One of the things that has become a part of my lived reality living abroad is the reduced noise - probably in every sense and meaning of it. Besides the literal meaning of noise, which is quite a given considering that I live in a quieter neighbourhood with lesser number of constant people I have in my physical life, I am really far from the noise and conversations from people back at home. Yes, I do have exchanges with them through video calls and text messages from time to time. But it's really not the same, though I'm aware that what I'm perceiving is something imagined and may not be the full reality. Particularly when it comes to friendships. Sometimes it feels like I'm always the last to know about things, sometimes I'm not even aware about anything at all, unless my friends choose to tell me the things they want to tell me or I see some updates on the social media. But back in Singapore, because we are in touch from time to time, it feels like I get almost th