The Singaporean Wonder

its a wonder that ironic as it may all sound, we're all guilty of being the proudest-ass singaporeans only when we're not at home. there's just too much that we take for granted when at home. and i'm not even starting on anything big and accomplished that we've done. i'm talking about the really little things, things like saying "wah lao eh", things like saying "comfeerm!" in that cheena twang that only we are capable of, and even punctuating your sentences with the stylistically subtle and simple word, lah.

so anyway it was with great relief when i heard that a singaporean had just last week transfered to snow mountain ranch to work. i went to look for her and its amazing just how excited i was to just spew all the singlish and mandarin i had festering in me the last 3 months. her name's grace and she's 28yrs old and she hails from aceglobal too! which means we'll meet up again on the 31st oct reunion! so we spent quite a long time sitting around the kiva just talking about our experiences in camp and singapore, all in singlish and mandarin! haha. she's had a not-so-good time at her girl scout camp so snow mountain ranch was a refreshing change for her. but she's not as excited as i was since there was another singaporean with her in her previous camp. nonetheless i enjoyed myself a whole bunch just yakking with her. only problem was that i can't scold bad hokkien profanities till i see joe in two weeks. boo.

the little singaporean wonders that will ever only be appreciated when you haven't spoken singlish or singa-cheena in 3 months are endless, but here's my two cents...

putting the word 'lah' or 'meh' or 'hor' at the end of your sentences

saying "comfeerm!" in that cheena twang that only we are capable of

saying 'wah lao' for the first time in so long

saying 'wah lan' and knowing that its different from 'wah lao'

saying 'si mah?' just for the bloody sake of it

having someone else know where in singapore marine parade is

hearing words like 'xiong' and 'xianz'

using the words 'si beh something something'

speaking singlish in singaporean twang

realising you're still fluent in mandarin even though you haven't spoken much of it for 3mths

bitching about american food

bitching about the weather

bitching about americans

bitching. period

ah, i love singapore.