China Earthquake

Lately, I've been thinking about China Chinese (ladies to be specific).

I was wandering like a lost sheep at a void deck last week when one China Chinese lady asked me if she could help me (ok, I know she's not local because of her accent). She then directed me to the correct lift to take. That was one confusing block and one helpful lady.

Then I just went through an emailed powerpoint presentation of the recent China earthquake disaster with photos of both rescuers and the rescued. It attempted to reflect the camaraderie of the Chinese folks banding together in a time of disaster; no looting, no fighting, the only focus of the Chinese being to save the unsafe. Accurate reporting or not, it moved me to (near) tears.

You hear all the time about unsatisfactory Chinese foreign talent service in Singapore. I am guilty of that too. It's frustrating ordering something at a restaurant from someone who doesn't even understand when I'm speaking Mandarin (OK, granted my Mandarin is bad but it's NOT that bad), much less English.It's frustrating not understanding what the fair and pretty cashier is telling you at the check out. The word 'Hah?' is now very often part of my daily vocabulary and my eyebrow area shows increased wrinkle activity as I try to second-guess puzzledly, what I've just been told or asked.Just the other day, a cashier asked Mike in surprise if he were from China (oh come on! Because of his features, he's been mistaken for a Malay or Eurasian but China?!). Her reason was the Mandarin phrase he had used, was one used by them back home. I (sincerely and without malice) thought that was adorable (and confusing!), a foreign Chinese mistaking us to be one of them!

(OK, I digress) Watching the Chinese laymen band together in this time of disaster has put me to shame. I silently respect their tenacity and 'hardworkingness'.What I'm trying to say is many of us are guilty of associating our island's foreign Chinese with only certain 'jobs'; Geylang occupational 'therapists', tutors, beer ladies, mail order wives, taxi-driver companions, you get the drift. We see them as mere statistics, mere little red dot fillers where yuppy couples have failed to contribute to the falling population.They are 'China Chinese' because hey, the trueblue Singapore Chinese aren't from the hinterland and we desperately need to make that distinction. Come one, are we not guilty of such thoughts?

The next time I want to explode for lack of understanding my fellow Chinese's communication skills, I will bite my tongue. We need to give them a chance because they are only human and someday they will be Singaporean just like you and I. What right do I have to complain about fellow citizens who show such compassion for their fellowmen when it comes to the crunch?

(PS - I wrote the below post about the lack of school holidays without reading about it in the newspapers first. Had no idea until someone pointed it out to me. I'm glad that there are others like me who feel the same way. I am 'kaypoh' about the welfare of school going kids because I'm a mother myself, I used to be a teacher and I used to love going to school as a student. You could say I've seen three sides of the coin)

Fiona

Happy School Holidays!

Yippee! It's the June school hols!

For the students, it's time to kick off your school shoes (eh...and dorn our happy hand painted shoes instead?!), rest, relax and recharge your batteries so that your 'CPU' will up and running steadily when term 3 starts (groan!).
We know many of you (and the poor teachers) have to go back to school for extra activities like supplementary classes and CCAs during the school hols (and we wonder why they even call this the school holidays!).

School used to be very enjoyable for pupils and teachers alike in the good ol' days....a holiday was really a holiday. Granted lessons weren't half as challenging as today, (and ok, kids didn't seem as smart as today's), teachers weren't as 'on-the-ball' as today and ECAs (yes, we used to call a CCA, ECA instead; Extra Curricular Activity) weren't half as much pressurising as today's CCAs! But the point is we enjoyed going to school. We always had time to play with our classmates, talk rubbish and just have fun.

Granted as kids and adults, we have to continually stretch our minds to maximise potential but we should also take time in life to stop and smell the......orchids....cowdung, whatever.
Balance is the key. Otherwise, life will just pass us by and one day, we may just wake up and wonder where our youth went.

It's the school holidays, take the time to stop and breathe (no, I don't mean while in front of the XBox or PC). Read or write a book. Learn to ride a bike. Learn to rollerblade. Whip out your rolling pin and baking tins. Learn to operate the washing machine (?). Compose a song. So what if your friends don't think it cool. Being cool is a state of mind.

Morbid as it may seem, on our deathbed, we're not going to remember how many As we scored for our math or physics exam, what make car we drive or how many houses we own.
We're going to know the 'real' people in our lives who will stand by us and we're going to regret not having spent enough time doing the things we should have done and not having loved people in our lives enough instead......or are we? Food for thought....

Happy School Holidays!

(We were very blessed to have had great weather when we participated in the Changi Village Flea Market the last two weekends! It was great interacting with the customers and stall holders)

24 (Sat) and 25 (Sun) May 2008 - Changi Village

We'll be at the Changi Village Flea Market (next to the food centre and between the two rows of shop houses) this
24th (Sat) and 25th (Sun) May 2008
from 5.30 pm to 10 pm

Come on down to see our hand painted shoes. All artwork done personally by us in Singapore.

We cannot begin to explain how happy we are to spot people wearing our shoes around this island! Thank you for your support.
See you at Changi Village!

(We're 3/4 done with last week's orders and will contact customers before delivery of the shoes).

Photos are over at our website

Visit our website for PHOTOS of our products:

http://www.cartoonlagoon.com.sg

17 (SAT) and 18 (SUN) May 2008

For most of us, this weekend is a LONG weekend (Monday being a holiday)...
An opportunity came up to participate in a night flea market at CHANGI VILLAGE and we couldn't resist it!

So, we will be at
the CHANGI VILLAGE night flea market this coming weekend (on 17 May SAT and 18 May SUN) between 5 pm to 10 pm.

Whereabouts in CHANGI VILLAGE? We're not sure but Changi Village isn't that easy to get lost in and there really isn't much empty space to hold a flea market. We figure where there is any crowd at all, it could only be near the hawker centre and between those two rows of HDB shops houses selling fishing tackle, colourful batik nighties and blow up swimming inflatables!

Aiyah, sure can spot a Pasar Malam one lah!
So come on down to chow on some delicious seafood and soak in the atmosphere! It's a long weekend!