I recently had an opportunity to take a trip to Seattle, for work though. Even though the work part sucked, I was really excited for many reasons. Of course, visiting a new place is something that I always look forward to, but a chance to catch up with old-time buddy is more precious than the trip itself.
North America is pretty much frozen, reminds me of the movie "The Day After Tomorrow".
Seattle reminded me of Portland and Taipei. Portland because the demographics is similar. Seattle is very culture friendly, not as hippie as Portland, but seems to be thriving. The various bodies of water around the city is also what makes Seattle unique. Instead of a city on a plain by a river like most cities in the US, Seattle is more like an island-like land in the middle of lakes. Therefore, it is hilly, roads are narrow, but is painted with unique scenery.
Seattle also reminds me of Taipei because of the rain. Wait, more like, the moldy buildings. In Taipei, many buildings look dirty with stains. This happens when rain brings dirt down from the heavily polluted air. Therefore in Taipei, it doesn't matter how sleek your architecture looks, it IS going to look stained very soon. In Seattle, it is the shear rainfall that leaves the water stain on buildings. This is also very different from other US cities that are usually full of sun shine.
Seattle also means something else to me. This is where Dedy lives. Dedy, my buddy from primary school back in my early days in Singapore is the only person I know in Seattle. We spent primary 3 to 6 together as classmates, went through unbelievable crazy times, and this is the first time, since primary six, that we met again. Sometimes I feel a sense of regret that we did not take the effort to meet more often, but perhaps, this is also the reason why this trip means extra special to me.
Dedy, the tour guide, shows me around Pikes Market.
So we started to talk about the past, and I realized that Dedy is much more nolstalgic than I am. It seems that he is still very much in memory of the days of primary school and wants to be there. As we chatted, it seems that there wasn't really much to talk about between primary school and now. It just seems that nothing was more exciting than the days when we did the stupid things that we thought was cool. The old campus layouts, secret corners, the taboos, the new campus, the recess, Auntie Margarette the drink stall vender, Uncle John's fried chicken rice, the ping pong craze, police and thief, dragonball cards, getting caught with dragonball cards, faking "goldens" and "silvers" with dragonball cards(insider story), "Stepping" the game..... the teachers and the love-hate experience, the classmates and how they are doing now. There was little time to talk about now or the future. The past was enough to keep our minds occupied. This was a golden time for us. It is a time when we sat down in the cafe with a hot cup of coffee in our cold hands, relived our memory like as if the present doesn't matter or exist. It felt good.
Then Dedy mentioned something that absolutely slipped my mind, and shame on me. Dedy and I are one of the many foreign students in Singapore who have been sent abroad for "better days". We were a strange generation with multiple cultural backgrounds, and there were a lot of us. This is an good example of cultural transition. Dedy asked why there aren't nearly as many of "us" now than before. Well, we are the transitional generation. Our parents grew up in hardship, and for those who made it, they want their kids to be able to live better than they did. It was natural that many of them tried to give their kids more in hoping that they will move on to the promise land. Well, time have changed. Asia has developed rapidly in the last few decades. Asia has caught up with the rest of the world, so for current parents, there is no need to send their children to the "better" world. The world is just as good there as it is here.
Unique generation creates unique situations. For us, there was a common person in our lives. By common person, I don't mean a "person", but rather, a role. It was very common for parents to hire tutors for their children for academic guidance beyond what school provided. However for us, they usually ended up doing a lot more. Most of us don't have our parents around. They are usually working hard making the very money that is supporting our education abroad from back at home. Being without adults around, our tutors became the closest to person to family. They supervised our school work, they signed our report cards. They helped us get settled, and cared for our well-being. These were not in the job description when they signed up for it, but they did it for us anyways. Then, some of us moved on to higher learning, some left the country. Life continued and we parted our ways. They've become an unique part of our memories, a memory that only foreign kids like us have. We were the weird bunch that grew up without the physical presence of our parents, but there were those guardians that kept us on track. Thank you!
So how's Seattle? I don't mind living here. The availability of good food along makes me happy. One thing that I noticed was, while Dedy brought me to different ethnic restaurants every night, they are all scattered in different parts of the city. This means that the various cultures that reside in this city are rather well integrated, unlike in other major cities where specific ethnic groups tend to reside in specific regions. Oh, and the girls are... really attractive. Yes, my type. Often I feel relaxed being an outsider in a city. Whatever problem that they have isn't my problem. Well, this is when I get frustrated being a passer by. I can't go back to the very store where I saw those pretty girls and make my move.... arhhhh.
This Seattle trip, even as physically demanding as it was (had to work 12-hour days throughout), was a good break for me from my usual routine in Atlanta. I've lived a lifestyle in which constant new experiences keeps me looking forward to my next thing in life. Staying in one place for too long, doing the same things too often, or thinking about the same things repeatedly wear me out very quickly. In a way, I am high-maintenance, but affordable!
