As I hugged my female colleagues and shook the hands of the male ones at the moment of parting, emotions of unbearable reluctance washed over me, and tears welled up in my eyes.  I had broken my promise to them.  They did not want to see me cry.  But, how could I not cry?  This was the group of people who showed me what true friendship, hospitality and sincerity mean.  This was the group of people whom I had come to love in my brief overseas stint.  To shallow up my tears was an impossible task; just as it was when I was on the plane on the way to Suzhou … .

Just nine weeks ago, I found it equally impossible to stop crying as the plane took off from Changi Airport.  Never had I been away from home more than a month.  Even when I was away, it was under the security of my brother’s supervision and care in London.  The destination then was China!  To a sheltered “banana” person like me, this overseas attachment was THE ultimate challenge.  This would make the most steel-hearted American Gladiators shudder under their bed covers in the still of the night.  However, this was not the time to despair!  There and then, my roommate and I promised to be each other’s family and confidante.

Touchdown at Shanghai’s Hongqiao Airport …first thought that coursed through my mind, “Suzhou had better not be this crowded, noisy, busy, OUCH!”  I was shoved mercilessly aside by tons of people.  Lesson Number 1: Pushing and shoving is normal.  Do not, I repeat, do NOT demand an apology from the perpetrator, unless you like receiving chilling, evil glares.  Over the course of nine weeks, I estimated I had been pushed around more times than there are seconds in a day.  Of course, I also cursed under my breath the same number of times in English … BUT I digress! The law of the universe (or at least the universe of China) is that there is order in the midst of disorder.

Suzhou is an interestingly weird place.  In the first week, I felt like Alice in Wonderland!  Suzhou is beautiful yet ugly; artistic gardens summoning the very best of Chinese  architecture sit side by side with dirty, pot-holed and rubbish-lined alleys.  She is new yet old; people rush to work at two major industrial parks and many smaller ones and rush home to dark, stoned houses without direct electricity supply after work.  She is cultured yet uncouth, famous for producing the world’s finest silk embroidery, yet her people have to be schooled to use modern public facilities.  In the face of such contrasting personalities, I fluctuated between admiration of and dismay at Suzhou.  One day, I realised that Singapore too was once like that!

I suppose if I had only been a tourist who zipped in and out of this ancient city, I would, at best, be enamoured by the water canals lining the roads and alleys.  Interactions with the locals changed the course of all that.  Within the first 3 days of work, many people at my workplace had come to hear of The Singapore Girl Who Is Good At Table Tennis.  I became chums with people from various departments, from engineering to transport, and of various ranks, from middle-level managers to workers.  Now, was that Ping-Pong Diplomacy or what?!  It was also inevitable that I became close friends with a few ladies from the housekeeping department at the Dongyuan Hotel we stayed at for 8 weeks.  At times when I really missed home, they would chat with me and make me feel that was my home.

Equally unforgettable were many other characters that made my trip come alive.  I encounter an old man who carves and sells polished stone pieces at an unbelievable low price of 10RMB.  He has a proper job, and though he was making a loss, he felt that it was worth it as he was promoting the arts and culture.  A character as interesting as this eccentric old man was this skinny little boy who is barely 6 years old.  He scours particular streets at night, begging for money.  He knew I would not give him any because they are actually backed by syndicates; nevertheless, he always approached me.  I believe it is because I always smile at him.

What about my work experience?  Through my conversations with students who were attached locally and overseas, I have come to conclude that (generally) locally attached students get to learn more of company operations while students attached overseas learn more social skills.  Frankly, I think no matter where one is attached, one would always be considered as a graduate without experience (this is excluding students from polytechnics).  Hence, one should try to expand one’s horizons whilst one is young.  An overseas attachment would help reinforce the idea that the world would be a global market in future.  That, in my opinion, is the best thing about an overseas attachment.