Florian Hollender | floho.com

I am astonished how fast time was passing away the last days. It feels like I just came back from the island with Tine, but actually she is back in Germany for over a week now and it already becomes time for me to leave.
LEAVE? Well, yeah. My time in Singapore is pretty much over. I will come to the office once more today and then jet to Shanghai over the week. Coming back on Sunday, I will either directly continue my journey homewards or stay one more night and then go back, depends on the flight I get. I already have a confirmed booking for monday, but sunday is still on hold. We’ll see! When I take the plane on monday, I will be on the same flight with Johannes. Well, if he gets upgraded to the upper floor (which means first class), I won’t see much of him anyway

The week here has been strange, i felt like being in trance. I cannot even remember every day clearly, it is like time just rushed away under my feet. I was constantly tired and either hungry or “just had a double-whopper and all my stomach asked for were some french fries”-like.
Maybe it was the shock that I got when I came back to “civilization”. Really, I got so “unplugged” from normal life on the island that it demanded a real effort to get everything back up and running, while everything I wanted most was planning the next holiday, the next dive and the next timeout with Tine.
On Friday I got the testimonial from Johannes, you know, that “To whom it may concern”-stuff. It is quite nice, at least I hope so. I never got one, so I have no idea which traps are hiding in it. Let’s just assume there are none and I actually was as good as it is described there. That would, if I may say so, make me proud. Johannes gave me a good feedback on what he thinks about the work I’ve done and he was satisfied. So was I – can’t get better, huh?
Honestly, this was such a great time, I am really feeling sorry to leave. This city is strange, and great, and for me who has never lived in a big city it was unbelievable how easy life can be in certain aspects. You wanna party? Just grab a taxi and go there. Cook? No, don’t cook. Go get something. Fastfood? Just down the road. Chinese, taiwanese, hainanese, thai, indian, korean? Go to the food court and get better food then in every restaurant in a 50km range from home in Germany. Expensive? Bah, in Germany the taxi to the restaurant costs you more than the whole trip here.
But enough about prices. I just never lived abroad for so long ever before, and eventually I got used to being here quite well. I know a lot more about the city now then I thought I would get to know, but a minor part of it reflects in the Lonely Planet. Nevertheless is it good to come home again. Maybe my mind will change exactly that moment when I get out of the plane and realize that I am back. But chances are that I will get back in touch with you all and won’t have time to mourn about the past – and the past is already gone anyway, isn’t it?

Remember that song….