Coming to Singapore

I’ve already written a lot of things about being a Pinoy in this blog. It’s about time to write about the country that we now call home --- Singapore.

To tell you the truth, I knew next to nothing about Singapore prior to my coming here. I guess it was discussed when I was dozing off in my Asian History class at Torres High School. I only heard about it when I was in BPI and when most of my colleagues were resigning to go to Singapore.

Since I didn’t want to be left behind by my friends and I also didn’t see any future at BPI, I decided to follow them. Surprisingly, after one week of submitting my resume I was accepted so I filed my resignation. All the while, I was thinking that this country was near from China like Taiwan... I was surprised to know that it actually lies near from the equator and Indonesia.

So on Sept 15 2001, I finally arrived here. It was just a few days after the dreadful 9-11 so I was really uncertain on what will happen to me and whether I did the right decision.

But when I was already in a cab from Changi airport -- my jaw dropped! I was amazed by the line of trees and bougainvilleas along ECP, by the clean roads, and by the unpolluted air. There was no “alikabok.” There was no bumper-to-bumper traffic. No pesky noisy horns from vehicles. The cab was cruising smoothly that it made me enjoyed a cab ride for the very first time... without the fear of getting kidnapped or robbed.

From that very moment, I knew that the best was yet to come.