Interview with myself

Interview over dinner

Year 2016 Me:        "Hey! It's been a while. Good thing you agreed to this interview. You haven't even written any new entries in your blog in over a year."

 

Year 2021 Me:        “Yeah, that’s right.”

 

Year 2016 Me:        “Blogging is quite passé already; don’t you think? Any chance you might switch over to vlogging?”

 

Year 2021 Me:        “Nah. Even if I have some creative ideas for content, you know I have zero video editing skills. Haha.”

 

Year 2016 Me:         “Not a talent of ours apparently.”

 

Year 2016 Me:        “So how long has it been? Five years. How’s it going for you?”

 

Year 2021 Me:         “Since that time you returned from your US trip? Oh, a lot has happened! For one, I’ve been to California again last 2019. Visited Grace and her family and Mamita Bell and Jason. Reconnected with Sylj who I haven't seen in ages. And attended Aisa and Ryan’s wedding. Do you remember Aisa?”

 

Year 2016 Me:          “Of course. My roomie at Eliazo along with Mich and Chrissy.”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “Then again, the biggest life event of recent years, I must say, is my career shift in 2018.”

 

Year 2016 Me:          “Whoa! You gave up on the IT career?”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “'Gave up.’ I guess you can say that. I gave up on a very good salary – that I did. Crazy, right?”

 

Year 2016 Me:          “Definitely crazy! What were you thinking?!”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “This might sound dramatic and clichéd to you. But I really got tired of that job. I guess, after so many years of doing it, I just became so burnt out. I also lost my self-esteem.”

 

Year 2016 Me:          “That did sound clichéd. And irresponsible. I never give up, you know.”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “Right. What I did was totally out of character. But I did do a lot of thinking before I did it. I even read up on symptoms of clinical depression, wondering if I was, maybe, depressed. I wasn’t, at least not clinically. But I wasn’t happy either.”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “And don’t you think I deserve to be happy too?”

 

Year 2016 Me:          “Well, if you put it that way…”

 

Year 2016 Me:          “But don’t you regret it? Giving me up? I mean, this way of life that I have.”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “Hmm… No. I wouldn’t say I regret my decision. But I do miss the conveniences of that life. I live in Ho Chi Minh City now.”

 

Year 2016 Me:          “Vietnam. Oh no. How do you manage to get around without the MRT and the public buses?!?”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “Hey! They do have public buses in this city. But… I’ve never ridden one. Haha.”

 

Year 2016 Me:          “Three years there and you’ve never taken the bus? Why?”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “I haven’t found a friend who’s willing to teach me the bus routes. Like Ben did when I moved to Singapore.”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “I imagine the ones who ride the bus here are mostly locals and it’s not like I can easily ask them in case I couldn’t figure out the route. Khong tieng Viet.”

 

Year 2016 Me:        (sniggers) “Hahaha. You still can’t speak Vietnamese until now? Hahaha.”

 

Year 2021 Me:        (raises one eyebrow) “Can you already speak Korean yourself? You’ve watched too many Korean dramas. And you’ve been taking courses, right?”

 

Year 2016 Me:          “Uhmm… Uhmm… 아! 몰라! 몰라!”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “Aha! If you think Korean is difficult, Vietnamese is at least six times more difficult than that. This language has six different tones.”

 

Year 2016 Me:          “The bus maps in Korea are written in Hangeul. But I rode buses there, even if I don’t speak the local language. And you don’t in Vietnam?”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “You and I can read and understand more Korean than Vietnamese obviously. LOL!”

 

Year 2016 Me:          “Then how ah? How to get around Ho Chi Minh lah?”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “Off-topic: Back in 2018, one of my co-teachers had told me I sound Singaporean. Can you believe that?”

 

Year 2016 Me:          “Ya lah!”

 

Together:                  “Hahahahahaha.”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “I did live there for eight years. Of course, I’d pick up the accent somehow.”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “So anyway… How do I get around here, you asked. There are three transport companies – Grab, Gojek and Be – that provide motorbike service. Taking a motorbike is convenient but always stressful ‘coz 11 out of 10 drivers, the way they drive, you'd know they were clearly hired by these transport companies straight out of hell.”

 

Year 2016 Me:          “Just take a Grab Car then.”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “Ano ka, mayaman? Haha. For you, it’s cheap. Have you forgotten that I don’t earn as much now? I can’t afford to pay for Grab Car fares daily. I save those for a rainy day. Literally. I still hate getting wet in the rain. I take a car only when it’s raining.”

 

Year 2016 Me:          “Your life’s hard.”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “I know, right?”

 

Year 2016 Me:          “Why choose to live this way?”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “I like my job. It sounds unbelievable. But I really do."

 

Year 2021 Me:          “Sure, I did drag my feet every Thursday morning during the first semester last school year because I dreaded going to my Grade 8 classes. But those are just three horrible classes out of many more wonderful primary school classes and language center classes I’ve had in the last three years. Here, have a look at my Jumpstart kids.”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “There is discrimination in this job – That’s a sad reality in the ESL industry. But the kids I teach respect me. And I think they like me a lot. That’s what’s more important for me.”

 

Year 2016 Me:          “If you like this job so much, why don’t you just do the same job in the Philippines? When I was younger, I remember saying that to myself – that I’d be a teacher in the Philippines. The plan after uni was to teach in the university in my province, remember? But yeah, I couldn't pass up that really nice job offer from an IT company back then. Hihihi.”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “There’s discrimination in the Philippines as well. Or maybe it’s more appropriate to call it oppression. For a teacher to get a decent salary in our country, he/she would need at least a Master’s.”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “I’m working on that now – just in case. I know very well that I would still have to go back to the Philippines eventually. Unless by some amazing twist of fate I would be able to acquire a different citizenship with better life entitlements. But that's just a pipe dream.”

 

Year 2016 Me:          “True. I have not been so lucky with my permanent residence application here myself.”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “Oh yes. Rejection stings when you know you’ve tried so hard. How many hours have you already spent on community volunteer work?”

 

Year 2016 Me:          “A lot.”

Year 2016 Me:          “But you know what, I enjoy volunteering. Especially in the community libraries.”

Year 2021 Me:          “Awww… That’s one more thing in Singapore that I miss terribly.”

 

Together:                  “The public libraries.” (sigh)

 

Year 2021 Me:          “Is there even a single public library here in Saigon?!?”    

 

Silence.

 

Year 2016 Me:          “We've talked about 2018, 2019. What about last year then? What were you doing in 2020?”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “Pretty much the same as what everyone else was doing – hating on COVID-19. I still am. Even this introvert has already grown so tired of being cut off from the rest of the world because of this pandemic. I haven’t been able to visit my family in more than a year now! I haven’t seen any of my friends, too.”

 

Year 2016 Me:          (shrugs) I feel you. I’m used to being able to travel a number of times in a year. With Circe. With Lizlie.

 

Year 2021 Me:          “Life is just stagnant.”

 

Year 2021 Me:          (smiles) “But something did happen towards the end of 2020.”

 

Year 2016 Me:        “Tell me! Tell me!”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “I got myself a new role. Aside from teaching, I have some management responsibilities now.”

 

Year 2016 Me:          (looking aghast) “What?! Why?! Did you forget that you had given up on your project management role?”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “Right. What did I get myself into again? Hahaha.”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “It’s not that I hate doing management. The education field just feels more familiar to me – I feel like I can do well in this field. I think I am doing well.”

 

Year 2016 Me:          “Duh. You grew up with a Physics teacher for a mother. Of course, you’re familiar with the field.”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “I’ll probably do this until retirement. You know... Teaching. I’m fully aware that doing this job won't ever make me a rich person. You won’t be rich in the future. Sorry.”

 

Year 2016 Me:          “Are you happy with your life?”

 

Year 2021 Me:          “Not counting the ongoing pandemic, yes, I am.”

 

Year 2016 Me:          “I’m happy for you.”