Gabby’s Paradise

It is my 2nd week here in Singapore and I am settling in pretty well.Ive gotten more adventurous with commuting on the bus and the mrt. Because of my in-born GPS i find it easy to navigate. My mantra, look at the bus station, try to familiarize yourself to the landmarks, have a general idea of where you will go to and you wont be lost. If you do, then just cross the street and ride the bus to where you came from or go to the nearest mrt and travel back home. If you really are lost, then grab a taxi, im sure they’ll know where you need to go. Kailangan lang isanay mo ang leeg mo na tumingin muna sa kanan bago sa kaliwa pag tatawid. My head always plays Beyonze’s song pero iba ang lyrics. Instead of “to the left, to the left ….” napapakanta ako ng “to the right, to the right….”

The food here is very different from Filipino food but its always exciting to try something new. For example, they have here “Sea food fried rice” - very oily fried rice tossed in with shrimps and fish. Its enough for two persons at di mo na kailangan ng ulam. Sobrang nakakabusog, paginubos mo for lunch, pretty sure you’ll get sleepy during the afternoon. Ang sawsawan nila dito ay parang variation ng patis. Its less salty though and they add red or green chili that is tolerably spicy.  Mahilig rin sila sa curry at may turo turo din sila which costs about Sgd2.50 - Sgd4 depending on what you buy at kung gano kadami. Busog ka na sa Sgd4. Sgd1.10 ang canned drinks. Mura na dito yun.

When it comes to talking to people, Im beginning to get used to the language, i hear the locals talking and although their english is very much differently accented than filipino english (ours is so much better sounding) the language barrier is slowly breaking. Pero syempre, english lang ang naiintindihan ko, people they always have a secondary language, either malay, chinese, tamil or whatever nation they came from. Maraming chinese na matatanda ang di nageenglish. Yun ang mahirap sa tindahan. Turo turo na lang. You will hear a lot of Pinoys here and of course pagnaguusap na, tagalog na lang. Its best here to talk in tagalog when youre with your country men so other people wont evesdrop in your conversation. I had this experience yesterday, inis na inis ako sa officemate kong thai, he kept on saying that i should do this and that and he didnt even do a thing so i told my pinay officemate while the three of us were in the elevator, “tatadyakan ko na to ah. ang kulet. ayaw naman magtrabaho utos lang ng utos.” all those words were said in a very gentle voice and without facial expression so he wont notice. Thats the good thing about being in another country, you really get to appreciate the presence of other pinoys kahit kakilala mo o hindi and you will enjoy conversing in tagalog.

My landscape firm here is just like the one in Manila. Same thing goes on, same process but they have one more thing that we didnt have. Ang daming discussions sa design. 30 percent of the time is delegated for the synthesis of the design and the exploration of new ideas. As one of the senior thais told me, here, its all about strong design style. Modern design ideas is the trend and tropical design is already passe. Tinawanan nga ko ni ungas nung nagtropical design ako. Luma na daw.

What i realize now is that there are really some joys and some hardships when you go out of the country but the way i see it, there is always something left to be discovered and realized. I wake up each morning thinking about how blessed my life is. I was given an opportunity to experience another country at such a young age but my heart always burns with that Filipino blood.

I stay here exploring, finding the meaning of my existence. Im learning new things and defining myself but always, at the back of my mind is the idea that I belong to Manila and this is just my phase of learning and discovery.

To my family, friends and all those who love and care for me, I wanna say I’m safe. Dont worry about me coz Im doing ok and Im still that same person which probably has more “lah” “leh” and “meh” in my vocabulary when i get back. Mwah!