The name is just so cool!*

It starts by filling up your mouth and then rolling off the tongue. Forming on the roof of the mouth, it stretches the lips from an O to a long line and back, and ends (in American, anyway) in a throaty growl: Kuala Lumpur...say it slowly, Koo-aaah-lah-Lum-pooorrrr. One of my Spanish professors once said "cellar door" or "se lo da" was the most beautiful phrase to say, but I think Kuala Lumpur comes close. Too bad no one ever calls it more than a short and simple "KL."

Both KL and S'pore have tall buildings, highly nonlinear street grids, and something known as "vegetarian and non-vegetarian food." But KL is clearly different than my temporary-home IslandCityCountry. For one, it's not super-wealthy like S'pore. There is visible poverty in the form of shanty-towns whereas Singaporeans, like, oh, I don't know..Americans, don't appear to realize that there is an entire industry centered on trash-picking in many countries. Walking down the street in KL, one is called out to with not particularly polite catcalls, and today I even got to ride the chicken-bus (the rattley old public bus crammed with as many people as possibly fit in the volume enclosed). There are curb-side roving food vendors of questionable hygiene - but cheap - and my favorite: loiterers!

For many, these are the inconveniences and ugliness that Singapore has worked hard to eradicate in its own society. But for me it was a welcome reminder that there still does exist a world out there besides the bubble of comfort and safety created purposefully, paternally, artificially, on the Independent Island to the south. Singapore, in this sense, reminds me a lot of Hamilton with its bubble of idealism and opiate of security such that those inside forget about everything else or banish the reality of the third-world to something that happens in textbooks and intellectual debates and maybe the occasional Charity Ball. Never something real, visible, and tangible even if it's your own neighbor. Kind of like Brazilian favelas or the city of New Orleans.

I like knowing a little chaos exists. It reassures my faith in the second law of thermodynamics.
(all systems move, in time, toward increasing entropy or toward increased disorder)

Speaking of physics, I went up to the bridge/viewing deck between the Petronas Towers, the world's tallest twin-towers (Taipei 101 is taller) but quite possibly the world's largest Faraday Cage and damped oscillator. They have a bridge in the center linking the 41st stories of each tower, for stability and easy access. The engineer referred to this bridge as the "Door to Infinity." I like to think of it as a Spacetime Portal - if we humans could find such a Portal time travel would be sooo much easier. We wouldn't even need the flux capacitor.

And so tomorrow I get back in my bus, cross the Straight of Johor and back In Line. Don't worry. I'll continue with my little acts of Rebellion to amuse myself, like secretly slurping sips of coffee in the back of the bus, nipping across four lanes (and two bus lanes) 200 meters before the crosswalk, and standing outside the yellow box on the escalator. And like this post, I can always regress to physics to explain things. I've found that works much better in Singapore than a social-science approach; the buildings and the fast-moving mascroscopic bodies are much more accessible than the people.


*thanks to ma for the title inspiration

Spare some change...

I knew all those hours logged closely observing the panhandling techniques of bums and children in South America would come in handy one day. I got my long-awaited chance to panhandle - legally! - in the most unlikely of places: Singapore.

The government of Singapore grants non-profit organizations exactly one day per year to solicit pedestrians for small donations (coins, small notes) placed in cans on the street. The org. is not guaranteed its own day and may have to share with another organization, and they cannot choose when their day is, so it may occur during vacations or particularly sluggish pedestrian days. The "flagging" is typically performed by school children looking for hours to fulfill their community service requirement. For places like RDA with high operating costs and which does not charge the riders for lessons, it's one of (if not THE) most important fundraisers for the entire year.

Now, Americans may think of the image of the Salvation Army Bell-ringers or the bums in the streets of NY or Philly: just grab a pot and go. Done. Use a cup if you can't find anything else, stand there and look cold or hungry. Worry about it a day or two in advance. But this is Singapore, so it becomes a full-time operation for a few months beforehand and several weeks after the actual Day.

First, RDA must get the tins. Thousands of tins. The tins must be clearly labeled with the organization and the sponsors. The tins must then be counted, sorted and bagged according to location. Students must be recruited to flag and briefed on their duty. Licenses must be obtained for the students. Stickers must be purchased to exchange for donations (because once you've donated, you receive a sticker so you are not asked again. This is Singapore). Centers must be contacted. Tables and chairs for coordinators must be provided. Center coordinators must be recruited and briefed. Tin runners must be organized. Police forces must be notified.

The day before the event, tin runners pick up their bags of tins and center managers pick up the "official Clipboard" with student rosters and acceptable flag locations.

I was a Center Manager for Plaza Singapura along with Terri and Jayne.

The day of the event, center managers arrive around 8:30 am (or 1/2 an hour before the students are due to arrive). They are to notify security they have arrived and will be conducting flagging that day. They either set up the table and chairs they've brought or make sure they can obtain one from security. The tins are then organized for when the students come to pick them up.

When the students arrive, they must find their name on the list, sign out a specific tin - each one has a four-digit serial number - leave their ID number, cell phone number, time out, and signature.

On receiving their tin, the students are reminded of the places around their region they can go - a radius of a few blocks from their check-in point, no more, as students are stationed all over the island. They cannot go inside the subway stations, inside shopping malls, around places of worship, into the intersections, or in restaurants to beg. They are then shipped off to panhandle like the best of the bums! In a densely populated, consumer-centric culture, places like Plaza Singapura in the center of the main shopping district are packed with mall-goers. On the weekends, also, people go out to Kopitiams (food courts) to eat and inevitably go shopping, so there is no shortage of passers-by.

When the students' shift has expired, they are to return with a full tin of money, the center manager checks that it's the same tin they signed out, and the student's debt to society has been paid. When all tins have returned, center managers ship them off with a driver, whose identity has been checked and recorded, to take the tins to RDA overnight. The center managers confirm they have finished with Security for their location and are free to go. Should a tin go missing (note: a tin, not a student), it is the center manager's job to report it to the police, for it's now stolen property.

This account, of course, is how it should go. This is my account, as a center manager, of how things actually DO go on Flag Day:

You set everything up nice and organized, ready for the students to filter through. The first students come in and get a tin, going off merrily. Ten minutes after their shift starts, the horde of students rushes the table in the manner of Vikings storming the castle walls. Shortly thereafter, the frazzled ex-pats begin screaming at them. Order in the form of fear of these crazy white women is temporarily restored while the first hundred are processed. Fifteen minutes later they have left the area to finally go panhandle. One manager is elected to yell at the students sitting on the ground or in Starbuck's, just around the corner. Another mans the table while the third kicks out the kids who've come from two MRT stops away, who thought they'd have a better shot on Orchard than at Toa Payoh.

Repeat for the second shift of students, though this is combined with simultaneous retrieval of morning-shift students. Students who return with an unsatisfactory amount of money get a verbal notice of their disappointing behavior and an "x" under the Comments Section.

If time permits, one may go panhandling onesself. However, as you are not allowed in the MRT stations or to ride around on the bus or train, one can only get a few coins and dollars. Shamelessly use pity, "disabled children" and confront people face to face.

DAY TWO: COUNTING DAY!

Once the tins from each center has been returned to RDA and guarded overnight, the task remains to count the coins. All the tins are opened and the coins dumped into colanders and mixing bowls, the empty tins sent to be recycled. Bills get piled out of the wind to be ordered and counted. The coins are moved to sorting tables where volunteers (me!) sort endless piles of coins into $1, 0.5, 0.2, 0.1, 0.5, 0.1, old coins, and foreign coins. The 100 through 5 cents then go into entirely useless counting machines which are meant to put specific numbers of coins into bags, but really just break down, jam, and effectively torture the operator. The bags, finally loaded, are labeled and lined up in another room. The 1 cent, old, and foreign coins must be further sorted by hand, as pennies aren't actually used anymore but there are still old and new pennies. The old coins can be redeemed at the bank but as are a different size (therefore weight), they jam the counting machines. Then the foreign coins sorted by country. This job looked more like a scene from 'I Love Lucy' with 6-12 English Speakers trying to figure out which coins go to which Asian country. Malaysia and European places were easy, but for comic relief as much as utility one could hear cries of "This one has a guy with a hat!" and "Dude with glasses....dude with glasses...anyone seen a dude with glasses..." to find the coins' clansmen. One had a "ganja leaf" and we found a good dozen coins from Fun Zone!!!

And if you know why people are carrying around obsolete European currency in Singapore, I'd love to know. Apparently a few years ago someone donated a farthing....????? We found two watch batteries as well.

All in all, RDA made over S$140,000 in one day. Not bad for an island of 4 million when the citizens are asked every weekend for their spare change. Maybe I will just start a program to send the children in the Buenos Aires subte stations to Singapore for one day. I'll give them a license and a uniform and no one will be the wiser!!!

(that's a joke, Singapore government. I won't do it.)

Flag day is quite the experience. Not only for the typically Singaporean over-oderliness but the opportunity to see over S$100,000 in coins!!!!! I was surprised they allow begging at all, but the idea of allowing just about anything as long as the government can control it is typical. Take that prostitution is legal and there is a specific, monitored space for youths to rebelliously graffiti the walls and sidewalks - but only with acceptable graffiti.

As for "My Project" this ties into the Volunteering Theme I'm developing in Singapore. To me, it illustrates the failure of Mandatory Voluntarism. A contradiction itself, the term connotes failure from the start. Some students were enthusiastic, dedicated, and hard-working. But many were uninterested, apathetic, lazy. We found them sitting in clumps, taking lots of "breaks," checking in late, asking to leave early. One tin came back without one cent in it. One group of kids got their tins and proceeded to sit under a tree RIGHT IN FRONT OF US! So not only are they apathetic, this group was just stupid too! We took their tins back and informed them they would not get credit. So next weekend they'll go out again and this time sit out of sight of the collectors and still get their points for graduation. Students stick their tins in bags and go to the movies. Stories like this abound, implying also the general apathy of teens to everything, which clearly is not being affected by this service requirement. They are multi-taskers -while flagging they are apathetic AND active, all at once!

Students also come to RDA on a weekly basis to do their hours. Points corresponding to community service hours are graded, so these students who put in more time over the year earn more points and higher honors or something of the like. But we've had to cancel an entire class because the school cannot guarantee a sufficient number of students reliably. By sufficient number here, I am talking about a maximum of 18 students - 6 leaders and 12 sidewalkers, but really they'd only need 3 or 4 leaders and 4 to 6 sidewalkers, yet 7-10 people cannot be counted on to show up every week. So those riders cannot ride.

More on volunteers to come. But for now, try to think about four thousand quarters all stacked up.