Making new friends

One of the reasons I moved to Singapore was to experience a new culture and to meet people from different backgrounds.

Funny how you end up people, huh?

When I moved here, for a long time, I could not play golf. Mainly because I did not have a handicap. What I did not know was I could get a handicap from any club as long as I took the test from the local pro and paid them some money.

A collegue of mine suggested the golf pro from whom he was taking lessons. So I called him up and fixed up a time for the test. Of course, I wasn't worried about the test, since I was playing quite regularly. So the test went thro fine and I made a good acquintance.

Then this guy called me up and said that they were going to Palm Resort for a game and asked if I wanted to join. I jumped at the opportunity, having not played for quite a while. And then he called up again to say that Sebana Cove was having their monthly medal competition and if I would like to join.

I was, of course, happy to go. He told me on the ferry to Sebana that all of his students were high handicappers and that they would slow me down if I was paired with them. So he paired me with a single handicapper.

This is the guy who I now regularly play golf with. I really enjoy playing with this guy. Both of us like to play golf and enjoy playing competitive. By the rules of the game, he is supposed to give me strokes depending on the handicap difference. But I don't take a single stroke from him and try to take the game to him.

We have had a few great battles on the course.

We also click very well when we are not playing. In just three meeting, we were comfortable enough to make fun of each other and to invite each other home.

Yesterday, he had invited me and my family over to his palatial house here in Singapore. He and his gracious wife went to a lot of trouble to make us feel comfortable. Of course, the food they had cooked up (he claims he cooked it all himself) was absolutely fabulous.

It was a Malay-Indonesian fusion kind of cuisine and both me and my wife loved it. I haven't had such a great meal since I moved to Singapore.

After dinner, we retired to this loveley patio he has right outside his bedroom and sat chatting there for a long time. It was as if we have known each other for a really long time, when in fact, we hardly know each other.

This is the funny thing about meeting people. Some people you click instantly, others you don't get along no matter how long you know them.

Funny, huh?