And it gets crazier

I thought things couldn't get crazier in my life these past few weeks..
but hell no.

As you all would have already know, SR Nathan was in NZ recently. There was a tea reception held in Langham Hotel, mainly for him to meet Singaporeans residing in NZ. The invitation to the tea party was extended by the Sg High Comm to my bro, since he was the president of Sg Club over in UC. He couldn't make it and asked if I could go on his behalf. And so, thats how the invitation was extended to me.

I was really reluctant to go initially, mainly because I was dead tired and intimidated. But like always, my parents persuaded/coerced/pressured me to go by saying how foolish I would be if I miss that valuable opportunity and blah blah blah. Of course, they enticed me with the fact that there would be Sgporean students, business associates, important people etc there as well.

Ok, so this ignorant momo focused all her energy on her presentation the day before and was utterly worn out on the day of the tea reception. It started at 5, down Symonds St and at 4, momo was still sitting at home, not showered, not packed, not dressed, not prepared and gleefully surfing the net and msning. Then dad called and emphasized the importance of the event which got me a bit panicked and rushed off getting ready. And yes, I was almost late. I actually had to run in my heels from home all the way to Langham, which is around 20min walk. I reached there just in time.

To my horror.... there were no student-like faces which I felt that I could communicate easily with. Apparently, I am one of the youngest, unless you're talking about the 3 year old kid one couple brought. Most were way older, already hanging out in their groups and I had to think of all kinds of ideas to infiltrate into their group and conversations.

Luckily, I spotted a relatively young fella standing at one corner and momo quickly took her move and tried being friendly and approached him. (Not a favourable style of mine to randomly approach people but in view of survival, I figured out this is essential) My fear and worries were gradually mitigated and I felt a lil more comfortable. Soon, a lady approached us and we started talking and she introduced us to this concept called Social Entrepreneurship and her organization called Social Innovation Park. After some time, momo realized she was one of the MPs.

It was a very enriching conversation which sparked some interest in me. It was a bit overwhelming but still something new and refreshing for me. Half way through SR Nathan came around shaking our hands and having small talks with us. He is really nice and affable. Soon after I ventured out and tried to talk to some other people. Deep down I felt really nervous and intimidated by everyone around me but I reckon you just got to pretend as if you're really friendly and confident.

After awhile, she approached me again, this time introducing me to the Director of Asian Development of University of Auckland, who coincidentally is a Singaporean too! And what tops it up is that he is based in the business school and has background in banking and finance. We discussed about quite a lot of issues which were once out of my radar. I was quite overwhelmed by the whole experience but with hindsight, I realized it was just the start. They invited me to join them for a short tour out of Auckland city today and of course, I gladly accepted.

It was a very brain draining day I reckon. Due to my poor general knowledge, I'd trouble figuring out who were they talking about. They talked about all those names of prominent figures in various industries, about business, about the current economy, worldly issues, their current projects etc. Gosh, I was under quite a tremendous amount of stress to ask hopefully intelligent questions and try not to look too stupid or ignorant. It was just amazing knowing how wide are her networking skills. They were talking about movers and shakers, renowned people like Richard Branson, famous celebrities like Cameron Diaz and others which I have no idea who they are - blame it on my ignorance.

I can literally hear my heart pounding when they were discussing about all these stuff. That was totally out of my imagination - I can't believe I'm sitting with a person with such a huge base of network and she actually proposed to me the idea of implementing Social Entrepreneurship in NZ which sensibly should be started in the University. Its just absurd to me. Its very exciting but I can feel my body shivering. There were many ideas put forward both from her and the director which sounds so far-fetched to me as a student. Social functions, dinner with the vice chancellor etc. There was just so much to take in today I now feel totally overpowered by the information.

What an eye-opener.