Nov 29 - Departures and Arrivals
Of course this meant that when I woke up, my mother would ring to say she was coming over, and she basically repacked my whole bag for me :/ Not that that’s a problem really, she did a much nicer job! James, who’s house-sitting my place while I’m away, turned up around noon and we grabbed a quick lunch then chilled out until it was time to head off to the airport.
I don’t know what it is about the backseats of cars, but whenever I’m sitting in one alone, I always get sleepy! So I had a lil nap on the way to the airport, which was kinda good, coz I didn’t really want to talk to my parents that much during the trip.. Now, I don’t mean that I don’t like talking to my parents, it’s just that this whole internship trip has gotten people to curious and interested, that they’re almost more excited about it than I am. Or rather, they feel that *I* should be acting more excited than I am. I’ve no idea why I’m so relaxed about the whole thing, I mean, I know that deep inside my stomach’s in knots and fretting about the sheer uncertainty of what lies ahead, but outside I’m still just the same old indifferent lil me :/ To be honest, I was really starting to get annoyed how every single person asked me in the days leading up to the flight ‘Are you excited?’. Made me want to start slapping some peoples.
Anyways, I’m so lucky I got business class tickets, made the whole checking in procedure a total breeze. Stood in a cue for 5 mins, then an express lane through customs, then straight to the business lounge to eat brie and crackers while reading the paper ohohohoho. No teary farewell with my parents... I didn’t really know what to expect my feelings would be. When my sister left in April for a year long round the world trip she was really crying, but that’s more coz of the whole year thing I imagine, and the fact that her bf was there too... who she’d broken up with that week because of not wanting to do the long-distance relationship thing.. My trip’s 3 months only, and I’ll probably see my dad, maybe mum too, somepoint during jan or feb perhaps, and to be perfectly honest, it’s not like I haven’t gone 3 months without seeing them before <.< When I was in college, I kinda didn’t speak to them for closer to 4 months lol Dx
Flight was gooooood if not completely awkward on my part. I can tell the man sitting beside me must’ve been laughing on the inside as I earnestly observed his movements in an attempt to figure out the appropriate behaviour one must use when in business class! I had a few glasses of wine and started reading Thomas L Friedman’s ‘The World is Flat’ before succumbing to the in-flight entertainment. I watched this German comedy about a mobile phone salesman trying to get a girlfriend (I missed the first 3-4 mins so don’t know the name!), finished off the Bourne trilogy by watching Ultimatum and then didn’t have enough time to watch Shoot Em Up (Clive Owen :Q...) so I just read some more. Food was yum, but the best part was they came round a few times just to give me chocolate truffles ;3
I had a brief fright when I touched down in Singapore, as even though I’d requested international roaming for my mobile to be activated, I had no signal D:! Luckily I had another mobile with a singapore simcard in it with $1 left, just enough to call Sachin. Sach is the Chief Operating Manager (or something to that effect) of Singapore Offshore Services, and an old colleague of my father’s. I’d met him a few times perviously in Singapore and once when he was in Melbourne. He gave me the address of a bar to come and meet him, so after hopping into a cab that took me to the wrong place (he went to Circuit Rd instead of Circular Rd... ope) I finally made it to Boat Quay and trundled my 25 kilos of baggage to the pub where everyone was.
Was a great night, quite humid still, which made the pints of Tiger go down all the easier. Sach was there, along with his fiancé Trudi (idk if that’s how you spell it, could be an Indian version?) who is really really smart, beautiful and funny. Jon, the owner of SOS was also there, chomping on a cigar, and chatting to Anh and Aonh (Ang and Wang if you want to speak it!) who were two girls from the Vietnam office. Anh and Aonh had already been in Sing for a couple of months and were leaving the next day coz their visas were expiring, but I’m sure I’ll see them again soon in Hanoi, if not Singapore! They’re both very strong, almost aggressive, women... not in a horrible nasty way, but they have piercing stares that almost scare you lol. It was nice to get a preview of what I can expect when I hit Hanoi ;x
So after meeting them all and having a good chat (Jon and I were trying to persuade the viet girls that either England or Australia were better, using much tongue in cheek) Sach and I grabbed a cab back to his apartment. The apartment is awesomes, very spacious, and with a 15m pool in the complex too :D After dumping my shits in the spare room and having a quick shower, it didn’t take long til I fell asleep, ready for an early start for my first day on the job D: