Well, not exactly Karina's Send-off alone. Wayne, Jun and Sita were also set to leave Singapore that day, but the focus of this entry will be Karina leaving Singapore.
I woke-up at 6:30 AM to meet Karina, so that we can go to the foyer to meet Smile, Gwen, Jhoana and Bonvin who were set to send-off Wayne, as Wayne was set to leave for the Philippines today. When we got to the foyer, Jess was there. We waited for a while for them to arrive. They woke-up a bit late for their scheduled departure from PGP.
To Wayne: Even though you accidentally left the photo at the check-out counter (haha), I would still like to thank you for being the Filipinos' kuya, our kuya, in Singapore. Thanks for all the help you've given us, for the guidance during the semester. I hope we still get to see you sometime. God Bless you always!
As soon as Wayne checked-out, and as soon as they left PGP, Karina, Jess and I went back to our rooms. I went with Jess to her room to get her things. We transferred her things to the GSA as she didn't extend her room stay. She then went to Karina's room.
Karina asked for help from me through text, but I wasn't able to read the new message from my cellphone immediately as I was still chatting with Yushi that time. Sorry Karina! I didn't look at my cellphone that time. Good thing Jesse and Roy helped Karina bring her things down from her room to the Foyer. Thanks Jesse and Roy! (No thanks to Jess as she didn't carry anything. JOKE!!!)
Jess then accompanied Karina to the check-out counter. Jesse, Roy and I waited at the Foyer for them. Dinna and Sita arrived at the Foyer with Karina and Jess after 15 minutes or so. As we waited for Karina's taxi, I was able to take group photos, with me in the center and everyone on the background as I was using my cellphone from afar. Good job with the photos! :))
Jess and I rode the taxi with Karina. We bid goodbye to Sita as she was set to leave in the afternoon for Malaysia. When we got to the airport, I was somehow astounded with the amount that Karina paid for the taxi. Usual price would be 21 SGD. But Karina paid almost 30 SGD, as it was "peak hour" according to the cab driver. Whatever. There wasn't even any traffic.
We then went on to the check-in counters for Air Asia. It was kinda confusing as there were no specific counters for the different destinations. Karina's baggages were around 6 kgs overwwight, so she had to pay 54 SGD for the overweight. Boo!
We waited for Monse and John to arrive. Jun soon arrived at the airport with her friend Lai Ping, as she was also set to leave today. Jun is riding Thai Air to Laos via Bangkok. Monse and John arrived at almost 10, since Monse woke-up late. Good thing (or bad thing as it was unsafe), that John was able to enter Monse's flat and her room, as she didn't lock the doors, to wake her up.
All of us went to the entrance of the Departure Hall at 10:20 to send Karina off. This time, I didn't feel sad nor crying as I was happy for Karina, that she was going home. I don't know why, but I didn't feel sad at all. Perhaps, I was optimistic this time, and it wasn't raining yet that time, which made me feel much much better about Karina leaving. Unlike Yushi's wherein I was alone going home, with Karina's send-off, I was with Jess, Monse and John. I was happy that Karina was finally able to go home. I was happy for Yushi too when he was going home, just that I was with him at the airport overnight, and left the airport alone, which made the situation a bit more sad, so to speak.
Aside from the Filipinos, Karina and Yushi were my 2 closest friends at NUS, and still are my closest friends from NUS. I have formed a bond with them which I didn't had the chance to form with other people. I would surely miss them, but I made it a point to always talk to them whenever I'm given the chance to do so.
We rode SkyTrain to Terminal 2 to ride the MRT going home. It started raining when we were already at Tanah Merah Interchange. When we got to Clementi, it was raining so hard that we decided to ride the taxi going to NUS. We went to McD afterwards, but decided to eat at TechnoEdge instead. As I had to get my GST refund slip from Central Forum, I decided to wait for the rain to at least soften before going across the roofless walkway to Central Forum.
I saw Gwen at the Foyer and together, we went to The Deck to buy her favorite food. As the rain wasn't pouring as hard, it almost stopped when we were about to leave the Library premises, we decided to walk to TechnoEdge to be with Monse, Jess and John. Soon after, we went to the bus stop, where we saw Jesse going to TechnoEdge. Good thing we shouted his name so loud that he saw us. Haha! Jess had to get her refund from YIH, so only 5 of us went to PGP. We decided to go to R6, as Gwen suggested.
Later on, I went back to GSA. Papa and I went to POSB to withdraw money. I learned that there's a 2000 SGD limit for ATM withdrawals per day. So I had to go inside, queue-up and wait for 30 minutes before withdrawing the reamining 2500 SGD. Sigh, I just hate long lines.
I then went to a money exchange and changed my SGDs to USDs. Papa and I went back to PGP. I then went to PGP AC Caf to have one final dinner with John, who was set to leave at 11 the next day, Jesse, Roy and Jess. I could actually feel the silence at the tables even when we were talking, maybe because most people already left. I was happy to have one finalinner with them, but I kinda felt sad that it might be our last time to see each other (well, at least for John, as Roy is surely coming to the Philippines and Jesse might just come back to the Philippines).
I was supposed to meet Gwen at the backgate at 7, but Monse texted, so I thought of waiting for her. However, she was kinda far away, and so by 7:20, I met Gwen and Rob, along with Jess, at the backgate, to leave for the Laksa Steamboat. We missed the stop for Laksa Steamboat, so we had to alight at the next bus stop and walk back.
Jess' friends came over at the place and gave her a gift, which made Jess cry a bit. I was waiting for Monse to arrive, as both of us are practically eating the same thing. But then she decided not to eat. Since I already had dinner earlier, I decided not to eat as well. It was fun hanging out with the NUS Filipinos for one last time.
We then went back to PGP and parted ways. Jess and I decided to have supper at K Gourmet, for the first and last time! We ate hasbrown, vegetarian spring rolls and brownie with chocolate ice cream for dessert. Oh Yum! (as Jess said it last time :p)
We went back to GSA. Jess finished her packing, while I finished uploading photos. Jess thankfully tagged people for me, as I was really sleepy. She was able to talk to Karina for a long time. Thank you Karina for giving the idea to Jess to push me off the sofa bed. Haha!
Karina has been and will always be a good friend. I'll surely miss her. This might be one long entry, but it's worth it to remember every detail of this long day. May God bless you always Karina! Same goes for Sita, Jun and Wayne who left the same day.
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