But what about traditional businesses who have been making a living selling food along the streets for the past 30 years? Do they need web presence too? Maybe yes, but not a real need for their businesses too. But it doesn’t hurt getting one for them too! 

I’m glad to be part of a community project to create Singapore’s First Hawker Centre with its very own website. And that is for Bukit Merah View Hawker Centre. From my understanding, Bukit Merah View Hawker Centre has undergone renovation works for the past 1 year or so, and stalls are relocated elsewhere to continue the business.

And since the renovation works have completed and the new hawker centre is up and running again, why not have a website to promote all the stalls and draw back all its usual customers, and give their businesses a boost?

So the website is up and running now at http://www.BMVMakan.sg (click to new window!)

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Behind the scenes

This idea was first initiated by Eric Chua, who was also my team leader for China-ASEAN Youth Camp 2011 last year. He’s a super activist in areas of community work and service. As we remained closely contacted after the trip, he roped me in for this project, along with my other friends from the China-ASEAN Youth Camp, and some of this friends from People’s Association.

And of course, not forgetting the most important group of people who made this hawker centre website project possible, is the Enterprise Branch of Muscular Dystrophy Association of Singapore – Bizpower. They are the web designers for the website!

Muscular Dystrophy Association Singapore is a self-help organization who is committed to uplift the lives of people with muscular dystrophy, a muscle disease characterized by the development of muscle weakness, wasting and contractures.

Due to the severity of their disability, they might restricted in some areas of this project, but that did not stop them giving their massive contributing , by creating a really beautiful website. I might have created many websites in the past, but I can say none has matched the quality they produced. I have to take my hat off to them.

So with the website creation part settled, what’s next is to gather the content of the website! And that’s left to us guys to collect as much information from 84 stall owners of Bukit Merah View Hawker Centre. Initially, I thought that will be really easy – like asking the stall owners a few questions, taking a few photographs, then paste onto the website. But it’s far from that.

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1. Persuading stall owners

Business owners these days would love their businesses to be seen almost everywhere. The more visibility the better, be it online or offline. But that doesn’t seem to be the case with some stall owners. I was quite surprised when some owners tell us not to put their stall name online. They don’t want to be found online (which I don’t know why…)

But not until we persuade them that this is a community project to help stalls of Bukit Merah View Hawker Centre promote their business online, and get more customers to them. And after that, they willingly open up and share with us about their stalls!

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2. Getting details of all 84 stalls

The new Bukit Merah View hawker centre opened its operations in mid-March, but not all the stalls have started their businesses. Hence, we have difficulty getting the details of every stall. That case, every one of us take turns to make several trips down to the market, on different timings of the day (as some stalls opened at night only!) to gather as much details as we can.

There’s not much of a language barrier, as we are a multi-racial team, who can speak all sorts of languages and dialects. This made our conversations with the stall owners easy.

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3. Putting everything altogether

The content and details we had is just not enough. We have to write them in a way that’s enticing and appealing to readers online, not discounting any essential details. It’s similar to copywriting on a food magazine or food blog. But fortunately we have a youth ST writer, Joe En, in our team. He did most of the writing for the stalls and other pages of the website as well. Awesome job!

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Launching of the website

I know the site was up, but I was not told about the website address by Eric and others. But he invited me to the event on 6th May at Bukit Merah View Hawker Center, to celebrate the re-opening of the hawker centre, and launching of the website.

The launch day began with a slew of acrobatic performances by a lion dance group, with many of the nearby residents coming down to enjoy their performances. Then is followed by the arrival of Tanjong Pagar MP Ms Indranee. Eric was the emcee that day. As he announced the website address, I accessed it immediately with my iPhone, and phew! I’m literally blown away by the layout and design of the site! An impressive job by BizPower!

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This event was also featured in the news the next day. [Channelnewsasia]

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I’m really grateful to be part of this first-of-its-kind community project, and let me see what a team of committed individuals can do in spite of limited resources. We don’t have a budget of hundreds of thousands of dollars for digital marketing, or to hire professional copywriters or web designers, unlike the big companies out there.

With an idea, and just make do with whatever we have… poof! Singapore’s first hawker centre website!

Bukit Merah View Hawker Centre may be the first hawker centre with its own website. But I believe after today, there would be initiatives by other hawker centres to help create a website to promote their stall owners online!

I would also like to give a big shootout to BizPower of MDAS (Muscular Dystrophy Association Singapore) and that if you need to create a professional website for your business, do engage them. Your support is not just about giving them business, but to provide them with employment opportunities and help them to achieve financial independence, to be able to integrate into the mainstream society.

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Till then, take care everyone!

This camp brought together students from various colleges around the region, making up about 132 students from 22 nationalities. If I could still remember, we have students from NTU, NUS, UCSI University, UTM, JSLC, Taylor’s University and University of Nottingham. NTU is represented by me and my 2 other friends.

From the name of the camp, “Diversity and Inclusion”, you can somehow guess what’s the purpose of this camp. You might guess it as ‘promoting racial harmony’, or learning how to accept differences of others, and include them to our culture and society.

Prior to this camp, my idea of it is something like a course module I took in Uni last year: Cultural Intelligence – How To Be A World Traveller.

If you make all the guesses above, you and I are partly right. But since I’m in this camp to learn, I emptied my glass and put aside all my previous knowledge so that I can take in new information again.

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So what did we do there?

There’s a whole range of activities during these 2 days, and so I think I will just use as much images to describe them as much as I can.

1. Welcome Dinner 

On the evening we arrive at UTM, the event started off with a welcome dinner for all the participants. As most of the students know each other for the first time, we had to ice-break to know each other better. And what this event has done well, is that they had pre-informed all participants to prepare a picture collage to showcase their interests and hobbies.

So in picture above, around a new table of friends, we use our collage to describe more about ourselves and get to know one another. The ice between the students just melt easily simply with the help of the collage.

2. Royal Keynote Address by DYMM Raja Zarith Sofiah 

3. Workshop, Brainstorming, Interactive Games… 

All participants are involved in games and activities that require us to work together as a team, which comprises of different school, races, nationalities, backgrounds…etc. Yes. Diversity! Of course, throughout these activities, there are bound to be differences in opinions, but we still managed to work towards a common goal and get things done.

We drew mind maps for almost every activity to reinforce what we have learnt. Some participants are really creative in drawing mind maps. Yes. Diversity!

Then we also have guest speakers who are leaders in various communities in Malaysia to share with us their opinions and experience about diversity and inclusion at their workplace and society. If you study about Malaysia, you would have known about the social division among races, discrimination among certain races. Hence, we are privileged to hear from the 3 speakers about their views on these sensitive issues.

At the end of the 1st day program, every group had to come up with a performance which represent ‘Diversity’. Yes. Not surprising, as this is what this camp is all about. My group has a mix of nationalities – Singapore, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Puerto Rico, Indonesia… so we did a performance which incorporate all the different cultures.

How it turns out, doesn’t matter much. What matters is we all had fun learning dance of each culture.

4. Making new friends, all over the world

They are the ones I stay with for 2 nights at UTM Scholars’ Inn. On my left & right are NTU mates. The other 3 are from University of Nottingham. Amazing how we can click so well and stay harmoniously for 2 nights. Maybe it’s just guys.

And these bunch of young Malaysian friends from USCI Campuses. Lively and active, and some how can bull-shit like me. lol.

Where we stay

Before I forgot, let me brag a little about UTM Scholar’s Inn. Here’s only one picture of the place I stay.

This UTM hostel is named Scholars’ Inn, so obviously, they are for scholars to stay! But we are privileged to stay here because we are the participants of the camp. The picture you see above is my NTU friend at the living room, with LCD screen TV showing ESPN football. Yes. Cable TV with all those Discovery Channel, National Geographic included.

There’s also 2 bedrooms (1 double-bed, 2 single beds), 1 kitchen, 2 study tables, 1 toilet (with all toiletries included). Ya. Air-conditioned throughout too. Prior to this trip, I still heard from friends say that Malaysia Universities hostels are sub-standard only. Maybe they haven’t stay at this Scholars’ Inn yet? So  it’s better not to prejudge, ‘cos you never know what you gonna get!

I would probably say this is much like a 4-star hotel room.

Thoughts and Reflections…

Putting aside all the fun and games, it’s probably right to do some reflection of what this program truly wants to teach the participants. I will just list down some of my own thoughts and reflections.

1. Knowing and making friends from countries I never thought of.

From this camp, I know of friends from Somalia, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Nigeria, Puerto Rico and Botswana. Okay. I know what you might be thinking of now when you heard Somalia or Iran. That’s what I thought too.

And I believe this ‘stereotypical’ image of every country forms in every of our minds. That’s because of what we see in the news and TV everyday about these countries, so we thought the people there are like what the media portrays too.

But this is far from what the media portrays them. And so we have this camp who put all of us together, to re-evaluate our discriminative or prejudiced opinions of others, to learn to suspend our judgement and not jump straight into conclusions.

So picture on the left is my Somalia friend who is in the same group as me. I have to apologize that my only knowledge of Somalia is their pirates. But hey! I’m seriously wrong! My new friend here can speak excellent English, and is a student leader in UTM Student Union. He told me he’s interested to organize an exchange trip between NTU and UTM in the future!

2. Learning from a sensitive Malay movie

I’m not sure if you have watched it, but it is a movie called Gadoh. From what I know, Gadoh is a malay word for ‘Fight’. This movie shows the divide between races, noticeably between the Malays and Chinese students in a school, and a teacher propose to resolve this conflict via a theater club.

The movie is mainly in Malay language, but luckily there’s English subtitles. It’s my first time watching a malay movie, but I quite like it. Even though I don’t understand malay much, I can interpret the words from the body language of the people in the movie.

The movie is quite nice to watch, and it also underlines the social divide we see in some of the societies. I don’t think you need me to name the countries where you see divide among people, because of race, skin colour, religions…etc. To be honest, you’ll also see it in Singapore, no matter how nice you see us living harmoniously from the outside.

Sad to say, I heard this movie is heavily controlled for distribution throughout Malaysia because of its content. But now we have YouTube…

3. Understanding Malaysian Youths

Though this camp gathers students from 22 nationalities, most of them are Malaysians, and I have serious fun knowing and making friends with them. One is that I like their Malaysian accent, and second is their openness in sharing.

We talk about many things, and among them, is politics in their country, especially the famous 1Malaysia. I’ve learn and research quite a lot about Malaysia politics, especially during my days at EconomyWatch.com, where I had to do a writeup of Malaysia economy.

I ask them about their country’s educational policies, student intake in public and private universities, their ‘national service’, privileges for certain race…etc. I’m quite surprised that they really know so much of their country, and guess what, most are only 17-18 years old, not even voting age! Hey, 17-18 years old, I just remember myself mugging hard for A levels.

Of course, they are also quite curious about our own national service, as to why we have to serve 2 years, while theirs is 3 months or none. Their’s is on selection basis (lucky draw), and if you got selected, you’ll just serve for 3 months.

4. Coming back to my own Singapore…

If I were to take all my learning back to Singapore, I would say that though we had our own societal division, it’s more of a divide between Singaporeans and Foreigners, than the different races among Singaporeans.

There used to be a time when Singaporeans of different races call each other those kind of sensitive names that will spark unrest or riots. But now, it’s more of Singaporeans calling Foreigners names, and vice versa.

Much of the news in Singapore today is always about foreigners… foreigners think they own Singapore, foreigners don’t like our curry, foreigners have no respect for Singaporeans…

Our gahmen has been heavily accused of this division because of their foreign immigrantion policies. So after last year’s election results, they have somehow controlled the immigration numbers. That’s probably the first well-taken step by our gahmen. But what’s next?

Foreigners have somehow created a bad name here in Singapore, and Singaporeans somehow have a prejudice against them. For example, like the foreigners from China, we see as them people who speaks loudly, impolite, greedy, arrogant… Some are really like that, but we can’t say all are like that!

I have made really good Chinese friends in NTU who are really nice people. So it isn’t quite fair to prejudge them and stereotype them to be all the same, just like how we stereotype all Somalia people are pirates. Wouldn’t it be better if we can take down our ‘tinted’ glasses and see each person as a new individual, than to judge him from his nationality or race?

And same for foreigners coming over to Singapore, wouldn’t it better if you learn about Singapore’s culture, embrace one another’s differences, than trying to force your way through your own culture and habits? Of course you might not be used to some of our habits, but if we Singaporeans put in the effort to learn about you, shouldn’t you just do the same?

I believe this Diversity and Inclusion Workshop has taught us a lot about understanding people who are different from us. But there’s definitely more that need to be done to heal any social divide in any country. Nevertheless, this camp has provided us a good head start to make significant change in our own society.

Happiness used to be a goal to me too. But the thing is that hardly anyone taught me how to be happy. So I learned it myself, like what most other people do. We see, we observe, and we learn. We learn how society teaches us to be happy.

If you have a lot of money, you will be happy. If you are famous, you will be happy. If you live in big cars big house, you will be happy. If you spend lots of money, you will be happy. That is what we see in the TV, movies, newspapers, magazines.

Famous movie stars who made lots of money are always seen smiling, enjoying life, eating good food, going to places. And women are always seen to be happy on TV ads when they go for ‘retail therapy’,or shopping, and go home with lots of new bags and shoes.

On the other hand, TVs shows us that people who live in less developed areas, like some farmland in China, are seen to be having a hard life. Or kids running around in some village seen to be pitiful, because they don’t have nice clothes or proper shoes to wear. Hence, these people are not seen to be very happy compared to the ones above.

The mass media has somehow shaped how we define happiness. However, is that what considers happiness? There are many tests and experiments done by academics to measure the level of happiness in different countries. There are also experiments done on people who have won the lottery, and their happiness level one year later.

If our financial income is directly related to our happiness level, that means that the country with the highest GDP per capita, should be ranked top for being the happiest people in the world, while the country with the lowest GDP per capita will have the least happiest people in the world.

Many rankings are done by many people, and they can be found everywhere online. Different sources draw up different lists. But one can confirm that there are some truths in the relationship between financial income and happiness level.

Most of the top rankings are taken by developed countries, with GDP per capita over USD$40,000. But what’s also surprising is that there are also countries with less than GDP per capita of $40,000 among the top 10 happiest countries in the world.

One country is Bhutan, a small nation in Asia, with only a GDP per capita of US$1400. So if economic prosperity can make a country happy, why a country with people making only US$1400 a year can be happy too? Oh yea, I also realized that even though my country Singapore is ranked among the top in many lists (Best place to do business list, Richest city lists, Highest % of millionaire lists…etc), it is hardly ranked in the ‘Happiness List’.

Okay, that’s the macro level of looking at happiness. We somehow knows that lots of money does make us happy, but money alone is not enough. There are other possible external factors which can determine happiness, like costs of living, society and culture, cohesiveness…etc.

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Now, let’s turn back to look at the micro level of Happiness for us individuals. I mentioned I used to be make Happiness my goal, or my new year resolution every year. However, the more I grow up, the more I read, the more I realize that Happiness is never a goal.

Happiness needs not be made a goal to be achieved. It can be attained right at the instant. It just take a split-second decision to be happy. You change your mind to be happy, and there you have it.

Of course, this seems like it’s easier said than done. But this is what I’ve learnt from most self-help books I have read, though I can agree with them that Happiness is a Choice, it’s not a goal. But the thing is ‘choosing to be happy’ seems too big a word to be acted on.

I don’t claim to be a guru in happiness, but I can say I’m feeling happier than anytime in the past few years. I don’t have many happiness secrets, but instead, I just act on what I’ve read, and see if those tips I learn really make me happy. And I’m glad it does!

So I intend to share these tips here with you. It may or may not make you happy. If it does, then I’m happy. If not, then ignore that tip. Either way, I would still be happy to have shared them with you

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1. Optimism 

Optimism is, like what a song sings, “always look on the bright side of life”. The opposite of it is pessimism. An optimist sees a glass half-filled, a pessimist sees a glass half-empty.

Especially in this world right now when everybody is talking about the next financial crisis, it creates this gloom over head, thinking when it is going to happen. Sometimes, things are not as bad as the media portrays.

There are always 2 sides to a coin. Same goes as anything that happen to us – we can see it as something good or something bad. I remembered I failed 1 module in my semestral examination last year. Though it can be quite disappointing, but it helps me to rethink my course of study, and make some important decisions. After all, this failure seemed to be quite beneficial

Of course, we must also be a rational optimist, with a balanced view of issues. It helps us make better decisions. You don’t want to be an optimist who anyhow buy stocks, and say it will appreciate, without proper analysis. You don’t want to be someone who start a business and say business will prosper without proper management.

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2. Care less

I chanced upon a quote a twitter that says “the less you give a damn, the happier you will be”. I don’t know where this source comes from, but it does make quite a lot of sense to me.

Sometimes, we love to ‘stick a leg’ into anything that happens around us. Or you can call it busybody. Be it an argument between your friend and his/her boy/girlfriend, or trying to fight for justice for your friend from his boss, we always want to be involved and help out.

We are all helpful people, but let’s not get involved with everything and be part of it. Sometimes we became part of the problem, instead of the solution. If we are less emotionally attached to those things happening around us, and care for more important issues than minor ones, we won’t feel that stressed and stretched overall.

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3. Compare less

This is one thing that is really hard to do. Me included. One sickness we all suffer today is Comparititis. Not sure if there’s a term for it, but it means  the ‘illness of comparing’. We can blame ourselves for always comparing with our peers, in terms of results, income, or even boy/girlfriends.

But society also plays a role in helping us to compare. We always have this ‘Top 10′ lists everywhere (including the Happiness list above). Then we rank almost everything we can, from rank of universities, to rank of wages of different professions, and even ranking best looking males/females.

Comparing is not bad, if we compare to make the best decision, such as comparing prices or features of gadgets before we buy them. But comparing becomes a problem when it leads to Envy. There always this sense of jealousy when we envy someone else.

Your friend goes to USA for holiday, but you can only travel around Southeast Asia. Your friend studies in one of the Ivy league schools, but you can only get into a local university in Singapore. Your friend has iPhone 4S, but you only have iPhone 2. Both of you are 26 years old, but he is a US Multi-billionaire, while you’re just a small business owner. and the list goes on.

By constantly comparing ourselves with others and envy what others have and we don’t have, it somehow makes us poor. Poor in a way we are relatively poor, and not absolutely poor. Absolutely poverty is defined as living on US$1-2 a day. But we are not! We become poor because we see what we didn’t have what others have.

Now, this could be the time some motivational speakers or “get rich” speakers come and tell you that you should not to be satisfied with your current life, and you should not be content with what you have right now. You should be discontented, so you can motivate yourself to achieve more, to make more money…etc.

Of course you can be motivated that way to work hard to make more money and have a better life. But you need to ask yourself truthfully if you will be truly happy after getting what you want. We have hear of people who work hard, make lots of money and lead a better life for themselves and their family.

But we have also heard of people who work very hard, make lots of money, and realize even though they had a lot, that’s not the life that they want. Nothing wrong about chasing riches, but do have the right purpose behind it.

Happiness comes from comparing less, and be thankful for what we already have. We don’t want to wake up one morning to realize we lost diamonds while busy collecting stones.

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4. Demand Less

In our meritocratic society, we are trained to push ourselves to achieve whatever we want. We set high standards for ourselves in whatever we aim for. This indeed push us to achieve a lot more. Top achievers in our society always set high standards for themselves.

But the funny thing is, people also apply this kind of ‘strategy’ in their own relationships, so to have a perfect ‘relationship’ with their girlfriend or spouses.

If you’re in a relationship, or have friends who are in a relationship, you will often hear that one party will want to change another party so it suits his/her standard. Example, the lady demands that the guy must give in to all her requests, meet her everyday, bring her to movies every week…etc. The guy request that the lady must have a body of a super model, dress in a way what he likes, must answer all his calls…etc.

This isn’t uncommon. If we hear these complains from our friends, it’s likely that they had an argument with their other half, and that’s why they share all the other half’s demands with us.

Getting into a relationship requires some form of commitment and changes in lifestyle. But sometimes we set too much a standard for our other half, mostly to satisfy our own needs, and often wise, to a stage that it becomes a treaty or agreement.

Couples behave this way probably they are new to a relationship, so the demand for love and affection may be high. But it can also be due to external influences, like comparison with others – again.

“If May’s boyfriend can call her every night to say I Love You, why can’t you do the same?” or “If Mark’s girlfriend can be so gentle to him, why can’t you?” When you hear your friends make comparisons with other friends’ boy/girl friends, you will hear more examples. But usually, is about asking their partners to be more like what they want them to be.

Of course, some partners will follow suit, and both become happier after that. But some become heated negotiations, and in turn demand more from each other. If either one of them fall short of expectation, the agreement or treaty is brought up again. We need to know that everyone is different, and you can never find Ms or Mr Perfect.

Love isn’t finding the perfect person. It’s seeing an imperfect person perfectly. Let’s accept more of each other differences, and demand less. Love is interesting when two different person come together to learn about and accept each other. People always says they like their opposite half to be like them. If that’s the case, isn’t it better that they go into relationship with themselves?

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5. Better Relationships

Our quality of life is determined by the quality of relationships we have. Not much to say about this, and it’s quite obvious that if you are involved with less disagreements with your friends or family, you are more likely to be happier.

If you can’t accept things, and tend to find fault with anybody you come across, and cannot learn to agree to disagree, it’s not hard to understand why you find that the world is always against you.

Accept more, forgive more, love more. Your world will become a better place

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6. Help more people

The word ‘help’ means differently to different people. Some people ‘help’ in hope to get something in return. There was a time when I’m still in junior college, news reported that there are more JC students going out to old folks home and orphanage to help out in community work.

But later it is reported that most of them ‘help’ out so that they can clock community hours to be recorded in their resume to gain a higher chance of attaining a prestigious scholarship. So who are they really helping?

I’ve left JC for some years now, and I’m not sure if this practice is still on, but I just hope their intentions can be clearer.

If we want to be happier, just help more people without asking anything in return. NOTHING. We help others without hoping that they will repay us. Just help people. Good if they remember your kindness. If they don’t, tell yourself it’s okay.

If we help others and hope that we will get something in return, then it’s not help. It’s more of a trade. I use my time and effort to trade for your something I want from you. This kind of ‘helping’ has become so realistic in our society now, to a stage that if someone become too helpful, people fear that they are up to something no good, or thought he may be asking for a big favor after that.

Let’s help for the sake of helping. for the sake of make other people’s life better. for the sake to spread kindness. The more we help, you will realize that the more we will shift our focus on others, and won’t be a self-centered being.

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7. Simplify 

Life is easy, but we humans make it complicated. We want many things in our lives. But as time goes by, we start to realize many things actually doesn’t matter.

I used to wear many hats, try to be as good in everything I do. But in the end, though it stretches me, like what others say, expand my comfort zone, I find that I spread myself very thin. Furthermore, I become a Jack of all trades, master of none.

Then I intend to step back and think of all the things I’ve been doing. One by one, I clear some of the stuffs and commitments and learn to let go some of them. Then, i move on to focus on some of the more important things. And with that the 2nd half of 2011 is my best ever year. I begin to live like a real human being. Life became simple. I become happier.

I aim to become more minimalist. Like what Robin Sharma says, ‘Be a minimalist. Less is more. Focus on the best – release the rest.”

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Let’s not let society define happiness for us – happy only when the economy is doing well, happy only when you go shopping, happy when there’s sunshine, happy when you have the Singaporean 5Cs – Cash, Car, Credit card, Condominium & Club membership.

To you, these 7 things seems like some theoretical advices, but to me, these are all what I’ve been doing so far. I just couldn’t care less about other things that will steal my happiness away, ‘cos I simply chose to be happy everyday!

Smile

It started in March 2011, with an introductory session, then a blogging session about creating magnetic headlines and blog content, another session about creating Buzz online, and another session where other guest bloggers are invited to share about their blogs and stuffs.

Being one of the 3 blogger mentors for the 14 Youth.SG campus spies, it is indeed pleasurable, intriguing and invigorated experience for me. After 1 year, we had our winners and graduates of the first ever Youth.SG campus spies!

We had it in a chic location, at PigeonHole at Duxton. It’s environment is kind of relaxing for people to hang around and chit-chat, unlike a lecture-like setting. I would have to thank Vina for choosing such a wonderful place for all the spies to gather there!

Now, here’s the highlights of the Youth.SG Graduation Meetup!

Theme: The Past, The Present, The Future.

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The event kicked off with the ‘Past’, with me giving the ‘Youth.SG Campus Spy’ report card for all 14 campus spies. An evaluation for all the blog posts for the past 6-12 months

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An attentive audience.

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Then next, is the ‘Present’, by Darryl Kang who shares the 5 popular blogs the YouthSG Campus spies can learn from.

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5 good local blogs with an added bonus! Only those present will know what ‘bonus’ that is

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Then we have our very handsome Luke to share the ‘Future’ – what’s next for the campus spies!

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Indeed a bright future ahead for the Campus Spies!

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And next is our prize presentation for the best Youth.SG Campus Spies. The awards are based on several merits, such as well-written articles, involvement with Youth.SG activities, blog updates, and others. So the winners are…

3rd: Darren Ong from Republic Polytechnic

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2nd: Kok Hui from National University of Singapore

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And the best Youth.SG Campus Spy is….

Sim Lin from Dunman High School!

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Of course, let’s not forget our Blogger Mentors too Me, Darryl and Luke! Nevertheless, we must also thank Vina from Youth.SG for making all these possible!!

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And… there’s of course food and refreshment to bring this graduation to an end!

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Reflections

It’s always fun working with youths. They are energetic, active, and creative. I am not a campus spy before, maybe not you too, but if we do blog during our school days, most of the things we write is always about school, school work, activities, school friends, teachers, among many other things.

Reading all the articles written by the campus spies somehow bringing me back to the early days when I like to blog about school stuffs, especially during Junior College. Some of them can really express their thoughts well, while some are really expressive and emotional in their writings. If you read more into it, you can even feel the stress the writer is facing in school at that moment.

I would also have to applaud all the spies who commit the time to blog about events happening in school. To be honest, we know schools don’t have events every day or every week. During exam periods, the school don’t even have programs for entire month! But these campus spies are creative enough to CREATE their own programs and stories to blog about!

They collaborated well with Youth.SG for campus invasion, asking Vina and her friends to go to their school to give goodies and all sorts of prizes. At some school, I heard they bring XBox 360 also. Kudos to them! I learnt something valuable from these spies too!

Some campus spies also provide valuable information and tips about their school, such as Kok Hui, who wrote many articles about NUS, such as getting accommodation, sourcing for internships or job openings at career fairs, Final-Year Project tips, among many interesting other blog posts.

I believe this will not be the end for the campus spies, but it’s just the beginning, and a bright journey ahead of them.

Hooray!

So now I present to you, Vernon Lim.

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Last weekend I had dinner with a friend. Initially I wanted post something on the “Whats on your mind” to spoil as many people’s valentine day as possible. Why? Because it helped me express something I have always felt since I first heard of Valentine Day; that it was a gimmick.

A day perpetuated by an industry which is hell bent on commercializing a skewed notion of love. Saturated by almost every media source to “show” our Love. As if Love is something which loses value if not expressed in petals or palates.

She didn’t know it, but she changed my mind, hence I decided to do pen this.

We are all familiar with how this day became significant for so many people and its history, if you are not familiar, check it out at www.googleityourself.com.

vday, small caps emphasised, as it is commonly refered to in truncation crazy Singapore, provided an opportunity for so many guys to show that one girl that he thought of her as more than just a friend. It stressed so many girls by forcing them to hint, sometimes excessively at that one guy who she cannot stop thinking about, who seem to possess everything quality she was looking for except the ability to pick up a hint.

Boyfriends brainstorm with other boyfriends ideas on how to out perform last years gestures, and girlfriends crack their collective heads trying to figure what to buy for their guy from the oh-so-limited men section of the shopping world. Guys turn to etched silver and girls to handmade cards in a hopeless struggle to “out personalize” gifts for each other.

But, I detest the notion of a Valentine Day. Not for the values it stand for, but the notion that great displays of Love and affection should and must be grand and sentimental and should occur within a Day. It was as if Love, however you define it, got a boost that day.

A multiplier effect, any act done at the end of the second week of the second month will be received with greater reception. If you don’t believe me, guys try giving heart shaped chocolates every Monday to that girl and you will know what I mean.

Today, I saw an Indian foreign worker helping an old Chinese aunty up the bus. Helping a stranger, in a strange land out of goodness of his heart told me more about what Valentine’s Day was about than the countless couples I saw walking hand in hand through Orchard underpass with overpriced bouquets in hand, ignoring the Tissue paper selling aunty.

Have we forgotten that spirit of Valentine’s Day encompasses friends as well as lovers, family as well as strangers? Your lover was once your friend. If you cannot be a good friend, you surely cannot be a good lover.

Why limit it to a day? Campaigns are measured in days. Lifestyles are measured in lives.

Helping an old lady up the bus, cross the road, up the curb, or even clearing your own tray at the food court to help out the old cleaning lady. Buying two drinks instead of one for your friend when he is stuck in a long q in the canteen so that a drink is waiting for him when he is done queuing up. Call her when you see a good deal and you know she would love to know about it. Warm up dinner when you know your brother is coming home in 30 minutes time. Wash the dishes for your mother when she is not looking.

Screw Valentine’s Day, its Valentine Moments we should strive to realize. Great oceans are made of tiny drops of water; no one drop is more important or greater than the other. Great love is made up of tiny everyday acts, no one act greater or more important than the other. Do something not to show someone that you are thinking of him or her, do it because you are. Do not be deceived by commercial entities selling you the idea that the louder you shout, the greater your Love. They forgot and lest you forget, that most of the greatest assurances of love came in the form of whispers, at night, and close to each other.

And here is me wishing you, many, yet unrealized, and probably unnoticed, Valentine Moments.

V

Originally posted on Facebook

We returned from our 6-day trip a few days back, and so I decided to document how this whole trip unfolds…

It all started with a visit by University of Macau Public Speaking Team to our club in April 2011. From my knowledge, it’s the first ever foreign club that visited NTU Toastmasters Club in my 3 years with them. Then, we had a friendly speech contest which I gave a speech on ‘Japan Tsunami‘. At the end of the contest, I was remembered as the ‘lying policeman’.

Long story short, I sent the whole UM team off at our Changi airport, and wished everyone a safe trip back home. During my many discussions with their members, they suggested our club to make a visit to Macau too.

It was really a good idea to have an overseas trip to Macau as a club, but I had no idea how to do it. But I gave a promise we would visit them one day.

When I went back to discuss with my club members, they suggested I will be in charge of planning and organizing the whole trip, as I had the contacts of the UM members, and I have been to Macau before.

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Initial Challenges Faced

I have been on several school overseas trip in the past. Then, it was easy. Pass the money and your passport information to the teacher-in-charge, and everything is settled. When you arrive, you will have food, hotel room keys, bus waiting at airport, tour guides…everything there ready for you.

But for this exchange trip, it’s the other way round. Members who are going will be passing money and passport information to me, and I will be the one getting the air tickets, hotel rooms, itinerary and programmed, transport arrangement, food for everybody when we arrive.

Fortunately, I don’t have to do this alone, as there are many helpful toastmasters who lend a hand in planning this trip.

So now I’m like a ‘tour leader‘… I have to take care of these:

1. School funding and cost of entire trip
Find out how much the school is willing to sponsor us, and draw up an estimated expenditure required for this trip.

2. Writing of a trip proposal for school to grant us funds
The school wants to know where we will be going exactly, why we will be doing there, what members will learn from this trip…etc

3. Attending of courses
Trip leaders (me and a few) will have to attend courses during school holidays to learn how to organize an overseas trip. I have to attend a first-aid course, as NTU require a first-aider in each trip.

4. Planning of itinerary
Contacting University of Macau students the dates to meet up, finding a suitable date where NTU members are available to travel, planning enough places of interests in Macau & Hong Kong…etc

5. Immigration restrictions
We have Singaporeans, Malaysian and Chinese traveling to Macau. No worries for Singapore and Malaysia passports, but not the Chinese. Chinese passports are restricted to travel to Macau and Hong Kong, and are required to apply visas or other passes to go through. I have to study which are the ones they need to apply…

6. Member Participation
Got to decide how many member to bring on this trip.

7. Emergency needs
Finding the nearest hospital, clinics, emergency numbers, embassies in Macau & Hong Kong.
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First Proposal Rejected in July 2011

When UMac students visited us in April, we thought a good time to visit them would be during our summer holidays between June to August, since we have lots of time. However, NTU told us that it was too rush, and funding will not be provided. They require us to submit the plan 3 months before the trip, and lots of admin stuffs to do.

Then, I thought of dropping the whole idea of this exchange trip as there’s seems to be so much things to do just to get funding to go on a group trip. I even thought of asking my club to go on our own expenses, as we don’t expect much funding also. Own money, less work.

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Project On Hold

Whole project stalled until August when my club president announced that we are definitely going to Macau. Oh! I thought they have forgotten, but No!

Then, I can see the excitement in our club members hoping they can part of this Macau trip, and speak publicly in a foreign environment, and an exciting holiday in Macau.

Then I had nothing much to answer to my club president (as I didn’t do much since), but I told him I will get it done. Time to get to work! When things get so overwhelming, I roped in a few toastmasters to help out.

Thanks to them, we managed to get everything done in the next 2 months, in October.

• We set the duration of the trip, exact meetings dates with University of Macau clubs & the whole trip itinerary.
• Exchanged numerous emails to organize friendly speech contest and Toastmasters chapter meeting in Macau
• Booked the cheapest available plane tickets to and fro Macau
• Booked the best suited hotels to accommodate 16 people in both Hong Kong & Macau, for a price of $40 SGD each for 5 nights.
• We attended all courses required by the school, and I also signed up for first-aid course to attend in December 2011.
• We checked with Chinese Embassies on the visa or travel passes required to enter Macau and Hong Kong, for Chinese passports.
• We submitted our trip proposal to NTU Students’ Affairs Office for receipt of funding.
• Most importantly, we received our funding 3 weeks before the trip!

By December, almost everything is settled. However, one of the biggest concern for this trip is the application of visa or travel passes for Chinese Passports. I informed all my Chinese friends to make their respective passes, and just hoped that they get approved in time for travel.

On the issue of travel passes, something which I’m totally confused about, fortunately, a fellow toastmaster, Mo Ting helped me out. All application of the correct passes are completed on the day of the trip!

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The Day Has Come!

Everybody is excited about the trip! I’m even more excited, or rather, anxious how the whole trip program will turn out. There’s lots of challenges during the trip, which I think we tackled everyone quite well.

For this accomplishment, I have to thank the cooperation of all the members, and a few leaders who helped me out.

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Challenge 1: Getting everybody together
On the day of the trip, there’s only 13 members flying from Singapore to Macau. 3 others have arranged to meet up in Hong Kong from China on the 2nd day instead. I have made lots of arrangement to make everyone come together on the 2nd day in Hong Kong.

Tackled?: Yes! We did! All 16 of us met up in Hong Kong hotel on 3rd Jan afternoon for lunch. That happens, it’s like a reunion for me. Challenge One completed!

When all 16 come together in HK!

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Challenge 2: Communication woes
As a leader of this trip, I got to have a working phone, so everyone else can contact me. I bought a MOP$50 prepaid card which allowed me to use it for the whole trip. However, not every member are buying cards too. Only some leaders have.

Another problem faced is the communication with Macau & Hong Kong people. Many of us communicated in Mandarin, Chinese, but the locals communicated in Cantonese. A big problem cropped up when we arrive in Macau airport. We wanted to ask the immigration officers about the second entry for Chinese passports. However, communication breakdown on both sides and that held us back for about 30 minutes.

Tackled?: Yes! We did! For the challenge of working phones, I advised members w/o phone to stick close to the other leaders who had phones. This arrangement to allowed me to get everybody together anytime, anywhere throughout the trip.

For the communication breakdown with the Macau immigration officers, a club member from Malaysia, Cheng Heng, came out and helped us communicate in Cantonese with the officials (Thank God he’s part of this trip!). A few Cantonese sentences from him solved the whole issue.

Then on, he’s our official Cantonese spokesperson in Hong Kong & Macau in asking for directions or information. Communication problem solved!

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Challenge 3: Accommodation Woes
This is by far the most challenging issue I know I will face in Macau. As cost of hotel accommodation in Hong Kong and Macau is costly, we arranged to fill 4 rooms with 16 people. Of course, we booked the ‘Deluxe’ big rooms so its still comfortable to fill more than the required 2 pax/room. But that’s not the issue. It’s about escaping the eyes of the hotel staffs and security that we are over-staying.

Tackled?: Yes! We did! Our beautifully crafted plan allowed everyone to move into respective rooms and escape the eyes and suspicions of any overstaying. There’s once we were almost caught as the security guard on duty that night was too alert. Luckily, Vernon, an intelligent toastmaster, crafted another excellent plan and managed to get everybody up to their hotel rooms. A good night sleep for everybody, including me!

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Challenge 4: Transport Woes
Quite a manageable challenge. There’s lots of choices for us in Macau. We can take public buses, or free casino shuttle buses, or taxis. The problem comes when we couldn’t find the right transport to take to certain places.

Tackled?: We took the free casino shuttle buses to ferry terminals. All else, we shared cab, which is quite cheap (not like Singapore). Their mid-night cab fare is just less than MOP$10, for a cab fare of MOP$50. As we have 16 people, 4 cabs and everything is settled!

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Challenge 5: Decision Woes
Some wanted to go shopping, some wanted to eat, some wanted to stay in hotel. What will you do? Vote for the best choice? or force them to accept my final decision? Hmmm…

Tackled?: Easy lah. After all, this is a holiday trip, and there’s no point in forcing everybody to follow me like those paid tour guides. Rather, freedom of choice matters more. I just allow everyone to go anywhere they like during the recreation time. Of course for exchange meetings with University of Macau, they must there! Other than that, it’s freedom!

Furthermore, most of them are adults already, and it doesn’t make sense to order them around like little kids. All can speak Mandarin, so they won’t get lost in Macau or Hong Kong easily.

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What could I have done better?

1. Knowing more about Macau myself

On the day we landed in Macau, it was evening and everybody was hungry. We checked in hotel, and everyone was looking for food. Then, I didn’t have the contact numbers of our Macau friends, and I just bring the members around looking for food.

I thought it would just be like Hong Kong, where food is available on every street. But NO! What we find is pawn shops, Pawn shops, and more Pawn Shops! Not a big surprise as why there’s so many pawn shops in Macau, if you know that there are 40 casinos there.

Walking aimlessly in search of food for about 30 minutes, we finally settled in a cafe and had our meal. It cost more than I thought, but luckily we still get our stomach filled. If I only had know the place better and the location of food places, we won’t have to starve for so long on the first day.

Anyway, everything is solved when we met up with our Macau counterparts. Delicious food is aplenty by then.

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2. Increase awareness of time

From day one, we were already playing the ‘Amazing Race‘ game. We were always rushing for time. We nearly missed our flight from Singapore to Macau, as we board the plane just minutes before the gate closed. We lost track of time as we are happily eating at Burger King at Terminal 1 Arrival Hall.

When we were about to return to Macau from Hong Kong by ferry, we rushed to board the last ferry at the terminal. Little did we know the last ferry departed at 10.30pm, as I was told by the Macau hotel staff that ferry services are 24 hours.

We reached the ferry terminal at 10.15pm, and rushed to buy the tickets for 16 people. Cash and credit cards flew around to get the tickets for everybody. Luckily, everyone made it and reached Macau safely!

If I had planned sufficient time for every commute, and be more aware of the time, we wouldn’t have to rush that much. Anyway, I think every one of us had a good time rushing here and there, playing the ‘Amazing Race’.
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I’m Really Thankful For…

Although I’m the organizer for this whole exchange program, it would not have been a success without the help of many people. I’m really thankful of many things.

1. My NTU Toastmasters Club members.

I’m thankful for their huge cooperation, which sometimes impresses me.

There’s once I send out an SMS which asked for their NTU Matriculation card number. Within 2 minutes, I received all 15 matriculation numbers in my phone.

I sent an email to ask who want to give speeches in Macau, I get overwhelming response. Instead of persuading them to speak, I have to convince some others to do other appointment instead.

I sent an email to ask them to make their necessary visa or travel passes to enter Macau/Hong Kong, everybody made it before the trip, regardless they are in China or Singapore.

I set a time for everybody to meet up at certain places in Macau or Hong Kong, and everybody did. (though in Macau, some are stuck in casinos.)

They made my job so easy.

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2. Belief from everyone I can do a great job

I had no experience in organizing a trip before. I only know how to be a tourist. Still, I made it thanks to the encouragement I get from many people when somethings cropped up. Many lend their support and help me get things done faster.

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3. University of Macau Public Speaking Team & Toastmasters Club

Friendly Speech Contest Winners

With UM PST on bus to Portuguese Dinner!

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They are the two clubs which we visited in Macau. I’m really thankful that they are willing to host us, even as they have just began their new semester. You know, when a new semester starts, you have so much things to settle, like adding new modules…etc, and I’m really grateful that they take time out to host us.

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4. Macau students who brought us around Macau

A very big thank you to Catherine, Lisa, Cyndi, Esther, Eileen and many others who brought us around Macau for the last 3 days of our trip. Some of them even skipped class to become our tour guides.

Catherine & Lisa who brought us around for 3 days

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They showed us all the 25 world heritage in Macau, and the local food and shopping centers. I had initially planned to be the one guiding the group with a map, but luckily we have the friendly and hospitable Macau students. It’s always cool to have friends in other countries!

All of us stepping on a heritage - the floor!

that's Vernon and Cyndi, and 4 big bowls of Macau desserts!

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There’s a night they even bring all 16 of us to late night dessert supper. Ordered more than MOP$600 of desserts. Don’t know its cheap of expensive, but all the desserts are very delicious. Especially one which is like ‘Durian Soup‘.

A big bowl full of durian! You’ll love it if you like durian. We ate till 1am that day…

That 'Durian Soup'?

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5. Food, Accommodation & Weather

Food wise, I think most of us are satisfied. We didn’t have lots of proper meals, but we just eat whatever we find, and whenever we are hungry. To put in badly, we NEVER Stop eating!

Big Taiwanese Chicken Cutlet in HongKong!

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Accommodation wise, I’m thankful that I chose the right hotel which have big enough rooms and beds to accommodate 4-5 people per room. I booked the hotels online, and as you know, pictures can be deceiving. I booked purely on faith that the bed would be big enough to be shared by 4 people. When we reached Macau, I’m very relieved, and everyone was happy!

Weather wise, kind of good and bad. When we reached Macau, some members said the weather is quite warm, and not the 7 degree celsius that we thought. Then, I brought them up to the PEAK in Hong Kong. With the same outfit, they almost got ‘frozen’ by the strong cold winds. (haha…)

At University of Macau. Can't believe we are that high throughout the trip

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From then, the next 4 days in Macau and Hong Kong are freaking cold. Fortunately, everyone come prepared with extra clothes and windbreaker. Though it’s cold, many of us still love the weather and wind. We also walked under the rain in Macau one night as we don’t have umbrellas. In the end, we danced in the rain. Thankfully, no one fall sick!
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6. Last Ferry from Hong Kong to Macau

I’m really thankful for the last ferry which bring us back to Macau from Hong Kong. If we missed that ferry, I would have to book additional 4 hotel rooms to accommodate the members in Hong Kong for the night. Fortunately, we made it back!!

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7. Wifi in Hong Kong

There’s no Wifi services in our Macau hotel. As much as I hoped to disconnect from the internet world, I find that I couldn’t do it this time. One big mistake I made is not taking down the Macau partners phone numbers which I stored in my Facebook Messages. Without the internet, I can’t get the numbers out.

Thankfully, I can accessed it in Hong Kong to retrieve all the numbers.

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8. Free Casino Shuttle Bus services

We board them when we needed to go to the Macau ferry terminal to board ferry to Hong Kong. We took them again when we returned from Hong Kong. With them, I never have to book a coach to have 16 people travel around Macau together.

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9. JetStar landed safely.

We thought we could never made it back to Singapore, when we experienced a crazy turbulence just 30 minutes before landing at Changi Airport. The strong wind blew the plane off its course, and the plane tilted almost 45 degrees. Passengers screamed.

like what Vernon says... Jetstar, the one star airline

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Probably the plane is too small, thats why. I never encountered this on a SQ plane. Thankfully, the plane landed safely…

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10. Everyone returned home!

NTU Toastmasters - An International Club

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15 of us returned to Singapore. Some went home, some went back to NTU hostel. 1 went back to her hometown in China. In all, we had lots of fun for the 6 days in Macau. Despite all the rushing and running, no one lost any item. Despite eating all kinds of food, sleeping late, dancing in the rain, no one fall ill.

Also thankful for the blessings upon NTU TMC from a centuries-old church in Macau

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One thing we all know is that a strong relationship is built between the clubs in NTU and UMac. Probably this is just the beginning, and will have many more exchanges to come!

Farewell... but it's just the beginning!!

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When the day come, I don’t mind leading another team for exchange again. However, I would prefer to guide a fellow toastmasters on to how to organize a successful one like the NTU Toastmasters – University of Macau Exchange 2012!

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1. I didn’t set any new year resolutions

At the start of every year, people will make new year resolutions. But at the beginning of 2011, I didn’t set any. This is the first time of me doing so, with the aim of trying out something new and see how my year will turn out without any new year resolutions.

Instead, I set my own little targets, or small achievable goals for 2011 only. Then, when I achieve them, I write a few more down. And I can say I achieve most of them, and feel quite good about  it.

The reason I tried this because many people say setting new year resolutions is useless, because they doesn’t help. And sure enough, it doesn’t help. Haha. It’s mostly because we set in new year, hide it throughout the year, then reveal it again at the end of the year. Nothing changed in between.

I will continue to set my own little targets for year 2012

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2. Sharpen the saw first

I learned this from a conversation with my friend. He told me a story about this guy called David. He saw a friend who saws wood everyday. David sees that his friend only manage to saw a few wood a day, so he approaches his friend and see how he saw the wood.

When David met his friend, he sees that his friend’s saw is blunt. Then he advises his friend to stop sawing, and go and sharpen his saw first. But his friend tells him “I have no time to sharpen the saw, I need to saw wood!”

So did you catch the moral of the story? David’s friend didn’t put time to sharpen his saw, because he has to saw wood with his blunt saw. It’s kind of like an irony.

So for me in 2011, I stopped a few things I am doing to sharpen my own skills (sharpen the saw), instead of continuing to do works which are of mediocre quality.

One is my studies. I took 6 core modules in the first half of 2011, and aim to finish my entire course in 3.5 years, instead of 4 years. But i screwed up my results. Second half of the year, I decided to slow down my pace, build my subject foundations again, and took 3 core modules only. I did much better then.

This goes the same for my Toastmasters Project. Instead of rushing to give speeches every week, I tried to improve myself a little here and there, so to make my speech much more better than the previous one.

This is one good lesson for me in 2011. Like what Abraham Lincoln says, “If you give him 6 hours to saw a wood, he will use 4 hours to sharpen the saw”.

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3. Can you really do what you like? Is there something really called passion?

This is one question that gets debated a lot. I’m someone who do things I like, and also tells other people to do things they like, but people always question if this is possible. The word ‘passion’ also get thrown about. Some even says ‘passion’ doesn’t exist in this costly Singapore.

I realized how important this thing called ‘passion’ is when Steve Jobs passes on. I forgot the whole quote, but there are many things he said about doing what you want, and what you like, instead of living a someone else’s life.

He also said that if you do not know what you like, then keep on finding. You’ll find it one day.

One question you can ask is “Is there something I will do even if i’m not paid?”

Doing things not for monetary sake will give you a higher purpose than money. Sometimes, it can just be for fun, or for something more meaningful and purposeful.

You know I like to play with videos. I like to create, edit, and effects…etc. In 2011, I created quite a few videos to keep them as memories. One is for my favorite course in NTU – Cultural Intelligence, a class with awesome people from different countries.  You can watch the video here.

If you haven’t watch the cultural film, which I acted as an Indian Dad, then, you can watch it here too. I couldn’t act like a real one, but its really fun. Haha!

Another is me trying out playing violin music covers – like playing tunes of those pop songs. I listened to some incredibly beautiful music played by some, I transcribed out their notes, then played it myself. Sounds still okay, but what I love is that my music actually touches someone else (online who I doesn’t know).

You can watch the music violin cover – You Raise Me Up  here.

The latest video I did is the Christmas Message for 2011. This Christmas is meaningful to me, to be able to spend time with loved ones, and so I created this message to share with all. Spend like 2 full days to take, but it feel so good when you see people get your message and spending time with their loved ones.

You can also watch the video here.

In 2012, I will do meaningful and purposeful stuffs that will give add more energy to my life, and hopefully others too.

Talking about passion in your work? To me, that’s still possible. Just keep on finding, just like what Steve Jobs says.

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4. Achieve something by putting in time

I learn this after a talk from my NTU professor. I have blogged the whole conversation here. One of the important things I learn from him is about putting time in whatever you want to achieve.

Basically, he wants me to put more time in Math, so I can do better in my math grades. And so after his conversation, I put more time into my math. I downloaded YouTube video on Math and watch it on my way to school everyday. I study more per week for my math than I used to.

So when the results are out, I’m quite delighted that I get my math grades back to ‘pre-crisis’ period. I did better than the previous disastrous semester.

However, if you look at it , this is not a really big discovery. People become very good at games because they spend lots of time playing it. Football players become skillful because they play regularly. Hence, if you score good grades, it’s just because you study a lot.

But it’s one thing I have long forgotten with all the distractions around me. Fortunately, I remembered it now.

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5. Time is really important

I don’t know about you, but I started doing this after my grandmother passed away in 2008: I counted how many funerals I attended every year. Funerals of people who are close to me, my friends, my relatives.

I know it’s quite crazy, but I did count how many i attended. In 2009, I attended 3, 2010, there’s 4, & 2011, there’s 3. I don’t know how many I will attend in 2012, but hopefully its zero.

Furthermore, in these funerals I attended, I was puzzled by one thing. These funerals will bring together lots of people from everywhere, even friends or relatives  whom they have not met for decades. If you attended a funeral before, you will see this.

You will see old friends of the deceased, long-lost relatives whom they never seen in years. But its kind of awkward because what brought all the long-lost friends or relatives together is the passing of someone they know.

It can be heartening to see your old friends back after many years, but I just don’t feel right about it seeing them in a funeral. I rather see them during Chinese New Year celebrations or meet them any other days out for coffee.

In 2011, I have tuned my focus on spending more time with family and building stronger relationships with people around me. I try to give as much as I can and to have as much beautiful memories together as possible.

This is because I don’t really want to have regrets like “I should have done this, should have done that’ when the person is not around anymore. Instead, I would prefer to say that “I’m glad I’ve done ….”

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6. Be in control of your life as much as you can

One of the biggest highlights of 2011 is the Singapore General Election. What makes it more exciting is the power of Facebook and other online media, which caused the whole Singapore, even those secondary school kids on your Facebook friends list to be suddenly so interested in politics.

You can call that ‘election excitement’, but at least they know something more about their country than I was during their age.

Also during this election is the time when critiques are born everywhere, blaming this and that party, for this and that problems or results. I am quite a critique also, but if I want to blame, I prefer to blame things that are beyond our control.

Many blame the old government for overcrowded-ness in public transport, foreign competition, HDB prices…etc. Fair enough, these decisions of overcrowded-ness in public transport, bringing in foreign workers/talents or skyrocketing HDB prices, all lies in the policies of the government.

As I wrote in a Facebook article that time, we couldn’t really get rid of foreigners on our own (can you kick them out of your country?) and we also cannot want our HDB prices just to drop like that. For these issues, hence we hear cries from the people to ask the government to implement policies to curb those problems.

But for some other reasons, I don’t want to point the blame on the government on any other people, because I think it’s pointless.

I can tell you my grades are really average in school, but I will never say its because NTU allows a lot of foreign students into it. This is because I know i didn’t study as much and as hard as they did! Hence, the problem lies with me, so its under my control.

Then there’s another part that if employers are not employing you, then you blame the government. If the employer is discriminating against you because of sensitive issues like race, nationality, religion or sex, then you have the right to complain. But if the employer don’t employ you because he just doesn’t need your services, then what’s the point of complaining.

I see some people just want to complain and blame government or other people because of the poor decisions they made in life.

“If you blame, you become lame”

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7. Getting a wholesome and complete life in school & out of school

The beginning of 2011 is quite difficult for me, mostly because I tried to juggle many things together. I’m just so busy. I’m just rushing here and there and try to complete as much things as possible. My mind is in a mess.

In the second half of 2011, I dropped many things I did to slow my my pace. I learn to be a minimalist, and clear all the clutter in my mind. And then I get back my life!

Since my university education started, I never liked it and always aimed to finish it as soon as possible. My course is catered for 4 years, but I aimed to complete in 3.5 years. That’s explains why I rushed my first half of 2011, by taking 6 core modules.

But when I got my worst results ever in mid-2011, I redesign my study plan in NTU. I plan to take 4 years to study again. As such, in the later part of 2011, I took only 3 core modules and an elective, which is probably my favorite subject in NTU.

In the end, my results fared a lot better than the one in mid-2011.

Also, before my exams in November 2011, I embarked on an exchange trip to China with council members from National Youth Council, and some young journalists. The trip took 7 days, and its just 1 week from my exams… and I STILL GO!

Some people think I’m crazy and taking a risk to go overseas so near my exams, but I thought that I took a right gamble. I sacrificed my study time for this
‘once-in-a-lifetime’ experience. Furthermore, the people in this trip made it so exciting that I felt that I have made the right decision to leave for China.

This trip also gave me a well-deserved break from the daily grind of books and notes.

In 2012, I’m not sure if there’s any trip for me to go in the middle of my studies, but if there is, I will definitely hop onto this opportunity again. It will make me a wholesome student, who is not just about books and grades.

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8. The most important purpose in life is not collecting achievements but building relationships

I got enlightened about this from LifeUnited Church. We all want achievements, who doesn’t? But coming to hear this quote changed my thinking about my purpose in life.

Our meritocratic system has developed a kind of culture that makes us go for more and more achievements – higher grades, higher honors, higher positions of authority. There’s nothing wrong with this. But something is wrong if we attain all these by neglecting the relationships we have with people around us. Or worse, we attain by making use of the people around us.

I have experienced this myself where people are just your friends because they need project group grades. They are not your friends anymore when there’s nothing about grades. Same like some people become your friends when you’re rich, and left when you’re not.

I don’t know how these people have friends, but I think their friends are very much superficial like them too.

There are many theories that say “your income is the average of your 5 closest friends”. When some people heard of this, they immediately abandoned their current (not-so-rich) friends, and go find new (and richer) friends, so they can richer themselves.

Kick that out.

Why not you and your 5 closest friends be rich TOGETHER? If that’s what you want, isn’t that a better way?

In 2012, other than just building relationships with more people, I also plan to create more long-lasting memories with many people. They are just so fun to talk about after a few years, and they are really more meaningful than just achieving and collecting grades and certificates.

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9. Winners are Quitters!

As you have read above, I have dropped many things I did in the second half of 2011. Yes, I QUIT on many things. And thanks that I quit to do so many things, i think I’m a winner now.

“Winners never Quit, and Quitters never Win”.

This is one quote we heard since young, but it has been busted by Seth Godin in his book, The Dip. Winners do Quit, and sometimes you fail by not quitting.

If there’s one thing I quit doing on this blog, is about giving it more time, and less time.

I blogged less frequent, but with more stuffs in each post (just like this one). I don’t have that much things to talk about like other bloggers everyday, so I chose to spend time doing other things, then come back and share my reflections and lessons. This way I also make my post more meaningful and worthwhile to read, than just daily rants.

But another thing I didn’t quit is to use my blog to collect memories. I didn’t know if you do that as well. It’s just like writing a diary and paste them with photos. After a period of time, like 4 years, when you look back at your own photos and writing, you can see how much you have changed.

It can also bring you back to those days 4 years ago.

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10. There’s more life outside Facebook and Twitter

Actually more about this lesson can be read in this post during my trip to China.

In 2010, I get hanged onto Facebook/Twitter. Till 2011, i’m still addicted to it. In 2012, I will continue to hang on to it, but I aim not to do it as much, at least not to rely it to spend my time.

I believe the world outside of Facebook and Twitter can be very beautiful, its just waiting for us to explore. Sometimes Facebook and Twitter is filled with so much negativity and criticism that just pollute your mind and restrict your imagination.

It’s time to live outside the world!

I’m gonna spend more time looking at the sky, observing insects or seeing leaves falling of trees. In 2012, I will plan to go AWOL from Facebook and Twitter again, just like what I did in China. Maybe not to travel to China again, but just to shut off all channels of communication – not even Whatsapp or email.

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That’s my 10 lessons in 2011. Of course, there’s a lot more lessons I learn, but somehow these 10 taught me the most. Thanks to all the people who impart such valuable lessons to me in 2011. You may not have taught me directly. Sometimes I just pick up these lessons and thoughts by myself, via you

Plans for 2012?

I will continue the plans I have drawn up in the second half of 2011. Nothing Big. Just a continuation of living a meaningful and purposeful life which I am living now.

Today, I’m more of going to share my own experiences during my 7 days in China. Actually the title already told you my experience. No Facebook for 7 days. This is not news, and I’m sure you’ve already known they are famous for their Great FireWall of China.

In my trips to China so far, I have successfully climbed to the top of the Great Wall of China, twice. Kind of tiring, but it’s manageable. But this is my first time encountering their Great FireWall. No Facebook, No Twitter, No YouTube… and I can’t even have updated news on my iPad Flipboard.

I don’t know about you, but it’s quite a challenge, or rather, a torture for me not able to access those sites even if I have the Internet. Back in Singapore, I access Facebook when I’m bored, till I’m bored. Some says Facebook is like an addiction, and I confess, I’m addicted to it! Haha…

So no Facebook for me in China. Some friends suggested trying VPN. But I have no idea how to use it, and it turns out to be super lagged when my friend finally accessed Facebook through VPN. Probably the VPN Is not strong enough to withstand the heat from the Firewall, that’s why.

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No Facebook, What to do?

What to do?

Enjoy the trip (lah)!

After all, this trip is not about Facebook, nor I have a duty to update all my whereabouts on Facebook. A breakaway from Facebook allows me to ‘BE THERE’ for the whole trip. “BE THERE”, is easily said, not easily done. I sure can’t do it when I’m in Singapore.

BE THERE, or a better explanation. means to have your body, mind and soul altogether in one place. When it’s not, it means like you are in a lecture, but your mind is thinking about the Korean buffet you’ll be eating later, or thinking how many friends will respond to your funky picture you just uploaded on Facebook.

How many of these actually happen to us daily? For me, I can say it’s everyday. Or every hour, especially when I can access Facebook simply with my iPhone in hand. My mind is always separated from my physical being. But now, thanks to the Great Firewall, I can BE THERE the whole trip, without any distraction from Facebook.

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A Little Girl Who Taught Me Happiness

There’s one part of the trip that is quite memorable. In Nanning, there is a little girl, whose Dad is the coach driver who fetch us around when we travel in the city.

We came to know this girl when we are about to depart Nanning to Beijing, via domestic flight. We took the coach to Nanning airport, and that’s where, during the trip, we learn so much from her. She was just 6 years old.

When we board the bus, she was sleeping at the back of the coach. Her blanket and pillow were there, and that gave us the idea that she probably spend the night in the coach.

She also had a cute little school bag, though  a little torn, has allowed her to carry her notebook and stationery to school. When we saw her notebook, she opened it and read us a Chinese poem. Oh, by the way, she’s called Shan Shan.

Shan Shan is a cheerful little girl who always smiles and giggles when answering our questions. During our ride, she saw my friend, Estella’s Cannon camera, and she became so excited that she took it and kept on snapping us.

I heard from Estella that she took a few hundred photos in less than an hour of ride. Of course, some are just random or blurred shots, but some are really good ones.

Throughout the ride, we talked to her, played with her and joked with her. After about an hour or so, we are kind of tired and wanted to rest but she’s still full of energy. It’s just like how parents can’t match the energy level of their kids.

Moments later, we reached the airport and was going to alight the coach. Upon hearing this, Shan Shan looked surprised that we were in fact going to leave, and that’s why we were in his Dad’s coach.

When we were packing up to alight, we could see sadness in her eyes. But still we had to leave for Beijing. All of us had our share of joy with Shan Shan. My delegate leader Eric enjoyed the ride tremendously too.

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What I See…

From the short few hours we had with Shan Shan, I see that happiness doesn’t derive much from the things we have, but from the relationships we have with others.

Of course we are happy that we have this gadget and that toy, but I believe we will be really more happy when we have good relationships, and share good times and memories with the people around us.

Also, those few hours also brought me back to the pre-Facebook or pre-Internet days. Then, we do not have lots of gadgets like iPhone, iPod, iPad, Playstation, Xbox, Kinect…etc. But we are able to create joy and entertainment through simple toys or card games. Or we can just simply hang out with our friends at some neighborhood and play games like ‘Catching’ or ‘Ice-Man’.

Then, when we play, we play our hearts out, and don’t care so much. Today, whatever we play, we will post at Facebook first, and while we are playing, we will keep checking Facebook who respond to our update. We are there physically, but not mentally. I admit I did this sometimes. Haha…

My friend, a mother, also had a revelation. She felt that her daughter, who has the same age as Shan Shan, is so much more fortunate than Shan Shan. She has proper books, bags and shoes, but Shan Shan has to make do with her torn bag and dirty shoes for school. She said that she will tell her daughter about Shan Shan, and teach her how to appreciate things more. And she is also going to send some nice shoes and bags over from Singapore to Nanning for Shan Shan!

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Whoooo…. I didn’t know there’s so much things to say just because I didn’t manage to use Facebook for 7 days. Probably I conserved all my postings from those 7 days for today’s post.

Coming back to Singapore, I’m back to my usual Facebook regime, accessing it every now and then. I even logged in during every break I took from my revision for examinations. I’m allowing it to come back to my life again. I’m trying to minimize the usage of it… but I already said that 9 months ago. Oh yea.

Thinking of it, the Great FireWall Of China is actually not as bad as I first thought. It makes China a first class rehabilitation center for Facebook addicts (like me). How about you? Will you consider going to China, as a tourist, and also to break free from the Facebook-dominant world?

I will definitely go again, for it brings back my life!

Our Singapore delegation team comprises of 7 people, whom you will find out more below. We have delegates from Straits Times, Lianhe ZaoBao (Singapore Chinese Newspaper), Youth.SG, and a founder of a 100,000 strong Facebook Fan page.

The delegation is led by 2 top civil servants from National Youth Council. I would say that I’m really privileged to be part of this amazing group of people, which made our whole trip fun and meaningful.

This 7 day trip began in Nanning. A 4-hour flight brought us from Singapore to Guangzhou before an hour-long domestic flight landed us in Nanning. On the third day, we travelled to Beijing on a 3-hour domestic flight and upon arrival, we hopped onto a coach for a 2 hour ride to Tianjin. We returned to Beijing on the fifth day via  a 40-min ride on the Beijing-Tianjin bullet train.

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 Main Highlights

Our trip itinerary was filled with cultural exchanges, conferences, discussions, shopping and visits to tertiary institutions and prominent private and government establishments. While we had fun touring and learning China, the main highlights of the youth camp is the gathering of the China and ASEAN young journalists.

On the second day of our trip, representatives from each nation sat down in a round table to discuss on the topic of “How Media Can Help Boost Free Trade Agreements”

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Suggestions raised includes playing the responsible role of a journalist, the using of both online and mainstream media, and partnership between journalists from different countries. The host of the discussion is a TV host from GuangXi Television (I forgot his name!), but he also shared his experiences when he travelled to every ASEAN country.

On the last day of the trip, all the journalists sat down again to discuss about the roles and responsibilities of young journalists.

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Many topics were discussed, including the comparison between online (alternative) media and mainstream media, how young journalists can help to boost bi-lateral ties, and the suggestion of creating a strong network of journalists from all 10 ASEAN countries. Elyn (in white), along with delegates from Vietnam (right) and Thailand (left) shared our discussion with the rest of the audience.

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Learning Points

While listening to what other young journalists share, I also participate as much as I can to contribute to the discussion. Here are some of the notes I have taken down, and some strong points mentioned by delegates from the Chinese and ASEAN journalists.

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1. Journalists should be Professional, Ethical, Independent and Objective.

Though I did not study any course in journalism in university, I kind of know that there’s a certain code of conduct journalists should follow. Journalists play a very important role in reporting news and facts. The things they write can affect how others make their decisions. Journalists should always remember their main role of being journalist.

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2. Stronger emphasis of Accuracy in reporting.

Young journalists should place more emphasis in reporting accurate news and facts. This is important, especially in this ‘internet age’ where information are all over the internet. Carelessness may result in the journalist reporting a rumor/lie as a fact. Cross-referencing and verifying news sources are really important here.

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3. Building a Network of journalists

This is a really good suggestion that journalists from different countries can come together, form a network to report news on different countries. This allows every journalist to clarify and follow up news in other countries easily.

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4. New (Alternative) Media vs Mainstream Media

When this topic was mentioned, my antenna was up immediately. And little did I know this topic was one of the hottest topic discussed on the table. Most of the journalists there mainly works in the mainstream media, while only a handful of them, are like me, who operates in the ‘alternative’ media.

An intense exchange of ideas was observed on whether ‘Mainstream media should compete, or compliment each other’. For me, I strongly believe they should compliment each other, and there’s really no point in ‘killing’ each other (both will still be alive in the long run).

However, other counterparts believe that mainstream media should only be public source of news, as the alternative media allows the spread of   lies / rumors / gossip, in which the mainstream media has to be called later in to report the true facts to stop the ‘fire’ from spreading further. (maybe I can write more on this in future post)

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Cultural Differences

Before I embark on this trip, I blogged about taking this opportunity to apply what I have learned about cultural intelligence in NTU, into this cultural exchange trip. And yes I did! I tried to observe and note down as much as I can. While I’m not able to name all, here are some of the more significant ones.

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1. Nanning people are very hospitable

Nanning is located is GuangXi, the southern part of China, and it’s our first place of visit. The reason I say they are very hospitable, as they would want to ensure that you feel happy and enjoy your stay there. They like to ask for your feedback on Nanning. And whatever you say, they will reply with “if you need anything, just tell me, I will settle for you“.

I experienced this during an interview with a GuangXi reporter. Other delegates are also asked about their experience in Nanning. They are really friendly, and will help you when you need help.

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2. A typical Chinese banquet serves 15 dishes.

This happens on a lunch banquet in Nanning where we wondered why we were constantly being served with dishes, even though we know we couldn’t finish all of them. Singapore banquets usually serve till the 7th or 8th dish. There, we heaved a sigh of relief, when the serving finally ended, with desserts.

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3. Foreigners are impressed with Singapore’s bilingualism

I’m not saying this to boost our own ego, but from what I observed, the Chinese are impressed that we could speak both good English and Mandarin. We are also somehow the ‘bridge’ for our Chinese and ASEAN counterparts. Communication with the Chinese or ASEAN delegates, especially during the conferences, were also much easier.

(To Singapore parents who think that Chinese is a useless subject, or learning to speak good Mandarin is a waste of time, please think twice!)

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4. Taking Pride in Cultural Performances

While we were traveling from cities to cities on the road, one of the best ways to get the passengers to cheer up, is to SING! On the bus trip from Beijing to Tianjin, my bus consists of delegates from 3 countries – Singapore, Laos and Vietnam, there’s once the Vietnamese started singing their cultural song, soon everyone of us followed! I can see that every one of their delegates sang with passion and everyone started clapping to their song.

On a visit to Tianjin Foreign Studies University, students from TFSU showcased some Chinese cultural performances, like playing the ‘Pi Pa’ and a XinJiang (West of China) cultural dance. Our delegates from Laos, also put up a cultural show for the TFSU students, and invited everyone to dance together.

The Chinese Instrument, "Pi Pa"

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Cultural Dance by TFSU student from XinJiang

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5. Collectivism in victory and privacy – Chinese.

In my NTU cultural course, I studied about the high collectivism trait observed by the Chinese. Into China, I observed it myself. I was told by our Chinese student tour guide, an undergrad from TFSU, that a school hostel room is shared by 8 -10 students. 10 persons sharing a room, and this brings me back to my national service days. Back in NTU, our rooms are just shared by a maximum of 2 students.

My delegate leader then curiously asked “what about personal privacy?”. The student tour guide answered that they believe in shared privacy. However, over to their international lodge for international students, theirs are single rooms, much like those in NTU.

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Interesting Stories?

On top of all the things I mentioned, I also have many interesting encounters in China, which taught me many life lessons. Such as the lesson of appreciation, the pain/joy of 7 ‘Facebook-less’ days and valuing something before its gone. These stories are quite though-provoking , and I thought it would be better to share them in separate posts.

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The Wonderful Singapore Delegate!

Last but definitely not the least, I would like to thank the awesome Singapore delegation team for making this trip so fruitful, joyful and meaningful.

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Eric Chua – Singapore Delegate Leader

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Eric is by far the best (and funniest) leader I have known so far. He’s a top civil servant from Ministry of Home Affairs. He’s a Council Member in National Youth Council. He held positions in committees and clubs. Looking at his huge profile of records, I never thought he can be such a lame and funny guy to hang around with. I also like his leadership style, and take good care of every delegate during the whole trip. He has good fashion sense too!

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Angelene Dorai – ‘Mother’ of the Delegation

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Angelene is like our ‘mother’ for our whole trip. Ask her for anything, she will have it. She’s also a top civil servant from the National Youth Council. I would have to thank her for enduring all my lame jokes throughout the trip, and that almost made her want to kick me out of the bus. Haha. Oh yea, thanks to her, we are able to shop at the Beijing Outlet Mall before we depart!

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Elyn – Zao Bao Journalist

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A really nice person to talk to, and also someone I have to thank for enduring all my lame jokes. She’s been to China a few times, and thanks to her knowledge about China, we can get around (and shop) easily. I also thank her for helping me to bargain from an auntie in Silk Street Market!

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Estella – Welcome The World!

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She manages a Facebook page of over 100,000 fans! Go like her page if you haven’t : Welcome The World. She’s the youngest in this trip, and probably the whole China-ASEAN Youth Camp. Despite her age, she has already accomplished many things her peers didn’t. She might be in Indonesia now covering news for SEA Games 2011! She took amazing pictures with her Cannon, in which one picture made me look like a brand model. LOL.

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Vina Sim – My Youth.SG Boss

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Many thanks to Vina, if not, I wouldn’t be able to make it to this exchange trip. Not really my boss, but we worked together in Youth.SG’s Ultimate Campus Spy Network.  She’s kind of a ‘cool’ lady, and she can really drink. Thanks to her, that I get to try different wines and beers in China. She can really bargain too.

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Joe En – Straits Times & My Trip Buddy

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Joe writes for Straits Times, YouThink session way back when he’s in ACJC. Back then, YouThink was the only section I read in ST when it was published on every monday. He’s a nice guy to be with, and we shared a lot with each other throughout the whole journey.

We even shared a unique experience in Beijing’s Wang Fu Jing shopping street together, one which we will never forget. A really good buddy who might be the next big lawyer in Singapore. He came in second for the China-ASEAN essay competition which earn him the chance to be part of the China-ASEAN Youth Camp 2012 next year!

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Of course, I would also like to thank Felicia from National Youth Council for organizing and doing all the administrative work for this trip, and the organizers and student leaders who brought us around Nanning, Tianjin and Beijing for these 7 days. I would say this trip is definitely a success. Everyone, including delegates from ASEAN and China will continue to work with each other, and bring our corporation to a higher level.

This is a course I am currently taking in NTU. Kind of fun, and I enjoyed it a lot. It educates on something called your Cultural Intelligence Quotient, otherwise known as CQ. It’s like another quotient we need to build on, other than just IQ and EQ. From Wikipedia, Cultural Intelligence is defined as

“a theory within management and organisational psychology, positing that understanding the impact of an individual’s cultural background on their behaviour is essential for effective business, and measuring an individual’s ability to engage successfully in any environment or social setting.”

Too long?

In simple terms, it means someone with high CQ knows how to interact with people from different culture and cultural values, able to read cultural cues given in verbal or non-verbal form. A person with high CQ will also know how to avoid unnecessary conflict due to cultural differences.

So for my course, I learn about the different cultural values one has, like Uncertainty Avoidance, Masculinity, Long Term Orientation and Power Distance, and also about difference in Motivation, Team Building, Negotiation styles across cultures. Taking this course also allows me to learn more about my own cultural values, and reveal the truth why I always clash with certain kind of people, and why I always click so well with certain people too!

This course is also my favorite course in NTU so far. So much more exciting than any other thing in school. My cultural class is also composed of students from 6 different nationalities – Singapore, Scotland, Finnish, Japanese, Myanmar and Taiwan, this then allows us to work with people from diverse culture!

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Putting my CQ to Test!

Part of the course assignment is to shoot a film to depict the difference in culture and negotiation styles between India and Canada. We have a Finnish in our group. An awesome exchange student from Finland. He is my first ever Finnish friend, and its fun working with him. Check out our film below.

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Putting my CQ to Real Test!

I thought that we did quite well for the film above, and hopefully we can score quite well. That would test how much we have increased in our CQ before and after the course. However, that’s not all about putting my CQ to test. Now, I’m going to put my CQ to REAL TEST!

Just a month ago, I received a call from National Youth Council and was elated to learn that I was selected as a representative for 2011 China-ASEAN Youth Camp, in China from 3 Nov to 10 Nov. The background of the camp is as follows:

In order to celebrate the China-ASEAN Friendly Exchange Year at the 20th anniversary of the China-ASEAN dialogue relations, and to further implement Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s proposal at the 11th China-ASEAN Leaders Meeting concerning China will continue to invite ASEAN youth to visit China to participate in exchange and dialogue programs including China-ASEAN Youth Camp, Summer Camp, Young Entrepreneurs Forum, etc., the All-China Youth Federation would like to invite 100 ASEAN youth to visit China and participate in exchange programs in November, 2011.

So I will be traveling to China this Thursday, 3 Nov, and will be visiting Beijing, Nanjing and Tianjing in this 7-day trip, along with meeting China and other ASEAN youth representatives too. While this event allows me to make friends with people from different ASEAN countries, it also allows me to put my cultural knowledge to real test!

Real, as in applying what I have learned in my “How To Be A World Explorer” NTU course!

I will learn if any stereotype of Chinese or other cultures I know about are true.

I will be tested on how to communicate verbally and non-verbally with people from other cultures.

I have to check my gestures, if they are offensive to any culture.

Most importantly, I have to know how to resolve any conflict/difference if any happens.

I’m sure this would be a true experience for me to test if my CQ did increase, other than just the academic test which I will take once I return from the trip. I will definitely blog about interesting stories or any cultural ‘bloopers’ that I encounter and share it with everybody here. Probably I can share them with my cultural class too!

I’m so looking forward to this test this coming Thursday.

I’ll be back again here with all my stories! Ciao!

*btw, no Facebook in China, so you might not see me online for 1 week.