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I’m taking a lot longer to recuperate from our 17-day long UK trip than I had with previous trips.
Au and I got back late afternoon of Friday 24 June. She came down with a sore throat while I’ve been having body aches from carrying my luggage. As far as transportation goes, we were on our own and relied a lot on public transport. It’s not a very long walk to the London Tube but when you have to carry bags… urgh. We travelled from place to place to meet DS contacts. The Tube doesn’t have lifts or escalators in many of the older stations — so you have to carry your things up and down long flights of steps and on to the trains. I wonder how the elderly survive?
Other than that, London is a great place to be — full of history, most museums are free, everything is so compact. As much as it was possible, we explored the places we visited. The London 24-hour hop-on-hop-off bus includes a river cruise along the Thames. The commentaries were excellent. I enjoyed the diversity (talk about Singapore being multi-cultural).
We stayed at a variety of places ranging from
- a youth hostel in London Central — I didn’t realise when I booked it that we were going to have four other strangers sharing our room. People come in and out at odd hours.
- to a designer hotel in Farnborough when I went to visit with four of my cousin whom I hadn’t seen since they migrated to the UK more than ten years ago.
- to Barrie’s very cosy home in York (we each had our own room) and better than first class hotel-standard meals prepared by Joan his wife.
- to our own dormitory room at the Aberystwyth campus — someone said it looked like a room in a monastery (very bare but with our own bathroom attached). It was comfortable, clean, and, internet connection!
If I had known the things I now know, I would have planned our trip a lot better — cutting down on our train trips, carrying less luggage (I didn’t know exactly what to expect with the weather). We actually travelled twice to Wales from London and once half-way to Wales. Overall, it was a great trip. We made some good friends along the way — people of kindred hearts for DS.
Now I am taking time to consolidate what we learned and trying to get my system back to Singapore time. I’ve come back with many new Digital Storytelling friends and also ideas that we could adapt here.
I was thankful to get one of the two corner seats by the door of the MRT train. It was going to be a 45-minute ride from Bedok in the east to Clementi in the west. Around me were three sleeping passengers – the person beside me and the two persons facing me. The lady in front of me had her head painfully tilted to one side and her mouth wide open. I started talking to myself about how tired Singaporeans are.
Then I heard the announcement on the train. “Jurong East Interchange.”
I had fallen asleep and missed my stop at Clementi! Talk about tired Singaporeans! LOL.
You are eating at an up-market restaurant in town. Suddenly, the waitress who is serving you breaks out in beautiful singing fit for a concert hall. Before you know it, another waiter at the other corner of the restaurant replies back in an equally beautiful and complementing voice. And then another and another and another joins in at random places in the restaurant.
A row of chefs begin dancing and singing, They take their pots, ladles, or whatever cooking utensil they have in their hands and starting juggling them. The music is upbeat and you start tapping and clapping along.
Suddenly a waiter crawls from under a table in front of you. He makes a couple of jokes, goes to a diner and begins singing and teasing the diner. Then they all break out again into singing
You are at a concert except the performance is happening not on stage but you are right in the middle of it all. The rhythm and harmony is all around you. You enjoy every single one of the repertoire of songs.
You are tapping your feet the rest of the meal and you go home still singing the songs in your head. And you know that what looked like an accidental, random, spontaneous performance was really the mastermind of a genius. What had novel concept, what precise choreography. You know the waiters, waitresses, and cooks didn’t just happen to have beautiful voices — they had been trained to sing in harmony.
Do you know what it’s like when four people from different walks of life meet. You each come with what seems like a random piece of jigsaw. You share your stories and then suddenly your piece makes sense when you put them all together? Well… that happened at my Digital Storytelling team meeting yesterday. Awesome! Epiphany.
I had arranged for my team to meet SY, a Social Entrepreneur that I was introduced to at DiSC (Digital Storytelling Circle) on 4 January.
I got us to share our stories, our life journeys. We talked about the dreams in our hearts and how we wanted to do to make a difference in the world through the things we could do albeit small. For me, it’s using digital storytelling. For the others it was different things.
And then we saw that the melody we each were singing was the same, even if we were playing different instruments or were singing a different part.
We were for a moment awed, silenced. What we each had been growing and developing into fitted into a bigger jigsaw puzzle. And we were resonating with each other.
I am awed that a Mastermind, the Chief Composer, Musician had orchestrated and choreographed this. It couldn’t have all just happen by accident.
There I was standing in awe knowing my life has meaning and purpose and calling beyond the everyday grind. And I know I was made for bigger things. And that my life is not my own and I exist not just to live for myself but for others in service.
We decided we would come together to collaborate so that the sum total of what we do together could be far greater than if each of us tried to make a difference on our own.
BTW, I dined at that restaurant in the Philippines several times. Fun!
2010 has been a year of adventures for me…
- January – Aurelia and I taught our first public digital storytelling workshop under the National Book Development Council of Singapore.
- April – I registered Digital Storytelling Asia as a sole proprietor / entrepreneur.
- July to August – Aurelia and I made our 46-day journey to the USA. We spent time with friends, got further training at the Center for Digital Storytelling (CDS), taught a digital storytelling (DS) workshop to Navigator staff, and made a presentation to 90+ Christians involved with the Arts and Media.
- September – I left the Navigators Singapore officially after 22 years of ministry.
- September – Aurelia and I co-directed the Asian Digital Storytelling Congress held at the National Museum and organised by the National Book Development Council of Singapore. God linked me with key movers of digital storytelling. We are now linked on four continents (USA, Australia, UK, and Asia). God gave me a digital storytelling mentor (formerly from BBC UK). He is a man who loves Jesus. CDS (USA) where the digital storytelling movement started endorsed Digital Storytelling Asia.
- October – I turned 50 on 8 October.
- Aurelia went back to the Philippines after the Ministry of Manpower rejected her application to renew her employment pass with the Navigators.
- November – I had to run Digital Storytelling Asia alone… God started to bring others with a vision and heart for to tell stories. We began to meet weekly. I was invited me to introduce digital storytelling to 30+ people from 18 countries who are involved with arts and media.
- December - God approved Aurelia’s Employment Pass application. She is now a staff member of Digital Storytelling Asia!
- In all Au and I have run 13 workshops since March 2009 – in Singapore, Philippines, and the USA.
What a year!
Today marks the mid-way of my 47-day journey through the USA.
The “work” part is about to begin as I meet Au this evening in Denver to prepare for our training workshop, and teaching sessions in Colorado Springs.
I have been so blessed through the generosity of friends and relations that have been hosting me at their homes. What a lovely way to see the country.
Here are some highlights
Friends in San Francisco
Brannan Island Campsite (My first experience I think)
Pigeon Lighthouse, California
Elephant Seals at Ano Neuvo
My new friend Scotty who introduced me to his stuffed hippo
Typical house in East Dundee – like a scene out of an old Western
Standing on a glass ledge 103 stories above ground – the Sears Tower, Chicago
