The other day, Ace told me that Chef Eric will be coming to do a cooking demo in his school..
Wah, not bad leh, schools in Singapore also have alot of interesting events. I wonder which of he parents is linked to chef Eric:)
Anyway, Ace said that he came during recess time and he demonstrated how to cook Ipoh Hor Fun.. since he is a vegeterian and cannot try... and this takes up too much of his play time.. he ran away after watching for a while:) wahahahahah
But they were all given packets of Ipoh Hor Fun... and then, two of his classmates said they did not like to eat this and did not want it.. and so he says he will bring it home..
So he brought home three packets of Kang Kang brand Ipoh Hor Fun.
I thought dun let it go to waste lah.. so I went online to search for recipe and then tried to make it lah:)
Tadah... my vegeterian version:)
Not bad hor:) I made this a few times and later, when I got better at it, I could even do drop egg:) Max and Ace both say it tastes very nice ;)
But leh, after eating it a few times, Ace asked me if i can use the hor fun to make something else instead of the same.. He say eat until sian liao... wahahahaha...
A few days ago, on our way to school, Ace was telling me that these few days have not been too good for him because he keeps getting scolded in school again..
When I asked him for more details, he says that he does not want to talk about it because everytime he talks about it, he will feel very upset and angry. I told him I respect his wishes and left it at that.
And a few days later, I asked him about it again and he said he is not ready to talk about it.
So last night, before bedtime, I was chatting with him and I brought up the subject again. I told him that I respect that he might not want to tell me about it.. but I am just talking about it again because I want to remind him that if he ever wants to share more, I am always ready to listen.
So he paused to think, and decided that he will tell me... And so his story goes like this...
A group of NUS students came to his school and conducted some sort of special music lesson for the children. So other than the NUS students, one of their school teachers stayed in the music room with them.
They were singing songs and asked to try different ways to express the song with feeling. The NUS students asked them to sing the song, If You Are Happy And You Know It... and instead of clapping their hands, they were asked to scream. The NUS students said they have to scream in such a way that their scream will show FEAR.
And so they did a test run and so Ace did a scared scream.. which is a loud scream and to him, is a pretty normal scream since he is used to dramatics. His school teacher in the room said he was screaming too loud...
So the NUS student asked them to try it again and reminded them to do it a little softer. So Ace did the scream again.. but a little softer this time... and they completed the lesson. But he noticed that during this time, he teacher kept pointing her phone at them and took pictures of them.. and she seemed to be pointing her phone at the children she has singled out for scolding previously during the session...
At the end of the lesson, the teacher singled out a few children and asked them to see the music HOD and Ace was among those singled out. Then leh, the music HOD gave them a scolding.. cos apparently these children were talking and not paying attention in class. Ace was wondering why he was singled out since he was paying attention and was not talking when the HOD suddenly said to him, "And you, Ace, I heard you were going crazy!"
Wham bam! My son same as me... 最讨厌被人冤枉 .. so he was really hurt because in his words, "Why am I being scolded for doing something that I was asked to do? Why am I being scolded for following instructions well?"
And I think he was really upset that the teacher said he was "crazy"....
And it seems even his friends noticed that he was unfairly scolded.. his friend E, after the scolding said to Ace, "It is so unfair... why did the teacher scold you.. she scold me, ok lah, I deserved it, but why did she scold you when you did nothing wrong?"
I asked him why did he not stand up for himself and tell the teacher that.. "What for, if I say anything, my teacher will just give us more scolding and I will just get into more trouble.. But I feel really sad and felt like crying.." he said.
Actually, I also felt that the teacher's response was inappropriate. If the students are asked to scream, why should they be penalized for whatever they feel "frightened" should be expressed. They should accept whichever expression of a frightened scream no matter what.
Most importantly, as a teacher, everything you say really means alot to students. How can a teacher say that a student is going crazy? She could say he screamed very loud and ask why he was so loud.. but why did she use the word crazy?
I asked Ace if he will be ok if I sent an email to the school to feedback. He says he wants to let it slide but he says if the teachers do it again, he will like me to feedback to the school.
Then Ace started to get really upset and said that he really doesnt enjoy learning from the teachers in Singapore.
"They make everything so not fun! Everyday, all they do is to scold us... use threats and use extreme words like.. threaten to tell our parents, threaten to punish us to stay back in school till 7pm.. How can they keep threatening us?? How is that different from someone who kidnaps your child and say..."If you dun give me money.. I am going to kill your child!" "
I asked him why Ms R in Dubai was strict but he doesnt mind.
"Because in Dubai, even the very strict teachers always scold us for a reason... here, the teachers sometimes scold us and scream at us for no good reason... "
"You know mummy.. even the nice teachers... who are funny.. when they are angry.. they really scream and shout so loud at us... and threaten not to talk to us...or to report to the principal... how can they do that... you know mummy, studying in Singapore, I feel like I am in prison!"
"I feel so sorry tat you had to feel this way in school.." I told him while giving him a hug...
At this point, he started to cry and then he asked me, "Why do Singapore teachers talk like that?! Don't they know that we students also have feelings and our hearts will be hurt when they talk like that?!"
Then he continued, "Did you know. even the fun teachers I had.. even XX, even him.. even he talks like this!!!" he said while crying.. and he gave me an example of what one of his teachers said..
I asked him.. from the example, it seems the teacher was talking to someone else and threatening someone else and not him.. why does he feel so strongly about it...
"Because mummy, we are all the same! We all got eyes and nose and mouth... everyone is the same.. we have the same organs.. ok..maybe boys and girls a little different when it comes to organs.. but we are all the same... Even though XX was talking to YY and I dont really like YY, YY is still the same and I dun wish for anyone to talk to YY like tat too!"
So I gave him a big big hug and told him I hope he feels better after sharing what he has been keeping in his heart.
When he was cooled down, I explained to him tat perhaps his teachers did not use the best strategy but it is not so easy for them here in Singapore because they have to face so many students and also the quality of students here and their background is different from the international school. The amount of parent support is also a little different so I hope that given time, he will be able to forgive his teachers.
But I do feel sad when I heard that this is how he feels about the teachers in Singapore.
Today, he asked if I could go fetch him as he was going for a dental appointment... so I went. As he was taking quite long, I was seated outside...and I observed a situation where a group of students had returned from a swim lesson..
One girl apparently pulled a dangerous prank on her friends and she kenna a very fierce and loud scolding... plus punishment of having to write I will not xxx the next day... what is more, one teacher scolded, the other by the side also scold some more..
I couldn't help but wonder how the girl will be treated or taught if we were in Horizon school. For one, I know in Horizon, this scolding would have taken place one to one in a private place... and instead of a I will not xxx, teacher will have a talk with her about why what she did was wrong and dangerous and she will be expected to write an apology letter during break time.
Ace and I have been reading Totochan-The Little Girl At The Window as our bedtime reading and I couldnt help but feel envious of the students in Tomoe school that the female protagonist went to. How I wish a school like this still existed and that Ace could have a chance to study there.
Anyway, my observation is that Singaporean teachers behave how most Singaporean parents will behave and Dxb teachers behave how their parents will behave. Perhaps the difference in reaction is rooted in a cultural difference. But I think it is also rooted in a lack of confidence of the adults in Singapore to use any other way to guide their children other than threats...
Anyway, mental note to self-- less threats, communicate more. I am aware my son is moving to a new chapter in life and old methods to communicate with him may not be feasible anymore. But still, I was surprised at his outburst and the very intricate thoughts that he had about the issue... Hope Ace feels better soon and learns to take things in his stride. Changes in the education climate here will take place I feel but will take time:) I think when I have a chance, I am going to ask him to list the things he like about school so that he can put his focus on happier things:)
And they were grouped 3 in a room... and he got assigned to his "favorite" boy in class... K, whom he totally dislikes. He says K is the naughtiest boy in his class and the only boy who can make his P3 teacher "hian toh" (flip the table).
"Chanting doesn't work, mummy.." Ace declared the moment he got home... And he told me he got assigned to be same room as K and another friend of his.
"I chanted so hard not to be in same room as K but I still got assigned to him..." Ace complained.
"Well, if you chanted hard and still got him as a room mate, must mean there is something good going on here.. maybe gohonzon wants to give you a chance to get to know him better.." I told him.
And my son, upon knowing that he is roomie with K, thinks that he will surely create trouble... went to 放话 to other people lor.. tsk tsk tsk.. like gangster like tat... He went to tell K that if he dares to create trouble for him during the trip, he will be so dead...
I told him it is not right to talk like that and threaten people since he doesnt like to be threatened too... Anyway, when I asked Ace what K did when Ace said that.. K just smiled at him lor.. someone who reacts this way to a threat cant be too bad.. should be quite a jovial relac fellow I think... Just tat maybe he creates trouble in school cos he is not given enough attention at home..
Interestingly, the next day, he came home and told me, "I think K is not so bad after all..today I had a chat with him.. he also likes to play games like me... he says he will bring his phone and he has this game I like and he will let me play...." 人是现实的lor.. now got game to play say pple not so bad.
"Anyway, the teacher said that she will give us her room number and so if K gets into any trouble, we should call her immediately.." Ace said.
I told him that if she says that... likely she arranged this way to put K with whom he thinks are good students that can have positive influence on K... Student leaders who can shine in this situation.
In my heart though, I wondered if she also chose Ace to be his roomie because she knows Ace is Mr Bao Toh Kiah... sure will keep an eye on him and tell on him if anything happens:) wahahahaha...
Anyway, Ace is still excited to be away and with his friends for one night lah...
That is him at 5.30am in the morning!:)
He is so excited to go on the trip but dad is just groggy still but dragged out to send Ace to school:)
And... after he has left on the bus, it means OUR HOLIDAY has started!
A night without Ace! How exciting!!!! :)
We went back to bed and zzz a little... and woke later.. for a surprise date...
Guess where did Max take me out for a date?:) Can you tell from this picture?
It is Hyatt!:) It seems that Hyatt always has these indoor water themes in their hotel.. Hyatt Dubai where we frequent for sushi also has very nice indoor garden:)
Anyway, Max brought me here for some high tea buffet... it comes with free flow champagne option too... I opted not to have alchohol and Max opted for the alchohol one:)
Since we were waiting for our drink.. time to camwhore:)
Someone always has to show off his watch when he takes pictures lor...
I wish they served sashimi and nothing more than tat:)
Comes with a high tea set... Actually the food is not bad but Max din tell me got this set so by time it came.. i was so so full:) The curry puff is very very good.. the rest.. just ok onli.. and can refill too:)
Someone was so drunk tat when he ate this macaroon, he thought it is strawberry flavor. He looked so surprise when I commented that this is his favorite, BANDUNG flavor!!!!!
Very nice ice cream.. looks nice but tasted ok onli...
You know ho drunk he is when he starts to try to drink the sugar syrup for my drink... Best part is.. 5 min later, when I showed him this picture, he asked me when did i take this picture.. how come he didnt know... hello, very obvious that he posed for this right????
After we finished the buffet, we went to walk around in Orchard lah.. wah lau, someone made me so malu when he danced in the middle of the crowded underpass...
Since we were in Orchard, we also went over to collect my wallet that I sent for repair..somehow, while we were having tea, he decided to make my wallet his MAN PURSE!
Then time to leave.. so one more pic at the hotel... This time round with nice lighting to give a different "feel"...
Next, we headed to this place with LIVE band.. and they sing Chinese songs too.. We tried to jio more pple to join us.. end up only two pax said they are free to come..
When we were seated, I was so intrigued by this ice cream like beer that I saw...
This table of girls ordered a whole table of them in different flavours..
So I ordered lychee flavoured one.... So cute right.. like ice cream or root beer float... But hor, I did not realize then tat actually we already tried this before in Dubai!
Once when we went to SUSHI to eat, the waitress suggested that we order this.. But it din look so cute and they did not give us so much "foam". This packaging and marketing makes this so much more interesting...
Boh liao selfie..
Our friends said not to order too much food and alchohol but Max went ahead and order lots of wine anyway.. sigh.. this man hor, dunno how to self control one.. know want to drink at night, day time shouldnt do the buffet with free flow champagne right.. if want to do free flow champagne, then night time dun drink lah.. so difficult to follow this logic meh??
So Mr I-Am-Not-Drunk-Wat reached home and fainted on bed.. totally concussed... yeah, right.. not drunk..
Anyway, the next day Ace came home and I asked him how was his trip. He said it was great!
In the end, he got to play big brother to K... wahahaha.. turns out that K does not like to bath. So Ace and the other roommate H had to , in Ace's words, "Keep motivating him to go and bath.."
I asked him how he did that. He said they quickly went to bath.. and then they will keep telling him.. go and bath now lah.. then you can play... go and bath now lah... then we can play.. go and bath now lah...
And K slowly inched into the bathroom. In the end, he went in and bathed with water, no soap.. and did not wash his hair... Wahahahaa.. I laughed when I heard this because I told Ace now he understands how I feel when I have to keep nagging him to do something:)
And then leh, because they anticipated that they will take a long time to ask him to bath and they do not want to be late the next day as they need to be downstairs having breakfast at 6 plus, the two boys set alarm to wake at 5.30am and bath first so that K has all the time in the world to dilly dally...
Interesting thing is leh, Ace said his room slept quite early... the others in other rooms were busy playing and even sent people to 把风at the door and so they played and played and all went to bed very late..
Good to know he is disciplined when we are not around lah.
Actually I think I should give me and Max a pat on the back also... Cos even though the teachers say they will give us updates and we did not receive any, we did not get too overtly worried:) haha:) No news is good news mah:)
The most important thing is that Ace says he enjoyed the trip very much. But when asked about which is his favorite part of the trip, he says it is SLEEPING IN THE HOTEL! Wahahahaah... so much so for cultural exposure!:)
Some time back, I recieved a call from Ace's form teacher, Mrs R.
She said that Ace has been selected to be featured in their 80th Anniversary booklet and asked for my permission to use his photos. I gave my permission and she asked me to make sure Ace went to school in nice clothes on the following Monday.
She said that he has been selected but leh, there is a chance they may not use his picture too.. so I said ok.
We did not have time to bring him for a haircut.. so I just made sure he dressed nice.
When he returned home that day, I asked him how was the photoshoot. He said it was ok and that he had to carry some science equipment for the shoot.
A few weeks later, when I went to pick him up in school, his classmates kept telling me about Ace appearing on a poster... and I was wondering what poster but did not think much of it. Cos in my mind, his pictures will only be used in some booklet...
Then a few days after that, Ace mentioned that his friends kept teasing him about appearing on the poster... and then I asked him what poster he is talking about.
Turned out that someone was featured in this banner that they had tied in front of the school gate. The funny thing is, I have seen this banner and read the headline.. but as I never thought Ace will appear in it, I never took a good look at the banner and never realized that my son is inside the banner!:) wahahahaha
So leh, I decided to walk to school one day and take picture of the banner and here it is:)
The korean boy look.. dishevelled hair and mysterious smile... You know why he smile like this? Cos his teeth black black.. wahahaha.. lucky it got cleaned up when he went to see the dentist in school the other day.
And so leh, this is how I became 星妈:) I am now thinking whether to buy the anniversary booklet cos I dunno whether got his face:)
Max went out for dinner with friends and someone suggested Punngol Settlement.. he said the food there is not bad and so he said he will bring us there one day..
Saw a large caterpillar hanging in the air when walking around....
Went to the part of the settlement that had chalets and horses for you to ride.. there is an indian restaurant there and the food is not too bad... But we are still determined to find good gobi manchurian in the east.. cos we cannot be driving all the way to Punggol every time Ace has a gobi manchurian craving right?:P haha..
After the meal, we took a walk around.. there was a little pond there and there were many tortoises and turtles there..
I wonder who this one got there.. and whether he can get down but himself.. and whether he was trying to get a suntan:) ahahaha
He looked like he is doing sun salutation...
Wanted to take a longer walk... but the sky turned dark...
And then grey...
Max says a storm is coming soon and I am just amazed these people are still fishing:)
ANyway, since it was getting dark, we gave up our plan to walk around and instead, made our way to Yeye's house to visit him...
Well, I think we will try to come again and next time, perhaps Ace can bring along his swing scooter too:)
The kids these days are sooooooooooooooooooooooooo lucky...
Ace came home the other day and told me that the school will be bringing them to malacca for a two day one night trip for cultural exposure. Best part about this is that the school will pay for half of it.. and they can pay for the other half using edusave!:)
But that brought about a problem for Ace.
He was told by his form teacher that they will be allowed to choose room mates.. Likely they will be grouped, two to a room and so, his classmates started pairing up with each other.
Ace wanted to pay with J but even though J did not have a partner, he did not want to pair with Ace. So Ace tried asking other people but everyone else had someone they already wanted to partner and so they couldn't partner him...
Ace was really upset and came home to tell me about it...
"Mummy, no one wants to be my partner..." he complained to me. And he went on to become really upset about that... he says no one in school likes him and so he must be stupid.
I told him that if he already had someone to partner with and someone else came along, he has to say no to that person what.. cos e already promised his friend to partner him... so maybe that is why his friends said no to him.. may not be that he is no good...
Also, I highlighted to him that perhaps he can widen his friends circle instead of hanging around with and merely playing with those few boys that he talks about often.. There are more people he can ask if he has more friends...
But he was determined to play victim and went on to tell me how people often laughed at him in school. "But don't you like it when pple laugh? you said your ambition is to become class clown and you always do alot of silly things just to get people to laugh mah..." I asked him.
He insisted that those people are not laughing with him but laughing at him... and then he went on to complain about how bad he is doing for chinese and how people always laugh at him for doing badly and how he does not have an exclusive best friend.
I hugged him as he cried and whined... and waited for him to calm down..
I reminded him that being bad in studies is something that can be overcome with some effort and work. It is not the end of the world and if someone laughs at you for doing something badly, perhaps it is time to rethink if this person is really a good friend. I know I will not laugh at my good friends in this way..
Besides, I also told Ace he needed to be patient in looking for a best friend lah... You dun find besties in school in primary school all the time... I only found all my best friends from secondary school onwards... in fact, most of the friends I am close to now that I consider my best friends, I met only when I started working:) hahahaha
Any way, I was quite certain the teacher will plan the rooms and that they will not get to choose roommates... But Ace thinks otherwise..
I told him in that in whichever case, he should just chant hard to gohonzon. Gohonzon will plan for the best roomie for him which will either help him learn something or give him an enjoyable time... As long as he chants and trust gohonzon, he will be given a great room mate!:) And so Ace says ok.. he will chant for a room mate.
Few days later, he returned home and said his teacher said that they will be put three in a room and they will not be allowed to choose roomies... The guy J who wanted to room with someone else suddenly changed his mind and wanted to room with Ace and then Ace started chanting hard that he will not get to room with H, the boy he liked least in his class.. hahaha...
Oh well, I reminded Ace, what you fear, you actually attract... good luck, son!:) haha..
The other day, Ace came home and told us that Mr X, his Chinese teacher said he is going to play soccer with Max...
Turns out that Max's soccer kaki for his Thursday group... are mostly teachers teaching in various schools. He saw one of them near Ace's school one day and one thing lead to the other and we eventually discovered that Ace's Chinese teacher is one of those who plays soccer with Max too ;)
Max checked the list of players for the day and told Ace, "I don't see your teacher's name leh.."
Ad so Ace said he is going back to ask his teacher the next day..
Turns out that he REALLY was going cos on Thursday, Max recieved a updated list with Mr X's name.
When Max came home that day after soccer, he asked Ace in a teasing voice.. "Do you want to know what Mr X said about you??"
Ace was fiddling around with his phone and he shrugged his shoulder and said coldly, "I don't care..."
"You really don't want to know..." his dad continued to tease him...
"I don't care.." continued Ace, while stealing glances at his dad and looking a little nervous..
"You really really don't want to know??" His dad taunted him... "OK, then I will tell mummy after you go to bed! Haha!"
"Nooooooo... I want to know.... I was just trying to do reverse psychology!!!" Ace finally caved in. Wahahahaha..
Chey, want to try reverse psychology on 千年老妖like us? Try harder lah.. You forgot we have almost 30 years headstart compared to you wor... hahahahaha...
So Max said he had a chat with Mr X after the game and what he shared with us kind of surprised us a little. Even though I have been saying Ace is like a kid who doesnt grow up and can play with children of all ages.. even toddlers... Mr X told us that he actually finds Ace quite mature for his age and that he is more mature than most of the kids in his class:) Hahahaha..
Also, he told us that Ace has improved tremendously and has been trying and working very hard in class.. sometimes trying a little too hard.. ;) Ok lah, this one is not much of a surprise... All along, Ace has a desire to learn and always gives his best when in school... Cant say the same for him at home but at school, he has consistently shown to be trying his best according to his teachers.
Another thing that surprised us is that Mr X asked if Ace speaks hokkien at home.. Max told him that Ace barely can speak any hokkien except for jiak pah buay... Apparently, Ace has picked up the language from his classmates and will use it sparingly in his conversation with them..
Eg, Ace told me that his VP in school is nicknamed MRT because he is Mr Tan. MR- T.. geddit? So when he is coming, the boys will say "MRT lai liao!"
Hahaha... ok lah, at least we din hear complains from his teacher: ) wahahaha..
The memory of the lethargy that came with a 9 hour journey to see him one last time was fresh in our mind. We wondered if we should go to town and send him off.
In the end, we decided we should. It feels right to do so somehow and I was determined to stop crying and send him off with a bright smile.
Bright and early on Sunday morning, we woke and the first thing to decide was.. what do we wear?:P hahaha..
I told Max I have decided to wear white because it is a 喜丧and I wanted to send LKY off with a smile. Max, who was initially quite determined to wear black to support tat wear black movement decided last minute that he will wear white with me too.
Alas, I did not have any white plain tshirt and so settled for my off white cream colored one.
"If Ace doenst have a white t shirt, we can buy when we go to Suntec later.." Max said.
I digged through Ace's drawer filled with tshirts.. most of them had large, colorful prints on them. I then came across his I LOVE SG shirt and decided... this will be it. It has WHITE, BLACK and RED with a heart and the message is apt. So Ace wore his I LOVE SG shirt.
We made our way to Suntec to have breakfast with Uncle Vincent as we arranged to meet him there. After we parked our car and started walking towards mac donalds, I noticed that most of the people hanging around and having breakfast are in mourning colors of black or white. Many were families with children.
While we were eating, it started to rain... I prayed in my heart that the rain will stop.... We checked our mobile phones for updates from friends and family who are volunteering to give our flags today...
My sister messaged me and asked if I wanted to go to her house afterward. "We can watch the funeral procession and cry together lah.." she added. I said OK and asked if she could prepare our lunch and she agreed.
At around 11am, we decided that we had better made our move... our plan was to get to the bridge that spans along esplanade....
While walking towards the exit of Suntec, we passed by many shops. I noticed that most of the shop assistants were wearing mourning colours too. Even GIANT had their cashiers wearing BLACK instead of their usual yelow.
Even the mannequins in Giordano were dressed up in white and black..
When we arrived at the exit, it was raining rather heavily. But we decided to make or way to the esplanade via all the underground links... Everyone around us was dressed in black or white.. it seemed a little strange to see the crowd in town move about with quiet sense of purpose and all dressed in sombre colours...
When we got to the esplanade, it was still raining rather heavily.. we contemplated if we should take an mrt and wait along Shenton Way. Just as we were deciding, the rain became smaller and came almost to a stop... so we decided to walk to the bridge area..
When we walked over, someone told us that the casket will be passing by the opposite lane.. and so, we decided to walk over to the opposite lane.. There were so many people there and ... 大家扶老携幼。 Some brought their parents... some brought their young children...
By the time we were across the road, the rain came to a miraculous stop!
We picked a spot that will allow us to see both the casket and turn around to see not just Singapore River but also a little of what is going on at the Padang area..
The family standing in the first row had been here in since 9am in the morning and had already braved one round of rain... that is why they are all wet...
As we stood there, the sky started to get dark again... Then it started to drizzle...
We wondered if the rain will stop in time and I started chanting in my heart for the rain to stop...
Max said that his friend from the Navy who was involved in the Navy Sailpast sent him a photo indicating that the sea state out at sea is not very good...
But we were still hopeful the rain will stop...
The rain got bigger. As we were waiting, Ace got a little bored and started playing with the rain... and then he started chanting, "Rain! Rain! Rain!"
I chided him lightly and said.. "Aiyoh, dun wish for rain lah. so many old folks and children here... and if it rains, it will be difficult for all the people who are going to walk along him in the procession too... we should pray for the rain to stop..."
Alas, seems like Ace's prediction was going to come true.. as we approached 12.30pm, the rain started to get heavier and heavier, we started to get colder and colder. Our shirts got wet, our pants got wet, even the pockets of my backpack was accumulating water...
At this point, we suddenly noticed some fog near the buildings... That is a rare sight here in Singapore.. thought it is common in Dubai when the seasons change... Max says this is a sign that it is for sure going to rain heavily soon...
As the rain got bigger, more people joined us on the bridge, everyone moved to make way for more people.... "Come, move in move in.. let the uncle come in.." Another uncle told his children.. in bid to make more space for this uncle in his 60s who is here in the pouring rain with his son..
Another family brought along a very young kid maybe about a few years old.. "Do you want an umbrella for your kid? We have extra here.." The kind uncle who asked his children to move in asked...
Turned out they already have an umbrella.. but the mother of the kid said they brought their flag and so they made way for her to move to the front so she could tie up her flag in front...
Another uncle took out some Singapore flags he recieved while he made his way here and was giving them out to other people.. "Do you want?" he asked repeatedly...
We huddled together, held our umbrellas high and try to shield each other from the pouring rain... It did not matter if we were not friends. We were Singaporeans....
Much as I will like to take photo of the crowd, it got so wet it was difficult to take out my phone after this..
Ace said he was very cold.. so I hugged him closer...
While I prayed for the rain to stop, I couldnt help but notice that the rain seemed to be in accordance to the grief I was feeling in my heart. When a large wave of sadness overcome me, the rain will get heavier... as I digested that and moved on to a calmer state, the rain will get smaller... so the rain was heavier, smaller, heavier.. and then it just started POURING...
We are somewhere out there...
We wondered if the procession was going to continue in this torrential rain... we wondered if they will do the Missing Man Formation fly past...
A group of students came on the bridged and were lined at both sides of the road.. "It must mean it is going to go ahead if they are placing these students here.." Max said..
I really pity the students as the rain was super heavy by now... and all they had was this flimsy plastic poncho.. But no one is complaining.. they are dutifully stood by the places. I am sure they must have volunteered to be here and were determined to carry out their task at hand no matter what happened..
Around 12.25, our friend, Vincent took out his phone and logged on to CNA so that we could catch the LIVE coverage... He was the only source of info as most people around us were unable to connect to CNA... he turned his phone around and we all turned around to watch his phone..
I started tearing at the sight of the casket on the screen... It seems, the procession is going to go on for sure...
"They started.." I tried to share the info with the people around me who could not see the small screen of the Samsung phone..
"The procession is starting and they only provided an umbrella for his picture.. Lee Hsien Loong and family are going to follow the casket in the rain... "
I started tearing again as they walked out of Parliament House the pouring rain, totally drenched... It seemed the heavens was also crying along with us...
"They are moving towards the Padang now and the crowd is shouting Lee Kwan Yew, Lee Kwan Yew..." I continued my updates for the ladies in front of me..
Then at this moment, we heard the drone of airplanes flying past... They flew! I couldnt see the planes clearly because of the thick clouds.. But I saw them fly bast... I started crying at how these brave men still flew despite the dangers and the fog. In my heart.. I was just going.. "They flew! They flew!" Tears cannot stop pouring out...
As LKY's casket moved past the Padang, the cannons started going off....
Max suddenly looked up and me and told me, "He is coming..." Ah Gong lai liao...
"He is coming.. he is coming.." everyone whispered to each other...
The kind uncle asked his family to keep their umbrellas.. "We are all wet anyway.. remove the umbrellas so that everyone can see... our whole section along the bridge followed suit..
Uncle turned around and saw Ace and asked if he wanted to come to the front.. he squeezed and made space for Ace so that he can see clearly...
"Remember, Yuanru, bright smile to see Ah Gong off.." I reminded myself.
But when his casket finally appeared... all I could do was wave... and CRY.... All the things I wanted to say just disappeared. I was lost for words and all I could do was cry... and then, I gave him one last salute.... I was just so sad to see him go...
Now, the task at hand was to try to get home as soon as possible to catch his funeral at NUS which was starting at 2pm. By the time we made our way to our car, it was already one plus. We tuned in to the radio and they were announcing who was arriving at the service..
Thanks to the internet, we managed to catch PM Lee's speech in the car via CNA website. We had to go home to bath and change...
I asked Ace in between how what he did as the casket drove past him. He said, "I said to Mr Lee in my heart.. thank you very very very very much... and then I took off my cap to salute him..."Ace said.
"I teared and saluted to him too.." said Max.
Moment we reached home, we turned on the TV and then we took off our wet clothes and continued to have our eyes glued onto the TV while we took turns to bath..
By the time President Tony Tan has finished his speech, we were done bathing and we quickly turned on the CNA website live feed, left the house and made way to my sister's house.
On the road, we were listening to the speeches and I couldnt help but notice that there were really not many cars on the road except taxis and buses. Seems to us that everyone stayed at home to catch the funeral on TV.
We reached our destination and watched the eulogies while we had our lunch for by then, it was already 3 plus in the afternoon.
Finally, they announced that Lee Hsien Yang will be giving his eulogy.. that is it.. the last eulogy. This ceremony was coming to an end. The man gave a moving eulogy about his father and then, it was time to end the ceremony....
They put a wreath in front of LKY's picture.. one by the PM, one my the President.. and an officer blew the bugle....
The island wide sirens sounded.. it was time to end the ceremony with the Pledge and the singing of Majulah Singapura!
My tears were flowing, my lips were trembling.. I was barely able to make out the words of our National Pledge... I have never felt so strongly about the pledge as I said it..
We, the citizens of Singapore,
pledge ourselves as one united people,
regardless of race, language or religion,
to build a democratic society
based on justice and equality
so as to achieve happiness, prosperity and
progress for our nation.
By the time we started singing the National Anthem, I was a complete wreck...
And then... the whole ceremony ended.. our week of grieving ended... and there in my heart was now this gaping hole like something was missing...
But I reminded myself that he was not missing.. he is there in our hearts and in everywhere in Singapore when we turn around to look at all the beautiful scenery around us... he is there as we read and write, as we blog, as we complain too ;)
Once and again, for the very last time, #ThankyouLKY...
