Day 11

Seems like it was just yesterday when we whipped up a special dinner (seafood fried rice with sides) to see Liang off to BMT, but in reality he has spent 2 whole weeks in camp. But well, at least it gave everyone a reason to come home for dinner to catch up with him, and also gave my parents something to fuss over this weekend.

These 2 weeks been pretty hectic (which week isn't) with our new bosses coming in and the announcement of the new sme defn. Fortunately we had a break on Friday when our group went to USS for bonding session. We ran about in teams, trying to complete all the stations for the scavager hunt. It was quite fun actually, not to mention extremely sweet when our team walked away with the first prize (a combination of 93% luck, 5% wits, and 2% perspiration)! Winning is sweet, esp when it's least expected. And I was not the only one who felt this way. Someone actually texted me after midnight to tell me that she was still feeling high from the win and cldn't sleep! lol.

Day 10

All attention is turned on Japan this week as the country struggles to cope with the tragic combination of a quake, tsunami, and nuclear crisis. News about the unrest in Libya and Egypt takes a backseat. It's unfortunate for any country to encounter such a calamity, furthermore a country so beautiful and so rich in culture, and with such a huge stake in the world market.

I heard over the radio that some Japanese have said that it was "lucky" that this happened to Japan and not some other country. This is because no other country in the world is as prepared to deal with such a situation as efficiently and calmly as the Japanese. Amidst the chaos, there is some kind of orderliness. No one screaming or brawling in the streets as we saw during the 04 tsunami which hit India and Indonesia. No looting of supermarkets. Supermarkets band together to offer free drinks to the needy, shoppers help to replace fallen items back on the shelves. Households offer whatever little food they have to passerbys. No littering about the evacuation shelters. And neat queues to buy petrol which is limited to USD2 per car. Neat queues too and no unruly behavior at train stations where the frequency of the train service are reduced and , people are forced to take the stairs because the elevators are non-operational in a bid to save electricity. The Yakuza coming out to direct traffic flows....

With everyone behaving so responsibly and sensibly despite what has happened, Japan is shining example of crisis management.