. I really enjoyed the movie and it was a great way to wrap up the day.

DAY 3

Well, with only one more day in Penang, we wanted to get in our three remaining sites - the Tropical Spice Garden, the Snake Temple and the Penang Bridge. We went three for three.

The spice garden was beautiful. Lots of beautiful flowers and nice paths, however, I didn't really smell too many spices. I guess I just thought it'd be easier to get the smell of the ginger, basil, etc.

The Snake Temple was the only disappointment for the trip. After a long bus ride (made worse by the fact that we missed our stop and had to walk all the way back on a heavy trafficked road) we finally got to the temple. I am very scared of snakes, have been since I was a kid. Turns out, there was nothing to be afraid of here though. The only snakes they had inside the temple were in this little tree basket thing, and they looked fake! The signs said they were real, but none of them moved. On the bright side, on the way there we drove by the Penang Bridge (very impressive).

So, again we took the bus, not really knowing where we were headed. As we were passing Georgetown, I saw a restaurant someone had suggested to us called QE-II, and what a suggestion it was! This was the best place to really just relax. As you might know, I fashion myself as a pizza aficionado.
I love to try pizza wherever I go. On the way in, we saw them making a pizza in a wood-fire grill and it looked so good. Decision made. We first ordered a pizza with buffalo mozzarella and cherry tomatoes-a bit more fancy pants than normal for me, but well worth it. I loved it more and more with each delicious bite. It was definitely the best pizza I've had in SE Asia (to be fair though, haven't had too many in Singapore). After mauling the first one, we got a second, but this time we ordered the four cheese one. I think I liked the first one a bit more, but Alex preferred the second. It really doesn't matter, both were great.

To top it all off though, Alex ordered a dessert called profiteroles. All I can say is that after the first bite, I literally almost fell off the chair. I've never had anything like that! It was easily one of the best desserts I've ever had.

We finished the night off by going to the night market once again. I picked up two soccer jerseys that I thought were cool (World Cup is almost here!). The next morning, we headed back to Singapore.

It was truly a great bro-cation. The only problem, I'm already wondering, what's next?

Michael

Back Where I Come From

I’m going to try and pack a lot of great stuff in this blog. Hopefully, it’ll all make sense.

Flights to the US

Coming back to the US was such a different experience. I decided to stay up the night before I left, in hopes that would switch my schedule. (In fact the weekend before could have been a whole blog in itself- great nights out, wakeboarding and finding the only place in Singapore to get gum stuck on your shoe-those will have to be for another time though).

Well, it seemed to work. I had a bit of reverse culture shock when I got into Chicago’s airport though. It was weird hearing so many American accents, plus realizing I had no US money in my pocket, and on top of that, I was no longer the distinct minority. It felt so odd-I’d never even thought of culture shock on the return. Side note- the hallway at the Chicago Airport is so cool (made me feel like Kevin in the Home Alone movie).

Missouri

Getting to see Amanda made the loads of traveling worth it. Even though we only had roughly four days together, it was really great.

Highlights: Great nature walk on Tuesday with Amanda through a trail by her apartment, spending some great time with my buddy Max and his girlfriend Kelley, my friend Lauren coming in for St. Louis, catching up with everyone from AEPi, my trips to KOMU and of course the FOOD (American diet at its finest- Shakespeare’s Pizza , chokes ‘n cheese, beer and pretzel at Flatbranch, breakfast at Ernie’s with the shooter, two home cooked meals by Amanda, massive Chipotle burrito, man was it all awesome).

On a whole different level, was Thursday night in Columbia. Amanda and I met up with a whole group of friends at Harpo’s (my favorite college bar). Let’s just say the night reminded me of a traditional college night. After plenty of fun, Max, Kelley, our buddy Zach, Amanda and I all headed to “The Diner.” The food was perfect for that time of night- I got something called a flat top- hash browns, scrambled eggs, veggies and cheese with a side of wheat toast-sooooooo good. The night was just a perfect end to the Columbia trip. I saw so many old friends, but more importantly, spent quality time with the girfie.




Dallas

Coming back home was phenomenal. I really tried to make the most of my week there. Easily crammed two weeks worth of visiting into a week.

Highlights: Being home for Friday night dinner, spending lots of time with my adorable niece and nephew, watching “4 Christmases” with David and Melissa ;), my two rounds of golf (of course counting the Sunday brunch in there), all the great conversations with my grandparents, having the “best pizza in Dallas” with Zack (it was very good, a bit too fancy for me, but still really good), big family fajita dinner, again all the food (not even going to start to detail how much I ate), seeing my friend Jordan’s one man play, catching up with Frances and Tracy, but most of all, just seeing all of my family and spending time with everyone as much as I could.

Best Quote : My nephew Aaron saying, “I want you to sing to me on da computer” (nowadays he’s used to seeing me on skype haha)

Best Story: My buddy Mike came in from Austin for a day and we did quite a bit- casino, Bone Daddy’s, golf and Pei Wei. The highlight (or down point depending on how you see it haha) was going to the Choctaw Casino on Monday night. They’ve opened up a brand new hotel equipped with a whole extra casino floor. After quite a trip to find the blackjack tables, we sat down for what can only be described as a pure beating. I’m not a great gamble. I admit my moves are never very good, but this was just a bad night. I don’t know how many hands we played, but in total I got three 20s, and won only once. I must have been dealt a hand of 12-15 at least 10 times (all seemingly very close together). I mean, I tried to be smart, sat out a couple hands after continuously losing, didn’t over bet- well, none of it worked. We’ll just say I made a nice contribution to the casino’s new amenities.

The best part of our time at the table, and maybe what made it all worth it was this guy that sat down with us. I could say lots of mean things about his appearance, but let’s just say he looked a bit disheveled. After a few hands, he just starts ripping on their 50 cent ante system. Mike seeing an opportunity, enjoyed pushing this guy’s buttons, and the man was happy to oblige. At one point, the guy started telling us how he hated the casino, everyone in it and he’s only here because of his girlfriend (if that’s true, why was he betting so much?). This is not even close to the highlight though. After a bit more prodding from Mike, the guy just goes on a rant (loosely quoted), “I hate this casino and everyone who works here (at which point a worker kind of defends herself, he doesn’t buy in, basically tells her he hates her). I mean honestly, I’d love to burn this place down. Just wait til Rick Perry’s gone and we’ll have a casino and Texas and this’ll be a ghost town. I mean that ante, really? I wish I could burn this place down.” It was so funny, Mike kept laughing, I’m just sitting there, stunned at this guy. Boy oh boy, I forgot how much I missed America’s finest.


All in all, I had a fantastic trip home. I had about 11 days to work with, and I was busy from sun up until sun down. I could easily have written about all of the awesome food (the pictures will have to do), or expanded on all the adventures, however, the point seems to get across. As much as I enjoyed home, it also gave me even more confidence I made the right decision by coming to Singapore. I feel very fortunate to be doing a job I love, plus having the opportunity to see a different side of the world.

Still, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Thanks to everyone for making it such a great trip home,

Michael

Is that Charoset or Honey?

It's official-I survived Passover in Singapore. This was a completely new experience for me, but a good one.

For Seders, I went both nights to the synagogue, where they put on big community Seders each night. The reading of the Haggadah was definitely different, especially the part where on of the Chabad boys came out in a bright green from speed skating like suit. It was a lot of fun and the food was very nice. I will say though, Sefardi charoset to me seems like honey with tiny little bits of apple.

Now to the food, of course the most important part, I decided to eat rice this year. They served it at the synagogue, so I figured, if the big guy upstairs is okay with these religious people eating it, I bet he's okay with me eating it.

I also didn't keep super strict restrictions this year as the Kosher options here are limited. My big goal was not too eat bread. It's harder than you think even though most Asian foods don't have bready items. The problem is that I often make peanut butter sandwiches for lunch or dinner-not an option for that week.

I did make myself matzah pizza pretty often, and I really enjoyed it. Cooking wise, I tried my hand at Matzah brie. My first attempt was not so good, far too much egg. The next try was much better as my matzah to egg proportion was much better. The other thing I realized this Pesach - I love chocolate milk. I drank at least a glass or two everyday.

All in all, Passover was very good. However, this was also one of the hardest I've ever had. For the first time in my life, I was away from family for Seders. I wrote a big long sappy email to my parents about that- let's just sum it up by saying I missed my family, the amazing food they'd be having and simply, how easy it's been for me to keep Passover thanks to my mishpachah. Being on my own is good though. It's a chance to grow and figure out what the holiday means to me. In the end, I figured out that the Pesach is a combination of two things for me. First, it's a test for me to show my commitment to my beliefs. Second, Passover is about who you are surrounded with. Hopefully, the answer is people you love and/or those you want to share memories with.

Pesach 2010 is in the books, with a check mark.

Sports wise- this is one of the best times of year. The Masters is getting underway, we had an AMAZING finish to the college basketball season, soccer is wonderful at the moment (Champions league {Lionel Messi is absolutely magical}, BPL title race), NBA is getting closer to the playoffs and we also had baseball opening day. I love it all.

Next week, I'll be in Missouri! I'm very excited to see the girfie (I know how much she loves that nickname), plus lots of other friends. Then, it's off to Texas to visit all the family.

I think for the moment, Dayenu!

Michael

In 5, 4, 3....

2, 1...Cue Blog- I start out this week with the countdown because we've started doing our ESPNews bulletins live in a voice over booth the last week. I absolutely love doing the shows live, and feel lucky that I get to be one of the voices on my team. Doing the live shows just boosts my energy level, the adrenaline is wonderful and it's so much fun. I've listened back to some of the shows and it still sounds like I need a bit more energy. However, I like getting back into the flow of reading things in one take instead of stopping and starting.

Barbeques

I love that people throw barbeques so much here, and I mean, it makes sense with the warm weather. Well, two weekends ago, I went to a couple of barbeques and absolutely had a blast. One night, I met a couple from Mexico, Missouri and I'm pretty sure they were surprised someone in Singapore knew where that was. The next night, my roommate and I went to a friends bbq and really enjoyed it. These get togethers are easily my favorite way of meeting people. Everyone is so relaxed, the food is great and most of the time the weather is nice as well. Of course, my infamous falling in the bushes moment happened at a barbeque as well!

Travel Plans

I'm less than a month away from my states trip! When I came to S'pore, I didn't think I would want to come back home so soon. I know I could have gone a longer stretch, but what it all comes down to is that the trip feels right. Getting to see Amanda, all my friends in Missouri, my parents, grandparents, brother, sister-in law, niece, nephew, cousins and friends in Dallas will really recharge my batteries. Plus, I can't wait to see Schnitzel and Ricky-I hope they remember me haha.

I booked my flight to go to Penang, Malaysia today! My friend Alex and I are going there for a three day weekend in May. It should be a great trip-apparently there's pretty good food there, accessibility to a beach and all sorts of stuff. Plus, the flight there was nice and cheap!

I can already start to feel the travel bug creeping in. I have a three day weekend before my states trip, so I'm trying to figure out what to do with it. I'm sure something will work out. In addition, I already have my eye toward July 17th. If I'm correct with my scheduling, I should have my birthday weekend off. I've started looking for flights, hopefully something comes together.

Sports News

The wide world of sports is becoming much smaller as I feel like my knowledge base is growing each day. I love watching Champions League football-the biggest clubs in the world face off to become Europe's champions. Tennis and golf have both been entertaining lately, and this guy with an animal nickname is coming back to golf...hmmm how do you pronounce his name? We ran the interview he did with Tom Rinaldi and the best question was simply, why did you get married? Tiger said it's because he loved Elin with all his heart. I just think these superstars are setting themselves up for failure by getting married, the temptations are there non stop. Kind of related note, I recently watched an interview of Gene Simmons on a 1987 Oprah episode. It was fascinating.

All of this is wonderful, but the big sporting thrill for me is still the NCAA tournament. I haven't been able to watch a ton, but what I've seen has been magnificent. The first day I watched, I saw two overtime games. Plus, Mizzou won it's first round game (I know they lost today, but I love the fact that the Tigers at least got the opening round win). Of course, the cherry on top is kansas losing in the second round to Northern Iowa. Hearing that they lost made me sooooo happy-like getting the birthday present you always wanted.

That's all for now, the next couple of weeks should be interesting with Passover and all. It will be quite the challenge this year, but I'll do my best.

Go Tigers!
Michael

Party Post

Let's start by saying I've been really lucky since I've come to Singapore to meet wonderful people, and I'm fortunate enough to start making great friends.


Jews of Singapore Wine Tasting

A couple of weeks ago, my buddy Alex hosted a wine tasting for the yuppie Jews of Singapore and it was a great success. The wine was finished, the hummus was annihilated and everyone seemed to have a great time. I met more people, and I can proudly say, I'm starting to tell the difference between a New Zealand and Australian accent.


Purim Party

A couple of days later was Purim! This was a little bit of a bittersweet night for me. It started by going to a fantastic restaurant called The Coriander Leaf for Tamar's going away dinner (She's off to Australia and New Zealand for 3 months, sounds awful right?). After dinner, we all went to the synagogue's Purim party which was super impressive. I wasn't able to stay long because I had to be at work in the morning, but still I had a great time. It was wild, wild, west themed, complete with great costumes, a mechanical bull and hay stacks. It really reminded me of the ranch I have in my back yard at home ;) I went as a Chabad boy-the costume didn't play as well as I thought it would, but hey, I gave it a shot.



Bollywood Birthday Bash

Last Saturday, three of my friends decided to pull together and have one big birthday party and picked a Bollywood theme. Let's just say I had an awesome time and that sangria can be a dangerous drink. The costumes were great and everyone really went all out with the outfits. To be fair, Singapore is an easy place to get an Indian themed get-up. All I did was go to Little India and get a shirt from the Mustafa Center. I tried pulling off the jeans, fancy shirt look, hopefully it worked.


Comfort Cooking

Well, Sunday I didn't feel so well- a combination of having a cold and the above paragraph. Thankfully, I've got a good friend in Alex. I went to the grocery earlier in the day and bought some cold medicines, nasal spray-ooh yeah, the good stuff. Anyways, Alex called me and said, hey, I'll come make you dinner. You know I wasn't going to turn down that offer. He came over, taught me how to use knives properly (will have to practice, carefully of course), and showed me how to make his mother's famous meatballs. These weren't normal meatballs though, they were mixed with parsley, garlic, spices, seared first, then cooked. I mean we're talking high class. It was so nice of him, and that night was made even better when Kiersten ran over to join us (and I mean actually ran, five miles plus).


Work's been really good lately. The last week and a half, I've started working on organizing one news bulletin a day (we produce three, 20 minute shows each shift). It's good for me to get back in the mindset of thinking what the viewer is looking for in a show. What sticks out? What will grab the viewer and keep them watching through the show? I love thinking about this stuff. Plus, I get to play my sport, beating the clock. Unfortunately, the clock has gotten the best of me a couple of times, but I'll get faster.

That wraps up a great couple of weeks. I'm excited for whatever is next.

Michael