Working in Singapore
Posted by John Humphreys on March 17, 2008
No — not a real job. But I have done some “work” and I haven’t really done much “fun” for the last week in Singapore.
I’m currently putting together a monograph that will be published as half a book. My half is called “declare independence” and the other half is called “declare dependence” and they address different aspects of welfare. I did the first draft in Battambang, but spent my time here doing a second draft and giving comments on the companion article.
I’ve also put a bit of time and effort into one of my long-term projects — writing a political economy textbook (along with my ex-boss, lecturer & thesis supervisor Alan Duhs). My current outline calls for 12 chapters and I’ve just put together very early sketches of the first two chapters.
Unfortunately, I haven’t put enough time into my Cambodia projects. That will have to wait until I get to Egypt.
I did escape work for a few days. On Friday night I went out with Ashley, Sophia & friends and ended up drinking until the early hours. And on Sunday I met some of Ashley’s friends and checked out his funky little sailing boat. We discussed the meaning of life, sailing around the world, the elasticity of demand for migration, and the three all-time favourites: religion, politics & sex.
And now I’m left with a problem. In a few hours I will fly out to Abu Dhabi for a week. Unfortunately, my accomodation plans have fallen through and hotel prices in the UAE & Oman are generally out of my range. I spent last night desperately e-mailing couchsufing people, searching for an emergency couch. Touch wood. Otherwise, my only option might be to rent a car for a while and sleep in the back.
