What a Combination!

As one of the many (pun intended) common interests of my husband and mine, we just booked yet another yoga holiday. On a phone chat with the organizer where we got more friendly, she curiously asked me where we were from. "Well, I am Singaporean, he's German, and we both live in Switzerland." Surface facts indeed, but they already take three sentences to answer, and there's certainly much more that would remind me of my identity, or is there one? "What a combination!" She exclaimed.

The next question in anticipation - "How did you guys meet?" But thank goodness I was only on the phone booking for a holiday.

We do get to be asked such question a lot. I'm not much of a sharer. My Asian roots always produce that signal of reservation in a crowd, along which is a faint voice saying "it is not necessary to be under the spotlight, keep a low profile". This often ends up me brushing aside a much longer and more complicated story and summarizing it with three crisp elements: time, place, and turning points. Whenever I do so, my poor husband will always ask me afterwards with that disappointing look in the eye: "Honey, why didn't you tell them our story? We have such a beautiful story to share and people are interested." Well, I just don't want to be the center of attention to avoid hassle. Over time, I learned to point to him to answer the question since he's a better story-teller. But with my subconscious body language beside him, his story invariably cuts short, omitting many details to respect my level of comfort. For that, I have to remind myself from time to time: "hey, don't be a wet blanket, enjoy it. Sharing is fun!".

During the initial days when we met, my husband kept saying "we are so much alike" to me, with a genuine, romantic and sweet smile. Whilst my Asian realistic approach jumped out with hint of worry - "no no no, we are very different in many aspects". Now thinking back, that was hilarious, as not long after, I certainly felt that he and I could sometimes indeed be the same person (pun not intended).

Saying so, I don't intend to write about my private life. The fact that I have the opportunity to live and breathe both east and west, to keep my brain muscles flexing on self reflection, at work, in life, and to have great circle of friends who are international and global-minded brings smiles to my face. The exposure and experience I have had and still are having is a valuable wealth that I would love to share. Perhaps that can inspire, encourage, help you in places and scenarios, in a way that I couldn't fully imagine myself.