bubble tea – Grow with me

Today was my birthday! I did A LOT today, so hopefully this post won’t be too long. I promise it’ll be interesting though!

I ate a piece of pork jerky for breakfast as usual, and then I headed to Chinatown. The closest subway stop to my hotel was Fort Canning, and Chinatown was only one stop away. Previously, I was planning to walk, but Mino suggested it was better to take the subway.

The walk would have been 15-20 minutes, and honestly, I would usually walk if it’s under an hour in Toronto unless I’m in a rush. But it was so hot that I did what a Singaporean would do; take the MRT.

I was meeting Mino and Cosy at noon, but decided to leave earlier to check out the mall and look at the nice stores around. When I got off the station, I entered the mall that was right there (Chinatown Point?) and began checking out each floor.

There were so many different food options and also shops to see! I saw a supermarket that was called, “Fair Price Supermarket” and decided I had to go in to check if the items were fair priced. See what I did there? 😉

I was so proud of my joke that I kept telling everyone, and Cosy was so fed up that she complained she heard the same joke 7x on the last day! HAHAHAHA.

Sorry for repeating myself so many times, but it was with a different group each time, ok? So I’m not that sorry.

Mino used to translate on Wuxiaworld. He was also one of the twenty translators I had chosen back in the summer of 2019. Mino is a lawyer, but he was on a sabbatical and was taking a break at the time.

Mino was/is a super pro translator because he is so articulate. I think having a strong vocabulary really made/makes him stand out! Sadly, his workload became too much, and he stopped translating last year in August.

Nonetheless, we still talk once in a while, and I said I would come to Singapore to meet him one day. When I decided I was coming, I asked him if he had time. I also asked him if his wife or Adrian would like to join as well. Adrian had edited the first 700 chapters of Keyboard Immortal, and he is PRO. Adrian was Mino’s referral, and his friend in real life, so I thought it’d be nice to meet if they were all free.

Unfortunately, Mino says neither his wife nor Adrian were available, and due to his busy schedule, he only had time to meet for lunch. We met at Chinatown because his office was in the mall.

Mino said he usually eats at a hawker centre, but because I couldn’t handle the heat that well, I wanted somewhere with A/C.

Then, he suggested the Breakthrough Café. Mino said that the café is actually run by previous drug offenders. Their mission is to help them integrate into the society again. I find that very admirable, and thought it would be an interesting experience.

Mino and I met at the mall, and when he arrived, I gave him a hug! He did hug me back, but I think hugging is just too weird in Singapore, so he wasn’t that comfortable. Sorry Mino! LOL

We then went to the café first because Cosy was running late. When we got there, Mino ordered a bunch of items so that I could try; he ordered everything in Mandarin.

I praised Mino for having great Mandarin, and he said, “No, I suck. I cannot do business in Mandarin at all. It’s too hard to get my point across. I can only say simple stuff.”

This reminded me of my brother. HAHA. My brother has very lousy Cantonese, but extremely great English. I recalled he wanted to tell my parents that he went to see the Northern Lights with Charlene (his lovely girlfriend), but he told my parents he saw the green sky. LOLOLOL. (I wonder if he’ll read this? *hehe* Charlene convinced him to read Day 1-3, so I think he might see this. What kinda bro are you. You should care about your sister!) Continue reading “Day 5: Sept 13th”

Please read Day 1 before reading this. Today, I met up with Limit for lunch! He said he was going to pick me up from my hotel. I didn’t realize he was actually going to pick me up with a car. Haha. After all, it is extremely expensive to drive in Singapore. I was told that in order to get a car, you would need a piece of paper to bid, and that paper alone would cost nearly six figures already. The car itself is probably another $50k. To make matters worse, you would only get the car for 10 years (I forget what happens afterwards). Oh, and gas is super expensive too.

So, unless your family is rich (or you are), you probably wouldn’t be driving. Singapore has a super amazing subway system anyway, so you don’t even need to drive. It’s AMAZING. To prove my point, here’s a picture:

Hence, when people tell me that they will pick me up, I would automatically assume that they’re coming over via public transportation and then walking to where I am.

So, I was very stunned when Limit actually drove over. Now, before you think I’m insane for going inside a stranger’s car, Cosy has met Limit before, and Cosy’s brother is Limit’s classmate (or schoolmate? I forget).

Anyhow, it was nice to meet Limit! Limit is one of the twenty translators I had hired back in the summer of 2019 for Wuxiaworld. At the time, I had chosen the top 20 applicants out of the 300+ we had received. Successful applicants had to pass both the novel test as well as the manhua (comic) test. I had chosen ten for novels, and ten for manhua. Limit was one of the people I had chosen for manhua.

I had only briefly worked with Limit because I wasn’t in charge of managing the manhua translators at the time. So, there were probably two years or so that we didn’t chat. It wasn’t until last year that he started editing a Korean novel for us that we talked from time to time.

I recalled he seemed quite chill and friendly, and I figured we should meet up in Singapore since he was a Singaporean! I wanted to go to a 2D café and also an escape room, and invited him to join me, Coca, Corliss, and Blip.

Limit wanted to have lunch first though, so I said, “Sure, let’s go eat somewhere! But could we meet near Bugis because that’s where we’re going to meet the others later?”

Limit was fine with it, and said he’d come to get me at my hotel and we could go together. I thought we were going to take the subway, but it was nice to get a ride.

When we were in the car, we asked for each other’s age. I asked him to guess mine, and he said, “Twenty five.” But for some reason, “twenty” sounded like “thirty” to me in the Singaporean accent, and I nearly shrieked. “YOU THINK I AM 35? DO I LOOK THAT OLD?”

And Limit quickly clarified and exclaimed, “I said 25! 25!” LOLOL

I was like, “Oh. Ok!” I smiled and calmly replied, “I’m actually 34…” And then I was super sad about how old I was. Sigh.

I think he was a bit surprised, but Limit was focusing on driving, so he wasn’t looking at me. Then, he told me he was 26 or 27. I was like, “Ohhhh.”

Honestly, it’s quite hard to tell with Asians. We don’t look too different in our 20s-30s, so it could be a wide range.

Limit mentioned he usually doesn’t drive during the weekdays, because parking would cost $50-$60 downtown if he were to drive to his office and stay there all day. I don’t remember how much parking was during the weekend, but it was cheaper.

But I guess, if you have a car, you might as well use it. If you’re not going to drive it, it’d be a waste of money!! However, I do feel that if guys/girls were going on a date, they should be careful and probably not drive too soon; just in case the person is after their money instead.

Anyway, we arrived to Bugis, and Limit asked me what I wanted to eat. I muttered, “I just want somewhere with A/C.” It was SO HOT!!!

We parked underground in a mall, and then went upstairs and walked outside and quickly found a restaurant. It was a Japanese restaurant where you grill your own meat. I do not remember the name (Sorry, I’m really bad at remembering the names of food or places).

I checked the time, and it was around 12:15pm. I was a bit worried we wouldn’t have enough time to eat because I had booked the escape room for 1pm. Luckily, the food arrived by 12:26pm!

By the way, Limit is EXTREMELY tall. I think he said he was 187cm. I giggled, “Limit, your name is Limit because your height has no limit!”

Limit just stared at me. “…” Hahaha. I guess he didn’t think I was funny.

Me and Limit chatted about his work, and how he was going to quit and vacation in Japan before starting his new job. He seemed to enjoy travelling a lot, and so do I. I felt like he’s been to a lot more places than I have though. I think he likes Japan the most. I have never been, but I’d like to go one day!

I also told him to come out on Sept 15^th, since that’s the night where I had invited a bunch of WW translators + volare people to go karaoke. I got Cosy to help me book a party room that could fit 30!

Limit said he would be coming right after work, and would be dressed in his work clothes. I replied, “It’s fine. No one is going to judge you based on what you’re wearing!!” (Actually, I was judged when I had arrived at the airport but that’s beside the point) Continue reading “Day 2: Sept 10th”