So I guess everyone knows by now I'm putting up at my aunt's place at Bishan. How am I adjusting? Beautifully I must say. I think part of thereason why everything has been seemless is that my aunt's family is a modern, but traditional and chinese family. It's funny, but chinese families seem to welcome relatives a lot more with arms wide open. Strange but true.

Wanna know why I speak like I do with Hokkien and Chinese all over the shop? Actually it's a choice. Back in Secondary School I couldn't speak a proper sentence of Chinese. I took my PSLE higher chinese and I sucked at it so bad that I only managed to pass. In secondary school when I got B3 I thought I struck toto. I was doing theatre and everyone spoke English.

So how oh how did my verbal skills deteriorate to such an extent? Well, depends how you look at it, I dun think that it's a step back. I realised in Poly that good linguistics must include being able to converse at a level that can be easily understood. English can sometimes give a very patronizing feel whereas Chinese and Hokkien can be so much more qing1 qie4.

And so I speak Chinese all the time now at my aunt's house. You know the best part of it all? I realised I can really talk to my aunt. Actually I dun tok much, but rather I listen to my aunt. I dunno, must be the lack of a parent for too long, I enjoy listening to her tell stories. I think she enjoys telling them too because her family members are always so busy, so she hardly gets to talk, and I mean really talk to them.

My aunt is such an incredibly simple person, her life revolves around taking care of her family. The house is spotless, the clothes are washed and pressed daily and she makes sure there is fantastic food sitting on the table for every meal. Yet, when she tells her stories, there is such warmth and enthusiasm in her voice, like finally she found someone she could talk to. I enjoy being there just to listen to her stories, which are actually all very simple stories like bargaining with the butcher or dealing with an errant cousin of mine. Yet these stories kinda just fill me with warmth in a way I can't describe.

So now my favourite night time routine is to go to the kitchen and geh keh find some bread(truth is I need it lah, dunno why since I move in 12 plus I always damn hungry...), then my aunt will come by and she will tell me not to eat plain bread then take out ham lah cheese lah and make a sandwich for me. Then we will sit there in the kitchen and just talk. It's... nice.

I guess the point of all my rambling is I guess we're all lucky to have family with us. Treasure them. Try it, someday just try to watch tv or something with the family and just tok cock... It's like a forgotten past time in our outrageously packed lives. Also, try it in Chinese, somehow it's more qing qie...

Blue_Nanchakus