Where do you come from? Your English slang is pretty unique. Oh Singapore. I heard that Singapore is a very clean and beautiful. It is somewhere near Malaysia/China/Indonesia but I do not know exactly where it is. No chewing gum? (laughs) How do you survive without gum? Summer all year round at 80-90 degrees (Fahrenheit)? Are you sure? That’s bloody hot. It  is very humid also right. So you do not get to experience snow. It must be very fun for you to see snow for the first time. What language do Singaporeans speak? English? Wow that’s really amazing. Don’t you guys have a language of your own? Oh, you speak English and Mandarin. Wow, I’m a Chinese (American) and I can’t even speak much Mandarin. So you mean I can navigate in Singapore easily with all the signs in English, that’s really wonderful. One day I should come to Singapore. You can buy great food at only 2 bucks? That’s sweet. Singapore is so small that you can travel around in an hour? You can’t be kidding! Do Singaporeans listen to music? What kind? Oh, so you guys like Lady Gaga and watch Lost too. That’s great.

A Singaporean Perspective

America, a land of freedom, where freedom of speech and expression is cherished and celebrated. California, the West Coast state with two great cities, Los Angeles and San Francisco, where Hollywood and Silicon Valley are, where the great entertainment and technology industries thrive. A place where many different cultures meet – much like Singapore – with a large populations of Caucasians, Mexicans/Hispanic/Latino, Koreans, Chinese, Indians and others, intermixing the main languages of English and Spanish into roads and landmarks, just like how Malay names are common in Singaporean Landmarks. There are many towns and cities with the titles “San” or “Santa”, which is Spanish for “Saint”, as many of the places were founded by Spanish Missionaries.

Santa Cruz, translated as Saint of the Holy Cross, is an interesting little town off the Pacific Coast. Most of the town amenities exist for the sake of the university – UCSC – although there are also many people living in this ‘rural’ area. It was refreshing to live in a place in the middle of a redwood forest, and also encountering many wild animals, such as deers, banana slugs and raccoons, on a daily basis. There is free aircon everyday, all the buses do not need aircon. Indoors, there are heaters instead of aircon. My dorm room has a heater to bring the temperature up to a comfortable 24-26 deg C for sleeping, while my room in my flat in Singapore has an aircon to bring the temperature down to the same temperature. NUS students wear jackets inside LTs as if it is winter, and wear flip flops especially when it pours; UCSC students wear jackets outdoors because it is winter, and wear rain boots when it drizzles. Singaporeans hate the Sun, Californians love the sunshine. Who doesn’t, especially when the sun shines at you at 20 deg C with low humidity and does not cause you to perspire? Most UCSC students love to drink, party and have fun. Some Singaporean students party, while others prefer watching movies, playing pool, board games, LAN, CS, DOTA…

Asking for a glass of wa-ter will leave the waiter puzzled, the correct pronunciation is wo-rer.  Busing the table at the fast food joint is a normal ethic, while clearing the table in Singapore means you are putting the cleaning aunty/uncle out of job. (And only Singaporeans chope seats at food courts, not that there are that many food courts in USA anyway.) Americans greet one another with how’s it going (and you wonder what’s the it) and a big hug, Singaporeans greet one another with have you eaten, and a slight nod or wave (although often the latter). Although the phrase “how are you” can be overly abused to such an extent that it becomes a casual reply of “good” or “awesome”, while a long rant of how your day was would properly make other person think you are weird. However, I think Singaporeans certainly need more of the affectionate hug, as physical expressions of love are often lacking in Asian families.

California is a car country, endless miles of roads for one to drive, as long as you do not get stuck on 101 in the Bay area or on i5 in LA. 65 miles/hour is the norm on most freeways, and that is about 110 km/h, which is 20 km/h above Singapore’s speed limit on expressways. Snow gives bad condition for driving, as chains are an irritating chore, although it is quite surreal to drive through snow. It is also very surreal to drive through a road through mountains, valleys, farmlands, lakes, cliffs and sea. There is free parking at most places, every restaurant or Safeway or Walmart has a huge parking lot that spans acres of land. Only in crowded city areas where kerbside parking is metered. In contrast, we have ERP-ed car parks almost everywhere and free parking is scarce except on Sundays.

The cheapest food is fast food, in which you can get a burrito from Taco Bell or cheeseburger from McDonalds/BK for US$1.  The average food price is US$8 and above, which is also the minimum wage in the USA. In contrast, the cheapest food in Singapore is hawker food, and the average food price is S$3 = US$2.14. The most favourite fast food in Singapore is undeniably McDonalds (although personally I prefer Carl’s Jr), while Californians prefer their one and only In-n-Out burgers with animal fries! Good chinese food is available readily in the more cosmopolitan cities, otherwise one should be happy with Panda Express with their (in?)famous (sweet) beef broccoli and mandarin chicken. Speaking about Panda Express, 2 entrees (like the earlier mentioned) and 1 side dish (rice or noodles) costs about US$8. A similar combination at an economic rice aka chap chai stall (rice + 2 side dishes) probably cost you less than S$2.50. Mexican burritos and wraps are some of their favorite quick-bites, while Malay/Indian curry puffs and roti pratas are our equivalent.

Homeless people and hippies lining up the streets are a common sight in Santa Cruz and San Francisco, with many asking for spare change at traffic junctions, and/or busking (you don’t need a permit to busk) with their creative musical instruments such as pails, pans, guitars, accordions and ukuleles. And then there are the hippies with long hair gathering at some corners. Sometimes, it is quite a sad sight to see the homeless sleeping on the streets in their giant blankets at 10 deg C, often making you wondering what you can do to change the world.

Post Exchange Syndrome

During the last 2 months adapting back to the Singapore lifestyle, everything I do or attend, comparisons will arise in my head. The surreal feeling is fading away sadly, and back to the reality of the hustle and competition of the NUS life. Everything that happened seemed like a dream. Singapore has changed quite a bit in the last 6 months, with new landmarks such as Marina Bay Sands and the circle line. Being overseas for a while also makes one appreciate how good Singapore is, such as the clean MRT trains, the efficient and elegant Changi Airport, the convenience of centralised sub-urban shopping malls and the convenience of most amenities within walking distance of your home or school. However, it also makes one realise how Singapore can improve in other areas, such as road and pedestrian courtesy, service standards, amongst other things. And then, one realises how boring NUS is: the un-inspiring architecture, the lack of good lecturers (not all professors are good teachers, and not all good teachers are professors), and the ever-encompassing competition with other students and over-emphasis on examination results. No such thing as 24-hour library in the USA – they have to protest for it. And McDonald’s 24-hour drive-thru in the USA does not serve walk-in customers for security reasons – you have to hail a cab and drive through it. Yes, I’m not kidding.

The 6 months away was certainly eye-opening and allowed me to see the other side of the world, where the grass is certainly greener both literally and figuratively. The grass may be forever greener, but we must learn how to be contented with what we have currently.

(P.S. I was reading some random person’s blog about post-exchange and I realise that I agree with most of what the person feels)

This year’s SoC rag dance is considered quite slack as compared to last year, for the practices started later in the holidays. From 3 times of 4 hours a week (2-6pm), it gradually evolved to everyday 8 hours per day as the days to the actual rag day were numbered. The dance choreographers, Alicia and Jazreel, worked very hard to train us, most of us first-time noob dancers. For myself, it was also good way to continue my dance classes from UCSC.

At first, it was quite fun to learn the new dance steps, although some of them, especially the “Do you remember” song, were quite difficult and fast. Audacity helped in slowing down the tempo of the song, and we learnt from slower tempo to faster tempo. After a while, it got a little repetitive as we kept practising the same dance steps, waiting eagerly for the newer steps to be taught. Somehow, I could not get some of the steps initially, and was accused of skipping steps and doing shortcuts. Haha.

Then, the people who did the cheerleading stunts last year started practising for them. At one of the sessions, I was asked to try to be a backspot base for one of the flyers as the original person was not around. After 3 or 4 tries, I successfully lifted up the girl from in front of me to sit on my shoulder. However, it activated my old injury in my bicep/tricep, which is probably a muscle tear from army (and is also the reason I could not surf). Hence I was not able to continue anymore. For some reason, the muscle pain reoccurred quite a few times over the next few weeks, even during some seemingly minimal action like doing a star jump or swinging my arm upwards. However it was a good experience to be able to try the cheerleading stunts.

As the day drew closer, we stayed over in school for practices with the float at night, once during the fow camp, once on Monday, and the last two nights before the actual day. The nights were filled with waiting for midnight, which is when the shuttle buses stop operating, and practiced till like 3am or so. Not forgetting playing lame games like mi-mi-mi-re-mi-fa-so-mi and the nightly supper from the now popular Al-Meem Northern Indian restaurant, with Naans, roti-johns and Teh. It was also always a hassle to find a place to bathe, whether is it ICube or SRC, and we always end up sleeping close to 5am.

Very soon the actual day arrived. Before that, it was filled with pep talks from Peide, Ziqing and lots of scolding from our choreographer. Our energy level was not enough, we were not up to performance standard. We always also screw up our blocking and centre marking. There was also a lot of time spent on decorating and painting our weapons, as well as buying materials and sewing our custom made costumes. We wore a vest made from old CGF shirts, and lion-dance-like pants wirg blink blink shiny stuff. The actual day arrived, we woke up at 5.30am to start doing our make-up, hairdo, and everyone was transformed into “pretty boys” in 4 hours. Super gay.

We had free McDonalds for breakfast and was transported to CP10 for the pre-judging posing and static displays. Looking at the other floats and costume-clad people, the mood was exciting and colourful. Our float is the biggest and best one so far as compared to the previous years, yet it was still smaller compared to other faculties’. But it is still beautifully done.

After lunch and a few practices, we were ferried to a holding area in a tent near SRC. The mood was anticipating yet tiring, due to the hot sun and warm weather. Peide say we must not go into shag mood, but we must hype and warm ourselves up and prepare for our performance as we were the first group. After some warm-up excercises, we did the dancers-woosh, and we were ushered to the SRC tracked.

Soon our moment arrived, the float was pushed in, and the initial twinkling of the tea party song was played. We jumped unto the stage enthusiastically, and I was clapping my hands up in the air. Then, OUCH my old injury was activated again >.< by the clapping, of all timings! I was struggling to dance tea party, but fortunately managed to twist my arm back before the fighting part with Julian and Brandon. The diagonal lines were good, and the second fighting seen was done well. Everything else was good, except the end when some of them were not able to finish their stunts successfully, and they were quite sad after that.

After our dance, it was a fun time to watch and admire other faculties’ dances, as well as taking photos and videos. The highlight of the night was the SYOG flame arrival ceremony, complete with fireworks and fanfare. It arrived on a modified open-top coach bus (similar to NUS Shuttle Bus), in a safety lantern, before being transferred to the torch, and then it lighted up a cauldron by President and 2 athletes. It was the first time rag ended with such a big bang, and I guess it was a good addition and also interesting to see the halls dancing in different countries’ culture. I must say the Mexican dance is a pretty good rendition, as I have watched some of it in California.

There was a post event party in which they played some cool songs and the SoC people got very high and we started forming a human train along the field and running all around. We then proceeded to the float for a massive photo taking session and multiple camera horing, cheering, some tau poks and crowd surfing and what not. It was a tremendous wonderful cheerful ending for the whole orientation week.

Joining rag dance allowed me to make some new friends, as well as bond better with existing ones. It also gave me a chance to experience the discipline and effort needed in a dance performance, as well as learning how to respect the choreographers and fellow dancers by dancing with all our might, putting in 100-150% of effort (often any figure >100% is an overly exaggerated figure), and putting on a great big smile unto the audience. =D

And as they say, for us, it’s about the process, not the final result. Although many other groups will beg to differ.

Some self-portraits of myself, the one below playing a guitar in a crowd

This is my final exam piece:

An excerpt of the description I wrote:

The two sides are almost mirror images of each other, with each side depicting a different part of the identity and culture of America and Singapore respectively. The artist wishes to portray the distinct differences between the two cultures, as well as showing how Globalization has caused Americanization in Singapore. The aspects of transportation, food, living, housing, military, architectural icons, flora, freedom of speech and climate are involved in this comparison. Each country offers a different point of view, and one can observe the contrast by seeking the mirror image on the other side. Some components of the identity are similar, while other portions of the identity are drastically different. There are also two icons which actually overlap the two sides.

The two sides are almost mirror images of each other, with each side depicting a different part of the identity and culture of America and Singapore respectively. The artist wishes to portray the distinct differences between the two cultures, as well as showing how Globalization has caused Americanization in Singapore. The aspects of transportation, food, living, housing, military, architectural icons, flora, freedom of speech and climate are involved in this comparison. Each country offers a different point of view, and one can observe the contrast by seeking the mirror image on the other side. Some components of the identity are similar, while other portions of the identity are drastically different. There are also two icons which actually overlap the two sides.  Overall, the artwork shows an appealing study of the two cultural identities, and one needs to study the artwork in detail in order to appreciate what the artist is trying to convey and achieve.

But ever since VJC mass dance, I always liked dancing with a huge group of people. It is a fun activity, a good form of exercise and it has somewhat synonymous qualities with cheering: it bonds people together, it shows unity and teamwork, it creates camaraderie. And there’s also a saying that if one person does it, it looks stupid, when a group of people do it together, it looks beautiful.

And also, it is about trying new things. I joined ballroom dance, hip hop dance, and zumba dance classes when I was in UCSC. So why can’t I do the same in NUS? It’s probably one of my last few chances to have fun and do something different, something which I do not want to regret not doing when I grow older, something to be involved in, as part of SoC, as part of NUS. It’s a good way to get to know and bond with other SoC people. As much as I do not support the idea of float-building in rag, dancing is a different story in my opinion.

David danced before the LORD with all his might (2 Samuel 6:14).
As the Switchfoot song goes: This is your life, are you who you want to be?

Spirit West Coast is one of the events that completed my “world tour” of Christian stuff, in addition to Catalyst West Coast, Spring Celebration and more. I shall continue on this on another time.

Landscape gesture drawing in charcoal at an area near the Porter Meadow, UCSC.

Still life drawing in charcoal: The Bible versus the things of the world.
(The bible was intentionally placed vertically in juxtaposition to the other objects placed horizontally.)

Landscape in charcoal using subtractive method. Subtractive method is to colour the whole paper in black charcoal, and then using the eraser to slowly erase the highlights and lighter areas. Kinda hard to do the forests and trees though.

Landscape in ink and brushes, of Porter College apartments alleyway. Used different types of ink including pens, bamboo brushes etc. with an attempt of some Van Gogh style in the sky. Someone said it looks like a foot. lol.

To all UCSC students,

This is to inform you that there will be another study-in at the Science and Engineering Library tonight, to keep the library open until midnight in protest of the reductions in library hours.

On Monday evening, approximately 130 students entered the Science and Engineering Library to hold a study-in. At 10:00 PM, when library administration attempted to close the library, we stayed and continued to study. A contingent of approximately ten UC police officers entered the building and announced that students who did not leave may be subject to arrest. We gathered in the lobby and sat down, asking for open dialogue with library administrators. No such dialogue was forthcoming, and students began to discuss amongst themselves what course of action should be taken. A group of about twenty students had gathered outside the locked doors, and began chanting “We want to study,” but were not allowed in by
the police. The group inside made a decision to repeat the study-in the next day, after which students began to pull out their books, initiating a period of quiet study. At midnight, two hours after normal closing time, we filed out peacefully.

On Tuesday, administration closed both McHenry and Science and Engineering Libraries at 4:30 PM, on the grounds that the University could not afford to keep them open after paying for the extra library staffing and police presence. This is less than true. The Science and Engineering Library was open for a total of two extra hours on Monday, while McHenry and Sci. & Eng. were closed for a total of eleven hours on Tuesday. Without the unnecessary police presence, the demonstration would have cost the University only as much money as is necessary to keep the Sci. & Eng. Library open for two hours, and as it turned out, librarians and library administration left the building by 10:30. The only expense was the UC police officers, some of whom were brought all the way from UC Davis (with a riot van!), and were paid to watch us study for two hours.

Administration also claimed that they were not informed of the action beforehand. However, organizers did send an email to library administration informing them of the event and the rationale behind it. In light of the Kerr Hall restitution charges, organizers of this event did not feel comfortable speaking to administrators in person, for fear of negative repercussions.

As you may know, there is a ballot measure in the upcoming student elections that would institute a temporary new $6.50 student fee to keep libraries open longer. While this is in essence a good thing, it is
important to understand that the University already has enough money to fully fund our libraries. Part of the problem is that UC administration allows the funding of new construction projects, like the $99 million
McHenry addition, to be prioritized over funding the actual operation of libraries. Administration makes claims that funding for construction cannot be used towards academics but we refuse to accept that as an excuse
to increase and maintain cuts to our services. It is the opinion of many students that libraries on a university campus should be open 24/7.

In light of these events, another study-in will be held today, Wednesday. I encourage you to come to the Science and Engineering Library this evening and help keep it open for the hours that we already pay for. This will be a peaceful, studious demonstration, and it will end at midnight. Bring your friends, and help show administration how important our libraries are to us.

Sincerely,
One of many concerned students

Time flies. 60 more days left in California!

The other day, before sending steph to the airport, we decided to try some Malaysian/Singaporean food in the bay area. Layang Layang was closed, so we went to the Merlion instead. Yes, there’s a miniature Merlion outside and inside the restaurant. Pretty cool.  The waitress is a nice Singaporean lady who’s the sister of the owner and she’s been here for more than 30 years. We ordered Char Kway Teow (which is USD 12.95 for a big portion, tasted more like Dry Hor Fun), Beef Rendang (the serving was a bit small), some Singaporean Fried Noodle (which turned out to be some fusion hokkien mee), some vegatables and chicken rice (just the rice only, which is not as fragrant as we expected.) She explained to us that the food is a fusion mix to cater to the tastes of the locals. Sadly. But in any case, she was pretty nice and it is a nice though expensive place to eat.

And recently, I got to know someone from intervarsity whose parents are Singaporeans. How rare is that? Haha. Of course, he is born here and is fully American. He only went to Singapore once when he was eight.

Better a nearby friend than a distant family – Proverbs 27:10

What do you think it is? It is my pencil box =)