From the Essay to the East Asia Evening

It’s been a frenetic past couple of days. On Friday, I submitted my essay for the Globalization and Global Governance course – a piece of work that constitutes 50 percent of the grade for this module. The question I picked focused on International Organizations and the degree of autonomy they have within the current international political system, which is still dominated by nation-states. This is, naturally, an exceptionally sexy topic, invigourating, exhilarating, and one which has kept me up for many late nights this past week…

But the past days have also seen the run-up to the grand East Asia Night 2007, which I mentioned in an earlier posting. It’s being organized by a core group of Singaporeans and Malaysians in the hall, with very helpful contributions from representatives from Hong Kong, Japan and a couple of other places. We marketed our event to members of the Goodenough College and their guests. Surpassing our expectations, we managed to sell all our tickets well ahead of time. So it’s going to be full house on Saturday evening.

We spent much Thursday night going through our plans in great detail and then much of last night and even early this morning setting up the Great Hall, getting it ready for the big event tonight. It was a curious exercise, with shades of déjà vu. I mean, surely only Singaporeans of a certain ilk would obsess over an “admin programme”? But at least this was over bak kwa and wine in my room – a much nicer setting than back in the office.

There were many issues go discuss – the decorations, the food, the welcoming souvenirs, the photography and sound, the pre-event entertainment, the lucky draw prizes, the manpower allocation, and so forth. Ghosts of previous events such as Dinner and Dances started to swirl around the room. But Singaporeans have the requite anality to surmount any difficulty.

So, we gathered on Friday evening to begin our preparations in the Great Hall. It was back-breaking hard work shifting the ancient wooden furniture around, and decorating the place. But when all was done, I think we managed to acquit ourselves pretty well. The setting looks rather festive now, bedecked in bright red. I think the ladies who conceptualized the decorative scheme, and who then spent hours on end producing the materials, should certainly be applauded. I would never have had the creativity to come up with those ideas. All I could lend was some muscle in fixing things up.

As I write this, the set up is nearly done. But of course this is still the easy part. This is the calm before the storm. In a few hours time, our guests – including the Director of the College – will start streaming in, expecting a night of jollity and fun. Will it be a success? Will there be any snafus? Will everyone have a good time? And – most importantly – will the food run out???

Stay tuned.