First Meeting

Our first meeting was kinda funny - we first met some of the students at the hotel doorway. Some of us were coming back after a brief roam around the streets of Hong Kong, and we met Jennifer at the doorway who somehow correctly guessed we were the Singaporean students. As she cheerily introduced herself as our student assistant for the trip, the other students in the hotel room right beside, probably felt compelled to come out to say hi too. So there we were, standing at the doorway shaking hands with the line of Canadian students lining up to come out of the hotel room. Though I couldn't recognise faces then since it was so rushed.. Haha...

Dinner was at a posh British restaurant, where we were served medium-rare steaks. It probably would have costed a bomb, but it was a great opportunity to talk to the students informally, where we got to know a few more people. It was an easy event, where we talked about everything.. Well, for most of us anyway. I was just content sitting there, listening to the conversations around me, observing people and their comments and remarks. One of the things I felt was the realisation of many of the things I take for granted are actually privilleges, and how many of the automatic thoughts I have have been conditioned over the years. Many of the thoughts that were "common sense" to us, were actually based on assumptions and habit, and there are alternatives that I have not considered. It's here when it suddenly struck me how Singaporeans and Canadians have so many things in common, yet can see the same issue and have different observations...


Us at Jimmy's Kitchen