I dunno what possessed me to make a trip down to Baltimore on my own but there had been an invisible force pushing me to come down here to find my friend Lynn. To tell the truth, we were not even that close, because we had known each other since the track and field days in Hwa Chong and later platoon mates in army but we are not those friends who can discuss heart to heart matters. However, after 1 and a half days with her, I realized that we have more than these memories in common. Not sure if she felt the same way but I think we could become really good friends.

So in good faith, I went to the greyhound station alone, cursing my courage to go Baltimore alone and feeling intimated by the sheer numbers of strangers around me. The queue to take the bus to Baltimore was really long, unexpectedly. I hopped onto the greyhound bus 5 mins after my arranged departure time, feeling fortunate that I wasn’t left behind. One thing I really thought greyhound should improve on is that way of doing business—to print more tickets than there are seats on the bus.

As I had been sleeping 4 to 5 hours for the 3 days prior to departure, I felt really drowsy on the bus but common sense tells me to not let my guard down and I was actually half conscious all the way there. Can hardly call this catching 40 winks as I felt more tired when I reached Baltimore after more than 2 hours. I felt even more insecure when I alighted as I was the odd one out there. Luckily I met a nice taxi driver who asked me if I want to take a taxi and directed me to the next driver who comes along. My first impression of Baltimore is certainly a very good one. This is like my third time taking the taxi here but the previous experiences seemed so horrible compared to this one. I chatted happily with the driver, who appeared to be in his late twenties until I reached Baltimore, downtown.

I was greeted by Lynn and her friend, Nancy, who looked Singaporean though she is a Chinese. I felt a little self conscious at first but just reminded myself to open up, which I didn’t regretted. We took a short walk around the area, allowing me to take in the beautiful sights of the place. It’s highly built up but has the peacefulness one would find at a sophiscated and modern place. I noticed the cheesecake factory and coincidentally, Lynn and her friend also recommended the place to me. After walking around the mall, I just decided to pop into the restaurant to get a Kahlua cheesecake to try. It tasted rather different from those I had in Singapore in that it is softer and smoother, and the crust hinted of kahlua and coffee, rather than the usual greasy cookie.

We caught the shuttle bus back to John Hopkins University half an hour later to return to their hostel. I was amazed by the number of historical buildings in the area, and I realized that coming to USA has fueled my appetite for the history and culture of country. I had a good chat with them, learning about the differences in Baltimore and Philadelphia. As much as I know I would be accused of thinking that the grass is greener on the other side, I think I truly prefer Baltimore. These are many similarities in terms of the social make up here but the people and their behaviors towards other people are so different. Pardon me for zooming to the next day when I was making my way back to greyhound station. I met this old African American taxi driver who is so nice. I wished I got his name. I forgot that I left my computer with Lynn and he had to u-turn and drive me back to where he fetched me. He waited for me legally by the road and asked me what time is the bus that I am trying to catch. I told him that I only have 20 mins left to departure and he just tried his bus to fly me to the station. He took an alternative route to avoid the St Patrick’s day traffic, and was honked at when he had to brake for the red light but he braked slowly so that I would not lurched forward. When I tell him how I love his service, he told me that he is just giving me himself, behaving as who he is. He said that this applies to business, do onto others, what you want others to do onto yourself. And that the good service will come back to him when he gives others good service. My respect for him and people like him just hit a high. I think Obama and people like my dear taxi uncle are really movers and shakers of the society, we need more of them everywhere.

So yup back to my first hour in Baltimore, I reached Lynn’s hostel really exhausted and found it really hard to fight the zee monster. I wanted to do up all the stuff in my to do list but I was very spaced out and unfocused. Ended up taking a shower and soon her friends came by to play wii. Lynn has just purchased her Wii set recently and it’s my first time playing it despite hearing all the hype about it. I saw Wii in a different light—it’s not just a brainless playing tool, but one that brings people together and even network. Such is the future of games. Arcade might just be put out of business man.

I played a few rounds of bishy basy like games with them before surrendering myself to sleep and I slept despite the loud laughter and noises from the Wii.

I slept well in polo and shorts, the first ever in USA since I came here in the middle of winter. Woke at about 8.20am, washed up and started tidying up some stuff in Shopaholic and signed up for mail account for it, called shopaholic@singapore.com. =) There are so many things that I have yet done yet but I just had to leave it to some other time. Baltimore here I come!

At 9am, Lynn and I walked to Pete’s grille for pancakes and along the way, there was a Waverly market. It was like pasar malam without the lights and strong smell of cooked food. There are the usual European styled fruits stalls and those selling flowers, finger food, coffee and accessories. A very interesting and colorful sight indeed.

There were lots of early birds at the very restaurant (Pete’s grille) where Michael Phelps had his pancakes breakfast when he was training here. We ordered pancakes and egg to share. It gave me a homely feeling to enjoy thick fluffy pancakes here, unlike the microwaved ones I ate at Wawa (aka philly 7-eleven). However, the bill came up a shocking 3 bucks more cos the waitress said we shared. She could have told us! It’s not that we are trying to save money, but rather, trying to save food. But I was determined not to let this experience ruin my trip. Lynn kindly brought me on a campus tour, pointing out to me the different buildings in her school. It reminded me greatly of Harvard, due to the uniform red bricked buildings. A really nice campus. The large stretches of grass just made me want to just lay down there and watch the world go by. But I guess this is a trade off for the time I would learn talking to people, learning new things and getting enlightened.

We chatted as if we are old friends and I felt this weird connection to her. It would be called chemistry between a male and a female but I just felt I finally found someone who could emphasize and understand me in USA. We discussed a lot of things, from the lessons we learnt in USA so far, the independence and liberty that people enjoy here and how we could make Singapore better. I told Lynn that if she could move onto the civil service, I would support her cos we certainly need people like her to bring Singapore forward. As I blogged here, I was fully conscious of who would see my entry here so please feel free to email me at unresolvedd@gmail.com if you want to know more or discuss about related topics.

We went to the John Hopkins bookstore where I contributed to my collection of postcards again. Got Amin a shirt to thank him for driving us to work and always inspiring me.

At 12noon, we caught the shuttle to Peabody institute then walk around to explore. It really looks like the filming place for Step Up 2. we walked uphill to a nice café where I grabbed my first cappuccino for days cos I was feeling that my actions were rather uncoordinated due to fatigue. I saw a Le cathedral de Notre Dame lookalike along the way too. How I miss France!!

We walked to Lexington Market to take a look at the numerous food stalls there. It’s so totally like Fanueil/Quincy market in Boston. Then back to the Inner Harbour where I visited when I just arrived. It looks so beautiful and bustling in the day. We walked out to walk toward Little Italy and went into a restaurant where Lynn knows it’s famous for the Italian food in the area. We order lasagna and prawns on bread with cream(forgot the name!) cos I had the idea of comparing the real Italian lasagna to my impression of it. I applauded myself for the choice as the cheese they use here is so different as they use ricotta cheese, not so much mozzarella. The thing that enhanced my experience there is that the waitress would come up with the mozzarella cheese grinder and spread the cheese flakes onto the lasagna before me. Yum!

It was a hearty meal, complemented by the thoughtful discussion we had about her future plans to open a restaurant. In retrospect, I was really glad that I took the chance to approach her and talk to her back in the jc days. In Facebook, my fortune cookie say makes friend before you need them. How eerily true.

We took a long stroll to the Pilango Gelato place where the gelato ice cream, to quote Lynn, makes me raise my level of expectations for gelato ice cream. I had tiramisu and hazelnut favours while she had granny smith and another fruity taste. And my tastebuds started to doubt if I can find any better ice cream, especially in Philly. My trip at Baltimore ended there but I left, knowing that it is a place I would definitely visit again. And in good faith that Lynn and I would form meaningful friendships in this land of the free.