So, where are you from?

That has become a theme so far during this trip.

The friend that was hosting me in Singapore had brought me along to a weekly volleyball event at Sentosa that has been put together by the “couchsurfing” group in Singapore. Although I did not know a single person there before that day, I still came along as I loved to play volleyball (and probably the only time during this trip where I will be able to). Being a social sport, by the end of the games I had gotten to know a few people’s names. It wasn’t till afterwards when a group of us decided to go to dinner that the question “So, where are you from?” came up over and over again.

Often, the question of where you come from leads to other questions such as, what do you do? What do you like? Where have you been?

Out of the group that stayed behind, there was one Indonesian, one French, one Japanese, one Filipino, three Singaporeans, and two Canadians. How crazy diverse is that?

The more I talked to them, the more I found out about each one of them. Some have travelled the world extensively – from South America to South Africa – some are still in school, some are working as designers, copywriters. Surprisingly, there was even someone that just quit their job to move to the US in December to find a job – just like what I’m doing, except reverse the continents.

After sharing some experiences, I was more than optimistic than ever about this trip. Many of the worries and uncertainties that I will have to overcome, some of them (who are much younger) have done many times over.

I’m sure there are lots of strangers that are intrigued by your background, since they know nothing about you. So give it a try on your next trip – I’m sure you’ll be surprised.

That’s definitely something I’ll be asking many times throughout this trip.