Where is home; Elite Twats; Recruitment Weekend; Russia anyone?

Recurring themes I have been chewing on, if you are a regular follower of this blog. Choice quotes taken from elsewhere in the Sgporean blogosphere:

Home

But it’s a question that has been put to me rather frequently of late; by my friends, myself, and most importantly, my parents. To my friends, I tell them blithely, “I’m a citizen of the world”; to myself, I scratch my head and try to banish the question into the depths of my mind; to my parents, well, I make non-committal, guilty noises.

…

How to tell my parents that Singapore isn’t really my home anymore? I mean, yes, they are back there, I grew up there, they took care of me there, but how do you call home a place where you haven’t lived in years, and do not intend to live in for the next few years? How do you call home a place where the only constants are your parents – a place where the landscape is always changing, a place where your friends are moving on, have moved on, and are living their own separate lives?

…

How do you call home a room you stacked with furniture you did not lovingly procure, but hastily assembled together from the amongst the cheapest you could find?

Transglobalisation

A few months ago, when I first told L about the best friend moving to London, she remarked about how everyone seems to be coming to our part of the world now.

…

So, the best friend arrives tomorrow with plans to conquer the world through creativity, and also start an experiment in domestic familiarity with his legal-eagle. Another friend of ours is already here and was showing her work at London Fashion Week, and has had her heart conquered by an architect ex-neighbour residing in London. Someone I’ve known for a long time, but have never met up with properly, is going to settle in the Midlands with her boy.

My related entry here.

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Elite Singaporeans overseas; they existed, exist and will continue to exist. Social stratification occurs in every society. The key is social mobility. In the Singapore context, education used to be the social leveller. I am not so sure about now though.

Throughout the entire evening, all i could hear were whispers and questions of “what school is he and she is from?” or “which investment bank are you working for?”. Its akin to the irritating noises that crickets make in the night. *twee twee twee twee twee twee twee*

You probably heard this many times from me, i believe we shouldnt be judged by where we worked, what schools we attended and the scholarships under our belts. And it sounds almost ironical when the country and our national pledge exalt harmony regardless of race, language or religon. But they forgot to add ‘social standing’.

…

I dont know what kind of reality our so called “future leaders” and the “bright sparks” of our country subscribe to. Would these lofty creatures understand the needs of the real people? With the currently educational system of direct JC entry from top secondary further breeds this gap? Or sending your kids to expensive branded nursery to meet equally rich kids breed a tight knit group of elite that would ultimately hang out together at Zouk members bar at their reserved couches and bottles of Martell?

I am shocked. Shocked that there are more to harmony than just race, language or religon.

Twats

1 lousy asshole can spoil your entire day. Geez. Why are most twats i meet from JCs, when i always hang out with non-JC people. To makes things worse, they are often from the top 5 JCs. BAH.

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And you know what I did last weekend:

Dear all,

I would like to thank everybody for their efforts to make the Graduate Recruitment Weekend a success. Graduate recruitment is one of the most important annual activities of (our department), and I am glad to report that everything went well. A few of the visitors commented to me that they were very impressed by the level of engagement of faculty and graduate students.

The participation of graduate students, staff members and faculty was essential and is highly appreciated. In a month or so we will know how successful the recruiting effort was, but I feel very good about the whole weekend. Thanks again!

Kind regards
(Faculty coordinator)

Several of the prospectives were hot. I wonder if they would enroll here. 😛

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Russian Studies (for NUS students)

“Dear Students,
The Russian MOE is offering scholarships to NUS students (both postgraduate & undergraduate) for full time studies in the Russian Federation…

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Edit (21 Mar): Eileen’s thoughts about “home”.