Little Superhero Girl

Friday, September 17, 2010

24 hours in Singapore

Taken in Armadale, Melbourne

The last 2 weeks have been a whirlwind of frantic packing and teary farewells, of last-minute shopping (I went to as many op shops as I could to procure myself some "one-off" Melbournian clothes) and ethnic cuisines (Ethiopian twice a week, Carribean, Szechuan... Singapore cannot eat one!), of hitting the road and being shutter-happy.

The day before I was flying home, my laptop died on me. It just fizzled and sizzled and all the magic spells in the world couldn't bring it back to life. After a bit of a drama, I had E drive me to the nearest computer shop and bought myself a new Lenovo laptop for under $500. I felt like my entire life was in that laptop, and I swear I would have a complete breakdown if I didn't get a new one immediately. And we managed to buy a portable hard disk case, pry open the old laptop and transfer the data onto the new one, 2 hours before I was to get on my plane, thank God!

It's been over 24 hours since I've landed home, and everything smells like it does in the tropics. It's the awkward familiar humidity which I promised myself not to complain about. All over town malls are exploding and I am completely disoriented and have had to depend on Mellie (who has only moved here for 3 months) to tell me where's where. I looked so lost at the train station that the uncle gave me an MRT map of the new system. A stranger in my native land, making a quiet re-entry into my hometown.

Everything in my life, inside and outside has changed and I am fighting every bone in my body not to be emotional about it. I miss you more than words can say, but I have to learn to live in the now, be grateful for what I have, appreciate the people around.

Labels: confession, culture, friendship, home, life, love, travel

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Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Things that only you and I would understand

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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Sunday, July 5, 2009

Happy 4th of July!

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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Monday, June 29, 2009

Cheers, darlin'

If only every weekend could be spent like this, but the opportunity cost of my going is having to leave you behind.

Taken at Orchard Central, Singapore

Dimsum lunch with the boys at Din Tai Fung, another hour of grit and swear at Bodypump class, kopi-gao with a good read at Ya Kun, dinner at Mos Burger with Ahred and Armin, wandering around the half-developed 10-storey Orchard Central and finally al-fresco dining at the newly-opened Heaven's Loft and a heart-to-heart talk with my favourite local boy.

10 more days to Melbourne, so I must make every day count!

Labels: coffee, friendship, home, memories, photo

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Sunday, June 28, 2009

Take me to the river

Taken at Ann Siang Hill, Singapore

Today was one of those near-perfect days.

Brina (although she hates being called that ;)) and I decided to get up early on a Saturday morning and spend the day out and about with our DSLRs.

After breakfast at the famous Ah Tong coffeeshop on Keong Saik Road, we wandered from Chinatown to Ann Siang Hill to Amoy Street to Boat Quay to Esplanade to City Hall. We just kept walking and walking, armed with a printed map and a spirit of adventure, and thank God for the great weather!

My highlight of the day was discovering Books Actually, the kind of bookstore where you want to buy everything that on the shelves and wished you worked in or ran a place like this. We must have spend at least an hour inside, and I succumbed and bought the deluxe edition of Kafka's The Metamorphosis and Other Stories.

The funniest thing happened today- we were heading towards Cavenegh Bridge along the Singapore River when his well-dressed Indian guy comes up to us and starts nattering away. Turned out he wanted a video with us on his mobile, and asked that we each say a few lines about Singapore. He was on holiday from Bangalore, and amused, we complied.

He started by saying something like, "Hey guys, right now I'm really tired but I'm here with two beautiful local girls, I've never seen anyone like them before. You know my name, I'm popular, and here is T like the Indian star, and Brina..." and he went on for ages like he was filming his own chatshow! I had a flashback of the time we found instant stardom in Mahabalipuram. ;)

View the slideshow of photos taken today here.

Labels: books, friendship, home, memories, photo

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Wednesday, June 24, 2009

The hardest part is over

Because Rachel Yamagata sings the story of my life and this song is for Ahred-

So, I will head out alone, hope for the best
We can pat ourselves on the back
As say that we tried
And if one of us makes it big
We can spill our regrets
And talk about how the love never dies

But you and I know the reason why
I'm gone, you're still there
I'm gone, you're still there
I'm gone, and you're still there

- "The Reason Why" by Rachel Yamagata

Labels: confession, home, song, video

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Monday, June 22, 2009

I'm leaving your town again

Taken outside Fort Canning Park, Singapore

You were there on the line thousands of miles away, as I sat on the doorstep of my rented apartment crying my eyes out because I was lonely and afraid. You told me everything was going to be okay, and I believed you. I believed you because you were the only one who would understand what it felt like, and because you have always accepted me for who I am. Other men can come and go, but you'll always be my Ahred.

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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Sunday, June 21, 2009

Happy Father's Day!

In honour of Father's Day, my sister booked a table for the family at Tung Lok Paramount, next to Roxy Square Hotel and across from Parkway Parade.

It was like a Chinese wedding dinner gone overboard- we ordered up a storm because it was a-la-carte buffet and stuffed ourselves crazy. Shark's fin, sashimi, coffee ribs, soft-shell crab, cereal prawn, steamed tilapa fish, herbal jelly and more... I think I ate enough food to last me the rest of this weekend. ;)

You can see the slideshow of the pictures here!

Labels: family, food, home, photo

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Friday, June 19, 2009

sticks and stones may break my bones

I have a aunt who is a bit of a character.

A grandmother of 5 at 60, she is unusually critical of her oldest grandchild.

"I always tell her, she is so ugly. Her mother was so pretty at her age, I don't know what happened to her!" She would say this to anyone who would listen, and even those who didn't want to hear.

Despite harsh warnings from her daughter and her sisters, my aunt refuses to change. If you hear her lamenting about her granddaughter's unfortunate looks, you would have thought it completely genuine until you meet her and realize she is far from ugly.

At a family gathering during the Chinese New Year, my aunt couldn't help herself again.

"Mummy! Grandma's calling me ugly again!" my niece cried out loud. Her mother ran to her defence, and my aunt retorted, "But it's true, she's really ugly and I don't know what to do with her."

Yesterday, my mum came to picked me up after work and my aunt was in the front seat.

"Meiyun!" She exclaimed, the only person in the world who calls me by my Chinese name. "I didn't know you dressed so well! You are getting more beautiful the older you become."

"Well aunt, I am 26 already, not so young anymore."

"You are NOT 26... are you?!!"

I sighed in my head and braced myself for more.

"Come to think of it, my granddaughter really looks like you. It's amazing... some mornings she wakes up and I see her and laugh because I think she's you!"

I gave a half-smile, remembering all the awful things she had said about her granddaughter before.

"But you know, when I tell her she looks like you, she gets upset and says she doesn't want to look like you, she'd prefer to look like your sister instead. Not to say that you are not beautiful, but she'd rather have your sister's beauty than yours..."

I didn't know how to react, but I managed to laugh very politely.

A decade ago, I might have taken great offense at her words. But now all I can think is, I'm glad to be leaving.

Labels: family, home, life

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Wednesday, April 15, 2009

What if your eyes close before mine?

1 continent, 2 hours and 3 weeks apart, you sent me a picture.

A stunning sunset captured. Easter weekend, you and the boys, a camping trip to Sorrento. Wish I were there.

And here I was, chillin' with my friends at Haji Lane, s-s-smokin' apple and mint shisha, talking about The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari and his 21 days philosophy. Wish you were here.

But I'm happy just to hear from you. And happy to give up greener grasses for you.

Labels: australia, confession, home, love, photo

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Saturday, March 7, 2009

Curlilocks and the witching hour

Today I masqueraded as Curlilocks.

My boy made a dinner reservation at Garibaldi, touted as the best Italian restaurant in Singapore. Too late for Valentine's and too early for White Day, but he decided that we deserved a nice night out since he was going to be away for a while (before I got my ticket to Melbourne).

We got to town early so we did our usual cafe reading routine and window-shopped for a bit, and then met my sister and Harley ("Harlene" or "Joley" if you like) for a beer and chat before heading to the restaurant.

Besides the complimentary soup and free flow of freshly baked onion bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, we also had the Trenette Vongole E Bottarga (spaghetti with air-flown clams and grey mullet roe in white wine sauce) and Risotto Zucca Foie Gras E Balsamico (pumpkin risotto with panfried foie gras and balsamico glaze). They were really good and left us absolutely stuffed!

We had to skip the wine because it was a ridiculous $90 per glass- I laughed when I saw the menu, and decided to walk over to Max Brenner's at the Esplanade for dessert instead.

Thank you my love for the wonderful date!

Labels: beer, family, food, home, love, memories, photo

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Friday, January 30, 2009

Take me back to Haji Lane

Taken at Haji Lane in Singapore

Shopping in Singapore can be a predictable and boring experience, especially having just moved back from Tokyo, inarguably the fashion capital of Asia.

That's why Haji Lane comes as such a breath of fresh air, with its chic and eclectic boutiques in remodeled shophouses, sandwiched between various shisha bars and cafes, just waiting to be discovered. And a lot of them had one-off or import pieces at affordable prices, but I had to resist buying anything since I am currently living off my savings.

Mellie, you would love this place!

Photos taken today all found here.

Labels: home, photo, shopping

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Monday, January 26, 2009

Happy Chinese New Year

Taken at home in Singapore

The eve of Chinese New Year is a time for spring-cleaning, which is an act of catharsis.

With a lot of help from E, we cleaned up the little room that my mum had prepared for us and unpacked our 70 kg of luggage. And then we sorted out the boxes upon boxes of things I had left behind in Singapore- clothes, bags, books, CDs and other random keepsakes and I pretty much decided that I didn't really need any of it anymore so I told my mum to give them away to charity.

It's amazing how many possessions one can accumulate in a lifetime. How much we convince ourselves we need to improve the quality of our lives, how much we waste, how much excess we live with.

My resolution for this new year shall be "Less is more". And "Finish what you have started".

Ad is back from NY after being gone for 3 years, and she has articulated exactly how I feel in her latest blog entry. We are best friends after all.

Labels: confession, home, life, photo, resolution

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Thursday, January 22, 2009

Same same, but different

Taken inside the Astro Hall in Harajuku, Tokyo

So I've been back for 3 days and it feels like I've never left at all.

The same cobbler sits at the same corner across the kopitiam, the same Malay auntie is preparing Hainanese chicken rice, the same bus routes takes me to the same places.

But now with an angmoh, I am an official SPG. Everywhere we go we get blatant stares- from kids, from adults, from locals, from foreigners. What they don't know is that I met E when we were both expats working in Tokyo, and our race never really factored into the relationship. My friends laugh at my accent, but they don't realize that nobody would have been able to understand me if I spoke Singlish, and that my job was to speak and teach proper English.

I have also forgotten the curt service in Singapore. I had gotten used to the bowing and the nodding, to the polite (albeit put-on) smiles, to the long-winded explanation to a simple problem. Here it's, "What you want? Like that, is it? Okay, this price." I have to stop myself from going "sumimasen" when I knock into someone/something, from saying "hai" to everything I understand.

Still it's good to see everyone. Yesterday we had wonderful nasi padang at the backalleys of Boat Quay, and then we went to Molly Malone's and Harry's for drinks and live music. Just Chaz, E and I, later followed by Joe, just like before, but now older and wiser.

Today we're going to catch a movie in town and check out the bookstores/library. Funny how E and I have never once had a movie date in all the time we've known each other; it costs almost S$30 for a ticket in Tokyo! Wave if you see us. :)

Labels: confession, culture, home, photo

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Monday, January 19, 2009

The sweet, sweet smell of home

Taken at Kyomizu Temple in Kyoto

We're still on the same side of the moon.

But yesterday, when my two best girls in Japan went to the airport to send me off, tears were shed as promised.

Jo got there really early with Nao-chan and helped us unpack and repack as we were 14 kg over the weight limit (although we had both shipped many boxes of stuff home and thrown out as much as we could) and the lady at the check-in counter was completely inflexible. We ended up having to race to the postal office and ship my entire suitcase home, which cost us another 25,000 yen (compared to the 59,800 yen Northwest wanted to charge us!). Still we have about 4 pieces of carry-on bags each, but E argued that his cameras and violin were too expensive to be checked in and couldn't be counted.

Mel and Mamo arrived late but our flight had been delayed by an hour so we all managed to sit down together for a last meal at the food court.

Jo and Nao-chan got me a teddy bear (the kind I've always wanted!) and wrote me cards, Mel made me a scrapbook filled with photos, illustrations and written memories of our time in Tokyo. I read everything on the plane and had to stop myself from bawling like a baby.

It was almost 3 in the morning when we got back to my apartment in the heartlands, and my mum cleared out the storage space for a cosy little room for E and I. My things from Japan haven't fully arrived yet, and I'm not quite sure how to fit everything in, but we'll work something out.

The first question E asked me once we got off the plane was, "So what are we going to eat at the hawker center later?". So after we dropped off our suitcases, I took my excited little angmoh boyfriend to the 24-hour kopitiam across the street to have supper. Noodles for 250 yen a bowl! Homemade barley drink for 80 yen! We both died and went to hawker heaven.

Today E and I are planning to go to Chinatown to eat, eat and eat (what else?) and also soak in the CNY festivities. Can't wait!

Labels: food, friendship, home, memories, photo

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Wednesday, November 19, 2008

The perfection of autumn

There is a hint of melancholy in the autumn air, a sense that the year is coming to an end, that some things must die and life is delicate.

Overnight the landscape is transformed- it is as if God had decided to sit Himself down, and with a click of His marvelous mouse, photoshopped the leaves from green to red.

This is how I know autumn is here- the little path I take that is made of stone slabs is now covered with dried leaves fallen off the trees that once provided shade in the summer heat, and the leaves crackle under my feet.

Spring is too short, summer is too hot, winter is too harsh- but how can you not be in love with autumn? Autumn is perfect.

But still last night as I closed my eyes, I found my thoughts drifting to familiar scenes back home- like, having watching silly late-night Taiwanese variety shows with my siblings and laughing out loud every ten seconds, because it is a language I understand, or walking over to the kopitiam in my oversized tee and flip flops sans make-up to get my daily fix of kopi, because nobody cares how I look, or sitting in my mother's car with Teresa Teng in the player and singing along with my mum to songs that are so familiar to me, I have heard her songs being played in Hong Kong, in Thailand, in Japan, and every time they have brought tears to my eyes.

The notion of home can be arbitary- I left home to come to Japan to discover myself, and now I am leaving my second home and going back to rediscover, reacquaint myself. I know that people do this all the time- they uproot, resettle, reinvent, grow new roots and many never return home, but I have by choice decided to go back and this is my journey to take.

I know I am in good hands.

Labels: autumn, confession, home, life, tokyo

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Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Know my heart, know my heart

Now that I am no longer undecided or irresolute, now that it is no longer a big secret- I am moving back to Singapore on January 18th, the tickets have been booked and paid for.

I tendered my resignation today but my last official day at work is on the 4th of January, although I will get 30th December to 3rd January off for winter break. I have paid vacation owed me, so I will be paid till the 17th. Perfect timing.

In the meantime, I have to start packing and shipping stuff home and figure out what to do with the things I can't take with me.

E and I will be going back in time for Chinese New Year, and then we head to Vietnam, Laos and maybe Myanmar or Yunnan for 2-3 weeks, before starting our job hunt in Singapore.

I have achieved what I came here to do (except master the language, hehe) and I am happy with where I am now and am ready to move on to something new.

Singapore, here we come!

Labels: home, life, photo, tokyo, work

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Thursday, October 9, 2008

If you miss the train I'm on

...you will know that I am gone.

Labels: home, memories, photo, travel

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Saturday, September 27, 2008

Everything I read is you

So E is now on the plane home to surprise his parents and visit his family and I'm not supposed to say this but I miss him already.

I really wanted to send him to the airport but it would be a 2-hour train ride home alone and I knew it would only depress me, so I went with him halfway to Oshiage instead and waved him off from the Keisei platform.

"The second word of every sentence I read is you."

Of another weekend gone in pictures (because I took my new Canon f1.8 lens out to play)-

Wasted trip to Ginza hoping to shop in the newly opened H&M (the queue was 4 blocks long!) + Lunch and shopping in Shibuya instead + Dinner in Ebisu with Y and E + Big love package from Mummy + Yokohama Triennale with Mellie and E + Lunch at Chano-ma + Sudoku obsession

One week will fly by.

Labels: confession, home, love, museum, photo, shopping, tokyo

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Thursday, September 25, 2008

"Happiness only real when shared"

...wrote Chris McCandles in the novel he was reading, cold, frightened and desperate in the abandoned bus he had taken shelter in.

Chris, upon graduation from college, had donated his life savings of $24,000 to charity and set out on a journey of spiritual discovery and soul-searching, reinventing himself as "Alexander Supertramp". Sick of society and wanting to leave a life of simplicity and solitude, he burned all the money on him, cut off all communication with his family and decided that he would hike into the wilderness of Alaska. His great "Alaskan Odyssey", he called it.

Without proper planning and training for living in the wild, without the guidance of a map, without adequate food and supplies, he gradually starved to death.

The final entry in his journal read, "I HAVE HAD A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD. GOODBYE AND MAY GOD BLESS ALL!"

His story spoke to me, as it has had to many others.

On my odyssey, I am not alone but am missing home for these very reasons (and more)-