Thursday, May 25, 2006
goodbye vancouver.
it's currently 2.23am, and my last night in vancouver.
i'm typing this long after my parents have hit the sack. we fly tomorrow on the 1400hr plane back thru seoul to singapore.
18 hours. i'm not looking forward to tt.
but singapore... singapore...
how do i describe how i feel now?
it's a mess. on one hand i really want to go home, to go back to the life tt i once lived with the people tt i love and the friends who matter to me. i want to speak the language tt i was raised to learn and eat the food tt my tastebuds were groomed to love and walk in the warm, balmy weather as if i had never experienced ice and snow and hail.
but on the other hand... a part of me feels like i might be leaving something valuable behind. everything strikes a cord. how the mountains look so pretty when they backdrop the buildings of downtown vancouver. how a cup of starbucks coffee tastes exceptionally good when it's raining and the sun has set before 5pm. how snowboarding can be a realistic activity and not just a dream. as can travelling, be it to calgary or toronto or new york or guadalajara. how the long stretch of granville street can seem so familiar as you cruise back in your car; how you know you will never see the pretty roses of the buchart gardens or of stanley park again. how you won't find buses where bus drivers happily help paraplegic people on and off them in a heartbeat, where people seldom honk the horn, where the most often-uttered phrase is "hey! how're you doing?" and you hear tt at least 5 times a day.
i never realised it because i grew too accustomed to it, but somewhere along the way inspite of myself, i fell in love with the country and the culture. and though canada is not perfect, and neither is singapore, the flaws never fail to accentuate the beautiful bits.
the beautiful bits tt make this place, a truly first-world country.
but now it's on home. where i know i belong, most of all.
curiously, in my latest dreams i have been mending the bridges tt were once burnt.
11 hours and 29 min more to take off.
now playing: hotel costes - cafe de flor
i'm typing this long after my parents have hit the sack. we fly tomorrow on the 1400hr plane back thru seoul to singapore.
18 hours. i'm not looking forward to tt.
but singapore... singapore...
how do i describe how i feel now?
it's a mess. on one hand i really want to go home, to go back to the life tt i once lived with the people tt i love and the friends who matter to me. i want to speak the language tt i was raised to learn and eat the food tt my tastebuds were groomed to love and walk in the warm, balmy weather as if i had never experienced ice and snow and hail.
but on the other hand... a part of me feels like i might be leaving something valuable behind. everything strikes a cord. how the mountains look so pretty when they backdrop the buildings of downtown vancouver. how a cup of starbucks coffee tastes exceptionally good when it's raining and the sun has set before 5pm. how snowboarding can be a realistic activity and not just a dream. as can travelling, be it to calgary or toronto or new york or guadalajara. how the long stretch of granville street can seem so familiar as you cruise back in your car; how you know you will never see the pretty roses of the buchart gardens or of stanley park again. how you won't find buses where bus drivers happily help paraplegic people on and off them in a heartbeat, where people seldom honk the horn, where the most often-uttered phrase is "hey! how're you doing?" and you hear tt at least 5 times a day.
i never realised it because i grew too accustomed to it, but somewhere along the way inspite of myself, i fell in love with the country and the culture. and though canada is not perfect, and neither is singapore, the flaws never fail to accentuate the beautiful bits.
the beautiful bits tt make this place, a truly first-world country.
but now it's on home. where i know i belong, most of all.
curiously, in my latest dreams i have been mending the bridges tt were once burnt.
11 hours and 29 min more to take off.
# posted by Kitana @ 5/25/2006 05:24:00 PM 
