my air steward cousin, sebastian,
came to town 2 nights ago.
he's with the famous singapore airlines.
yeah that's right, he's zippin' around the world
and getting paid for it, dammit.
i hadn't seen him for many many months.
the last time i went back to singapore was last year in august
and i've only been back about
twice a year since i've been here.
i meet up with the whole family each time i go back
and the cousins usually do meet up for a drink
but we haven't had the chance to talk much
in the last few years, so it was kinda nostalgic.
i met up with him the first night at this
japanese food/drink place called "wan".
if any of you are coming to japan for a holiday,
this is a good place to go.
it's good food and a good japanese-y atmosphere
and decor, and oh, it's good food.
i bring all my tokyo-visiting friends there.
even my sister's addicted.
we go there at least twice, each time she comes.
then we went to a bar called L Plus in azabu for drinks,
where we took this picture.
i think we hadn't had a picture together since...
god knows when.
yesterday i met up with some of his fellow colleagues
and it was pretty interesting,
talking to them, hearing some on-board stories,
and just seeing what kind of people he works with.
he seems to be having a lot of fun which made me
really happy for him.
we went to ueno, to the famous ameyoko-cho,
which is usually packed with people during the festivals,
and is usually really crowded any other day.
while there are clothing stores and
shops selling bags and shoes at a discounted price,
people, or rather, I go there for the huge packs of
japanese crackers and snacks at wholesale prices,
good to bring back as japan souvenirs or to pig out myself.
i also go there when i want to get good and cheap dried foods,
or raw fish, salmon roe or
sea-urchin (sounds gross but it's yum) to bring back
to singapore for my parents.
it was SO hot in the day but it started to rain all of a sudden,
which really spoilt our shopping trip.
but then we went for coffee after that and i ordered this.
it's a desert very popular in japan,
called caramel honey toast.
speaking of nostalgia,
my sis recently sent me some pictures of my
baby brother, jorim.
only he's not so baby anymore.
he's currently in the singapore army,
compulsory for the guys in singapore.
well well, there are a lot of different views on the topic,
but so far i've seen many friends enter and
become men,
so if it makes our boys mature into men,
it can't be a bad thing.
besides, it turned my brother from a fair,
never-did-sports, computer-game-loving,
fat tummy dude,
to a trim, tanned and NO tummy guy,
in just 3 months!!
he recently finished basic military training,
and my sister took pictures at the "graduation" parade.
i was so impressed.
check this out:
so anyway, i'm booked to go back to singapore,
in about 2 weeks or so.
i've been packing up my room and it's full of boxes,
and all-in-all, the mess is just irritating me.
i'm really sad to leave but i guess,
saying goodbye is a part of life.
i'll be glad to go back home and spend
a few months with my family though.
and shadow.
i'm really looking forward to being with her.
she's already 13, and getting older by the day.
putting things into boxes also means
i'm going through fragments of my life
from the past 3 years.
i look back at photos and smile.
japan has been really good to me,
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