Part of why I got into my current line of work is the many opportunities it offered to travel (I specifically had Japan in mind for this - we being a Japanese airline and all but they seem to have other plans).
Case in point - for a week last August, we were sent to Singapore to join a "system boot-camp" of sorts as it condensed 2+weeks worth of material into 5 days of
sakit-sa-bangs lectures and hands-on exercises.
Weeks before the date, I was totally nervous. I was very new to all this but we were expected to do well among staff from other stations who were also joining. Since I never really found the time to prepare (although I REALLY meant to), I was betting on siting very near my co-manila office participant and whispering whenever I got lost to cover up the fact that I had absolutely no idea what was going on. She was, after all, a couple of flights up the experience ladder (being fresh from another airline) and was very very willing to be my cheatmate.
Now, imagine my shock when we arrived in the training office (groggy from an early morning flight and wet from rain), to find that there were only 2 of us in this "special training session" and we were to sit in desks across from one another. This was nowhere near the scenario I had built my cheatmate plans on. I had to rely on to good old hard work, FOCUS and a steady supply of coffee (I also rephrased my questions in my head a couple of times to make sure they were valid). It helped that the trainors knew I had ZERO experience and they were patient especially during exercises when I was stuck trying to comprehend the problems while the printer was spitting out my colleague's already finished work.
I'd like to believe that I redeemed myself AFTER the work day when they let us explore the fine city of Singapore. I had a list of what-to-eat and where-to-eat from ex-residents, a what-to-buy list from my sister and a pretty good idea of where-to-go even without the how-to-get-there. Luckily, Raissa (my cheatmate) was as eager to walk around as I was and we eventually figured it out. We walked so much, we would have lost weight if we weren't stuffing ourselves with fabulous food every chance we got (I took so many food photos, they deserve another post).
I think we covered the "Tourist in Singapore" basics:
We admired the Merlion (until we could look at it no more),
went on the cable car ride to Sentosa (because the only text I got from my Dad that week was: "Did you ride the cable car yet?")
snacked on ice cream as we navigated orchard road,
sampled a little bit of culture visiting Indian and Chinese temples,
pretended to be explorers in the Night Safari,
had a love affair with condensed milk, Passionfruit and the tiger (rawr!),
and shopped for
extra pasalubong at Bugis street
with a repeat performance at the Mustafa Centre at 2am.
It's a wonder how this city can offer such a unique blend of experiences - it makes for a very nice place to visit.
and I have these people to thank for it:
1 stamp down and XX more to go!
Dear world, you best be ready :)
