Not the song from Muse, neither is it 星亮 in Chinese.
It is 星光 in Chinese, and it is not as pretty as what you admire in the midnight skies.
It represented the last hurdle of my training, the toughest training we would ever have for the past 6 months.
It is an open secret, but I am still not supposed to be saying what I am going to say, so I have to keep mum about it. =/
It has been tiring weeks away from the creature comforts - or whatever make do we can - that reside in our sheltered nests at home. Firstly, you are literally cut off from the world. Be it being set back by 21 episodes of 爱, or not knowing that NSFs are given some $$ to their Medisave, or not knowing that it is Mooncake Festival coming soon. Secondly, you only care about one weather which in the end - I don't know whether to say it was a pity or a blessing - did not arrive. (I have this sadistical yet innocent like a child's curiousity to have a first hand experience at some natural disasters, well you won't get that in Singapore won't you?) Thirdly, you have hardly a proper day's rest between each of the sub-exercises. Worst still, the going gets tougher. Lastly, you have great sadistical enjoyment soaking in the screwed up weather - where it gets scorching hot and dry in the morning and cold, windy and wet in the afternoon + offering ur body and blood to the 101 insects (now the phrase "流血汗" has a new meaning)
But there were some lessons I learnt:
1. Your body is tougher than you think it is. Despite the unruly weather, most of us got away without falling ill - in fact bodily injury was more common than sickness.
2. When the going gets tough, it is a battle between your will and despair - and you are not alone.
3. Take care of yourself first, because if you don't no one else will take care of you in the end. Of course I am not saying to be selfish, but don't do silly things like bring lesser underwear.
4. Sometimes you need to be flexible, and at the same time having contigency plans to cover your own ass if need be.
5. Empty vessels make the most noise.
Up for you how you comprehend the 5 statements - there are the good, bad and ugly. Especially with the experienced talking alot of things but not moving.
When it came to R&R, that was the fun part - or rather not so fun. I tried most of the food that I set out to try: 臭豆腐 (smelly toufu), 鸡排 (chicken cutlet), oyster meesua, 牛肉面 (beef noodles) and 奶茶 (milk tea). Well some of the food already exist in Singapore - commonly sold by Shilin Street Snacks and other drink stations - but I wanted to taste for myself the original! And what a blast it was! Haha now I taste Singapore 奶茶 with a pinch of .. salt? heh
too bad Tsai said the smelly toufu not smelly hence not authentic enough - I agree though. I thought it would be some interesting taste but it ended up just like another piece of toufu that seemed to have grown lots of holes.
I also think my chilli tolerance has possibly increased? Good news for many I hope - but still I won't willingly take chilli. I think chilli robs the natural taste of the food la, and leaves the tingly sensation on ur tongue >.<
Anyway, most of taiwan's chinese is in traditional form, hence hindering my attempts to comprehend them with my already broken Chinese language rawr! But then I managed to help Syamil converse with the locals now and then, way to go Kevin! :) I think my Chinese might have also improved heh.
I bought a nice short sleeve shirt for myself at 伍份. I think its like one of my maiden spending on myself? Well it was nice and I felt I looked good inside and since I am on R&R and since I am already 19 and since I have no nice clothes so why not just get 1 shirt? Besides we bargained and it was for a neat below SG$25!
I think my most fun trip was to Shilin la. The food there, actually the night market resembled our own hawker centre - where all the shops almost sell the same thing and first-time travellers can only discern the good and bad by the number of customers (my standard way of finding which is better) eating. Well isn't that skill similiar to queueing up at the longest queue in Singapore? Also I went to ride a mechanical bull - waiting for Syamil to upload it heh. wa got tossed around like mad, especially with a first-timer like me who don't even know what to expect. But it was maddening good fun, and a 3-day leg ache at the thighs.
overall, maybe cuz i am Chinese hence I did not really get a culture shock when I entered Taiwan. But one culture difference that is quite distinct is that Taiwanese generally dont let you try their clothes (applicable to road-side shops la) on, only allow you to compare to ur body but not physically put it on.
the R&R was indeed a good holiday, a good 3-day reward for our 17 day chiong-suaing :)
