Janice

I have torn myself away from the crap reading my lecturer gave us to read. They actually have discourses and theories about "What is Literature?" It's crap.

I actually enjoyed Biology more than this What is Literature crap.

Anyway, CHILL EUNICE, CHILL!

And DENISE LIM, you're doubting baby like mama doubts us. Don't be annoying.

The fact is that all three of us have been left alone most of our lives, had to learn how to do certain things by ourselves, have to learn about certain stuff by ourselves.

No one taught me how to cook, or how to book an air ticket online, or how to post a letter.

At my present age, these things are laughingly simplistic in nature, but as I look back and comtemplate my past, these things would have been intimidating to a child.

While I may not have always been the most independent of people, I have always been able to root out the information I need to make certain decisions or to accomplish something.

In the same way, being taken out of my comfort zone and placed in a country where I know no one, it comes as second nature to find a way to get along.

I look at the people who are in the same class as I am, and I thank god that my parents left me to fend for myself. These people sit around and talk about how they don't know how they're going to survive here. Their parents came down with them, and when they left, they are arrested with fear, and cling on to each other, in the knowing comfort of being "alone" together.

They don't realise that if they let go and start venturing out by themselves, they'll feel a sense of liberation, because they would not have to rely on anyone else to get around anymore.

In any case, I think one factor that Denise, Eunice and I share is that while our parents have never left us wanting for anything, they have left us pretty much alone to fend for ourselves. This then leads to us having a sense of independence where we feel like we can accomplish anything we want to.

And we all insist on doing things ourselves, because we feel like only we can do it right. Like booking air tickets, or renting an apartment, going to india to build a school, or impulsively going to Perth to study alone.

Don't tell me you don't feel that way sisters. We are LAZY people, but independent. As in we don't depend on other people to fix things for us.

If our parents had deliberately left us to fend ourselves, I would call it genius. But I know that what happened with us was just a matter of typical chinese mentality. I don't like it, but hey, I'm happy it happened.

If they had taken a firmer hand with us, we wouldn't call ourselves Denise, Janice and Eunice. We'll be called Sihui, Siying and Simin.