Singa-four

Although the arrival wasn't that good coz I waited for Chek in Fullerton where she's staying, she nevertheless made up to me the next day by treating us in a hawker. ;) I also had initial good vibes like for example being upgraded to the execute suite in the hotel for the same rate as the original reservation, receiving a gift from Ade (a bag from Bandung, Indonesia Ű) and many more. :)

Now here's some stories after the cruise. :-p

Joy & I went to Orchard Friday night. There's also a mall-wide sale ongoing just like in the Phils and of course we will never miss this shop Charles n Keith where as usual Singaporeans are going gaga on the shoe sale. :P I therefore conclude, I'm a Singaporean. Wahaha!!

that's my bugs bunny look..wahaha!!!

Saturday night was spent dinner with Mac. I called him up in the afternoon and asked "O, kelan mo ako ililibre?" (When are you going to treat me?) P.S. This is with his wifey's consent. (Hi Xie!!) He replied if hawker will be fine and I said no problem with that. A few minutes later, he texted and said he'll make a trip up Sembawang and meet me in Sun Plaza. I therefore conclude: Men who just got married are soooo generous. We ate at Pasta Mania instead. Thanks Mac!! Ű

Me & Mac @ Sun Plaza

For Sunday, I get to converse with locales there while doing the field ministry. I observed that after exchanging a few pleasantries, they always attack me with the same question: How do you find Singapore? - which I always answer timidly with a smile and the very common line "I like it here." Nyay, anlabo!! Haha!! Of course I'll elaborate myself a bit by stating the obvious like the city's so clean and the people are very disciplined blah blah blah which of course they'd have to agree as some positive points of their country. But as they kept on prodding about the city, I noticed that the conversation's veering towards some negative side of it.

The first one I talked to lost her job on that week. She was informed Monday and had to leave on the Friday - of that same week!! So sad to hear about that!! :,( Then she explained to me why everything in Singapore is clean. How they have to pay for the parking, the cleaning, gardening, well basically everything!! Tell you what, she's a woman in her 50s. Some of the Filipinos here on that age can already get something from the company or the government. But they don't have that there. That's why it breaks my heart to see those grandma's and grandpa's mostly working for the restaurants - asking you to finish off your sodas in cans or trays so they can collect it already. :(

The other one I conversed with is a mother, asked me the same question which I replied to with my standard answer. Haha!! We toured almost all of the flats in Sembawang and well as you can see below, they all look the same. On the first floor you can find there's a playground for the kids, some exercising equipments, small area for sports (badminton/basketball) and a place if you want to hold some group activities. Honestly for me, it's okay that everything is well-provided but then again I'm baffled that for her she feels that the government treats them as toys. It's like hey you live here and I will provide for everything you need. To some point I agree that freedom is very limited specially if you don't own the land you're living in but then again with the standard of living who could afford those properties there? * sigh * I therefore conclude: I'm changing my mind on working for SG in the future. Hahaha!!! :P

Singapore @ 7 PM

And these are the kids that I will miss the most: Kalay & Ryan

Kalay (eating french fries) & playing Lego with Ryan Ű

My Royal Caribbean Cruise pics are available DITO!! ( para maiba naman, haha!! DITO means here. :-p) and I'm still thinking if I'm going for a day by day post. Hmmm...