CONNECTIONS

I went exploring today. I met another group of American Women for another coffee date downtown. I arrived late, but I had agreed to meet a new friend for lunch and a trip to one of Singapore’s many museums, so I went. I met a few ladies while there and saw two familiar faces from last Friday’s coffee group, Kerry and Lucinda, two girls a little closer to my age.

Kerry is a Massachusetts native who moved to Singapore with her husband from the Bay Area. We had a relaxing, cocktail lunch in a café yesterday while I was out running errands. I really enjoy having a cocktail or two in the middle of the afternoon while enjoying great food and conversation. We talked a lot about work, husbands and where we have travelled. She also gave me a few pointers about local sites.

Lucinda I thought was more of the quiet type when I originally met her, but today she opened up quite a bit. We started our adventure at a café called Toast Box. Once we approached the counter to order, we realized that we were in for a very light lunch – they really served nothing but toast…and one noodle dish and one laksa. We each had a ham and cheese toasted sandwich that had grilled bread, one slice of ham, one slice of cold cheese and an unexpected, thick, yellow, sweet, sticky sauce. No sides. It was more like a snack than a complete meal, but it was enough to make us satisfied for the moment.

From Toast 1, we headed to the Singapore Art Museum. Along the way, the rain came pouring down, so we both grabbed our umbrellas and increased our pace as we somewhat ran for the museum. I laughed at our moves and reminisced about playing in the rain as a kid. I actually quite liked the experience. When I lived in New Jersey a group of 20-something-year-olds ran in the rain when our outdoor party was interrupted by a sudden downpour. It was all fun and games until Melody fell and hurt her leg. At that point, we had to move the party inside.

The Art Museum was great. The architecture is amazing – pictures are included. The building was originally a Catholic boys’ school constructed in the 1800s. A courtyard is situated in the center of the complex, so we walked from gallery to gallery around a three-level square, which made our wandering in and out of rooms somewhat like a labyrinth. We saw interactive displays, rooms where children were encouraged to make the art and audio visual instillations that allowed us to be the art.

I sat in a room watching a short film featuring some young Vietnamese men racing rickshaws underwater. I was captivated in the beginning as I attempted to figure out what they were doing, and then I was mesmerized as I tried to understand the point and what was at stake. Teams of two submerged the rickshaws off of some beach somewhere and then they all started for an unknown finish line. One partner pedaled through the sand and the reef while the other either pushed or pulled the apparatus along the bottom of the ocean. I ended up leaving so I am not sure of the end goal, but I did find the game intriguing.

We headed deeper into the Orchard area for something little to fill our stomachs and ended up at a café called Marmalade Toast, which I then referred to as Toast 2. This Toast was much better than the first.

I acted like a tourist the entire day, taking pictures along the streets and wandering around seeing places I had passed but never before explored. I submitted my first job application today so I have a true desire to make the most of my work-free days while I still have them. This new aspiration, coupled with some recent understanding of just how short a person’s life is, makes me want to do more instead of sit at home and think about what I might get around to doing eventually.