Saturday, August 06, 2005
Stand up for Singapore
my first time away from home during national day.
been to the parade many times in my life. have always enjoyed it, especially the last part, singing (or rather, shouting) all the national songs with the splendid fireworks as background 'music'.
yes, i have tons of things to say about this little red dot at the southern tip of the malayan peninsular. it is soo damn small that even the distance from my house to the city of san francisco is longer than that from Tuas to Changi - and i actually live very close to SF.
i've always been proud to be a s'porean - you all know that. not that we are no 1 in many things (in fact, when u know the world, i wouldn't go round bragging this), but it is a place that has made me who i am.
growth and learning is a continuous process. but the foundation is key. despite the much critisized censorship or spoon-feeding or hand-holding (etc etc), most of the s'poreans i met out here are so cosmopolitan that the locals only have praises for us.
we speak good english, we are warm people, we assimulated well into the local environment and yet, we are a very unique bred of people. our food is great, we are very strong in sciences and we are multi-lingual. the locals have no problem communicating with us though they are often intrigued by the singlish we used among our own breed.
a couple of us always talked about what is it like to go back to s'pore and start living there (ha ha ha, i sounded as if i've been away for that long..... but the truth is, i feel so at home this time round that i'm here. no sense of alienation). no doubt life in s'pore is only a year ago for me, honestly, i cannot imagine having to go back to it - although i always feel s'porean inside me. i'm not alone. for now, we think it is enough if we make trips home on regular basis to say hi to our folks and stay in touch with the happenings via the internet. but to lead a life back there? no, not for now at least.
it is few days to my beloved country's 40th birthday. i'm gonna miss the celebration. but as i told carol, maybe i will be there to celebrate her 50th b'day.
Happy Birthday Singapore!!
been to the parade many times in my life. have always enjoyed it, especially the last part, singing (or rather, shouting) all the national songs with the splendid fireworks as background 'music'.
yes, i have tons of things to say about this little red dot at the southern tip of the malayan peninsular. it is soo damn small that even the distance from my house to the city of san francisco is longer than that from Tuas to Changi - and i actually live very close to SF.
i've always been proud to be a s'porean - you all know that. not that we are no 1 in many things (in fact, when u know the world, i wouldn't go round bragging this), but it is a place that has made me who i am.
growth and learning is a continuous process. but the foundation is key. despite the much critisized censorship or spoon-feeding or hand-holding (etc etc), most of the s'poreans i met out here are so cosmopolitan that the locals only have praises for us.
we speak good english, we are warm people, we assimulated well into the local environment and yet, we are a very unique bred of people. our food is great, we are very strong in sciences and we are multi-lingual. the locals have no problem communicating with us though they are often intrigued by the singlish we used among our own breed.
a couple of us always talked about what is it like to go back to s'pore and start living there (ha ha ha, i sounded as if i've been away for that long..... but the truth is, i feel so at home this time round that i'm here. no sense of alienation). no doubt life in s'pore is only a year ago for me, honestly, i cannot imagine having to go back to it - although i always feel s'porean inside me. i'm not alone. for now, we think it is enough if we make trips home on regular basis to say hi to our folks and stay in touch with the happenings via the internet. but to lead a life back there? no, not for now at least.
it is few days to my beloved country's 40th birthday. i'm gonna miss the celebration. but as i told carol, maybe i will be there to celebrate her 50th b'day.
Happy Birthday Singapore!!
# posted by nic @ 11:45 PM 
