Hello everyone. Yesterday was my first official visit to the elderly and it was great starting the new year doing something meaningful.

Mdm Tan was our first elderly of the day and she was coughing quite badly while inviting us into her house. We sat down and chatted with her and she was very friendly with us. However, due to my terrible hokkien, i could only understand what she was saying but was unable to hold a proper conversation with her. Hopefully my hokkien will improve. We also helped clean up her house although it was already relatively clean. 

Mdm Tan is super cute. When jokingly asked what her age was, she wittily replied in hokkien "18 years old. Tombalek" (Translated to be 18 years old. Opposite.) and broke out into her cute little laughter. Sometimes she would tell us random stories and laugh it off, but we could tell that in her heart, she was actually quite sad about it. At times, she also appeared to be thinking about something unhappy. I think sometimes these elderly just need someone to be there to listen to them, comfort them, and keep them company. Our visitations can act as a form of distraction from their unhappy thoughts and keep them positive and optimistic. We could definitely hear a pinch of sadness in her voice when Mdm Tan said bye to us. Its amazing how just a short visit can make their day and we hope to visit her again.

Next, we visited Mdm Cheng. Despite being on a wheelchair, she welcomed us in with a smile. Mdm Cheng speaks Cantonese and a little chinese which makes it slightly easier to converse with her. The guys helped clean her house while the rest of us chatted with her. Mdm Cheng was also super cool. Halfway through the conversation, her handphone suddenly rang and she took it out of her pocket #likeaboss. We also took a picture of her with her shades on and doing the infamous rock hand \m/. 

Halfway through, she lamented about how she sometimes felt useless as she is wheelchair bound and could not engage in many activities. We tried to reassure her that she is definitely not useless. I guess this is what many elderly think of themselves, that they are useless and unimportant people of society, and hopefully our regular visitations will remind them that they are still important people for us to spend our Saturday mornings with them. Oh and on a side note, Mdm Cheng likes to drink white coffee! She says its supposedly thicker? And this is where Jocelyn's bimboness shone through. "White coffee is white right?" Haha pretty sure its not. 

All in all, it was a heartwarming experience for me and i hope it was for everyone else. Have a great year ahead(:

Joleen

6 Jan '13