Back from Europe

Haha, actually, I've been back for about a week now. I've noticed that after coming back from trips, I like to behave like a hermit for a couple of days - just staying at home and whiling my time away like a retiree. :pThe trip was wonderful, we covered quite a bit of ground - Riga (Latvia), Krakow (Poland), Prague (Czech Republic), Budapest (Hungary), Vienna (Austria) and Rome (Italy). Along the way, I saw lots of awesome sights and met a truckload of people, got to know new friends as well as old ones. And of course, we had a very rewarding experience at Peaktime :)

The avalanche of photos are available on Facebook, but I just wanted to write down a few thoughts which seem most salient to me right now.
On Riga:I can't say that this city has a lot going for it, but the people are so warm-hearted. Much thanks to Ieva and Bruno who took time out to show us the city and made us feel at home. My first time in an ex-Soviet Union country was pretty eye-opening. All the Soviet style modernist buildings, clinical and uniform, the deep-seated resentment of the government, covered up with good-natured jibes, the crazy competition (1 simulation, 2 cases in 3 days, 3 hours each!), and always always, the food. :)

Greenatics hard at work :p

Post-competition fun in Riga

On Krakow:

The most striking thing I remember about Krakow is the super-depressing visit to Auschwitz. On the day of our visit, it was cold and rainy, and we stood in the rain listening to our guide tell us about the monstrosities of the Nazis. I remember he used the phrase "sick ideology" several times, and I just felt really heavy-hearted the rest of the day. Upon my return, I read "Night" by Elie Wiesel, and it truly is a slim volume of terrifying power. Fascism may no longer prevail, but its reign during WWII is still being felt today. Hm, food for thought.

At the Auschwitz concentration camp

On Prague:

A beautiful city! I think what I loved most was the gothic architecture. The soaring spires, and high ceilings. Very majestic. And somehow, I never tire from looking at old buildings. Though I can't say the same for statues (more on that later...)

Our very passionate guide on the Prague Walking Tour. I think he has a really cool job!

On Vienna:

Woke up bright and early on Sunday morning to attend mass and hear the famed Vienna Boy's Choir! These boys are truly blessed with heavenly voices. Surprising number of Asians in the choir though!

This city makes us all feel (unjustly) musical. By the end of this leg, we were all singing in operatic voices and humming Mozart. Oh yeah, kena conned was underwhelmed by the concerts we attended. We paid a pretty penny and were promised a full Royal Vienna Orchestra, but in the end, there were like 10 people on piano and strings, an opera singer (I think she was not the best, but the most entertaining :)), and a CMI ballet dancer.

On Rome:

I think my favourite city on this trip! Sheer number of sites (Coloseum, Pantheon, Trivi Fountain, several Piazzas etc), I thought traveling alone would be terribly lonely, but I think I appreciated the solitude and independence after a while. :)



The first of many pizzas and pasta dishes

At the Roman Coloseum

I think I've got enough of Greek/Roman statues for a while

Ultimately, I love traveling, taking in exotic sights, meeting interesting people and soaking in different cultures. But being away always reminds me that home is the best. When the plane touched down at Changi, the familiar humidity blasting in my face, my family waiting at the arrival gate - that's the best. :)

I realized I never really kept up with the aim of this blog - which was to record memories and observations from my everyday life. As the days fly past, there is a very real and increasing risk that the moments will run and blend into each other, the months will pass like a flurry and eventually, the years will just seem like a thick haze. If I don’t record anything down, I am sure my memory will fail me, I will forget the wondrous sights, the lessons learned and it will be like all this never happened. Well, I exaggerate of course, but I think it was Socrates who said that an unexamined life is a life not worth living. Also, it would be nice to pen down the mumbo jumbo that’s in my head into actual sentences, even though I run the risk of rambling. :)

So. There is a whole backlog of things to talk about, and I’ll start with the one that pops into my head now.

St Gallen Symposium, Switzerland, May 04 – May 10, 2009

I was honestly blown away by this event. The quality of the speakers, the participants, and even the organization of everything, from accommodation, transport and food (oh, the glorious food) was so impeccably arranged that I think based on that alone, I was inspired by Swiss hospitality and their commitment to quality.
But beyond these comfortable trappings, the conversations I had with the people I met during this week were extremely enlightening. These people honestly seemed to have a fervent desire to contribute positively to the world in very tangible ways. I’ll admit that I felt inadequate at first, because my self introduction tended to end at “I’m a finance major.” Period. No side project to eliminate world hunger, no non-profit to teach youths in third world countries entrepreneurial skills, no Silicon Valley startup. (I’m actually not making this up, Wyovhek and Ben are just some of the youths I met who are doing just that.)

The Keynote speakers were generally well-credentialed, although my interest in what they had to say largely depended on their individual charisma. Having said that, I did in fact learn a tremendous amount from the speakers, who included a Nobel Laureate, several politicians (even one of our own…), Presidents and luminaries from academia. I discovered that journalists tend to be the most engaging speakers, I guess because they have had to deal so much with people, and some of the lessons in communication naturally come across in their speech I guess.



My favorite keynotes:

Misha Glenny
Ex-BBC journalist, expert observer and commentator on Balkan states. (The President of Serbia, Boris Tadic, who also happened to be there later commented that Glenny probably knew more about the Balkans than he did. ;p) He delivered this fast-paced opus on global crime, and managed to pique my interest in the subject. It really was a bit like watching an action flick, but injected not with Hollywood bravado but the weary optimism of a man who’s been on the ground chasing the crime lords around.

Joseph A. Stanislaw
I was naturally anticipating this talk, because of the fact that his video “Commanding Heights” was one of the saving graces of my APB class. (I remember whenever the Professor said it was video time, I would be like “YESSSS”.) Stanislaw turned out to be a most riveting public/academic figure who has managed to retain a very sincere earnestness even after all these years. His mantra of changing the world a little step at a time really resonated with me. It all starts with that little lightbulb! (Go make sure your household is using an energy saving bulb.:))

Boris Tadic, President of Serbia
I was just impacted by his honesty. His country is not exactly thriving with prosperity, but he is extremely candid about what needs to be done and how to go about doing it. The much talked about EU candidacy may be given a hallowed glow under a more slick politician, but he gave a very down to earth response to this thorny issue: “Serbia just wants to develop for the sake of our own country, not for the sake of joining the EU.” And I thought, that seems like a very obvious statement, but on hindsight, it took no small amount of courage to say that.

Tharman Shamuragatnam
Singapore’s Minister of Finance was really solid in terms of his stance on pragmatism and simply the clarity in which he delivered his message. Surprisingly, he managed to get appreciative chuckles out of the audience, so kudos for having a sense of humor too. Having heard his spiel all my life, the message was nothing new to me, but I do think he is one of the few Singaporean politicians whom I’m drawn to.

Besides the Symposium itself, I got the chance to meet lots of fantastic people – Jasmin, my very gracious host. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to hang out as much as I would have liked to because of our crazy schedules, but I definitely felt very welcome in her house.

St Gallen is a very small town, and there’s not much to do at night. We ended up going clubbing very frequently, and I guess because of the ongoing Symposium, everyone remained highly professional and conservative, meaning no skanky dances and what not. I wished we could have done something else, but I guess it was a good way to let loose for a while.

The Symposium really left a deep impression on me, and I’m committed to trying again next year. :) Heck, an all expense paid trip to Switzerland, throw in awesome learning and meeting cool people from around the world. I’m in! In the meantime, attack the pile of books!

I realized that because of the restricted access to Blogger while I was in India, I never had a post on my time there. So, in order to avoid seeming like 3 months of my life was spent in some vacuum, I decided to put up random stuff which I dug out from the folder labeled "Tata":

India, by all accounts, is a bemusing mixed bag of contradictions. I see it in the streets, where the white haired swamis perched on bullcarts, with not parrots but cellphones perched on their ears. I see it in the high rise software complexes, standing in front of a vast shantytown, where the bosses are obsessed about leveraging efficiency but still love their pani puris during long chaat breaks. I see it on the roads, where the autos squeeze along side the latest Nano cars, but everyone stops to let the buffalo in front pause to take a dump mid-traffic. I see it in the newspapers, affixed with the latest horror incident of honour killing in the villages, yet awashed with airbrushed celebrities on Page 3. (This, I have unsurprisingly, been very fond of.)

All these, are what I see from foreign eyes, but I am getting accustomed to the chaos, and even appreciating the liveliness it brings.

At the market:

Buying tomatoes from the market is somewhat therapeutic for me. The hybrid versions, which are only available from the posh supermarkets are uncommonly huge and plump with juice. But equally, I enjoy the more humble tomatoes from the street stalls, although they are small and some are quite a discomforting hue. But the old women who sell them to me are very honest and charge me according to the rates that apply to everyone. Under the dim lights of their stalls (or most of the time, light from the unreliable streets), their craigy faces look up at me in a moment’s curiosity, but their expressions return to the same stoic one that has to face a hard life, the moment I hand them my coins and walk away.

In the auto:

It was my first weekend in Hyderabad, and we were in an auto on our way home. The auto driver took us through one of his untested shortcuts, which wound through the alley streets in Koti. I clearly remember a young girl, no older than 14, whose expression captured the wonder at having seen such strange, yellow-skinned people, packed into and auto. Oh yes, I remember her very clearly. She was pretty in the way adolescents are, innocent, yet forced to be mature by life. She was bathing a toddler in a metal basin outside her house. (I suppose that must have been her brother.) She was dressed in a mustard yellow sari, and she looked up as our auto drove past her home. Her eyes widened and she gaped at us for a nanosecond before breaking into a wide smile as we zoomed past.

Squeezing in the ladies compartment in the public bus:

I remember the bus was chugging along, and I was trying to hold on to something for balance, but of course, the bodies were too tightly packed for any space to move about. I was in a highly awkward position, with my full weight pressed upon this fleshy auntie. I could feel the softness of her body beneath the starchy sari.

I was expecting her to holler at me for being pushed up against her in that manner, but I guess in a country of more than a billion bodies, people get that it’s crowded at times.

In the bazaar:

I pleaded as sweetly as I could without being nauseating, for the shopkeeper to let me have the scarf for Rs100. He flat out refused me and said “Rs 150. No bargain!”. Of course, ever the pugnacious shopper, I tried again, but just I was prepared to give up because there were other customers around, the white haired shop keeper hitched his sarong, got up and whispered to my ear, “ok, best price just for you, Rs 120.”

Then, there was no more to be said.

Having said that, the green pashmina scarf is really pretty. :D

Reading the newspapers:

India has an obsession with information, much like all great democracies. The society might be conservative on the whole, but its newspapers are relatively liberal, publishing snippets on all and sundry. The pictures are filled with gory detail, of accidents, hangings, executions and murders.

***********************************************************************************

India is like a wonderful love affair, and it seems there must be a private narrative scraped out for preservation of whatever smoky memories I will come to have of this place. Chalo.

I'm back from Winnipeg/Chicago. Had a blast in both cities, and learnt alot on the way. Everytime I come back from another country, I always have this urge to move away and live there for a while. Lem and I were saying that both of us would swop our red passports for a blue one :s Ohwell, Singapore still rocks la.

Ok, enough talking, pictures!
Transiting in Narita Airport, Tokyo. Pretty geishas were very obliging. I think they were highly aware of their exhibitionistic purpose. Oh yeah, and I met Jo by coincidence at the Narita airport. Turns out he was on his way home after vacationing in LA. Small world eh.

The team just before our presentation. Pretty fun bunch, heh. :P Will miss our marathon sessions. (Only very slightly)


We headed off to the local casino for lunch after the presentation. What can I say, the food was AWFUL. Seriously, Canadian cuisine is not very appealing. Sorry!

Me with one of our very sweet ambassadors, Bryanne. She chauffered us practically everywhere, took us shopping, sihgtseeing, cosmic bowling, and even got her Dad to cook us Caribbean curry.

The team at some dinner function. Poor Lem was MIA cos she had mild food poisoning. I had food poisoning on the first night from -get this- the hotel food. Delta Winnipeg was a pretty awesome hotel, but their food is absolutely horrendous. Spent the first night puking up the room service we ordered. (Creepy egg mayo sandwich, ugh) Thank goodness I recovered on the second day after throwing up all the toxins. -_-''

Jy and Mike, another of our ambassadors.

Ok, more pictures coming up after I'm done unpacking and then repacking to move back to hall on Monday.

Flew out of Winnipeg to Chicago yesterday. After the frigid cold of Winnipeg, Chicago seems positively warm to me. Can't believe I'm saying this, but I kinda miss all the snow and frosty air :p

Anyway, am currently in the Harold Washington Chicago Public Library. It's a huge establishment, almost the size of the Supreme Court back home. Really nice place. They've got this massive computer room which I'm in right now, a museum and of course, millions of books. Interesting observation: when Lem and I waled pass yesterday, there were like 20 people lining up outside to get in the library the moment it opens its doors. We realised that they were mostly homeless people wanted to seek shelter and uh, use the internet. The guy before me kept going back to the librarian to complain that his account wasn't working, and they librarian snapped at him and said it must be because of the websites he's visiting.

Anyway to recount some of the highlights of Winnipeg:

Meeting our Ambassadors, who were all really sweet. They took us cosmic bowling, which is basically bowling in this glow in the dark aleey with teeny balls. We went shopping, walnut hunting, boozing, and a night out at the bar, which is kinda like Zouk back home. Oh yeah, that's where Terence spent all our money buying rounds of shots for everyone -_-''

Had mild food poisoning on the first day after this creepy sandwich from the Delta Winnipeg hotel, so I spent the first day pretty much out and puking out stuff. Thankfully, I recovered soon enough and was able to have fun, heh.

Mike bought us all shot glasses to take home after we finished drinking from them, but uh I guess we were so hammered, we just left them in his room. Uh, the stuff he gave us was kinda potent though, and reallyreally spicy. The bar had way tamer stuff, so even though Lem and I had about 12 shots bewteen us, we still pretty ok at the end of the night. Same can't be said of jy though. Haha, he was so gone, but yeah, the four of us had fun. Especially T! Our Sarong Party Boy. Oh man, that guy is one hardcore party animal. I'm such an old geezer, I'm usually pretty tired by 2 am and I can't party 2 nights in a row. I remember there was this one night we were supposed to get to a party at midnight or something, and T tried to wake me up, but I was so shacked I totally did not respond. Good on me. Too much partying ruins your complexion anyway :)

Managed to find a church in Winnipeg, Catholic, but better than nothing you know. Went in for mass for a while, but L wanted out and I didn't really know what the guy was talking about, so we left after a while. Had to settle for TV evangelists. Kidding lar.

Anyway, am making plans for Broadway! Toss up between Jersey Boys and Wicked, but I have an inkling of the one we'll ultimately be catching. :p

Tons of pictures which I'll upload on Facebook once I get home.

Have resorted to the curious and potentially destructive habit of snipping off a bit of my fringe whenever I'm extremely frustrated with studying. Somehow, I feel just a little better without all that hair in my face. Entertained whimsical thoughts of collecting hair from individual snips, putting them in a little glass bottle and labeling them with love - "2oth Nov 2007, 3.14 pm, Qn4(b)", tie it up with a fancy lace and then toss them out the window.

Well, for now, the aesthetic consequences are putting a very quick stop to this new inclination.

In other more exciting non-follicular news, I've been checking out on the fantastic phenomenon of the "aurora borealis", commonly known as the "northern lights", which are visible from the tundra terrains of Manitoba. Plus I also found out that there are polar bears to be seen around this time of the year! Whee, the adventures that come with the Arctic. :)

The bad news: actually traveling to the outskirts from Winnipeg and finding accommodation is hellishly expensive and might snuff out any chance of me getting to witness these beautiful sights. Will have to contend with Google Images to satisfy my wanderlust for now.


A picture I pilfered off the net - the aurora borealis in Manitoba.

Will be making my way to Mumbai, India the coming summer for an internship with Tata Group. Am extremely excited about it. But a bit worried too, because of the severely limited amount of time I have between the internship and NOC. I hope I have time to at least pack! Plans for my mother and sister to visit me in Philly are, at the moment to be reconsidered because of the timing, but you know, God will work something out :)

Prayed hard for this Tata thing, and for God to let me go if He thinks I'll grow from it. Heard lots about the place from Don, who went there this past summer, and he's had many good things to say about it. Apparently, his boss is Christian, and they spent every Sunday going to church and fellowshipping after that. I saw him give a bear hug to his boss when they saw each other in Singapore. Must say that's pretty rare.

Anyway, the selection round for the internship was pretty grueling. Spent almost the entire Friday (2 pm to 11 pm - NINE HOURS!!!) stuck in school for the selection. Definitely a good experience, cos I think future interviews might be conducted in a similar format.

Here's a recount:

First we had a presentation by one of the senior management from the group. Gave us an introduction to Tata and some snapshots of the IIP (International Internship Programme) from this summer (May 07). Snazzy movie clip about Tata's companies. Catchy soundtrack with Bollywood music.

Then we had the first round called the Chairman's discussion, where we were divided into groups and each individual took turns to lead the group discussion on a scenario presented to us by Tata. My scenario was about some competitor poaching the entire research team for one of the projects. I think if that happened in real life, I'd laugh and then decide if I want to jump ship as well. (Relax! I'm kidding :p Have more integrity than that la)

Then from there, a first cut was made and those who got through proceeded for a 2:1 interview, meaning one candidate with two senior executives. Thank goodness, no technical questions were asked, because I know nuts about engineering and what not. The lady told us it would be an informal chat for the panel to "get to know us better".

Ha.

Sample of the questions:
"What is Singapore's national bird?"

I actually giggled (!!!!:() and told them sorry, I have no clue, to which the kind gentleman give me a sympathetic smile.

"Who wrote the national anthem and under what circumstances?"
Thank goodness I <3 LKY and could tell them about our early nationalistic tendencies, heh.

"Give me your honest opinion about working in a limestone quarry where English is not spoken. And electricity has not been introduced."

I have to confess, I lied a bit about liking being in the sun. For those who know me, I detest getting burnt and I think UV rays are evil.

"Compare yourself to an animal"
My favourite, simply because this was so HUH?!?!

"Give me ten reasons why wearing a tie is unnecessary" (posed to Mili, who also got in - say Holla to a summer of crazy jokes: This guy is half Buddhist, half Catholic, depending on meal time inclinations to consume beef :p)

Star response: It is not part of my culture but I am forced to wear it as a reflection of western imperialism. (Woot! Love it!)

"Sing me a Singhalese lullaby" (posed to this girl called Sakina)
Response: "I don't know any, but I can sing you a Hindi lullaby if you want."

To which Mili, after being told of this question went "Man, that would have been an excellent question for me. I would still have been singing for them with percussion and everything" (Haha, I guess you'd have to be there for this one)

Anyway, 2008 is looking to be an exciting year with lots of traveling for me :)
Manitoba, Canada in Jan
Mumbai, India in May
Philadelphia, USA in July

Must spend remaining year in Singapore very wisely with family, disciples and friends. And will drag Qing along with me to Philly :)

The MMIS Competition is taking up waaay too much of my time. But there's Manitoba the fishing and whaling village to look forward to at the end of all this :)
(Is whaling even legal anymore?!?)

Anyway, been feeling bouts of blueness this last couple of days - a feeling I haven't had in a longlong time. But you know, one can't always be bursting at the seams with joy. Such is life, deal with it constructively and move on.

In happier news, have been fantasizing about the Philly holiday us three girls are going to embark on next year. My mom and sister are coming along with me for 2 weeks before term starts to help me "settle down". Whee! Which means Mummy gets to go on a long-deserved holiday!!! The woman needs to take a break and go off to see the world. I'm going to stuff her in walking shoes and we're gonna roam New York City - the Bronx, Flushing (American style Hainanese Chicken Rice! Mummy says smart people in America sell chicken rice), Brooklyn, Greenwich (Gay art! Haha, will get S to compare with her fav Victorian style:p). (I also suggested to stuff the both of them in YMCA to save on hotel fees so we can splurge on food, but we'll see about that) Note to self: Must plan itinerary such that sister will not have spare time to shop, since we all know how uncontrollable she gets upon catching a whiff of whatever silly brand she's into. Personally, I much prefer to spend moolah on good food rather than some bag which will go out of season the moment the temperature changes.

In slightly related news, I discovered that I will be spending a very lonely 21st birthday in Philly, away from everyone at home :( 21 is a lonely number indeed. This time round, will make sure I successfully contact the Philly church before I go so that I won't be so lost when I'm eventually there. :S

The work is really starting to flood in, and this week is the craziest yet, if my organizer provides any reliable forecast of my week's activities, my day will officially end at 9 pm on 2 days, and 11 pm on 3 days. :(

Ok, time to get back to those essays!

I'm finally home.



Here are some of the lovely people I spent my time with.


Some of the guys with our ever cool professor Dan on the left.
The crazy place that is Hollywood.


The Grand Canyon. It's more beautiful than it looks.


Trekking across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and almost getting my face blown off by the wind.

More photos coming up when I've gotten all of them in order:)

Arrived at LA today, it's not as glamorous as I envisioned it to be, it’s actually kinda run down in some places, and like most of America, is starkly divided between the haves and the have nots. I’m staying in a hostel that’s opposite the Kodak Theatre where the Oscars are held every year, so I suppose that’s quite exciting in terms of being in the middle of town and everything.

Almost everything here has got to do with the world of entertainment, from Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Odditorium (hurhur) to Hollywood Wax Museum, History Museum, and the pavements lined with red stars to commemorate the careers of Hollywood greats, and of course, the souvenirs – the cutest of which are mini Oscar statues congratulating their receivers for being the best Mother/Son/Teacher etc.

There are just sooo many different people here!! For example, on the way home, there was a group of extremely rowdy teenage girls who were possibly prostitutes. They were swearing their mouths off and the whole train just kinda turned around to look at them, but after that, the other passengers just acted as if this were a normal occurrence.

Then outside our hostel. There’s this group of people who are Jesus lovers, so they’d be screaming with loudhailers “Give me a J!!!!...E…S…U…S!!!!!!!!!” What do you get?!?!? Jesus!!!!!!!!!!!”

And I happened to walk past the loudhailer just as they leader was starting the cheer, so my ears were ringing for a bit. I haven’t actually resolved what I felt about that, because on on hand, I think it’s admirable that they are proclaiming their love for Christ in such a public manner, but on the other hand, it just seems kinda in your face and all that….Hm, these are possibly the same mixed feelings I get towards street evangelism….

Along those lines, I find myself getting more impatient, bad-tempered and worst, of all, more judgemental about others. Take for example those teenage girls on the train, basking in their overt sexuality. Or H, with her whining. Or a myriad of other little pet peeves that bother me.

But the thing is, they don’t deserved to be judged like that by me, because God knows I have much worse thoughts and I haven’t been exemplary in my behaviour either. I didn’t manange to get in touch with the LA disiples, so of course I’m disappointed by that – was looking so forward to visiting the LA church.

Ok, 3 smokers have sat across me and I’ve been inhaling 2nd hand smoke for the past half hour -_-‘’

Off to bedroom bow:)