First National Day as a Singaporean

Today is the National Day in Singapore, and it’s a public holiday. This is the first National Day that I’ve spent since I became a Singaporean, so it’s kind of special for me. Since I was in primary school, I’ve always known about Singapore, and regarded it as a place of wonder, cleanliness and prosperity, where people of different races and cultures live together harmoniously. Nevertheless, I thought of Singapore as a faraway place that I had no chance of visiting anytime soon.

I got to know my first Singaporean friend at 14, when I was a middle school student in Shanghai. She was extremely friendly and had a favorable view of Japan, and we got along nicely. My first visit to the Lion City was in 1999 at the age of 25, when I came here for sightseeing. I was truly impressed by the cosmopolitan vibes of the city, and started harboring a desire to live here someday. My dream of migrating to Singapore finally came true in 2002, when I landed a job in a bank here. Little did I know back then that I would go so far as to become its citizen more than 20 years later. If this is not destiny, I don’t know what is. 

It’s a good thing that this year’s National Day falls right in the middle of the workweek, as I was feeling quite tired yesterday. I felt as though I didn’t have enough sleep the previous night, even though I slept for seven hours. Out of no choice, I ordered a latte with an additional espresso shot at the Starbucks downstairs in the afternoon, something that I normally don’t do. The extra caffeine let me work until the end of the day without feeling sleepy.

After work, I headed to The Coffee Bean at Raffles City, where I transcribed my latest journal entry that’s been proofread by ChatGPT into my diary. This physical action of putting pen to paper helps me learn about the issues with my English writing and how they should be amended to sound more natural. Although I possessed good writing skills to begin with, this writing practice with the aid of ChatGPT is truly transforming my English. I look forward to the day when I can express myself in this language with perfect ease. I need to keep working at it in the meanwhile.