Thursday, February 11, 2010

My First Day in Singapura - 02.11.10

I am overwhelmed with things that I wanted to write. And since I'm just in an internet cafe with little to no money to spend on internet, here goes my ramblings. :)

I am so grateful of our family friend for super helping me in everything. From looking for a place to stay, picking me up at the airport, to giving me EZ Link card and a "starting money". I somewhat feel ashamed for accepting the help, my pride is eating me whole. But times like these, who cares about pride, right? As long as the help will not be forgotten. I tell that to myself to stop feeling guilty...

I'm now staying at a hotel near chinatown waiting for the 6:30pm to arrive. We (my friend and i) will be going to Anchorvale to check out the room that I will be renting out. So to kill time, I've decided to go around downtown first, have my peso changed to sgd and buy a Singtel sim. (I now have my Sing# but wont't be posting it here, not that I am assuming you're interested. ^_^)

One interesting observation here (well, it IS obvious) is that even good English speakers like the Pinoys succumb to the "national language": Singlese. My friend warned me that once in Singapore, you'll forget your tenses, and everything that you've learned from English 101, and retain just plain basic English with an added "lah" and some other Singlese expressions (or whatever you may call it). I find myself laughing deep inside hearing my friend talk that way knowing full well that she's a fluent English speaker. I laugh because I know soon, I'll sound exactly like that. I'm practicing my Singlese at the same time my Pinoy-English so that I won't forget my English 101. :P

It rained after lunch today. Yes, it's true, it's is sweltering hot (very hot hot. lol) here. Even if it's raining, i was sweating from just walking a hundred meters or so. It's either the heat OR my being physically UNfit. haha I'm thinking of jogging this week. Evan, haha, I hope this time i get to finally do it.

So now I'm here in lucky plaza, wasting my money on internet just to post this blog, and yeah, doing some job hunting. And waiting for Miko to arrive. There are a lot of you-will-know-whos here, i observed. Being the racist that I am, I always brace myself for the worst kind of BO every time I come across a lot of them (now i assume you know the you-know-whos that I am referring to) . But my stereotyping was proved wrong as not all of them stinks. A few, but not each and everyone of them.

General feeling for today: A different kind of scared. Scared of thinking "What if I don't get a job here?" and of failing those who have believed in me and supported me and wished me nothing but success. My friend asked me what I'll do if ever I can't find a job within 3 months time and i answered here that it ISN'T an option. This is a different kind of adventure. What I felt as a tourist before (when I first went here and visiting other countries as well) and now is different. Now, I no longer had that security that in a few days or so I'll be back in the real world, that my being here is for leisure's sake. Now, it's not. There is that nagging fear in me that I might be caught jay walking, loading/unloading on the wrong bus stop or for simply by being here. This is and will be my real world. I no longer had that feeling of security that I can go home anytime I want to. I am forced to make this my home and to make it here, period. I am expected to do good, be good, make good.

But I am forever thankful to God for simply helping me reach this place, to where I am now. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for His help through my family and friends. For forever supplying all my needs despite my being pasaway. I am forever grateful for my family, loved ones and friends, everyone who wished me nothing but success.

So until my next blog. Wish me God's will and blessings in our (Miko and I) job hunting :)

Aja, Aja, Fighting!

13 comments:

  1. Naiyak akong konti sa blog mo. good luck joyce! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I wish you and Miko the best :) God bless you both :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. joycee!! sing na diay ka..sad, la jud ta nagkita no..on the other hand, i am happy for you!! go! go! go! lang jud.. i so know you can do it. God has brought you there..so He's gonna make you make it there! GOD bless! xoxo :D

    ReplyDelete
  4. at ais, is that you? hahah salamat! same pa rin akong number, pag visit ka diri, let me know. :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. awww! joyce! we'll miss you! don't worry you'll be fine there. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. coming from dam, haha. isang malaking pasasalamat! lol

    ReplyDelete
  7. first off, welcome to Singapura! Besides Davao, thats the ONLY place i can see myself staying on to for a long time (if the opportunity knocks). Learn to love chinese food! It would save your budget a lot!

    Since you said you are in Lucky Plaza, there are a lot of budget chinese food around the blocks of Selegie Rd, Rochor Rd, Albert St, Becoolen St, up to the Middle Rd and the Bugis Food Village... or better if you know how to cook.

    But there is a convenience store there ground floor of The Bencoolen 180 tower, harap ng Summer View Hotel, named AJ Supermart. The owner is a Pinoy and he sells almost all pinoy products. From cell cards to HEBI (the prawn cracker if you're familiar)! So you wont miss home that much.



    I call the you-know-who as band of brothers (coz later on you'll notice that most of the time they walk in a group) and youre correct not all of em! Many but not all... just as long as you dont ride the public train during peak hours (mostly 7am and 7pm) coz you yourself might smell like em.

    But I like Singapura coz thats where I first saw an inter racial ASIAN couple happy and walking the streets without a care in the world. Something you dont see virtually anywhere else because we asians are know to really stick to our kind/race. That, for me, speaks of how open-minded the city is.

    So whats the moral of the story? Nothing I just cant sleep and I envy your being there. I will give you a PM in Facebook to give you some links where my friends who tried their luck there started their search. thanks for reading this far and i hope i didnt bore you.

    now read your PM in FB that is if you didnt read it first before going here....

    ReplyDelete
  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  9. hahaha, arjay! lol, you were here? :) dali, balik ka dito! why did you remove that comment? :) your comment (a.k.a. novel) did not bore me at all. hahaha
    thanks thanks, will keep these in mind. hope to see you here when you visit!

    ReplyDelete
  10. you-will-know-whos .... Have no clue who you are referring to ... Thou i have a couple of groups in mind namely thai foreign workers, bangla foreign workers and even the filipino maids who fill up lucky plaza on the weekends ... Sooo any chance you could enlighten me .... ;->

    ReplyDelete
  11. hi vejovis, it's nice of you to comment. but unfortunately, i cannot just tell you about it and type it here. haha

    ReplyDelete

Any thoughts, reader?

Related Posts with Thumbnails