-=:{L y n c h S a n c t u a r y}:=-

The past 7 weeks has been extremely packed, and people-filled. Not one time could I recall I could have the luxury to just spend some alone-time to let my mind catch up with the activities my body endures with.

So this post is going to be as random as it can get, as my mind desperately seeks to record and reflect what all these 7 weeks out of Singapore means.

I am now blogging this on a train with free wifi, from Edinburgh back to London to spend my last night there before catching my flight back.

The 7 weeks here in London may and should have been a corporate training on all things to do with banking, but my major take-aways have been everything but work-related. That perhaps is not too surprising for well-traveled folks. London to me was not only my first European experience, but also the first time I have been abroad for that long.

So in that regard, I am poorly versed in cultures. Bathed only with the stories of my varsity friends and hearsays from my even less-traveled parents, I undoubtedly grew up in a box, thinking that people from different cultures are remarkably different.

But in here, I learnt from the Japanese that societal cultures requires girls to pamper their guys, and pays for all their meals even in dates, even in modern times. Yet when I spoke to these girls, their conversations among themselves were no different from the ones I hear back home, or everywhere else for that matter. I remember at least one Japanese girl said she loves her boyfriend but does not trust it will go anywhere because he will not be earning enough in the foreseeable future. Are materialistic girls confined only to just Singaporeans? Probably not.

Yet the Russians have an attitude typical of our northern neighbours -- they get married in the early 20's without caring if there is enough money for a marriage, let alone life thereafter. Careers are not a often mentioned topic, but any gossips of soccer matches drives even the girls' adrenaline levels.

Regardless, Asians tend to draw from the spoken accent of the whites with the perception of superiority and knowledge. We can argue against this till no-end, but I think this can be easily proven otherwise. It is obvious that even within the European region, the Brits are perceived to be of a higher superiority than the Scots purely, because the Scottish accent is less undermining than the proud accent of the English.

However, acquiring an accent is not the solution; understanding accents perfectly and responding back in your own's however is a deeper showcase of strength. Else otherwise, the mimicking of an non-native accent can make one perceived to be weak, an therefore can be easily usurped over by white superiority.

But that aside, I can also feel I had began to understand much more about myself than I thought I already did from this 7 weeks. I had came to recognize the need (and the right) to be forthcoming with my strengths. I had always try to suppress them for fear of undermining others, but had to realized that possessing strengths is not a sin. No one needs to be a spiderman here.

In the same breath, I had also came to understand my real desires, needs, wants, and hates. And perhaps this is the scariest part -- I do not have the answers yet, and I fear not only would I not able to resolute them, I may not even have the guts to acknowledge them. And so therefore I fear I may have things to live in regret if they persist. Is that why adults used to tell us: "This is life...." ?

Until the next moment.