Friday, April 15, 2011

On Ms Tin and Mr Yeo

For the past 1.5 hrs, I decided to catch myself up on the political scene in Singapore. I read two articles, one on George Yeo and the other on the famous (or infamous) Tin Pei Ling.

Let me comment on Tin Pei Ling, since I'm a woman and only 5 years younger than her. So what do we know about her? She's 27 years old, has been working in grassroots activities for 6 years, full time job at Ernst & Young, and happily married to a chubby husband 13 years older. The rumor is that she broke up with her long-time boyfriend to marry her husband for political reasons. In any case, the rumor, true or not, is not important. Because when you look at what an MP should be, he/she needs to be grounded on issues of his/her jurisdiction. Yeah, Singapore pays an obscene "allowance" of SGD13,000 to each MP and many people don't like that, because MPs pretty much just listen to complains only. So, it does feel like it's "fair" to pay SGD13000 to someone so young, and maybe, inexperienced.

Many netizens have pointed to her lack of experience to handle the duties of an MP. But my question is, why can't she learn on the job? We have never really been totally satisfied with our old MPs anyway. Maybe we should try someone younger. Generally younger people are willing to work harder, be flexible, and bring new ideas to the table. But an MP, you might say? In any case, if you're not agreeable, then don't vote for her lor. But what if there's walkover? Then too bad, she's the only one you've got. Her young age might be an advantage, cos I think the younger you are, the more need you have to prove your worth to people.

Some people point out her inability to understand the poverty of some Singaporeans or how stressed some are to make a decent living. Well, it's really hard to find someone who did come from the slums and had make his/her way to the realm of politics where intelligence & skills are highly required. Sometimes, we just have to pray that people who have had the privilege to be born in better circumstances would look around and empathize with people who have much less. I'm not pro-Tin Pei Ling pls, but as I saw the nasty comments on the Yahoo article about her, I just thought I should say some things to bring a balance to these negative comments.

Now, moving on to George Yeo, I was quite touched to hear about his son and how he struggled through. Then I saw the comments below! Some were indignant that he had the gall to boast about his personal struggle (sending his son to US for top-notch treatment and renovating his house for his family homecoming) when others in Singapore have cancer, no money for treatment and wait to die, or die paying for treatment.

Ok, first of all, his expertise in on Foreign Affairs. Social issues are in other ministries. Reading that George Yeo is a former President and SAF scholar, his credentials must be like superb, and most likely, he came from a well-to-do background. (correct me if I'm wrong k) So I'm not surprised he's married to a lawyer. And with these kind of double incomes, sending your sick son to US is not an issue. (Probably has premium insurance to cover for it) But using that as an issue to personally attack his abilities is mean, cos they are not related.

From my student marketing perspective, both Ms Tin and Mr Yeo should have analyze their audiences first before talking to the media. Heck, just hire a PR firm. While our intentions are good, sometimes, people may not perceive them the way we want it too. I think politicians need to learn to look a little vulnerable before the people, simply because the masses can see through who they are. There's no point trying to smoke them (like how we in SMU try to smoke our way through) cos people are just gonna re-read every article on you and re-watch every video about you. And then, they pick you apart. But if you're honest from the start, there's nothing much to dig out right?

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Capsule on March-April 2011

The Climb to Cerro De La Silla: It's a 1800m tall mountain. The peak we climbed up to was called Pico Antena, there are 4 peaks and this route was supposed to be the easiest. Ok, "climbing" is a wrong term cos really, it's a hike up the 4500m trail. But it was the most tiring thing ever by far in my life. Halfway up the trail, I was already exhausted. I have no idea how I managed to reach the top! And at the top, I expected shelters and maybe a drinking fountain. But no, there was nothing, nada! We had to sit under the burning sun, but the view was pretty because we saw behind the mountain ranges. Usually we see the mountain from the city.

One more thing, I stupidly sprained my ankle just before starting on the mountain, like literally ten before climbing. By the end of the day, my ankle was visibly swollen. The sprain was a light one, but the hike worsened it. The hike incline could be as steep at 45 degrees sometimes. I may be exaggerating, but it certainly felt that way. In any case, I'm so proud to have climbed this thing. It was something we had to do and finally did.
Church in Guanajuato: Guanajuato is a very pretty colonial town. The streets are colourful and the people are very friendly. Amanda and I attracted a lot of whistles on the street. I also bought my straw hat here for 199 pesos, about SGD20. There are not much attractions here, so we just walked, looked and see. (wrong tenses, but weird to say "walked, looked, and saw") I stayed a night here and it was one of the craziest nights I had.
Playa Gemelas at Puerto Vallarta: Puerto Vallarta is a very touristic beach town where you can meet many Americans, as a result, it's hard to find more isolated beaches. But we found this lovely beach called Playa Gemelas, which is a 15 minutes bus ride away from a bus stop which is twenty minutes away from our hostel by walking. The water is beautifully blue and the waves are great to washed over in. I never to experience waves this size that come slight over the top of my head, so when it comes, I have to jump with it, otherwise I'll get pulled under it. IT'S SO FUN!!!

Sadly, my camera is soiled internally, as you can see the spot on the picture above. There's no repair centre here, not that I know of at least. I'm thinking of buying a new camera. Shucks, should I? For upcoming beach trips, we'll be traveling to Yucatan where we'll be at Tulum, Cozumel, Playa Del Carmen & Cancun. So looking forward!
Los Cabos at Baja California: This was one super beautiful coast. We had to walk 45 minutes from the hostel to get to here. We're not allowed to swim here cos the waves are huge and you're sure to drown if you swim there. It's pretty thunderous when the waves crash onto the coast. However, there were not much to do at Los Cabos because it's very touristy and many things were expensive.
The Arch at Los Cabos: Took this picture from a boat.

In ending, I must say I have enjoyed myself tremendously in the last month. Went to many places and my most adventurous would have been at Puerto San Carlos in Baja California where we paid only 250 pesos per person (6 of us) for a 3 hour boat ride trip out to watch grey whales. Along the way we saw really nice lonely islands where birds own the place. The driver also dropped us for ten minutes at the sand dunes where the sand was finest in the world. Seriously, you can get finer sand than that. Wish I brought a jar back! Mexico is wonderfully beautiful and I'm super lovin' it here.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Epsiode 7 of theAAshow

Episode 7 is about Mexico City! Watch it here.

For those who missed the previous 6 episodes, here are the links!

Some thoughts about video editing. I'm the one who edits the video, and I use iMovie, which is the simplest software for video editing ever. But it's limiting cos I can't do cool stuff like ProCut can. But it's ok, I'm happy enough!

I think it takes discipline to film and edit videos. It's like homework, it's hard to get started. But what really motivates me is the thought that my brand new vid cam is expensive, and I owe it to my Dad to produce videos. Furthermore, we've already announced to our friends theAAshow, if we stop halfway, that'll be embarrassing! In any case, my greatest satisfaction comes when people tell me how much they enjoy the videos. Whatever Amanda and I are experiencing in Mexico, we really want to share it with you guys. And when I come back to SG (which is in July!), people will surely ask about my exchange, and I can show them these slew of videos! The usual answers from people who went exchange are "very fun!", "beautiful", or "relaxing". SO BORING LA. As if you can sum up 4 months worth of living overseas in less than 5 words. (But i'm not criticizing those who did!)

Our next travel will be to Guanajuato, Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta from 19 - 27 March. Yeah *sheepish* we're skipping 4 days of class. But that doesn't mean there'll be no videos! Amanda and I want to do a true vlog soon, just us talking to the video. So watch out for that in the next 2 weeks! :)

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Mi País

I had to do a short essay on Singapore for Spanish class. With much trepidation, I wrote one. I got it back today, and to my utmost surprise, there were very few mistakes! I'm so proud of myself! I have to rewrite in this blog! Here goes:

"Singapur es uno de los muchos países es el sudeste de Asia y es una pequeña isla. En Singapur hay 5 millones de personas pero sólo 55% son los Singapureanos. La superficie total del pais es de casi 710.2km square. Hay mucho calor en Singapur; ;a tempuratura es en medio 24 y 35˚C. La Tasa global de fecundidad es muy poca, es 1.3 hijos por mujer.

En Singapur, no hay montañas porque es un pequeño pais. Pero mi pais atrae muchos empresarios porque Singpur es el centro financiero de Asia. Singapur es famoso por la cocina multicultural. A muchos Singapureanos les gustan los maricos y la salsa."

I'm so happy!!! Of course, I had help from Google Translate & Amanda's intermediate Spanish TB. STILL!!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

SG women in demand!

Are Singaporean woman marriage material?

The article in the link states that an international dating agency, unnamed but apparently quoted by Time mag and the BBC, said Singaporean women are most ideal for marriage. 1000 surveys were conducted and women were ranked "based on qualities such as beauty, loyalty, adherence to tradition, initiative and fluency in English."

However 73% of 1700 Singaporean men and women polled disagreed. Half were male, and I'm pretty sure they contributed much to that 73%.

I can only say, Singaporean men don't treasure what they have here.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

6 Weeks into Mexico

Cuatrocienegas, 29-30 Jan

My friends and I rented a Chevrolet Suburban and drove to Cuatro Cienegas a few weekends ago. It's a little town 4 hours away and is know for its oasis in the dessert and sand dunes. The picture above is of Poza Azul, an oasis that we found. Despite the numerous benches and tables available there, we were the only ones there. We had a slow 5-10 min bumpy car ride in from the gate and we were blown away by the beauty of the place. It was extremely quiet. Amanda and I swam a little. The depth of the water was just about my height. We took some beautiful shots, go to my FB to check the album out.
In the night, we rented a cabin for 7 people and had a BBQ. Because it was a rushed affair to buy food for the bbq, we didn't prepare really well. For example, the huge chicken leg that JW and Ben were cooking kept burning up because of the oil from the chicken. Anyway, i discovered that Budweiser beer and BBQ meat go very well hand in hand together. Probably most guys know that by now, but hey, I don't really drink beer. The guys had to squeeze into the three beds up in the tiny loft. It's so small that if you just sit up from your bed, you would hit your head.
I really liked the sand dunes, except for sand flying into your eyes. We took some really nice photos there. The AA show episode 5 featured this trip. Watch it if you haven't already! [The magical sentence was "I like Singaporean guys because they can be domesticated"]

Mexico City, 4 Jan - 1 Feb

The weekend after Cuatrocienegas, the 6 of us headed to Mexico City, which is the capital of Mexico. Without including the small cities linked to the main one, there are about 9 million people in Mexico City. (Wikipedia) Mexico City is THE place to learn about the birth and history of Mexico. The Mayans, Aztecs, Independence, Revolution etc. If you're going to Mexico City and want a real education and tour of the place, I suggest you hire a private tour guide from Journeys beyond the Surface. We had 2 private guides over 2 half days; they brought us to art markets, fruits and veg markets, korean restaurant (big highlight for a starving Asian although I'm Chinese), museums, and other landmarks. It was like extended history lessons out of class.
In the photo above, you see me at Teotihuacan. Teotihuacan is an archaeological site featuring 2 major pyramidal structures (one for the Sun and the other for the Moon) and other complexes. It was first found ABANDONED by the Aztecs, thousands of years ago. Knowing some of the cruel methods of human sacrifice, I kept imagining the butchering at the top of the pyramids. Pyramids found in Mexico are different from those in Egypt. In Egypt, pyramids are tombs. In Mexico, they are used as temples and the top of the pyramid is a platform, not a point. Within the pyramid, there are no chambers. It's about the exterior flight of stairs leading to the top. Crowds would gather at the bottom of the pyramids to watch animal and human sacrifices. The stairs up the pyramids were really steep, and me being really unconditioned, had to stop once in a while to catch my breath while the rest "gazelle-ed" up.
Interesting as Mexico City is, I wouldn't go there again this semester. We had initially planned to visit Mex City again in Holy Week (something like Spring break) but, we feel that we've seen and heard enough. Next stop: Guanajuato, Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarte!

Friends in Mexico

If you've seen my FB pictures, you would realize there's this usual 6 of us. Four look Chinese and 2 white people. Well, Amanda, Jie Wei, Xue Kun and myself are from SMU. And yes, all 4 of us are Chinese, though we have heard a comment from someone questioning whether the guys are Malay or Indians. (Wait, need time to laugh about this!) The two (very) white people are my favorite Germans in the world; Ben and Kati. Well actually their real names are spelled weirdly, Benedikt (there's actually a "k"!) and Katje (don't try pronouncing it). It's usually the 6 of us and we have so much fun hanging out. We play monopoly deal, watch movies, make up a cheer about Kati's sexy bf, tease Ben's name (we call him "ben wow"), and Amanda ("Sexy Amanda") and for me, I'm the Domesticator. If you don't get it, it's ok. This blog post is for me to read in the future and laugh about. :)

Friday, February 11, 2011

Happy 1st year.

One year ago, Joshua asked me to be his girlfriend officially. We were sitting at the front seat of bus 15.

Today I received a card in Mexico all the way from Singapore. I believe Joshua when he wrote that the poem written on the card by Suzanne Berry accurately describes how he feels about me.

I love you.
I love you for your sexy smile
and the ways you make me laugh
I love you
for how you look at the world,
for your good heart
and quick mind,
and for the many ways
you're my truest, closest friend.
But most of all...
I love you for your love -
the kind of amazing, generous love
that has absolutely changed my life for the better.

And thought I knkow I say it a lot,
everytime I do, I mean it
deeply and forever...
I love you.
I love you.
I love you.

I truly am so blessed to be your girlfriend, Josh. I love you too. Te amo, Josué.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

At Monterrey, Mexico

Hola!

It's now 15th January, I'm not sure about you but the blogger in me is wondering where the heck I've been. Well, I'm now in Monterrey, Mexico, for an exchange programme at the Tecnologico de Monterrey, Campus Monterrey.

Ever since I started making videos, (ok, only 2 AA episodes and one FB vid), I kinda stopped having the inclination to blog. Some people can vlog, blog, tweet and FB status-whore (I mean that as a verb) all the time! But I can't. How many emotional outlets do you need??

Right now, at Tec, I've met several people. It's a lie when people say they immediately settle down into a big party of 5 months during exchange. For me, I took several days to really settle down. First was the physical settling down: I had to learn how to sleep with a room mate. Living with your best friend as a roomie is as good as it can get, but for me, I've slept alone for 10 years. I'm an extremely light sleeper, and the initial wave of homesickness kept me awake for many nights. But with a lot of prayer, that worst part is finally over! So wanna give God all the glory, cos now's the part when things start to fall in place.

I've become good friends with 2 SG guys and got to know better 2 Germans (a man and a lady). For all the other international students, it's still more on a hi and bye basis. Today, we got to know a guy from HK as well. It's was really nice just sitting at JW & XK's place just yakking away with him.

The past 2 nights, Amanda and I got back home at 3am. Nope, we didn't go to parties. We were just invited to friends' places to have drinks and just talk. I mean, there's really a lot of talking and exchange of culture! So far, it's really more of a German-SG exchange though. LOL.

As for school so far, as an exchange student, I'm just going to take it easy. All the Tec students are so bright and hardworking. But I'm all prepared to skip class for necessary travelling. The school allows exchange students to miss up to 3 weeks worth of classes, beyond that, you would fail the course. 3 weeks leh!!! We have 2 long weekends, so probably we'll take Friday's off in those weeks? ;)

The language barrier is killing me. But I'm determined to learn some Español! (Spanish) I would be a total loser if I don't give it my best shot. Guess what? My basic spanish textbook is totally in spanish. It's so WTH you know. If the entire textbook of BASIC SPANISH is in spanish, how am I supposed to learn spanish? Currently, I type in the words into google translate to understand the text. But that's uber tedious.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. Firstly there'll be church in the late morning. Can't wait to sing some praises to God. Then our host family will be bringing us to a mall! *Shopping!!!* Dad, if you're reading this, please note that you'll be receiving some bills at the end of the month from OCBC! HEHE. And in the evening, we'll probably be barbecuing at the Germans' nice big house. (Well, they're the ones with the Euro) So yup! Until the next post, nos vemos! (pronounced: nose b-air-moss, meaning see you again)