Those were the thoughts that were running through my mind when I turned back and waved one last time at the family and friends that came out to send me off, as I walked around the corner into the limbo area.
It was a surreal, I-don't-believe-this-is-happening kinda feeling - like when you see a magic trick like a magician levitate, a coin vanish, etc. Except this time the magic trick was me, disappearing from Singapore, and reappearing in the US.
I was actually scared as shit and when I started hugging people I felt a surge of emotion rising in me and I had to suppress it otherwise I would start crying. But no. I had to stay strong, appear strong - my gf was already crying uncontrollably before we even walked over to the departure gates. I did my best to comfort her, hug her, tell her everything will be fine. It was so touching to see her cry that I almost cried with her, but no. I had to stay strong. For her, for my mom, for myself.
Some pictures to distract you from the wordiness of this entry:
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="455"]
Lovely friends who sent me off[/caption][caption id="" align="alignnone" width="485"]
churchies! timo + bestie :D[/caption][caption id="" align="alignnone" width="315"]
VIP :)[/caption]
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="375"]
Pewi!!! Y'know I actually didn't ask him to come or if he was coming to send me off, because I abit paisei like v long never talk then dunno whether he'll wanna come so don't wanna 'wei nan' him you know. But he ponned training to turn up! So touched! <3[/caption]Ok back to the wordiness. I mentioned earlier that I was scared as shit. It is my first time travelling overseas ALONE. Like all alone. I'm not too familiar with airport procedures or travelling procedures so it was all new. I was scared, but I was strangely collected. It's like, I can feel the tiny ripple of panic threatening to sweep through me, but my ego (not in the popular sense of the word, but in the psychodynamic sense of hte word) just exerted its confidence and control over this, and kept me clear-headed. I had a task in mind; I executed. Simple.
More pictures:
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="381"]
CanJo![/caption][caption id="" align="alignnone" width="374"]
beckymonkey![/caption]My first stopover was in Dubai, which was in theory 2 hours but practically speaking it's an hour or less, after factoring it all the wasted time. The first leg of the flight was not good - 9 hours or so and I'm feeling super exhausted. I didn't sleep well on the seat and ended up tossing and turning and drifting in and out of consciousness. The food was pretty good though, have a look:
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="640"]
Menu. Their copywriter not bad.[/caption][caption id="" align="alignnone" width="484"]
yummy![/caption]As I am writing this on my laptop here at Dubai, I really dread the next leg of my flight, which is another freaking 15 hours. Gosh! I'm not even halfway done! It's going to be a looooong flight. I hope they serve 4 meals this time hehhee. But ok, it's probably going to be 3.
Alright, I should probably go now. I can't post this yet because I can't get on Wifi on my laptop for some reason, so this shall be uploaded whenever I get Internet, which is probably at my San Francisco hotel. Seeya!
[...] and done with this chapter of my life. If I close my eyes I can still remember vividly the scene on the day I left Singapore, with all my loved ones at the airport sending me off, and my gf all teary-eyed, wrapped up in my [...]
ReplyDelete