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Sunday, November 18, 2007

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#-Update 131107

From my update email I sent out:

Dear All,

Finally an update from me, since I first left for UK to study on 29 Sep 07. For the uninformed, I am currently studying Medicine at Imperial College London, which is located at South Kensington, where, as some of you might know, is the “rich-man” area of London. Unfortunately, I do not fit into that category, me being a starving student and all.

I am living with a friend of mine, Ian, and his another housemate Florrine, in an apartment on Fleet street. It’s a beautiful place, fully-furnished with a full kitchen complete with dishwasher and washing machine, which makes household chores less tedious. Fleet street is in the business district of London, which means in the day, I can find most necessities along the streets just outside the house, and at night, when everyone goes home, it becomes dead quiet, which is rather conducive for sleeping.

I arrived on Saturday 29 Sep 07, at about 4pm, with my family and Ian. My family came with me so that I could settle in quicker, and also to give me their luggage weight since I carried loads of items like musical instruments. Our total luggage weight was 134kg. After settling in by going shopping for groceries and such on Sunday, I had to go to school on Monday 01 Oct 07. So I followed the guidebook and turned up in college at 1100, only to find out I was supposed to be there at 0900. Fortunately, the lectures were introductions to the course and unimportant. Over the next few days, most other lectures were in similar fashion; introductions and useless information like how lectures and tutorials work. To the brits it is a novel system, but coming from a Junior College in Singapore ensured I was accustomed to such forms of teaching. So, skipping most of these useless lectures and lessons like how to use Microsoft Word and Excel, I better spent the time shopping for more household needs and such.

In the 2nd week, proper lessons began, but I attended them only to find out they were still mostly revision of A’level knowledge, which I had already recently revised. I met most of the other Singaporeans around this time, as well as joined the Christian Medics Fellowship. Freshers’ fair saw me signing up for Big Band, CMF, Light Opera (musicals), Drama, and Dance. During that same week, I auditioned for the cast in the Light Opera production Crazy For You, but unfortunately, didn’t get casted. Also during that week, I got a dreaded call from the SAF, at 0400 one morning. My officer asked me where I was and why I was overseas on OFF.

Ok some background. There are 3 types of absences in the SAF: Leave, OFF and MC. Leave Entitlement stands at 14 days a calendar year for us, in which we are allowed to go overseas. OFF are privileges given by superiors as rewards for good performance or weekends burnt doing work. These do not permit us to leave the country (a new rule). MCs are quite self-explanatory. I had 12 days of Leave and another 12 days of OFF. This completely covered my absence from 29 Sep 07 until my ORD of 06 Nov 07. So I applied for leave and OFF, but instead of staying in Singapore all the time, I decided to take a risk and stay in London on my OFF, as my superior had allowed it, in hopes that SAF would not notice. I didn’t want to enter college one year late just because of 3 weeks of absence. But unfortunately for me, higher authority decided to be very strict in terms of college entry this year, and so they found out that I was overseas on OFF, so they had my officer call me and make me return to Singapore.

When I informed the college of this unexpected circumstance, they wanted to kick me out of school, but after convincing them that I was supposed to be able to stay all the way and this was a last minute unexpected development, they decided to give me a chance, but I needed to get official documentation for my absence, and I had to meet the Head of Undergraduate Medicine when I had returned. So I made calls to my camp and had them fax over a letter to the college.

I returned to Singapore at the end of the week, and returned to camp on Monday 15 Oct 07, expecting to get severe punishment for my disregard of the rules, but instead, my officer merely had a talk with me and explained the situation. I was surprised and relieved to say the least, and am convinced there is no explanation for such outcomes other than divine intervention, and to that I thank God for protecting me through my escapade. My prayers were answered, I was able to enter college this year without a waste of 11 months, and, I didn’t get much flak for it. Obviously during those few days I was worried about the outcomes, but clearly for me this reinforces how God will work for the good of those who love Him.

3 weeks in sunny Singapore, meeting friends and studying on my own in anticipation for the loads of work I’d have to catch up on. I ate good food, and to top it all off, I didn’t even have to go to camp, due to the fact that I was still on OFF. I just couldn’t go overseas. Plus, I had the car to drive around.

On 06 Nov 07, after I had collected my NRIC, I flew off to UK once again, this time taking a further 40kg of printer, rice cookers, and food pastes. I arrived in Heathrow at 4pm on 06 Nov 07, a Tuesday afternoon, happy that I had finally rid myself of affiliation to the SAF, and will begin school the next morning.

Joining the main Imperial College Big Band was a fantastic decision, instead of the medics Big Band. The ICBB is tight, to say the least. Thompson Band in Singapore doesn’t come close to the people in the ICBB, and these people are all around my age. True they play hot jazz, which is different from Singapore Jazz Orchestra where I’ve been playing before I came here, but at least I get to play and boy did I enjoy the first session. I had to audition actually. The 1st tune was a strict salsa tune, which meant tumbao patterns, which I’m not too strong in, but I did okay. The 2nd piece was a swing number, but the speed was about 250bpm, and that is no easy job for a walking bass. I had fun with that, although my forearm must’ve been producing copious amounts of heat from the exertion. The band leader was visibly satisfied with my playing, so I got in. I joined them in the pub for the 1st time since I got here, and confirmed my initial thoughts on how much a waste of time it is. In case you’re wondering, I had a glass of water.

On Saturday 10 Nov 07, I invited friends over for dinner. We had the pleasure of the company of Florrine’s friend Grace, who was staying over the last few nights, because she’s a neat freak like me and does a lot of housework even thought it’s not her house, which is good for me since I usually do most of the cooking and all. 3 of my friends from the Medicine course also came over, along with our neighbors and Michelle and Debra. 9 people in all I cooked chicken curry for, using the curry powder I smuggled in from Singapore and Mum’s chili paste. I had to cook 2 times due to the pot being insufficiently large for all the ingredients. Good thing the curry came out well, considering it was my first time actually cooking curry by myself.

On Sundays right now I attend All Souls Church, which has very good, bible-based sermons. The music is quite good and traditional, which is a welcome change from all the commercial popular music in today’s Christian music community. I am considering joining the band as well.

This week, I will probably be meeting up with a patient as part of my course, to find out how it is like to live with a chronic condition. Do pray I will have the right questions to ask and that the way I carry myself and speak will glorify God. I also have an audition for another musical put up by Singaporean Medics Studying in London Society. I’m not exactly sure how keen I am on that since it might just clash with a trip to China I am planning next summer.

It’s been quite a journey for me, especially the unforeseen complications, but as Dad says, that just gives me more interesting stories to tell. So there you have it, my transition from miserly army clerk to full-time student at one of the top colleges in the world. Nothing short of stormy in my opinion, which would definitely make good stories at dinner parties. Thank you for all your prayers and concerns for me. Do tell me how I can pray for you as well.

Much Love,
Mark

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