Intercultural Conflict

Just last January, a week before all the madness in school started, my friends and I spent four days in Bali. As we made that decision a few days before the trip, we went there unprepared, with only the impression that Bali is a surfer's paradise. Honestly. when we arrived, we were all quite nervous about the surrounding and the people around us. However, we found ourselves getting used to the environment pretty quickly.

One of my friends commented that, as Singaporeans, we seemed to be able to get use to a foreign environment more quickly as we were exposed to many different cultures since young. Well, I agreed with her opinion to a certain extent. With the exposure to other culture, besides Chinese culture, we were taught to be more aware and tolerant of the differences that other culture had from our own.

Yet, there were still situations when we were unable to do so. I remembered an incident that happened when my family and I went to Beijing. During the whole vacation, my brother was very irritated with some Chinese's perception of personal space. Every now and then, someone will walk into his space and bump into him and looked as though nothing happened. Perhaps due to their highly populated city thus the high density of people everywhere, bumping into people every now and then is a daily affair for them. However, for most Singaporeans, we highly value our personal space and do not appreciate people invading it.

I was glad that even though my brother was highly annoyed by the numerous incidents when the Chinese bumped into him, he did not sound it out to them.

Application Letter #2

Gan LinHui
142 Bukit Batok St 11
#16-07
S650142

Application for the Events Manager Advertisement Posted on 2nd February 2010


Dear Sir/ Mdm,

I am writing to enquire about the advertisement for the Event Manager post which appeared on the JobsDB portal on 2 February 10. I had recently graduated from National University of Singapore (NUS) with a BSc Life Sciences with Specialisation in Biology.

I understand that my degree is not related to the field of management and marketing. However, over the years, I had been assigned various positions in my school clubs which helped me developed skills of planning events and people management and I enjoyed every part of the planning process and working in a team. Being the President of the NUS wakeboarding club, one of the challenges was to organise Introductory Courses and coordinate all aspects of the events. Due to the busy schedule of my members and that of the boat operators, last minute changes to the schedule of the Introductory Course were often unavoidable. This required me to work with the available options and come up with impromptu activities such that the Introductory Courses could run smoothly.
I personally feel that a passion for this job is important to do a perfect job. On top of that, emotional intelligence instead of just intelligence is essential for a job of this nature as ultimately it is a job which requires many interactions and co-operation between project team members. Hence, I hope that you would consider my application despite my qualifications.

Thank you



Gan LinHui

Application Letter #1

Gan LinHui
142 Bukit Batok St 11
#16-07
S650142


Dear Administrator,
I am writing to enquire about the advertisement for the Event Manager post which appeared on the JobsDB portal on 2 February 10. I have recently graduated from National University of Singapore (NUS) with a BSc Life Sciences with Specialisation in Biology.

I understand that my degree is not related to the field of management and marketing. However, over the years, I had been assigned various positions in my school clubs and society which helped me develop skills of planning events and people management. I enjoy every part of the planning process and working in a team.
I personally feel that a passion for this job is important to do a perfect job. On top of that, emotional intelligence instead of just intelligence is essential for a job of this nature so I hope that you would consider my application despite my qualification.

Thank you
LinHui