This is not the first time I'm away from home and I must say I'm kinda grown accustomed to it.
But then again, it's always a different experience everytime and the emotions and thoughts were never identical.
My longest stint away from home probably started when I was 19. Yes, I am talking about the dreadful mandatory National Service we have to do as dutiful citizens of the country. Being the 3rd child and the guy in the family, I've became pretty independent as I grew up. But going to stay in a mosquito-infested army camp with fustrated instructors screaming vulgarities and dishing out punishments was never going to be an easy time. I remembered that one faithful day, I had the 'luck' of being the 8 pple selected to do guard duty for the night. Think that among a company of 200+ pple, I am one of the 8 to be selected!? For the benefit of those that don't know, I had to stand on guard and patrol while the others sleep, and its not as if we get the next day off or anything. Next day will be another long day of training for us. To think that day, it was my birthday somemore. Not a single phone call, a word of 'Happy Birthday' from anyone, nothing.
The following year, I went to australia for my flying training program. Spent 8 months there before I got chopped. If i were to surmarise it, its another forgotten birthday, lots of 'sweat' moments that got all of us pulling our hair off, and even more precious memories.
Then there is now, another long stint overseas. Just missed the Mid-Autumn festival, possibly going to miss the chinese new year too.. and all the Zhong Qiu jie and blah blah.. i guess I'm pretty used to all these by now, and all the food or anything else that is distinctive of home.
What I've learnt, at this stage is that even if i can get the same plate of chicken rice of the same mooncake that is made by the same hotel/bakery, it just wouldn't taste the same.
It's the people. I miss certain things because of certain people, certain enviroment, the ambience or the occasion. Like how I miss playing basketball at ri, how i miss the bubble tea near my home, how i miss the food and ice lemon tea in arts canteen and the smoothies in fuzion and the bean curd in serangoon garden and mos burger at J8 and ban mian at s11. They will surely taste different here even if they are made by the same person. Ben and Jerry's are cheap and good here.. but they dun taste the same when eaten in DowntownEast with 20 other pple in a tiny chalet of in the middle of the night with 2 other crazy pple.
Oh. yeah. Its acutally the pple.
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