Random Thoughts on Return

I need a new camera.

I go to all these fabulous places and I take pictures and they always come out crap (as you can tell from this blog). It’s partly because of the sand bits stuck inside my current camera but mostly because I’m a terrible picture-taker. I need a camera that’s inspired all on its own. And possibly a quick tutorial on guiding the device, if that’s not too much to ask.

Anyway, there’s so much to think about and nothing to say at the same time. Chinese New Year came and went quite silently for me, except for the numerous reminders on facebook and Twitter. My family didn’t even acknowledge it when we met up in Sydney. It was strange.

My parents were probably relieved to be away from the craziness of days filled with obligatory visits to relatives and friends as well as the lightening of their wallets from giving away red packets to children they hardly know.

I, on the other hand, was a little disappointed.

As I get older, I feel like I need tradition or maybe it’s just cos’ I’m far away from home and it helps me remember who I am without being swallowed up in the foreign culture that surrounds me. Yet, paradoxically, I am glad to be away from the culture I know too well. I want to explore and learn and be filled with different perspectives, coming to conclusions I wouldn’t otherwise have reached with the limited input from having only lived in one place.

I know I was probably guilty of this too before I came to live here and maybe even a couple years in, but I can’t help getting annoyed when I read blogs by Singaporeans still living at home writing about their fascination with America (i.e. New York City, pop culture and food chains). They talk about this store and that store they visited, and if only they had it in Singapore (although they’d probably still come here to shop in the same store). They talk about cute little restaurants and cafes like they’ve never been to one before, like it’s only in America. In New York City. The truth is, Singapore has tons of that stuff and more. It’s just a case of greener grass on the other side.

Now, I know that it’s a very natural thing to do–eat and shop while traveling and recommending things you liked. I guess the thing that bugs me is that most times, it’s really not your regular I-went-here-and-loved-this write-up. The admiration is specific to the country and never goes beyond the superficial.

It bugs me because I think that what makes this country and its big cities great is not all its fancy stores and cute little cafes and chain restaurants (yuck, by the way!) but that it is somewhat of a petri dish for brilliantly creative minds and also the fact that its people have a voice (many different voices in fact) and are allowed to be heard (even though I wish some of them would shut up and even though it may not be the most efficient way of running a country). Maybe it’s because I come from an apathetic political culture and strict society that stifles creativity but when I leave this place, there can be nothing I will purchase, nor photograph I will take that can show why I admire this country. (Well… except for maybe a DVD boxed set of Arrested Development. Hur hur.)