I am not going to continue with formalities because we all know I do that simply because I'm usually to awkward to start whatever I'm about to write at the beginning. And, also because I have to gather my thoughts. HAHAHA.

Over the past month, I took a 2-week CIP/YEP trip to Philippines alongside friends from my NTU Hall 12 with the attempt to assist in the building of a community centre for the locals in Antipangol, San Carlos City, Pangasinan. I've always wanted to try my hand at an overseas CIP project, having heard from friends who raved about the life-changing experience they had with theirs. To say that mine was life-changing, would have been a complete understatement.

As I struggled over departing for a land with no wifi, minimal sanitary comfort, and alongside a team I'm comfortable with but not extremely tight with - I was afraid. I boarded the plane reluctantly, donning on a smile one could definitely recognised as "forced". But I kept my cheeriness through the plane ride, and told everyone I was excited. Inside, I was terrified beyond description.

I wouldn't chronicle my 14-day trip here - for that'd be easier just uploading a screen cap of my itinerary that often went astray from planned. But, I can't complain for they were the best detours I've had the opportunity of taking during my trip.

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While I've often shunned at the sight of Filipino maids and cracked jokes at Lucky Plaza, I only realised how short-sighted I was as I spent 14 days with the warm company of local Filipinos who gave nothing but their everything to make sure I found a home away from home in the foreign land of smiles.

Getting away from the hustle and bustle of the city truly helped me grow - and appreciate the simpler things of life; That was indeed what I shared during my closing speech in representing my team. When I stood up there, hands held tight with my fellow team, and shared my speech - I felt nothing but genuine happiness and relief in the comforts of the people I had already spend 12 days with, by then. I had found solace in the little things we did each day, and the jokes we cracked at/with one another.

Learning to shower with pumped water and pails isn't the easiest, but neither is sleeping with baby cockroaches running around the toughest. And while I often begged to not be allocated to construction because cement is heavy and the frogs at the site were horrendously creepy, I found the toughest part of the trip finding myself with the land, the people, and the team. I have to admit, that while externally I fit in almost completely and well, internally I was struggling to fit in. I had worries over how I was going to handle each day - watching my team fit right in almost immediately.

Maybe the insecurities got to me, or maybe my spoilt ways simply wouldn't go away. However, I found that it took me almost one entire week to find myself feeling comfortable in the place. 

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They didn't have a lot - the locals. When we wanted to get groceries, we ride the already-run-down motorbike out to the roadside stall that kindly opens for us to get what we need. We fetch water to do dishes, and it's never 100% clean because it takes too much water to get there. Sometimes, you have to wait for clean drinking water even though you're thirsty. You can't avoid the bugs, or shut them out with air con - you simply have to make do.

At night, we played games. We sang songs, and did silly dances.

On the night before closing, we spent the entire night cramming for the performance we were told to put up. Simply put, I put up a performance in one night. I still don't know how it happened, but I'm ever thankful to my Nanhua ways and days for giving me the confidence and skills in achieving a performance that looks well-thought out, but was completely impromptu in my head as I taught my team. As we put up the performance on closing - the locals did nothing but cheer us on with their heartfelt claps and cheers. I had never had to improv a solo for a performance before - and their raving reviews after the performance ended were so genuine I'd cry if I wasn't so happy.

Even with blackouts, we made do. With heat, we made do. With lack of wifi, we made do. With foreign cuisine, we made so. We made do with whatever we were given for the 14 days. They make do with these, for their entire lives.

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There isn't a day since I departed Philippines that I do not miss my life there, or the people, or my team. There hasn't been a day I dreaded my society's way of life - however successful we may appear on the international index carefully curated by global powers.

The beauty in life, is not in the value of my VS perfume or my $200 hair. In that place, we opted for a deodorant over perfume. The beauty in life, lies in the basketball match we had at 8am simply because we all found one another at the court - not the nights we busted our data/wifi trying to get the latest "The Voice" video working. The beauty in life, is watching sunshine run across the fields and catching sunsets over the hills. The beauty in life, is giving all you can even though you don't have much. The beauty in life, is finding a reason to smile everyday regardless of the predicament you're in.

It took me 2 weeks to unlearn the horrendous ways of my fast-paced society and develop a new outlook on the happiness we always achieve to find. It's going to take me an entire lifetime to forget this experience. I've fallen in love, and I can't quite fall out of it yet.

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Kudos to #TeamSigeiSigei