A post of epic proportions

Let me warn you. This post is going to be huge.

The CLT course was one of the highlights of this month. Obviously, since it took up 14 days of my holiday. I suppose it has changed me in many ways, and has highlighted my strengths and weaknesses. I realised (and so do the instructors) that I have a really good sense of urgency. Basically, I'll snap to the job and get it done in the most efficient manner possible without delay. That sort of thing. But the weakness is that I am in this hyper-alert mode all the time, without rest, so that when I go home after training, I end up extremely tired and depressed. I am blessed, therefore, that God gave me strength to finish the course and get on with my life. Constant reading of the Psalms during the stay-in week was a great comfort.

A lot of the stress from the course did not come from the course activities itself, but rather the waking up in the morning and the travelling from home to HQ and back. It was like leaving a secure area in the morning and departing for the unknown, the unsafe, the uncharted waters.

Clock-watching had a few effects. One was that it increased morale as the days went by, especially in the later part of the course. The other effect was that it made the course seem like eternity on the first few days.

I managed to get through anyway. BMT would be a little easier for me, I suppose, given that this experience has given me an idea of what in-bunk drudgery and personal admin looks and feels like.

And now for the other part of the holiday that made me really happy.

Hong Kong is a really great place. Good food, good weather, good transport and plenty of other things.

I once mentioned to Hui'en that Hong Kong was my favourite holiday destination. I shall now explain why. Hong Kong is the best of two worlds for me. It is a place where my roots and my sense of modernity combine.

I am not a Hong Konger, but I am a Cantonese. It is to my greatest regret that my command of the Cantonese language is frankly quite pathetic. Hong Kong is a place where you will hear Cantonese all the time. It is the language of my forefathers, and it is uplifting to hear it spoken by the masses, unlike my current location, where Putonghua (Huayu) has become the main tongue of most Chinese people. It is a crying shame to realise that thousands of Singapore youth are on the verge of being cut off from their ethnicities forever. I shall be the exception. I shall let no man rob me of my culture and my identity.

On a side note, I think I am acquiring a taste for Joey Yung songs. O_O

I think I'm digressing...

*Back on main topic*

I'm going to miss Hong Kong. Even now, I'm still trying to get used to the fact that you stand on the left side of the escalator on the MRT, when you stand on the right on those of the MTR. I have to get used to the MRT announcements being in English first, and the English signs being above the Hanzi. I'll miss the oh-so-familiar “請勿靠近車門”before the door closes. I'll miss the noisy (and sometimes absurdly long) escalators and traffic lights. I'll miss the feeling of being free, unconstrained by the drudgery of life back home. I suppose holidays are like that. A brief glimpse of the ideal life and then it's back to real life.

The year 2010 is approaching. I really hope that I can survive IB. I've already started reading the textbooks. Watchnight on Thursday and Friday.

I can't think of anything else now.

Aid Station

When the AFIs said this course was going to change our lives, they weren't joking. I only have five days more of the course, and yet, the past nine days have taught me so much about myself.

And I also have lost 2kg. That's something to be joyful about. :D

God really has been so good to me. I pray that God will abide with me for the last big push.

I shall be returning to the lines on Sunday night. I hope I will enjoy myself.