Bouncing in the Heartland

My little kingdom for today. Chaperoned my kids as they volunteered with Team Nila as human resources for a day at the Heartland Festival here in Woodlands Sports Centre. It's a sports-based carnival for the residents of the surrounding public housing neighbourhood, with lots of games, and an on-going performance within the white tentage in the upper middle of the photo. As I signed as a volunteer myself, I opted to run this trampoline fitness section, and play by ear from there. I initially thought I would be a carnival barker and draw in the crowd, but the job entailed crowd control instead with a never-ending line of eager children and their parents all waiting for their turn at bouncing along to the instructor's directions.

I really take my hat off to the instructor (I never asked her name) who bounced almost non-stop, leading batch after batch of mostly kids, although some adults also gamely bounced along to her improvised 5-minute set. Initially she was told that her set would be 15 minutes each, with breaks in between sets, but the young oysters came "thick and fast... and more, and more, and more". So she bounced from about 1630-2000 with only one short bio and hydration break. I had the comparatively easier job of keeping the lines orderly, ushering people to vacant trampolines, and adjusting handle-bar heights as appropriate. And I had 3 little girls (Alicia, Clarice and Yuki) helping me with crowd control and stamping of the participants' redemption coupons. Totally grateful for everyone helping out at my station.

The people were patient and cooperative as well, with not a Karen among them. The kids were kids, but they listened to safety instructions, and most did their best to follow the instructor. Some repeat customers even remembered the moves on their second and subsequent mini-sessions. No one protested the brevity of each session, and everyone seemed to understand that other people needed a turn too. I've done some other kinds of volunteer work that have caused me silent freak outs and panic attacks, but today's session was pleasant and even fun. 

'C' is for cookie

The wife's been busy baking up a storm of these almond cornflake cookies. Not for us, though. They're her contributions to a charity fundraiser. Who knows, maybe it's also a hint as to a whole new career direction for her?

Walk this way

Look at my gaggle of ducklings, taking a long morning stroll through the park for a good cause. For each kilometer walked, NTUC will donate a corresponding kilogram of rice to the needy per participant. In this annual Walk-for-Rice event, our planned route was 8km long (my GPS tracker counted 9.7km to be exact), so my little flock should have amassed 288kg of rice in total at least.

Personally, I've been training for this event. My asthma's been making a comeback so I figured I'd better not be unprepared. For the past week or so, I've been walking 4km twice a day around the neighbourhood. The exercise has been doing me a world of good. Since I started, I've been able to breathe again. The trade-off: a couple of awesome blisters from all that walking. Worth it, I guess.

Education: one-dimensional no longer, we hope

Schools really do have to de-emphasize academic achievement based on test and exam scores while giving non-academic activities a big boost.

Co-curricula activities (CCAs) hone talent in sport and aesthetics; and provide experience in service-oriented project tasks. Community involvement (if not done in a too-contrived manner) lets kids experience and participate in the real world away from their sheltered, blinkered lives on campus or at home.

If we're worried about the kids' employability think about this: academic certification only ascertains which league a person is eligible to play in, but it doesn't guarantee that he or she will be picked to play on a team. A company in the real world wants an employee who can cope in the real world. Those with talents in multiple fields have the most opportunities as they are those most sought after.

Kids gunning only for academic achievement, your certificate can only prove one and only one ability you have to offer: that you can take a whole year to reproduce a chunk of text from memory. Wow. I'm so impressed. Let me Google up who else can do the same thing in less time...

No worries, curry on!

The old folks of G-o-L were in fine form this evening. Usually, they're grateful just for what they get in one serving, but today their plates kept coming back into the kitchen with orders for more rice and porridge topped with curry gravy. It was almost like they knew the significance of the occasion: happy "Cook and share a pot of curry day"!

Among the cats

Two plush pups are what we brought back from our visit to Mdm Wong's Shelter for strays. Each plushie is worth a $10 donation towards the upkeep of the numerous dog and cat residents there.

We were supposed to partake in the open house tour this morning, but took a detour into the cattery before our group could even form up -- and spent our whole visit among the Purring Ones. The tour organizer must have wondered where his two prodigals had disappeared to.

I never knew cats could be so deprived of human affection. In every enclosure we entered, we were swarmed by cats rubbing up against our legs and meowing to be stroked and petted. No, they weren't after food or water 'cos they had that a-plenty in large plates already, just a friendly voice and a gentle hand to make them happy. And, boy, were our hands busy as cat after cat got its share of mussin' and fussin'.

A particular kitten in a cage was particularly memorable because it was so adorable. Bright-faced, striped on the back, and spotted on the belly, but sadly crippled in the hind legs. Such a feisty little monster, nonetheless, as it acted up for our attention, actually climbing the bars of his cage despite having back legs that wouldn't support it. Silly thing reached out and grabbed my finger when I wasn't looking. It sank a tiny, tiny claw beneath my skin, drawing a drop of blood. Is that cute, or what? With that kind of spirit, and Mdm Wong's care, I believe it'll regain the use of its legs again soon. Then the world better beware!

Thinking of swinging by again one of these weekends to drop off supplies and pay the inmates another visit. Any other animal-lovin' human being wanna make the trip to Pasir Ris with us?

Gifts of love

It was nice of the Sisters at Gift of Love to invite all their volunteers for a year-end thanksgiving mass and dinner. There were a lot of us gathered in one small compound (meaning their dining hall and driveway), but I suppose there must be a sizable number of us in order for each team to provide one meal a month to the aged residents there. That is, not counting breakfast, 60 meals per month based on a 30-day month average.

As always with the Sisters, the evening was a simple, no fuss event. Mass involved carol singing and communion from which I accepted the Celebrant's exhortation that "God loves you," in place of the host, since I'm not a baptized Catholic.

And for once, it was the Sisters who fed the volunteers. There were two stations of high-carb, high-protein, low veg dishes (I noticed) catered from Elsie's Kitchen. I wasn't in the mood for deep conversation with my fellow volunteers over dinner, and fortunately they didn't offer any, apart from a couple of seasonal complimentary greetings.

We ate while the residents slept. And among the beds, June went about distributing small Christmas gifts to each zoned-out elderly sleepy-head. We managed to scrape together a little something for the old folks, after all.

Book run gone west

Funny how the library keeps sending us to Jurong on our book delivery runs. We still can't get around without the help of our trusty street directory, but this time we didn't get lost.

First recipient refused delivery but instead suspended further deliveries because she had to study for her year-end exams. She might have called the library earlier, but we suspect it was her mom who made that decision for her. Anyway, we collected the books she was returning from the previous run so it wasn't an entirely wasted trip.

June went alone to meet the second recipient. I had to stay in the car because the parking lot was full. Never did get a lot. June found me where she'd left me. No other problems.

Two drops, run done!

No taste for the bitter

When June cooks, the animals usually crowd around her legs, mewing and making enough of a nuisance of themselves to be noticed and offered a taste of what's in the wok. Once in a while, Momo would take an impatient nip at an exposed ankle which would result in her summary ejection from the kitchen. Ms Teeth-and-claws would then spend her exile in my study where I am supposed to entertain her until the cooking's done.

This afternoon, June cooked in peace. The animals, they were minding their own business in the living room giving the kitchen a wide berth.  On the menu was yesterday's bittergourd fried up with mincemeat and dao chioh (a thick version of fermented soybean sauce)... nothing the animals recognised as food.

Can't say I'm a big fan of bittergourd either, so fortunately the dish wasn't for us. Packed with nutrients, June's culinary masterpiece was for the old folks we take food to once a month. To my surprise, it went down with them just fine, though out of the corner of my eye I spotted a couple of surreptitious food trades going on between some of our beneficiaries.

Meanwhile, M-i-L has taken receipt of our remaining stocks of bittergourd. I can just imagine what's on the menu for next week...!

Wake of a stranger

Attended the wake of a stranger. We didn't know her personally, but she was a fellow volunteer at Gift of Love who passed away suddenly over the last couple of days. From what we've been hearing, Mdm W Wong was there twice to three times a week cooking for the residents, shuttling the sisters around on their errands and driving the ambulance as the need arose. The hole she has left behind is a big one to fill.

But as the Father who led this morning's service did not present a eulogy, neither will I. Instead, like him, I will present my own homily. The circumstances surrounding Mdm W's passing were as such: she'd been complaining of severe pains in her stomach for some time, though she put off seeking medical advice. When the pain finally became unbearable, it was too late. As I understand the story, appendicitis killed her. Her passing was all the more tragic as it might have been avoided with a simple medical procedure, had she sought attention early enough.

Mdm W really did give her all to follow the command of "love your neighbour...", and if more of us did likewise, that could help us solve  a lot of our human social problems. But we also need to remember the follow up to this Mosaic injunction, "... as yourself" (Lev 19:18). Yes, it's good to place other's needs before our own, but if we aren't feeling well, we should love ourselves too, and break off helping others at least long enough to find out what's wrong first, fix the problem, then go back and continue helping others.

We people need to be needed. Being able to lend a hand, or to be depended upon for one thing or another is an uplifting experience, one we wish to continue experiencing. Whether it's bringing food to old folks or consulting worried students after class, it feels good to be able to fill that need and contribute to another person's well-being. But as volunteers and teachers, let's also be mindful of our physical and psychological health, and step back for a while as and when we are tired or sick. There will always be someone else that can fill in for us, so the choice is ours: do we want our position filled temporarily, or permanently?

Library calling

Book delivery day. We've been assigned the northbound run, which is great for us. Familiar recipients, everyone knows the drill, which makes today's run relatively painless.

Well, there was this one family that made us wait outside while the kids scrambled around the house looking for the front door key. After a frantic few minutes, Dad -- clad only in his boxers -- emerged from his lair, eyes half-open. He shambled over to unlock the door, muttered some unintelligible pleasantries, then headed straight back from whence he came.

Apart from that little drama horror story, everything else went fine. No navigation problems, no admin snafus. Yay! We're getting the hang of it!

Deliver-me fails to deliver

So much for our fifteen minutes of fame on Middle Eastern TV. Camera crew only arrived today and can only start filming this coming Tuesday. Some of us have to work for a living, so no go. Oh well.

Gift of fish

It's the third week and back to Gift of Love with a new dish to thrill the palates of the aged sick. Actually, it was all June's show today, cooking up a fish curry that drew rave reviews from the crowd. While she was soaking up the adoration, I was back at M2 feverishly grading essays in time for Term 2.

And that pretty sums up the events of this week. Usually, I find ways and means to make the most of the mid-term break. This week, however, was one agenda item after another and I still haven't got everything done that I needed to do.

I doubt I'm alone feeling like this. Everyone I know is scrambling for some deadline or another; everyone is thankful for the week's break because it's a fantastic opportunity to get work done without being interrupted by the normal workday chaos of term time.

Everybody, chorus with me, "I need a vacation...!" OK, enough self-indulgence. Back to work!

House calls

We continued the tradition of our quarterly library book delivery to the disabled folks in our community. Head office knows us by face and name already, so we were spared the usual rookie briefing. Destination: Woodlands.

Veterans we may be, but still making rookie mistakes. Navigation is always a problem. Turn left, turn right, go straight, didn't you see the arrow back there, where the h*ll are we now? Yep, those and the "I thought YOU had the checklist?" "No... didn't YOU hand it to the lady to sign at the last house?" "Oh, yeah. Crap." variety too.

One of our drops was to a minor celeb of sorts. He was the friend of another young disabled chap with MD featured on an episode of Life Transformers. We'll be getting a chance to appear on TV ourselves. Some Middle Eastern film crew wants to interview some of us volunteers, possibly next weekend. We'll see how that goes.

Josh and Jan hosted dinner for us. June wanted to learn some Thai cuisine from Jan and together they whipped up a creditable green curry, prawn tom yum, stir-fried mixed veg combo. Mango sticky-rice for dessert. Jan's a good teacher, June's a good student and their hubbies are becoming quite well-rounded as a result.

While the ladies were busy in the kitchen Josh and I rented Tropic Thunder to entertain ourselves with. It's quite a work of metafiction being a film about a film with a character actor, a method actor and a clown cast as the main stars of the film within the film. Amidst the action and things blowing up, there are lots of commentaries about film genres, acting styles, and a behind-the-scenes look at the dirty business that goes on behind a Hollywood blockbuster production. Loads of fun to watch.

But I am kinda' regretful renting it too because with its profanity-rich dialogue, I'm pretty sure Josh's house has never endured such colourful language since they moved in. Wouldn't be surprised if he's put "spiritual cleansing" on his to-do list for tomorrow.

"I will feed him"

This being the third Sunday of the month, June cooks up a chix curry for the old folks at Gift of Love and I provide transport. Still haven't quite warmed up to conversation with them yet...

Pickles in hand

Thanks to Jen, we've started on a programme joining her and her family to cook and deliver a dinner dish to the residents of the Gift of Love Home every third Sunday of the month. June whipped up a chix stew cooked according to a fairly standard recipe which we then transported over to join with the other volunteers' dishes for a residents' pot-luck.

The home is for the destitute elderly, many of whom are wheelchair-bound. At five o'clock sharp with everyone arranged at their tables, the dinner-bell sounded, everyone recited grace and immediately got on to the business of eating. Although we were encouraged to engage the residents in light dinner conversation, I being such a terrible conversationalist was ever so grateful to be handed a container of achar (mixed shredded pickles) and told to just serve.

In less than a half hour, dinner was over, the crockery and cutlery were washed, tables cleared and wiped down, the floor was mopped and disinfected, and the residents had moved off to whatever programme was awaiting them next.

For us, "next" was dinner with our families. Which is kinda' sad 'cos the people we'd just served don't themselves have family to go back to. That's why they're here.

Book run to the Cheshire Home

Today's Library delivery run took us to the Singapore Cheshire Home. For once we were assigned to a single one-stop address. Though that sounds more convenient, it was actually a bit more difficult because once we arrived, we had to locate the individual recipients and then figure out a system to keep track of our disbursements and collections when more than one came to find us at about the same time. Communication wasn't easy either -- some of them were barely audible because of their disabilities.

The residents have a mixed bag of disabilities. Most are wheelchair-bound, some needing help to wheel them around the place. They vary in age-range, from teenagers to the elderly. It wasn't even possible to guess who was requesting which books until we met them personally. One young fellow was quite taken by a book about tattoos in his pile and soon became absorbed in choosing a design for himself, quite determined to get one as soon as he was able. An older gentleman turned down a pair of Chinese classics, though initially we couldn't understand why. Then it became face-palmingly obvious: the books were too heavy for his atrophied hands and the words were too small for him to read. We went looking around for a little kid who ordered a set of primary readers, but he eventually turned out to be an elderly lady who wanted to learn English through reading kids' books.

Quite a bit of feedback for the NLB then, especially to the staff helping to choose books for the next delivery. Hope they can read the scribbled comments I left for them in the feedback form.

Choice of company

It's been a week of alternating between official duties and exploring Ferelden, chasing every quest and sub-quest via my Warrior and her all-woman party. Freud might have something to say about my choice of adventuring company, but I just think it's more badass to have a bunch of girls kick macho male enemy butt. Besides, the male characters I could opt to play with have boring personalities. Two won't talk to me 'cos they're, like, strong silent types; one's a whiner; one's a sleazebag; and the last is a drunk who prefers to belch then fall down and mumble incoherently rather than have a proper conversation. Typical.

So, tonight's dinner with Jen put a temporary end to a week of partially self-imposed near social isolation from real people. Our dinner programme began at 1500 at her workplace where, in an effort to get ourselves at least contributing to society in some little way, we stuffed envelopes with appeal cards for pledges and donations to the organization she represents. We had lots of help: about 70 kids of mixed nationalities (someone remarked it was like the UN) had descended to tour the place, lend a hand with the mailers; and interact and play games with the residents.

In a sense, the residents were helping the visitors out more because the latter had to have some kind of community involvement as part of their training, and the former were happy to oblige. Anyway, we all worked furiously to prepare as many envelopes as possible for mailing. The kids were boisterous and playful, but still got the job done without too much distraction. And when everyone went outdoors to play, both residents and visitors clearly had great fun with each other. We old-timers stood on the sidelines, nodding sagely at the proceedings while ducking the occasional stray dodge ball carelessly cast in our general direction.

Later at dinner proper, it was finally down to Jen, June and me in serious conversation over nachos, salad and pasta. "Serious", as in the adult, mature sense rather than giggly hee hee ha ha sense. Basically just to catch up and see how we've been faring since we last met, oh... months ago.

I really need to get out more.

Smooth delivery

Today's NLB book run took us East when usually we get dispatched West. The first recipient was a congenial, elderly fellow who spoke Mandarin. Fortunately, I had June with me to translate and complete the admin which involved checking the inventory of books received and returned, and signing off in the appropriate space provided.

The second was a nice elderly lady who lived in a huge piece of landed property, beautifully done up resort-style. The help packed in the big guard dog but we got to introduce ourselves to the little pomeranian who lived indoors. Here we had another smooth delivery, and for our pains she gave us some ice-cold chrysanthemum tea, a box of Rocher, and a 'thank you' card. The card we'll forward to the NLB folks in charge of us volunteers, the chocs... well, we'll leave our options open.

Good run today. Lunch at No. 49 Katong Laksa to reward ourselves for a job well done.

The blurness of strangers

Made an NLB book run with June. Once again, they had people taking care of the North so our assignment was three locations in Jurong West.

The first drop was almost rejected outright. Apparently, the girl had asked for DVDs but we only had books in our bag for her. The second was to a blind lady with kids. She had asked for audio books, but as far as I could tell, there were both normal books and a few kids' CD-ROMs in her bag. Fine, her kids could use the CD-ROMs and someone could read the books to her, but no audio books like she had asked for? Our last drop was to a kid who selected three books out of the eight we had brought for him. He seemed to only like sports-related materials but had no idea what to do with the Photoshop manuals and novels that were also in his bag.

Three drops, three problems. NLB needs to establish better, or perhaps more specific communications with their disabled clientele. Perhaps next time we could teach them to use CARL for locating specific materials that they would want rather than rely on the blurness of strangers to make choices for them.

Er... no, we didn't choose the books, they were already pre-packed for delivery, in case you're wondering.