Dear Mom,
Hey Mom – It’s me – “Pookie.” Here I am at Camp Winata. O.K. – Maybe not.Contrary to what you may be feeling right now, I DO Love & Miss you…Lots. I just found out from Jason that you were in the hospital with Pneumonia — Mom — Please take care of yourself.
Prepare...
You know that I can not look after you right now but hope one day to be in a position where I am able to. But for now, you’ve got to be a good girl for me and do the right things for yourself. And also — please don’t tell Jason anything that he does not need to know — the whole parking ticket thing was not wise to tell him, and I am quite sure that there is more to that story than you realize. But anyway — let’s move on.
This letter has taken me ages to write, as you obviously know — so parts of it have been written at different times in different circumstances (the beginning of the letter I am still at Sabby’s house — the end of the letter I am not). So let’s get to it, shall we?
Today is Thursday, and I just poke with you yesterday on the phone. This morning I was looking for this letter to finish and send you but couldn’t find it. So I am starting a new one.
In The Beginning
At this very moment, I am sitting on a park bench, about 10 yards away from Block 663 — A, which is Sabby’s apartment building. She as well as everyone else in Singapore call their individual apartments a house or a flat. But the buildings are kind of set up like your building actually — though there is no carpeted floors to be found anywhere — except maybe in office bldgs.
These buildings occupy “blocks” so they are often called blocks as well. There are open-air walkways underneath these buildings — and also on this bottom floor, you can find strong metal doors leading to a subterranean place that is basically a fall-out shelter built to hold all of the bldg.’s residents in case of war or what-have-you.
Anyway — I’m wearing khaki shorts, a white T-shirt and some sandals that I bought for 2 Singaporean Dollars — that equals about 80 cents in U.S. money. Everyone here wears sandals or flip-flops most of the time; since most of the people here are Chinese, the custom is to take off your shoes when entering someone’s residence — and untying heavy shoes and removing socks each & every time you go in and out can be weary — plus it helps reduce the stinky-feet syndrome.
You’ll be happy to know that I’m also having a cup of coffee and smoking now too. Although it is true that littering is a crime with a $500 fine here, they do have these combination waste-basket / ashtrays all over the place in Singapore. Initially it is a shock to the eye, but then you get use to it, looking for the closest one to you when you light up, whether in the residential community or in the downtown area; and somehow it is done in a way that is not offensive to the beauty that Singapore is known for. That one tiny thing about Singapore you would really, really love if you were here.
I’m also sweating at the moment, because it’s like Atlanta’s summer heat here ever since I arrived – and this is just the cold or wet season (It rains pretty much every other afternoon so umbrellas are a common sight – even used in the hot sun to keep off the heat)...Can’t wait to feel Singapore’s summer! The heat is strange though – because you know how when I sit in the sun I get sun-burned very easily and then later if I am very lucky a sun-tan will develop, instead of the usual burn & peel? Well, not here. I have yet to be burned. I have a hell of a tan though! There is breezy wind that comes through though often enough.
Sitting on this bench, I see in front of me about 4 acres of grass, with palm trees and other beautiful plants and flowers. On the right side of this grassy area is a fenced-in asphalt spot, painted with lines of a soccer field for the kids to play “street-soccer” which they do pretty much every day. In the big field is where the adults play regular soccer — that too, pretty much every day — I’ve been asked to join in on several games actually. To the right of the fenced-in area is a small “fitness corner,” with an ‘adult jungle-gym,’ for people to do various exercises with. I’ve seen these back home in the states, but very rarely do I see anyone using them. Here you see it every day.
Surrounding this field is a sidewalk with benches and more apartment buildings. If you walk along the sidewalks, turning this way and that, passing benches, playgrounds, the aforementioned ashtrays, beautiful gardens — and you can also wind under and through different apartment buildings, as the sidewalks create a network for you to get from place to place, some that are covered, and some with no roofs. You will come to more or less this same type of field set-up every 5 buildings or so.
As I look up, I see clouds in the sky gathering for this afternoon’s rain. Sounds. I hear helicopters every now and again because Singapore’s military base (along with an officially non-existent U.S. AirForce Base) nearby. I hear jingle-jingle of wind chimes from various windows. I hear cats meowing — this country has literally thousands of stray cats everywhere — and No, they don’t eat them. At night you can hear cats fighting or begging for food — sometimes it’s really adorable, sometimes it’s annoying, and sometimes it’s quite pitiful. I also hear different kinds of music playing on various people’s radios, wafting out of windows down to my ears.
Behind me is a small children’s playground, where I hear kids playing and laughing — speaking in languages so diverse, from English to Chinese to Malay (language of Malaysia) to Indian, and more. Beyond the field in front of me, on the other side of the sidewalk, is an elementary school, where I hear the kids talking and playing and such as well. I can see some of them, in their little blue & white uniforms.
All school kids — until college-age, have to wear uniforms here; not just ‘private-school’ kids — but all, public school kids. I mentioned the color of the uniforms, because different communities, schools, and grades wear different types and colors of uniforms — many Singaporeans can tell where a child lives, goes to school, what grade they are in and tell an estimate age-range — all just by noticing what school uniform the child is wearing.
