Singapore Connection
We spent the past week in Singapore. It is my annual trip to visit mum and we’ve also turned it into our first holiday since Chris retired. I always get the same mixed feelings when I return to Singapore, the land I called home for 28 years before moving to New Zealand. Singapore feels very familiar and yet foreign at the same time. I recognise landmarks, I can order food easily and I can navigate the public transport network. But yet, it is not a place that I feel connected to.
Singapore and I evolved on separate paths. Singapore is not just the traditional success at all cost authoritarian democracy anymore. I’m also not the same ignorant youth who thought he was the bees knees for working at Singapore Airlines Cargo. It is good that both Singapore and I have matured. However, my time away has not given me an insight into what is really like to be a Singaporean in current times.
While I might not have a personal first hand experience of what it is to be Singaporean today, I get to hear second hand from my wonderful niece and nephew (YX & YN). They both have just returned from university exchanges in Europe which they have used to their full advantage and explored so many countries and places in Europe. 30 years ago when I was in University, student exchanges were not possible due to my family circumstances and even then, I did not ever think I would travel independently and see the world like they did. I’m glad they are brave and adventurous. If this is the product of growing up in Singapore, then Singapore is a wonderful place indeed.
