Adios Merlion

As the end is approaching to a complete stop…

(sorry, I don’t intend to brew some drama here… nope! haha)

I couldn’t help but observe everything around me.

The people rushing to board the train, the group of students chatting lively as they’re waiting for the bus, the cars lined up to make a left turn as green light shines.

How organized! How decluttered!

I can’t help but feel amazed by how it has been for me for almost seven years.

I have been a stranger to this place as a foreigner who first came here to try something out for herself.

I have been a newbie, learning the ropes and how to jump against it.

I have been a student of life in the overseas where literally, experience is my best teacher.

In here, I have been depressed. I have battled against my demons countless of times because I have felt so lonely and homesick. I was so unsure how to handle my life in a way that it meets my expectations.

I was pushed to my limits of giving up because work challenges are mountain high with heavy rain and thunderstorms. It was too much to bear. But I survived.

In here, for the first time, I have felt so insecure. Having no other friends and thinking whether people liked me or do I need to put more effort for them to like me. I remembered, in my workplace full of locals, I was distant. I didn’t trust anyone and always kept a poker face. I remembered praying to God to send me someone who becomes a friend, so whenever I come to office, I’d feel inspired to talk to someone, joke with someone and perhaps, hang out with someone outside work. After two years, he did.

And I couldn’t feel more blessed because of it.

In here, I have learned that I can only take so much. I thought I’m patient enough to withstand annoyingly disturbing things and people, but my patience ran out too. I have learned to fight and argue because without doing so, some people will think they are above you and abuse you. It’s not right to keep quiet especially when it’s at your own expense.

In here, I have learned that I am dispensable. My house, my job, my status here in this country is fickle.

Everything is temporary. And because it is temporary, I have learned to make most out from it. I have learned to enjoy the simple things like a new fresh sheets with downy or a freshly washed undies. I hand washed it, it’s a result of effort, you see! Haha

As I look around, I was grateful that this country became a part of me because I now have a first-hand experience on things I wouldn’t have even experienced, had I stayed in DVO. I am proud to say that I have lived my life the way I want to, because as my mom said, “you can live your life when you graduate” and I did. For sure.

as I look back, SINGAPORE has been a very big factor for me to know who I am. It made me discover so much about myself and made me yearn to be the best version of who I was.

I will forever be grateful for my experience.

Adios, Singapore!