1 Year.

Today marks my 1 year anniversary in Singapore. It's been one damn year. Wow can you believe how time flies?

I wasn't actively searching for a job back then. Mid May last year I randomly sent out my resume to a company. Then within the week I went through 2 interviews with the manager and flew down the following week for the final meet up. That same week I tendered resignation and within a month I left. I didn't even serve my 2 months notice but was compensated for it. Friday was my last day in Penang, Saturday & Sunday spent moving in, and started work on Monday.

Too many things too little time. Not to mention that myriad of emotion I felt within that few weeks.

It all seem like they just happened yesterday. I still remember clearly all the faces of my closest friends who showed up in the airport to bid me last goodbye, and that last hug and tears with my 2 most treasured girls Pey Shu (that was before they knew I still go back to PG twice every year where they get sick of bidding me goodbye). I was thinking if Jes is there I would cry earlier coz she made it so much easier for me to cry wtf.

A ship in harbor is safe - but that is not what ships are built for.

All my close friends know I never liked Singapore. Otherwise, I would have looked for a job there right after I graduated just like everyone else. I've been going to Singapore pretty often since half of my family members are there but each time I go, I felt the city is so hostile and hectic. No actually I can't exactly pinpoint one specific reason why I hated it. I just know that's the last place I would choose to stay.

What a joke. Look where I am now.

So how do I feel after 1 year in Singapore. Hmm.

Well, all I can say is, you have to try it to know it. Many people told me Singapore is a terrible country to live in. Mind you, these are the people who've only been here for a couple of days or 2 weeks AT MOST. What do you know about a city you've only stayed in for 2 weeks? Peanuts. Just like how I kept saying I left my heart in SF but that is because I was there on business trips where everything is paid for and life is good. Wait till I have to look for job, and mortgage and tax. By then, I don't think SF would be half as interesting as I thought it is.

OK. I don't exactly have a list. Let me just write down whatever that pops into my mind.

1. Food sucks. Everyone would agree with me, except, maybe the Singaporeans wtf. I go to the hawker everyday not knowing what to eat and can't decide which stall is lousier. Penang won hands down. Any PG char kuay teow from random street would win even the best in Singapore. On average I spend ~$4 per meal for hawker everyday. On extremely good days (once every month?) I probably spend $10 a meal at most. Nola to be honest, I don't even have the chance to spend anything more than $5 because my colleagues are not very willing to spend more than $5 for lunch. They could spend all their money on branded bags and luxurious holidays but lunch? Even KFC would be a once-in-a-while-treat. BUT, you have more options. In one hawker, or one stretch of road, you get local, japanese, korean, indonesian, malay. You get to try different things everyday. The restaurants, on the other hand, are all star rated. You can get one satisfying yummilicious Japanese food for under $25 per person. The same amount of food and quality would probably cost RM50 in Malaysia. Especially Ramen, my dears. You can hardly find anything that is equally as good as what they have here.

2. I eat alone almost every other day. And I'm okay with it. First few times I was pretty self conscious. But it's not like when I'm back in Malaysia where everyone has a car and just a ping on msn can get everyone driving to the dinner place or even go in a car together. Here, none of my friends have a car (nobody thinks it's worth it to spend on a car). Any dinner dates or movie dates have to be planned earlier so we can meet up in the central MRT or check on buses/MRT that will bring you to the place. You can't do that every single day. On usual days you'll just fuck it lah and eat anywhere on the way home alone. It isn't weird here. Most people eat alone so you wont feel like you're the odd one out. Now I'm oblivious to my surrounding and just enjoy my bowl of not very delicious noodle wtf.

3. As everyone has heard, Kiasuland is full of self centered people. One of my friend in PG came to SG before me (he's back in PG now btw) and told me the company here sucks and everything is horrible and colleagues are boring. Which also became one of the reason I wasn't looking forward to working here. Maybe I'm just fortunate to have joined this company as my first. My colleagues are all polite and nice (sometimes TOO polite and TOO nice). I'm not born to be that nice okay. Some days I'd give anything so anyone can just say the word FUCK out loud here. Ya right, in my dream. Anything worse than "shit" is considered very vulgar. But they're all VERY VERY helpful. They would sit by me and help me go through all the things if I don't know how to do it (even until now), and if there are troublesome users they would also help me to tell them off since I'm new. I don't know how is it in other companies maybe it's true they're all kiasu there but here, where I work, I really can't feel that culture at all. People bring food to office and share around, eat lunch in big gang of 15, go places to yumcha after lunch before we go back to office, go badminton together every week and random dinners every now and then. Colleagues are a bit older than me but all below 35, I think. Difference is, they're all married with commitments so there's hardly any spontaneous after work or weekend activity like I used to have back then with all the young bachelors. That's a pity though. But I can live with that.

4. My company has 3 huge buildings, almost the size of 5 PG12. There're thousands of worker I think but the car park spaces is just the size of PG12 car park A only, and even that, it's NEVER full. Amazing huh. At first I was not used to it, it's a bit tiring to wait for buses and not to mention the time wasted on traveling. To and fro work is about 1 hour each day but only cost me $2.40. I don't have to maintain a car, pay for car petrol and pay for parking. So that saves up a lot plus..I can sleep in the bus! Some days I'm really sick of it though. I'd try to convince myself it's worth it to pay that much extra to buy the comfort of being able to drive to work or anywhere I like and spare myself from feeling nauseous every time I get on the bus (if you know me, you'd know I have serious motion sickness problem). I tore my slipper even before 1 year cause I walk 1000 steps a day wtf. I could easily use a pair of slipper for 6 years in Msia and even I throw it away also because I'm sick of the same slipper not because it koyak already you see. And when I sweat like pig waiting or run after buses , I damn wish I'm back in Malaysia where I have the comfort of the humble little Vios. Sigh. Sacrifices, people.

5. SAFETY. You can walk on the street at midnight feeling safe. People run in parks everyday. I hardly see any police/police patrol cars around but even if I actually do, they look approachable. Unlike those in Malaysia where I tensed up when I run into one even when I didn't do anything wrong because even so most of the time they'll look for trouble anyway. Need I say more? Places are generally cleaner. You hardly see people just randomly throw papers or anything on the roadside and mostly roads and buildings are a lot cleaner than how it was back in Malaysia. Mostly people just smoke in their designated smoking area so as long as I avoid those places, my hair will smell smoke free.

6. I learn not to mess with old people. Don't get me wrong. It's not like I hated them or what but old people can be really rude and ignorant and think they own the world, just because they're...well..old. If you didn't let them cut queue or anything they will stare at you and sometimes they gave you one long string of extremely vulgar words that you never hear before in your life. Other than that I think generally people are more courteous here where anyone will definitely give up their seat for the elder, the preggies and people with kids. But sometimes I find it hard to judge coz I'm not sure if that person is old enough to deserve the seat else if I let them they might feel offended coz they're actually not THAT old. You know what I mean?

7. Work is a lot tougher. Workload is reasonable and I'm still learning things. Tougher in the sense that I need to be in office at least NINE hours a day. There's no such thing as working from home and there's no such thing as taking 2 weeks leave continuously. Each month I have to do a presentation on what I've done the previous month and how much that translates to company savings or earnings. Even when I'm sick nowadays I just drag my ass to work. Each day I miss work, is a lesser chance I get to prove myself. At the beginning I was not used to it and I felt so miserable. Considering I sleep till 8 and reach work at 9 or sometimes after lunch and go home at 4.30pm last time, this is like a whole new kind of hell to me. But 6 months down the road I'm slowly getting used to it. Colleagues are all very dedicated. They really make use of the whole 9 hours and hardly anyone takes long breaks in between or curi tulang. Hmm. I wish they can hire someone who's equally lazy so I can curi tulang with together wtf.

I still have many stories and learning I'd love to share, but I shall spare you with the many boring details =)

1 year ago, I wrote I'm going to venture out and see if the grass is greener on the other side. The grass is not always green here, but I still think I made the right decision. I learn a lot, I experienced a lot more things, I'm open up to more possibilities and opportunities, I reconciled with primary & secondary mates whom I've not seen for years. So you see, my nest was very comfortable before this, and I thought I'd never be able to find someplace equally good or better. Never try never know. Progress always involve risks. You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first.

Many ask me if I plan to settle down here. I don't know if I'll change my mind few years down the road, but for now, the answer is No. Not at this point. Friends who have moved here told me it's not possible. When you're earning this currency, going back to Malaysia and getting a job in RM would never cut it. I don't know about that. But for now, I'd still choose to go back to Malaysia any day and enjoy that glorious plate of Nasi Lemak whenever I like.

Take risks: If you win, you will be happy, If you lose, you will be wise.