Wednesday, 23 April 2014

Operation Make New Friends


Having sat in a bit of a lull a couple of weeks ago, I recently decided that it was time to bite the bullet and do what I do best – meet new people through the magic of the internet. Online dating worked pretty well for me in the past, so working under the assumption that online friend finding should be just as efficient, I signed up to a website called MeetUp to see who else there is out there, looking for new buddies.
            Whilst there are hundreds of groups for all sorts of people, all looking for everything from dating opportunities to rock climbing companions, I managed to find a couple of groups that sounded like they would suit my needs. Along with a couple of theatre and arts focused groups, I also joined a closed group that you have to have approval to join, specifically aim at expat women whose focus is on anything other than endless partying (which is pretty much unavoidable in Singapore, whether you’re looking for a massive night out or not).
            I signed up to the group and sat quietly for a couple of days, just keeping an eye on what was going on and what events they were organising. The majority of the events are running during the middle of the day, and I was worried that I had accidentally joined a stay-at-home-mums-with-a-helper-to-care-for-the-children-and-do-all-the-housework group.
            Fortunately, in there I also found a couple of girls in very similar situations to me, and after a couple of direct messages, we arranged to head out to the ArtScience Museum to check out the new Annie Leibovitz exhibit that has just opened. We extended the invite to the full group, and that led to a group of 11 ladies gathering in the entrance to the gallery just an hour before closing time to take a look around during the very quiet evening opening hours.
            The exhibit was pretty good, and it was great to take a look around the crazy ArtScience building, but the mediocre photograph selection was more than cancelled out by some of the great girls that I met during the evening. Three in particular stuck out as buddy potentials. They are all British, all have lived in London for some time, all moved out here with their boyfriends for work, and all have struggled to find their own space. I have a feeling that Singapore is much more geared up towards younger men, so we all felt like we were very much in the same boat, which was sort of nice.
            We ended the night with a couple of drinks at a local bar and the promise to meet up for a wine night sometime soon. One of the girls, the one who I was in touch with initially also turned out to live just down the road from me, so we made our way back to our respective flats and promised to meet up for a local dinner sometime in the next few weeks.
            The plans are yet to be confirmed, but I have a feeling that I’ve made a start at getting a little group of girls gathered. Let’s see how it progresses!

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