After an 8-hour flight from Chicago to London, and then a layover of 8 hours at London, followed by a 12-hour flight from London to Singapore, I AM FINALLY BACK in Singapore!
The 20+ hours of flying is really no joke. I used to be ok with long haul flight, but nowadays the thought of taking a long flight scares me a little. It is just extremely uncomfortable, especially if you have kids crying non-stop throughout the entire journey, or if you are unlucky enough to be dealt with an old plane model that doesn’t even come with your own TV.
But amazingly, I do not have jet lag issues though there is a 13-hour difference between Singapore and Chicago. In fact, I feel a lot more alert than I have ever been during my past few months in Chicago.
I’ve always heard of people saying that they feel like they have never left before when they return back to their home country. I’ve always thought that it is just an expression; I never think that this will really be how I feel when I come back! To me, it is quite miraculous how I can so easily slide back to my old life, and automatically proceed to the train stations, the coffeeshops, the shopping malls etc. and still remember the exact bus number to take to different destinations.
I know there is this concept of “reverse culture shock”, but well I totally do not experience this at all. I am just so comfortable with being back in Singapore.
After a restful sleep, I had a great breakfast with my family in a nearby coffeeshop. Happy that I can finally have fishball noodles, beehoon and lor mee for breakfast options!
Maybe I am used to the huge servings in the U.S, I don’t even feel very full after my lor mee.
And then I proceeded to NTUC supermarket to shop for ingredients with my mum for our hotpot lunch at home later.
Yums. My 6-month late reunion dinner.
After 8 months of being cold in Chicago, I am finally perspiring again. Amazing how I don’t quite perspire even after a brisk walk or jog in Chicago, yet I feel so hot in my own bedroom in Singapore.
In Chicago, I cannot resist showering with incredibly hot water everyday even though I know it is bad for my skin. In fact, I was slightly worried that I might get so used to such hot water that I will continue using very hot water in Singapore as well, thereby ruining my skin. Guess my worries were totally uncalled for. Cos I feel so sticky and hot that I am using cold water to shower in Singapore.
Tomorrow I will be heading to Taiwan for a holiday, and according to the weather forecast, it will be even warmer than Singapore. Gosh. Don’t even want to think about it. What a bad time to head to Taiwan.
Chasing Carefree 