Singapore was my home from January 2006 to September 2008 – a brief interlude in a lifetime of moving, but it was always special. Never had I been so acutely aware of loving my living environment, be it the tropical rainstorms, outdoor hawker centres, or the kaleidoscope of cultures present in this tiny little Southeast Asian island. Singapore is a place of beautiful memories – of two amazing years spent in an endearingly dysfunctional international school, surrounded by the most diverse group of people I had ever met. It was the kind of happiness that only existed in dreams.
But then, we graduated and went to university. Our families’ work took them out of Singapore as quickly as it took them here in the first place. So when the chance came for me to come back to Singapore for a week, for the first time in more than two years, I was ecstatic beyond words. It was coming back to an elusive familiarity that I can recognise in only a handful of places, and it was much, much more beautiful than I remembered.
I’m flying back home tomorrow, and looking back, this was truly a week spent in dreamlike perfection.
Musings of a Leaf 