Re-defining 'volunteering'?

Reading through the blog posts, can't help but feel T.H.E. overflowing love.

So here's a random post to share some learnings from THES1101E (indeed it's an awesome exposure module)  ;)

T.H.E. Seniors is where I uncovered infinite definitions of volunteering.

When I first joined, it was introduced to me that we "do household chores, chat with elderly".

Little did I expect. The household chores aren't chores at all. How come they are so fun at our elderly's house (but not so fun at our own house)? And when you think we have to be conversation initiators, sometimes it's the elderly who pour to us all sorts of amazing stories of their life adventures. And some other times, of course, it's silence that filled the room. While I used to freak out "gah, awkward liao. What should we talk about!", I've now learnt to be comfortable with the silence. Perhaps to the elderly, our presence is all that matters. Sometimes we just have to sit there, stone with them. We really don't have to talk much sometimes. Also, I've learnt to listen to the absence of sound - it is probably music, or not, for some of our elderly after our 2-3 hours of company.

I didn't know volunteering means just sitting at the coffeeshop listening to interesting stories about kungfu, watching arm-wrestling. Or sometimes simply enjoying the breeze... from the "air con" fanned by our fellow volunteers :P

I didn't know volunteering means just singing our lungs out after one stressful week of school, laughing at one another's zao-sia as if we're in a real KTV room (thanks to the powerful system and Ah le's mike).

I didn't know volunteering means so much gooooooood foooooood cooked by our dearest seniors & spotting so many secret good cooks amongst our volunteers. 

I didn't know I can have shots as part of my volunteering activities :P Oopsie~ Still drunk, maybe~~

I didn't know volunteering means we have to deal with elderly being on and off our befriending list. It's not just about the admin records, but the fact that we don't see some of them hanging out at their usual void deck spots anymore... And we really do miss them.

I didn't know volunteering involves so much learning. I didn't know volunteering... really isn't giving. Nor receiving. It's making friends - old and young - and sharing the love. We're all human beings living in this cozy house called T.H.E. Seniors.

谢谢 T.H.E. 为我上过的每一堂课，给过我的每一个回忆，和每一分的 "surge of emotions"。

闭上眼，享受着心中的感动,

940.

First time meeting Mdm Khatijah.

She is a Mak Cik who is cheerful and bubbly, who reminds us not to clean her house but chat with her only cos that's what makes her happy. Anyway rumah dia is SPARKLING CLEAN.

She has great (but some sad) stories to tell about her past, she is secretly emotional and calls her grandson in Batam every other day cos she misses him. She even called him right there and then to let us talk to him! And the grandson said he liked talking to me lehhhh....

She is highly religious, and loves to chat with her Malay friends about religion.

She can speak in Malay, English, Chinese, Hokkien. Sangat pandai siol! There was a new friend with her at her house that day and she brought her there to teach her English and chat about religion.

Her Hari Jadi is in June and let's make it a good celebration for her on 1 June, the Saturday before her bday!! She said something which felt really sad to me.. Not gonna write it here, ask me if you want to know.. :)


- Li Jia

Visit to Mdm Ho and Mr Tay =)

Hi, everyone. It has been a long long time since i write a blog.

During the visit, i visited Mdm Ho and Mr Tay.

Among all the elderly, i am most comfortable with Mdm Ho so i end up to be really "auto" when i go to her house (Hahaha!!). My Hokkien is still cannot make it so half of the time, I am guessing the meaning. Anyway, during the visit, the same old thing happens again (getting hit by Mdm Ho and say “打是疼, 骂是爱”) but as long as it brings joy to her, it does not really matter to me. Seeing her from walking around with strong legs to having trouble with walking really make me feel that she really aged a lot.

Mr Tay was talking about the overseas trip to countries like Thailand and Japan. For Thailand, he plays until he dun feel like coming back!! For Japan, he only got 1 sentence which is Japanese girls are pretty =). When Kah Suan arrived played the 邓丽君’s songs to him, he really enjoyed it so I would say if u got any questions about Mr Tay, ask Kah Suan is the best solution!!!

Being in THE really brought me a lot of joy and happiness into my uni life. I only started to join CCAs when i am in NUS but i would say that the people in CSC are really friendly and fun!!! In THE, i learn that the hardship i am going though is nothing compare to the elderly so it sort of motivate me to look on the bright side and also help the other.

Kaisheng

Hi everyone! This is my first time blogging for T.H.E.S so ya, I’m kind of excited haha :D

Today was my first time visiting Mdm Chow Moi (together with Sheng Xian and Joleen). When I first saw her, she seemed to be a very friendly and cheerful person. :) After we got in, we asked her if there is any housework that she wants us to help her with, but she said there will be people coming to her house to help out with the housework every Monday and so asked us to take a seat instead. After talking for some time I realized Mdm Chow Moi is a person who likes to laugh a lot and I think many of us will agree that her laughter is so contagious and hilarious haha. Even when she did not understand certain things that we said she will just smile or laugh. :) She took out 2 photo albums for us to see and she looked very happy in all her photos (even in 1 photo where everyone looked quite serious but shes’s the only one smiling haha).

I noticed that she has 2 pots of cacti hanging at the window grills and we told her that they are very nice. She told us that many people said that too haha. Later we also came to know that when she first started keeping them there is only a cactus but over time many cacti started appearing too! :D I find Mdm Chow Moi to be a very cute and cheerful elderly and she really brings joy to everyone with her laughter :))

Although I only know abit of Hokkien and hence can’t communicate much with the elderlies, at least I hope they know that they are not alone and there are many people who care for them and willing to be there for them when they need us :))

Pin Jin

Yo.

I'm not scheduled to blog this week. After reading all the posts I abit 手痒 hahaha. Those at debrief should already know this story I'm gonna talk about.

Guess everyone should know my Hokkien still buay standard. And it is not fun to be corrected by the original creator of the Hokkien Dialect Videos on the scene LOL

So I was telling Mdm Ho what Mdm Chow told me before... "学东西要敢敢学..."

(Oh mi kia ai ga ga oh)

Then at the same time, Mdm Ho and I: "不要怕被别人笑。"

(Mai kia ba lang chio lirh)

The wisdom of our seniors. Amazing isn't it? ;)

(As quoted from Mdm Ho, I need another 65 years to attain her kind of level)

乐

Finally Back to THE!

The title may sound ambiguous, as if I just return from SEP, but actually I am not. These few weeks have been tough with projects/make up lessons on saturdays causing me unable to go down to the fun-filled place. Some people may feel that 2 weeks is short, but to many people, like Mr Tay, 2 weeks can be very long.

My day started off at 10am when I bumped into Richard at Potong Pasir MRT, or maybe he approached me (haha), and we talk about the elderly and their condition. It is so touching to see a person handling so many elderly, yet able to remember every single bit of them. It really took me like 3 to 4 months to get know of the current 14 elderly that we have, their names, address and touching stories.

After which I visited Mdm Ho as usual routine, though never clean her place today, have a good chat on her old house in Hougang and how she was chased away from her old rental flat. Politics is always so complicated to understand, different people will have different views and stands. Sometimes we may disagree with what the elderly say, but it actually gave us a very insightful view on what they have experienced.

Then today, my group visited Mdm Tan the CSC 孙悟空 have blogged his story here: http://touchseniors.blogspot.sg/2013/04/blogging-i-have-never-done-it-in-my-life.html

To me, I relatively felt useless today, as I did not do much of the cleaning up.  However, I feel accomplished as I believe that we met our most important mission on befriending. We may always forget that our mission here is not to clean flats. Although it is important to take care of their welfare and living conditions, we must not forget to engage them. I always remind myself of this, after that incident of me focusing too much on cleaning Mr Chiu house and did not speak much with him, as he was just discharged from hospital (The house condition was bad and he was feeling tired). Back to Mdm Tan, if you all know the story of Mdm Tan, she was still worrying about the same issue today. She made a few calls to make sure everything is alright. After the call, I cannot remember what happened, or how I link, we started to K. Thank you to 940 for contributing too!! Back track a little, when we were cleaning, we also learn a new way to fumigate the house, cheap and effective (promoted by Mdm Tan)

Mdm Tan Calling out and Jennifer showing her passion in listening!!

When we are about to leave, sadness filled the room.

As we return to block 61, we realised Mr Tay is still at the Coffee Shop so we went over to join them. Usually I will join in and listen to him, but not today! Why? Simple, he was happy! The group succeeded  in making him smile for so long...look at how many pictures I took with him smiling!

 The happy Mr Tay with the photo bombers.

 The Saturday general meeting with Mr Tay!!

 Time check! Everyone is late! OMG. Punctuality issue again!  Everyone cannot bear to leave. 

 Lastly and unfortunately, I cannot join the lunch gathering due to project meeting. Hope everyone have enjoyed the session.

If you all think 欢喜就好 is the only song, listen to this song below call 欢喜欢喜就好. It is more skewed towards daily life, which you can listen and spot the different things our elderly mention before in the song! Enjoy listening!

Signing off,
WY

Can't help falling in love

Prelude:

7am: alarm rang

8.30am: officially woke up

9.30am: Reached Blk72

Before the visit started, I went to do facil! Wanted to do it alone because I want to talk to all the 32865 elderly (ok lah actually only 14) that I haven’t seen for 800 years! But as you can see, my reach-there-super-early-so-I-can-talk-to-all-of-them-for-at-least-15min-plan had epic failed (再接再厉 next time T.T) However, all hope is not lost! GUESS WHO DID I MANAGE TO TALK TO (for at least 15min)? ;D ;D ;D

Mr Wong! Who would usually just come to the door when I call him, reject visit and tell me he wants to rest – but today he didn’t! This isn't just any defining moment okay... it was THE defining moment during facil! *fireworks* *skips around*

He told me his hand was swollen and he couldn't sleep well at night so he wants to rest. I said nevermind you can rest while we help you clean your house then he said it is okay, he will clean when his hand is better, and that he usually stays at home and never left his house ever since he moved here 5 years ago unless he needed to see the doctor! Then he went on to say that he used to stay at Geylang Lorong 17 and I was like “I also stay near there!” – which was how we started talking! (ok now you all know the trick to getting him to talk: just say you used to stay near him! xD) He told me he used to deliver 300kg of newspaper last time (so fit hor!) together with his friend but they only earned very little because newspapers were sold at a very cheap price This was how he was paid: newspapers were sold at 30cents each for every 100kg; so the person that delivers it will get 15cents but ONLY IF he have delivered 100kg, and if you deliver lesser than that you earn less. Then there was once he and his friend were on their way to deliver the papers but accidentally knocked into someone’s car and that dude actually asked them to pay! Then he was like “no money how to pay already earn so little; the newspaper 300kg stack until so high cannot even see the front” (#angst). Since they didn’t earn much from delivering newspapers he switched to becoming a garang guni man and sold xxx (didn’t manage to decipher what was it :x) at the same time. I recalled myself always mimicking the garang guni man when I was in primary school: whenever the garang guni man shouts “gaaaarang guuuniiiii~ bo zua sa kor xxx dian si ki pai lay lioo” I will go to my window and shout the same just to imitate him and then I will hear momentary silence from him. (It was kinda like my cheap thrill hobby ok!) Since Mr Wong said he stays near lorong 17, I was wondering in my mind, COULD IT BE THAT I HAVE BEEN MIMICKING MR WONG THE GARANG GUNI MAN WHEN I WAS YOUNG?!?!?!? :O :O

But I didn’t manage to find out the answer. Gua gua T_T

I was having a really nice chat with him (he told me other stuff too like how there's an elderly day care centre JUST OPPOSITE MY BLOCK AND I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW *facepalm*) but at the same time my heart was doing a little zumba because it was 10.25am and I still haven’t done facil for blk 62 so I had to stop the conversation and I said I will ask people to come up later but he went back to his “I’m so tired” mode again so I spent another 2min to persuade him before secretly deciding I will ask people to come up anyway heh.

That was for prelude of visit. Hahaha. Now to the visit proper! (:

My group consisted of xuankai, amy, shurui, clement and myself and we went to mdm cheng’s place! I haven’t been able to visit her ever since she got discharged out of hospital so I was really looking forward to visiting her! We split up to do the house chores and since there were 5 of us, I had nothing to do so I became chat-tographer (chat +photographer) of the day.

 Shurui's sexy back~

Hard at work!

擦窗擦到很开心 ^-^

传说中的：窗-动-作

They found treasures and became t.h.e.s very own 济公们---

-that help fan the elderly while listening intently!♥

Mdm Cheng's friend wasn't around to bring her down today so we brought her down instead! We went on a quest to look for this blue paper that she wants to paste on her window to block sunlight. Went to SKP but the lady said they don't have so we went to a baking shop to ask (LOL IKR THIS TOTALLY WASN'T MY IDEA, MUST CLARIFY OR NOT I KENA THE BIMBZ LABEL FOR NOTHING AGAIN) which doesn't have it of course, so we went to a few other shops, still trying to figure out what was it she wanted and it turns out to really just be the translucent fluorescent plastic. Guess who was the smart one that figured it out? Hehehehe (; 

After we completed the quest, we went back and helped her to stick the blue plastic on her windows. The guys made full use of their height to do the measurements while shurui and I provide background support, holding the plastic and cutting scotch tape (hahaha). Now her room has the under-the-sea feel! Super nice I want my room to be like that too! Just nice it was 12.30pm already so we took a (few) celebratory photos before we left~

Taken by Xuan Kai

Taken by Clement

There are a few personal takeaways from this visit. 

While we were at Mdm Cheng's place, I noticed that Clement was actually quite 温柔 towards Mdm Cheng! I'm not sure how he is like towards other elderly because it is my first time being in the same group as him, but I was really quite touched when I saw a different side of him! Not because I 被电到 or what (I know what all you stir-obsessed people are thinking), but because I really saw how the act of volunteering helps to nurture the different sides of ourselves that we might not even know exist! (I don't think clement knows he was being gentle, you can ask him hahaha) I guess towards different elderly, we shape different sides of ourselves. For example, towards uncle lee, we learn how to be friends/bros with an elderly; towards Mr Tay we learn how to be patient, etc. The best part? Each of us are going through a different set of nurturing process due to individual differences, and who knows what we will all turn out to be after all these subliminal learning! (: (:

One thing I didn't mention when I was describing the chat with Mr Wong was this: he told me that when he was young, he couldn't understand why the old folks have so many issues but now that he have aged, he finally understood why. He said before one of his friend passed away he (that friend) had the sensation of a lot of ants biting into his skin, and he (mr wong) is now just waiting for that sensation to come... and that I will understand how he feels now when I have aged too. I don't know what was the best answer I could give him other than "you can't think of it this way". Can I say for sure I wouldn't turn into an emo old lady? Can I say for sure that even though I visit these elderly, I have fully understood what they have been/is currently going through? I can't, and it really resonated in me because I realized that all we could do is to provide a listening ear for all the problems that they are facing, spend that 2 hours with them and when we leave, they are back to that four walls - and all their personal problems. Of course, a little bit of company is better than no company at all, but I'm just wondering, could we teach the elderly how to up regulate their emotions instead of just providing listening ears? Then this thought suddenly hit me: we are actually already all walking together with the elderly through their problems! We do it by keeping track of their cough, surgery, etc via the visitation and welfare reports, and sharing with one another during the debrief so that we can get suggestions for solutions to their problems if possible! My heart just swelled with so much love knowing how caring the volunteers here all are (': (':

When I got home, I was feeling really thirsty due to the weather. I drank one mouth of water and it actually tastes sweet (no joke)! Emotional psychologists have compared two groups of people - one in a love condition and the other in a jealousy condition - and they found out that people in the love condition rated water sweeter than usual as compared to people in the jealousy condition, who rated water as bitter than usual! And I guess, I have fallen in love with volunteering all over again~~

♥♥♥,
Camy!

HAPPY 就好！！！

Blogging??? I have never done it in my life...and now I have to blog on my visit. Oh well, there's always a first time. Reflections for volunteering experiences are always good anyway.

So, today I visited Mdm Tan. For newcomers (as if he is very laojiao...this stupid guy) who don't know who she is...

Mdm Tan is this wonderful lady who indirectly taught me alot of things during this visit. My group consists of Jennifer(hope her name is correct...if not she will keep saying she want to sue me...) and Woon Yong and of course me, the monkey!!!

We started the day by telling her that "hup seng" are here, and she rushed to open the door for us while I was wondering what is "hup seng". When Jennifer and Woon told me that it means students, I was wondering isn't students called "tak chek eh" and they told me that Jeraldine would probably say it that way too. (Damn...I am at the same level as Jeraldine now...gonna buck up)

She then showed us her wart that has become much smaller according to the other two. I didn't know the original size, but it's definitely quite small now, so no worries guys. (乖乖听医生的话，搽药就好了，不要用手去弄它）

We then proceeded to sweep and mop the floor. (Due to Jennifer's poor sweeping skills, alot of the broom's hair drop off) Apparently, everyone were very hardworking during the cleaning, which explains why there is no photos of us cleaning her flat. But, Jennifer weren't so involved in the cleanup of the mops which explains why she is not in any of the toilet photos.

Oh by the way, I spend a very long time getting the crushed spider out from Mdm Tan's mop. HAHAHA!!! (The wringer is a pain to use...it keeps dropping into the pail because it doesn't fit...should get Mdm Tan a new one)

One more thing I learnt is not to pour the soapy water in the pail into the toilet bowl and not to empty it at the drain. The water will just run everywhere and it will make the toilet floor slippery. Nonetheless I dried it up in the end.

Moving on...we sang songs to Mdm Tan using the K歌达人app. (Kudos to Ah Ben for making the app so popular nowadays) This is our head, 940, entertaining Mdm Tan with her 爱拼才会赢...

The three of us also sang other songs such as 童话 etc to entertain Mdm Tan. (Audio is with Woon)
Calling out to all people!!! Please use this app and record more hokkien songs!!! Mdm Tan wants to hear all of you sing!!!

Even though Mdm Tan may seem very happy in the photo, she is actually quite troubled. (Reasons shan't be revealed...for those who came you all will know...and we shall keep those who didn't come in suspense...so if you wanna know...please come next session!) Anyway, I keep telling her "hua hi jiu ho" (happy就好), don't think so much. Life is about looking forward anyway!

Didn't write much since I have other stuff to do too...will blog again next time I promise!
Signing off...

孙悟空到此一游

Mr Wong + Sing K at Uncle Lee's House

Our group (me, 940 and Chun Hai) was assigned to visit Mr Wong and this was my first time to get to know that Mr Wong always doesn't want the volunteers to get into his house. We then tried to talk to him outside his house. Though he said 我不是叫你们不要来了咯, he still talked a bit when we asked him how is him recently. He said he is not good and showed us his swollen palm and I felt that he was quite emo. After a while, he "chased us away" by saying that he was going to take a nap. Though the conversation was short, it was still an improvement to let him talk to us and we actually saw his face through the half-opened door (this is considered a rare situation right?!)

We then went to Uncle Lee's house. As usual, no cleaning was needed so we just sang K!!! 940 is really awesome as she knows so many old songs + Hokkien songs! And her voice, ohhhhh so good that can go to sing 歌台 already! Hehe! Chun Hai and I also sang some songs and after that Jeremy and Benjamin came to join us as well. 冬恋、小小羊儿回家啦、吻别、玫瑰玫瑰我爱你、橄榄树、千言万语 are all those songs we sang. Btw, Uncle Lee is flying to Taiwan tonight, hope he will be having fun there!

I do really feel I have learned so much from THES, not only from the elderly but also from the awesome and enthusiastic volunteers. Frankly speaking, I felt paiseh for the first time I came back to THES after losing connection from THES for over one semester, especially when I saw all the new faces around me. But now I feel so grateful that I made the decision to come back and met all the awesome volunteers =D

Final exam is coming soon! Jiayou mugging! ;)


Candy (Pey Ee)

Third visit

Hello!! This is my first attempt to blog down my experience in T.H.E.S..haha..although I’m not used to blogging down my daily activities but since it’s just to share my thoughts and feel with everyone about the visit, here goes…

Today was the third time that I’m visiting T.H.E.S. Since the start of the week, I’ve been feeling quite excited and was looking forward to this visit. Haha..for me volunteering was where I could seek solace from all my assignments and deadlines. I realised that after every visit, it always sets me thinking about the purpose of why I volunteer.

Alright so I started the day by first visiting Mdm Ho. We helped to clean up her house and after that we chatted with her for her. Later she then she offered to treat us chicken rice. She passed the money to Ben and Jeremy to buy 10 packets of rice and 半只鸭..not sure if I heard clearly..I was like wah..怎么这样破费. I was like thinking in my mind..haiyo..extra money keep and 自己留着用.

So after that, we told her that we would be back later before we proceeded to meet the Mr. Tay. I dun know why whenever I tried to mention Mr. Tay to someone else..then my mind would automatically convert the “Mister” to “Uncle”..so I ended up keep saying Uncle Tay. But anyway..so we went to visit Uncle Tay next and I was quite sad to find out that his eyesight wasn’t that good..maybe it’s coz it’s my first time coming into contact with elderly like Uncle Tay. We passed him the extra newspapers and then we brought him to the downstairs coffee shop to “lim” kopi. Then I realized that the lady serving the drinks when she saw Uncle Tay, she straightaway bring over a cup of kopi added with butter..haha..this was my first time that I see someone drinking coffee with butter..then I heard he mentioned that the butter was to make his body 顺顺. I think the purpose of the butter was to rid the body of toxin or sth one..haha. Ya..so we ordered drinks as well..then Uncle Tay offered to pay for our drinks…and passed me a 2 dollar note…which I changed into 2 dollars’ worth of coins and then told him to keep the extra changes. He also said that he want to buy three packets of toilet rolls, a towel and a tin of 苏打饼. Kah Suan arrived and she played the 邓丽君’s songs to him..can tell that he really enjoyed it as he was quietly listening to the music from the handphone placed near his ear. After we chatted for a while, we brought him back to his house. Then when I first stepped into his house, the first thing I noticed was that he stocked up a lot of toilet papers in his house…till now I’m still thinking why. Oh ya..then we helped to oil his window as he said he had difficulty closing his windows. Then when oiling his windows..we noticed that there were quite a few wasp nests around the edges of his windows. Also he told us that he had knee pain at night..it’s painful that he couldn’t sleep. Then we offered to buy him the 铁打酒..he said he dun like the smell and that he rather to bear the pain then to apply it..somehow I just felt sorry for him that he had to endure the pain…I couldn’t help but wonder what will happen to me when I’m old..sigh.

I hope that after my exams I will be able to spend more time to interact with all the ah gongs and ah mas at T.H.E.S. Sometimes I think that all they want is to have somebody to chat with..I mean what you talk about isn’t important to them. As long as they know that they have company and people who actually care for them , nothing else much, they are contented already.

Newspapers for Uncle Tay!!

Listening to 邓丽君

Chit-chatting session

Testing out the newly oiled window

Yong JianJJ

A trip home

I was actually doing my assignment. I typed an url onto Google Chrome but it, by sweet mistake, brought me to http://www.thes.nus-csc.org/, which led me to our blog. Perhaps it knew I needed some love & motivation ;D

I read through the blog posts, even those that I have read a few times before. It's like an addiction, although I knew I had to move on to rush my assignment - here I am, blogging nevertheless :)

I missed last week's visit ;( It really felt very strange to not be in Geylang Bahru on a Saturday morning. It was as if I forgot to brush teeth before going out - maybe this was what mr. Stanley meant by "Volunteering is a lifestyle more than anything"! 

I'm missing our elderly... Mr Tay's priceless "Ahhhh~" upon his sips of buttercino; Uncle Lee's 恭喜发财s; the scene of Mdm Ho slapping Kaisheng and then loving him again; Mdm Tan's giggles; Mdm Cheng and her sunglasses; Mdm Cheong confessing how handsome her husband is; Mdm Chua's story about the three girls from church, that she'd re-re-re-repeat a few times;...... T.H.E. Seniors was set out to provide befriending services. But we are no catalyst. In this reaction whereby chemistry between elderly & volunteers is constantly created and strengthened, we get changed too. With every few hours of weekly visits in the company of laughter, we learn valuable lessons. We witness precious smiles and form unbreakable bonds - irregardless of generation gap, language barriers or whatsoever. 

Volunteering at T.H.E. Seniors is already not just about giving, but more of receiving (T.H.E love & T.H.E. many friendships gained!), learning, and growing as volunteers and as individuals in the society, as family members. Thank you T.H.E Seniors! ;)))

Lots of love,

940

T.H.E.S= The Home Every Saturday =)

Last Saturday, it was my first visit with the T.H.E. seniors.

That day, we visited Madam Cheng, Madam Tan, and Madam Ho.

When we arrived at Madam Cheng’s doorstep, there was no one in to answer the door. However, on our way to Madam Tan’s, we saw her in a wheelchair accompanied by her guardian. She told us that Madam Cheng wanted to go to the coffee shop near our meeting point to wait for us because she was so eager to meet us.

Madam Tan could only speak Hokkien and thus most of us found it difficult communicating with her. In spite of the language difference, she was a very jovial and chatty elderly.  There was an inexplicable heartwarming feeling just from gathering around her and basking in each other’s company.

After which, we bought chicken rice and duck rice over to Madam Ho’s place for lunch. She fussed a lot when we were around, mostly insisting that we helped ourselves to drinks in her fridge and slipping us cash to get more food.

I have noticed from my previous befriending experience (and also this time round), that each time I walk away with my heart feeling a little lighter. Being around old people is always enriching: their smiling eyes and weathered hands; they teach us so much more than any academic institutions I have attended. When you think about things like these nothing else seems to be of importance anymore. It is a very fulfilling to be involved in befriending again.

Victoria

A day when Uncle Tay was happy :D

Hi!!:) 

Hahas sorry for this late post XD ( I better post before I go for visit later. )

On 30 March, I did my first facilitation with Luting and Huijia at block 61.  Hahas as usual with my blurr nature, it was lucky that I Luting who had facilitated and Hui Jia who was alert. We saw a burning object emitting lots of smoke when we were facilitating and it was lucky that Hui Jia stopped us when we wanted to put out the “fire” hahas coz it was actually burning incense of a resident.  Most of the elderly were healthy, except Uncle Lin having fever and Mdm Lin in the hospital. I felt a bit 不习惯now that I dun get to say Hi to Mdm Lin who usually sits at the void deck, enjoying the breeze. Really hope that they’ll get well soon. :)

I visited Uncle Tay with Clement (Ah Xia Kia), Geok Chin (Sun Mei Mei), Jennifer (Ni Ni Mei Mei) and Kai Him (Ah Boy). I hadn’t come for 2 weeks and it feels really great when I came. Coming THE can really make one happy: D

Uncle Tay seemed to have an extremely good mood. ^^ He was all dressed up until very yan dao even before we came to his house. However, his rice didn’t came and being troubled that it would be thrown away if left outside his house, we waited for a while before heading to the coffee shop for his signature buttercino. It was during this time when the funny things begun.

Besides bringing a bag of 好料 (newspapers) for Uncle Tay, Jennifer also brought a folding fan and fanned Uncle Tay. We joked Uncle Tay that we had switched on the “air-con”. While enjoying his “aircon”, Uncle Tay became very enthu and told us many stories. One of them was his friend who managed to win a big-built wrestler, King Kong. He also said that he learnt boxing before and when faced with opponents, he’ll pretend to hit (showing us his position in preparation to fight) and he’ll dodge when the person really hits. hahas he’s so smart~ He also recited us cute nursery rhymes he leant in school hahas it sth goes like “小猫跳跳跳，小狗汪汪叫…” and the 三字经.

When we were downstairs, Geok Chin took over with the fanning and Uncle Tay continued to tell us stories like the monkey god of Journey to the West, wan shi tong ( a person who knows everything) while enjoying his buttercino. Hahas he was very generous and offered to treat us to beer. When we were coming down, Uncle Tay told us that ovaltine+egg is a nice drink, but when I asked him, he said that it was too expensive. Seeing that Uncle Tay was so willing to offer us drinks everytime we visit him, but being so frugal when coming to things concerning himself really touched my heart. He taught me to treat others even nicer in future Hehe. He also told us that his friends came to visit him a few times and I feel that he really appreciates people coming to visit him. Really happy that we’re doing that and visiting the other elderly too !:)

We found out that he likes old songs sung by Lin Dai, Deng Li Jun, and many more... We took a picture of Uncle Tay immersing himself in Deng Li Jun’s song in Geok Chin’s phone. Hahas if your got download can let him and the other elderly hear too !^^

                                  (From Left to Right: Uncle Tay , Deng Li Jun  XD , Geok Chin )

-Kah Suan aka Jiao Suan

I thought of...

It was my first time at Uncle Lin's place last year September, the horror at the amount of cleaning and the stench in the air.
My third time there, this year January. It was the same, we cleaning while he chatted to us; some of the things were even the same, the $3 radio..
He was the first ever elderly I visited and it felt so good to be back.

…..
Who was that sipping on alcohol with a cheeky smile again? I got a shock. I guess everyone knows who I’m talking about.

.....
It was my third coffee trip with Uncle Tay, he was in a sullen mood and we sang CNY songs to cheer him up.
He held our hands and thanked us, again and again, as usual.

.....
Uncle Ong is the taxi driver whom they were talking about. The one who was in an accident but who is pressing to live on just like anyone else.
His admirable spirit was contagious the first step into the house.

…..
We’d just finished cleaning Mdm Ho’s house, and looking through her photos.
As we said goodbye, she asked if she could give us each a kiss, and she did.

.....
We were having the birthday celebration at Uncle Lee's place, he was about to cry just from having everyone gathered at his place, his favourite kind of happiness, so simple.
I looked around the room, there were "Xue Ye Jin Bu"s pasted on his walls, not to forget my very big name, ahem.

…..
It was the clay-making session; Mdm Tan couldn’t see what we were making, it was so different from the first few times I went up to her house.
But she touched it – the chair we made – and exclaimed “It’s my chair!” with a huge smile.



Looking back,
Li Jia

Hello!!!

It has been long since I last blogged. I don't know why sometimes I will 词穷 it comes to blogging. But after reading all your post, I am so motivated to blog hahahah. So I asked Wen Hui if he can let me blog instead. So last Saturday when I went for visit, I was quite shocked to see so many new faces. I admit that I have been quite a few visits *guilty* but it is nice to see so many new volunteers who have decided to join T.H.E.S! My group consisted of Wen Hui, Hui Jia and myself and we were assigned to visit Mdm Cheong and Uncle Lee.

When we went to Mdm Cheong's house, she was having her early lunch so we waited for awhile before she opened the door for us. As compared to my first visit, now I find myself more at ease visiting Mdm Cheong. Like what Jeremy has said, she is not fierce actually, but just give a commanding feel. I still remembered my first visit to Mdm Cheong's house. I was terrified because I was told that she has a style for doing things, for example, her chairs cannot touch the metal rails of her bed etc. I remembered how gan jiong I was. I ended up making a mess the cloth near her door step when I was mopping the floor. I thought that she would never let me visit her house anymore in the future. But seems like she had forgotten about it!=) And now I feel at ease when I visit Mdm Cheong=) She is a really cute elderly whom I have alot to learn from. Her spirit of learning new things, her cheerfulness, her helpfulness and the list goes on. Last Saturday, when Wen Hui perspired like mad after cleaning the windows and chairs, she asked him to stop cleaning and take a break. Always so thoughtful and kind towards the volunteers=) She told us that her "wei" is giving her trouble. Hopefully she will feel better after seeing the doctor this week.

So after all the cleaning, she started showing us all her photos. I must say her memory is super good! She can remember who is her husband's sister's daughter's daughter. And she has quite alot of photo with her husband doing taiji. We learnt that Mdm Cheong was 20 yrs old when she met her husband and they got married after knowing each other for TWO MONTHS. No joke. She said they met at this dancing place and they had a meal together, she liked him he liked her, got married and went back to Malaysia for Chinese New Year. She said her father-in-law initially had some illness, but after their marriage he miraculously recovered! I think because people in the past believe in getting married to 冲喜。When she talks about her late husband, I can still feel her love for him. And it reminded me of this song "家後".

Thereafter, we went to visit Uncle Lee. As no cleaning was needed, we sat down to talk to him. Uncle Lee recalled how he always skipped lesson in the past to go and catch spider and they would let the spiders fight to earn money. He say only male spiders can fight well. He loved to play tikam as well. He reminded me of my childhood. When I would use chalk to draw hopscotch at my corridor of my grandparents' house and doing stupid yet fun things such as kicking my legs so hard that my slippers would fly off and sometimes the slippers would fly to 13 floors below from my grandparents house and land at the carpark. Luckily no car was damaged whenever I did that. I loved my childhood too, where technology is not as advanced. Those were the times when happiness is so simple. But now simple joy can be obtained by going for T.H.E.S. Buying the last peanut ban jian kueh from the Kallang Bahru market was the best reward after a fruitful visit=)

Ah Xian=)

Hello people!!

Okaeee I know this post super late, but better late than never right!! HAHAHA.

Last Saturday, Luting and I went to visit Mdm Tan. But then, because of my super cui hokkien, I can't talk to Mdm Tan at all. So, I end up cleaning the window and Luting was struggling to talk to Mdm Tan. Seriously, if NUS has a mod for learning hokkien, I will be the first to sign up!! Haha I should try learning hokkien le. Anyway luckily our saviors arrived in time!!!! Jocelyn, Victoria and Pin Jin!!!=D Seriously, there is nothing to clean in Mdm Tan's house (ps: her house even tidier than my room HAHA), so we just talk to her. She said that policeman got come to her house and tell her not to open door to strangers. Other than that, we just talk to her about random things, with Luting being my translator haha.

After that, Luting and I visit Mdm Ho's house while Jocelyn and the rest go buy food for Mdm Ho. It is much easier to talk to Mdm Ho as she know English. Her knee look really bad>.< Hope her knee will get better soon!! Not only that, I see her take out a box of medicine. I was like, "Just how many different type of medicine she have to take everyday?!" This really reminds myself to really take care of my body when I am still young. Anyway we talk until Jocelyn and the rest came. Mdm Ho was very nice! She treat us chicken and duck rice! We had an awesome meal together<3 nbsp="" p="">
Well, I had an enjoyable Saturday=D

Lena