“This is why alchemy exists,” the boy said. “So that everyone will search for his treasure, find it, and then want to be better than he was in his former life. Lead will play its role until the world has no further need for lead; and then lead will have to turn itself to gold. “That’s what alchemists do. They show that, when we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.”
- Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
Labels: australia, farewell, food, friendship, photo
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Labels: australia, farewell, photo, uni
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I remember writing about being sad to leave Japan, and about leaving Singapore again, and more than a year has flown by and I'm about to complete a postgraduate course in Australia. I have a Freudian addiction to farewells.
A few of us adjourned to the Agora for coffee and talked about the course and what we were going to do after this, but it seems we're all waiting to see what happens next. It just felt like an anti-climax after the very intense year we've had!
So long, La Trobe!
Labels: australia, confession, farewell, memories, photo, uni
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Labels: christmas, farewell, love, video
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After-dinner beer at Brotzeit, Raffles City
Remember Benoi Sector, circa 2004? The two of us at our first jobs, clocking overtime together and sharing cab rides home. Long meetings in Hokkien, container officers, having kopi and economical rice at the run-down canteen. "We must proudly raise the white flag of HN and keep it flying!". That God-awful yellow sapphire ring that was the butt of our jokes for many weeks running.
How we have evolved.
Of course I will miss you. You know I'll be waiting for you in Melbourne.
You were the first person to send me a care package when I was living in Tokyo, filled with instant noodles, kaya, Colgate and what-nots. You were the first person who offered to lend me money if I ever ran out when you found out I was self-funding my post-grad. You're the one who has sat down with me lunch after lunch after lunch talking about the same thing over and over again.
Ten years from now, we can look back at the momentary troubles and heartaches and realize how far we have come. We'll be two old ladies in granny clothes and walking canes, drinking our coffee and eating our cake someplace fancy; and inside, we'll still be the same, you and I.
Labels: beer, farewell, friendship, home, memories, photo
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I was blessed with yet another wonderful Saturday, this time courtesy of Chaz and Loo.
Loo (with a little help from her mum) had packed us a most lovely picnic with handmade ravioli, canned oysters, camberbert cheese and chocolate pudding. Chaz and I bought red wine and sparkling water. Oh, and they dressed up in 4th of July colours. ;)
We drove up Mount Faber and got ourselves a nice spot overlooking Sentosa and the Keppel shipyard, while being gawked at by tourists and locals alike.
The weather was perfect for taking photos, if not a little hot; but I love being out in the sun and getting a nice tan.
We didn't quite go as far as we would like but still we had a nice hike.
4 more days left in Singapore and I am nowhere finished packing, but there's no space left in my suitcase... I'm going to have a lot of charming to do at the check-in counter on Wednesday night!
View all the photos taken today here.
Labels: farewell, food, friendship, home, park, photo
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Maybe this coming-and-going thing is becoming a bad habit.
Maybe I secretly enjoy hearing my friends tell me how they don't know what they would ever do when I'm gone, how much they are going to miss me. But we all know life goes on.
It's hard to explain- but if only you know how much you are a piece of me, and when I'm not here I'm always thinking of you. Still when I'm back I feel like my heart's someplace else and I really have to go.
See the slideshow of the photos from today here.
Labels: confession, farewell, friendship, home, photo
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Germany, who would have imagined! He came to Japan six years not speaking a word of the language, spent the first 3 years mastering it (JLPT1, don't play play!), and then went on to conquer English.
He is my inspiration and will continue to put me to shame when he becomes fluent in German.
It's never easy, all these hellos and goodbyes. But when you know your friends are off pursuing their destinies, making something of their time here on earth, it makes the separation a little more bearable.
Labels: coffee, farewell, food, friendship, language, photo, tokyo
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To my favourite Thai-Thai T,
The past one week has been a whirl of eye-opening activities for a typical Singaporean girl like me...
Thank you so so much for showing me to all the interesting sights in Tokyo, introducing me to all the fabulous, fabulous food (double points for putting on weight for us) and most importantly, just being around for me. You're the best tour guide that Danny and I could ever have (and no need to give tips somemore :))
I'm really thankful for having the opportunity to catch up with you again and knowing that you're doing well in a new country... I'll do it all over again in a Tokyo minute!
It's time for me to return to Singapore and lead my unhealthy lifestyle again, but hasta la vista, I'll be back! (And the next time for a long duration too.)
Until then, look forward to seeing you in Singapore, TAKE CARE!
Hitotsu,
Chi-chi Casey
Hanging out with Casey the past week brought back a flood of memories, reminding me of what I left behind in sunny Singapore. She left a hole in me with her departure, but life will go on.
Back to my normal routine again!
Click here for all the photos we took.
Labels: farewell, friendship, memories, photo, spring, tokyo
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So P is moving out tomorrow, and I cannot help but feel sad.
What was life like before him?
We have had so many memories together.
It all started from randomly seeing each other on BFON, to our neverending IB chats in Bloomberg and progressing to Skyping from home. And then meeting for the first time outside Hei Hei in Lan Kwai Fong, slow-dancing in the drizzle in the wee hours of the morning, exploring Hong Kong together. My first trip to Tokyo and him bringing me around, amazed by the sights and sounds of the big city. Him coming to Singapore to help me move, showing him my favourite places and meeting my favourite people, winning over my family, eating ourselves silly. And then me moving in with him here, getting to know each other's quirks and fancies, developing our usual haunts, all the fun times we've shared and even the silly arguments we've had...
All good things must come to an end.
This will be a new season, things will get better and I will stay strong.
Labels: farewell, life, love, memories, tokyo
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Dear Andrew, if you ever get to read this-
Three months is a short time but I'm still glad I got to know you here and here's wishing you all the best for your new life in grad school back home, and I'm pretty sure you'll kick some serious ass. 頑張ってください！
I'll miss you when you're gone but I know our lives will move on very quickly- しょうがない！Don't forget to keep in touch and またあうのひ...
Labels: beer, farewell, food, friendship, memories, photo, tokyo
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Over the weekend I organized a get-together for some of the instructors I met in training, and I brought them to my favourite Egyptian bar/restaurant Luxor in Shinjuku for good food and a round of shisha.
Andrew broke the news (and my heart) that he would be going back to Canada in 2-3 weeks to enrol in law school.
And I was just getting to know him... I will miss him.
Michael went back to Hong Kong on Wednesday and treated us to lunch after Japanese class. We wanted to do French but the two restaurants in the vicinity were closed, so we ended up at the chi-chi Cafe Cotton Club.
He gave us a handmade booklet with prints of his art pieces, and I found out he headed the art department of an international school in Hong Kong!
It's amazing the variety of people I meet here everyday.
So long, farewell, and all the best mates!
Labels: farewell, friendship, memories, photo, tokyo
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My last night out in Singapore was heartwarming.
Apart from the fact that everyone has been making time out of their busy schedules to meet me, many of whom I met multiple times, apart from the numerous treats I have received, most of them also decided that I deserved going away gifts.
I received expensive toiletries, make-up, Moleskin notebook, DS game (on loan from Ahred!), Philips hairdryer, ice-cream scoop, Le Sportsac pouch, huge M'phosis bag for school/gym, more local food products... damn paiseh because I didn't get them much, and it was hard to say goodbye to everyone again.
Perhaps this is the nature of men- I miss Singapore when I am there, I miss Japan where I am here and I find myself in a perpetual state of missing.
And I cannot help but stand amazed that God has answered my prayers by sending people into my life to ease my transition to Tokyo.
Like my desire to meet Singaporeans to speak Singlish with (I currently live with two ABCs), P introduced me to his friend Des who is starting work in Tokyo in September and might possibly become my housemate...
My desire to form deep friendships in Tokyo- my colleague D sent me a postcard while I was here, which reminded me of when I was in Bloomberg and got letters via internal mail. And Shuichi who let me rant my lungs out when we met up and offered me very practical advice and also suggested we make it a weekly dinner...
I realized that I haven't been trusting God in a lot of practical aspects of my life but He has reminded me that He is faithful and I need not fear anything.
"Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."
- Psalm 103: 1-5
Thank you Daddy.
Labels: faith, farewell, life, tokyo
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For some reason GP is missing from the photos, and of course Joe was in India.
I looked so much skinnier then.
Labels: farewell, food, friendship, memories, photo
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I miss you all so much.
Labels: farewell, food, friendship, memories, photo
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Labels: farewell, food, friendship, photo
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By the grace of God, we managed to get about 70kg of my barang barang from Singapore to Tokyo without any overweight charges- two luggages checked in and five hand-carried bags between the two of us.
When we got to the Narita airport we realized that we had to transport them by two train lines an hour and a half away, so we began to stuff as much things as we could into as little bags and then began the insane process of dragging all of my worldly posessions via the JR Kisei Limited Express to Nippori, then the Yamanote Line to Takadanobaba and finally through the windy and pebbled streets and after-school crowd from the station to his apartment.
It's amazing we didn't break my cheap new suitcases. Or our fingers. (But my sorry arms are aching and P is snoring away next to me.)
The last time I was here I had only ten days, but now it is days ad infinitum and it is a strange and almost depressing feeling to know that that everything I own are what I have packed. My bank account in Singapore has been emptied out and converted into cold hard cash stuffed into a secret box in P's room.
I get random table space and a third of his wardrobe to use, and P spent a few hours last night cleaning up my computer and trying to get it wired up. He also got me the 100ml bottle of Kenzo's Amour and 50 ml of CK's In2U so that I can have new scents to associate my new life in Tokyo with.
Yesterday night he took me to this tsukimen store near his apartment and we had to queue up in the cold for about 15 minutes with the university students to wait for our turn to eat- it was those traditional Japanese noodles place where you sit down, order, eat and go and the chef lovingly prepares the noodles bowl by bowl.
I had the most amazing noodles of my life- the small portion P ordered for me had 550 grams of pure tsukimen and a big bowl of sliced pork broth to dip the noodles in. He had the medium size which was 650 grams and word has it that no one has even seen any one order the large 1 kilo version yet...
Today we are headed to Costco in Chiba to do grocery shopping and hopefully I can also register for a new mobile- all my contacts are stored on my laptop and my almost-new Samsung DH900 had to be given to my mum because it doesn't work here.
My goal is to get in shape and lose all the weight that I gained from pigging out with P while he was in Singapore. The only two things I really remember doing are eating and shopping, and we pretty much had about 6-8 meals a day because he was constantly hungry and eager to try new food. But we had a lot of fun and met up with a lot of my family and friends. Even my usually reticent dad smiled and spoke much to him and thanked him at airport for helping me with the move. My mum was won over at first sight and plied him with food and gifts and gave us rides in the morning on her way to work. She also asked to take a photo with him before we left, which was cute.
And because I had to forget something in Singapore, I realized my digital camera was missing when I was on the car to the airport. I can't even remember if I dropped it at Holland Village the night before my departure and if left it in one of my bags or somewhere in my room. Most of the photos from P's time here are on his mobile, but I lost the ones I took at my farewell dinners. :(
Oh well. My training with Berlitz begins on Monday till Friday at their Aoyama headquarters and I am psyched to get started!
Till then, keep me in prayers and I'll check in again soon.
Labels: farewell, food, life, love, memories, tokyo
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Because my brother was busy with rehearsals for his performance tomorrow and asked me to help with his tuition assignment, I spent my afternoon teaching my nephews Nathan and Leon English and Math.
When I am back in a year, they would have grown beyond recognition, just like the shock I received when they spoke to me today about MSN, Youtube, Southpark and other peculiar boy things.
My aunt also fed me with a ridiculous amount of food from the moment I stepped through the door and gave me a bag of clothes to bring to Tokyo. My mum came to pick me up and started chatting with my cousins about my leaving.
Zhen: 我看你的女儿是一个很有自己理想的人...也好，现在年轻就应该做这种事情。我是她的年龄我也会出去跑，可是如果是我的女儿，我才不舍得!
Ming: 五姨婆，你舍得让你的大女儿去到日本这么远啊？
Mum: 什么舍不舍得... 说是说给她去，但是也不放心她一个人。可是女儿都长大了，我也没有干涉她。
Ming: 因为她跟你一样，年轻时冲动大胆！
And then my mum smiled a smile that showed that despite her obvious concern, she understood why I needed to do this. It made me realize that this was something my mother would have wanted to do at my age, and that she loved me enough to let me go.
Thank you Mummy.
Labels: family, farewell, life, photo
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Today Ahred and I had brunch and went to the National Museum for the Arab exhibition and Leslie Kee photo show. And then we had kopi at Ya Kun and talked and walked around.
It's been a while.
Because I was travelling a lot, because he was busy with final semester of law school and kendo and what not, we only managed to pull off our Sunday date only once the entire year. Yah lah!
So today was nice, albeit with a tinge of sadness that he will be flying to Fukuoka for a month on the 7th and will not be able to send me off and I won't be back for a year.
Two years ago, I sent him off at the airport to live the Japan dream. While he was there, I experienced Japan vicariously through his posts and photos and amazingly it's now my turn.
Ahred, you taught me to chase after my dreams and I will ganbatte and make the most of my time there.
Note to all: I will be flying off on Friday, 18th May with P but my flight is in the wee hours of the morning so you don't have to send me off. 18 more days in sunny Singapura!
Labels: coffee, farewell, friendship, memories, photo, tokyo
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More than the 5 boxes of clothes, 2 boxes of bags, 1 box of shoes and 2 boxes of CDs I have to leave behind, it is the 4 boxes of book I cannot bring with me that makes me the saddest.
They've walked me through so many lives and places and memories. You don't understand.
Labels: books, farewell, memories, photo
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