how about a journey down down down under?

A friend who has been helping me keep a lookout for sustainability related jobs forwarded the Antarctic Sabbatical link to me. A special program organised by Airbnb and Ocean Conservancy. I have to say it both excites and scares me a little. I mean what an opportunity this will be! It will certainly be a great stepping stone into the industry I have so much interest in. But I am one of those who would rather die of heat than cold and the idea of working in such extreme conditions is daunting. 

Well, you will never know till you try right? So I gamely took up my friend's challenge/recommendation and applied for it! I definitely meet all of the basic requirements and I also needed to pen a less than 500 words essay about why I want to be part of this program to investigate the presence of microplastics on the most isolated continent on Earth. 

I spent quite some time crafting it so have decided to post it here although I have also just received confirmation that I had not been selected for the program. I am kinda glad for that. 🤣

~~~~~~~~

For an ordinary someone from a tiny country located close to the equator, the South Pole in Antarctica feels as unattainable as space travel. I am certainly not immune to the beauty of Antarctica – magnificent glaciers, mysterious icebergs and that vastness of ice and snow. But being familiar with its reputation as being extremely remote and harsh, I have never considered the possibility of setting foot on the continent, until now.

I have a wanderlust which sees me travelling out of my little red dot at least twice a year. Surprising to most of my peers, I have a preference for roughing it out while trekking in Nepal and Bhutan – two destinations on my bucket list – compared to luxurious vacations in Europe. If I am selected for this expedition, Antarctica will become the third place I never knew was on my bucket list until I was made aware of this sabbatical. I love the outdoors and being surrounded by nature. Having spent most of my life in sunny, warm and developed Singapore where the closest I can get to nature is a rustic island named Pulau Ubin, Antarctica will be a drastic but an exciting change of environment for me to reconnect with nature. Perhaps that is exactly what I need, a 360 degrees switch to experience nature in a different and deeper way.

Besides riding snowmobiles and seeing penguins in their natural habitats, what excites me the most about the expedition is the opportunity to apply my training in Science Communication and contribute to scientific research that will make a positive difference for our planet. I am that friend whom others refrain from using plastic when I am present. I am often the odd one out rejecting plastics and bringing out my personal reusable items at a social gathering. Some times my friends ask me for opinions and insights relating to environmental issues. In fact I would not have found out about this expedition if not for a friend who knows just how concerned I am about the plastic problem plaguing our planet right now. Being an avid diver, I have seen first hand the negative impact humans have on our oceans. But one can only do so many clean-up dives and I know I can contribute much much more. This expedition feels right up my alley.

There had been times when I felt one individual’s effort cannot make a difference to the humongous crisis of plastic we face right now, but I now truly believe every small action by any individual in the right direction steer us closer towards the path to sustainability. I have always try to lead by example; I hope this will be the most impactful example I can show the world. Finally, this might be my only chance to see a whale up close and personal!

My comfort zone

I think it started when I joined Dance Synergy in my uni days. The awfully shy and quiet girl took the plunge and signed up to potentially embarrass herself on stage. Maybe it was because no audition was required but I really do not know what made me do it, I did not even had a friend to attend the first session with. But there was no turning back from then.

Dancing liberated me in so many ways and taking that first step out of my then comfort zone seemingly destroyed the entire concept of comfort zone for me. It seems nothing became too scary or out of the norm for me. I travelled alone, became a The Little Gym instructor, drove in Europe, picked up pole dancing and performed in public places, slept in an airport, tried cliff diving, went sky diving, juggled work and studies to earn a Master's, cycled to work, roughed it out in Nepal, Bhutan and India, swam with tiger sharks without a cage, broke my own iron bowl to become a certified yoga instructor, started learning a new language at nearly 40....

I considered myself to be fairly adventurous and pretty adaptable. I dislike routines and enjoy making small changes such as taking a different route to a regular place or answering friends' query on what to eat with "surprise me!" and accepting invitations to events spontaneously. It has been a very long time since I thought of myself as stuck in my comfort zone.

Until I was in Jai's yoga class.

I have been practising yoga for about 10 years and am definitely more stretched and flexible than when I first started because I strive to be so. During my YICC, I was also more at ease in achieving most of the poses compared to the rest of my coursemates. No, I am probably nowhere near the standard of yoga gurus or professional yogis but I would not think that I am stuck in my yoga comfort zone.

Until Jai instructed us to do Chaturanga in reverse, challenged us to perfect the basic Utkatasana (chair pose), guided us to perform Surya Namaskar (Sun Salutations) with Kumbhaka. My limbs were shaking, my steady breath was quickening and it was definitely fear I felt when my lungs screamed for oxygen, reminding me of the time I was at Tulamben. Jai could see we were all struggling and he pep-talked us to constantly confront our limits, to go further and not stay in our comfort zones because yoga is more than just the poses.

Wow. At that instant, I realised I do have my own comfort zone and I was very reluctant to step out of it. What he was asking us to do was really difficult and practically impossible for me to do and made me want to just give up and go straight to Savasana. I realised that precisely because of all the seemingly "uncomfortable" things that I had done in the past 20 years, I conjured up this false belief that I do not have a comfort zone when nothing is further from the truth. Once again, yoga helped me learn more about myself.

Then it was not hard to see the boundary of my comfort zone in other aspects - career, relationships - it is a revelation. And after I recovered from the initial shock of the discovery, I learnt it is not a bad thing to be in your comfort zone. It is an essential personal safe place for each of us to retreat to when the world gets too much to handle.

I am thankful for my comfort zone which, well, has expanded quite a bit with every "uncomfortable" thing I did achieved. I am probably still not ready (physically and mentally) to accomplish all that Jai expects of us but I am pretty certain that the competitive edge in me will not allow me to just settle. But it is good to be able to acknowledge to myself that I do have a comfort zone and have a clearer idea of where my limitations lie so rather than trying to eliminate it I can further expand it.

Class Pass - Analysis Paralysis or Super Duper?

I first heard of Class Pass from a new student to the Mysore class which I enjoy and attend quite regularly. We were chatting about how advanced the level of the class is and she mentioned how worthwhile it was given the relatively low number of credits it cost her. I was immediately intrigued as the Mysore class is not one of the free classes which I am entitled to as a YICC graduate and it in fact cost more than my usual yoga class.

Besides the possibility to attend my favourite yoga class at a cheaper rate, I was also attracted to the idea of being able to attend a variety of fitness programs at different studios. Afterall, I have been thinking of returning to pole and giving spin and barre classes a try...

Pity I didn't managed to get a referral code from said new student but a search on Google quickly brought me to the right site. However, despite the lure of a free week trial, I first opted for a City Guide for undetermined reasons. It actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I was then offered a 2 weeks trial instead! But I kept missing the limited valid time period that in the end I just went with the one week. Better than nothing?!

The trouble began AFTER signing up! The choices are so endless and limitless that even after applying filter for the type of classes I am interested in, I found myself short listing too many options, previewing their reviews and eliminating some and went back to wondering which was the class that caught my attention. In a bid to make the full use of my limited free credits, I got so bogged down by factors such as location and timing that I very nearly forgo the entire freebie!

Thankfully, when I retried a second time I limited myself to one particular evening and was able to select an interesting new class - rope yoga! It was basically a combination of pole and yoga. And it made me realise that this type of membership is perfect for me who appreciates the variety and flexibility it offers. Within that one week, I went on to try another novel program,  wheel yoga, and classes at 3 studios that I heard much about but would unlikely to try out without this. In fact, I even managed to try out a meditation class at Vyasa which I would otherwise have to pay for. And the experience was great because signing in was never an issue and I did not feel unwelcome as I initially feared at any of the studio!

So, I became an official member of the Class Pass and began forking out the minimum SGD 59 for their basic package. Hope to be more regular in my yoga practice and of course to finally try out spin and barre (nope, never to HIIT). Just keeping my fingers crossed that the credits for classes do not inflate after the first month?!

If you have been thinking of giving Class Pass a try, I say go for that free week! Better yet, ask me for a referral code and we will both benefit!

Plastic Free July

So for the whole of last month, I decided to put a focus on plastic. The #plasticfreejuly movement has actually started way back in 2011 but I only heard about it on 1st July this year through one of the many environmental advocacy groups I follow. Although it felt late in the game but the idea of being part of the solution really resonated with me so I joined the challenge!

Since embarking on this journey to reduce waste, especially plastic, I have seen enough responses and reactions to know that my efforts will not always be appreciated. So it is certainly a challenge - not so much the actions of reducing plastic but to be prepared to be rejected or even ridiculed. But since the decision was made, I committed to it by changing my profile picture and cover page on Facebook and basically made an online declaration about it.

I do like this year's logo which included a turtle. That video of a turtle suffering with a straw in its nose was probably what started me off on this journey in the first place. What better image to use as a profile picture right? And for the cover page, I applied my creative juices on Canva once again to design my very own with a slogan to boot!

Initially I really thought I would be posting and hashtagging every single day but as I wanted to be authentic and only to relate something I personally do, finding something to post everyday was not easy at all. But I tried my best and really made an effort to at least set some time each day to consider what I could share and managed to post something on Facebook 13 days out of 31 days.

Perhaps because I was conscious of the possible backlash, the text accompanying my posts are "mild"? Well, I am always super conscious about what I post online anyway... I hoped I came across as encouraging rather than imposing and more often than not, I included my failures and shortcomings in my attempts to show how this journey will not be easy but not impossible. Because (see image)

Where I held back in my written stories to the images and posts, I was consistent in the hashtags that accompanied them. #plasticfreejuly is a given. #byobsg and #saynotosingleuseplastic are almost always relevant. #consciouschoices is one I came up with as I realised it was exactly what most people are not making which contributed to the problem. And finally #motherearthisworththeinconvenience is one I thought up last year when I posted about my experience reducing waste for a camp in school because our mother earth really is worth it. 

I am really glad I did it though I was not sure how much of an impact I made. For most posts, I received a range of 5 to 14 likes, usually from the same people. The most likes I received was for a post on OCK [19 likes] - was it because many people liked OCK or the way to avoid plastic using a silicon bag was the easiest to implement? And I received almost no comments at all save for the last one on supposedly zerowaste items I bought for home. I received one comment. So I was not able to start conversations either.

I suppose all these are within my (lowered) expectations. And like a teacher who will never know the extent of the influence he or she has on students, perhaps, hopefully I have planted some seeds of change in some minds in this short time of a month.

Biking from Hougang to Bangkit

Cycling is one of the many outdoor activities I enjoy immensely. This skill that once you acquire you will never forget has enabled me to explore parts of Singapore I might not had gone if without a trusty bicycle - the ends of East Coast Park, Changi Beach, Pulau Ubin, Marina Barrage at night, Coney Island and most recently, the Central Catchment Area. Had not even planned on ever seeing that last one! 🤣

One good thing about working close to home had been the feasibility of cycling to work. Skip the crowded buses and unreliable bus schedules and get some fresh air and exercise at the same time! Thus when I moved into my own place, a bicycle was on my to-buy list. I was very blessed to have one of my closest pal to gift me with one as a birthday cum housewarming present. And that is how my bright red mountain bike came to be at my humble abode in Hougang.

Since changing my marital status, the address needed an update as well. As I had no need to hire a mover to shift my belongings, my first (and only) option of moving my bicycle was to cycle it to its new home. A bicycle is a form of transportation after all! Moreover, a new coast-to-coast trail of Singapore's Park Connector Network was just announced so I was reassured that there would be a safe route for me to cycle from Hougang to Bangkit.

A quick search online brought me to Bikemap which planned out a route within seconds! I was so happy that I briefly skimmed through the more obvious checkpoints on the route and decided on the best day to execute this targeted 1.5 hours journey. Long distance or duration cycling is not foreign to me especially after the overnight cycling excursion I once completed with my Pathlight colleagues. However to be on the safe side, I set a journey time of 2 hours for myself to complete the 21 km route.

The day came and although I was excited to begin, I was deterred by the blazing hot sun. I had no wish to faint from heatstroke with my bulky bicycle in the middle of nowhere! So I decided to wait till late afternoon but it started to drizzle too. 😦 Oh well, at least I would not be burnt and it was kind of refreshingly cool as the raindrops fell.

Other than the sudden downpour, the first half of the journey was relatively easy and smooth. There was only one moment when I was cycling along Lentor Avenue that I felt incredibly small beside the multiple buses and big trucks passing by me at high speeds. It got somewhat challenging when I came to Mandai Road as the route got increasingly inclined. Thankfully, I was able to will myself to continue by dismounting and pushing the bike along.

On a positive note, I was greeted with various pretty scenic views near the zoo, military camp and even at a highway overpass! I also met some fellow cyclists who were all much more better equipped than me with helmets and working lights. Incredibly thankful to one particular uncle who stopped his bicycle at a crossing to signal to drivers that another biker was on the way.





1.5 hours in when I should have reached Bangkit, I finally arrived at what I thought would be the final leg of the route. To my horror, I discovered that rather than the usual park connector paths which I am used to, it was through the off-road condition bike trail in the Central Catchment area! I was not ready for it. It was also nearing nightfall and my headlights had ran out of battery on me... I got to admit that I panicked a little.

Aware I had no other choice, I put my foot on the pedal and pushed on. Ill-prepared for the conditions present, I stayed safe and dismounted to push my bicycle both uphill and downhill whenever necessary while keeping an eye and an ear out for possible visitations by wild boars. I pedaled furiously against time whenever the path was flat and smooth with the single hope of seeing familiar grounds before it turned pitch dark in this forested area with dense overhead canopy.

With each turn that led to disappointment (and anxiety), the emotion I felt when I finally recognised the exit near Chestnut Trail was impossible to describe. So that was what laid on the other path which I had never taken when Axel and I go for our nature walks... I was drenched, exhausted, filthy and grateful. I made it!!

With still a little bit of daylight left, two-and-a-half hour after a 21 km bike/hike journey, I slowly pushed my muddy bike and my spent body the final few hundred metres back home. Not quite the journey to the west but this journey towards the west turned out to be quite the adventure I did not expect.

In search of The carpenter

When we first discussed renovating our house, the hubby's main concern was that we would not be able to find a good carpenter. He had been very impressed with the work of the last carpenter he hired years ago and wanted to hire him again even though he knew the carpenter would likely be retired by now. Imagine that they had no common language but the hubby still speaks of him like a kindred spirit, they believe in quality, excellent, lasting workmanship.

So, the dutiful wife made the call to Uncle Chan as although I am no good at Cantonese, I can still converse with him in Mandarin. I was full of anticipation while waiting for the call to go through as I heard so much about Uncle Chan and his hand in the various furniture at home. 🤣 Uncle Chan was very friendly and understanding, however, he is indeed retired and my hubby would not be able to hire his trusted carpenter.

On hubby's suggestion to ask Uncle Chan's recommendation for other carpenters, Uncle Chan candidly responded that he honestly cannot. 🤯 Is the standard that bad/low now? He continued to ask if we are going to have major renovations to which I replied that we intend to renovate room by room and he said that that was good; we can always change the contractor if the workmanship leaves much to be desired.. 😆

But how to decide on that first carpenter to use? Haus Bedroom was suggested by the parquet supplier we purchased from. They are neighbours in the same industrial estate. Naturally, I checked out its Facebook page first. I like that they offer a variety of configurations for the wardrobe design and the pricing is reasonable. Thankfully, hubby agreed and we swiftly made an appointment.

Michael was my first point of contact and had been extremely helpful. He is knowledgeable and confident of his products and able to give us suggestions and alternatives to our (mainly hubby's 😛) demands requirements. Especially for our bed frame which would hold our 2 European sized single mattresses and movable slatted frames and have sufficient storage underneath.

Exactly a month ago, our bedroom had been totally revamped with new parquet floor, new wardrobe, new bed frame and new wallpaper, paint and ceiling fan  (last three completely done by hubby himself) And we can't be any more pleased with how it had turned out... it is definitely my favourite room of the entire house at the moment. Special thanks warranted for not just Michael but his team of workers, including Moni and Nur. Moni even built a mini-version of the very complicated bed frame design to be extra certain that there would be no mistake in the final product. 👍

I think I don't even need to worry about finding the next carpenter too as hubby was already discussing possible ideas for the kitchen with Michael. 😉

8. Dylan and Erica need to see our faces in the crowd.. cheering

Unfortunately, I have yet to find the chance to be there for the kiddos in this regard. The closest I can think of is smiling and cheering them on from the other side of the glass window while they were having fun in The Little Gym.

Again, their parents are really good in doing so, I think. I believe they have not missed a single session of either of their sports days or school concerts. There are always lovely photos taken at those events of them grinning brightly in sporty action or colourful costumes. Although, I can imagine my brother yelling in addition to cheering them at the same events though... 😝

I did volunteer myself to accompany Dylan on his next school outing! That should be fun and Dylan was rather excited about the prospect. Most importantly, our presence and engagement in their lives will make such a positive difference for them.