9th January

9th January 2006 I met up w/ my trio in NUS. This was the 1st day of the 2nd semester. There, my good friend gave each of another friend and I a copy of "The Purpose-Driven Life".

"Pareho kayong nakadark ah. Pinag-usapan nyo ba yan?"

He said we are on the same boat. The other friend on the other hand was miserable, coming back from the holidays spent home in Manila.

9th January 2007 First day of Lola Gonda's wake.

9th January 2008 My proposed departure back to Singapore. I asked today from the Cebu Pacific office, booked na daw Jan 11/12 pohon so I cannot reschedule my flight anymore. Sila Susan and Carlo will be on the Jan 11th flight while Niña will be on the Jan 12th one.

I pray that my plans are in line with God's will. Amen.

I met Ms Faith Villacampa on that flight. She comes to Singapore every now and then to meet w/ clients. She said nainterested sad daw sya eskwela NUS w/my talk.

Most imptly, gichika pa ko sa Immigration Officer. The airline man gud gave us a copy of the Embarkation/Disembarkation Card. There were alrdy so many ones before me who filled up but we actually don't need it since we have a separate laminated card that the immig offcr would just put into the reader. Before we landed I was concerned that my student's pass would not be valid but ok pa man diay.

When I came home in June 2006, gichika sad ko sa General Manager sa Changi. I was watching reruns of the World Cup then when he joined me. Wow, this country is really something! And to think for my Singapore Economy module I did a paper on Changi Airport and Singapore Airlines! Big surprises come in small packages indeed. I'm eternally amused. :-)

Singlish

The Singaporeans have their own way of speaking English. It's kind of cute but totally nakakaloka! To answer a can/cannot question, they simply say "CAN!" if it's possible and "CANNOT" if it's not. I miss that! For example, you ask, "Can I pay w/ my card?" In response, they'd say "Can" or "Cannot" :-)

They also tend to add le (pronounced lah or le from the Mandarin character w/c means alrdy, as in Wo yau zou le) at the end of their English sentences. Like they say, "I don't like it lah" etc. They also follow the Chinese (Mandarin) way of sentence construction, like they say: Can, cannot bottle can? As in Mandarin ke yi, bu ke yi... or yau, bu yau... And best of all, can also can, cannot also can. Haha, what do those things mean?

Deepti

Today I received the card that Deepti sent for my bday. I am really happy to keep in touch w/ my former flatmates! Deepti is not anymore in NUS, she left in December 06. La sad siya kasabot sa iyang supervisor nga super demanding. In the card she said, "I need a treat when we meet". Sure, let's just pray for that to happen real soon.

Preeti on the other hand is not enjoying Sing and is just itching to leave as soon as possible. Poor Preeti. She's quite bratty. Sumantra once asked me, "Who told you to move in w/ Preeti?" But she's doing her PhD under a truly amazing supervisor. I hope to see her when I come back pohon.

Love...

Love is a gift, and I never really learned that. I'm so used to going after things, particularly excellence in school, I never realized that love is not something that you chase after, it's something that's given to you. You don't have to work for it, you don't earn it, it is freely given. And of course, life is not all about school and vice versa. Did I have to become thirty to realize these things? O life! 6/22/22 Mam Shirley Sisante, my former coordinator at Western International School in Phnom Penh, Cambodia once told me that love should not be an obligation but an outpouring. Kaya bang punuin ng isang balde gud ang lahat ng tubig sa dagat? I do miss you Mam She. All the best in the US always and aloha!