APAC

Wow, the last two weeks have been crazy. We've been preparing & then executing Asia Pacific (APAC) Regional Day, and I probably bit off way more than I could chew. I was leading the show, dancing in 2 acts, leading a workshop & trying to figure out my feelings about my culture & Singapore. It was a crazy, uniquely Pearson (or UWC?) thing to have a moment where you begin to seriously question your culture in relation to identity. The word identity is sprung upon us so often - in everyday conversation or as part of more formal discussions; and it's importance is hard to ignore at a school where the students come from such disparate areas of the world. What can hold us together? What impels to come together here? How do we share in common things? I feel the answer to all of these questions lie in our identities. The word identity even fascinates me; it's a marker, an identifier of yourself. Is it a presentation to the rest of the world? Or is it merely a way for yourself to get to understand your mind and beliefs better?

Regional Days increased this tension in me tenfold, I spent a while very concerned that I felt that I couldn't bring something wholly originally Singaporean to perform at the show. I think this traces back to how big performing and creativity have been as part of my life - I feel that I express myself best through performance; and here I was unable to come up with something Singapore specific to show. The internal conflicts of being born in an immigrant nation appeared to me for the very first time that I can remember. I felt like my culture was nothing, that it was just borrowed elements from other places (which were also doing their own dances/songs). In the end, I decided to try and express my feelings of my culture in a spoken word piece, and sing a bit of my favorite song from Singapore, 'Home' by Dick Lee. For some strange reason, the lyrics connect me to Singapore in a way that nothing else really can. Perhaps it brings up swells of nostalgia of home, of national days, of patriotism, of school, of red & white?

Pearson Life has really only amped up - I cannot believe it's been half the term already. This weekend I embark on a crazy adventure - CAS week, where students all go off campus to explore their CAS activities to a further depth. I'll be sailing on the Amatuana sailboat for a week with 5 other students - and I'm very nervous and a little excited to plunge into this adventure - I guess, it is onwards with life here at Pearson.

I hope you all find yourself in similar positions of joy and wonder.

Love,
Theo