Saturday, July 16
Had only three hours sleep, was dressed in time to see Aubrey off to her college admissions Saturday review class, and went on-line briefly while waiting for Ronald to pick me up. No last-minute packing--I'd packed slowly over two weeks.
Ronald picks me up 8:00 AM sharp as previously agreed. He is my favorite driver. Arrive Terminal 3 very early. I'd abandoned my miniature airplane collection last year and am not buying any this time around. Seattle's Best is no longer there; I am told that it moved to the upper floor. A very bad lunch at Tapa King.
Thirty-minute flight delay. On the plane watched The Jungle Book (alas, just for kids) and then Batman vs. Superman (alas, the entire cast looks old and tired, and the movie seems comprised of rehashed scenes from movies I'd seen before).
E. meets me at Changi Airport. We queue for a cab and get one with a very friendly and loquacious, elderly cab driver. It is National Day, and I am told that there will be celebrations the entire week plus fireworks in the evening. It is Singapore's 51st year. A flock of choppers and the huge, red-and-white flag hover above us on the way to the hotel.
E. checks me in. My room is on the ninth floor. It has an iron staircase leading to a loft with sitting space that I know I will never use. Afterward E. and I go out again so that I can see where the mall supermarket is. It is small, and I will never see a supermarket as huge and as replete with all kinds of stock as Shopwise and Hypermart are. E. drops me off at a Chinese coffee shop, where I have dinner. I buy a pack of cigarettes at a 7-11 outlet before going back to the hotel.
I am permanently keeping the TV on the Chinese movie channel. Ip Man 3 is showing. Some time ago I considered buying the Enterbay 1/6 Ip Man action figure because he was B.L.'s teacher after all. I eventually decided not to, however. The figure is that of Donnie Yen, the actor who played Ip Man, rather than Ip Man himself.
Angelique said that there would be available wi-fi everywhere, and she was right, except that I have only my iPhone, which will give me trouble over my entire visit because its battery doesn't charge even with the adaptors that the hotel and the theatre are lending me. I am given the hotel password for the units on the second floor. I am unable to use them, though. I left my blogspot, Google, and facebook password list at home.
I believe I will be unable to sleep properly, because I was on a 2:00 AM - 11:00 sleeping schedule back home. Surprisingly, I am able to, and even rise early to beat the sunrise.
Sunday, July 17
A very early breakfast. I saunter to the outdoor area of the ground-floor cafe, which is now my smoking area. It has comfortable seating, and I do some writing. Time passes by quickly. It is Day 1, but I know that I will all too soon be at home again, encoding these words in my electronic diary.
I am thinking of Chinatown and Little India and all the things I saw there last year and want to go back for, even if I have already learned not to do that, because they will surely no longer be there.
E. picks me up in a cab. We go to the ________ ________ ________, where I conduct my first playwriting workshop, this one for 11 participants, including youth at risk and their NGO officers.
Back at the hotel, Teow Li picks me up. We go to the flea market and have a Thai lunch. As I predicted, none of the things I saw last year are there. The lesson, of course, is to buy something that you really like instead of coming back for it another time. I do see a huge mala bead embedded in carnelian, a bronze dragon, and two finely detailed, red-clay, Bodhisattva statuettes.
Teow Li brings me back to the hotel in a cab. I walk over to the theatre, where I conduct dramaturgy sessions for Shen, and then for Beverly. E. says that none of the interns are available to escort me to Helmi's play this evening. Beverly is glad to do so. The entire run has been sold out, and Helmi and Beverly were co-participants in the workshop I conducted two years ago.
I go back to the hotel to rest an hour and take a nap.
Later E. and Beverly ring me up on the house phone. I dress up quickly and take the lift down.
Helmi's play is at La Salle College of the Arts, which, like the La Salle network in the Philippines, was founded by French La Sallite brothers. I enjoy Helmi's play, a riotous comedy. I especially enjoy plays that I dramaturge on paper, listen to in readings, and afterward see on stage, noting their evolution.
After the play Helmi, Beverly, and I go backstage to congratulate the cast. I am very happy to see, once again, Meng Chue, who stars in the play. She also starred in my play Trip to The South when TheatreWorks produced it in the 90s. Like me, she is now in her 60s.
Long dinner with Helmi and Beverly at a Chinese coffee shop. Beverly then drops me off at the hotel in a taxi.
I am wondering what is different so far, and it occurs to me that Filipinos no longer stare at me, come up to me, and ask, "Pilipino ka?"
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