back from india… one week of spending time in a strange land. ewan ko kung paano i-describe ang india. so foreign na para akong nasa ibang planeta. pero sabi ko nga, may beauty din naman sa lugar na iyon, sisilipin mo lang ng maigi.
next week, nasa china naman kami. kasama ko si jet. sanan naman ok ang byahe namin. medyo malamig na ngayon sa beijing. tiningnan kong forecast sa linggo (araw ng pagdating namin): mga -4 to 5 deg c.
44 days na lang – uwi na kami sa pilipinas para vacation.
next week nasa india na naman ako. yung mga officemates ko, ayaw magpunta doon kasi mabahu raw, marumi, maraming mahirap, ibang tsibog. ako naman eh, how shall i say it, “trabaho lang pare, walang personalan”. for me, you take both the good and the bad. india is really different – so alien, so beautiful and ugly at the same time. it’s in your face. and, in that way, i kind of like it.
the last time i was there, we went to taj mahal on an unexpected day off where my boss and i suddnly became accidental tourists. on a 45 deg. c day, there we were under the heat of the @#$$@$% sun but enjoying every minute of it. that in a nutshell is my indian experience and i am probably going to relive it once more next week.
maganda ang city planning ng singapore, especially in the new blocks at pasir ris – they made sure that all the facilities are near the living areas: markets, malls, restaurants, parks, resorts, bus and train stations, hospitals, police, etc. if you play the computer game called “simcity”, you now that you get high points for this kind of strategy. in pasir ris where we live, talagang magandang tumira.
one thing good as well is that we are near the changi airport. it’s cheaper to ride a cab going there. dati, i pay $20 every trip. now it’s only around $7. we are also near the seaport that isi the jump-off point to the nearby resorts of indonesia.
lumipat na rin kami ng bahay. from the west coast of singapore, we moved to the other end – pasir ris, at the east coast of the island. pasir ris is a lot better than west coast avenue. for one, it is more quiet. wala na yung ingay ng mga bus at motorsiklo na naririnig namin dati. it is much cleaner than our already clean surroundings over at Block 701.
our flat is bigger – we have a five room flat (too big for jet and i). but we only rented two. yung may-ari ng bahay is a co-worker who was permanently assigned in china. ayaw niyang ipa-rent sa iba, so, in a win-win situation – he rented his flat to us really cheap. he gets a monthly payment from us and in return, jet and i take care of his home. fully furnished with really good furniture at air-conditioned (di pwedeng hindi dahil pawis-singit ng init dito sa singapore), really big and clean. we have cable and internet connection. we got promoted – mataas na ang position namin: dati third floor lang kami, ngayon fifth floor na!
maraming nangyari sa amin ni jet itong nakaraang buwan. punong puno nga ng actiivities, parang pelikula ni dolphy – may kantahan, may sayawan, may iyakan, may suntukan at siyempre – may tawanan.
una lipad akong orlando for a work related conference – hassle and long delays at the us airports. this is ok and much anticipated. what i didn’t like was the almost look of panic in the eyes of the people at the airline counters (well, not all of them). there we were: asians from malaysia, singapore and the philippines showing our passports to the person at the counter. once she sees where we are from, there’s a look of panic in her eyes, a bit of agitated movement in the way she carries herself, a slight tremble in her voice. all very subtle, but, if you connect all of it – it is fear. fear for us, i guess. foreigners with strange accents from countries where terrorists live. i don’t blame her but i don’t like it one bit. i hate to be in a muslim’s shoes at this point. i guess for them, being profiled is a regular occurence. sayang, nakakainis and too bad for humanity.
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