My views on overseas survival (Now playing Leon Lai's Love words not yet spoken.  Now, this is probably the most majestic Leon Lai song I ever came across.  Well, he won the best overall singer in the 1996 Jade Solid Gold awards for this song, I think.  Click here to see why.)

Introduction

   Praise the Lord indeed that I now have the opportunity of experiencing life in the United States.  The frog has finally taken the second step out of the well.  I call this experience the second step because I would consider my first step to have taken place during my one semester time at the University of British Colombia during the third year of my NUS studies as a participant of the Student Exchange Program (henceforth SEP).  

    I was among the second batch of students to participate and it is really amazing how I ended up going for it:  I remember it was my second year, at the beginning of my second semester, when my good friend, Terence, approached me and tell me to apply for the SEP with him.  At that time, I was not really keen as the application procedure was quite troublesome.  But I thought, might as well just give it a try.  It was significant at that time that I was single again, having called off a relationship near the end of the first semester.  Looking back, I know I would never have applied for the SEP if I was still attached to my then girlfriend as she would mei2 wan2 mei2 liao3 (translated from Chinese as nag non-stop J).  I would have regretted very much then if I had came to know how much I benefited from the SEP.

    I did benefit a lot from the SEP, even shedding a few tears on the last night of my time in UBC, feeling so sad that I have to leave those friends that I have made during my time there, people like Nicholas, Winnie, Millie, Susana, Naoko, Lisa, Maria (Not in order of preference of course J) and so many others.  I remember when I touched down at Changi Airport, my experience with the airport staff was memorable: I came to her and hand her my Singapore passport.  She took the passport, punch a few keys on the keyboard and slam the passport in front of me, without even taking a look at me, nor saying, "thank you".  

    Now, most of you Singaporeans may have wondered, "What is the big deal?"  Let me tell you, try staying in countries like Australia, US, Canada or even in European countries for a period of time and witness for yourself their social graciousness.  I was completely taken aback when that Singaporean airport staff did that.  Yet, I also wonder, "What is wrong with me?  Isn't this the "natural" way of doing things?"  I then realized that I have, to a large extent, came out of the Singapore well, reading carefully Francis Seow's To Catch a Tartar, that led to this realization here, here, and now this.   I also realized that my one semester stay in a Western country is not going to be my last, I need to get back there.

    Indeed, my last 3 years ever since I got back from UBC have paved the way for this coming 4-5 years in the US, best summarized here.  Every time I think about what has happen, I get down on my knees and thank God for how he has guided me throughout.  But enough for the background, let's move on to the main topic; thank all you readers for reading patiently J.

Things to expect overseas

Communication Barrier

   My time in UBC was quite an adequate preparation in terms of culture exposure.  The first tip that I learn is that I took for granted is our Singaporean accent.  My first 2 months in UBC was a period of adjusting to a different culture, boy, it was really difficult.  I stayed in Totem Park, which is an on-campus dormitory.  Every time I try to mix with the white Canadians, it presents a tough challenge that I never got while I was in Singapore.  I realize that they cannot really understand Singaporean English although we could understand them perfectly well.

    It is easy to reason why:  Here in Singapore, we watch shows like Beverly Hills 90210; yes you may laugh but that was my No. 1 show when I was serving my time in the army, Party of Five, X-files, Ally Mcbeal, you name it.  Those Canadians talk exactly like what we listen in those shows!  Their favorite greeting word is, "How is it going?" but the pronunciation is usually something like, "Howz going?"  That is exactly what we get in those shows.  Thus, it is no wonder that I can understand their conversation without too much trouble.

    Unfortunately, that exposure is not vice-versa.  They never had the chance to watch shows like, Masters of the Sea, Under One Roof, and even our good old Phua Chu Kang J.  Thus, it is no wonder that they cannot understand the English that we take so much for granted.  It was really frustrating for me initially.  Many a time, I would sit with a bunch of them in the lounge while a conservation was going on among them.  I never felt comfortable contributing to the conversation because every time I do so, they would pause and wonder what I was saying.  

    Often I can sense that they are pretending to understand me by saying, "Ohh" or "That's cool" and then move on with their conversation without building upon my points.  That was such a trying time for me.  I gave up after 2 months and start to mix with Asian people.  Some of the other exchange students ended up mixing among themselves only, which I thought was too much.  While I do understand the temptation to, I told myself no way am I coming all the way to Canada to mix with Singaporeans J.

    Interestingly, after I came back from UBC, I had an experience working as a student assistant in the NUS Computer Center.  I remember having this exchange student who was from UK, speaking English with a strong British accent, but that I could understand.  Then, a Singaporean lady immediately came beside him and started telling me about her troubles logging on the NUS network.   I was sitting down there listening to her fast babbling, the English is rather atrocious by any objective standards, but I could understand her perfectly!  The funniest thing is that the 2 people were side by side!  From this, I realize that the reason people do not understand me in Canada is not necessarily because of racism or poor English, but simply because the accent is different.

Racism

    How many times have you heard or read Singaporeans saying things like, "I am proud to be a Singaporean because, after my experience overseas, Singapore is the only country where all of us can walk tall no matter the color of our skin."  I remember Lee Tsao Yuan once said something like that in Parliament when she was still an NMP, discussing the Singapore heartbeat.  It is amazing that, all the Singaporeans I recall saying things like that are never Malays or Indians.  Doesn't that makes one discount those statements?

    The thing about going overseas for many of us Chinese is that, for the first time, we are not going to be the majority race.  Thus, we are going to encounter racist encounters from those bigots which all countries have.  I will not argue here about the fallacies of racism but let me point out something more fundamental.

    That fundamental concept is this: Racism exist in Singapore too.  My main viewpoints towards the issue of the Singapore Malay community is given here. To put it in a broader perspective, no matter who you are, handicapped, homosexuals, lowly educated, opposition party sympathizers etc etc, Singaporean minorities are discriminated in Singapore and it is worse here than in the US because we lack an effective civil society or special-interest groups to push for minorities' interests.  If there is one thing I like about the United States, is that they are not embarrassed to admit that there is racial discrimination.  Although it may now only be all talk and no action, just look at Singapore, where out-of-bound markers decide what topics Singaporeans can even discuss on.  Once PM Goh start using the term, 'cosmopolitans' and 'heartlanders', suddenly, everyone start talking about these 2 terms as if we have only just realized that there is a great divide between the English speaking Singaporeans and the non-English speaking Singaporeans.  

    With respect to the above point, personally, I feel sad for Tang Liang Hong, who was labeled a Chinese chauvinist merely because he raise an issue similar to the above.  I remember reading about his sedan chair remark and I felt very apologetic towards the Chinese speaking Singaporeans.  I admit that you people form the majority of the Singaporeans and yet, just because I speak English more comfortably, I get a lot of benefits in many hidden ways.  

    In this aspect, I was especially sad, when, upon reading these comments and more, by these Singaporeans when the results of the sociological survey showed a significant number of Chinese Singaporeans wanting to be non-Chinese.  The reason why I felt sad is that Tang Liang Hong has been given the raw deal in my opinion; what these Singaporeans said could have easily be construed as racial chauvinistic viewpoints, given the PAP's standard.  Yet, just because Tang Liang Hong dare to stand up for elections, he is labeled as one.  It is easy now to understand why Tang Liang Hong said to James Gomez here that none of these 'Chinese Leaders' are now willing to stand for election after witnessing what has happened to him.

    Thus to me, it is simple, whenever I hear someone in America calling me a 'Chinese yellow skin bastard' or 'Go back to China', let me just remember that Singapore is also as discriminatory or even more so than other countries.  I tried to fight for homosexual rights to hold a forum here, the background of the rejection is here.  Although I am not surprised it was rejected due to the high level of self-censorship in the Straits Times, I do wonder, "Who the hell is the editor?  If I dare to put my name upfront in that letter as a gay sympathizer, why is he still unwilling to publish it?"  To any homosexual who may be reading this, let me apologize sincerely for all that Singapore has done to make you feel discriminated.  As a Christian, I must first apologize to you, my fellow Christians are guilty of throwing the first stone at you people, my preliminary response as a Christian is given here.

    So, all these incidents made me realize that, you may face discrimination overseas, but it is the same here in Singapore.  In fact, I intend to take an active role in combating discrimination overseas, I see people like Lucy Liu and Coco Lee as our current representatives in the US and I do hope they will succeed in their careers for it will be a big boost to us Chinese.  

Conclusion

    With these thoughts, I shall end this article.