Well, we're at a day shy of a week since I left the cornfields. After a relatively uneventful 36 hour extended stay in LA, I'm back here on the sunny island. So here are a few quick highlights from this week:
In a Heartbeat, 36 hours in LA:
So when I found out I had an 18 hour layover in LA, I put something out on Facebook hoping that some kind soul who lived within reasonable distance from LAX would take me in for the night. Sure enough, within a couple days, a friend in the Cayman Islands managed to talk to a friend who lives ten minutes from LAX to ask if they could pick me up from the airport and host me for the night. That same week, another friend that I had gotten to know during our stint in Germany (he's originally from Zionsville, Indiana but is now in LA) asked if we'd get to hang out while I was there. So upon getting in to LAX I was greeted by a Thai/Filipino couple who were my hosts for the night.
The next morning, Jack, the old friend from our Germany adventures picked me up and we went for breakfast at the S&W Diner in Culver City. The food was interesting, but the conversation was what I needed. I hadn't realised until then that with the way the last couple months had been such a roller-coaster of emotions, I had gotten so discouraged with this whole move to New Zealand. Did I still believe this was the right thing to do for this season? With all my heart. Was I still excited about it? I couldn't really say that anymore. But hearing Jack's stories of his two months out on the west coast, the initial struggles and now getting to a place where he's getting closer to finding peace with what he's doing... It reminded me of that adventure spirit that I guess I had lost in the last two months of dreariness.
I guess after that conversation, I was starting to feel again like I could go out and conquer the world. Because when I ended up getting stuck for 18 extra hours and Singapore Airlines offered to check us into a hotel in Long Beach, my first thought was, why not? I've not been to Long Beach, and I was ready to take on this adventure.
36 hours in LA made me thankful for global connections with friends. It made me realise again, home can be anywhere and everywhere--as long as I have friends. But quiet is good too. Would I relive those 36 hours? In a heartbeat.
In a Heartbeat, I'll be There for You:
Tuesday was Singapore's National Day. This is the first time in seven years that I get to be here for the celebration of our independence from the Brits 46 year ago.
I'm not one for extreme nationalism or patriotism, but when you've been away from one of your homes for so long, you cannot help but miss the red and white flags decking out the HDB flats. And when you wake up to all the old-school National Day songs being blasted from the primary school next door, you can't help feeling like a kid again, waving the flags that are probably homemade using an A4-sized paper and colouring the top half of it all red except the spots for the moon and those five white stars that don't look very nice because they were drawn free hand, then stuck either to two McD's straws or satay sticks attached back to back.
Even before getting back to this side of the world, Twitter had already informed me that this year's patriotic/brainwashing song (depending on your take on the government and the National Education curriculum) was titled, "In a Heartbeat." The music video, as usual reeks of nostalgia and all the usual NE elements of racial harmony and the likes. And every year, Kit Chan's, "Home" makes a comeback and tries to make you thankful that no matter where in the world you are, Singapore will always have enough room for you to claim it as home, even in all it's overpopulatedneas. All things I never appreciated enough until seven years away from it all.
This year's National Day was spent lunching with half the clan of cousins, then going cycling at East Coast Park with the parents and their students, much like what we used to do when we were kids. And we got home just in time for the last five minutes of the parade where they recited the pledge, and had a Malay kid singing Majulah Singapura. It was my reminder that we are a migrant nation after all, and it's only right that we recognise the native Malays on our national day. The rest of us only have a stake in this land because the Malays saw the benefits of the alliance with the Brits that allowed migration to flourish. So who are we to start speaking against foreign talent now?
In a Heartbeat, Best Friends Forever:
For some time now, the BFF and I have been talking about experimenting with living on $10 for a day. Some time ago I told her about the CSM experience in NYC where we were given $10 for dinner for our group of 5, and that had to feed an additional person as well. Our $10/day adventure may not be much of a sacrifice compared to what two-thirds of the world are living (or even in our secondary school days), but with the new level of life quality we've come to understand, we wondered if it would be possible for us to go back to the $10/day budget. Here's what we learnt:
1) $4 used to buy us a lot more.
For lunch, Juan got ban mian (板面) for $3.80. I got beef noodles for $4. Back on the day, chicken rice outside TK was $2, and lemon tea was $1.
2) Neighbourhoods in Singapore are "self-sustainable"
We figured out that the best way to maximise our $10 was to stay in one place so we don't have to pay for transport. After meeting up in town since that's where the New Zealand Immigration office is, we decided to take a bus to Parkway, our old haunt from TKGS days and start our $10 adventure from there. We found enough things to do to entertain ourselves from 1:30 pm to 7 pm. After lunch, we went to Giant where we each got a bottle of green tea for $0.99, then window-shopped some and reminisced about the good old days. At about 4, we went to Ya Kun and had tea for $1.50 each, and peanut kaya toast for $2.
3) $10/day is doable, and we'd save a whole lot of money if we just lived like that.
At around 6, we wandered in to KFC and got ourselves the 4-winglet snacker-meal. Considering the way we had been eating all day, 4 winglets, fries and a small coke between the two of us was enough for dinner, and we even had $1.30 left!
What I really came to appreciate about this though, is the steadfastness of this friendship. We've both changed so much over the last 10 years that we've been friends. And even with my recent "craziness" in wanting to live simply and walking the path that this part of my world may not understand, she's still supportive and interested, and wants to be a part of this madness in her own way.
So that's been the craziness of life in the last week, along with trying to get the visa processed in time for the September departure date. Oh, and I've also started tutoring one of my mum's students from Thailand, helping him prepare for his English entrance test so that he can get into the public school systems here.
Has this been a fun week? Heck yes.
In a Heartbeat, 36 hours in LA:
So when I found out I had an 18 hour layover in LA, I put something out on Facebook hoping that some kind soul who lived within reasonable distance from LAX would take me in for the night. Sure enough, within a couple days, a friend in the Cayman Islands managed to talk to a friend who lives ten minutes from LAX to ask if they could pick me up from the airport and host me for the night. That same week, another friend that I had gotten to know during our stint in Germany (he's originally from Zionsville, Indiana but is now in LA) asked if we'd get to hang out while I was there. So upon getting in to LAX I was greeted by a Thai/Filipino couple who were my hosts for the night.
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| Breakfast with Jack at S&W Diner in Culver City, CA |
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| Long Beach, CA |
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| Long Beach, CA |
As it turns out, there wasn't much to do or see in Long Beach, but it did give me time to explore a new city by myself. More importantly, it gave me time to be quiet and listen to my own thoughts, and talk to the Greater Being--both things I hadn't had the time to do in a while.
36 hours in LA made me thankful for global connections with friends. It made me realise again, home can be anywhere and everywhere--as long as I have friends. But quiet is good too. Would I relive those 36 hours? In a heartbeat.
In a Heartbeat, I'll be There for You:
Tuesday was Singapore's National Day. This is the first time in seven years that I get to be here for the celebration of our independence from the Brits 46 year ago.
I'm not one for extreme nationalism or patriotism, but when you've been away from one of your homes for so long, you cannot help but miss the red and white flags decking out the HDB flats. And when you wake up to all the old-school National Day songs being blasted from the primary school next door, you can't help feeling like a kid again, waving the flags that are probably homemade using an A4-sized paper and colouring the top half of it all red except the spots for the moon and those five white stars that don't look very nice because they were drawn free hand, then stuck either to two McD's straws or satay sticks attached back to back.
Even before getting back to this side of the world, Twitter had already informed me that this year's patriotic/brainwashing song (depending on your take on the government and the National Education curriculum) was titled, "In a Heartbeat." The music video, as usual reeks of nostalgia and all the usual NE elements of racial harmony and the likes. And every year, Kit Chan's, "Home" makes a comeback and tries to make you thankful that no matter where in the world you are, Singapore will always have enough room for you to claim it as home, even in all it's overpopulatedneas. All things I never appreciated enough until seven years away from it all.
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| Brother Frank at East Coast Park |
In a Heartbeat, Best Friends Forever:
For some time now, the BFF and I have been talking about experimenting with living on $10 for a day. Some time ago I told her about the CSM experience in NYC where we were given $10 for dinner for our group of 5, and that had to feed an additional person as well. Our $10/day adventure may not be much of a sacrifice compared to what two-thirds of the world are living (or even in our secondary school days), but with the new level of life quality we've come to understand, we wondered if it would be possible for us to go back to the $10/day budget. Here's what we learnt:
 |
| Juan's Ban Mian (板面) |
For lunch, Juan got ban mian (板面) for $3.80. I got beef noodles for $4. Back on the day, chicken rice outside TK was $2, and lemon tea was $1.
2) Neighbourhoods in Singapore are "self-sustainable"
 |
| Ya Kun |
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| KFC |
At around 6, we wandered in to KFC and got ourselves the 4-winglet snacker-meal. Considering the way we had been eating all day, 4 winglets, fries and a small coke between the two of us was enough for dinner, and we even had $1.30 left!
What I really came to appreciate about this though, is the steadfastness of this friendship. We've both changed so much over the last 10 years that we've been friends. And even with my recent "craziness" in wanting to live simply and walking the path that this part of my world may not understand, she's still supportive and interested, and wants to be a part of this madness in her own way.
So that's been the craziness of life in the last week, along with trying to get the visa processed in time for the September departure date. Oh, and I've also started tutoring one of my mum's students from Thailand, helping him prepare for his English entrance test so that he can get into the public school systems here.
Has this been a fun week? Heck yes.
Love you all.
P.S. I've been "encouraged" to start sharing a small part of my blog with my new travel companion, Brother Frank. Brother Frank (better known as St Francis of Assisi) sits on a chain that was given to me by one of my Anderson Pops, Ed Fry. He will be making a special appearance on this blog every now and then to help document our travels.
From Brother Frank:
New experiences this week! Night time in the city, and bubble tea!
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| From the 13th floor of Jael's parents' apartment, overlooking the parking lot downstairs. This is at about 9pm on Sunday, just after we got home from the airport. |
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| My first bubble tea experience at Gong Cha |
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