No offence taken, Ytsejam. Those are good points that you have
raised.
Vis-à-vis your first point, my phrasing was too loose - mea culpa.
What I really should have written was "What's the point of going
and living in another country if you're going to stick exclusively
with your own culture?". I was referring to students, say from XYZ,
who only joined the XYZ student's club, associated only with
students from XYZ and packed up and went home with only the barest
interaction of the local culture. I disagree with your assertion
that assimilating into the local culture is something that
international students have to do - the students I described above
have done an excellent job of asserting their right not to do so.
Especially in a rapidly globalising environment, I think that
giving up such an opportunity to expand one's cultural scope is a
shame.
As for the second part of your first point, you assume that there
was something to change from. From what you have written, it
appears that you are reasonably comfortable with being Singaporean,
or at least you are not uncomfortable with it. That is where we
differ.
I acknowledge that there are some handy skills that I developed
during my years in Singapore - rote learning helped me develop my
memory capacity, and this has come in handy, and the work style
that I developed during national service has held me in good stead.
However, since well before I went to Australia, I had already known
that I did not identify with Singapore culturally. Since the
beginning of secondary school, there were many cultural factors
that I disagreed with, and despite it making me a loose cannon on
deck, I have stayed true to myself and not regretted it.
I can see how you misinterpreted my comment about the back shed.
That was simply a tongue-in-cheek response to Lingo's observation
that I fit into the Aussie culture.
Do I see myself as an Aussie? No - nationality forms no part of my
identity. I see myself as an individual, to some extent influenced
by my work and the company I keep, but mostly defined by my
personal philosophy. In fact, this is one thing that seems to make
me un-Singaporean - what others call patriotism, I see as jingoism.
I don't presume to impose my views on those who think it is
patriotism, and I appreciate the courtesy being returned. Oddly
enough, this approach seems to sit well with the Aussies that I
know - they are individuals above all.
As for your second point, I agree that it is an unfair and sweeping
statement - I offer my unmitigated apology.
Just for the record, my parents had enough funds to support my
living costs a number of times over. I simply chose to make my own
way through that to remind myself of the astronomical value of the
school fees that my parents were paying. This approach served me
well from the beginning of my undergraduate years to the end of my
doctorate. If opinion is anything to go by, the president of the
Singaporean students club once remarked that I was held as the
benchmark of singlemindedness by most of the Asian students there
at the time.