The sister, the brother and I went on a dolphin watching cruise in Port Stephens. We were on a boat with perhaps 200 other passengers. It amused me that I could pick out the Singaporeans quite easily. It’s usually their use of Singlish and whinny, teh voices, their stupidity, their terrible casual dress sense and bad posture or their horrible manners.

I love Singapore. I loathe Singaporeans.

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In Melbourne, the brother asked me what I gained from studying overseas as opposed to spending my time in a local university. I couldn’t really answer him. Frisbee? I could have picked it up in Singapore. Uh, white friends! I told him I learnt to be more independent. Really? What stopped me from being independent in Singapore? I am an individual and things like social class or upbringing or ‘Singaporean’ culture shouldn’t ever stop me from breaking out of my Singaporean-ness.

No more complains about things I can change about myself.

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I will miss having a casual job that pays me $17.79 an hour to make sandwiches and put dishes in the washer. I like the idea of 9 to 5 jobs in Australia and the closure of many offices over Christmas and New Year, even the “late night shopping” that runs ’til 9pm. (Yeah, that’s early in Singapore terms.) Oh, the cafes and weekend markets… I’ll have to find an alternative.

When I start work in Singapore, I’ll have to learn to switch off at 6pm and enjoy my weekends wholly.

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I don’t recall many incidents where the people around me freaked out. Even when we broke the uni’s van window reversing out of the parking lot, the driver said, “Lame” and continued driving. In a situation like that, a lot of Singaporeans would start blaming each other or panic. It was very amusing.

I need to learn to keep calm and not freak out.

I think I’ll take a nap now.