Today, Yu lin, Shawn and I visited Mr Chiu along with Jocelyn, who left soon after for her kaleidoscope thing (for the future of volunteerism in Singapore!). After doing some general cleaning of his house (on a side note I think his mop with the spinning thing is super unique), we sat down to chat with him. Mr Chiu seemed quite emo so we tried to talk to him about more cheerful stuff, such as what songs he liked to listen to and if he has considered joining any singing competitions. The conversation was quite eclectic, ranging from the places he has traveled to in his youth to talking about Chinese poetry. It was really interesting when he told us about his life experiences. One of the interesting things he told us was how he takes bus 61 to Bukit Batok from Kallang, which is a journey of over an hour and a half, just to enjoy the scenery at Xiao Guilin park in Bukit Batok. However, Mr Chiu does not talk much, which leads to silences in the conversation when we are deciding what to ask him next. If I was alone I think the chat would have died after 5 minutes and it would have been extremely awkward, but fortunately Yu Lin was there to keep the conversation alive. I realized that I really need to learn how to communicate better with our elderly.
After that we went to join a group visiting Mdm Khatijah, who is the opposite of Mr Chiu in that there is no need to worry about awkward silences in conversation. Mdm Khatijah was really welcoming and happy to see us, and she talked non-stop about her life stories. When we left she insisted on shaking all our hands and hugging us. I guess we really make a difference in the lives of the elderly on our visits.
Haoping
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