Adaptations

This is my third morning waking up in the big apple, still jetlagged so I can be up at 6am writing this. The past three days have been a whirlwind of administrative work to settle – finally got my US mobile number and opened a bank account here so at least the parents can transfer cash to me now 😀  Placement exams also happened two days ago! These exams are to determine if we are allowed to ‘skip’ some lower level modules and just enter the higher level ones. They were a good mix of easy and hard so, ok la not too bad.

To be honest, everything has been overwhelmingly new! I mean apart from the obvious new country and new school, I’m still getting used to a new practice schedule, food, transport, and general way of life. I want my Chicken Rice, Nasi Lemak, You Mian and Cai Fan. I wanna be able to go to sleep without hearing police/firetruck sirens each night. I wanna be able to shower without having to negotiate the right balance between the hot and cold tap so that I do not freeze to death or get scalded. I also wanna be able to let myself slack (read: relak) and just utter singlish without having to worry if people can understand me or not.

Nonetheless, I do feel incredibly blessed to have been given the opportunity to study here and better myself as a musician (and person, hopefully). NYC is great city for artists, it is so stimulating if you know where to look. Manhattan School of Music is also a really bustling music school that even has jazz, musical theater and contemporary performance departments so it has been very interesting meeting people of different disciplines, it helps me see beyond my own artistic interests.

Some pictures from Changi airport:

And the only 2 pictures of NYC I have for now:

They literally said “On Wednesdays we wear pink”. It was Wednesday, 24 August.
Also, they were performing for me some Broadway classics haha.

ok not a great picture, but this is a street corner on the Upper West Side.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  Matthew 6:19-21