Working in Singapore is a new experience as well as a new challenge...
In my current job, I have the chance to meet a lot of people. Lucky enough, I was assigned to help at a World Conference on Cooperative Education. There I met people from 36 countries. I made friends ranging from US to South Africa. It was a good experience and I met delegates from HK too!
Friends met at the conference - Closing banquet on 29 Jun 2007
Apart from the glamorous side, I also met a lot of 'challenges'. 'Challenges' may be just a nicer word for 'Difficulties'... Being in a foreign country, I sometimes feel that I do not belong to their community. They have their own language, their own culture, their own background, which make me feel helpless in understanding their conversation completely and feel awkward to mix with them naturally. At first, I thought Singlish was just an English with all the funny sounds like 'err', 'la', 'leh'.... However, it is actually not that simple! The vocabulary of Singlish consists of words originating from English, Malay, Hokkien, Mandarin, and Cantonese. Therefore, the more casual they talk, the harder for me to comprehend fully... Casual talk is no longer effortless to certain extent... From the difference in language, I can feel strongly that this place is not my root... kind of new to me when I first realize that I have my own root. haha..
Fortunately, I don't feel the same when I communicate with my boyfriend. When I first encountered the 'true' Singlish with my colleagues, I asked Benny why I have not encountered that with him before when he is a 100% Singaporean. He told me that there is a 'switch' on his head that he talks in a different way with me. I guess another bonus is that he knows a bit of Cantonese. hehe...
Coffee time at "Ya Kun" (a popular coffee shop in Singapore)
with my beloved ice-cream toast (raspberry flavor) on 30 Jun 2007
3 comments:
Wow ... days of no post and one day got so many posts. You are running your blog site like a monthly magazine!
I can understand how you feel. The fact is, in this connected world, everybody is coming from somewhere else. I often see myself as a World Citizen. Even if I can fully understand "Singlish", I can never speak with the same accent. It really doesn't matter. When I come across something I don't understand in a conversation, I always ask what it means. After a while, I will learn more about the local language and more importantly, because I always ask, people will minimize the usage of such language that I don't understand ... strike a balance!
hahaha... as the blog site was started after I came to Singapore for around two months, it takes me some time to recap the past events before I can blog with my updates! hehe... therefore, I struggled hard yesterday and finally completed the 'history' part. Now, I can blog in real-time la~! =)
Yes, I agree that asking is important... though sometimes I will have a bit of hesitation to ask too much... feeling myself look stupid and also don't want to spoil their talking atmosphere esp when we are talking in groups...
However, the last point that you mentioned about the balance does sound quite inspiring... Thanks bro! :)
Is the representative from HK called Bodomo? Seems it was him from the photo.
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