Tachikawa NO JIRETTAI BURO-GU!

Its been 24 days since I’ve been away from Singapore now. 24 days of the most unique experience of my life. 24 days worth of friendships made, some to be for a lifetime. 24 days worth of memories, laughter and tears, to be remembered forever.

I would have never thought the hundreds of hours of training, sacrificing time with family and friends (thank you very much for understanding! ((:) in the past 4 months prior to my departure would have culminated to so much more.

So much more!

You guys would never imagined the experiences I’ve gained. Interactions with so many different types of people, acknowledging the pre-existing cultural differences existing between all of us, whilst in the mean time nurturing our sensitivities towards one another. In Singapore, language might not be much of a barrier, but on this program, gestures are of the utmost importance. Combining this with the various different languages that we’ve picked up along the way, we hone our communication skills to the highest of levels; to a level that one can’t reach through language alone.

But also, that does not mean that languages are not important in this program! I was pleasantly surprised at the diverse amount of people that are able to speak more than 3 languages ((: And the weirdest situations arise on board the ship! Like take for example, me, one Chinese Malaysian and another indigenous Bruneian (not Malay!) understand one another more in Japanese than in Malay or English. Or the Indian girls from Malaysia who’s English isn’t quite perfect but converse in perfect mandarin. Or the 2 Japanese girls that are not so well versed in English but converse in French with the people who can speak French in the ship. Or the Cambodian girl who speaks fluent Japanese, and if not for my Japanese, I wouldn’t be able to understand her much due to her difficulties in English. And so forth. NOT FORGETTING the Japanese administrative staff who could speak English, Malay, Japanese (duh), Mandarin and Thai!

The list goes on and on.. And I’m really thankful for all the lessons and friendships that I have been able to take with me so far. I’ve learnt so much! And now I can safely say that one month of living in an environment where a language is used so often is a lot more beneficial to me than even 2 years of literal studying and writing! Heck, I might even look to living in Japan for a while to soak in the atmosphere, study language a little bit after I graduate from university.

Epiphanies and opportunities don’t come around too often, so I’ve gotta pick as many of them up as possible! (: That, and I’ve got quite a few good friends (both Japanese and Singaporean) and family living in all parts of Japan right now, so no worries about not having any friends or contact with anyone there!

Anyways, just a date check: it’s the 19th of November at the moment while I am typing out this blog in the Saloon while the ship is docked in Port Klang, Malaysia. I’m waiting for lunch and we’re going to be hosted by the Malaysian Prime Minister later in the evening for dinner. I can’t wait for that!

29 more days to foster closer friendships. 29 more days to take in more experiences. 29 more days till the end of the programme ):

How I wish it wouldn’t end.

But the memories on Fujimaru will live on forever.

And ever.

Till next time, peace!

P.S. I hope everyone in Singapore and Japan reading this is doing well! To my friends in NUS, the exams are cominggggg! Hope everyone’s doing fine in their preparations (: I’ll see everyone soon!