Day 08 - Singapore High Commission/ Poetry Workshop/ Victoria and Albert Museum
Saturday, 1 December 2012, 00:40
The morning greeted us with the most astonishing weather forecast, that is, the temperature had dropped to 2 degrees Celsius. Apprehensive to leave the warmth of our hotel, we took a deep breath and swiftly headed to the underground with the TDP group where we alighted at Knightsbridge. Before heading to our first stop, the Singapore High Commissions, we rested at a nearby church St. Paul’s Church. Some of us rested in the church while others were taking photos with the TDP group. 
When we reached the Singapore High Commissions (SHC), we reluctantly set foot into the building itself and initially thought that it would have been the most boring place that we would visit in London. As we settled down into the conference room, we were greeted by two friendly fellow Singaporeans, both who worked at the SHC. As they greeted us, I immediately felt the warmth of Singapore. The way they spoke and interacted with us was informal and their relaxed tone made us comfortable. The discussion revolved mainly on the diplomatic relations between Singapore and the UK. These include the economic position of Singapore and the UK as well as the main problems faced by the SHC when establishing and maintaining diplomatic relations. After the discussion, we proceed to have a small break where we had a chance to taste our own local delicacies such as the Nonya Kueh. It felt like a little taste of home when we ate the food. Overall, the visit was fruitful and felt like a short escape back to our very own hometown, Singapore.
We broke off for a short lunch break after leaving SHC. Since most of us were already full from the food at the SHC, most of us spent time looking at books in Blackwells or relaxing with a cup of coffee in Starbucks. After the break, we headed to our second destination of the day, a small studio for a writing workshop. Jacob Sam – La Rose, a renowned poet conducted a poetry workshop with us. We started off by listening to him recite some of his very own poems. It mesmerized us and we could feel a slight sense of inspiration from him as he recited his poem. The poem “Gravity” caught my personal attention and I was drawn to it. I could relate to it because the subject matter of basketball and how it felt to play a game was something I myself had experienced. Being able to listen to a poem recited by its original poet was an honour and we felt extremely privilege to have experienced that ourselves. His recitation ended with resounding applause after which we then began the lesson proper. Jacob first conducted an activity with us, where we had to use our five senses to describe an emotion which we chose. This taught us to express our emotions in an extended manner and also compelled us to exercise our originality when conveying these emotions. Next, we then had to describe the word sky without using twenty words which were commonly used to describe it. At first, this activity proved to be extremely difficult for most of us. However, after gathering our thoughts, original ideas began to flow and we were able to describe the meaning of sky to each other. The workshop ended with a mini autograph session with Jacob. Under the inspiration of his poems, most of us ended up purchasing his poetry collections and get them autographed. In conclusion, the workshop was useful and provided us a deeper insight to writing or interpreting a poem is all about.
Keeping track of the time, we quickly made our way to the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). Over there, we had the liberty to explore the museum on our own without being restricted by tour guides. As we set foot into the museum itself, we felt excited to see what V&A museum had in store for us. Even having seen countless other museums, we were not disappointed with the great variety of artworks in V&A museum. These ranged from classic painting styles to items in everyday life like clothes. One thing significant in the V&A museum was the different kind of fashionable clothes displayed in the South East Asia section. These fashions include the classic wear of olden times which were the long robes with plain colours as well as the modern clothes of traditional Cheong Sums. I was surprised that it featured artefacts from as recent as the 20th century, and the costumes were very recent. Other than fashion, the museum also had interesting items such as jewellery and sculptures of models with very unique poses. Seeing these sculptures sometimes put me off as I felt very awkward having to see naked sculptures. However, as I proceeded on, I began to appreciate the nakedness as the positions and expressions were more about form and not sexual. I realised how expressive these artworks were. In a nutshell, the V&A museum had an extremely fascinating collection and we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly during the visit. 
As the night fell we ended today’s activity with a hearty three course meal in the restaurant called Browns. Some had starters that ranged from chicken liver to soup to smoked salmon to mains like steak pie and fish cakes. For dessert, we were able to try out their mouth-watering signature crème Brulee dessert. After eating dinner, we made our way back to Travelodge and had an early night.
Written by Caleb Chong 12S22 (Group C)
