One fantastic day

So, what does it mean for me to have a fantastic day? Yesterday was a fantastic day.

I woke up early to tutor math and science to two kids. That my main source of income now, paying me $30 and hour. So, that took around 3 hours, plus transport to and fro, plus talking to the mom about her kids' progress. The time will be lengthened to 4 hours, making it $120 everytime I go to their place to tutor for 4 hours. Not bad, as that will be better than my allowance in the army.

After that, I headed home to change into beachwear. Seiwei and his friends from GIC (Government Investment Corporation of Singapore) were going to Siloso Beach in Sentosa for the afternoon till the night. He asked to come along, and I said, "Of course!" So, after changing, I left for Sentosa, getting picked up outside Harbourfront, then straight to the beach. The weather was amazing, bright, sunny and hot, just the way you like weather to be. They had packed sandwiches and a bunch of other titbits to eat. We found a spot behind some large rocks and under some trees for shade. It was such a chill afternoon, swimming, chatting, singing songs to the guitar, reading and playing frisbee.

I got to meet new friends. Desmond, I already knew from Steph's farewell party. I also met another Steph (law student from Cambridge), Jeremy (finance student from Penn), Nicole (another college student), and Jinn. All of them are current scholars or working with GIC. It was really fun getting to know all of them, talking about our experiences overseas, what we were doing now, and what we figured would be in tune for us in the future. The girls were all really cute. No arguments about that. Jinn was actually from RJC, S02A, 2 years before I was. Her CT was also Ms Lim Puay Miao, and it was funny talking about our times in RJC. The other 4 were Malaysians, and had very different experiences from Seiwei and me, although Jeremy was in RJC 1 year after me, in S01. He know David Han, and Justin, both canoeists like me. After hanging out at the beach, we all took a walk just as the sun was setting, to KM8, a club at Tanjong Beach. It was quite far down along the beach from Siloso Beach, but it didn't feel long at all, since we were all young and excited about having spent a chill day at the beach.

At KM8, we ordered drinks and sat around to talk. I remembered Steph talking about not having any roots in Singapore, unlike the other few Malaysians, and was wondering how to meet other friends in Singapore rather than just workmates. I told her about my own fears of not being able to meet people either, although those fears have been pushed back very fast, now that I've been very active meeting people at activities. We had some fruity cocktail drink in a jug. It was pretty good, except that there was so much ice in the jug that there wasn't much alcohol at all. There was a jacuzzi there, but they only allowed "Ladies or Couples" to use it. So when Steph and Seiwei went into the jacuzzi, it was fine, but when Jeremy and I wanted to join in, we were denied. We had half a mind to say that we were a gay couple, but somehow, didn't.

After chatting for a long time, we got changed and went for dinner. Now, since most of these friends were Malaysian, they had never been to Geylang, and really wanted to eat chilli crab for dinner. So I took them to No Signboard Seafood outside my house in Geylang. The food was really good, and they all enjoyed themselves a lot. The white bread soaked in chilli crab sauce was amazing. Apparently, Nicole loves eating carbohydrates but looking at her good figure, you'll never realise it. Jeremy scooped up the sauce and ate it without anything, which is how good it is. After dinner, I took them on a walking tour of Geylang. They wanted to see what it is to be in the red-light district. The Malaysians commented that it was a lot like Kuala Lumpur and Penang. I agree too. Geylang has the raw, unpolished look of a 3rd world country, but also the charm of it too. It's not sterilized like most of the other parts of Singapore. Living here is kinda cool, meaning that I have food till the wee hours of the morning.

After the walk, Seiwei took them home, and my day ended. Not before we decided that we were going to go roller-blading next week and hang out again. It was a fantastic day. Good, chill activities at the beach. Great new friends, new experiences to share. Good food and dinner. Good conversations. Exciting, relaxing day. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend Saturday. I love meeting new people, who love to share in what they do. I think the GIC scholars are all really cool people. And the fact that the Malaysians have a different growing up experience from me makes it all the more exciting. Friends make all the difference in life!