Everything Condensed
Wow… it’s been over a month since I last blogged… and many things have happened in that past month. I’m making a resolution to blog more consistently… if not I probably won’t remember the things I did in Singapore when I get back to Leeds. When I’m back in Singapore, the things that happened in Leeds seem surreal and vaguely dream-like, and unless something triggers off a memory, an incident, most Leeds happenings are only captured in photographs clearer than my memory.
Katie came for three weeks and we had a wonderful time : ) Was really glad to see my friends rising to the fore and showing the both of us around. I felt like a tourist in my own country because I had to use her Lonely Planet for directions sometimes! I never knew that there was so much to see in tiny Singapore. (and it helped that we went up to Penang and Malacca as well)But I think we made it fun for ourselves… thanks Katie for being so fun to stay with, and for protecting me from Sadako.
Now that Katie’s back, I have trouble sleeping o’ nights because I keep imagining this thing coming out of my mirror. Something vaguely Sadako-like with long tangled hair and a toothless weird grin. Yesterday I was on the phone with Andrew, and while we were talking about the most mundane thing I had the distinct sensation that there was something beside me opening its mouth and breathing at me. It’s no use telling me it wasn’t there. I know it wasn’t, but I have a pretty vivid imagination, too vivid sometimes!
I also went for the three day Outward Bound course, designed to build up your leadership ability. We were stranded in the ulu-est part of Singapore, Pulau Ubin, for four days, without proper toilets or washrooms. Our toilet was the sea, and our washroom was a beautiful quarry tucked away in a secluded corner of Pulau Ubin. We’d wake up in the morning every day and jump into the sea from the jetty, which was more terrifying than it sounds, because of the sinking sensation when you fall down, down, down, and the horrible plunging feeling when you hit the sea and salt water goes up your nose and you look around in terror for jellyfish who would look better as appetizers on a plate at a Chinese wedding dinner than swimming around dangerously close to you.
Still, I think the OBS did something to instill confidence and I really had a good time getting to know the rest of the people who went (some of whom were cute, haha). The last day was the best day for me, because we had to do this “personal challenge” sort of thing. We had to climb up, one by one, onto a little platform just big enough to stand on, about 5 storeys high, and jump off into nothingness, clutching at a little bar about one meter away and trying to hang on. I was terrified and it didn’t help that most of the guys succeeded in doing it!
Then the girls started going up one by one. I was the fourth girl and when I got onto the platform, I looked down and went “Omigod!” It was really scary being up there and the bar didn’t look reachable at all. We had to shout something before we jumped, so I shouted my thing and Jen shouted up to me, “Monkey Bar!” That really helped me because I just thought, “Ok, I’m on the ground, I’m on the ground, and that’s just a monkey bar,” and with heart thumping wildly I jumped and clutched at the thing for a split second and then the rope stopped me from falling and I was so relieved to be let down inch by inch that I grinned at everyone every inch of the way.
I also went down to the pre departure for UK-bound students at Marina Mandarin hotel, where I managed to talk to a couple of the freshers coming to Leeds. Hopefully some of them will become my friends… and we’ll be able to provide support for one another.
I gave my number and email to the people I talked to, and was in the midst of talking to people when this guy I’d talked to before came up and said, “thanks, I’m going off now, would it be cool with you if we met up sometime?” To which of course I said yes because I couldn’t have said anything else and remained polite. The very next day I got a text from him thanking me again, and asking me whether I was free anytime soon, because he wanted to buy my textbooks. So I said that I didn’t have any textbooks, and that the coursenotes were enough. And he texted back “In that case would you be free for coffee?”
I don’t know why I can’t even go out for coffee with someone who seems nice and who’s going to Leeds and who seems to want to get to know me. Maybe it’s because coffee has taken on a rather dodgy connotation in my head because of my housemates laughing and joking when someone else dodgy asked me whether I was free for coffee in Leeds. And maybe it’s because he’s not smart and charming and cute and funny enough. Admit it, Ruth! You’re shallow. :p
So I texted back: “Will txt u when I’m free, if not see u in Leeds” not intending to text him at all and I think, with my approach to everything, I will very likely end up a grey-haired, boobsaggydrooping, grumpy, plump, windbreaking old spinster. Serves me right!
Katie came for three weeks and we had a wonderful time : ) Was really glad to see my friends rising to the fore and showing the both of us around. I felt like a tourist in my own country because I had to use her Lonely Planet for directions sometimes! I never knew that there was so much to see in tiny Singapore. (and it helped that we went up to Penang and Malacca as well)But I think we made it fun for ourselves… thanks Katie for being so fun to stay with, and for protecting me from Sadako.
Now that Katie’s back, I have trouble sleeping o’ nights because I keep imagining this thing coming out of my mirror. Something vaguely Sadako-like with long tangled hair and a toothless weird grin. Yesterday I was on the phone with Andrew, and while we were talking about the most mundane thing I had the distinct sensation that there was something beside me opening its mouth and breathing at me. It’s no use telling me it wasn’t there. I know it wasn’t, but I have a pretty vivid imagination, too vivid sometimes!
I also went for the three day Outward Bound course, designed to build up your leadership ability. We were stranded in the ulu-est part of Singapore, Pulau Ubin, for four days, without proper toilets or washrooms. Our toilet was the sea, and our washroom was a beautiful quarry tucked away in a secluded corner of Pulau Ubin. We’d wake up in the morning every day and jump into the sea from the jetty, which was more terrifying than it sounds, because of the sinking sensation when you fall down, down, down, and the horrible plunging feeling when you hit the sea and salt water goes up your nose and you look around in terror for jellyfish who would look better as appetizers on a plate at a Chinese wedding dinner than swimming around dangerously close to you.
Still, I think the OBS did something to instill confidence and I really had a good time getting to know the rest of the people who went (some of whom were cute, haha). The last day was the best day for me, because we had to do this “personal challenge” sort of thing. We had to climb up, one by one, onto a little platform just big enough to stand on, about 5 storeys high, and jump off into nothingness, clutching at a little bar about one meter away and trying to hang on. I was terrified and it didn’t help that most of the guys succeeded in doing it!
Then the girls started going up one by one. I was the fourth girl and when I got onto the platform, I looked down and went “Omigod!” It was really scary being up there and the bar didn’t look reachable at all. We had to shout something before we jumped, so I shouted my thing and Jen shouted up to me, “Monkey Bar!” That really helped me because I just thought, “Ok, I’m on the ground, I’m on the ground, and that’s just a monkey bar,” and with heart thumping wildly I jumped and clutched at the thing for a split second and then the rope stopped me from falling and I was so relieved to be let down inch by inch that I grinned at everyone every inch of the way.
I also went down to the pre departure for UK-bound students at Marina Mandarin hotel, where I managed to talk to a couple of the freshers coming to Leeds. Hopefully some of them will become my friends… and we’ll be able to provide support for one another.
I gave my number and email to the people I talked to, and was in the midst of talking to people when this guy I’d talked to before came up and said, “thanks, I’m going off now, would it be cool with you if we met up sometime?” To which of course I said yes because I couldn’t have said anything else and remained polite. The very next day I got a text from him thanking me again, and asking me whether I was free anytime soon, because he wanted to buy my textbooks. So I said that I didn’t have any textbooks, and that the coursenotes were enough. And he texted back “In that case would you be free for coffee?”
I don’t know why I can’t even go out for coffee with someone who seems nice and who’s going to Leeds and who seems to want to get to know me. Maybe it’s because coffee has taken on a rather dodgy connotation in my head because of my housemates laughing and joking when someone else dodgy asked me whether I was free for coffee in Leeds. And maybe it’s because he’s not smart and charming and cute and funny enough. Admit it, Ruth! You’re shallow. :p
So I texted back: “Will txt u when I’m free, if not see u in Leeds” not intending to text him at all and I think, with my approach to everything, I will very likely end up a grey-haired, boobsaggydrooping, grumpy, plump, windbreaking old spinster. Serves me right!
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