EMBRACE THE DIFFERENCES

Went for lunch with colleagues. Lunch was great and heavy.
I am forcing myself to blog right now, just so I can exercise my brain and not doze off.

I haven't never mentioned anything about the place that I'm interning at right? Well, I'm going to today... briefly haha. I love how this place is filled with so many different nationalities. I am amazed by how much I can learn from these guys. It's as if I'm traveling bit by bit each day. I am humbled from what I managed to learn here; to understand and appreciate the different cultures without feeling stupid because I don't have pre-knowledge in those topics.

So, we had lunch at this place called Annalakshmi (133 New Bridge Road).
This Indian restaurant is amazing because the place has a beautiful history/story to it.
From what I heard (I haven't googled this to verify but I'm somehow convinced)...

This guy, Annalakshimi I supposed, came to Singapore wanting to work/study.
As he stayed here, he became poorer. So poor that he starved himself on certain days.
So now that he made it, all rich and successful... (apparently he owns some global hotel line, which I haven't found out which one as well), Annalakshimi builds restaurants everywhere just to feed the poor.

So when you go there, you can eat as much as you want, and pay any amount you like.
$20? $10 $5? $2? Or even not pay at all.

But of course, it's not very nice if you walk out without paying but they won't stop you. The staff who are working there, they are all volunteers. Their service is really good as well. And all the money they earn will go to a charity org (which I don't know). 

I'm sure all those details that I'm not sure of can be found on Google. I just chose not to Google because I am totally convinced by what I've been told, so it's up to you to do some research on it or not.

How amazing is this right? It humbles me to know that there are rich people who have never forgotten their roots and sufferings and did something to change the world. I love that because they can, they empower the rest. I wish more rich people are like that, with their financial capabilities, they can do so much more to change things, even just a little bit.

That's not exactly the main point of this entry. I'm sorry that that was only Part 1, I'm gonna go into Part 2 now, sorry if I bore you haha. You may exit.

So, I had lunch with my colleague. They are all from different countries. 2 from India, 1 from China and another from Europe (I forgot where and thought it'd be where to ask... again).

Indian Guy A said randomly, "I prefer to eat with chapati, cause how can you eat rice with everything?"

So what he meant was to have chapati in replacement of rice. This bewildered me for a while. If you think about his questions again, "How can you eat rice with everything?".... Well, the Chinese can. The Chinese, they eat rice with everything else, almost every day right? So I was stumped by what he said.

And then they talked about how chapati is made of wheat, so it's okay to be replaced with rice. 

Indian Guy A then asked the Chinese Girl, "So what's the most exotic thing you've ever eaten?" He was obviously hoping for answers like caterpillars, cockroaches, insects etc. To our (yes, including mine) surprise, she said..... cheese.

We were obviously shocked cause we have no idea exactly when China got introduced to cheese. We just didn't expect to hear this in 2012. If this is in 2005, maybe still acceptable... right? Or is it just me being shallow?

After the pause, the European Guy said, "Chocolate too, right?"

....





Don't you think it's amusing how we have all these misconceptions about other countries and their cultures. It's funny what they cannot do, or think is impossible, we on another side of the Earth do it every day without thinking it's weird or impossible?

Now I totally believe what my friend just told me about her experience in US, when someone asked her, "So you do kungfu?" 




P/S The Chinese in China know of chocolate okay. In case you thought they thought chocolate is as exotic as cheese. 


Yeah, that's all. Long naggy entry.
I'm definitely more awake now. 2 and half more hours to go. 
Meh.