a while ago, sundeep asked me what i like most about singapore. i answered : the tissue paper in their toilets. ok, so not really...but it is one thing i do appreciate a lot here. see, it's just a very simple thing - one that is used to wipe people's ass when they crap - and one which is very common around here. but the mere fact that it is so common means a lot. the mere fact that singapore could provide all their public toilets with tissue paper means a lot. i remember one particular day during my vacation in the philippines. i longed for that fateful day to come when all public toilets in my country would be as clean as the ones in singapore, and would have a roll of tissue paper for every cubicle. it's nothing grand really, but at the same time it seems far-fetched.
i have no squawks regarding my living conditions here. i eat good, healthy food (even though my mother still doesn't believe that i do eat vegetables here), my room closet is about to explode with all my clothes (yet when i was a kid, all my clothes were oversized because they're officially owned by my parents, and i don't have much clothes of my own), and i stay in a deluxe high-rise apartment-style residence with an 8-digit price tag (in SGD). sometimes i still can't believe that this is real, that i'm living what was once i could only dream of.
then i remember home, and i think, what a contrast. my meal serving back home is just 1/3 of what i usually eat here, but i'm okay with that. the serving size of meals back home are really smaller, in proportion to the purchasing power of the people there - like the ubiquity of shampoos, deodorants, lotions, and gin in small sachets sold in sari-sari stores. i remember my sister back in manila, and the ancient, bedraggled tenement where she stays.
sometimes i wonder whether singaporeans have ever thanked God for being so blessed in terms of material things. i know i too am blessed for having the chance to experience living here. but sometimes i wish my family could experience this way of life too.
i have no squawks regarding my living conditions here. i eat good, healthy food (even though my mother still doesn't believe that i do eat vegetables here), my room closet is about to explode with all my clothes (yet when i was a kid, all my clothes were oversized because they're officially owned by my parents, and i don't have much clothes of my own), and i stay in a deluxe high-rise apartment-style residence with an 8-digit price tag (in SGD). sometimes i still can't believe that this is real, that i'm living what was once i could only dream of.
then i remember home, and i think, what a contrast. my meal serving back home is just 1/3 of what i usually eat here, but i'm okay with that. the serving size of meals back home are really smaller, in proportion to the purchasing power of the people there - like the ubiquity of shampoos, deodorants, lotions, and gin in small sachets sold in sari-sari stores. i remember my sister back in manila, and the ancient, bedraggled tenement where she stays.
sometimes i wonder whether singaporeans have ever thanked God for being so blessed in terms of material things. i know i too am blessed for having the chance to experience living here. but sometimes i wish my family could experience this way of life too.
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