When I lived in Birmingham, England from August of 2009 to May of 2010 I met Lauren Birkett, who became a very close friend. I've since been back to England to visit her and she has come to the states (both Atlanta and New York) to visit me. There is no one like her in the world, I'm thankful for her friendship. She has a friend from growing up (named Laura) that lives in Singapore and is a teacher. As soon as Lauren found out Bren and I were moving to Singapore, she put me in contact with Laura. Today Bren and I met Laura and her boyfriend Drew for brunch at a "mexican" restaurant in Clarke Quay. We had fun talking about England, and Lauren, and living in Singapore as an ex-pat. Drew is from the mid-west and likes sports a lot so we got to talk about the Braves and the Falcons. It was a really nice time and I hope we will meet up again soon.
Bren and I walked around the Clarke Quay area and Fort Canning Park. From the park I spotted a building that I've been wanting to find here so we walked down a bunch of stairs to get out of the park and to the Old Hill Street Police Station. The building has a pretty interesting history that you can read about here. I mostly loved that the window shutters are painted the colors of the rainbow.
We kept walking around the area and found Peninsula Plaza (also known as Little Burma). There were lots of Burmese people out and about too and there was some kind of religious festival happening, but we were ever able to identify exactly where it was happening.
We got on the MRT and headed back towards our apartment because I told Katie I would meet up with her. She met an older Malaysian lady named Helen at a Toast Box cafe in the mall. They got to talking and Helen invited Katie and "her American friends" to her country club. Belong to a country club in Singapore (much like most places) is a symbol of status and wealth. Helen met us in the lobby and led us back to the porch bar where she order champagne and bottle service whiskey. We talked about her family and how they were once rubber farmer in Malaysia and then Singapore, and how she had a home in Singapore, and London, and France. She spoke about the people she'd met and the places she'd traveled, but also that she was quite lonely that her husband lived abroad and often without her and same with her two children. She said some sad things about how she'd rather be social and out drinking then visiting her grandchildren. I had a strange feeling about the whole situation, but was also appreciative that she was hosting us for dinner. In some ways her wild, carefree personality reminded me of stories of my great-grandmother (nana). We had a great dinner (or rather a feast) of oysters, and sushi, and laksa, and grilled vegetables, and noodles. We had some great conversations as well. However, Helen had maybe a few too many sips of whiskey and went off on a true rant about politics in the USA and said some incredibly hateful and racist things. Katie and I definitely challenged a lot that she said, and told her frankly a few times that her speech was hateful. We thanked her for dinner and pretty quickly decided to leave. She seemed sort of confused on how to get home so she rode in the cab with us. We dropped her off and took a sigh of relief. It sounded fun to go to a country club with a woman in her seventies, but we probably won't be hanging out with her again soon.
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