Settling Back In

After Chinese New Year, I finally have a changed of luck. According to some Chinese horoscope and fung sui, I should be lucky in the Snake year. "Rats that are looking for employment in 2013 may find that their luck is taking a turn for the better as long as they are determined and are happy to approach their future employers. Although Rats are quite active people, you should try to stay as healthy and fit as possible throughout 2013." So, I got a job! Not just a job but a job that I like. :-)

I return to Singapore for 2 more interviews, as soon as I got my letter offer signed. I started looking for a room to rent. I still love the East Coast, and fortunately I found a room exactly at the place I wanted to stay. It was the first room I view and I took it. The rent has increased over the past 2 years, right now I am paying S$700 monthly for a common room that include utilities. Only light cooking is allowed. The house is very clean and quiet, it is very convenient too, only 5 mins walk to the East Coast Park and 5 mins walk to nearby market and amenities. To get to work, there is a direct bus that usually take me 45 mins during peak hours to arrive to the office. So job and accommodation checked! Everything else will just fall into places.

Why I like this job so much? I've asked for a job in town, this job puts me right in Raffles Place. I was looking for something less stressful and easy to start with. This job starts from 9am and finish at 6pm, no calls or work after 6pm or weekend. A big changed from my previous job. Workload is just nice, timeline are sufficient and not overkill. Colleague are mostly foreigner, Japanese as the majority, Indian comes second and Filipino/Malaysian/Singaporean comes as minority. The Japanese are extremely friendly, hardworking and respectful as you can imaging the entire Japan culture in one building. They come to work at 8am even tho the official working hour is 9am and they never leave before the bosses leave. :-( For me of course I stick to the working hours unless there is something urgent to finish up. There is also cloths hanger at every offices, most of the Japanese wear suit, it is their culture but they slowly learn that suit is not practical in this hot weather.

Getting back to work life means getting back into routine life, basically wakes up everyday at the same time, beat the crowd to get into the bus first to find a seat, putting on dresses instead of shorts and t-shirt, heels instead of sandals and shoes, handbag instead of backpack, makeup instead of sunblock and perfume instead of body odor. :-p Actually it wasn't hard for me to get back into the old routines, it seems like just yesterday. Old habits never die, once settled down in the job, I open up the 2013 Public Holiday of Singapore calendar, with only 14 days leaves a year, I have to use them wisely. Planning the next holiday! Looking for long weekend! Deciding where to go....checking for flight....so here we go again....no more long holiday but short and plan ones.

For the first few weeks, I got home by 7pm. I have lots of free time which I didn't know what to do with it. I started running, I pick up reading, still have plenty of time to spare, I went back to salsa and determined to be a better dancer by year end. Weekends even became a problem, I didn't know what to do. Cycling, running, reading, shopping has now been my weekend activities. Life is too good! :-D What am I complaining about?

What did I miss? Time with my family is the most I miss. I also miss the things I had in Singapore before I left for the RTW trip. Like having my own place and having Ginger with me, having an aquarium, having a bicycle, having a kitchen that I can cook, having extra $$ to do more stuff. Well! I guess that is what I have to put up with in exchange of a 2 good year! Good thing is, Ginger is happy living in his luxury retirement home in Journey East, well taken care of by Anita and all the employees. I will never be able to provide anything better for him. I am thankful.

What's coming? It is starting slowly but surely, with my job settled down and with my confirmation coming, I will be able to take leaves. A short diving trip to Perhentian at the end of May for a start, my paradise island off East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Gosh! I can't imagine I have been out of water for a LONG 9 months! Then, coming August, it will be a hiking trip to Leh, north of India. That will be some awesome place to look forward to. After that a dive trip to Brunei to dive The Cement Wreck, The Blue Water Wreck, The Australian Wreck and The American Wreck. I heard it can be challenging with the weather in Brunei. If anyone of you wants to join me, let me know. :-)

Back to Reality

What happens after the RTW trip?

After 1 and a half year on the road, it's finally time to come back and face the real world. I returned to Singapore where I have lived for 11 years with hope to find a job as soon as possible because living in Singapore without a job will dry my saving in short 3 months.

I was lucky that Winnie and Amy offered me a place to stay. If you know Singapore well enough, the cost of living here is high, the most expensive is property. Renting a room cost minimum S$550/month, renting a flat cost minimum S$1800/month. Basic transport and food cost S$600/month. So do your maths and you will know how much you need to live in Singapore.

While I started browsing jobs online and sending out my resume, I started to think of what else can I do other than going back to IT? I like creative work, I like flower arrangement, I like photography, I love diving and travelling but will any of these jobs pay me enough to live in Singapore? Well, no!

After 2 weeks of searching and sitting at home. My friend Amy told me they need someone to work part time in her co-owned Italian Restaurant urgently. I can choose from being a waitress or dish washer. Both are paid in hourly rate. I chose to be a dish washer so I don’t have to face the customer. :-) I only worked one shift a day, normally there are 2 shift, lunch from 10am to 4pm and dinner from 5pm to 11pm. I started with the lunch shift to stand in for the auntie who went on holiday. When she return I went to the night shift. The job responsibility is simple, to keep the kitchen and toilet clean. It sounded so easy. First few days at work, I had back ache from standing long hours and pain in my palms for washing all the heavy plates. The back ache went away after I got used to the hours but the pain in my palms became worst.

In the beginning it was fun to learn new things but after a while it gets to be routine. As the restaurant serve fresh seafood, I also help to clean them as well. Every week there are 2 to 3 orders of squids, crayfish and prawns. Yaiks! If you are not careful, you get cuts in the fingers and as your hands are constantly wet, recovery is long. Luckily when I got to night shift there was no seafood delivery at night. I worked 6 days a week and 6-7 hours a day. It is not too long but it was physically hard. My salary was enough for me to survive (free accommodation at friend’s house) and pay for my monthly commitment in Malaysia. Everyday is just going to work and home. I got to learn how life is in the kitchen and how Italian cooking is. I got to try all the good food and learn some of the recipe. :-)

During these time, I went for 3 interviews but none was successful. I wrote to many job offers but mostly with no response. Depression kicks in, plus problem with a long distance relationship made it worst. I really feel like giving up. Every day was just a fight, emotionally and mentally! I kept telling myself not to give up! Be patient! There are still people out there who are worse than me! Try to look at the bright side…. I continued to work in the restaurant for another month until the end of January. As Chinese New Year was around the corner, I went back to Kuantan for a break, and to celebrate Chinese New Year with my family. With hope that in the coming Snake Year, there will be better luck for me.

Chinese New Year this year was with a special guest from Mexico, Fernando who hosted me in Playa is visiting South East Asia for a month. I invited him to our house for Chinese New Year. It was fun to have him experienced the new culture and festival. 

So returning to the reality has been tough but not enough to put me down yet! I still have good friends and family to support me. They keep me on my feet. I love them all.