New York, London, Paris.
The beginnings of 2010 was a blur. Long hurl plane ride by myself. Excitement. Fear. Heartache. Empty space. Freedom. Snow. Fresh air. Strangers. Jetlagged and running on pure adrenaline, I didn't even know when the year started for real. Flying across 13 hours of time difference, I teetered between 2009 and 2010 for a long while. Finally, I spent the first hours of the Canadian 2010 fast asleep in an unfamiliar bed.
That pretty much set the pace for the rest of the year. 4 months in Canada, living on my own. It wasn't easy, but slowly I grew to love the life. I burnt towels and pumped toilet bowls. I missed home and made new friends. I learnt to cook and threw dinner parties. I had a homemade cake for my 21st and puke all of it out later into the night. I drove on the other side of the road and skipped classes. I tasted fresh snow and made drunken snow angels. I travelled and played and took photos under the Statue of Liberty. Manhattan, Niagara, Ottawa - no longer faraway dreams.
Then it was to Europe for 2 months, best time of my life. Seeing the boy was like falling in love all over again. The first touch of the fingers, the shy kisses and unspoken words, the old familiarity creeping in like the warmth of the fireplace. Hope, sprouting like the first leaves of spring. And then the long, long summer evenings and the daily walks along the river. The cold nights of us falling asleep next to each other, the Atlantic Ocean no longer wide. I remember burning your pots and your big hugs from behind while I make dinner. I remember the taste of the burnt risotto and the taste of living together with someone I love. The thought of us, just us, living and building a life in another part of the world.
And then there were those days when we fall asleep in one city and wake up in another. A kiss underneath the Eiffel Tower. A fight in the empty cold hostel room. A promise at the train station at Pompeii. A wish by the seaside of Santorini. A nap on the hills of Edinburgh. A photo in front of the Colosseum. A smoke by the canals of Amsterdam. Those were the days we stood shoulder-to-shoulder on an unknown street corner, trying to read a foreign map.
Finally, we came home. To family, to friends, to familiarity. We talked endlessly about those days and saw life in a new light. But the old times were never far and they were easy to find. Friendship is the inexplicable ease with which you slip into a much frequented restaurant and spot the smiling faces, knowing they've been waiting for you all these while. Family is the smell of home cooked food every evening and the sound of the TV in the background every night.
The rest of 2010 hurtled by in a flash. School as a senior wasn't particularly fun, but at least there was the Korea trip with the Touch girls. We came back broke and I took on too many things at once. I struggled to keep my eyes open everyday and my grades up. It was a hell of a jump from the long, slow days of the first half, but there was something about chasing deadlines and rushing to places that I've seemed to have missed while away. I've had my fun, and now was the time to work hard so the rest of my life will play out like 2010. I know what I'm working for.
When I look back years later, 2010 would be the year I travelled the world and found a new dream. I am stronger and wiser; my love is bigger and surer. 2010, what a year!
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