背包走天涯之纽约

The Banquet part 2

My conversation with XXXX was interrupted by #####. “Hi, I need 2 persons to sit with our consulate and ambassador for Singapore. How would both of you like to do that?” she asked. I would have liked to ask her what difference was between a consulate and an ambassador but decided against it. I didn’t know anyone anyway, so it wasn’t a big deal for a change of tables and we promptly moved to sit with the consulate and his family. The consulate was a bubbly fellow. After our introduction he started recounting the number of cities he had been living in --- Cairo, Brussels, Geneva, Kuala Lumpur to name a few --- and he revealed the MFA relocated them every three years. It certainly sounded like a fantastic job to be in. Which was his favourite? It was Cairo.

XXXXX asked, "So did MFA prepare you before your trip to each country?"
"I was from the older generation you know, so they didn't do anything like that. But I wouldn't be surprised if they do nowadays haha," said the consulate with his infectious laugh.
Yes the younger generation is better off in a way, but I wondered if the consulate knew that it isn't easy to get into MFA nowadays. I heard from HoeHoe that they made him go through all those grammer and writing tests and it felt like being in elementary school all over again.

The ambassador and a manager from SIA joined us. The dinner then started with a lion dance led by an old Chinese master. The lion dance was amateurish, very much like the one I saw in Washington DC. You couldn’t really expect the lion to perform any stunts when there was hardly any space to move around. But I have to give credit to the master who was hitting the drums with so much zest that it livened up the atmosphere. In fact, I thought he was the only one in the troupe to be showing that much enthusiasm. After the dance the ambassador was asked to address the crowd. He said, “This year is the year of the Boar and people born in the year of the boar are supposed to have good luck. Hillary Clinton and our very own Mr Lee Kuan Yew were born in the year of the Boar and before I ‘boar’ you further let us commence the dinner.”

During the dinner we were entertained by a skillful mc who quizzed us on our very own country. If you are reading this maybe you would like to test your knowledge too. I provided the answers at the end of this blog entry.

1) Who is the first Chief Minister?
2) How many Merlions are there in Singapore?
3) What is the name of our tallest building?
4) If I have to go to Sentosa which MRT station would I go to?
5) What is the oldest departmental store in Singapore?
6) Name 3 of our Presidents.
7) Name the first televison drama.

As the night progressed our consulate belted out a song titled “You were always on my mind”. I think he did really well on the song and the whole time he was looking at his wife while he was singing. When the song ended there were screams for an encore from the crowd. Meanwhile I discovered XXXXX was from the same junior college and university as me. We took the same subject combination in junior college too. Even though she was a few batches earlier it helped that we share a common background because that meant we had more things to talk about. The manager’s wife asked if XXXXX was my wife. I would have liked to think that she said that because XXXXX looked young. In any case the manager and his family were invited because he was in charge of the east coast operations and he had sponsored air tickets for a return trip to Singapore for the lucky draw and auction. The market price of the ticket was $1600 USD and the starting bid was $1000. It didn’t seem right to me because $600 was too little ground to play with and when the winner walked off with a bid of $1500 she had only shaved off a pathetic $100 and I didn’t really think it was worth the effort.

I told the manager I had all the good things to say about his company because the 22 hours trip didn’t kill me though it nearly did and when I recently changed the date for my flight the call was smooth and efficient.
“Oh. Thank you. Not all my customers say that.” he said.
“I am sure I am one of the many hahaha.”
SIA has a huge presence here and many of my friends here are well aware of the brand name. I have more than once chanced upon its advertisements in local business magazines. It certainly is doing a good job.

When it was time to go XXXXX offered me a ride to the Grand Central. I was touched because new acquaintances are not usually that nice. So this was how it felt to be helped by a fellow countryman. While I was on the train I realized that even after all that chat, I still didn’t know the difference between a consulate and an ambassador.

Answers to the quiz:
1) David Marshall. He was the architect for our economy wasn’t he?
2) You would have guessed 2 like I did. But there are 5. Where are the rest? I don’t know, but I suspect some rich men might have bought them and put them in their gardens.
3) Republic Plaza. It’s somewhere in the CBD.
4) HarbourFront.
5) Tangs.
6) Well if you don’t know this you are not a Singaporean.
7) The Awakening, aka 雾锁南洋

posted by wayne @ 7:25 AM