seein as the apps 2009 was the first time for me going overseas for a symposium and mixing ard with people of different countries, it deserves a post.
apps = Asia Pacific Pharmaceutical Symposium. ok i'm quite sure tat's wat it stands for. i realised that sometimes i couldn't be too bothered with too many things eg the names of places, the university where we were holed up listening to the symposium and Regional Meetings (it's at the University Science Malaysia) and where exactly i went for free night (Gurney drive i think, to eat) and all the funny funny acyonyms (eg APRO i think it means the commitee in charge of the Asia Pacific society. sth lik tat).
so anw, first day started out rather NOT ok. simply cause i was lulled into a false sense of security tat i would be in the same grp as my frens (they sent an email showing tat i was in the same grp as my frens. all my frens). however when i got there for registration, there was a board showing we were ALL to be seperated in different groups. i knew somehow it wasnt right to put us tgt in different grps, but the idea of having to mix ard was daunting and plain scary!
being the typical singaporean i was (yes i am PROUD to say i'm a Singaporean), my frens and i found fault in almost everything. =/ the toilets (at the university was HORRIBLE.), how the event was carried out (everything was DELAYED ended late and we stil had to get up soo early in the morning, in which only we were punctual while everyone was ard half hour late. -.-) and other things. =X
the symposiums were typically boooring. the regional meetings started out rather disappointing, but was quite interesting in the middle in that i realised somethings rather impt. see, the regional meetings were when the commitee from last time were actually ACCOUNTING to us, reporting to us about their duties, and the representatives from full-membered countries have to vote for motion to be passed (eg accept their report and ask for more details shld they seem unsatisfied with wat was presented or with the job done). but the past secretory seemed rather irresponsible to me (eg he couldn't complete his job due to the lack of internet access BECAUSE he was on some internship. this resulted in the chair person (i think) taking over his job). why did he even take up the position if he knew he was going to some ulu area without internet access when the members communicated mainly thru emails? why did he even take up the internship if he knew he was already voted secretory and had responsibilities? it was disappointing to see no one "discussing" this point, and i felt even more disillusioned. it's this kind of regional organisations that could improve the larger scaled problems we were always discussing about (eg wat pharmacists not getting the respect we shld hav) and it is also this type of organisations who will facilitate the flow of information that will ultimately unite and harmonise and bring together pharmacists from all over the world. but no, no one was caring and it was so disappointing. and i could speak up but i wont cause i'm so scared of everything. i could make a difference but i dun dare cause i dun reali hav the qualifications and i might jus end up embarrassing myself.
it got sianner when regional meeting one finally ended. i "escaped" the LT with my frens to jus go out and talk. hahas. if i can't/wont do anything anyway, why waste my time?
regional meeting 2 and 3 were more interesting. see, we had to vote for new commitee members, and luckily the chair person to be voted was clearly competent. she had an impressive resume and ppl to back her up. den it got interesting for the position for the secretory and IT guy (can't rmb the proper name). two taiwanese went up for the position. interestingly, i think they submitted their application that day only. clearly for the secretory candidate, he didn't reali fulfil the requirements (aka be proficient in both speaking and writing eng. i mean, if u're supposed to be the secretory writing emails and communicating and liaising between countries, ur command of english has to be of a certain standard, no?) and i was soooo glad the korean representative (she was REALI impressive) spoke out during the closed discussion (aka when the candidate had to leave the room while ppl spoke their mind) saying he wasnt competent despite the fate that particular candidate had frens speaking out for him about his othe "competencies". i also felt proud of one singaporean senior who spoke her mind too against that candidate. =D i wont have the courage (ever) to speak out against someone.
for the next position for IT guy of the commitee, another taiwanese went up. he oso had a rather weak command of eng, and my frens and i were why lik tat again. -.- surprisingly, there were ppl NOT his frens speaking out for him. they were praising his courage and how we shld giv him a chance despite his lack of english proficiency. despite the fact he was my grp mate, somehow i wasn't swayed to root for him. he didn't appear very competent and couldnt even answer the questions directed at him! our singaporean delegate had to do some translation to chinese (when the qns were asked in standard eng) and even then he didn't reali ans the question. suffice to say i wasn't very impressed or swayed by arguments about his "courage' and wat 'chance for him". i mean, this is a regional LEADER position we're talking about, and sure of course this would look VERY impressive on his resume, and he could always learn from his mistakes, but at the expense of APROS? let's say he falls short of expectations, it's would only be the other commitee members suffering shld they hav to take over his work. i feel it's empathy (tat they all don't reali hav a great command of eng) or at least sympathy for him =X that they actually spoke out for him. i asked my frens and we agreed =. viki said based on his passion and watever, he could be a sub commitee member, but definitely not a leader position where communication is impt. i totally agree. we are pragmatic ppl and the big picture definitely matters. to quote a fren, if u can, means u can. if cannot means cannot. ur courage to speak up and chance doesnt matter, but competency and more impt. this might sound cold and unfeeling (after all, the msia environment based on the muslin religion which is more compassionate), but as sihan had said, we were forced to grow up in singapore where paper qualifications is oh-so-impt for survival that we expect the same for others.
but of course, i didn't voice out. it'l be embarassing and as another of my classmate said, we singaporeans prefer to save our own face. it's reali now tat i could see wat they always say about singaporeans not wanting to voice out. we could have spoken up. our command of english is not too bad (thank you leekuanyew for jus making us prioritize eng and chinese as our Mother tongue. we might not be able to understand malay, but at least others lik koreans and taiwanese oso cant understand malay. =X), we have the ability to say it out, but we wont. instead we prefer to voice our discontent within ourselves, complaining and exclaiming what is the world coming to. -.- in that way, my timidness is so obvious and such a weak point when u compare and contrast it to their courage to stand up and speak up in wat they believe in.
but den again, when i sorta "talked" to the ex IT guy who joined my grp for the community service, he said some stuff tat actually convinced me tat perhaps eng proficiency wasn't reali necessary, and he could be quite competent after all. but see, more personal and up-close interaction is needed leh. without it, all the general audience hav to judge is based on the presentation. so public speaking and presentation is VERY impt when it's all wat ppl hav to judge you. i so hav to brush up on my public speaking skills. communication mods X( next sem.
symposiums were boring, but ok lar. did learn pharmacy stuff, or at least see that watever NUS is teaching us is equal, if not more to the content taught regionally.
oh, about the interacting part with my grp mates. ok, at least i did try to mix ard. at least there were other nus/singaporeans in my grp. there was marcus from my year, and two seniors year three and two bee hwee and rachel. and even thou we were total strangers before this, i guess i could say safely i did talk to them hahas. i tried to talk and "socialise" the first few days, but i feel it got so tiring. it's lik, i talk to u and yea we could be frens. but the next day, everything is lik we're back to jus plain acquaintances. maybe it's jus me and my rather anti-social nature la. =/but towards the end, i got rather tired and missing home that i jus stuck to viki and sihan. hahas. =X sure i exchanged contacts with some ppl, but how to keep in contact? yea yea fb and msn and wat. but sometimes i stil prefer the face to face interactions. lik even with my frens i dun reali use fb or msn so much.
so anw. the koreans in my grp were kinda interesting. hahas. there were four of them. and they could reali talk and mix ard. no wonder their country delegate is lik so pro. she is lik one clever politician ready to balance the good and bad and nuance about tricky situation during the voting thing. hahas. she managed to make the next year's apps at korea soooo much more interesting and attractive too. hahas. but i'm nt gng cause' one round apps of interacting and socialising is enough for me. haha.
the last night gala night was traumatic. hahas. there was h1n1 scare. it was interesting to note they didn't bother with temp checking aft day 1, and everyone was running ard lik headless chicken when it was discovered someone was tested positive for h1n1. it was so scary. =/ viki and agnes' flatmate was positive and they had to be quarantined and tested. =X my grpmate also had h1n1, but it was discovered aft i'm safely back in Sg. HENG AR., if not i have to stay there and get quarantined. =X OMG. =X
so al in all, apps 2009 was quite the experience la. =)i learnt stuff. rmb wat they taught us in ss in secondary school how the UN and ASEAN could be cumbersome and ineffective because of eg language barriers or wat not? well i got to see it in reali life. it's jus asia pacific pharmaceutical society, but alr things could get so troublesome and ineffective in solving large scale problems. i guess this kind of organisations jus strive towards the ideal. it's always nice to strive towards the ideal even thou it might seem impossible. econs did taught me how things couldnt always be lik the ideal perfect, but we jus work towards it to give hope. hahas. or at least show we are doing something about it. hahas.
signing off
amethyst
12:38 PM
say something'
plain.amethyst.palace
plainpalace.sally.yip
aquarian snake
Singapore
Alexandra Hill Pri, Nan Hua Sec, Victoria Junior College, NUS P h a r m12'
Lady`Mage =)
plainpalace@hotmail/gmail.com
let it go'
if you cant hold on, let it go and come back in your heart
hopes and wishes
.books
.more bc dresses!, bags
.necklaces, bracelets (to spice up boring outfits!)
.above preferably of diamonds and white gold. >< or gold. or precious stones. =P
.musical box that plays pirates of Caribbean Davy Jones soundtrack
.own room -.-
.blank nice books to write my diary
.mont blanc fountain pen ><
.supernatural, grey's anatomy, heros, charmed, csi complete DVDs