Hwa Chong Night London 2007

And it's been more than a month again back in Cardiff. The past weekend was spent in London (the first foray outside Cardiff since returning, a huge contrast to the weekly sojourns last semester) for Hwa Chong Night. It's always difficult to recreate atmospheres, espcially in a foreign place & many foreign people, even though we may all have shared a common experience in Hwa Chong. But then again, how could any individual experience have been the same as someone else's?

Indeed, anything associated with Hwa Chong, where the only councillors seen were Shining, Yang Wen, Kelvin, Ling Ching, Lin Hai; and the only classmates Bjorn, Justin, Zhaoqi, would evoke a sense of emptiness. Where were Haojie, Wenhui, Yuesern, Ping Khuan & Chin Siong? I could only imagine. And yet, there were many others still, Yun Ching, Calvin, Jeremy, Watson, Zhuanghui, Jie Ying, Andre, Tong Kai, Germaine, Shujun..., who provided glimpses of different aspects of my HC experience outside my class & my council.

Perhaps there is something unique about the way things are done in Hwa Chong, the banners in a particular pattern, the idea of city gates at the bridge, the songs & mass dances; that makes it at least possible to recreate such a setting. And that was marvellously done in London. Kudos to Andre, Jie Ying & their committee. Hwa Chong Night also showed me that Hwa Chong holds meaning to those outside Council & Huang Cheng as well.

Andre asked me to perform. I agreed. I attempted Candle in the Wind & Yao Yuan De Ta. Somehow, its easier to sing KTV. I felt everything was off, least because I already lost half my voice and was running a fever that night; mostly though, because I missed beats, forgot lyrics and basically invented the entire second half of Candle of The Wind on the spot. Despite all this, I was deemed entertaining still. I am never sure why my performances still manages to gain applause when I would have rather faced a cold reaction. I think its because I had enough in the audience who were friends, who for them, the joker singer on stage was not just someone else, but someone they knew. It's pretty much been the same all my life really. Its always comforting, but if noone in the audience knew me, how would it have turned out? I guess I would never know.

Videos of yesterday's Hwa Chong, the Hwa Chong of faces I knew & mass dances rounded up a memorable event, and in Bjorn's words, 'very very good'.

I had a dream that night. And when I woke up, I knew, what Hwa Chong meant to me, deepest.