my count-down to twenty-ten in this wet Scottish city of Glasgow was the most unspectacular of all new year’s eves ever had…

but it was quite ‘memorable’, only because i had to endure one of the worst headaches i’ve ever experienced while being suffocated in a living room with more Asians than i’ve ever surrounded myself with at any one time (apart from Chinese New Year’s at home) who were either more eager to sing their lungs out (even after having had a karaoke marathon for the previous 6 hours!) and deprive me of the little oxygen that was left in the area, or they were too engaged in their ‘national’ sport on a mini ping pong table to be able to do anything else. to add further misery to the ordeal, there was no count-down nor any enthusiasm for it (!), which left me feeling quite short-changed!

it seemed a little sad not to witness the obligatory fireworks nor to sip mulled wine while welcoming the new year. in addition to this rather unfortunate circumstance… initial plans to meet up with R in Portobello on new year’s day were cancelled abruptly… the start of 2010 has got to be better than this, i tell myself.

new year’s morning came and went. i slept in like a baby… waking up without the nasty headache, but a little sulky from the knowledge that the planned walk along the beach in the north of Edinburgh was not going to happen on what seemed like a rather lovely clear day… a feeling of regret seeped into my consciousness. … i could have gotten onto a plane last weekend either to the US or SG… to either celebrate the new year with A or attend the wedding of a friend and see family… *sigh*… however, living like a conjunctive didn’t make me feel any better.

i tried contemplating on the Open House at Lats&Phil’s that i had planned on going in Edinburgh… it would be fun, i coaxed myself. i could meet some new friends or re-acquaint myself with old familiar faces… and it’s unlikely that they will have karaoke! i called Lats to see how late their Open House would go on for and figured that arriving later wouldn’t be so terrible.

with some determination to make what seemed like a rubbish situation better, i got my act together. i did some laundry, baked a cake, and hopped into my Zippy-friend and drove the hour-long journey to good auld Edinburgh to visit Lats and i actually felt a million times better! there was no karaoke!!! and there was palatable food (i.e. no strange piggy anatomy, which are apparently part of the ‘normal’ Chinese cuisine in certain regions of China/Southeast Asia, that i dare not even consume) and fun games that engaged everyone… that’s more like a party i am used to attending! i also got to reacquaint myself with some old faces from undergraduate days… and was actually able to feel like a normal part of the ‘society’! it was certainly quite reassuring.

on my drive home, i listened to the  BBC4 Radio programme: “Great Lives”, which reflected on Hannah Arendt’s life (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pftm7) and her various (political, philosophical, and identity) struggles as a Jew in Hitler’s era… i couldn’t help but find myself being reminded of how i’ve struggled with my identity as an Asian, while living abroad… it is a complicated one for i’ve never really been terribly fond of cliques; racial or otherwise. while there is some sense of ‘security’ to be amongst fellow Asians, i also find it asphyxiating and a little in denial to be trying to recreate a sense of familiarity in a ‘foreign’ place. in my opinion, it could never be quite the same and rather than isolating oneself from the locals by mingling only with Asians, i’ve actually found it more educational mixing with the ‘locals’ or others… or perhaps i am just grossly repelled by quite a lot of Asians’ fondness for karaoke!

oh well, i hope you guys had a good start to 2010! and Happy New Adventures to you all!

Advertisement