Well, it's been way too long isn't it? Let's see. 4th week of school was so passé and I've begun to feel slightly worried about my schoolwork cos I haven't really done much about it. And also, it's been a week since I've bidded farewell to my dear Beninois. I've been busy with YOG ever since its opening ceremony. I used to tell Kai Teng during one of the June/July trainings that we attended, that I never felt any form of satisfaction attending any of those. But once the olympics commenced, I feel the satisfaction sinking in bit by bit. First of all, I had access to the village, which is an atmosphere you'd want to sense every single day. Ok, at least for me, I love the international feel of it. You walk along those long corridors of NIE, and you see people of different colours speaking different languages. Trust me, I'll never look at NIE the same way again. It's like a mini world. With people exchanging pins, basking in the culture of others. When the day becomes night, there would be night concert/party for these youths to mingle!
The people I work for are really awesome. They are the Beninois. People often have misconceptions that I could actually speak some African language. They speak French, with of course their own native African accent (which, I have some problems with at first). That said, I discovered that 1/3 of the contries in Africa actually speak French. I just had to listen attentively and beneath that african accent, they ARE actually speaking French. But of course some of them are more pronounced than the other. The officials in Benin have been so nice and patient to me since they knew I had some difficulty understanding them at first. But this has allowed me to really improve my French. The other day I brought the ChefDeMission and the secretary to Mustafa Centre (you have no idea how these foreigners LOVE mustafa, it's like the entire village goes to mustafa!). And the day was like a French lesson to me! They taught me words I didn't know, it was great! After shopping, they wanted to eat and they asked for the best fish meal we could find here, so I brought them to get some fishhead curry. And guess what? They LOVE it like mad and they claimed that it was the best meal they've ever tasted in Singapore, and then I found out later on that they went there again on their own just to get that same meal.
No points for guessing how much I love the socialisation during the whole course of YOG. I absolutely used my french knowledge to talk to the rest of the Africans and they were soooooo nice. What I really admire about the general African culture is that they preserve their cultures just like we Asians. Friendship to them, is a big deal. Handshakes are signs of firendliness. As for my awesome Beninois ladies, they wear their long, colourful robes every night in the sea of the casual 'costumes' worn by the rest.
Although my journey as an NOC assistant has been long, I'll just cut it short with this group picture. The Beninois with me and the French volunteer Yoann (and his friend Renaud). Agnes isn't this picture cos she already flew to the states a week before this picture was taken.
The people I work for are really awesome. They are the Beninois. People often have misconceptions that I could actually speak some African language. They speak French, with of course their own native African accent (which, I have some problems with at first). That said, I discovered that 1/3 of the contries in Africa actually speak French. I just had to listen attentively and beneath that african accent, they ARE actually speaking French. But of course some of them are more pronounced than the other. The officials in Benin have been so nice and patient to me since they knew I had some difficulty understanding them at first. But this has allowed me to really improve my French. The other day I brought the ChefDeMission and the secretary to Mustafa Centre (you have no idea how these foreigners LOVE mustafa, it's like the entire village goes to mustafa!). And the day was like a French lesson to me! They taught me words I didn't know, it was great! After shopping, they wanted to eat and they asked for the best fish meal we could find here, so I brought them to get some fishhead curry. And guess what? They LOVE it like mad and they claimed that it was the best meal they've ever tasted in Singapore, and then I found out later on that they went there again on their own just to get that same meal.
No points for guessing how much I love the socialisation during the whole course of YOG. I absolutely used my french knowledge to talk to the rest of the Africans and they were soooooo nice. What I really admire about the general African culture is that they preserve their cultures just like we Asians. Friendship to them, is a big deal. Handshakes are signs of firendliness. As for my awesome Beninois ladies, they wear their long, colourful robes every night in the sea of the casual 'costumes' worn by the rest.
Although my journey as an NOC assistant has been long, I'll just cut it short with this group picture. The Beninois with me and the French volunteer Yoann (and his friend Renaud). Agnes isn't this picture cos she already flew to the states a week before this picture was taken.
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