Mess!

OK. My life in Singapore has barely begun and I already have a pile of papers on my table, most of which I have forgotten are there in just 2 weeks. And that's the TO-DEAL-WITH pile. Not good when they include bills. And doubly no good when you are under the mistaken impression you've got internet banking access to pay those bills, wait until the VERY last day to pay and realise....eep, I haven't actually registered for access. Thank God for 7-11 outlets! (which btw, I have missed seeing for 7 years because Adelaide still doesnt have it after all this time!)


Ah I can foresee my admin life here to be just as scattered as it was in Adelaide. NO! says the OCD in me. Just a week ago, I considered listing administration as one of my gifts/talents....errr maybe not for my personal life. Oh alright, maybe not at all, now that I think back to Program Coordinator days. I do try. And I do enjoy it. I just have a short attention span.


Law exam in 5 days....GAH! Studying is driving me insane in any case, so I may as well get it over with. My first exam in over 2 years. I hope I pass I hope I pass I hope I pass...


   

Ohana

Heh. Mum went to renew her passport last week and when she produced her IC, was told by the young man at the counter "Aunty you can go over to the senior citizens counter, it will be faster". O.o Fortunately she found it hilarious that she now qualifies for this category. Added benefits. I guess that's where I got my half-glass-full mentality from. It did make me realise my age for a moment...but only una momento. I have not felt my age since I turned 22, so heh. 

So how is staying with the rellies u ask? Well, let's do the math....

Home-cooked food 

+ 

Zero housework 

+ 

Occasional Milo already made up in the morning 

= 

 AWESOME!

I am enjoying it immensely...not just because I can be lazy. Haha. It's special to be able to live with 3 kids...no make that, 3 BOYS and observe their antics and behaviours. Plus the youngest is talkative as, and u know how well I get along with talkative people. MOST talkative people anyway. I can already think of someone talkative that I did not enjoy being around, but I don't see that person often so it's OK. Back to the boys. Yes, it's been interesting. A lot of shouting and yelling, fighting and occasional crying. I also get frequent hi waves from the youngest cousin when I come back from work, which is the CUTEST thing. He just stands there and waves at me with his teddy bear next to his face. And I wave back. And we wave at each other for a while.

It's also nice to observe the interaction between the aunt and uncle. My uncle works 7 days a week most weeks, not because he's a workaholic but circumstances are such that he HAS to. But when he IS at home, I often see him sitting next to my aunt as she peels the taugeh, or stands next to her while she washes the dishes, and they just chat. It has reminded me that quality time can be salvaged from any day no matter how busy you are, and even 10 minutes is nice. I don't have that problem as I have neither husband nor a lack of time, but lessons are always good eh?

Yup, Family is totally worth it =)

    

Oh Alice!

Watching Alice in Wonderland as a grown-up is definitely a much better experience than as a 7-year-old. I remember watching the cartoon as a kid and it gave me nightmares; that cat especially freaked me out. And talking flowers. And blue caterpillar with old man's face. Eee. Plus I was also quite chicken and hated the idea of getting lost or being away from my family. But now that I have spent 7 years away from home and realised I can survive for a while on my own wit & intuition, I can better appreciate the adventures of this Alice. Haha. OK I made that up. I just love a good make-believe story. With Johnny Depp in it =D

AND. If I could play a character in that movie, I would like to be......The White Queen! I know I know...why play the goody-goody when pretending to be evil is so much more fun? But an opportunity to parade with exaggerated poise and xiao-jie-ness is too funny to pass up, in my opinion. It could lead to shoulder aches....it's THAT exaggerated. Oooh I shall go try it now in front of the mirror.....

I look in pain...or contorted. Such is the extent of my acting ability....

Whee my sister is in a play! Well, I think it's called a play. It's a performance anyway, at KLPAC from 1st to 4th April. David Mamet's The Poet and the Rent. How exciting! It's not expensive so if you are in KL then and would like to see a play, let me know!

Miss I'm not selling anything...

My. Goodness. 

I have never been bombarded by so much direct advertising in my entire life as I have in the last week. I've (probably due to my own silly-ness, although I'd like to think of it as being obliging) done 3 surveys in the span of 4 days and sincerely thought they were JUST surveys. The fact that I had to leave a name and contact number didn't strike me as odd until I got calls 3 nights in a row from 3 different people, and they are all from the same company doing financial planning! When I got approached the day after to do a survey (and they are all different surveys!), I politely told the man that I had already done 3 surveys and had told his colleagues that I was simply not interested in financial planning at the moment. And he asks if he can try promoting it to me instead! I was like, What????? Did you not LISTEN to what I was saying?

That was the MRT station at work. There were no more promoters there since Monday, so I thought, thank goodness I don't have to quickly walk past and ignore them again. That same day, I arrive at the MRT station near home and got approached by yet another man, from THAT SAME COMPANY  =.=  With ANOTHER version of the survey. Gah!

The worst by far would have to be the credit card lady I met last Friday. Her 3rd question to me following my answer of 'I prefer to use debit cards' was 'How much do you earn?'. Now I'm normally not too fussed about telling people stuff but THIS just felt a bit personal coming from a complete stranger and for something I wasn't even interested in getting. So being me, I said something completely irrelevant (avoiding conflict) hoping she'd drop it and she asked me AGAIN! By then I was thoroughly annoyed, No. 1 for not being listened to, and No. 2 for being incessantly probed for personal information, and out of my mouth came 'Miss, you are promoting a credit card and I already said I am not interested in getting one'. It worked. And I thought that was rather clever of me *grin* .... She wasn't the only credit card person I met in that week, mind you, but the others didn't ask me such provoking questions.

Having said that, I do think advertising can be terribly difficult in a place like Singapore where people are constantly in a rush and have no time to listen to you. So I hope those promoters like what they do, otherwise it'd be a horrible job to have to go to everyday. Makes me love my work just a bit more =)

That's Why I'm a Pharmacist, Not a Lawyer!

Memorising pharmacy law has got to be the WORST compulsory learning exercise in my life as a pharmacist. I don't understand why they cannot simplify the actual Acts and Regulations and Schedules to sentences no longer than 10 words and that do not contain 'relating to' more than once. After all, as a health professional, I only need to know the gist of it right? Mind you I think it IS simplified, but not quite simple enough for me =(

What makes it worse is I cannot just understand it. I have to be able to regurgitate most of it word for word, because the pharmacy law exam in Singapore is SHORT-ANSWER!!! Oh the horror I experienced when I found out. Perhaps I am too accustomed to the ways of the Australians that I adamantly believe law for the layman should be examined via multiple-choice. So I have to resort to sheer memorising...or rather, my study method has always been RECITING. Yes I recite aloud what I have to remember, which eventually produces a husky voice for every exam period. 

This is one of the few things that has added to my contemplating if I should just pack up and go home to KL. After all, I'm still not getting what I left Australia for. Well, not as much as I'd like anyway. And I keep finding more and more things I need to do in order to get registered as a pharmacist here. Am I just after an 'ideal' that doesn't exist? Maybe it has come down to the fact that I just have to pull my weight to be content with what is GOOD in my current circumstance and not constantly harp on what is Not So Good. In any case, just because Not-So-Good things happen doesn't mean it isn't the 'right' place to be. Right?

Intent on sticking it out (I can be reasonably kiasu when I need to be), at least for the next 6 months!

 

9 days into Singapore and...

....I now automatically speak in Mandarin when I approach any Chinese person

....I am accustomed to receiving instructions at work instead of giving them

....I remember that people don't understand what I mean when I say 'dodgy' 

....I realise that HOME is where the Family is

I am missing the parents and sister LOTS. Perhaps it's coz everyone I know here has immediate family to go back to and so makes the lack of family even more obvious to me. In a way it was ironic that when I visited Cell Group last night, the discussion topic was Families. I didn't dare say a word out of fear that I would get emotional and start to cry...i mean, I'm normally not talkative but I literally DID NOT SAY A WORD during the entire discussion. Now THAT is quiet even for my standards. 

 

Despite my lack of verbal expression, my mind did come up with some good thoughts. I remember a time (quite a long period of time actually) when I found myself wishing I had been brought up in a Christian family, not because my desire was for my parents to be saved, but because I thought it'd be nice to have gone to Sunday School, to be able to get some Godly advice from the parents and support for what I believed in. I'm still unsure where all that came from but have decided that at the very bottom of it, that way of thinking demeaned my parents. I was basically saying my parents weren't good enough, even though I didn't identify it as such at the time.

It has taken a while but I'm glad that I now no longer think like that. I would not choose to have it any different, apart from that if I had been brought up in a Christian family meant that my parents would have had the chance to know God a lot earlier. I am thankful for parents that have always loved the sister and I, and have always given us their presence and their time. I realise that not everyone KNOWS their parents love them, so I'm glad I have always known. I'm glad to be in a place where the Good times are good enough that they outweigh the Bad.

=)

Next Up

Well. Singapore is certainly going to be an interesting season.

My short trip there last week included more forms to fill, discovering Singapore's bus routes & learning to recognise the roads. I feel a bit clever now =) And one of my favourite things about that place is the MRT system. Welcome back independence! I can now go most anywhere on my own again.

The few encounters with customer service there have been inspiring. In a sense, I think I had mentally prepared myself for less-than-adequate customer service prior to coming home such that when I do meet nice AND competent people, I'm shocked. I know I know, I shouldn't be so negative. It was a good reminder of how customers/patients feel if someone who is serving/treating them is polite and respectful. Mental note to self: Do not lose your temper!

And hey. I was warned about getting caught up in the 'Must Own' culture. I must admit I didn't expect it to hit me so soon. Just walking through the malls made me feel like I had to have this bag, or that dress, or that pair of shoes in order to feel better about myself. Oh the temptation to buy is so strong. I better carry less cash and limit the cards. I haven't noticed the parading of branded handbags yet, but I probably will at some stage. That or perhaps I haven't learnt to recognise what they look like. Haha. 

More stories to come....