One civilisation at a time

I have learnt much about the Egyptians, the Chinese, the Jews, and this time round, the Arabs in the West. My first visit in Morocco was to explore the desert and hence, I had not learnt much about the Medina. Maybe I did but my short-term memory when it comes to events made this visit to Fes, one of the most preserved Medina in the world, one that fed me so much information. I have a better understanding of the Arab or Moslem way of life and their accession to power.

The meaning of 'Medina' according to our tour guide is "independent city". I liked how he started off with the tour by saying that the Medina reflects civilisation, whereas in the world we live today, modernity speaks for everything. In ancient times, perhaps due to attacks by nomadic tribes or lack of proper sewage systems, electricity cables, etc., people live within enclosed walls. In the Medina, all buildings should take the colour of earth i.e. brown or beige. All houses in the Medina have no windows, paintings and decoration because these features reflect a person's wealth and there should be no display of richness or wealth inside the Medina. All houses look the same in the exterior, except for public buildings and palaces for the governors or Kings. Inside the Medina, you will be able to find 3 types of houses, the most basic one is a house with patio (courtyard), followed by one with a garden (riad) and lastly a casa i.e. or a palace. A casa is characterised by a big door, a balcony and likely to have windows with holes on the second floor. In Summer, the families live on the ground floor because it is cooler but in winter, it will be too cold so they sleep one floor above instead. When someone knocks, they can look through the holes in the window to identify the guest. The purpose of the patio is to allow light to shine in so that even without candles or light bulbs, the house can be lit. As these information were fed through my brain, I was processing and trying to imagine the way of life in the olden times. No light bulbs or electricity and sunlight is the only way to light up the house in the day without burning candles.

See the wooden barrel-like image on the top left corner. There are tiny holes, for the host to look through to see who their guest is.

The Medina is also divided into different neighbourhoods and connected by a door. When the sun sets, the doors are closed. The residential area is separated from the commercial ones and each trade is concentrated in a particular area inside the Medina i.e. external economies of scale in action. Whenever I used to tell my students about technological advancement, we relate to transportation tools like ships, airplanes, and cars, and also internet but at this very moment, I realised that I have neglected a small yet extremely significant invention i.e. light bulbs. Without light, there would be no way to power our homes at night and enable us to fly all day and night to all corners of the world.

One other thing that the tour guide mentioned and left a deep impression on me is how recycling was actually done in the Medina, way before any marketing campaigns were being done in the developed world. Rotten vegetables were used as animal feed for horses, donkeys and mules, sawdust were used to warm the water for the public baths, hammam, olive fig and pigeon droppings were in leather tanneries, bones from slaughtered cows and camels were used to make doors or decorative items and skin to make leather. It is with modernisation and scientific revolution that brought about plastics, glass, etc that needed to be recycled. It has its pros and cons because it has enabled us to live in better comfort, convenience, and efficiently.

In addition, there used to be public bakeries where families will bring their dough to and have them baked. Households were discouraged from setting up their own fires to cook lest they burn down the house. Wood is often used to reinforce the mud and stone walls of the Medina to prevent earthquakes so they are vulnerable to fires. When I came back to the UK, my classmate cooked a type of traditional food in his country and told me that it takes approximately 2 hours to prepare it. There are many other dishes that take an even longer time to prepare. At the back of my mind, a city girl like me will never waste so much of my time on cooking. It is not about whether I enjoy cooking or not, but more of me seeing it as an inefficient allocation of my time. LOL. I will come to this topic in the future. However, in the past, people hardly have any leisure activities, needless to say time-consuming ones like social media (Facebook, instagram, etc. are way too addictive) and hence cooking was a way to socialise and they did not mind spending long hours preparing their food.

The tour guide also shared with us about his perspectives on the rich-poor gap and social mobility. He felt that in the Medina, social mobility is easily accomplished. A young man who has just gotten married will build a house with a patio and as his income increases, he is able to buy a bigger house and provide a better life for his family. Narrow streets inside the Medina often meant that the house plying these streets are huge ones. However, since the exterior looks plain, there was no comparison and less likely to evoke jealousy among the poor. I agree to a large extent on this but depending on the personality of the individual that is in the less advantaged position, the outcomes might turn out very differently. When you see your friends sharing their new car or house or new holiday destinations, you might be jealous or filled with envy at the very first instance. Next, should you see this as a form of motivation to work hard so that you can realise your dreams as well OR should you let your jealousy take control and you continue to dwell in your own misery of not having rich parents or a well-paid job that can finance your material wants or you engage in crimes and decide to rob your friend or some other rich guy. Ultimately, you always make the choice and your choices shape your future. Your destiny lies in your own hands after all.

Where you see narrow streets, you expect huge houses. We had to walk through extremely narrow streets to get to the riad that we were staying in. It is an amazing riad, beautiful and comfortable. However, the journey there was less so. It did not help that we arrived late at night and the streets were quite dark. I feared for my life honestly.

Buildings in the Medina can have two doors or one door. A house with a 2 doors have a smaller door within a larger one. If they are both open, it means that it is open to the public. With the smaller door, a guest needs to bow before he can enter a house, which is a way of showing respect to the host.

Likewise, in the entrance to all religious places such as mosques, mausoleums, etc. there is a bar seen in the picture below. This means "no entry to animals" and we also need to lower our heads before we can enter, a mark of respect.

No cars or any modern inventions is allowed in the Medina, not even bicycles I think so the way to transport items is via animals. I learnt an interesting thing about mule. They are the hybrid of a horse and a donkey. The body of a female horse (She-horse) but the head of a male donkey (small brain?). So are they dumb? They cannot reproduce among themselves. :(

Decorative items made using animal bones.

The leather tanneries. Unfortunately, the place is closed for renovation until next month and we are not able to see and smell for ourselves the process of leather making. Summarised steps of making leather from hide: Wash and clean skin from slaughter house --> soak in water for 25 days to cleanse it --> Use limestone to scrub the skin so that the wool on the skin will peel off --> wash and put it into pigeon poop to soften the leather --> scrub away fats left on skin and then dry --> soak in dye. The entire process takes 5-6 weeks so this explains why hand-made leather is so expensive because it involves too much work. I am a little torn between hand-made and manufactured goods. The tour guide was very dismissive about mass production brought about by the industrial revolution. He feels that they are of lousy quality and lacks uniqueness. I think it depends on your personality. I have had this discussion with my dad before as well. In the older days, you want to buy a high quality product and use it for years until it has fully depreciated. However, these days, it is about BUY and THROW AWAY. We no longer covet high quality goods that can enable us to use it for a lifetime. Instead, we are constantly looking to change our clothes, shoes, etc. so we would rather buy something that is cheap but will not last as long. It does not matter because we would want to buy something new eventually after a few years. I guess the term "generation gap" sums it all. Yes, this is Western consumerism whereby we are always wanting to BUY and CONSUME. There are pros and cons. It helps to drive the economy but then it may deplete resources available for the future. So, what then? I find that as I age, I increasingly lose the thirst to want to buy new gadgets or items unless they have decided to retire. Perhaps it comes with age. I would rather save the money to travel and see the world.

I must say that one of my biggest takeaways from this trip is my new-found understanding of Islam as a religion. Coming from Singapore, we learnt from young that we have to respect the different religions around the world, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, etc. I grew up in a Taoist family whereby my grandmother is superstitious and attributes everything to the hand of the gods she worship. When others criticise her religion, she gets defensive and says that they do not know anything. I kind of disdain this whole finger-pointing and criticisms because I do not see how these superstitions and beliefs have in any way brought about a better life for her family i.e. my mom and her siblings. However, I fully respect that she has the right to practise her faith but I reserve my right to choose a religion.

The symbol of Islam is the 8-pointed star to represent the 8 gates of heaven in Islam. This image below has a very special explanation according to the tour guide:

The centre yellow shape represents Mecca, and the dark triangles surrounding it represent the worshippers. The black cylindrical shaped-like image with a pointed edge points toward the path to centre. The white lines represent the different paths of life that Men take and they are intertwined to represent the various ups and downs of life. The 5-pointed stars surrounding it represent the 5 pillars of Islam. The choice of colours can also be explained. Black and white represents contrast and I guess life - right or wrong, true and false, etc. Blue is the colour of the city, Fes, and green is the colour of Islam. The use of yellow is to portray tranquility and calm in our lives. The calligraphy above are verses from the Koran. The guide did explain how they are being carved but I did not quite understand it. Since I was travelling in South of Spain prior to going to Morocco and the region has a lot of Islamic influence, I saw many of such patterns and designs in the buildings but I did not understand its significance. With Fes as the last stop, I finally found the last piece of the puzzle.

Of course, I do not know how much of what the guide said is true. It is all up to our own interpretation but it is always good to have a new perspective to add on to my wealth of knowledge.

This star also has a very unique interpretation. They are made of square blocks and cylindrical ones. The squares represent women and they are meant to be static and provide stability. The cylinders are mobile, you can turn them which signify that men should be mobile and go out to work and bring bread home.

See the windows just beneath the arc. They are special windows, I cannot remember the name of it, whereby women inside the house can see out but others cannot look into nor see them.

Fes has one of the first universities in the world which is now converted into a mosque and religious schools. According to the guide, only the brightest students who are interested in religious studies can study here. They need to be well-versed in the Koran and also one other book (cannot remember the name). One interesting thing is that when you look in the direction of the arches, you are actually facing Mecca.

And I also learnt much about their disdain for the left. I used to wonder why my Malay friends always eat using their right hands even though some of them write with their left. In their culture or religion, they believe that left is evil and right is good. One should always eat with their right hand and not their left because when they do, they are sharing their food with the demon or Saturn. One should always walk on the left so that if they pass someone who they know, they can shake their hands using their right hands. Soldiers draw their swords which are placed on the left side of their body to kill their passing enemies. I vividly remember someone telling me that in ancient times, you should not be a left-handed because you might get killed. I think one left-handed man was Galileo Gallili which is why the church dismissed his findings about the Sun being the centre of the universe and not the Earth and they wanted him killed.

The guide also told us a joke about the left-handed boy whom Saturn got fed up with. Mothers usually teach their kids to eat with their right hand because if they do it with their left hands, it means that Saturn is eating with them and taking away their food. However, this is one poor boy who eats only olive and bread and always eats with his left hand. So one day, he saw Saturn's image in the bowl telling him that "Please listen to your mother. I am sick of eating your poor food, olives and bread."

With that, I have finished writing about my adventures in Fes, Morocco and I find it an especially meaningful trip because I have learnt so much more about another civilisation. This image overlooks the city of Fes and taking it at dusk makes it even more beautiful! Apparently Morocco is a word that means leather (perhaps in Latin or English) and Morocco got its name because of its fame in the leather industry. Although I find my tour guide a little extremist in his views, I was actually interested to listen to his views. It is through interactions like these that you stumble upon people with such diverse and extremist opinions and then you learnt about the world. You will never experience this if you bury yourself in books because they have no emotions and they are always moderated to reflect a more neutral standpoint. I do not subscribe to my tour guide's beliefs but I appreciate his candid sharing because it has helped me to understand the world and what is happening around it.



Life is a continuous process of discovery. I have learnt so much about the Balkans from my Balkan classmates and I would love to visit the region soon. Another civilisation that I am waiting to explore is the Inca in Machu Picchu. After that, it will be Russia and now, a new one on my list - Central Asia. Uzbekistan is my next exotic destination after hearing so much from my Uzbek classmate! I just cannot stop travelling but I only have limited time!!!


The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page. ~Augustine of Hippo

Solitude Vs Loneliness

I looked up the meaning of this word, 'solitude' because I remember coming across it somewhere and it explained perfectly the way I felt towards myself, since time immemorial. I have been away from home for close to 3 weeks and I embarked on this journey hoping to meet new people, gain new experiences and prepare for the next stage of life. However, in the last 20 days or so, I am amazed by how warm the people in my course are thus far and they want to spend time together every night (not everyone in the class but several of them). It was either partying, drinking, going to the park, grocery shopping, house parties or move nights, etc. I like all these programmes that they have been planning thus far but I find myself valuing my few hours of solitude and freedom more at times. Hence, I either left early on a few occasions or totally skipped those gatherings. I love the company of these people, since I am someone who enjoys being around people. Nevertheless, I am losing my own 'ME' time and the freedom to do I want to do. My perspective is such that we have an entire year to hang out, build bonds and spend time with each other. We seriously do not need to be in each other's company ALL the time, right?

Back in the teenage years, I was so concerned about whether I would be left out or not if I skipped a party or two or leave early and be labelled as a loser. However, these days, I would be happy to skip one or two parties so that I can have time for myself. I enjoy spending time with myself. I am also very sure of what I want to do and how I view myself and could not care more about others' opinions of me if I decide to leave early. I must say a simple conversation with one of the guys ignited this behaviour. We were discussing about society, organizations, norms, and how people lose the free will to do whatever that they want because they were afraid of being judged by others i.e. society, friends, etc. So I was reminded that I am who I am and I am here with certain objectives and I should not have to feel compelled to accompany who and who just because I need to conform to social norms. If it was 10 years ago, I definitely would not have the courage to do this and end up being called 'anti-social'.

I must say that I have matured more than that I had imagined myself to be though I still look young (haha since all my classmates say that I could easily pass off as a 21 year old). In the past, I would feel that I am a loner if I were to be going to the supermarket on my own or sitting in the bus on my own, etc. These days, I am looking for opportunities to go to the supermarket on my own because sometimes I want to be able to buy the things that I want, without being judged or questioned about my decision. I have grown more decisive than I had imagined. So I cannot comprehend one of my friends as to why she has to ask for opinion for every decision, "Should I take a scarf?", "Should I wear this?", "Which pasta should I buy?" etc. She is really cool and I really feel comfortable being friends with her. However, sometimes I would like to remind her that she is old enough and should be independent enough to make her own decisions.

I would also like to narrate an incident while we went on a school trip. As with every bus journey, you sit in pairs and I was expecting this friend of mine who hangs out with me all the time to be sitting with me. So I decided not to bring a book along. I was very shocked when she boarded the bus and decided to sit with another girl, whom she hardly hangs out with, only occasionally. She did not even show any concern as to who will I sit with or would I be okay to be sitting alone? Maybe she assumed that I would sit with this other girl, who sticks to me like super glue. At the end of the day, the reason did not matter to me and although I was puzzled for 10 minutes, I was able to let it go more quickly than I thought. If it was 10 years ago, I would have felt betrayed and disappointed with her actions but this time round, I took merely 10 minutes to try to find an excuse for her, that's it. I looked at the guys and they were all sitting by themselves. Although they had their own clique of friends, it did not matter who was talking to who, who was sitting with who and if they did things together like a band of brothers. That's right, girls should behave in the same way too. Next, I realise that I would have enjoyed the ride more if I was sitting by myself. I had more space, could sleep and not try to stay in conversation while I was freaking tired. If she had sat with me, I would have been thinking, "how do i tell her that i want to sit by myself instead?" Maybe others would judge me and say that I am a loner but honestly I do not care. I would rather sit by myself and enjoy that hour of solitude, listen to music, enjoy the scenery and take a power nap.

Enjoying your own solitude can be a double-edged sword though. You may end up closing up yourself, because you start to find certain conversations meaningless and would rather spend your time doing the things that you like to do. As you go out less, you find going out less meaningful. Sometimes when I am in a situation with someone whom I do not feel comfortable with or that I seem to not have any common topics to talk to the person about, I would rather keep quiet and not strike some idiotic conversation. If we happen to be talking or if he or she takes the initiative to talk to me, I would listen patiently and engage in an conversation. However, if I find myself or feel that the opposite party is trying too hard to keep the conversation going, I would then walk away politely when the conversation comes to an appropriate break. My rule of thumb is always, "Do not judge and give others a chance. Try to listen but if all else fails, then don't try too hard."

There is a classmate of mine who gives me this feeling that he doesn't really like me. He has never asked me a question in the last 3 weeks until this morning. So I never talk to him. If it was in the past, I would probably try to ask him some questions and engage him but these days, I just cannot be bothered. If someone gives me the feeling that he doesn't like me (for whatever reason I do not know and it does not matter since there are bound to be some people who like you and dislike you), then I would rather stay away from him or her. Why try so hard? However, it might still be too early to judge. Maybe he is just shy to talk to me or I appear too unapproachable.

All in all, what I am trying to say here is that I do not feel lonely when I am alone. In fact, I treasure these few hours of solitude that I have every now and then so that I can read books, earn some extra income with tuition (haha) or do research on my travel plans. However, I am not at the end of being 'anti-social' because I enjoy meeting new people and interacting with them.

Learning in a foreign environment

It has been almost 2 weeks since I left home. I started off the first week with a Mathematics for Economists class and thought if this is mostly what I was gonna learn while on this Master's course, then perhaps I have not signed up for the right one. I want to learn something more than what I have already did in my undergraduate studies. A lot of the material covered is a recapitulation of what I already know. Fortunately, in the 2nd half of the week, I attended Microeconomics classes and goodness, what I have to learn is so much theory and not at all related to what I have already learnt in my Bachelor's. This set me thinking. I had expected a course that was more mathematical-based but it seems like the module is set on a more theoretical course. The exam is writing based, nothing near the numerous calculations that we have to do in our Microeconomics examinations from level 1000 - 4000 in NUS.

I was expecting myself to have sufficient 'ME' time to do the things that I want, such as to work, to read Economics on my own, to continue my Skype tuition business, play a lot of sports e.g. tennis or badminton. However, it seems like things are not going to be what I expect. New challenges in life, I am happy. :)

Stepping out of my comfort zone

7 years ago, I embarked on my student exchange to Sweden and had one of the most memorable journeys in my life. A week ago, I decided to pursue my Master's overseas and lugged my bags with me to the UK once again. So much has changed in the last 7 years and I have once again met people from different backgrounds.

I had 35kg of my daily life with me this time round, pretty much the same as 7 years ago but I definitely brought with me more comfort. I went shopping after settling down in my new place and find myself going around buying a lot of things that I was so used to using them when in Singapore. Compared to 7 years ago, I live simply. I guess that's the difference when you have enjoyed material comfort and have the purchasing power to afford comfort. When I visit the supermarket, I will not scrimp and save but keep a lookout of things that I enjoy eating, seafood, salmon, what not. Back then, my fridge was filled with sausages, crabsticks and cheap processed food that were cheap by a student's standards but pathetic by my standards these days. LOL.

In addition, I have a young girl from Kazakhstan as my neighbour and she is like a reminder of my younger self. She told me this is the first time that she is living abroad on her own, in fact also the first time she left home. She is very homesick and she does not know her way around Europe. She can speak English but really basic conversational level and she finds it hard to communicate with others. Cultural differences meant that many of the other European students or more Americanised students from the Middle East, Eastern Europe and even South America have communication barriers with her. She does not know how to cook and I think she does not want to spend too much on her daily life so that she can use the excess for travelling. I was once in her shoes many years ago but I was definitely better off. At least I had Kim and Monica who came from the same country as me as company.

However, I guess she is in company that is more open compared to my times in Stockholm. Perhaps it is because of age, back then when I was in Stockholm, the majority of my neighbours were enrolled in the CEMS programme and honestly it was quite difficult to break into their social circle. They were much older than us and I feel that they had higher social status - be it wealth, family background, etc. compared to the friends that I have made thus far. Most of them are from Western Europe - Holland, France, Germany, Spain, etc. and they are very 'atas'. However this time round, we are all studying in the same Master's course, around the same age and also people come from more humble backgrounds or countries - Czech Rep, Brazil, Albania, Central Asia, Bulgaria, Belgium, etc. They look beyond skin colour and race and make friends with everyone. That to me, is definitely more important than anything else.

I myself was also quite shocked with my own experiences. I came here, expecting to be independent, cook my own meals and buy my own food but because we all came from different countries and had nothing with us, everyone was willing to chip in and share to buy some food. However, we have not started cooking together, perhaps because we weren't big enough a group, compared to the times when I was in Stockholm. Nevertheless, I look forward to the different parties that we can organise - Middle Eastern, Brazilian, Czech, Bulgarian, etc. as we spend time together for the next 1 year.

There are things that I like about my times in Stockholm and others that I felt was missing from my experiences but I think that my mindset is the most important in shaping my experiences. That is what I constantly share with this young and innocent neighbour of mine. She will have a good time in the next 1 year I believe and bring home with her memories that will stay on for a lifetime! :)