relieved

It has been an interesting week to say the least. So, finally, now that I can breathe properly, let me share about them.

First, as most of you might have figured by now, I was invited to speak at the Political Forum on the General Elections organised by the Political Science Department of NUS. First, when I agreed to the talk, I had the impression that it was largely an academic endevor with political scholars speaking alongside me. After I agreed, about five days before forum day, I find out I was to be the final speaker in a panel of speakers that included Ms Indranee Rajah, Mr Steve Chia, Mr Chiam See Tong and this other Mr Chia who was a Worker's Party member. Talk about pressure. The upside to that was, I figured I'd have a relatively easy time with the Q & A round with such bigwigs there. So, anyway, I was coincidentally dressed in the exact same colours as Ms Rajah and we both flanked the sides of the panel. Steve Chia was a no-show. And I was seated next to Mr Chiam who, I must say, I found highly personable and entertaining.

In any case, the forum went well, I had fun. I think I did pretty well, all things considered. Particularly cos I was so darn nervous in the lead up to the thing. The press got most stuff right- not perfect, but what the heck. The programme leaflet for some reason decided I was there to save the world... my mom took offence, I found it funny. The emcee got the name of my company wrong to boot; ah well...

That forum led me to be invited to another interview, this time on chinese radio channel 95.8, with DJ Jia Biao and Li Zhen who totally wowed me with their flawless mandarin, and made me feel, as I sat patiently for my turn to speak, more and more inept.

Now, this was an even bigger challenge cos while I speak decent mandarin, knowing and using the political terms is a whole new ball game. So, in any case, Mariann's chinese tuition teacher was kind enough to come by to help me prepare. Turns out, my written mandarin was still in relatively good shape! There were basically, three of us; of course the two other guests spoke PERFECT mandarin with like idioms and stuff. I stuck to my highly sing-song chinese, speckled with english here and there and decidedly pulled through. I now can even say all the cheem general election terms in mandarin.

So, all in all, its been a fun week. Peppered with small snatches of hyper-reality, uber-illusions and loads of fun. Thanks to all who prayed with me, for me and for the votes of confidence. I'm truly blessed. Thanks and here's to my next adventure!