Kinda strange that I didn’t managed to do much today despite it being one of my more relaxed days of the week with only 2 hours of classes. Well, I guess much time was spent waiting for some fellow friends from Singapore finish their stuff at the bank so that I can show them the way to Metrotown. I also needed to get more stuff from shops there anyway.

To affirm what I meant when I blogged about how Singaporeans will not give their seats to people who need it more, today we had a little incident on the bus. We were seated at the front of the bus. After a while, a lady came on board with a huge suitcase. I was like telling the Singaporean guy next to me, “how about we move to the back because there is someone with a huge suitcase… “ – then he was a little taken aback – I guess he didn’t really get it, because it wasn’t a thing that we’ll normally do in Singapore. Then, some elderly woman sitting nearby muttered “… and what are you waiting for?”. But by that time, the lady has moved into the back of the bus already.

Next, an elderly man with some problems walking got on. I promptly got up and offered my seat to him (but I must note there were no thanks given… perhaps these people so used to it that they are taking such display of goodwill for granted? Or it may be because this is the norm expected of people here and not really a goodwill thing).

Shortly after another lady with a baby stroller got on. The friend who was seated next to me got up to offer his seat, but the lady required 2 seats to be folded up so as to make space for the stroller. It should be our friends who were sitting opposite who were supposed to offer their seats. But again there were some confusion, also I must say that it should be because they are new here and don’t understand how it works… then some guy seated nearby snapped at them and told them to get up. Oops.

To be fair, this group of friends are new to Vancouver (I’ve had a few days’ more experience than them) so they are probably not too aware of the cultural norms here. They probably also aren’t aware that the first few seats are usually left for people with limited mobility or who require more space, and that those seats can be folded up.

However, it also shows that we Singaporeans by nature are not really civic-minded enough, or that we have reservations when it comes to such things. I have to admit to behaving like that sometimes too. Like, being slow to offer my seat to someone who needs it more than I do, and things like that. How to have a gracious society like that? (Alright I know the term “gracious society” is not often brought up now… I remember in the past our ex-PM Goh used to have this goal for Singapore to become a gracious society. I guess perhaps the government finally realized given our people’s nature, it’s just something impossible to achieve).

But I am sure after this incident; my friends will now know what to do when faced with a similar situation. It’s a matter of becoming conditioned… again proving that foreigners can indeed learn to live like locals if they want to… and it may not be a bad thing after all – we learn some good manners and civic-mindedness, while the society benefits with a few more better people around.

People who not only contribute to the economy but also blend in and contribute in little ways to the society by way of practicing good manners. Sure, some people may do it not because they really care but more because they are afraid of being ridiculed or ostracized by others, but who cares? As long as people who need the seats get them, it’s the person’s own problem if he can’t learn how to be a genuinely better person in action as well as in thought.

I rushed back from shopping to get to my first Wine Science class, only to find that I got the wrong timing and arrived early instead. Not the first time this happened to me, but at least I wasn’t late after all. The class was really cool. I had a lab session after a short lecture. For this first lab, we were asked to participate in an experiment involving blind tasting of 5 wines and then describing them. We each had a number assigned to us, and at the end of class a lucky draw was conducted. I won and took home a bottle of wine =)

The lab session was sooo fun! Although we couldn’t swallow the wine, we had fun examining the color, smell, taste, and then spitting out the wine. Then we had green and red apples to taste their difference in acidity levels. We also had blind smelling of different food items (that are related to wine tastes) to see if we could correctly identify what they were.

This is certainly the best course I’ve ever taken. While there are tests and exams to worry about, but those are going to be fun too as some tests involve wine tasting and identification.

Well, it’s been a long day (although it shouldn’t be so). I still got lots of readings to do before tomorrow’s classes, and my laundry has been delayed for too long already. I really need to get down to it by tomorrow or I’ll have nothing to wear.

Time to get back to books.

No related posts.