Hero

No, I am not going to write about the TV series. I am going to write about a man who meant a lot to many New Zealanders, myself included. While growing up, one could never escape hearing stories of the great deeds and historic feats this man had accomplished - who would want to escape really... in a country of just over 4 million people with a relatively short modern history, there aren't too many people or events we could tell stories about. Sir Edmund Hillary was definitely one of our favourite claims to world history. He was courageous, generous, honest and humble. Best of all, he was just an all 'round good Kiwi bloke who cared about the world.

Today while watching TV on the bus, I saw our Prime Minister giving a speech at his funeral ceremony. Attended by world dignitaries as the newspapers say, this was an affair that would have broken many people's hearts. He was illustration of what a man with a little determination and a lot of guts could do and New Zealanders of all ages looked up to him as a role model. Being from a small country makes you thirsty for recognition of your hard work.

Sir Edmund Hillary helped a lot of people, not only did he inspire generations of Kiwis by climbing Mt Everest, he also helped to build schools and helped communinities in remote regions of mountainous Nepal.

I felt very homesick for the first time today after watching this piece of news on the bus... perhaps I don't show my Kiwi side, or Kiwi pride enough... perhaps I just don't keep up with the news enough? I don't know... perhaps I really miss the food and the people, the jokes and the sarcastic humour, the weather, the beautiful scenery, the smiles from people on the street, the smell of spring, grass and flowers. Perhaps I miss the sight of birds on the footpath, Sunday brunchs with salad, bacon and scrambled eggs, the cafes by the street and cappucinos with chocolate dusting designs. Wow, maybe I even miss seeing and hearing about our silly politicians' latest scandals (ok scratch that one, I prefer the world news we get here in Asia).

All in all, I kinda miss our little piece of land down-under (which is not Australia btw). My thoughts are with you guys in Aotearoa.

Middle of the Journey

It's one of those times when the world stops spinning quickly for just a moment to let you know that it's time to take stock of what's going on. Therefore, it's a time for reflection.

The last five (almost six) months have been an exhilerating experience... the first two months were filled with wonder and intrigue – trying new things, meeting new people, meeting old people again. I wanted to spend every waking moment out of the house so I could enjoy the new flavours of Singapore even though it was always a little ad hoc. By the third month culture shock had set in. When the new-ness of everything wore off, I was left with my mind teaming with mixed thoughts, insecurities, feelings of “I don't fit in” and feelings of vulnerability – I felt similar feelings when I first moved to Wellington.

It's subtle and most people cannot see what you are going through, you don't want to go out and try new things any more, you doubt the things you tried were really that good at all because people tell you otherwise, you just want some routine, to stay with the people you're most familiar with. At this time, all I wanted to do was spend time with Antoine, stay at home and set a routine.

Now after the monsoon is almost over, my parents and aunts have left (actually I had a whole stream of visitors in December), I am gaining new perspective on Singapore again. The things that annoyed me the most during my culture shock don't bother me as much any more – the birds that cry like sirens, the hawker centers so noisy and unclean, the people who ignore you on the street when you ask for help, the ones who push in front of you to get on the MRT, the buses that shake you around and you never find a seat and the inconsistent English that makes me feel like speaking properly is a sin... the fact that my Mandarin is not getting better – partly because I am chicken to make mistakes, partly because I don't want to pick up the Sing' accent cos my Chinese speaking friends from China would tell me off...

Singapore is becoming more familiar. I could actually introduce my friends and family to Singapore culture when they came to visit me! But I also did tours of Singapore afterwards, learnt about it from the beginning - listening to how this city developed over the last 40 years was facinating. I was lucky that Ralph and Simon were here so we could share it together and discuss the nuances of Singapore. Although I already knew much of what the tour guide was saying, hearing it all put together with such passion and enthusiasm renewed my excitement for this city.

(Ok my Mandarin is still pretty bad but that's because I don't practice enough in my own time and I should just find some people to talk to who I feel comfortable talking to.)

Now I am starting to feel like I am on solid ground again, like I can make decisions for myself, feel secure being alone, being at home early instead of going out for dinner every night. I think it's time to think about my future and what it will hold after my time in Singapore is over.

When I last checked, I am still on track for my five year plan - phew. The next step is to keep gaining more experience working in organisations where I can understand the processes of working in a firm: the rules, the policies, the norms. Sometimes, it's just like AIESEC but at a faster pace because we're all full time and there isn't so much planning and strategising ;) - perhaps we did far too much of that in AIESEC =P should have done more work and measuring instead.

This post is way over 5 minutes but that's okay. It's mostly for me to record my thoughts down and read again after 5 years. Just looking back at my photos so far... I think I have managed to fit in as much as I could in 6 months. And I am really, really looking forward to the last 6 months.

Eee is in the papers!

My new pocket pc ASUS Eee PC is in the news! I am so proud. It's a fav amongst techies and wannabe techies like me =P

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7173582.stm

Quoted as one of the 'gadgets of the year' and only released in the United States...but I got mine in HK at a very good price ;) I am still trying to figure out how to use it. Sometimes it makes me feel like I am a novice at computers even though I have been using them since I was 11 and was one of the first families in the neighbourhood to get unlimited internet.

I still remember watching one of the YouTube tutorials teaching how to install a new piece of software...when they opened a DOS window and started typing commands, I almost fainted =P I wasn't the fact that couldn't read the writing cos it was so small on this tiny screen, but because I might need to learn commands for Linux to install anything that freaked me out!

Then I found the trusty Settings tab with add/remove software heee then it was more simple then falling out of bed. It even auto detected the programme that I wanted to download! This thing is smart ;)

New Year 2008

Well this year's New Years eve was definitely better than last year! I went to Hong Kong to spend the New Years and David was there too! Just like our pact at the end of the term we met at New Years eve in HK.

I really wanted to see fireworks for some reason this year...I keep thinking I want fireworks. The ones we didn't get last year. I was shocked when people here told me there wouldn't be any :( But as if it was karma, for the first time in years Hong Kong had fireworks on New Years eve. Normally it's reserved for Chinese New Years.

So there we stood - organised about 1 day before - David organised one half of Kiwis, Jacso organised the other half of Hong Kongers and interns - we ended up with a good crowd of 15-20 people. We arrived at the destination 2 hours before countdown outside the Peninsula hotel and spent that time linedancing, roll calls and pretending to be groupies for entertainment... this was truly an AIESEC New Years eve.

It was sobering to read Zafirah's account of life in Pakistan after the death of Benazir Bhutto after coming home at 4am. It brought me back to reality pretty quickly, where all around the world people will see 2008 arrive under different circumstances. But whatever it may be, we still have to be optimistic and hope for a better year.

So from here... I just want to wish everyone an amazing New Year 2008 no matter how you spent New Years eve.