- See more at: http://blogtimenow.com/blogging/automatically-redirect-blogger-blog-another-blog-website/#sthash.vFPYnxsz.dpuf T.H.E.seniors(shifted - dont post here): December 2012

Friday, December 28, 2012

Merry belated xmas and happy new year in advance to all fellow volunteers and friends, young and old! sorry for the belated blog post but i finally rmbred to post hahaha. paiseh. 

On 22nd December, we did a 冬至special! every team was given some "dough" (i dunno what to call that) and pandan leaves, ginger slices, rock sugar and were gonna make tangyuan!!! 

i teamed up w jack, april, ann and yinmin and went first to mdm chow moi's. it was not my first time at her place and as usual, she greeted us with huge smiles. in fact, we met her at the lift lobby downstairs where she were carrying a bag of stuff and rice up. it was quite incredible and so i guess its true that she has great strength! being able to carry that load by herself at this age. impressive! and when we got up to her place, it was the same old story. she couldnt really hear us so we had to speak loudly. and she would laugh when we laughed, or simply when it got -awkward- hahahhaa. never fails to lighten the mood with her laughter. and this i really am super impressed with, ever since i first met her. i dont think i can ever face the world and simply laugh things off. valuable lesson once again. previously i had not spoken to her cos the volunteers usually use hokkien so this time i spoke to her in canto and i was glad we could chat for a bit! 

i was sweating non stop and she kept laughing at me lol. also, we asked her what she cooked for herself and she said she had to eat rice. but rice with what? she couldnt give us a satisfactory answer so i went to explore her fridge. and again she laughed at me! hahhaa. but i didnt find much. found some snacks, fruits, tonics, etc, but no vegetable or meat etc. den later on she laughed at me and said: never buy of cos dun have la! she coughed for a bit and said that it was okay, and sometimes when there was wind she will cough a bit. but other than that it was find, and she was taking her vitamins (good job!) she didnt want to make the tang yuan though since she couldnt bite the tang yuan and it was indeed quite dangerous, so we brought the ingredients to our next location: Commander Cheong's!

We started off by working on the instructed tasks. hahaha the last time i tried to act smart and took initiative to do things, and i learnt my lesson that there were to be consequences. so this time i waited for orders. in the end i was given the simple task of cleaning the harder to reach pipes and windows etc or the toilet. the rest worked on the usual: mop floor, windows, chairs. i was actually happy that she recognised me, probably cos the only time i went there previously i spoke a load of canto with her. :D but sadly she couldnt recog ann who was there with me the prev occasion. hopefully next time she can recog me again! it doesnt really matter but it feels a lil happier that the elderly recog you. and sometimes you get rotated around that you get to see them maybe once a month or twice? not easy to maintain a good r/s like this. and sometimes i feel as if they have a bigger impact on me than i have on them. 

anws, after cleaning we went on the main mission. mdm cheong said we could go ahead and make the tangyuan if we want to, but she dont wanna make. and so we believed her. ahhaha. we started but was rather unsure. yinmin was much more knowledgeable in the field of cooking tangyuan and she started preparing the water to boil and the pot to make the soup. the rest of us starting cuo-ing the tangyuans!


  



Soon the water began to boil so we added in the tangyuans! but we are rather, unskilled and fearful of splashing hot water and some got stuck by the side lol.


Jack was the main chef and he courageously monitored the tang yuans, with the help of yinmin mainly and the rest of us being not very useful most of the time.


Then, Mdm Commander came in the kitchen and seeing how noob we are, she, not unexpectedly, took over for a while and taught us the way to go!! and with her help, we had some pretty decent tangyuans to makan! she had like 3 or something only though. ann ate a lot a lot of tangyuans and she really is a glutton. hahahah the only regret was being unable to take a photo of her eating!!! (i am betting that she doesnt read this blog or else i think i might be beaten up soon)



The ever hardworking yinmin cleaning up.


And at the end of the day, we met at mr lee's place again and this time it was even more crowded than the last!! he made beehoon and noodles with sardine which is gooooood. the others also continued to make tangyuans! in the end got so many, i see already also scared. some look like fuzhou yu yuan, some like sotong ball. lol.


and once again it was a great saturday morning outing. and as some volunteers made fun of each other by calling each other names (okay im the main culprit hahhaha) and poking fun at each other, i really feel so honoured and glad that i joined this in my final NUS year. i wouldnt have imagined that i could feel so at ease with ppl whom i have barely known, some whom i barely meet. but within a handful of sessions and interactions, it was so easy to blend in and have fun, which i feel is because we all have something fundamentally in common: our care and concern for the elderly. i wouldnt have imagined this is how it will go for a volunteering program in university, where young adults gather around and most of the time the topic they have on their minds are the elderly that we visit. pretty awesome eh? once again thank you all of you who are reading this post for being part of this experience, the pleasure is mine. (i sound like this is the last visit haha no i will still be around to irritate you all and call you auntie and uncle so dont worry :D)


Kai Him.
281212

Sunday, December 23, 2012

MY FIRST VISIT TO T.H.E.S!!!

This is my first time volunteering at T.H.E.S which I must say is pretty different from my usual dealings with youths at YRS. Lets start with my first home visit to Mdm Cheng's house. I was kind of don't know what to say as I am not Cantonese trained. But when I first saw she was wheelchair bound, I was kind of shocked as she was alone at home, I kind of can feel that she is very happy to see us there as she stopped what she was doing to welcome us in her living room. Her house was relatively quite dusty, so we split up and swept and mopped the floor and cleaned the surfaces. Mdm Cheng wanted the floor to be dry after mopping, initially I was thinking what is the reason behind this. But I guess it is because that wet floors are not easy for her to move around with her wheelchair. The next thing that hits me during the visit at Mdm Cheng's house is that she is living with a couple. But when we asked if they took care of her and cleaned the house, she shook her head saying no.... I was thinking why are they so selfish. Luckily her son is living right opposite of her and can come and visit her when required. We continue listening to her while Camy do the talking and translate to us and left as she looked like she wanted to rest. I imagined myself being at her situation.no internet, wheelchair bound. I have been through a similar period after I went for a ligament operation. Luckily I have internet and entertainments. Or else I think I cant survive for long as things like bathing became a challenge.

Next, we went to visit Mdm Lim. I was told she do not like to stay at home, so we went to look for her at her block void deck. Initially we could not find her and started going to the coffee shop and market to look for her. Luckily we found her under another block with her friend. She is a cheerful lady and thankfully she speaks hokkien which I can partially understand. She is very funny as she said she will go wherever there is wind and thats the reason why she do not stay at home. She bought durians from the market as she said her grandsons are coming to visit her. I bet she is very excited about it and it is also great to know that her family is showing lots of care to her. ^^d What's interesting is that Mdm Lim's friend (nvr get to ask her name). She bought 1 whole durian to feed cats around their neightbourhood. One of the cat name is called LuLu. No wonder Mdm Lim said that they call her 猫妈 which is so funny. Mdm Lim is also a very "anything" person as we asked her what she likes to eat, she said no preference. When asked when will she be heading back home, she said she will go back when she feels like it. She even tried to lied to us about her age which tricked most of us especially Camy HAHAHA! We continue chatting with her and eventually we went back to gather with the rest of the group.

Next part of the activity is to go to Mr Lee's house for some bee hoon and 汤圆. And guess what, Mdm Lim is back to her block's void deck and as usual, sitting and chatting with her friend. (I guess the wind blew her back) XD. So we went to Mr Lee's house, can tell that he is a very fun loving and someone that cherish every moment in life, as he has lots of photos with all the different people he had come across with. He display the photos in a special formation which actually means something. first is "吟敏“ & ”爱心“. I guess he is very grateful about all the people that interacted with him (Especially the T.H.E.S people) and he even had nicknames for the different volunteers. This is a very heartwarming sight as Mr Lee definitely has a very young heart as he keeps joking with us and keeps offering his bee hoon to us. Although this is our first meeting, I can totally feel his gratefulness and his likes for people to come his house, as if I am his good friend. Too bad that I did not get to eat the 汤圆 that Jeremy and the fellow volunteers prepared as I have an appointment. But this visit definitely allow me to know more about volunteering in elderly sector. You feel more like you are their family member or friend instead of just helping. I guess that is why many of them is willing to sacrifice their weekend mornings, as to them, this is very enjoyable and refreshing ^^d

Benjamin Tan b^^d
23rd Dec 2012

大家团团圆圆!

Yo yo it's me again hahaha. After a 2 week hiatus after the exams I'm finally back at Kallang Bahru visiting our lovely elderly. Felt great to be back!

Yesterday's visit was one day after (冬至) winter solstice, and we had missions again! This time the mission was simple: to knead and make 汤圆s for the elderly in their homes. Had to wake up earlier to prepare everything that was needed for the mission. Very thankful that my mother guided me and helped me knead some of the dough!

My group consisting of Yu Lin, Jeraldine, Kok Seng and myself first visited Mr Tan. Mrs Tan wasn't around and he was watching TV shows on Channel U. We did not make the 汤圆s for him as he had eaten some the day before. Nonetheless we gave him the set of dough so that Mrs Tan can prepare some if they feel like eating them. 

We sat and watched the shows with Mr Tan. The first show was a variety show filmed by a China broadcaster, featuring 房祖名, Jackie Chan's son, and we made fun of how their noses looked alike hahaha. Up next was a documentary about wild encounters.

It was watching TV with Mr Tan when I experienced his legendary wisdom first hand. We chatted when it was the commercial breaks and we could almost talk about anything under the sky related to the shows or the advertisements. When the documentary showed how a group of rescuers saved a dog from a shipwreck, and it reminded us of the movie Life of Pi, Mr Tan knew about the production and stuff. So next time we can get him the DVD and watch together!

My group then visited Mdm Tan. We did some chores for her, then we began making 汤圆's!


Kok Seng is a big fan of Mdm Tan

All rolling the 汤圆s!

Jeraldine Kneading hard

Mdm Tan rolls some too!

Negative demonstration: always lay the 汤圆s on a flat surface

Always smiling :) In fact, she always have that cute giggle and joins in our laughter although she has no idea what we're laughing about XD

Behold the 汤圆s!

:D

All happy! 团团圆圆 :D

Was quite careless when I spoke to Mdm Tan yesterday. When she asked about the Major Outing, I asked her, without thinking, why she did not go. I have forgotten that she couldn't see well, so she dared not travel outside. And I uploaded the photos with her unit number without checking, which I have already rectified (spot the photoshop haha). I have to constantly remind myself to be mindful when I speak, don't 讲话不经过大脑.

After debrief, we went to Uncle Lee's place for lunch. He had prepared super duper awesome fried noodles with sardine, and I asked him to be my 师傅 hahaha. I didn't take photos because I was in the kitchen preparing more 汤圆s (at one instant I added too much water and I had to run to fairprice to get more flour :X). Hopefully you guys will see the photos on facebook or in this blog soon :)

We had a karaoke session after lunch at Uncle Lee's place! Proud of the mike I gave him heh. Almost everyone sang a song, so next time we hope to see more people singing and bringing some karaoke vcds!

I sang this:



To end off, I really enjoyed myself and loved everything about yesterday's visit. It really felt great to see the elderly again after a long while, especially after Major Outing. It was a simple affair: watching TV with Mr Tan; making 汤圆s with Mdm Tan; and singing at Uncle Lee's place, but I believe there's always something to take home (not 汤圆s) after the visits.

简单就是幸福; 幸福可以很简单 :)

本大爷 上
-Jeremy

Saturday, December 22, 2012

22 December Official Visit

Hi all, I have never blogged before. I even had problems navigating the blog account. The only writing style I know is university academic style and research reports. So much apologies if this entry sounds serious or accidentally ends off with a reference list. Haha.

And so I had my second elderly house visit today. After meeting Mdm Cheng and Mr Tay, known for his butter+kopi (see Kah Suan, 2012), in my first visit, I got to know more elderly today. We helped to clean up and do some chores in the first unit we visited, and also cooked some tang yuan for the elderly. Was glad that he liked it. We then went to the second unit, Mr Ong, and it was apparently the first time T.H.E Seniors visited him. He just came back from a 11-month hospital stay due to a surgery to remove a tumor. Unlike the first unit, Mr Ong's house was sparkling clean. We also cooked tang yuan for him. He said it was nice. I tasted it, it was horrible. I was appalled at our own cooking. Haha. I think the elderly found it nice not because of the taste, but because of our effort in cooking them and he didn't want us to feel bad. 

After the house visits, the whole group went up to Mr Lee's house for a mini gathering and some lunch that he prepared. It was nice chit-chatting, joking and having fun with the group, and I'm very sure Mr Lee was happy to have all of us in the house for merry-making, tang yuan cooking and noodle-eating. Pity I didn't get to hear his (in)famous karaoke singing. Maybe next time.

Cheers,
Tan Xuan Kai


Reference List:
Kah Suan (2012). 8 Dec's visit to Mdm Chow Moi and Mr Tay. http://thes.nus-csc.org/

Friday, December 21, 2012

很多东西要写


Sullen mood from problems the day before chased away right after I sat down with Uncle Lee before facilitation, eating his favourite sweet and kena-ing his teasing as always. O.o

Visiting Mdm Tan (everybody already knows about Shengxian's horrifying screech right - please refer to earlier posts), Mdm Lim & him, gathering with the rest at lao ka (这么巧!!) like one big family.


Kou rou bao and Mi Fen prepared by Uncle Lee specially for a whole big group of us. He started preparing it the day before and woke up at 5.30am on Saturday itself just for that.

拿起那个包,拿起扣肉,包包包包包,再这样包包包包包,包这个扣肉包,再包包包包包几个小时,再包起那个包,包包包包包包,扣肉包包,再包包包包包,就变成了扣肉包。
小朋友们,没那么简单哦!

I ate 3 leh but like not enough. But of course cannot fight Engsoon who ate 4 plates of beehoon at one shot. 


MY VERY FIRST MAJOR OUTING:
That's Chunhai & ME!!!
Awesome volunteers who made the day possible
Thankful for the sunny sunny morning (spot the elderly!)
 
Happy people :)

Rejoicing at the hot sun & seeing all the volunteers waving huge waves frantically to the elderly as they arrived group by group. And the day begins!
Listening to stories and hearing almost every elderly saying that they havent been here for "20 - 30 years"
Playing the games enthusiastically even when they do not understand some steps (contrary to popular belief, some of them do not know the game "scissors paper stone" needed at our newspaper station!) 
Looking at the elderly resting at Stoneboat at the end of the day, chatting away, many with smiles on their faces
Waving Goodbye (but not for long!) as they boarded 940's daddy's van out


This is an excerpt from an email I've just sent to my Malay 1 professor:
A really defining moment was when me and another volunteer brought a Malay elderly to the washroom as she was having a stomachache. Due to her age, she required our help in the washroom and it was obvious that she felt embarrassed. Yet, the moment I spoke to her in Malay, asking "sudah sihat? perut tak sakit? boleh jalan-jalan?", it seemed like she looked more at ease, thanking us and saying "Pandai, pandai, saya boleh jalan-jalan".

She said, "Awak tahu Malayu?" and I asked her how to say "abit" (haha I forgot), and she taught me "sedikit".

Just want to share this with you because the experience meant alot to me for I never expected that taking this module would help me to make someone's day.
Thank you for all that you have taught me!
Terima kasih, Cikgu.



**Disclaimer: This email wasn't sent in the hopes of pulling up my grades, lol.

I guess this is the same as how each of us are trying to pick up dialects bit by bit, to bridge the distance that exists between us and the elderly. Gambate, everyone!

And after that incident, I kept returning to the part where she said "Old already, now like that". It must've taken alot for her to ask for our help, and she probably felt really bad for having to trouble us and she'd never think that we don't mind it at all. Hope she could feel our concern, I hope she did!


That's all folks. Looking forward to more yummy food on Saturday :D


Love,
Li Jia

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Not just a normal elderly visit

Yo!

Decided to blog even though I did not attend visits for the past 2 weeks. Sorry about that! As much as I had wanted to go for visits, I had been bogged down by other stuff and by the people in green who may press button anytime, especially during the weekends, to summon me back to camp.

Yesterday, after being certain that I will not be called back to camp, I visited an elderly. Not just any elderly, but the most important elderly in my life: my Ah Ma. She lives in a terrace apartment in the Geylang area, near Old Airport Road, and near Kallang Bahru.

Ah Ma is the remaining grandparent I have. It was my first time visiting Ah Ma on my own, and I have not done so previously because of my complicated family background, and I'll only get to see her during special occasions. I met her on Wednesday night at a distant relative's wake, and I promised her I'll visit her on Saturday.

What made me make the trip to her home was that, well, I volunteer in the elderly sector with T.H.E.S, something is wrong if I don't visit my own grandmother, right? After all, my Ah Ma is living alone and she'll be happy to see her youngest grandkid visit her.

In addition, I held the fear of not being able to communicate with Ah Ma due to my weak native dialect: Fuzhou, as in Fuzhou fishballs. Truth to be told, my already weak Hokkien is better than my Fuzhou (I learnt more Hokkien in NUS than in army, and more Hokkien than psychology haha). But heck, I still have to try; I'd make mistakes and learn along the way.

This goondu grandkid walked from Dakota MRT to Ah Ma's place in a drizzle despite her telling him on the phone that it was raining heavily earlier on. When I reached, Ah Ma had to make an uncomfortable trip down the stairs to let me in. The conditions in and out of her home had prompted the elders to purchase an elderly-friendly HDB flat just beside Old Airport Road.

To my surprise, I didn't feel that afraid of speaking to Ah Ma after all. I tried my best to speak basic Fuzhou, occasionally mixing some Hokkien accidentally (they call it interference in psychology). I think Ah Ma already sort of given up forcing me to speak in Fuzhou since dunno when, so our conversations was a mix of Mandarin, Fuzhou and Hokkien hahaha. We talked about school, that filthy street of a red light district she's living in, and her new flat. I offered to help pack her stuff and move to her new flat. She asked about my mother. We watched people come and go at the balcony.

Apparently a lamp was not working in her house. Don't wanna go into details why it wasn't replaced by anyone but I offered to do it. Ah Ma passed me a new set of circular lamp, simple tools. I took the tall ladder and got working. When the lamp shone its brightest when Ah Ma switched it on after I have done my work, that feeling was wow. I have actually done something for my grandma for the first time in years.

There was another broken lamp. This time, like in a drama, I dropped the new lamp and it broke into pieces like my heart at that instant. I got a little too cocky and careless after my initial achievement. I felt really bad and I swept up the broken pieces. Really blamed myself for not being careful. Thankfully the lamp does not significantly light up the living room, and what matters is that I had fixed the more important lamp.

It was dinnertime soon, but Ah Ma made sure I drank water and kept offering to brew some hot milo for me which I refused because it was troublesome.

We watched the news together and talked about the Connecticut shooting incident. My aunt arrived as well with my cousin. We went to visit another relative and then we went for dinner together. We parted ways at the coffeeshop. That was how my visit ended.

***

After this visit, 感触良多(940's 口头禅). This was definitely more than just a normal visit, but it mirrors visits to Kallang Bahru in so many ways.

I am really, really glad I joined T.H.E. Seniors as a volunteer. I have learnt so much from our elderly and from my fellow volunteers, and I had so many defining moments. Thanks to T.H.E.S, I have learnt to overcome any fear associated with interacting and communicating with the elderly. I always hear from the participants that they would speak to our beneficiaries they way they would speak to their grandparents. For me, not sure if it's a good thing or bad thing, but it is the other way round haha. Nonetheless, it is a relief that I have finally took the initiative to visit my Ah Ma and keep her company on a Saturday evening, serving the role of a grandson.

To my fellow volunteers, you may have heard this countless times. *Treasure your loved ones.*

As a volunteer, I always ensure I move forward.
But as a grandson, I took a valuable first step.

-Jeremy

Monday, December 10, 2012

First official visit since I got back! ;) Woots!



Hellooo peeps! I am back! :)

This is my first official visit since I got back. It was heartening to see so many volunteers the past two unofficial visits, and even more this Saturday. There were a few old faces and many more new faces this time, so I guess we will all get to know each other better after a few more weeks!

So the first elderly we visited was Mdm Tan. I haven’t seen her for at least 4 months, and I was quite concerned when I saw a moody Mdm Tan opening the gates for us. Probably thankful for Shengxian’s screech when she discovered a cockroach hiding amidst the stack of cloth, for it totally erased the sadness on Mdm Tan’s face haha. And thankfully for Woon Yong the brave soul, who helped eradicate the pest. After the big commotion, Mdm Tan went on to speak about the different types of animals in the zoo, and shared with us the many places she had visited before, such as Kusu Island, Pulau Tekong, Bird Park, Zoo, etc etc. I would say she is rather well-travelled, and would have been much more active if not for her failing eyesight. I guess she does love the outdoors, and we can always try to encourage her to have walks around the neighbourhood under our accompaniment so as to keep herself active and not just confine herself to her flat and the void deck. We also had quite a fun time trying to explain about kangaroos in Australia and the two pandas who have arrived in Singapore recently. While 5 of us tried to crack our brains to think of how to translate ‘panda’ in Hokkien, Mdm Tan suddenly said “熊猫啊?”. Cheyyy, Mdm Tan also knows about it. Haha. Guess we didn’t have to think so hard after all. ;)

After that, we went on to Uncle Lee’s house. Uncle Lee greeted us warmly as usual and offered us drinks. Recently, he has been learning how to sms in Chinese, thanks to 脚酸’s secret hanyu pinyin manual. Lijia also helped Uncle Lee fill in the hanyu pinyin for some additional words that were not in the manual, and honestly, it felt like she was sitting for some primary school Chinese exam hehe. It was really nice to see Uncle Lee being so enthusiastic about learning and embracing the spirit of learning so positively. To practice his newly mastered skill, he SMSes us daily to ask if we have taken our meals, whether we were home, etc, and seeing him improve after each message is really fulfilling. Oh and having done landscaping and flower arranging work in the past, Uncle Lee loves arranging photos in his flat into words. That’s why he constantly requests for photos to be taken and printed, so he can make more collages on his wall. I guess that’s how he keeps himself occupied, especially during the weekends when the SAC is closed.

Lastly, we went on to find Mdm Lim and her 宝贝 cat. She loves talking to the cat because she says it is very tame and it keeps her company whenever she sits downstairs. Honestly I was quite shocked two weeks back when Mdm Lim suddenly called out to me and said “你从澳洲回来了啊? (in hokkien)”. I didn’t expect that she will remember me, because we rarely visited her in the past, and I thought that she would have forgotten since I was away for so long. I was relieved at that point of time, not that she acknowledged me, but rather, because it meant that our presence had an impact on her. And don’t get me wrong, being a volunteer isn’t about getting acknowledged by your elderly companions, but being acknowledged testifies that there is a bond being built between you and the elderly, and so that they know that there is someone there for them whom they can count on if they need any help.

So, to round up, it was yet another fruitful visit for me. And as 940 always say, every visit is a new story to be uncovered, and I believe it is also a new story to be written. We can learn and discover something new about our elderly and also about ourselves every visit. So do take time to think, what new story have you written this week? ;)

Yinmin

Official Visit (8 Dec) -- Mdm Cheong, Mr Tan

It's been awhile since my last visit, coming for this visit is "refreshing".

My group went to visit Mdm Cheong first. As usual, she assigns us cleaning jobs, instructs us on how to clean (saying "I don't like to nag, I'm just teaching you all how to clean.") then checks whether we have cleaned properly. It may sound like I'm complaining but I'm not, and none of the other volunteers are. We know this is the "Mdm Cheong Style". I remember Mdm Cheong once explained why she "commands" us. Many of us know that Mdm Cheong's apartment is well kept and clean. She doesn't really need our assistance in doing house chores. Nonetheless, every time we visit, she gives us chores. She thinks if we have no chores to do, we have no reason to visit her. Therefore, she often says, "there's nothing much to do, I've done most of them yesterday",  but in the end we'll still have things to do.

I think many of us have realized that some of the elderlies' apartments are quite clean, so why do we visit them? The reason is--we're not free cleaners, we're volunteers! As volunteers, we're there to show care and concern because it seems that these are what our society lacks.

Next, we went to Mr Tan's place. As usual, we don't have to clean his place. We just sat down and read letters for him, as all of them are in English (Qn from Mr Tan: I thought our country has 4 official languages? Why so many letters in English?). From the letters, we found out that Mr Tan has some health issues. For this week and the next, he'll have some checks done at the hospitals regarding his problem. He and his wife are hoping it's nothing serious, we hope so too.

For the rest of the visit, we chat with Mr and Mrs Tan. I find it enriching whenever I visit Mr Tan. Sometimes, he tells us things that many of us, tertiary students don't know! For example, do you know that Marco Polo is the first "Ang Mo" that visited China? And Marco Polo is a priest, he went to China to spread Catholicism? I knew what Mr Tan said is true, because I learned this during a lecture last year. Hearing this from Mr Tan made me think: How ignorant was I? Only to know such a thing after 12 years of schooling? Yet, Mr Tan, who has never attended university already knew this.

"家有一老,如有一包", we have heard this saying since young. However, many people tend to belittle elderlies just because they receive little education. This is a mistake. It just reflects how naive some may be, thinking that high qualifications is directly proportional to knowledge.

It's always fruitful for me when I come for visits, not only do the elderlies bring joy to me, sometimes they teach me things that I'll never learn from lecturers. Kudos to our elderlies:)

Chun Hai  
 


8 Dec's visit to Mdm Chow Moi and Mr Tay



Hi everyone! ^^

Hahas Finals is finally over and Saturday’s visit was really fun and made me happy. Visiting the elderly and looking at the smiles on their faces can really make one’s day!

I met Mr Tay for the second time and I find him a nice person whom I can learn life lessons from. When we went to his house and told him that we will be bringing him down to drink his usual Kopi+ Butter, I can sense the excitement in him. He often say that he is happy that we bring him out every Saturday to drink his Kopi. This made me touched as something simple can also make him feel contented. However, I wondered how Mr Tay spends his time on the days when we do not visit him. I was also glad that Mr Tay trusted us. When I pass him the change for his Kopi (we change his $10 to 5 $2 notes) he did not even count the number of $2 notes I passed him. The feeling of being trusted is great and I feel that I should place trust on others and treat everyone with sincerity :)

Next, I visited Mdm Chow Moi. She was very cute with her friendly smiles as usual. I had not visited her for quite a few weeks and I missed her. She was very nice and asked us to sit on the chair and switched on the fan for us the moment we entered her house. She also told us that she went to hospital for checkup and I was glad that everything was fine. However, Mdm Chow Moi said that she usually asked if all was fine but did not ask the doctor about the details for fear of being scolded. I feel that we should treat the elderly with patience and answer all their questions without being irritated. :) I discovered interesting things in her house. I was surprised when Mdm Chow Moi said she drank alcohol ()! Hahas, but it was actually tonic wine and she showed us bottles of Hua Tuo Tonic wine and drank a small cup in front of us.

I hope to continue brushing up my Hokkien so that I can communicate better and create new topics with the elderly each time I visit them. Look forward to the next visit!

-Kah Suan