Baking Dreams

The past two (or three?) weeks swept by pretty quickly. This is the joy of being employed; time just whooshes by you. Before I already knew it, it’s June – halfway through 2011. Whoo.

For the last two weeks of May I bunked in with my Indian Collegue S, the reasons being (i) Her husband had gone on a work-related trip to the UK and S didn’t want to be alone, and (ii) staying with her would save me some commuting (actually, A LOT of commuting) across the causeway. The two weeks was great – during that time, I’ve gone to Mustafa Center in Little India, had some cooking adventures (made rice pudding, Japanese korokke, pasta), and went on a movie + dinner + strolling by the Esplanade outing. 

I’ve also had the most vegetarian curry-intensive meals in such a short time. A typical week’s lunch would look something like this:

Monday: cauliflower curry + chapatti

Tuesday: pea curry + chapatti

Wednesday: potato curry + chapatti

Thursday: eggplant curry + chapatti

Friday: spinach curry + chapatti.

See the pattern? LOL.

While everything was going well, an insane illness - for the first time in more than a whole year – invaded my body and I went kaputs. Those who know me well can testify that I very seldom fall sick, but once I DO get sick, I get afflicted with a long, drawn-out illness whereby the symptoms last a few weeks. This time, it’s high fever, cough, runny nose, sore throat, diarrhea, and a splitting headache which came down on me all at once.

S tried to nurse me with some traditional Indian remedies (tumeric in milk, anyone?) which helped, but at the same time she saw nothing wrong with taking curry while having a fever and sore throat – can someone clarify if it’s a Chinese medicine mentality that I’m having? Is it really OK to take curry while in such a state?

Apparently, my body is exhausted. Commuting between Malaysia and Singapore for more than three consecutive months had taken its’ toll, and the moment I get a chance to rest I completely crashed. The illness wrecked havoc on my immunity – it was hard to sit or lie down comfortably, and for some reason I was in great pain. Ngggn. Ordered from the doctor to sleep as much as humanly possible, and armed with a 3-day MC, I headed straight back to JB and camped out at my Mom’s place for the 3 MC days + weekend (which translated into a good five days off from work). A significant portion of the time there was spent sleeping, and the hours I had awake were also mostly spent in bed either crying my heart out or whining lucidly in pain.

During this period, I missed the hubby terribly. Found myself yearning for his gentleness, his sweet assuring words that everything will be okay, and craved for his healing ginger soup (which inevitably resulted in even more crying). Usually I’m OK being alone, but at my weakest and most vulnerable, sleeping in Mom’s queen-sized guest bed by myself never felt so lonely. Was the bed ever that big? Seeing the two pillows sitting side-by-side made the bed feel even more empty…

(And I overdosed myself with Strepsils. LOL)

By Sunday the fever had gone, but the runny nose and coughing still prevailed. Sigh.

On the side, some noteworthy things to mention:

(i) The probation period on my job is over. And I didn’t get fired! Yay!

(ii) I have found a place to stay in Singapore.

(iii) My close friend’s wedding is in August 20^th in Canada – I applied for leave, the boss approved my leave, and I got an air ticket to Canada!!!

(iv) I have to apply for a visa to Canada. Damn I hate paperwork involving immigration Canada; it’s only slightly better than the U.S.