Ten Skills Singapore Taught Me
Living in a foreign country different from the culture you grew up challenges your ability to adapt and your capacity to be normal. You will struggle for the first few weeks that can extend through months and years because whether you admit it or not, everything is no longer the usual. But the sooner your body and mind recognize and accept that you are thousand miles away from your accustomed-life and that you just need to make a-new-routine-on-your-new-environment you'll be surprised you will slowly learn to swim with the tide.
But remember, this not-your-typical-life comes along with new experiences, people and learning you pick up along the way. These experiences may not suffice your "normal best" but they will always transform you. For better I hope.
Here are the skills and not-so-skill I harvested in my three plus years stay here in Singapore.
1. Cut a whole roasted chicken.
We are used to Philippines where roasting outlets chops the chicken for you saving you all the hassle of knife. Imagine how do you consume a whole roasted chicken especially if you are alone. In Singapore you can buy roasted chicken in local groceries like Fairprice and Cold Storage way cheaper than in kopitiam but you need to call your friend Google to help you do the chopping step by step.
2. Make a bake and no-bake a cheesecake.
Friends and colleague's birthdays are opportunities to practice baking skill. Way cheaper than buying ready made cakes plus you're incorporating a personal touch to home-made cakes making them priceless.
3. Learn yoga poses and routines.
For some time yoga mats became my buddy.
4. Train and run half marathon.
Running my first ever half marathon this December with Standard Chartered.
5. Organize DIY parties that looks professionally made.
With Dgroup's full support and cooperation we were able to pull off few DIY parties, this made us excited for the coming events.
6. Eat alone in kopitiam.
While I felt miserable when eating alone in public, well that's part of my past now, somehow I got used to it. My present tells me, more than feeling gloomy when eating by myself, I eat anyways because I need to. I have to.
7. Peel a whole pineapple.
Because I needed to make my first edible fruit bouquet for a friend of mine, I need to learn to peel a whole pineapple in case the design will require of it. Practice makes perfect.
8. Skillfully pack items inside travel luggage.
Yes this is a life skill especially if you travel often.
9. Distract myself from boredom.
I need to be creative otherwise boredom will make an alliance with loneliness to tear me apart and take away my sanity. Baking, cooking, colouring, running, blogging, badminton, gym are some of the casualties of my do-something feat.
10. Love pasta dishes.
Learned to love pasta because it's fast to prepare, versatile and very practical. I learn to find it fascinating to experiment with different pasta shapes and sizes with diverse pasta sauces.
But remember, this not-your-typical-life comes along with new experiences, people and learning you pick up along the way. These experiences may not suffice your "normal best" but they will always transform you. For better I hope.
Here are the skills and not-so-skill I harvested in my three plus years stay here in Singapore.
1. Cut a whole roasted chicken.
We are used to Philippines where roasting outlets chops the chicken for you saving you all the hassle of knife. Imagine how do you consume a whole roasted chicken especially if you are alone. In Singapore you can buy roasted chicken in local groceries like Fairprice and Cold Storage way cheaper than in kopitiam but you need to call your friend Google to help you do the chopping step by step.
2. Make a bake and no-bake a cheesecake.
Friends and colleague's birthdays are opportunities to practice baking skill. Way cheaper than buying ready made cakes plus you're incorporating a personal touch to home-made cakes making them priceless.
3. Learn yoga poses and routines.
For some time yoga mats became my buddy.
4. Train and run half marathon.
Running my first ever half marathon this December with Standard Chartered.
5. Organize DIY parties that looks professionally made.
With Dgroup's full support and cooperation we were able to pull off few DIY parties, this made us excited for the coming events.
6. Eat alone in kopitiam.
While I felt miserable when eating alone in public, well that's part of my past now, somehow I got used to it. My present tells me, more than feeling gloomy when eating by myself, I eat anyways because I need to. I have to.
7. Peel a whole pineapple.
Because I needed to make my first edible fruit bouquet for a friend of mine, I need to learn to peel a whole pineapple in case the design will require of it. Practice makes perfect.
8. Skillfully pack items inside travel luggage.
Yes this is a life skill especially if you travel often.
9. Distract myself from boredom.
I need to be creative otherwise boredom will make an alliance with loneliness to tear me apart and take away my sanity. Baking, cooking, colouring, running, blogging, badminton, gym are some of the casualties of my do-something feat.
10. Love pasta dishes.
Learned to love pasta because it's fast to prepare, versatile and very practical. I learn to find it fascinating to experiment with different pasta shapes and sizes with diverse pasta sauces.
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