Gong xi fa cai! :)

Gong xi fa cai! :)

Photo from Pink Dot SG

Random thoughts on a pre-CNY Friday night...

While I was here in Singapore last year for Chinese New Year, it is only this year that I am becoming more familiar with the celebration.

So, apparently, the first day of the celebration is where the entire family gathers for a meal. That means everyone back home.

For Pg Boy, home is in one of the nice cities further north of Kuala Lumpur (I think).

He went back early last week, and won't be back till next week. Some friends have been asking why I didn't go.

Uhm, it wasn't really a big deal to me that I'm not there. I did wonder what it would be like to have a real CNY celebration with his family, but that's just me having my usual daydreams. Haha! But seriously, I knew it was a family thing, and I'm not in a position to invite myself or ask to be part of an intimate gathering. Apart from that, the family doesn't know and I can just imagine how the folks surprised the would be if Pg Boy showed up with a Filipino guy in tow. Hehe! There would be some explaining to do about the Filipino "friend."

When I said this to Rich, one of my really good friends here and one of the guys I usually approach for advice, he told me, "It's kind of sad that we have to settle for that, huh?"

He further said, "If it was a girlfriend, and the girlfriend was introduced as a 'friend,' that'll surely be an issue for the girl."

Rich wasn't talking about my situation. He was just giving a general statement, and I understood what he meant.

One of my good Singaporean friends, Melvin, was telling me that some of his guy friends would bring along their partner with them to the family dinner. The folks would be okay with it. I think it would be nice to have that, eh.

Going back to Richie's comment, it got me questioning a little. "Should we really just settle for that?" The UP activist in me has all these thoughts (haha!), but I know and understand the bigger picture. It's much more complicated than it really is.

Pg Boy and I are talking about a trip to Manila. He's never been, and I do want him to visit. I was teasing him that I will bring him with me to meet my folks and sibs. While I'm confident that my family knows, I haven't really made it official. Hehe.

I wonder what it would be like if I told them who Pg Boy really is in my life. Or should I just settle for introducing him as a 'friend?'

Hmmm...

Eh, Singlish so damn cool, ah...

One more thing that I have grown to find very interesting about my adopted country is the colloquial Singaporean English, Singlish.

The Batangueños have their "ala eh." The Singaporeans have their "lah."

In the short span of time that I've been here though and after numerous conversations with local friends, I've learned that "lah" is just one of the many phrases in Singlish.

You've got lah, leh, loh, mah, meh, among so many other Singlish phrases.

And if you think that you can use these phrases interchangeably, uhm, no, you can't. Each phrase is used for a certain statement.

I know! So confusing mah!

The local government actually discourage the use of Singlish and favor the use of standard English. From what I've read, certain steps have been made to promote using standard English.

For me, I see Singlish as one more instrument that gives the country its identity. So really, I dun see anything wrong with it.

Actually, I'm even more interested by ang mohs (ang moh is a local term used to call Caucasians) who speak Singlish, just like the guy in the videos above.

Uhm, honestly, I dunno if he considers himself an ang moh because it seems like he's been living here in Singapore all his life. Hence, his very familiar Singlish accent and use.

Stumbled upon his videos while looking for Singlish videos. I may have been living here for a really short time, but I'm actually glad that I could understand some of the terms he's using in his video.

Eh, so damn cool.

Sunday morning was spent volunteering at the National Museum of Singapore.

Several weeks ago, I was doing my usual browsing of the museum websites to check out if there's any new exhibits when I stumbled upon this ad looking gallery sitters for the Singapore History Gallery.

Having mounted several exhibits in Manila, manning exhibits was certainly not new to me. Haha!

I figured I could spend a few hours lending a pair of extra hands to the place that has allowed me to see Van Gogh, among several other awesome pieces.

My shift was 10AM - 2PM. I arrived at the NSM ten minutes before 10. After registration, I was directed to go to the Singapore History Gallery where I was met by a lovely and pleasant lady named Mas.

She gave me a brief orientation about the History Gallery, and what needed to be done. The main assignment was preparing the audio companions for the gallery, and welcoming and teaching visitors how to use the audio companion.

Sounds easy, eh? It is. But then there are times when there are several visitors arrive at the same time, so then you have to hurry up in the distribution and giving of instructions.

An hour later, I was pulled out from the History Gallery post and was asked to help top up the shelves around the museum with the information materials. (Probably because of my huge frame, they realized that I can do the walking and lifting of materials. Haha! It was fun though.)

I accompanied the Duty Officer of the Day Vivien in getting the materials from the storage areas and going around the different areas of the museum to top up the shelves with more information materials.

Initially, I thought the shift would be quite dull because I would just have to stand for four hours. I'm glad it turned out to be very busy with different kinds of work.

I signed up for another shift on 5 Feb. This time, it'll be the afternoon shift. I was told to be ready for it because it's an Open House day and they expect several people flocking to the museum.

As a token, I got a pair of complimentary tickets to all the galleries in the museum. Yey! Date at the museum soon.

A visit to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple...

On a late afternoon, I accompanied Bernice to Chinatown. It was her last few days in Singapore before flying back to Amsterdam, and she said she wanted to see Chinatown.

We took the train and got off at Chinatown MRT station, which led us directly to Pagoda St.

With the Chinese New Year just around the corner, the streets of Chinatown were very busy. (Although I must say that Chinatown seems to be a very busy place any time of the year. Hehe!)

After walking along some of the streets, I brought Bernice to the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple on South Bridge Road.

I've seen the temple from the outside so many times, because it's right next to Maxwell Food Centre.

This was, however, my first time to enter the museum.

Probably because of the Chinese New Year, the temple had extra special decorations. Probably.

But I was really wowed by the interiors of the temple.

I didn't read up on the temple before going, so we missed going to the museum in the museum. Eeep!

Maybe I'll check out the temple again this CNY.

Website: http://www.btrts.org.sg/

Cheese overload...

Nature-tripping buddy Melvin shared this Youtube video during the drive to Bukit Timah on our New Year's hike. Hehe!

The video shows Timothy Tiah from Malaysia who proposed to his girlfriend Audrey using a Internet memes.

What I really loved the video is that you can see how Timothy was really, really happy. He had such a huge smile on his face the whole.

That is definitely a guy in love.

Awww... congrats to the couple.

You can read more about the video of the couple here.

Quickie lookback at 2011...

Yeah, I know it's been days since we started another year.

I've been meaning to write a review of some sort of how my 2011 went, but I haven't found the time to sit down and put my thoughts into words because the first week back at work was crazy.

It's only now on this quiet Saturday morning that I am able to sit down in front of a laptop and let my fingers dance on the keyboard.

The biggest thing that happened was bagging a job and making the move to Singapore. Boy, the plan was several years in the making. Friends Rejoy, Richie and JoAnn have been convincing me to move to Singapore but it was only in December of 2010 that I became really decided to try it out here.

Everything happened so fast. The first quarter of the 2011, I flew to Singapore three times - twice for the job interview, and the third one was for the move.

I am forever, forever grateful for everyone who helped make the Singapore dream a reality. I didn't do it all by myself. Without the support of a number of friends, it would have been much more challenging. So, yeah, I am just grateful.

About starting a new life here, I must say (almost) everything has rather been great. I've made new friends at work. I've made new friends outside of work. Then, there's Pg Boy. And then there are the friends who have been the inspiration to move here - Richie and Mon, JoAnn and Kym, Rej, Cyp and Jon, Jean, and definitely, my Twitter gang - MkSurf8, Tian3x and iandmac. These three guys have been my usual HOHOL buddies here and adjusting to the SG life was rather easy thanks to these guys.

Hmm, if I were to quickly name the best things about 2011, the following are off the top of my head:
- the Kylie Minogue concert - this was just awesome;
- discovering the "green" side of Singapore at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, Sungei Buloh and the other parks - SG is not all about skyscrapers and high-rise HDB flats, it does have a green side which I really love;
- the Lion King musical - watched this myself and still enjoyed it very much. I've always dreamt of watching a musical in Broadway, and this was the next best thing;
- seeing Picasso, Manet, Monet, Renoir, Gauguin, and Van Gogh(!!!) pieces - no words. You have to be there to experience it;
- weekend trips to Batam and HCMC - oh, jeez! These have been epic trips. "Mister driver, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, Mister driver!" Hahaha!;
- celebrating National Day, Christmas and of course, New Years's Eve;
the month-long birthday celebration (haha!) - I was really glad to have been able to do the tradition of holding my birthday at a kids' center;
- becoming a member of a dragonboat team - seriously, I never thought I would one day be on a boat with a paddle. Add to that being able to compete in the SG River Regatta. It never crossed my mind;
- meeting Pg Boy - completely unexpected. We met May of 2011, and neither one of us thought that we would months later be going out and making things official.
- having good friends from Pinas over - so glad that so many friends from Pinas came here for vacay - Nico, I-van, JB, Miguel, Bernice, Tey, Xzenia, Ella, Gino, Jon, Elapie, Sheena, Joi, Manny, Jamie, Ros. Really great;

There were, of course, challenges which put me to a test. I'm glad things still worked out..

Without a doubt, 2011 was a very, very big year for me.

During a small gathering with Pg Boy's friends, we had a quick recap of how each one's 2011 went. When it was my turn to talk, I just said I couldn't be more grateful for 2011. It was full of blessings, and despite the challenges I've encountered, I have no right to complain about it.

And if I'm going to be logical about it, then this year - 2012 - is definitely going to be better. It's good, better, best, right?!

Hope you had a really, really good year!

Hiking on a public holiday...

January 2. Public holiday in Singapore.

6AM.

Whereas most of the Singapore population were probably still in bed fast asleep and enjoying the last day before the madness of another work/schoolyear, I have already left the house at that ungodly hour to meet up with good friend Melvin.

I haven't seen the guy in ages. I haven't gone hiking in awhile. It was time for another hike with this guy. He asked Bryan to come along. But when he found out what time the hike was, he chose the bed. I asked Alex and Chris to come along. Same response as Bryan.

Not everyone is as crazy as me and Melvin I suppose. Hehe!

Days before the hiking get-together, Melvin and I were talking about where to go. He suggested having no plans and just getting lost. I though, "Uhm, no." Hehe. I told him I miss the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. So we agreed that's where we're going.

But come hiking day, there was a change of plans just when we reached the nature reserve. Melvin suggested doing the kampong trail. He also asked whether I was up for some fish feeding.

He said, "It is therapeutic, you know." I was psyched for a hike that morning. So even though he said we will be walking for two plus hours, I was okay with it. (Uhm, I was sort of okay that Alex and Chris didn't go. Otherwise, they would have killed me for sure. Haha!)

After parking the car at the Beauty World Plaza (I'm serious! That's the name of the building!), Melvin led the way towards the kampong trail. We quickly passed by a convenience store to buy a loaf of bread for the fishies. And then, we were off.

We were along a main street, car after car zooming past us, and I had to ask if we were supposed to be walking along that road. We reached a part of the road where Melvin just jumped over a road barrier. I just followed.

The next I know, we were already surrounded by trees. There was not a concrete building in sight. It was all greens, the morning sun, and the chirping of birds. Nice, nice.

We kept on walking for about an hour. There were other hikers and trail bikers. I'm not sure what area that was, but I followed Melvin as he made his way through a path lined with trees. This led to a hidden pond.

After finding a spot to sit down, Melvin brought out the loaf of bread. He took out one slice, tore a piece and threw it into the water. Ripples started forming as several fishes suddenly zoomed towards the bread. I took my own slice, and started throwing small pieces into the water, amused by the fishes that raced towards the bread. Several minutes later, a terrapin surfaced and started swimming to the bread pieces as well. Several minutes more, we spotted a number of snakeheads and their young. There was also one huge black fish, which Melvin thinks is a pacu, that joined the other fishies.

Around 11 plus, Melvin and I started to head back to "civilization." We took a different path going back, but it still brought us to the area where we started.

We also reached an area where the KTM railroad tracks used to be. I'm glad I was able to see those tracks a couple of months ago, before they were taken out. It was a part of Singapore history.

It was a good hike, I have to say. Came across some kingfishers, a sunbathing gecko (read: ordinary lizard - LOL!), snakeheads, a terrapin, several monkeys, an oriole, an unidentified bright red-chested bird, and an Oriental whip snake!!!

So, you see, Singapore is not all about skyscrapers and luxury malls, it has a "green" side which I am just really happy to discover because it brings back memories of the Philippine countryside (which I love!)

Welcoming 2012...

This is a late post on welcoming 2012, but still I'd like to write about it for the simple reason that it is important to me.

Back in Manila, New Year's Eve is such a big deal for me, as it is for almost every other Filipino household I suppose. My Mom, my brothers and I would all be preoccupied with our own assignments for the Media Noche. It's become a family tradition that each one has a role for welcoming the brand new year.

And hours even before the clock strikes 12, one can already feel the very festive mood because of all the sound of fireworks that can be heard around the neighborhood.

It is quite different here in Singapore. I was expecting it. I've been told about it. And it's true.

Had I not left the house, it would just be like any other weekend night. It was very quiet, and almost everyone just went on with their usual activity.

Thankfully, Richie and Mon invited me and Pg Boy to dinner at their home. Richie's Mom was in town, and I already knew how good she is as a cook. There was no way I was going to miss that dinner. Haha!

Prior to heading to the dinner, Pg Boy and I had to go to the "unofficial" housewarming of his friend. He's Indonesian-Chinese with a Filipino partner. I've met the close friends of Pg Boy, and I have grown to like them. There are times when I still feel like the outsider but I suppose that's natural being the new kid on the block.

After the housewarming, we headed to Richie's place where we had, as I expected, a fantastic dinner.

Mon prepared a really nice soup. Richie prepared some grilled chops. Richie's Mom cooked really yum pancit. Even Pg Boy liked the pancit with meatballs. There was wine. There was cheese and crackers. There was salad. It was a good dinner.

From Richie's place, we headed to City Hall to meet up with the group of Pg Boy. We were going to watch the fireworks at the Marina Bay.

We were unable to get a good spot though as the roads leading to Esplanade have already been barricaded. Instead, we had to find a place at the park near the Fullerton Hotel.

It was still okay, because I got a good view of the fireworks.

As the time neared midnight, there was excitement in the air. We didn't hear the actual countdown at the Esplanade. But as soon as I saw the time on my iPhone turn 12:00, the fireworks display began.

It lasted for several minutes, and the whole time I was just really, really happy.

Once it was over, we had a group hug and greeted each one a Happy New Year. Haha!

It was a simple, but a memorable welcoming of 2012.

Hope your New Year celebration was just as meaningful and memorable!

Hello, 2012....

After New Year's Eve dinner with Richie, Mon and Richie's Mom, Pg Boy and I headed to City Hall to meet up with his friends.

I told him that I really wanted to watch fireworks for New Year's Eve because it was one of my very few connections to a New Year celebration in the Philippines.

We wanted to get a spot at the Fullerton Bay Hotel side, but we were unable to do so because the roads have already been barricaded.

So, we opted to stay where we were - at the other side of the Esplanade.

Still, I was able to get a good view of the fireworks. I really loved it. There's really something about fireworks that makes me happy. Hehe!

Anyway, must find time to blog more about other things that happened. It's been a good Christmas and New Year!

Really grateful.

Happy New Year!!! :)