Foreign teachers aren't all that incomprehensible

A local expressed dismay at how some students had problems understanding the verbal accents of foreign teachers. They just need more time, as the Minister replied. Some Singaporeans can be too impatient at times. Technology may be rampant but effectiveness comes with time. Instant gratification is not parallel to humanity. We will only know whether someone makes a good friend after we have known him for some time.

I was exposed to lecturers of different nationalities in my university. I had lecturers from England, Ireland, America and India. I found the Irish and the Indian accents most difficult to understand, but after some time, I could catch on to them and had no problems understanding my lecturers.

Mr Lui, the Minister, also spoke about grooming truly bilingual locals. I am blessed to realise that I am bilingual, as I can understand newspaper articles in English and Chinese.

Appalling male encounters in the UAE

My dad and I were in the same lift as a male Saudi Arabian. He looked well-educated but his form of education was deviant from what I have learnt. He asked my dad if I was his daughter in this way. "This is your...?" What had he intended to say? Wife? Then he asked, "So do you...?" I had a feeling he was implying incestous behaviour between us. To males in Saudi Arabia, that is common. In my country, it is illegal. A daughter had recently been charged for having physical relations with her father. I answered him very loudly, saying, "Huh?!" He kept quiet after that.

At the airport, my dad was ordering ice-cream from the parlour counter and the staff member, seeing that he was a tourist, wanted to entertain him by serving it in the Turkish manner. My dad was impressed and applauded his stunts. A refined-looking male Saudi Arabian who was reading a book at the table next to mine, went up to the counter and asked the staff member to reduce the noise level. He probably saw the staff member as the cause of my dad's applause and also did not dare to ask my dad to keep quiet.

The little group was shocked and not even a squeak came out of their mouths after that. I, on the other hand, was raging within. How preposterous! So what if he was reading a literature text? I am a Literature major too. That is still no excuse to be such an insufferable and rude creature!! Yes, I am quoting from Lizzy Bennet's opinion of Mr Darcy after reading his letter to her, but I will never fall for that idiotic Arabian. I was so mad that I quickly finished up my ice-cream and remarked very loudly that I did not want to be in the parlour any longer. After we left, I let loose a torrent of negative but civilized adjectives about the man. Even my dad could not help doing the same. It is people like that whose obsessive pride in their academia causes them to be such peacocks, who irritate me to no end.