It’s been two months since I moved here in Singapore, but it actually feels like two years! Is that good or bad? Oh well… :)
If I were to put a title or theme that can summarize the last 60 days of my life here, I’d call it “Re-training Mr. Spoiled Brat”. Apparently, I am the Mr. Spoiled Brat! After a long period of enjoying a very comfortable life in the Philippines and in Indonesia, I felt and witnessed the meaning of hardwork and perseverance all over again. Not to mention, the feeling of really sweating (literally and figuratively) on a daily basis to do daily tasks, tend to my personal needs and perform well at work. Here are some specific examples that can showcase my re-training:
1. Doing a long walk (relatively speaking), riding public buses and the MRT has been a way of life. I miss having a chauffeur-driven car, or at the very least my own car that I have an absolute control of.
2. Performing the household chores like cleaning the condo, laundering/ironing clothes, cooking and washing the dishes on my own. I miss having a maid or a cleaning lady who used to do these practical jobs for me. Yes, I can hire some house help here, but the service is pretty expensive – I might end up not saving any money at all!
3. In connection with the last sentence in #2, everything is way too expensive here. Case in point, a pack of Marlboro Lights is 10x the cost compared with the price in Manila or Jakarta, a grande Hazelnut Latte at Starbucks is 50% higher, taxi service is 200% pricier and apartment rental is 4x the cost! Hence, if these were part of my “basics” before, some of it may now be considered a luxury!
4. I used to have more time for myself. Now, I only have the weekend for myself (well, that is if I am lucky not to have any disturbance due to weekend work which sometimes is inevitable due to the nature of the industry where I am in). Since weekdays are well-packed with work, which extends to 12 to 18 hours daily, I am practically dead when I get off the office. The only thing that I am longing for after work is my comfy bed and soft pillows!
5. I’ve been accustomed to having a fairly wide network of family and friends that I can immediately get hold of after only one text message or phone call. While I have a constant companion here and my weekend sked has always been filled with visitors either from Manila or Jakarta, I also miss that level of security of having those preferred people around.
This entry may appear to have a lot of angst, but then again, I am rising above the negativity and looking at it constructively. I know that this is given to me because I need it! Life is not all about ease and convenience. It should go beyond what is physically perceived, given that at the end of the day, building one’s character is more important than just simply drifting everyday without any challenge at all.
Thus, doing a re-training and fulfilling the mission of unlearning some unnecessary things may be mandatory to make Mr. Spoiled Brat a better person. He may be having some difficulties to cope at the moment, but he will strive to thrive. Knowing that he is a great fighter, surrendering is not an option that he would consider. As we all know, there is always what we call “birth pains”, yet once the stage has passed, everything else would be peanuts! :)
Posted by lifedefiningpicks 
