The Weddings

(cliccate qui per leggere questo articolo in italiano)

Singapore is a city that is clean, organised, technologically advanced and is populated with pleasant people. Singapore is the only big city that had me considering living there for a time frame that is longer than the usual three to six months trial period, something that I had already done with other cities like Los Angeles, Chicago and New York in USA; Milan in Italy; London in UK, and Montreal in Canada.

Singapore is the point where Asian and Western cultures meet. Its people are polite, respectful, intelligent, literate and busy. Too busy.

Between work and other activities, the average Singaporean’s agenda is fully booked and organised for at least two weeks ahead. Making an appointment with a Singaporean, even if it is only for sharing a pizza over casual conversation is an (almost) impossible mission.

After living in Singapore for a couple of months and finally understanding that people are truly busy (at the beginning, I thought people were trying to avoid me), it seemed like a blessing from God that I finally managed to secure two precious hours for meeting Patricea. She arrived from work, had only two hours for dinner and she had to leave for salsa dance lessons straight after dinner.

When there are only two hours available for getting to know someone living in a city with a hectic lifestile, you need to go straight to the point. There is no time for taking the long path…

I immediately understood that Patricea is an intelligent girl, with a strong personality and good self esteem. She knows what she wants, has clear ideas about life, and is very proud of her own skills.

I wondered whether her personality scared away previous boyfriends or she was not looking for a committed relationship. Thus, I asked her what she thought about marriage, how important is it for her to have a family and children. Although she appeared a little taken aback with my questions, she still replied with answers that I wanted to hear.

It was a short yet pleasant encounter. “Why don’t we meet again?” I asked.

Unfortunately, Patricea’s agenda was full: dance class almost every night, full-time and freelancework, volountary work in an hospital… I had to wait two or three weeks before we could meet again.

I explained that I have a bad memory: if an appointment was made three weeks from now, I will probably forget about it completely two days later!

I gave up: Singapore’s life was not good for me. So I left Singapore and the dream of having an intelligent and beautiful Chinese girlfriend behind. I moved to Bali, Indonesia, where I was certain the pace of life was more suitable for me.

I kept in touch with Patricea only for work matters, until she came to Bali for a short vacation in early 2006. We started exchanging views about life values and about what we expected from our future. After Patricea returned to Singapore, we kept talking via Internet, until we fully realised that we where intellectually meant for each other.

Being in a long distance relationship was never a consideration for me and having struck Singapore off the list of cities where I wanted to live, the only solution for building our relationship was for Patricea to join me in Bali.

It sounded like it might not happen: would a city girl give up the city life for something simpler? We all now know how that has gone.