It's been a roller coaster of a week. As of last week, I was scheduled to come to Washington DC, stay 'til January, then go to Singapore for a year. As you'll see, I convinced myself that this was going to be the best year of my life. The food, the warm (but muggy) weather, the weekend getaways to Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand, and the people/culture. Excellent.
I arrived here in DC on Monday evening, only to find out that my plans have changed. Singapore is cancelled. I'll still be going overseas, but the location has not yet been determined. I might be leaving as soon as this coming weekend, a full month before initially planned.
Holy crap.
I've been staying at my hotel, scared to unpack my suitcases for fear of immediate deployment. And the weather here is pretty damn cold. Ahhh, walking around Singapore in shorts and sandals, stopping off for some hawker cuisine for dinner, sitting outside by the waterfront on a warm evening,... these all sound really great right about now. Roti prata, chicken rice, BBQ pork slices, chicken rice, durian (yes, even durian)... Ahhhhh, nice.
But that won't be happening.
Instead, I am to be kept in suspense for a few days. At this point, I am so frustrated that I'm ready to go back home to San Francisco. But I'll wait it out and see what happens.
On Wednesday, I'm told that some possible places I can go to in lieu of Singapore are Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, India, Oman, and Vancouver. Well, I'm only interested in going to Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taiwan, or Vancouver, in that order. Any of these would be fine. Anywhere else, don't bother asking me again.
Shanghai and Taiwan would have been the most adventurous. Vancouver would be the easiest. And not unlike Singapore, Hong Kong would be the ideal balance between those extremes. It's where East meets West, where cultures are exotic enough to keep things interesting, yet Western enough to provide enough comforts from home. Of course, I didn't end up with Hong Kong. Or Shanghai. Or Taiwan. I ended up with Vancouver.
Cold, wet, and dark during the winters, at least compared to Singapore. Not a bad town, but not terribly exciting either. Especially for a West Coast American like myself. In fact, it sounds flat out boring right now. Why did I volunteer myself for Vancouver? What the hell was I thinking? At least it'll be comfortable. Easy. Close to home. And unfortunately, it's gotten more expensive with the weakening of the US dollar.
I can find a pretty tasty meal in Singapore for around $5 USD. Cross over to Johor Bahru and that price gets cut in half. Okay, I need to get over it. I'm not going to Singapore...
At least the food in Vancouver will be decent, I hope. The Chinese food will be better than San Francisco, which is saying a damn lot. There's all kinds of Asian, European, and fusion cuisines, which should round out my dietary requirements nicely. Last I remember, it seemed to be a youthful, hip town. And at least it's close to some great skiing. And there's lots of outdoors stuff to do in the summer as well. Which means I'll have to go home sometime after arriving in Vancouver to pick up my skiing, fishing, and camping gear. So much for the tropical beaches of eastern Malaysia. Whistler it is. Whistler it'll have to be.
Sigh.
I shouldn't complain. I should be happy to have this opportunity. My big regret is that I didn't go anywhere new this year for vacation. I was planning on exploring bits of Indonesia and Malaysia while in Singapore. At least there's lots around Vancouver that I haven't seen before. Sadly, it'll be nowhere near as exotic or adventurous as Southeast Asia.
They waited until today to tell me about Vancouver. I had a week's worth of some serious suspense and anxiety. And I'm all the more neurotic because of it. I'm just happy it's Friday. And I'm happy that I don't have to leave for another month. Despite not being terribly excited about the DC metro area, especially during the winter season, I'm pleased that I'll be able to stay put. I have a nice, large suite at my hotel, and I plan to spend a lot of time in it relaxing and winding down. Time to finally unpack.
I really have to convince myself that Vancouver will be a great experience, or I may end up insane.
No comments:
Post a Comment