E and C Week

"Experiencing another's culture may open doors that were previously closed ... but the choice to walk through those doors is entirely up to you."

Before E and C week even started, I thought that it was just another few learning journeys to Little India, Kampong Glam and getting to know more about other cultures. I never really anticipated it. However, the first lesson impacted me throughout the entire journey.

My first lesson was on Batik. When we had the briefing on Thursday, I got the information that I would be having Batik lesson on the following Monday of the E and C week. I was absolutely clueless as to what Batik was but I did not bother to even search it up online. I thought it would just be another boring lesson.
As I listened to the instructor introducing the Batik, I thought it would be very easy to paint out a beautiful design. However, it was not the case. I had a lot of trouble trying to wax the cloth as the hot boiling wax kept on dripping onto the cloth when it was not even part of what I wanted the design to be. At that moment, the instructor said, "Don't be restricted to what you originally planned, just let the wax drip. It will all eventually become a wonderful batik."
His words left a great impact on me. I should not be so restricted to what I already know about other cultures and be complacent with myself. By gaining more new knowledge, I can eventually realise that every culture has its own beauty that other cannot mimic. Although they might not be what I had expected, but it cannot be denied they have their own tastes, origins, history and many more. Every cultures are different from each other.
My attitude towards this entire E and C week activities changed radically. I put in all my efforts in the Batik that I was doing at that time. Looking at my completed work, I still have a great sense of accomplishment till today. My Batik was even chosen as one of the few to be shown to both classes!

My Batik Painting

The attitude that had changed did affect my learning journeys for the next few days. I became more humble towards other cultures and took up courage to interact with the shop owners to get more information on the various aspects of their cultures that we were not sure of. One of the interesting fact that I got from one of the shop owners in Little India was that widows would wear black bangles! Another time when we were at Kampong Glam, a lady shop owner even told us to go away and said that the clothings were not meant for us children. Although I felt a bit dejected, but it did not prevent me from approaching other shop owners.
It is because of the change in my attitude that I got to know much more of the other cultures which I otherwise would not have known if I had maintained my original mindset that others do not matter.

One thing that I feel can be improved about the programme is that we should have more time for each learning journeys. I often find myself being unabme to interacted more with the shop owners and I did not have time to look at all the shops thoroughly in detail. When I was at Little India, my group was so engrossed in examining the clothing stores and talking to one of the shop owners that we did not have time to look at the food stalls on the first floor. We regretted it when we prepared to go to the food stalls but found out that time was already up.
I feel that the time given to us for each place that we went to was not enough for us to know about the other cultures in depth. I believed that if more time was allocated to us, We could have gained much more knowledge about the other cultures. I am definitely willing to spend more time at the various locations, conversing with the people there. Thus, I feel that the programme for each other should be longer.

I believe that the main objective of the E and C week is for us to take our own initiatives to widen our horizon and perspectives towards the various cultures. The teachers are not there to spoonfeed us with the information we need to know. The internet are not able to give us the perspectives and mindsets of the many individuals belonging to the different cultures. We have to be proactive and and step out of our comfort zone to interact with strangers and gain more useful knowledge that can be put to use as we go on in our lives.
Seeing one of my classmates, Chelsea, being so sociable and out-going, always willing to converse with the strangers, motivated me to do the same as well. I believe most of us have achieved the main objective of this E and C week as we are "forced"(in a way) to answer the booklet that was given to us. By interacting with the strangers, I have also gained new knowledge and cleared misunderstandings I had towards the people of the cultures. If I had treated the Malays, or the Indians with the thinking J had before, I would definitely offend them. Thus, I was very relieved to have attended this E and C week's programmes.

All in all, I might have opened new doors and gained new knowledge about other cultures, but I believe that those are just a tiny peak of the iceberg. I would definitely want to walk through those doors, understand more about the other cultures in depth, embrace them all, and open other closed doors in the future.