Night out at Lush and other things

So I finally went for dinner with the Mexicans at Lush yesterday. It turned out to be a pub which is a gathering place for expats and there were a heck lot of them. They were having Quiz night which really let me feel just how varied the backgrounds of the people were. There really wasn't that many questions, and these were Trivia questions, that no one knew answers to and you had people helping the host with French pronunciation and the Spanish name of a Mexican guerrilla group. It was the first time I was in such a community and it made me think of team dynamics. Ok I guess I have been a little too obsessed with my work but it really let me see just why companies would want staff from many different countries. Speaking English again was a relief, I have been pretty worried that the standard of my English would deteriorate during my stay here but things are looking better as I am starting to gain a toehold in the expat community and I am able to travel far enough to meet the other NTU people.

I had a pretty interesting conversation with Tang Nan yesterday about the construction of the Three Gorges Dam, which sadly, would be an improbable destination during my stay here. Turns out that the japs gave the Chinese inferior steel for its construction, which would have led to disasterous results and blamed Chinese scientists for using poor methods to test the steel and refused to give refunds. She also spoke about the fact that every Chinese empire that got strong over the last 5k years engaged in expansionary policies and with all that the world has been doing to China, payback time would be long and busy.

Somehow, such talk awakened nationalistic feelings within me that I never felt for Singapore. To be totally honest, my stay here has pretty much erased Singapore from my map and I feel more Chinese than Singaporean. It really makes me feel that Singapore is so insignificant, no one would miss it if it were gone. And it's true, think about what MNCs would do during the next few years, no point staying in Singapore anymore, HK and Shanghai are much much better choices. Time to make plans to move if you want any future at all. Staying in Singapore will no longer give you better jobs and you already are second class citizens in Singapore. China makes a greater effort to treat its people better and will definitely treat its people better as it gets richer. Even physical security cannot be guaranteed as well in Singapore. I now understand why Singapore feels insecure and drafts its people but lets put it this way, it's futile. The way Singapore talks about our neughbours make them seem like threats but China basically think of them as tiny annoying bugs waiting to be squashed.

There seems to be only one reasonable option. To run.