Stupid bus

I had the worst luck with buses today.

Sat at the bus stop outside HCJC for a bloody eternity, singing stupid songs to myself since I couldn't be heard over the roar of the traffic, keeping my eyes wide open against the glare of the millions of headlights in search for bus 67. It took it's own sweet time, during which:

1. Bus 154 came twice
2. Bus 156, three times.
3. Bus 170, 171, and 174 appeared no less than four times, each.
4. Bus 66 (almost but not quite bus 67) came twice.
   

So you can guess that by the time bus 67 came I was very angry, near blind, and half of Singapore were on that bus. Half of Singapore, I might add, smelling like a full day of hard work.

Finally got the CCK Interchange and then waited again, for the supposedly frequent shuttle service. While I waited again five 67's popped by, two 300's, two more 302's, and two 190's. I was not impressed.

Take a breath

It's been such an immensely hectic week. Here we are on Racial Harmony Day. SOC are so so fun that the other interns wanted to join in, on the day we had the MAS talk as well. The Atrium people are usually a lot more casually dressed than the CLQ group - who look like real bankers.

LtoR:Eunice, me, Godwin (love the hat and skirt), and Joanne

LtoR: Ishani, Melissa, Rafidah, Me, and Mabel

Monday I saw Chris and Jer, who was on transit from Melbourne to KL. That was fun, SMU is amazing. I believe that Singaporeans are closely related to the mole.

Tuesday I went to hiphop with Fi who loved the class so much she wanted to dance all the way down City Link mall.

Wednesday was a Mid-week Martinis farewell kind of dinner at Giraffe, which was awesome too. We were snapping pictures all night, and Giraffe isn't a particularly big restaurant. Pictures will come.

Now it's Thursday, I'm happy to be at home, doing chores, not eating out, and getting enough rest for tomorrow.

The world gets smaller

I've been meeting people non-stop. My four weeks in Singapore has seen me swimming in names that I've been struggling to remember. When I see someone I've met, it's a race as I sort through the list of names I've heard to pick a likely candidate and hope that I don't embarrass myself.

Today I followed Melissa to her church, Church of the Resurrection, Melissa is one of my childhood friends. When our parents met, they would sit us together on a chair, dress us identically, and take pictures of our confused-baby faces. At COR, I met Zach. Zach got on the same bus as me on my way to Bishan. On the way there, I found out that he is going out with Alex, one of the summer associates at HSBC, and that he also visited London quite recently. During his visit, he stayed with Chong Wai, who, we both agree is an amazing squash player.

Over the weekend, I talked to Jacob, who told me to visit his blog. On his blog were many pictures, one of which featured Chris, another SA at HSBC this year, who went to Harrows with Chi Meng's cousins.

Then there's Raminder, yet another SA, and close personal friend of Sach, my coursemate.

The more people I meet, the more connections I form, the more it feels like someone's closing the purse-strings on my already shrinking world.

Four weeks already

Surfing the net on dial-up is more of a plodding sort of motion. I can't imagine going back to England where pages load at warp speed - I'll never complain again. Giving up on the internet, I've been watching t.v. all day, everything from Remmington Steel to Star Trek, Lost, and now Singapore Idol Encore.

Last night netball was amazing, and if you've talked to anyone in the last twentyfour hours who has spoken to me, they'll know that netball training last night was pretty much the perfect end to a pretty awesome week.

Hiphop on Tuesday was horribly embarrassing but surprisingly addictive. I struggled through the entire hour, pulled several dormant muscles that punished me mercilessly for the rest of the week, and only got the routine down about two hours after the class had ended when I was lying in bed thinking about it. I'm so going next week!

Wednesday was Racial Harmony Day, where everyone in Singapore Operations Centre (SOC) switched traditional dress. Naturally most of the morning was spent taking pictures.

Then Friday I was running around with a team that plays in the National League. It was so much fun. Some of the girls haven't only made the national team but have been playing so long they've actually stepped down already. They helped me along tremendously with lots of tips and plenty of support, especially when I kept messing up the drill. I can't wait for next week either.

Just when I thought I had had enough of this place and was seriously considering going home for the weekend (which I know would've destroyed the rest of my time here because I'd be even more homesick), God gave me encouragement.

Mid-week Martinis: Games night

Taboo and pizza on a Friday night

The mascot of the evening

Things to do, places to go

I haven't had a single original thought in weeks. It's very depressing. I think it has something to do with the hours and hours of energy expended making work for myself. Then again, I also get messages like "Hi hunny, we just left Switzerland on the way to Germany. Switzerland was beautiful!" while I'm sitting at my desk, next to my supervisor, I might add, endeavouring to look furiously busy, while being furiously bored.

I also sent my sister home yesterday. I told her to go back because I didn't want her to stay here and be miserable, so she went, and Mum called to ask what the house is like without Cheryl. To be honest, not much different, because she spent much more time with her beloved laptop anyway. Besides, she only had two weeks left to work, and she didn't look like she was going to get off her butt and volunteer or something.

The shopping has been amazing here. I want to shop more. It's been almost four weeks so my working outfits have been on a very rapid rotation, especially since I barely have enough for one. I think the sale ends this weekend.

No life outside the office

After three weeks, I'm well accustomed to the hiss of the train in the morning, the uncomfortably warm press of bodies on either side with their blank, uncaring faces, and the even more uncomfortable mix of odors from the various walks of life that grace our public transport. I spend about an hour every day, each way commuting from what is almost Malaysia to Singapore's CBD.

The people at work are still such a great bunch, even after three weeks of my incessant questions and failed attempts at tracking. They bear it all with admirable patience, even the mild dressing downs that my supervisor (and their boss) gives them for not helping me enough. - not that they aren't helpful, it's more like slowness to learn on my part. I'm learning a lot about different managerial styles, figuring out what is effective and what isn't.

My other interns are great fun, from the likes of Princeton, Yale, and Columbia, NUS, SMU. They are a seriously talented group of people with what, I'm sure, are sparkling CVs and even brighter personalities.


But the tiredness, oh the tiredness!

I get up in the morning feeling like the walking dead at the unholy time of 6 half in order to be on the bus by 7.15am. If I'm lucky, I'll be in the office by quarter past eight, with just enough time to run to Wang Jiao to get an upsized milo or tea. On really bad days, I fork out SGD5.70 for a Starbucks mocha which keeps me coherent until about 11.00am, at which point I start obsessing about lunch. Back in the office by 2, I last about 40 minutes by which time I'm fighting to stay awake, so I carefully count out 20 cents to get me what is effectively a shot of coffee from a vending machine. If I work carefully, expending as little energy as possible, it gets me home, through the mad compression of human traffic, back to my corner of Singapore.

I feel like a whale

Singapore's national past time is eating, and this is the land of the buffet. I must've eaten at least half my body weight in meat and then again in desserts. The dessert table at Melt was almost equal that of the starter/entree selection, complete with a six-tier chocolate fountain.

Godwin and Diona bought my sister and I dinner at what can only be described as glutton heaven, and they drove us home too. We had an amazing time, they're such a beautiful couple inside and out.

I'm going to explode with more weekends like this. Thank goodness lunch tomorrow's been changed to a single course meal at Wen Hann's instead of the planned Indo a la carte buffet at Suntec. Singaporean women defy the laws of dieting - how can anyone eat like this every weekend and still wear a size 0.

I've decided that the fruit diet starts Monday. This is it boys, this is war.

It's been like so long!

This summer seems less about the work and more about the socialising to be honest. While the job's really important of course, I seem to find myself enjoying the company a whole lot more - the work culture here at HSBC is incredible, and of course being able to see so many old old friends.

It seems I've lost track of the years, so meeting people, especially younger siblings has made me feel really old. I still thought of Loong as the tiny fella with really round glasses and 'left' and 'right' printed on his colorful shoes. He's not so much like that anymore.

Okay, so I guess it's not really a whole bunch of old friends, more like the bunch of family friends who used to torture and torment me at gatherings. Being the only girl, I was easy prey for a dunking in the pool or being ignored on the basketball court. Good times.

Ming, call Wen Hann or Chris for my number. I don't know what your email address is!