Singapore Sling

The day was Saturday, 31^st of May 2008, I was getting ready to catch the last flight of Cebu Pacific to Singapore. The flight was 8:50 PM and arrived in Singapore at approximately 12:20 AM the following day. And from that day on, my venture outside of my home country began. I left Manila quietly with the knowledge of my family and some friends. I wanted to tell my other friends too but then I decided not to. I wanted to wait for the time I settled in Singapore before telling everyone that I moved. Yes I was full of surprises but there were many things that surprised me too during that time. Who would have thought that I would bump into a good friend, well the husband of my good friend, in one of the most awkward places in Singapore? And that friend happened to be unaware of my whereabouts since I left my first job in Christmas of 2006. So then I have to tell everyone on my current diaspora and thank God for social media that reaching out to them made it quite a smooth transition.

Anyway, in less than a month, I managed to secure myself with my working visa and a promising teaching job. I was really surprised that I got in given my minimal experience in the special education field during that time. I gave myself a go and pursue this and unexpectedly I was able to progress in this career for 5 years.  My teaching job was a hell of a whirlwind but at the same time very rewarding. I have never been so proud of myself especially in the latter years of my career as I have seen myself learning while teaching. But the sour part of this was I had to deal with throbbing people who definitely defied me in many circumstances. I was actually thinking of writing a book entitled “A Tale of Two Whales” to describe the depressing and morally-challenging people who imbibed my kindness to an overly exceeding level. But their stories will be told separately when I regain my power to look back.

To sum up five years in this page is not enough to talk about the whole story. Well there were many stories but like what every person would definitely gain is that I made a lot of very good friends in Singapore. The city was exciting in the beginning but to be contained in such a small city with the same things to see over and over, boredom will really come knocking into your doorstep and take your life out of you. So there were three things I did to keep life going. I travelled. I rowed. I ran. And with those three things came many friends whom I shared a lot of good memories. Friends kept me up and excited me to look forward for weekends. And this I would say, moving to Singapore was best move I ever did in my life so far as it has changed me to be better and to be alive.

And truth to be told, I never had the chance to taste the Singapore Sling in that span of 5 years. Looking forward to it when I visit the city soon.

Singapore
May 2008 - June 2013