Tuesday, June 13, 2006

blessed to be a Singaporean

we the exchange students had lunch with the head of radio and television department today.. with us we also had this student 翠云 from Myanmar who's in NCCU on a degree course.

as we were talking and asking her about Myanmar, that was when i felt really blessed to be a Singaporean.

She hasn't gone back to Myanmar since she came to Taiwan 2 yrs ago.
And her family hasn't been able to visit her here because of the difficulty in applying a travel visa.

When we Singaporeans go travelling, we hardly give a thought able having to apply for visas cos most popular tourist destinations do not require a visa for Singaporeans. Singapore had done a good job in its foreign policy and had established great ties with many countries worldwide, that is why we Singaporeans can take something like travelling without worrying about things like visa for granted.

Taiwan's status internationally is kinda wierd, so when they travel, they always had to worry about visas. The Chinese also cannot come to Taiwan for a holiday so easily.

Something as simple as not having to worry about visas makes me feel blessed as a Singaporean.

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