The Banquet part 1
I got in touch with New York Singapore Association (NYSA) before I came, hoping that by participating in their activities, it would offer a glimpse into the lives of Singaporeans here. I must have got in contact with the inappropriate email though, because it was the President of NYSA herself replying the emails. The first email was for a social gathering at a pub in Manhattan. I looked at the date. It fell on a Thursday. I replied the email, “I am sorry that I cannot make it as I am staying in upstate and I have work commitments.”A month later, there came another email with an invite for Thanksgiving celebration. Again it fell on a day where it was definitely too much of an inconvenience to go to the city. I had to reject the invitation again with much regrets. By this time I had already dismissed any hopes of joining their activities.
In Feb I got yet another email from the President. This time it was for CNY celebration in March and it was supposed to be the biggest event of the year for NYSA. My God, this President was actually doing her job at the very ground level and she was so persistent with these invitations that it would have been very bad of me to put this off again. Moreover the day was more favourable this time --- it was a Saturday. No harm accepting the invitation, I thought, even though as a non-member it was slightly expensive.
“You can pay us by check,” she wrote back.
Ohh. I had no means to do that. As Brian would have put it, I have no freaking banking services here to give any freaking checks and would you be ok if I pay you in freaking cash on that night?
“Yes that would be fine,” she wrote again.
Nice lady indeed. Thank you.
And so I turned up that night expecting to see an old lady as President with a couple of tables. It certainly wasn’t what I had in mind. I saw at least 20 tables with a stage in the middle very much like what a typical Chinese banquet would be. I was the early bird, so I sat at the seat reserved for me and the first thing that captured my attention was the big LCD televisions. They were showing the recorded tv programme of Mediacorp artistes celebrating the CNY in Singapore. So I saw GuoLiang, Hong HuiFang, Jamie Teo and these many familiar faces of Mediacorp playing games and busking in the atmosphere of Chinatown Singapore. Now before this I didn’t think I was homesick. I didn’t think of home that much to be frank. But that night I found myself glued to the tv, my senses savouring the sights and sounds of the programme. The more I watched the more my misery grew, and suddenly I felt an impulse to just catch the next flight home. So as much as I would like to put on a brave front and say, “I don’t miss Singapore at all. NY is the gateway to freedom and if I have a chance I would stay here forever.” The fact remains that, I miss Singapore. I truly do.
My misery was cut short by a lady. She said, “Hi, I am ####### and I am the President of NYSA. Are you here alone?”
I looked up to see who she was. A young, elegant lady with a huge smile and she was dressed in a beautiful traditional Kebaya.
“Hi, I am Wayne. You are the one in contact with me all this while? Nice to meet you and that’s right I am alone tonight,” I said.
“Could you help us with the packing of the gift bags? It would be great if you can because we are shorthanded here and I would have to prepare my speech if you would excuse me.”
Ok, so an early bird didn’t warrant any early bird awards and early birds had to help with the packing. In any case I didn’t intend to be an early bird because all I wanted to do was to get away from the chill outside. Well, it was great to lend a helping hand even though I wanted to continue watching the tv that made my misery grow and grow. So what do I have to do? Pack the gift bags? Put in a propaganda magnet? 2 mandarin oranges? Nice. 3 golden chocolate ingots? Why 3? Is it not a pair supposed to have better connotations?
As soon as I am done with the packing I went back to my seat. There was this kid that came up to me and introduced himself. We chatted and he rattled on about how pleased he was to be studying here and joining NYSA activities. What am I doing here? I am on training for my company for 6 months. I didn’t want to go into the complications of getting a government sponsorship that allows me to work for others. That didn’t made sense to most people and I didn’t think it would to this kid. “It must be pretty tough for you not to be able to bring your wife and child over,” he said. OK, so I looked old enough to him to have a child. By the way kid, I didn’t understand why as a year one undergraduate you would have to have a namecard. You have a business? Networking is important but I wouldn’t try to come across as unnatural. And why would you want to spend a bomb on your education using your parents’ hard-earned money? Unless of course your dad is like a Rockfeller. I would rather use that to buy a HDB flat you know. Hope you can understand these things when you grow up. I thought. Good luck to you.
Before long another Singaporean lady joined us. She told us she had been here for 4 years and she had a wine shop in Manhattan and was invited because she had sponsored 3 cases of wine. In her 4 years she had been mugged 5 times and she didn't know what was it about her face that made her seem so vulnerable. One mugger even asked for her MacDonald's. I bet she forgot to ask him how he would like an upsize of fries.
Another lady sat down at the table and started reading her magazine. I didn't want to appear unfriendly so I made my introduction. She was called XXXXX and was a banking associate and she asked me whether I was here to study. OK, now I looked young to her...
...to be continued
posted by wayne @ 12:07 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home