Homecoming

We had our homecoming celebration on 20th September at Xiyan, a private dinning restaurant.

Started by a celebrity chef from Hong Kong, Xiyan, which means feast of happiness, specializes in Chinese cuisine with other Asian culinary inspiration.

The evening's 12 course dinner (+ 1 on the house) was an absolute delightful dining experience for me. Every dish on the course was unique so I found myself looking forward to the next dish. Moreover, portions were just right, leaving enough for second servings.

Second row (L-R): Jacky Yu (celebrity chef and owner of Xiyan), me, Xinyi, Lindsay (Xinyi's sister), Jackson (budding actor and Xinyi's brother; First row (L-R): Parents of Lisa (Xiyan's partner), Xinyi's parents.

Singapore F1

According to Yahoo news today (article replicated below), Toyota's Jano Trulli commented recently that the F1 drivers are a little bit concerned about the safety of Singapore's untested F1 track.

Singapore is set to host an F1 race this month. Due to land scarcity, the F1 track is actually a make shift track from normal road and the race will be held at night. Probably, this is to minimize traffic flow problems caused by road diversion for F1?

Anyway, either Trulli don't know what he is talking about or it is true. If it is true, then my country is doing slipshot work at this upcoming F1 race. The race is going to be held soon and no one had bothered to test the condition of the F1 circuit? *Throw up both arms in disgust*

However, I would urge Mr. Truli not to worry. I counting on it that another news article will appear soon along the lines: "Minister says F1 track is safe". As our ministers are paid to know everything, there is nothing to worry about....NOT! =P

Motor racing-Trulli says Singapore still a worry for F1 drivers
Reuters - Friday, September 5
By Alan Baldwin
SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium, Sept 4 - Formula One drivers are still fretting about the sport's first night race less than a month before Singapore's new street circuit makes its debut.

"It's a new circuit, we don't know much about it, the schedule, the times of running. we all are a little bit concerned about the night race and the poor weather which might occur there," Toyota's Jarno Trulli told reporters at the Belgian Grand Prix on Thursday.

"It's a big question mark for everyone, we mustn't underestimate the situation."
Singapore will become the second new venue this season after last month's Valencia street race when the southeast Asian island state hosts the 15th round of the championship on Sept. 28 at the tail end of the monsoon season.

Unlike Valencia, which staged a couple of junior formula races on the street circuit a month before the grand prix to iron out any problems, Singapore remains untested.
"In Valencia they did a good job, so I am confident they can do a good job for Singapore," said Trulli. "But the location is different and the climate conditions are different.

"We are all a little bit uncertain because we probably don't have enough data. I haven't seen the circuit layout but that's not the problem. The problem is we don't know if the circuit is good enough, if the surface is good enough, if we have enough run-off areas, if the safety is good enough for a night race in wet conditions.

"There are several question marks and several concerns. I'm not saying that I don't want to race there, but that we might encounter some more problems than in Valencia."

September Update

Wake Me Up When September's Here...

September's here finally.

The month of August saw me doing a lot of travelling and no blogging...
August 6 ~ 10, I was in Istanbul.
August 17 ~ 22, I visited Nice in France and Monte Carlo in Monaco.
August 23 ~ 31, I returned to Singapore for vacation (a week!)

September is going to be my last month of expatriation. I am repatriating to Singapore in the middle of this month.

But more about this later.

I went to Singapore and all I got was a lousy....

...Portable Hard Disk!

I bought it when I visited COMEX 2008.

Is COMEX an abbreviation for Computer Exhibition or Communication Exhibition? I never can tell but it is the largest IT exhibition organized in Singapore annually.

COMEX is therefore a much anticipated affair as Singaporeans are flocking there to look for the latest bargain price on digital cameras, notebooks, printers, mobile equipments and other electronic products.

I hate crowds. If I hadn't wanted portable hard disk, I wouldn't have gone. After going around some of the booths, I shortlisted my choice to 3 brands:

Maxtor
Western Digital
Imation

Their prices were about the same: around SGD125 (USD90) for 250GB. The difference was in the bundling. For instance, Imation comes with a free protective sticker and a pouch.

Long story short, I went for this Western Digital one:



I got it because I thought it was the best looking among the 3. I am such a sucker for product design when it comes to shopping. I bought 2 additionally for Xinyi and her friend KK. I hope they don't regret my decision.

Ramadan and Mid-Autumn Festival

When I returned to Beirut, it is the beginning of Ramadan, the Islamic fasting month. For the Chinese, we are anticipating the Mid-Autumn Festival that falls on the full moon of August in the Lunar year.

The difference from our Muslim brethens is that, we eat.

We eat mooncakes. A lot of them!

It is a sweet cake-like pastry with a very sweet lotus seed paste and salted egg yolk filling.

The mooncakes I bought looks something like those in this picture. The round egg yolk filling resembles the moon.

To be exact, Muslims also eat a lot of during the breaking of fast during Ramadan. Especially the sweet stuff. Come to think of it, we're not so different after all. Everybody eats a lot of sweet things and gain a lot of weight. Only difference is that their practice is just a bit more restrictive in that they have to fast a little during the day.

So I bought some mooncakes to be brought back to Beirut. Somehow I got a discount buying mooncakes from Marriot hotel Singapore, which is rather known for their mooncakes.

Anyway, my intention was to bring some mooncakes to my Asian colleagues working in Algeria. Somehow, the moon in Algeria is especially big and them being far away from home during this occasion, so I thought it might be a nice touch.

.... RAMADAM KARIM & HAPPY MID AUTUMN FESTIVAL to ALL!!!

Is That My Car?

I was blog surfing (at work!) when I came across these blogs.

Almost couldn't refrain from bursting out in laughter.

Parking Idiots in Singapore: covers reader contributions before 2007
Singapore Parking Idiots: covers reader contributions after 2007

I'm just glad to know that I'm not alone out there...

Anyone interested to start a blog about parking & driving idiots in Algeria.

Singapore 2: 0 Lebanon

In yesterday's 2010 FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifiers, Singapore beat Lebanon and moved to second place in Group 4.

I always have the opinion that the Singapore Lions is a lousy team. Now I know that the Lebanese national team is also lousy. Suddenly, I feel a sense of national pride that we are just slightly better than the Lebanese.

Actually, to be precise, Lebanon has a ultra lousy coach. Here an exerpt from his post-match interview:

Lebanon's coach Emile Rustom, who was missing four first-team players including Cologne midfielder Roda Antar, bemoaned his selection problems.

"It was expected. Lebanon were missing four key players, you can imagine Singapore without four players," he said.

What a LOSER!!! Haaahaaa.....

You mean the rest of your team cannot play?

Mr Rustom, when you cannot do something, seriously reflect on what your management skills and how to improve. Don't blame the circumstances. Who will you blame when your team meets a stronger team? Blame it on Israel?

Soccer-Singapore ease to qualifying win over Lebanon

Reuters - Thursday, March 27
SINGAPORE, March 26 - Singapore
comfortably beat Lebanon 2-0 to pick up the first three points of their Asian
World Cup third round qualifying campaign on Wednesday.

The city-state's 37-year-old striker Aleksander Duric, who scored twice on
his debut in the 3-1 second stage aggregate victory over Tajikistan, opened the
scoring in the seventh minute after capitalising on some poor Lebanese
defending.

Midfielder Fazrul Nawaz then doubled the home side's advantage, effectively
sealing the game after 24 minutes.

Singapore coach Radojko Avramovic praised Bosnian-born Duric, who was
called-up to the national squad late last year after becoming a Singapore
citizen.

"He was running hard in the first half and then in the second half he was
playing more in midfield, I think he has done really well for us," Avramovic
told reporters.

Lebanon's coach Emile Rustom, who was missing four first-team players
including Cologne midfielder Roda Antar, bemoaned his selection
problems.

"It was expected. Lebanon were missing four key players, you can imagine
Singapore without four players," he said.

Singapore move to second in Group 4, level on points with Saudi Arabia whom
they lost to in February and three points behind leaders Uzbekistan. Lebanon
remain bottom without a point.

Bon Weekend: Singaporeans Meet-Up

I arrived in Algeria safely but 1 hour behind schedule. Nothing new. After the usual hassle of clearing immigration and baggage collection, I found myself in an empty terminal at 3am in the morning.

The driver wasn't not waiting for me. Again nothing new. Scenes from Tom Hanks' "The Terminal" started playing in my head.

After several tries, I managed to get the driver on the phone, who apologized that he had forgotten about picking me up. Still nothing new. Fortunately, he lives near the airport and was there to meet me within 15 minutes.

Algiers was a lot colder than Beirut. I heard it had rained for the past 2 days.

By 4:30am, I was back in the Sidi Fredj guesthouse.

By 9:00am, I was awake. The curtains were unable to hold back the glare of the morning sun from my room. Only 4 hours plus of sleep. How annoying!

I was thinking of going back to bed around noontime when I got a call from the office. Top gun needed my help in the office for some presentation to our principals the day after next. Bummer!

Things picked up towards the evening.

A while ago, a group of 2 Singaporeans and a Malaysian got in touch with me via my blog. We arranged a meet up at Bangkok, a Thai restaurant in Draria.

A little held up at work, the guys were already waiting for me at the restaurant. As I entered the restaurant, to my pleasant surprise, the group of guys appeared to be around my age.

The guys, Pradeep, Jek Suen and Yong are based in Bejaia, about 4 hours of drive to the East. They are working for Porktek, a Singaporean company, contracted to provide management expertise to Bejaia's port. They were in Algiers for holiday.

Pradeep, a fellow NUS FASS alumni, has been here since 2004. Yong, a Johorean working in Singapore for a long time, has been in Algeria since 2005 and will be completing his tour of duty in June. Jek Suen, the newest addition to the group, started working in Bejaia only two months ago.

In my opinion, these guys are big time hard-core! My professional interaction with local Algierians are limited mainly to the graduates of Ecole Polytechnic, the creme de la creme. But these guys are managing the blue collar workers on a daily basis! Pradeep mastered the French language and the group even got the port workers speaking Singlish, Singaporean accented English, now

Yesterday's meeting was after a long time since I last "talked cock". It was nice to hear and speak local accents as we traded stories about life in Algeria. There were so many common grievances or topics but just to name a few:

Unscrupulous cleaning service: My previous cleaning lady once stole my Bak Kua, mom's home-baked pineapple tarts and washing powder. Yong's cleaning lady most probably took some of his perfumes. Pradeep's wife lost some of her cometics when she last visited.

Missing things: We all complained about the missing food from our office drawers and the security guards that feign ignorance even though only they have the keys. Yong had his cassette deck and high-performance speakers stolen from his CDV! Unbelieveable!

Water problems: The water supply in my apartment is miserably low (40 minutes to shower). The guys in Bejaia sometimes don't have water in the summer!!!

Ramadan: Why is there a spike in fighting incidents during Ramadan?!

Food and social entertainment: The lack of variety in food choices and pitifully few social entertainment venues to speak of.

I had the most enjoyable and hilarious evening in Algeria so far.

The inaugural dinner of the Singapore - Malaysia "huay guan" in Algiers

P.S. This pretty much disproved my theory that I am 50% of the Singaporeans based in Algeria. As far as I know, there is also one other Singaporean blogger based in Oran. I am now 25%. =P

Blackout!

Blackouts In Singapore
During my childhood, I enjoyed power blackouts.

Blackouts occur very infrequently in Singapore so whenever they happened, my sisters and I were usually very excited. Whenever the power and lights went off in our 3-room Clementi apartment, I would run to the windows. If our opposite apartment block appeared pitch dark too, I knew for certain that a blackout had occured.

"Blackout! Bring out the torch and candles," I would happily informed my family.

We would light up several candles to cast away the darkness. I believe that the main reason we liked blackouts was because we were allowed to play with candles, outside of mid-autumn festival. My dad would use his torch to check the condition of the fusebox, as if it would help. We would berate our dad because his torch-light was diluting our candle light, making the magic moment less unique.

The blackouts were moments for community building. Residents were suddenly forced to leave their TV sets or whatever they are doing and start socializing with their neighbours. Within minutes from the blackouts, the entire apartment block came alive with lively chatter and lit up like a christmas tree with flickering candle lights and fidgeting torch-light beams.

Usually, a blackout lasted half an hour. As soon as the first flourescent tube started flickering back to life, the banter died down and the candle light extinguished as the evening drifted back to it's mundane normacy.

"Go back to your homework!" My mom would command.

Blackouts in Lebanon
Fast foward 20 years later, daily power failures are a norm in Beirut.

Since the late 2007, Lebanon has been enforcing daily 3 hours power-cuts. Which is an inconvenience when your building doesn't have a backup generator. Fortunately, the current apartment has one.

It's a bigger nuisance to experience the power-cuts in the office, especially when the backup generator often fail as well (Murphy's law!!!). Halfway in a meeting and then *poof* everything went dark. Or the printer will jam halfway during a print job when the power died.

Blackouts in Algeria

The frequency of the blackouts depends on location. I can't speak for most of the areas but for two areas I'm more familiar with - Cheraga and Sidi Fredj.

By far, Cheraga was the worst of the two. During close to a year's stay in Cheraga, there were many blackouts. Though not a lot compared to Beirut standards, it had been pretty inconvenient to our daily routine, especially when there was no backup generator at all.

The most memorable was a 3 day blackout in late August 2007, which affected quite a large region around our guesthouse. There was no lights, no heater and no refridgeration. At that time, we didn't had any inkling how long it was going to last.

After sulking around for an entire evening without being able to shower or cook and much worse, see anything, we invoked company policy and checked into Sheraton Club des Pins.

In my opinion, at about USD200++ a night, Sheraton Club des Pins is the most expensive hotel in the world if you compare service with cost. Simply put, at the hotel, you get tourist class service and attitude while paying 5 star hotel prices.

Anyway, upon checking in, we discovered that the hotel was holding a Mexican Fiesta event for that week. My latino colleagues (Colombian, El Salvadorian) were of course quite excited. Here's some of the pictures we took.

The setting for a night of Mexican music and food.
Latino crooner for the evening aka 'golden voice'.
According to my Colombian colleague, who has some inkling about Mexican food, "this is not Mexican food! They imagined this up!" We checked and the guest chef was indeed Mexican so we attributed the cause to be a lack of proper ingredients. We also didn't appreciate the food being served cold.
After dinner, we enjoyed a live performance by Mariachis in 1001 Nuit, the Sheraton inhouse pub
The next day, a weekend, we spend half a day lounging at the beach. My South American colleagues were watching a beach volley game.Finally, the electricity came back on and we were checking out to move back to Cheraga. While checking out, we caught another performance of the Mariachis at the lobby.

Prison Break Singapore

Have you seen him?

My country is now on full alert as the manhunt continues into the fifth day for Mas Selamat Kastari, the leader of terrorist group, Jemaah Islamiah.

Mas Selamat Kastari escaped last Wednesday afternoon from the Whitley Detention Centre where he was detained under the Internal Security Act, which reserves the right to detain anyone without trial.

Meanwhile security agencies were confident that he hasn't left Singapore because he was acting alone and received no aid. However, they also mentioned that, as a trained mechanic, he could jumpstart vehicles to aid his escape.

According to friends in Singapore, telcos are circulating his photos via MMS to all their subscribers in the effort to help identifying him.

On a lighter side, our local humour site, Talking Cock, questioned the effectiveness of circulating his photograph because if he was "smart enough to escape ISD HQ, you think he wen go and find some more powderful disguise, meh?"

As a contribution to our national security, the website also posted an Escaped Terrorist Spotter guide (below) for the public to print out and keep in their wallets to help identify him regardless of what disguise he's in. Oh that's cute...

Translation: If you see him, immediately call the police, don't be a hero okay?

Update: 08 May 2009

After a year in hiding, Mas Selamat Kastari, Singapore’s Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) leader who escaped from Whitley Road Detention Centre last year, has reportedly been arrested in Malaysia. Yes, the little children of Singapore can sleep a little better at night from today onwards. =P

Nephews!

Lucus, Lucien & Angus

At Home On Vacation

In case any of my non-existent reader wonders why I have not blogged for weeks, the reason is because I am on vacation in Singapore. This time I'm staying for 3 weeks and will leave by early December (Already I'm in the second week).

The pampering and comfortable life in Singapore provides a temporary repreive from the low standards of living in North Africa.

Take the example of water, tap water is safe to drink here. The quality of the water doesn't cause skin and scalp issues.

Or the water-heater. At home I get warm water for shower on demand 24 x 7.

At our guesthouse in Cheraga, the water-heaters had been conspiring to breakdown just when winter is coming. Freezing showers was becoming the norm because the hot water tends to get cut off halfway during the shower.

Before I left, I sent for the plumber who had no idea how to fix the problem. Meanwhile, the company deemed it cost ineffective to replace the unit. It just told us to share whichever heater is still working. They must think we are already very fortunate because the Algerians do not even get water everyday!

Interesting isn't it? A country that is steep in the Islamic faith and God seems to be turning his back.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Cest La Vie
Anyway, I've been busy, very busy. There are so many personal errants to run.

Personal financial planning issues requires some attention especially after being away for months. Islamic countries frown upon insurance and interest so the money never grows and life is cheap. Lebanon is an exception but interest rates there cannot beat inflation and insurance cost like hell.

I've also been exercising regularly to reduce a little weight. Back in Algeria, the environment was not conducive enough. There is no place to jog without being harassed by the jobless bumps hanging along the streets day and night.

Partly, I'm at fault for not keeping a healthy dietary regime and the weight has been piling up. My intention is to kickstart a healthy habit of regular exercise and dieting while on vacation and bring it back after vacation.

Vacation is about meeting up friends and doing enjoyable things together. After being a third world recluse for months, I have no intention of excessive partying and binge drinking. Probably because I find no lack of alcohol in my guesthouse inventory anyway.

I still enjoy feasting and dining with friends. I believe that a little management on the ordering side will not be detrimental to my weight reduction plan. Nothing beats sitting down for food and drinks with likeminded friends while we reminisce the good old days, speculate the future or sometimes just resort to plain o'bitching about things under the sun.

But the best of all, family time! It's nice to come home and play with my nephews. All three are growing up fast and full of life's energizing zest!

It's heaven to laze around the house and be in the midst of family and relatives and the world of free food and clean laundry on demand. =D

Life is good...

Congratulations To Jackson Again!

Dude, you made it into the final 6! Yes!!!

Congratulations!

All the best for the last part of the contest!

Yet Another Update From Beirut

So I get to spend yet another week in Beirut.

I cannot return to Algeria because my entry visa isn't ready. It'll take longer than usual this time due to a new ruling.

In partial fulfillment of the Algieran visa application, it is now required of me to get a reference letter from the Singapore consulate in Beirut to certify that I am a Singaporean residing in Lebanon. It is not clear why I have to do so because I have a Lebanese resident permit as document proof.

Although this no longer came as a surprise because I have learned first hand that Algerians are masters of generating redundant paperwork in the universe.

Then the consul general of the Singapore consulate in Beirut (a Lebanese) had to add his own contribution into the paperwork fun. First he wants to know why he needs to issue the reference letter in his capacity.

So I had to fax the consulate (their email is not working) a request letter stating my purpose, attached with scans of my passport and Lebanese resident permit. On top of that I've also attached a sample letter issued by the Malaysian consulate to a co-worker , in case the Singapore consul general doesn't understand my request.

Then the Singapore consul general wants to find out if it is in his capacity to issue the reference letter by running it through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs first. I mean, dude, it is just a simple personal request from a Singaporean citizen overseas, don't make it a foreign affair issue please.

And all this while I am legally and physically residing in Beirut since the beginning of last month and had done so last year before being stationed in Algeria.

Meanwhile, my delayed return to Algeria is driving my paymasters nuts because they prefer to see me earn my pay slogging over there where most of the sales revenues are coming from.

USD/SGD Exchange Rate Hits Record Low

Speaking of my pay, which is calculated in US dollars, the recent decline in USD/SGD exchange rate had been very bad news for me.


My 2 year stint with the company has seen the USD weakening against the SGD. Last month, it broke through the 1.5o mark.

Today, the USD hit another bottom (US$1= SGD$1.472). It has reached the record low in 5 years. With my pay pegged at USD 1 = SGD 1.65 in my job contract, today's exchange rate implies that I had kenna an approximately 11% paycut!

Why? God, Why?!

Hopefully, my paymasters will have mercy on me and revise up the pay to compensate for exchange rate losses soon. The pay package is beginning to lose it's attraction.

An Update

All Quiet On the Middle Eastern Front

I will be working in Beirut for the entire month of September because I need to re-apply for my Lebanese work and residence permit.

Due to the unstable political landscape here, many stores and restaurants in the downtown area where I'm working, had relocated to other parts of Beirut. The entire area now resembles a cross between silent hill, minus the gloom and monsters, and an army camp, where you see troops, M113s and concertina wires everywhere.

People are hinting that the month's end election will foster a consensus between the clashing political factions. However, it seems that there were too many unrealized hopes in the past and it doesn't easily give credibility to this election as a resolution to the country's political problems. At least there had been no outbreaks of violence in the recent months.

News From The Home Front

Angus, my nephew, is able to sit up by himself and has begun to eat solid food. My sis has sent me photos of Angus celebrating his 'coming of age' with a foam party.

Singapore National Day

HAPPY 42nd BIRTHDAY, SINGAPORE !

This is my second time I spend National Holiday overseas.

Does it matter?

Yes, it very much matters to ME to be away from my homeland, my country, Singapore on National Day, thank you very much!

Why, because of the simple fact that it is a public holiday back in Singapore but I have to work today!

I was telling deepsix that life is so boring here (work, work, work and work) that I'm actually excited about watching the web livecast of the National Day Parade (NDP) at Marina Bay in the office in about few hours time (It's GMT+1 here). Hopefully, my colleagues of other nationalities will cut me some slack, but hey, it's a day for Singaporeans right?

That's if the connection to the web livecast is successful. From my last year's experience, it was difficult to connect to the web livecast in Algeria because of the low technological infrastructure of the IT department in my office here.

In situations like this, it really puts one's patriotism to the test - how much effort do I wish to expand in order to watch the NDP live and express my fervor as a Singaporean. Based on last year's experience, I discovered that I'm not even close.

But I do hope that this year, the connection will be better. There seems to be a lot of hype put in to this year's NDP. For the first time, the parade will be held away from the traditional site, the National Stadium, as it has been closed for a few years of renovation. This year, Marina Bay is the location of the NDP. A floating platform, offering 27,000 seating capacity, was build along the waterfront for people to watch the parade.

To further "engage and entertain Singaporeans, from the young to the young at heart", claims the official website, the emphasis has been shifted from National Day Parade to National Day Festival, signifying that the celebrations will move beyond a single day.

If you are in Singapore, you can find the list of the activities tied to the National Day Festival here. If you have excellent internet connection, you can catch the live webcast from the official site (http://www.ndp.org.sg/)

As for me, I just hope that I'm able to catch some fireworks online this time round.

The following are some pictures from the rehearsal, gleaned from the official site.

F-16s performing a Flypast over the floating parade


Best military unit of the year - Commandoes performing Guard of Honour duty. That's what you get for being the best: burnt weekends rehearsing at the parade grounds.


The lightning strikes everywhere: Nowhere to run...

Like I said, life is so boring here, I have nothing better to do...

UPDATE (11/08/07):
The internet connection between first world and third world was really lousy, therefore, I wasn't able to watch the NDP live webcast successfully.

Congratulations To Jackson

I'm happy to announce here that Jackson has won a place in the Star Search Singapore 2007 final 20 contestants. That is no small feat considering having to beat 1,500 applicants from Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and China.

Jack, once again, All The Best!....

Actually, I learnt about it when we met in Singapore last month (I blogged it here) but I was sworn to secrecy until the official announcement in the media. Dude, I am capable of keeping secrets after all.

Do kindly throw my friend your support, especially if you are my friend and you are from Singapore. Visit here to discuss about Jackson on the MediaCorp forum.

Media Coverage so far....

In English


The Almost-A-Chippendale
Name: Tan Sia Chong Jackson
From: Singapore
Looks like: Taiwanese actor/singer/host Zhang Shanwei
Age: 23
Occupation: Student at Singapore Management University, Economics
Iron Man factor: Timing for his second Osim triathlon (1.5km swim; 10km run; 40km biking) in 2005 was two hours and 35 minutes and was ranked 21 out of 63 participants.

Jackson would be great prancing around in children programmes like his Taiwanese half if it wasn’t for his hulking V-shape build, no doubt a trophy from his participation in triathlons. In an Ally McBeal moment, I could almost see the buttons of his shirt giving up its valiant struggle to keep his tanned chest covered and doing a Chippendale in front of me. Yay!

In Chinese


翻版 张耀扬
陈侠中 Tan Sia Chong Jackson
23岁 大学毕业 来自新加坡
陈侠中身高181公分，身材魁梧、肤色黝黑，是最壮最man的参赛者。乍看之下，发现他长得和香港型男张耀扬很像。他自2004年开始参加三项铁人赛、脚踏车比赛。 陈侠中说自己非常向往娱乐圈光芒四射的日子，曾经有星探邀他当模特儿，他拒绝了，理由是：那个世界太“奢华”了。陈侠中外型非常“熟男”，好在他的个性随和，容易融入大伙话题，不至于显得格格不入。

Bureaucracy: The Joke Is On Us

Happy Friday the 13th!

It's all quiet on the Moroccan front lately as the summer holidays are here and some of the staff are on vacation. I will be conducting a training for them in a couple of days time and I'm confident that the attendance rate will not be as planned because of the vacation season. Can their HR people plan better in advance?!!

I was reading this Singaporean blog and found out about a sad story related to bureaucracy.

In the story, a woman passed away due to massive loss of blood after childbirth. Unfortunately, the hosipital was obstinate in upholding its blood use policy of 'use 1 replendish 1', and refused to provide more blood for the woman's treatment, resulting in her death. According to the deceased's husband, it was explained that authorizing the use of more blood for her treatment was subjected to approval by more higher layers in the administrative structure. Usually, this kind of gesture requires time which a dying patient don't have. (You can watch the report on youtube here).

Has that hospital person-in-charge in question considered the purpose of the hospital before refusing to commit more blood? I believe that every hospital in the universe puts preserving lives somewhere in their mission statement. Therefore if that purpose was to preserve lives, shouldn't the hospital went ahead and provide what is necessary to preserve the dying woman's life? Perhaps I'm wrong, the purpose of that hospital was to watch their blood inventory level.

Shouldn't there also be a kind of a quick communication process up the bureaucratic chain whereby critical decision could be made for emergency cases? If the person-in-charge is afraid of making the decision, somebody at the top could be informed and could make a quick judgement call to release the use of blood . The hospital can worry about the blood inventory level later by mobilizing the public to donate in order to replendish the inventory. In my opinion, this kind of emergency don't happen everyday so there should not be a frequent break of policy.

But perhaps hospitals are so accustomed to dealing with life and death situation on a daily basis that nothing is out of the ordinary. The person-in-charge probably thought like this:

We just followed procedures so everything should be fine. Too bad that sometimes people die but hey, it's a given 50/50 right? The patient just didn't respond positively to our efforts as expected. Anyway, we tried, so good job, let's give ourselves a pat on the back and go grab a beer.

Much as I dislike bureaucracy especially red-tape, in the modern society, we simply cannot live without a bureacracratic structure to handle the needs of the masses in a professional and efficient way.

But I'm afraid that if the incident becomes more prevalent, then our society is approaching the day when we have bureaucrats that Max Weber dubbed "specialist without spirit, sensualist without heart". Believe you me that I really dread the day when Singapore becomes a society without bureaucratic flexibility.

We are facing so much of bureaucratic inflexibility in the countries where we are working. It really irks me that no matter how inefficient and incapable these people-in-charge are, I cannot do anything about them because they are preserved behind official positions and layers of rules (sometimes unstated and probably made up impromptu ... you sons of bitches!) and so can do no wrong.

Red-tape is the name of the game here. In Morocco, a colleague took almost 3 months to get a visa application approved when it should have taken 2 working days. For my Lebanese residential permit, there are simply too much layers of in the approval process that I get thrown from departments to departments for one fucking piece of crappy looking paper. More often than not, we received no explanation about delays and processes but instead all we get is the "take it or leave it" attitude.

Back To Singapore - 25 June ~ 1 July (Part 2)

Here's the rest of my exploits during my Singapore visit, blogged after I arrived in Casablanca.

Lunch with Benson

Benson: How's your living condition over there in Africa?
Sencha: It's not that fantastic. Living standards are pretty low.
Benson: Of cos lah! That's why they ask you to go, if it is that good, they ask ang mo to go liao.
Sencha: Brudder, you are the man!

Brudder, thank's very much for Battlestar Galatica and Lost series.

Krispy Kreme @ Xinyi's (it was flown in fresh from Sydney)

I is missing durians Catching up with good ol' friends...Ces't la vie

Mom's cooking...the best!

Baking diva, Socks, Sherrie and gang, great meeting up with all of you over at New York, New York!

Back To Singapore - 25 June ~ 1 July (Part 1)

Yipee! It feels good to be back.

But my week in Singapore is flying by fast. Today is already the second last day and I haven't met up with many friends yet. My schedule has been really really tight and I try to prioritize my time for personal errands and family.

So if I missed catchng up with you, please accept my thousand apologies.

The climate in Singapore is soooooooooo humid that I try to shower twice a day. North African's climate should be just as hot now but not humid. Humid aside, it is a nice feeling to be back from dusty Africa.

Monday
- Arrived late in the afternoon. My family was gathered at my sister's place in Farrer Park. I tried to take the MRT there but it's difficult to move around with a big lugguage. I made it as far as Bugis MRT and decided to take a cab from there.

Tuesday
- Had lunch with Xinyi's dad at Turf city. Got a delicious Indian bryani rice treat!!!
- Enjoyed playing with my nephews, Lucus (9) and Angus (0.5)

Angus

Lucus

- Shopping at Mustafa Shopping Center. My colleagues gave me a big list of vitamins and health food to buy for them.

Wednesday

- Hangout day with Jack. Saw Darwin's Nightmare which was a movie about the ecological disaster in some African country with a forgettable name. I'm still wondering why we chose to watch this movie and not a more entertaining one. It turned to be a very good but serious film. But, Oh Boy...talk about Africa again...

- We had our dinner at Botak Jones in Toa Payoh. Here are the photos:

Entree...Fried Stuffed Jalapenos

Viande...Grilled Rib Eye 200gms

Cafe....Iced Coffee (You can't find it anywhere in N. Africa! *shock*)

Jack, trying to eat a fork.

Dude, best of luck for what is to come!

Thursday

- Busiest day of all. A lot of personal errands to do...including:

• Buying TOTO to win the 3 million jackpot! Mental note to self, if I struck TOTO, immediately purchase air ticket to return to Singapore AGAIN next month. DO NOT FORGET to SNEER at workaholic colleagues!

Get International Driving License. It cost only $20 to apply for one. Mental note to self, DO NOT FORGET to SNEER at colleagues who paid USD100.

• Tze Xiang, nice seeing you at the MRT station. Unfortunately we couldn't linger to catch up.

- Dinner at the Sun with Moon Japanese Dinning and Cafe with family! it is quite a nice place located in The Central at Clarke Quay. Check out the pics...

Some of the appertizers:

Ebi Ten Roll (Prawn Roll)

Salmon & Potato Salade

Ton Toro Yaki (Grilled Pork Cheek) I fucking miss eating pork!!!

My order: Yakiniku Kamameshi (Isn't it an upscaled Yoshi Gyu don?)

Dessert: Sweet Box 4 in One (... and all for love =P)