Vietnam Airlines
"Love Market in the Clouds" was the documentary I watched on National Geographic channel whilst eating my dinner just minutes earlier. It's 8.34pm btw on the last weekday of the third week into the year.
It was an eye-opener into the culture of the Hmong village people of Vietnam. Once a year, on 27 March, 3 days after my birthday, Hmong lovers, who may be from different villages in northern Vietnam will meet once a year to rekindle their love for each other. And by lovers, I mean they may be married to other people but still have a flame going on for another person. So on this day, Nguyen Romeos and Nguyen Juliets, seperated by nuptial or physical distance, can meet to rediscover their longing for each other,but only to return to their spouses the next morning (Not just a physical One-night-stand but a true bonding of star-crossed lovers). But bare in mind, their spouses may not be The One as many women were forced into marriages and their souls are said to be bound to their husband's family for eternity. Hence, on a single day every year, they are liberated to visit the Love Market, where men and women, from different villages, high on wine made from maize, dance and sing together before finding some quiet time to fall back in love again.
Falling in love.
The bottomless ocean of love.
Yet the bountiful fish in the sea, ever so tempting.
Ever so near, yet so far.
So difficult to hook up, yet easy to lose.
And you can only yearn for The One That Got Away.
<:((((((><
*sighzZzZzZzZz*
And just a stone's throw away (about 2 hours flight from Ho Chi Minh City) from Vietnam, from where the Hmong people resides, and 1/2 hour bus journey from Changi Airport, is where my school is. And where another "love market" was brewing. Well.. It was actually a Open-house day today a.k.a a wholesale market showcasing all the different courses TP offers to make secondary school xiao-meis and xiao-dis fall in love with.
The hustle and bustle of the event was only fueled further by the different events held at the Jam N Hop session. The bike stunts were truely amazing. The design school had also organised a rather interesting fashion event, a catwalk show. And TP was painted with a fiesta of colours as visiting secondary school students donning a hundred and one different school uniforms were welcomed into the campus. Vietnam Airlines' slogan "Bringing Vietnamese Culture to the World" can be modified to "Bringing TP's culture to Secondary Schools" as my school tries to lure students with the funky "Take Me 2 TP" Open-house programme.
And as a volunteer to be a Business school guide, I took charge of a big class of students from Macpherson Secondary on a 3-stop trip around the Business wing. It was a terrible situation as there is poor communication between the volunteers (who were way too many), presentations are delayed, lecturehalls are full, students go missing, and general chaos. I was disappointed to have let those students down as I was unable to give them a better tour around the school. As I looked at those students, I knew that life post-uniform years is not that much better than those years wearing them. I hope they enjoy their time in secondary school now. Once its gone, its not going to come back. Mine's over. Unfortunately I did not enjoyed mine whilst it lasted.
After my first unsuccessful attempt at guiding, I wanted to make up for it but alas, there was not much traffic. I guess due to the fact there's at least 3 different polytechnics having Open-house on the same days. In the end, I had to make do with sitting in a lecturehall and count heads. Apparently, valuable manpower was needed to tally up how many cheated secondary school students visited the pathetic, and definately underachieving Biz Openhouse event. I felt sorry for them, sorry for myself and sorry that TP did not shine as much as it could. It was disappointing.
For the first time, I realised, having a sprawling swanky clean and wonderfully designed campus is just some concrete mess of rocks, it needs the precious stones (the students and their spirit) to sparkle. Hopefully the next year would be a better one. Rock on.
It was an eye-opener into the culture of the Hmong village people of Vietnam. Once a year, on 27 March, 3 days after my birthday, Hmong lovers, who may be from different villages in northern Vietnam will meet once a year to rekindle their love for each other. And by lovers, I mean they may be married to other people but still have a flame going on for another person. So on this day, Nguyen Romeos and Nguyen Juliets, seperated by nuptial or physical distance, can meet to rediscover their longing for each other,but only to return to their spouses the next morning (Not just a physical One-night-stand but a true bonding of star-crossed lovers). But bare in mind, their spouses may not be The One as many women were forced into marriages and their souls are said to be bound to their husband's family for eternity. Hence, on a single day every year, they are liberated to visit the Love Market, where men and women, from different villages, high on wine made from maize, dance and sing together before finding some quiet time to fall back in love again.
Falling in love.
The bottomless ocean of love.
Yet the bountiful fish in the sea, ever so tempting.
Ever so near, yet so far.
So difficult to hook up, yet easy to lose.
And you can only yearn for The One That Got Away.
<:((((((><
*sighzZzZzZzZz*
And just a stone's throw away (about 2 hours flight from Ho Chi Minh City) from Vietnam, from where the Hmong people resides, and 1/2 hour bus journey from Changi Airport, is where my school is. And where another "love market" was brewing. Well.. It was actually a Open-house day today a.k.a a wholesale market showcasing all the different courses TP offers to make secondary school xiao-meis and xiao-dis fall in love with.
The hustle and bustle of the event was only fueled further by the different events held at the Jam N Hop session. The bike stunts were truely amazing. The design school had also organised a rather interesting fashion event, a catwalk show. And TP was painted with a fiesta of colours as visiting secondary school students donning a hundred and one different school uniforms were welcomed into the campus. Vietnam Airlines' slogan "Bringing Vietnamese Culture to the World" can be modified to "Bringing TP's culture to Secondary Schools" as my school tries to lure students with the funky "Take Me 2 TP" Open-house programme.
And as a volunteer to be a Business school guide, I took charge of a big class of students from Macpherson Secondary on a 3-stop trip around the Business wing. It was a terrible situation as there is poor communication between the volunteers (who were way too many), presentations are delayed, lecturehalls are full, students go missing, and general chaos. I was disappointed to have let those students down as I was unable to give them a better tour around the school. As I looked at those students, I knew that life post-uniform years is not that much better than those years wearing them. I hope they enjoy their time in secondary school now. Once its gone, its not going to come back. Mine's over. Unfortunately I did not enjoyed mine whilst it lasted.
After my first unsuccessful attempt at guiding, I wanted to make up for it but alas, there was not much traffic. I guess due to the fact there's at least 3 different polytechnics having Open-house on the same days. In the end, I had to make do with sitting in a lecturehall and count heads. Apparently, valuable manpower was needed to tally up how many cheated secondary school students visited the pathetic, and definately underachieving Biz Openhouse event. I felt sorry for them, sorry for myself and sorry that TP did not shine as much as it could. It was disappointing.
For the first time, I realised, having a sprawling swanky clean and wonderfully designed campus is just some concrete mess of rocks, it needs the precious stones (the students and their spirit) to sparkle. Hopefully the next year would be a better one. Rock on.
posted by SkyCruiser at
7:30 PM
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