December 11th, 2008In Singapore once again
I reached Singapore last Tuesday. My flight was at 10:05 a.m and I left home at around 07:40 . I thought that I would reach the airport at around 08:30 but due to the heavy traffic jam caused by 2 accidents, I only reached at 09:20 and I was probably one of the last persons to check in. The girl at the Garuda airlines counter called out to someone behind her to wait, that there was still another piece of luggage coming. Well actually I had two. 
I was around 10kgs well over the weight limit but she didn’t make me pay and just gave me my boarding pass. Gate D59. Yikes. She told me to hurry up because the passengers were going to start boarding soon. I didn’t get to say a ‘proper’ goodbye to Desmond. Just a kiss from him and a ‘bye’, then I hurried inside.
Bye Desmond, bye my little Sushi, goodbye to everyone else in Shanghai. :weeping: I’ll be back soon. (I hope) I wasn’t able to say goodbye to many people because I was still packing till the last minute and I didn’t even sleep on the eve of my flight. Packing 4 years of personal belongings is harder than it sounds.
I really wanted to stay one more day because the 3rd December was our 4-year anniversary but unfortunately, my PRC visa was expiring on the 2nd and it wasn’t possible to get another extension.
I enjoyed the flight on Garuda airlines. I liked the food. I had the chicken and it was a bit spicy. Yummy. :love: I’m one of those persons who love airplane food. 
I noticed that some of the Chinese passengers didn’t touch the chicken and only ate the rice and the bread. I suppose that it was too spicy for them. The people sitting near me were Chinese workers who were going to work in Singapore. They had a lot of difficulty filling in the Singapore Arrival card because it was all in English. They asked the Chinese guy (who was going to Singapore to study) sitting next to me for help while I watched on silently. I finally spoke up because he made a mistake. In the country section, they were supposed to write ‘CHINA’ but they wrote the province that they were from instead. I think that they should have made a Chinese version of the arrival card for flights from China. How do they expect all the Chinese passengers to understand English? I remember that arrival cards for flights to China were in both Chinese and English. They should do that for flights from China to Singapore.
I was feeling a bit sorry for the Chinese workers. They were all dressed nicely. Some of them were even wearing suits. I heard them talking excitedly about their new life and new job in Singapore, how they were looking forward to these. One of the workers even showed me his employment letter and I saw that he was going to work for XXXX Builders Ltd. It seems that the rest of the Chinese workers on that flight were going to work there too. They were supposed to write a Singapore address in their Singapore arrival card but they had no idea where they were going to live so I told them to write the company’s address(which was on their letters) there and to show their letters at the immigration checkpoint. In my heart, I sincerely wished them all the best for their new life in Singapore. I hope that the agency/person who recruited them didn’t lie to them and gave them false hopes.
==============
It was around 15:30 when the plane finally reached Singapore. The duty free shops at arrival were a bit disappointing but I took my time walking around before going to the immigration checkpoint at Terminal 1. Afterwards, I spent one hour looking at perfumes & liquor and then I finally went to get my luggage. Someone had already removed my suitcase and sports bag from the luggage belt. One thing I love about Changi airport: the restrooms. When I think of toilets in general, the words which come to my mind are ‘dirty & smelly’ but I was impressed by the cleanliness of the restrooms at Changi airport.
I’m staying at Lisa’s place at Hillview just like last time. She rarely uses her laptop (gasp!! :faint: ) and is letting me use hers.
Me & Lisa , a photo taken with Lisa’s camera on the coach to KL a few days ago.
I forgot my canon charger in Shanghai and I will probably receive it by the end of this week. (thanks Des!) Desmond told me that he paid RMB40 to send the charger. Buying a new charger in Singapore would probably cost more and I didn’t even know where to buy the charger anyway.
There’s one thought which keeps going through my mind: “Did I make the wrong choice?” I wonder..
make a lot of choices, finally find the right thing as your career.
it too young to say failure, lost.
what did you mean by wrong choice..
for the departure?
To earn someone’s life, then give up a lifetime love. it’s totally wrong..
who knows if someone better on the way.
job is job, let you learn to be nice, not to be crude to yourself.
east west,home is best..
I don’t really get what you mean but when it comes to love, I’m not giving anything up.
“it too young to say failure, lost.”
hmmm, i like those words! that’s real deep!
have fun, Aline!
I wish I was in Singapore as well! at least, somewhere away from work n stress!
hi Aline! you’re gonna work in s’pore now?
i’m gonna go down on dec 27th till dec 29th. will u b there? maybe we can meet up or sth?
Hello aline!!
How long will you be in Singapore again?If you do have the time,do drop me your contact details through email.
The last round,i miss the chance to meet you in person T_T
Serena & karl, I will be in Singapore for a few months.=) Not confirmed yet but at least it’s confirmed that I will be here till January.