wham bang smash plop!

Life is busy. But I am thankful for friends, for family despite the many things I would like to complain about. But poksy is right - one must be smiley and optimistic. 

And even though life is busy, one has time for some KINGFISH CARPACCIO - 

Made perfect with awesome conversation with teefy (:

So a friend recently showed me this video and it got me thinking of my own maid. People who know me well enough would know that I refer to her as my 'aunty' instead of maid as far as I can help it because she is so much more than a maid to me. While watching this video, I couldn't help thinking of her story - how she first came to singapore, her reasons for doing so, her struggles throughout these years.

Like most other foreign workers, she came to singapore in search for a better life for her family. Working as a maid here would give her a far higher salary than a regular office job in Manila and so she did. I've seen how faithfully she remits a significant chunk of her salary back every month for the past 15 years or so. I've seen her worry and pray about money problems at home because of a family member's hospitalization bill, or a typhoon that destroyed their farm land. In situations like these, she remits back more money than usual, from what little savings she's got. As a result, she has no substantial savings despite having worked here for almost two decades. Sometimes she borrows some money from me to tide her over till the next salary date. Cash is always tight, but she always pays back what she owes promptly.

She came to work for our family in her early twenties, yet now she is past 40, well past the prime of her life. Sometimes I feel like she gave up taking care of her own family in turn for taking care of mine. While she has seen me through my pigtail hair days in primary school, through teenagehood until now, witnessed and even mediated our family's household quarrels, she has been away from her own family all these while, having only the telephone to tide her through her own tumultuous familial events like her sister's passing. She worked here because she wanted to support her family, and to give her younger siblings a chance at university education - an opportunity she never had. I realized many years ago that my aunty is actually quite bright. She is wise, hardworking and learns quickly. I recall setting up an email account for her a few years ago, teaching her the basics of using a computer (how to right click, type an email, go to desktop etc). One day she added me as a friend on facebook, and the next she was uploading photos on it. Today she is an ardent farmville fan, and has since learnt to put songs onto her phone. I always think that had she had the opportunity to go through the same kind of education as I did and gone to university, she would probably have had a bright future ahead of her. Over the years, she has aged considerably. She is now slightly long sighted and needs spectacles for reading and watching shows. She now has to ask for my help to thread a needle. But she continues to work here because she needs to continue to support her loved ones.

Her story is probably a relatively typical story of a foreign worker in singapore, I suppose. But it helps me to look beyond my little bubble-wrapped world where often ego, pride, self-satisfaction, desire for power are major motivators for working hard. These people try their hardest for the people they love. And I deeply respect that. 

So here we go again. You would think that practice makes perfect and having done this numerous times before I would be perfectly attuned to this whole business of uprooting and flying from home. But no. Each time I leave Singapore I am confronted with the same wave of emotions that comes with leaving. Not necessarily emo emotions per se, I guess its just the unwillingness to leave my comfortable shell that is home. But, life is not only about playing. Its time to go back to being a productive human being again. So hello sydney and hello year three! I will try to welcome you with open arms. Meanwhile, popiah and tauhuay, I'll be missing you xx.

The fruit of the Spirit,
Is love, joy, peace,
Patience, kindness, goodness!

The fruit of the Spirit,
Is faithfulness,
Gentleness and self-control!

Cant get the childrens church song outta my head! But I cant find it online either

I barely had any meals at home this entire week and normally i'd not be too happy, but this week has been really good. I guess since my time in sg draws to an end, i'm just trying to spend every bit of it properly with people who matter. But time in Singapore is never enough.

This week has been full of good food and good friends. Had colourful xlbs, which were more of a novelty than anything else (think cheese xlb.. whudddd). But the company with A was more than enough, we picked off from where we left off easily enough, since we only meet once a year to be exact. Teochew muay and potong icecream while lounging at the void deck of teckghee neighbourhood with poksy musing about randoms. Peering into closed florist shops from the outside with J and walking off our dinner till we had space for icecream. Shopping with lunny in which we ended up with the same buys again and also lunch with mum which were all very very nice (: I also actually volunteered to drive and go grocery shopping with my aunt this morning because I decided I wanted to spend time with her. AND I am actually watching a Chinese play with the parents this sunday. Fingers crossed, I hope I actually understand.

So, its been a great week and really thank God for that (: 

this is the scary temple near my house

''All along the fence, especially along the lower line of wire, all sorts of rubbish had caught and tangled. It was like the debris you get on a seashore: the wind must have carried some of it for miles and miles before finally coming up against these trees and these two lines of wire. I was thinking about the rubbish, the flapping plastic in the branches, the shore-line of odd stuff caught along the fencing, and I half-closed my eyes and imagined this was the spot where everything I'd ever lost since my childhood had washed up, and I was now standing here in front of it, and if I waited long enough, a tiny figure would appear of the horizon across the field. The fantasy never got beyond that - I didnt let it - and though the tears rolled down my face, I wasnt sobbing or out of control. I just waited a bit, then turned back to the car, to drive off to wherever it was I was supposed to be.''

Vietnam was great :D Was really glad I got to travel this summer because for awhile it looked like travel plans epic-ly failed because there was no way ny was going to work out which meant summer in Singapore only. Technically thats fine, I suppose, since I'm not here much but somehow the world feels so so big there's so much to see out there and there arent many years for one to travel so freely so I really should be making use of these holidays to do something more than bumming. So glad I was to visit SEA, a place I really havent been too much.

Spent 2 days in Hanoi, 2 in Halong Bay and 3 in HCMC. Hanoi wins hands down for its street food. Old Quarter was nice - I liked that it sold everything random, from shoes to gravestones to stainless steel grills. For most part of Hanoi, we armed ourselves with a map from the hostel, reliable foodie recommendations and trooped around, occasionally referring to googlemaps to navigate around Hanoi in search of good food (more on this below). 3 of us very cleverly did not have any Vietnamese Dong and at certain points in time of our trip our USD was no more useful than paper money. We worked off the calories by literally walking through the whole of old quarter, and beyond into un-touristy regions that we drew a few stares. I think we didnt realize how cheap cabbing around was until we reached HCMC.

So anyway, Hanoi was largely food. Halong bay was scenic. But it was cold (just coming out of winter) so we didnt try kayaking through the bay. Should have been nice to do that in summer. We just dawdled our time away on the deck of our junk ship or if it was too cold, within the cabin playing bridge, chatting or speculating about the other passengers onboard the ship. I am not quite sure why Halong Bay is one of the 7 wonders of the world though.. although I'm sure cleaner skies would have made it far far prettier. 

HCMC's traffic was way worse than Hanoi's. The incessant honking and engine plus the sweltering heat was at times a little too much to bear. Crossing roads seemed quite crazy at first, but we adapted quick. Traffic is rather slow moving, compared to speeding cars in Singapore, which I suppose is why even though Vietnam has literally no traffic rules, there dont seem to be many accidents. But driving or riding a motorbike in HCMC streets is quite an art. High heels and short skirts dont deter Vienamese girls from riding their motorbikes. They do it all the same, goodness knows how! HCMC is really a far more modern and touristy state compared to northern hanoi. 

We happily skipped the historical museums, save for one. And we did go to the Cu Chi Tunnels. Highlights included crawling through the tunnels (which were apparently widened for tourists) and firing 10 shots from the AK47. We spent the rest of the time cabbing around (ah, we were now wiser) to food, massage and mani destinations. 

Good holiday to round off my summer break (: Am glad to be home once again for my last three wks in singapore!

Hanoi food porn - 



Cha Ca -  Entered this place without knowing what we were eating. Just a mess of spring onions, lemongrass and fried fish in oil with rice noodles. Looks humble but IS SO GOOD. Lonely planet describes Cha Ca as little fish burgers.. how do these resemble burgers??



Sticky rice - Essentially glutinous rice with ground bean paste, shallots and choice of egg/braised pork. Viet bfast apparently. And I remember ordering to be particularly excruciating at this store because of the major language barrier amg. 



Some chee cheong fun lookalike that had shallots, dried shrimps, woodear and mushrooms wrapped within the rice sheet layers. Good stuff.



We had one too many Phos. But this one was the most street one that we had. Also one of the better ones. The stall was mainly filled with locals and we sat on the short half stools to have our meal. Conditions werent the cleanest - beef pieces hung precariously on the glass compartment walls but thank God nothing happened to our stomachs and it was yummy. The beef wasnt overdone and the rice noodles were thin and perfect and i couldnt stop slurping up the flavourful soup! 

Am off to Vietnam tomorrow for a short 1wk getaway with chu, r and s! I figured since I didnt get to travel after year 2 exams in aus, I had to get away somehow during the 3mth break. So SEA it is! 

Right after I get back it is 4 intensive days of working at the flower shop and muffinry. Flower shop boss decides to put me down for 2 consec 12hour shifts the very next day after I'm back. Sometimes I wonder why I pack my schedule so tight. I think I dislike being unproductive and bored.

Time spent in Singapore passed wayyyy to quickly. Its been a GOOT summer, I'd say. The right balance of work and play although my to do list has not been completed. Dont wanna leave home nooo ):