Singapore Today
Experiments in adulthood By Josh Nobles (99)
from the fact that working for SAS was going to be a more stable and better paying job than what I had in the U.S., Singapore was my home. I missed the culture, the food, the everI attended SAS from 1984-99 and graduated in 2004 changing scenery and its location in the world. I also saw the from the University of Colorado with a degree in Kinesiology. country as a place of great potential as well as a stepping Young, lost and with no direction, I decided my next move stone in my career. If things did not work out, I thought I should be a safe one, and that I would join the family busiwould have a better chance of ness in Singapore. finding an international job afterward Before this experiment in adultthan if I was still in the U.S. hood began, Ryan Morris (99) and I What I have been most happy to embarked on a journey we had come back to is the food. You simply planned for the past five years. Our cannot get the mix and atmosphere trip began in Amsterdam, and by train, of a hawker stall anywhere else. If bus and airplane, we traveled I’m stuck in a perilous situation, through Europe, Russia, Mongolia wishing I could be in one place, it’s and China. Somewhere between usually at a hawker stall eating and Moscow and Irkutsk, on a 4-day train drinking down a large bottle of Tiger ride that pushed our sanity to the beer. Simple as that. limits, I made a life decision not to I was also eager to experience work for my father, but to pursue Singapore in a completely different something more independent back way from when I previously lived in the United States. here. Before, everything was seen, My next move took me to San tasted and heard through an AmeriDiego, where I worked in a sports can expat bubble. Now I wanted to medicine clinic for three years. In experience the culture from a much the midst of a quarter-of-a-life cri“Adulthood is definitely overrated, ” says Josh, more natural perspective and not sis, Ryan and I once again jumped learn about everyday local life out of the monotony of adulthood who works in the SAS Athletic Department. through TV shows, such as “Under to experience the lawlessness and One Roof” ( a popular local TV show unadulterated passion of travel back in my day) and field trips to Haw Par Villa. adventure through Southeast Asia, beginning in Hong Kong I think similar reasons drag “life-longers” back to Singaand ending in Singapore. pore — the sights, sounds and memories that cannot be found While in Singapore recuperating from our travels, I ran anywhere else. And the experiences that they missed out into Jim Baker. Jim mentioned that SAS was considering on. Many of my friends feel it was a great time in their lives hiring an athletic trainer of some sort and knew I worked in that does not need to be revisited but kept as only a fond the sports medicine field back in the U.S. Two days later I had memory, as if returning would be a step backward in our path an interview in the activities office, and the rest is history. of adulthood. This could be so, but for me adulthood is The decision to return to Singapore to work for my old overrated. For many of us, it’s not about re-living the good high school was a difficult one, mostly because it’s exactly old days, but redefining a place that is ever changing and what my high school friends said I would do. After swallowing creating new experiences and possibilities in a part of the my pride and looking at the advantages of moving back verworld that seems to offer a limitless supply. sus staying in San Diego, I felt it was the right choice. Aside 42
P29-45
42
11/19/07, 4:00 PM