Saturday, December 18, 2010

Singapore Venture

It was nothing I really planned of, not even in my wildest dreams that I have imagined working and living here; and that’s what makes it great!

Four months ago my mind was fixed to even a more boring stuff: which was to a place where pork was prohibited and alcohol as well, where there are no night clubs or sexy fashionable girls walking along the streets. In my mind I was thinking that maybe I needed something serious like this for the meantime (getting a break from craziness) but a two- year contract was not my definition of a meantime; and as I imagined my life living there, even a week of being able to stand it would be like forever to me.

So great things come in surprises I guess, or yet I am starting to believe that what is meant for you will eventually find its way to you. It’s all in the mind. All I was thinking was that I got nothing to lose anyway; I got no permanent job in the Philippines, no family to support and not even a love life to consider before leaving, in short I was FREE.  There was absolutely  no excuse not trying this new venture because all the elements I was looking for were presented to me: I got a friend to host me, I got an interview on its way, I haven’t been to Singapore yet, and to top it all it’s my ticket to leave home. Of course I got scared of the “what if’s” part, like what if I don’t get a job, what it my money won’t be enough, will I sleep on the streets?. But knowing the person I was, I knew that my thirst for adventure, my love for exploring new places and the thrill of the uncertainties will move me. After all it was always my motto to say: Anything Goes, I will cross the bridge when I get there!


I now find myself on my third Saturday in this modern City. Two Saturdays ago I was uncertain; bringing with me only 19.9 kilos of all the things I need with ample amount of hope and dreams and tons of courage and the will to land me a job.  I decided to set sail and find a career and life of my own away from home. I was lucky to meet wonderful people along the way. Other young Filipinos people like me who were brave enough and ventured here on their own. Maybe it’s the same driving force that bonds us closer despite hardly knowing each other, the fact that we are from the same nation makes us feel at home and secured telling us that “hey, I got your back” no matter what.


It was not at all so pleasant when I first started here, me and my other Pinoy friends experience walking in for applying in jobs where we were openly rejected. Series of walk in applications and group interviews where they promised to keep in touch but never did. Each day I tried to look at things positively I told myself there was no room for depression. I savored every moment, thinking this is job hunting and exploring at the same time. I rode the buses not really sure where it was taking me, I just relished and enjoyed the view. Walking to the metro and getting lost, the scent of incense every morning, eating my favorite Indian food, and Saturday nights regulated drinking (the beer was so expensive, that I tend to spend more in drinking than in food) : this is my Singapore life, and weeks from now, I will be starting my job. Indeed the perfect Christmas present and a wonderful way to start the year right. 

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