Friday, November 17, 2006

The day George Bush came to Singapore

Early in the morning, I was surprised to see my brother still at home. Then I recalled that George Bush's arrival to Singapore has caused a change in the "O" Level Examinations schedule. After doing some work, I left home to NUS for a lunch with my girlfriend.

The book that I was reading, Singapore Burning - Heroism and Surrender of Singapore during WWII, was soon to be overdued and had been extended previously after a fine of S$2.50. The day before, I read the book till about 2am and then surrendered to the bed.

As I was reading on the train, a caucasian male, about my age, suddenly asked me whether the book was fiction. And that started the conversation for the trip.

He was accompanied by 3 others, all dressed with white shirt and black pants, each with a tie, and on their breast pockets were their name tags. On the name tag was the words "Elderly [Name]" in various languages.

They are voluntary missionaries that have come to Singapore for a tour of their service. While I served my 1 year 10months in National Service, they spent 2 years going around Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and other regional countries to serve as missionaries.

Initially, I thought they would want to preach Christianity to me, but I was wrong. They respected me as a Buddhist and conversed with me about other matters. When I told them Bush was coming, they jokingly commented that there might be terrorists that want to blow him up. When they alighted at City Hall to transit to Newton to meet up other friends for lunch, I returned to my book.

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