Who watches the (bird)watchers?
Answer: it's me
Hello world! Janel here, inaugural guest contributor to The Nihon News, sharing my reflections on Raghav and Tatum’s recent visit to Singapore and Bali.
Dingo, Ursula (our dog), and I moved into our new place on January 5, a week before Raghav and Tatum’s (slightly delayed, thanks to the FAA meltdown) arrival to Singapore. As of this writing, we have spent the same number of nights in our new place with Raghav and Tatum as we have without them. It might sound stressful to have two houseguests one week after you’ve moved, but having the two of them here was overwhelmingly pleasant that it really helped to soften the brutal memories packing, cleaning, moving, and unpacking twice in two months. Our little household is still basking in the afterglow of their visit and missing the casual joy they brought to our day to day.
In a way, each of us is in transition, together and as individuals – into a new year, new spaces, new phases. It was nice that we could intersect and capture this moment in our collective story. I loved that we had two whole weeks of time together; what a luxury to not feel like we were squeezing in friendships in between other obligations.
We had time to do the big things and also enjoy the small moments. We made coffee at home, we walked to the café with our dog. We cycled along the coast and ran for the bus like a gaggle of kids on summer break. We drank juices and compared fresh coconuts. We accidentally went to places that were closed, shrugged, and had a really nice dinner somewhere else. We pointed at trees and squinted at birds. We ate durian and chicken rice and nasi lemak and lunar new year cookies. We woke up early to catch flights, we woke up early to catch a sunrise that was in a totally different direction than we thought it would be (oops). We slept in and woke up to shouting over soccer highlights. We shouted “Agong, Agong!” and pointed out the car window. We collected coral fossils on a black sand beach. We shared sunscreen and reminded each other to drink more water. We discussed the merits of different karaoke songs and then sang them all (answer: never enough Rihanna). We read horoscopes and tarot cards and mused about our futures. We drank more fresh coconuts. We talked about the next time we’d see each other and quietly marveled that our puppy would soon not be a puppy anymore. We said goodbye and went barreling off into the new year, grateful to be growing old together.
Your essay makes my heart soft Janel. Friendships like you four have are beautiful things.
Love these pictures! So great to see Tatum and Raghav with the biggest smiles :) what a wonderful time you four shared together!