Friday, August 03, 2007
@6:47 AM
Welcome our Xiamen friends! But...
Received my friends from Xiamen who came last evening for student exchange at NUS. The entire evening went wrong cos' the personnel who supposed to pick them up from the airport did not show up. Instead, their friend's friend came.
Initially, we thought their friend's friend who is going to study in NUS is the personnel they're looking for. My friends and I only knew that she wasnt the one responsible on our train ride to their hostel. So we had to guide them to their place of residence.
4 of our Xiamen friends came; Mo Wei lives in a hall in NU , the other 3 - Lu Xiang, Zheng Jie and Wang Cong at Yoha residence in Boon Lay. Due to unforseen circumstances, their friend's friend had to send Mo Wei to her hostel at NUS, and me and my friend, Shunjie sent the guys to Yoha. But the point is both of us had absolutely no idea where exactly is Yoha.
So we took a train on the way to Boon Lay, only to realise that Yoha is nearer to Lakeside. So we boarded the train again to Lakeside. Lugging their heavy luggage, we took bus 246 to Yoha. But the unhelpful bus driver gave us wrong info; He told us that we missed a stop and asked us to alight at at Boon Lay marketplace. We alighted and I asked for direction. Realising that we really missed a stop, we lugged our heavy luggage in the direction we were given amidst the rain. We came to a cross junction and saw that the block of flats in front of us were 198 - 200. But where's block 190? At that point of them, we were all pretty desperate; we walked so much yet we didnt see any light. Shunjie and I were also apologetic at the same time cos' we made them lug their luggage around aimlessly. But we were helpless too as we were unfamiliar with the place. So eventually, we asked them to take a rest at a bus-stop first while we asked another passer-by for directions and recce the place. Luckily, we met a helpful malay lady who gave us precise directions. We found the place at last.
Just as we thought everything's fine, some problems arose when we wanted to collect the keys to their unit. Zheng Jie and Wang Cong did not print out the necessary documents needed to collect their keys. Thus, I had to take them to an internet cafe at the nearby Boon Lay centre to print the papers from their thumbdrives. Again, I asked for directions there. Oh well, the entire evening was just about asking for directions. I feel as if I'm not a Singaporean. But after getting the admin stuffs done, I heaved a sigh of great relief when they finally checked into their unit.
It was truly a learning experience for me and Shunjie cos' we never encountered this before.
Yearn for the days of innocence
