Goodbye Singapore! Thanks for the Memories

Today is my last day in Singapore, and all I can think about since morning is how I never had a go-to, trusted hairdresser here. In the past weeks, I have packed my Singapore expat life into three FedEx boxes and two pieces of luggage. The former has been shipped, and the latter will travel together with me to the airport.

Letter from Singapore

I have mixed feelings about leaving Singapore. Leaving the country was a decision I made when I opened the PR rejection letter in my rented room in Bishan HDB. Singapore has decided I wasn’t good enough for them, which sucks as I saw this country as my home. Message received, Mr Merlion. It’s time for me to move on too.

Goodbye Singapore

I first told Fafa.

Then I put my notice at work and called my parents.

I told my parents I was coming back. I thought they would be happy and thrilled that their only child was coming home and moving back in with them. Instead, they were cautious. I guess moving back to your parents’ house when you are hitting 30, unmarried and without a job, is not acceptable in any culture.

Then, after dreading it for weeks and dragging my feet for days, I finally told aunty Mei, my house – Bishan HDB – owner (or the landlord as to how we call it in Singapore), that I would be vacating the corner bedroom that I have been living in for years because I am going to move back to Indonesia. My heart sank seeing her face reacting to the news.

Telling my best friends was the hardest part.

Bidding goodbye to my favourite food was hard as well (I gained a few kilos in the past two months as I tried to fit the whole of Singapore food into my belly and memory).

Singapore Memories

Then there were the rest of the things I will miss about Singapore. I made a list of it. Kinokuniya, Little India, taking bus 131, going to the Hindu temple and KOI bubble tea, to name some. I tried to tick it off as much as I could. I tried to bring slices of Singapore back to Jakarta, like Yankee candles and Singapore stamps. I tried to do my Singapore activities like getting my nails at Far East Plaza, visiting Singapore Botanical Garden with my friends and watching newly released Tamil movies. Lastly, I also had some special Singapore memories of celebrating my birthday with my loved ones and gambling at MBS with Amma.

But as I crossed things from the list, I kept adding other things I wished to do/see/eat in Singapore. It has turned into a mountain of Singapore wishes.

Last Day in Singapore

Well, finally, it’s now the last moment of my last day in Singapore. My taxi is here. He has been here for a few minutes. Ready to drive me and my two pieces of luggage to Changi International Airport Terminal 1. It’s now my time to say bid farewell to my home.

I got reminded of a quote I read once: “I love the scenery. But I do not want the life that it comes with“.

Farewell Singapore!

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