I won't forget today, the culmination of 3 years of non-stop insufferable tension in my mandibles. I stared into the mirror for almost forever, admiring my strangely straight set of chompers. I was ethereal. It was the me I was envisioning at the start of my epic transformation, but then slowly gripped my cerebrum was a sensation of disenchantment... Am I not suppose to be happy?

Labels: chompers

Merry Christmas Everyone!

It's the season of Merry and Mirth, the season of giving. It is a time when we commemorate the birth of the Christians' god into the mortal world. Today I went for a dinner with my maternal extended family. It was an impressionable experience to speak to my cousin. It was strange how I could speak with them on the same level when just a few years ago I daren't even initiate a conversation. Well, somehow my cousin, Mark and his fiance were my direct seniors from SC3 12 years ago. Amazing! And somehow, I managed to sell most of my Fun-orama tickets.

But back to the topic. Christmas, to me, brings back many bad memories. Memories of how I was forsaken by Christians during my childhood and teenage years. How my parents coerced me to attend church despite my vehement contumacy. I remember how I used to admire a few Christians, but this only led to disenchantment and further self-disparagement. Christianity's popularity in Singapore mainly due to the community it provides rather than purely the objective of seeking the supreme deity. The hypocrisy and inherent contradictions within the community has made me resent the superficiality of Christianity. I don't hate Christians. In fact, some of my best friends are Christians. But unfortunately, I have come to relate Christianity with the pain of rejection. I will not try to argue with religious people about the existence of a supreme deity for to me, whether a god exists or not, it doesn't matter because god has no reason to meddle in the affairs of humankind. This is the outlook of an apatheist.

ARGHH!!! It pains me... My imprudence has led me to the loss of countless invaluable memories. I hate Beijing Hospitals and Taxis. It's thanks to these two nouns that my camera is gone. But what is nontarnishable are the memories that I have brought back from the land of my ancestors.

It's intriguing to think that I had stepped into the very lands that my ancestors once fought for with their lives. It brought chills into my heart... both literally and figuratively... to think that I would stand on the compounds of structures that once dominated and protected the land of my forebears.

I remember the grandeur of the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace (I missed the Temple of Heaven). These buildings, restored from their once decrepit state signified the meteoric rise of China's dynasties, their eventual decadence and their current ascension back into the forefront of geopolitical prominence. I saw the countless artifacts at the Military Museum and the National Museum. It was the most surreal experience I had ever had. Never had I gone for a holiday of this scale and this great proximity from home. Ironically, I had in way returned home; to my genetic birthplace.

The weather was frigid -4 to 10 degrees or so. As such, a perpetual slight mist always obscured the peripherals. Strangely, I could not sense a hint of the famous Chinese smog. This can be attributed to the recent seeding of the clouds that led to the early snowfall. Despite the frosty conditions, I never got to see snow. The weather was a fresh change from the everlasting sauna we experience in Singapore. But it became unbearable when the wind blew, especially atop the great wall.

Our team had a great time at Bejing National Day School. I can remember how the students were wearing uniform jackets; blue around the chest and white everywhere else except the edges. I sat with students one year younger than me as in Beijing, their junior college education was spread over 3 years. Thus their J1 was one year younger than us. It was a hubub of confusion in my head as I grappled usually comprehensible subjects in Chinese atop of the already baffling accent. Yes! The accent! When conversing with students, it was very difficult as I would not understand their seemingly muffled speech. However, with much of their patience, I was able to conduct a decent conversation with them. There were a few students that did not quite expect us to have such a proficiency in Chinese. They were probably accustommed to the numerous foreign students that participate in exchange programmes. But meeting people who could converse with them was probably something unusual. I met a US staff exchange teacher who taught conversational english to the students. We had a hearty conversation. But the most hilarious lesson was always english lessons, taught by a chinese teacher. There were always grammatical and spelling mistakes that would make me chuckle irresistably.

However, it made me feel that the Chinese students were just like us. The same way Singaporeans struggle with the Chinese language, these students were also doing their best to grasp the english language. Even then, our level of proficiency of chinese is on an average higher than their standard of english language proficiency. On the friday of that week, we all gave an impromptu performance which we pulled of surprising smoothly albeit the lack of practice.

The only grouses I have are about the food. I have never seen rice cooked so horribly from a country that eats rice as the staple. Could it be the strain of rice or the weather or even the techniques used in cooking, but their rice was never fluffy. It was always soggy and clumpy, unlike the thai rice that we enjoy in Singapore. On top of that, several restaurants served up weird and bizzarre combinations of food. For example, have you seen lots of diced cucumbers with chicken cooked in soya sauce? The food was not on par to my standards of good food. We had lots to eat... But it often didn't taste good unless we were going to special restaurants to taste their specialities such as Beijing roast duck, dumplings and steamboat. Overall, I rate the trip a stellar 8.5 out of 10 from my experiences with holidays ( which isnt extensive by the way).

But the most memorable thing of the trip was the fellowship I had with a group of Bukit Panjang and SCGS students + jl. I remembered how I came to the trip all on my own, but they included me, accepted me into their group. I am really thankful for their company and their support. =)

I still think that the best souvenir I brought back were the friendships I forged.