neunzehn-19

26/3/2011

Saturday.

Went to lunch in school with my buddy today. We went back to the “zi char” store on the 2^nd floor of the 综合楼。The girl who helped us with our order recognized me as the only foreign student daring enough to buy her meals from them (their main customers are the local Chinese students), so she gave me a spoon after she remembered me asking for one during the last time I came。 I was amazed that she could actually recognize me and knew the small things I preferred （a spoon with my meal）, even though I didn’t even know her name. After feeling particularly happier that someone actually remembered my preferences, we stumbled upon a graffiti wall at the back of the student dormitories. My buddy told me that she didn’t even knew this was existed, and no one in their right mind would want to walk at the outside of the dormitory buildings (my mind is on the left), hence no one found out about the wall, unless you were also part of the graffiti crew. 

I must say that their thinking is pretty straight for university students. There may be one destination, but there are plenty of routes leading to it. And we should know at least 1 other route, so when the one you use is blocked for some reason, there is another way of getting through instead of staring and being stuck. 

 

After deciding against staying in the school and going back to the hotel, we decided to take a walk down the block to try and get ourselves in the housing district where the nice houses we saw are. When we exited the school, I was quite eager to turn left and go inside. She showed me otherwise, and we ended up walking for 20 minutes down the same block(!), until I saw just how far the distance was. And then we stumbled upon the entrance of the area, we got turned down by the guard, who firmly insisted “no outsiders allowed”, and you needed “permission” to get inside the district. I don’t think the guards in Singapore would have done that. I would have walked right in. 

But my buddy didn’t. She asked for permission from the guard, to respect his authority. I think there’s where the difference lies. She preferred to seek approval for something we were about to do (and got turned down unceremoniously) and there is the power distance gap present. In Singapore, we’re less restricted in our actions and thoughts, and we have greater liberty to express ourselves openly. They have a more “submissive” thinking and prefer to do as they were told. 

She also shared with me that the foreign students in their school have the liberty of having classes starting later for them (830 instead of 800) because they have trouble adjusting to the habit of waking up early for classes. I think the school’s giving in too much to them. In Ngee Ann we would have gotten marked absent for being late, not mention come into class half an hour late 

Life isn’t fair-.-