My first visit to a Singapore High Commission

Thanks to Malcolm for trusting me to take babysit his FTO, the past few days were quite happening.

For one, I visited the Singapore High Commission for the first time since 2006 last Friday. (Actually, it's my first time in any Singapore High Commission.) The High Commissioner, Albert Chua, held a open party for Singaporeans in Canberra so I thought it might be a good opportunity to visit the High Commission as well as to network and socialize. There was a good turnout of roughly 160 Singaporeans and needless to say, the catered food was excellent! I had the opportunity to speak to Albert Chua and to my own (selfish and arrogant) amusement, there were two very "stunning" moments.

Moment 1
Me: So Sir, what do you think about the relevance of what you'd studied and your current job? English literature and being a diplomat..
Albert: ... *Stunned*
Me: Oh yes, I did some research before coming here...

Moment 2
Me: Yeah, in fact a friend of mine who goes to school in Brown is interested in doing the MFA internship here in Canberra.
Albert: Why would she want to come to Canberra when she's in Brown?!
Me: ... *Stunned*

I'm sorry but the lack of social interactions that evening led me down the path of creating stuff for my own amusement. Later that evening, I had the opportunity to speak to a few SAF scholars studying at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA). I had quite an engaging discussion with a few of them on China's rise and its implications for our region and other stuff. Amongst the other stuff included, "Eh, take what bus can go ADFA huh?". You see, I have a security career night to attend this coming Thursday at ADFA lah. Anyway, I made friends with one of the boys. Turns out that he knows Iris and he has even offered to give me a tour of ADFA! How cool is that?! Will definitely blog about that when I take up his offer...

Then, on Saturday after church, Eugene and I went to Yarralumla to have Turkish food. Although I didn't have my all-time favorite pide and had the mix-grill set instead, the food still didn't disappoint.

After dinner, we proceeded to Manuka (where parking is a nightmare) to have dessert and wine. I was so adult and responsible because I didn't drink and had dessert instead. I introduced him to Verve, a place that our gang used to like for its minimalist yet stylist decor. Apparently they had taken their not very tasty Tiramisu off the menu and created a brand new dessert menu. Well, I guess that's like 2 years ago anyway so things do change huh. I had the Chocolate Trifle which was essentially whipped cream with chocolate flakes, brownie pieces and Kahlua custard trifle. Apart from the huge amount of whipped cream, it was quite delicious. I was like so full after that can?



So yeah, although I missed Skyfire 21, I didn't think my weekend was too bad at all! =)