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My Ang Moh friend
Thursday, May 06, 2010
♥ Thursday, May 06, 2010

" it was a pleasure mate, truly a pleasure", he wished me in his usual British accent, that by now, was diluted by doses of "lahs" and "wah lao eh". And then we had one of those quasi hand shakes-hugs that i always thought belonged to a generation of a 21-year-old British and thus never got used to. But then like the many things i've gotten acquainted with because of him, there is always the first. And in his words, they are "ace".

I introduce everyone to him as my "ang moh" friend. Believe me, i havent so much as conceived of the possibility that such a friendship could have happened. Acquainted at a mooting course, a subsequent drafting into a similar team set our paths overlapping, in the direction of Canada for the one purpose of kicking ass. But this path was anything but smooth-sailing. The three of us had contrasting personalities and interests. And those contrasts, in my tutors' view, were at times conflicting. Their advice to aid us in our cohesiveness was to talk about our feelings. It was second nature to our female tutors. To us, it was like learning a new language.

Every week, therefore, was a battle waged on many fronts. On one hand, we had to compete against each other, to sharpen each member's reasoning abilities. On another, the very competitive nature of such scenarios forced us to adopt stances that were diametrically opposed to our cohesiveness. In addition, the voluminous materials that we had to process every week, on top of our punishing workload, made the journey an incredibly daunting one.

But that cliche about turning weaknesses into strengths? The magic of that we manage to wield in Canada- how we did it still remains baffling to me. But what were three persons with one huge gap of inadequacies became one team with an unprecedented determination to succeed. Where we were impaired by our social awkwardness or acting skills, my ang moh friend would ride in with his eloquence and drama; i plugged in the gaps of our knowledge in the law, my "non ang moh" friend, like a potter, gave shape and structure to the presentation.

And so ass kicking, we did. Ask the champions- we gave them a run for their money. Ask the audience who gave us the standing ovation; ask our adversaries-professors, experts included. We did not win, but our heads were held high. They still are.

What was strictly business became leisure. The post competition, fish-head curry at my place, Ip man (that my ang moh friend resiliently calls " I-P- man") an island wide supper yesterday exploring Singapore's nightspots was the extent of our social get togethers. I do not know when an individual ends and a team begins; neither do i know when work ends and friendship begins. But yesterday, the ang moh friend passed me his rayban sunglasses, one with a shiny surface- the one i said i looked better than him in- and in it was a reflection. A reflection of how far we've come, together.


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