Across the universe

48 hours and 4 continents later, I arrived in Singapore early on Sunday morning.

Let's take it back about 3 days, just after Cluny. I spent a few hours walking around my barrio trying to find t-shirts for my little bros. Without fail, all the male sales people kept bugging me about who I was buying the shirts for. I would say, it's for my brothers. And they would counter with, Yeah right!!! You're buying it for your BOYFRIEND!! After a while, I was like, yes I have two boyfriends. I need shirts for both of them and I need it to be equally nice, just in case they compare their gifts. Thanks.

Palermo Soho to Ezeiza.
By the time I was to leave, I knew I was ready. The deeds were done, the bags were packed. I hopped into the cab waiting outside for me, and said, Ezeiza, gracias. And then we were off. It was the perfect cab ride too. He was such a sweet jolly old man, chatting with me about everything under the sun. He told me about how he's tangoed with his wife for over 40 years, although in the past he's also loved rock & roll. Then he played me some Johnny Rivers. He gave me a color commentary about his favorite songs... ah this is good for rock and roll, this one is good for one who's sad... He played Pretty Woman (version by Johnny Rivers) and I asked if he knew the letras. He didn't so I gave him the spanish translation of the song. And he nods his head in approval and says, yes I love this very much for my wife. He played his Johnny River the rest of the way, with the windows wound down while I enjoyed the fresh cool wind blowing in my hair. And just like that, I was at Ezeiza in 40 minutes.

EZE-IAH
Uneventful trip back to NY with a stopover in Houston. Por supuesto, how could I go back to the US without a stopover at my favorite airport. And naturally, we had a delay in our flight, which brings back great memories of the six months of work travel to Houston.

IAH-LGA, LGA-NYC
Whirlwind romance with NY. Within 5 hours, I had Thai lunch with S, met Sh for desserts at Minamoto Kitchoan and La Maison du Chocolat, SPRINTED back to stuy town to shower and repack my stuff into my big suitcase, and then I was off. Well, not before receiving dumplings from S for the trip there. My 金新马car was waiting for me outside. It was a littlle tough switching from espanol to chinese actually. haha. "Hola, puede... erm... ke yi dai wo..." Once again, I could feel that I was ready to leave. I had a few pangs of regret while walking around Rockafeller/Minamoto, but otherwise, my business there was finished too. All I had left was to pack my two suitcases in the car and saunter off into the night.

NYC-JFK, JFK-FRA
It was even so appropriate and poetic that my phone battery was dying as I got on the plane. Enough for me to chat with and text my friends goodbye, but not enough for me to attempt to linger and delay getting on the flight. Oh, and funny enough, I had this tiny Indo-Chinese lady follow me around the airport, coz she kept telling me, it's my first time in JFK and I don't know if I'll get lost. She was truly terrified of getting lost even though she arrived at 6PM (!!!!) for our 9pm flight. Anyway, I let her follow me around while I charged my phone, bought a book, ate at Macdonalds. Slightly awkward but I guess it was my last good deed in NY.

FRA-SIN
I hadn't worn my glasses or contacts in almost two weeks, but as the plane started descending into Changi Airport, I put them on. I wanted to see clearly as I landed in the city that I called home. Allowed a single tear to express the beautiful memories of my past 8 years and the joy of the new ones I will create.

It's lovely here, but I can't, and don't want to forget, everything I've learned.