Little Asian In The Sun

I've been a little unwell recently. I guess I've just been tired and being outdoors in the sandy atmosphere has taken a toll on me. The indoors, however, drives me mad especially in these past two weeks when I've had lesser work to do. Meaning, nothing much to focus on. I don't really like watching TV during the day, I can only read so much and cooking for two doesn't take forever. In short, my movements are restricted indoors. I suppose for me, moving about, is key to sanity. 

I had spent the last ten days, walking. With a small bag pack carrying water, towel, bananas, an extra pair of pants and a note book, I left home around 3pm, walked through the city for about 2-3 hours before going to my evening bootcamp sessions. I had also kept my RunKeeper app turned on so I could track my distance, time and route.  

Well, I didn't see much on my routes except for a dead kitten and a bird but I did notice the amount of roadworks that's been taking place. It's everywhere, almost at every major road, creating a traffic mess. Some of these are way past their deadlines. Apparently, that's the sad construction culture here, according to the hub. Some of his own projects have been delayed to a year due to many reasons including client indecisiveness. Like how one client had wanted to have all those street lights changed after seeing a design he liked better from another part of the city. At that point, everything has been agreed upon and authorised.  

Having unilateral hearing loss, the busy and noisy outdoors is challenging. There's a combination of sounds from the traffic and heavy machinery. But I also feel that it helps me get used to it all even more so I could be outdoors longer without feeling queasy and misplaced. I do rely more on my eyesight when I'm outdoors which brings me back to the careless and callous driving culture here. Signal fixtures are obviously redundant as drivers take corners and lanes without ever using them. Speeding, well over the speeding limit even when making a turn is a norm that's dangerous and irresponsible. Only one out of 10 vehicles that I came across used a signal when making a turn as I counted and cussed. 

I also got incessant stares, honks from passersby. Walking isn't really a culture here. Especially when the temperature is rising, even more so if you're a woman and an Asian woman at that (many Asian women seem to have sun phobia). I was fully covered, from top to bottom complete with a hat for the long distance. No catcalling but just stares. By now, I've learnt to ignore them, I think. A minority stared like I was naked. A handful of them ogled at the section in between my hips like I was an inanimate picture in a magazine. That still made me mighty uncomfortable and sick. The majority was probably just curious about the little Asian woman in the sun. 

I hope to resume walking some time this week. Despite the challenges, I do enjoy my walks. There are things I don't see and feel when I'm driving. In the mean time, I've been resting at home, quite restlessly. So, I took up a project to revive an old, plain sweater. 

I sewed clusters of dyed stones onto the front of the sweater

Irregular shaped dyed stones in clusters 

Close-up

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