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Thursday, August 28
i-not-silly 3:33 AMWednesday morning I witnessed a sight which set me thinking about how Singaporean parents bring up their children. We were at the Dutch Bakery, a quaint old-lady styled coffee shop which served both pretty-looking and pretty-tasty pastries and cakes.
There was a lady with 3 very young children seated near us, and I couldn’t help but eavesdrop on what Mummy said to her kids. It was all interesting and intriguing because it is definitely in stark contrast to what we always hear in Singapore, the incessant booming of “See la! Tell you not to run you still run!” and “Boy ah! I say don’t go there, you don’t know how to listen is it?!” Instead, over here and in many other parts of the world, parents are so much more encouraging. Mummy said, “See, this is what happens when you are silly!” and smeared a little whipped cream on her nose, leaving her toddlers highly amused and entertained. But most importantly, she told them that it was always okay to be silly, that it was not the end of the world, and that it was important for one to always learn to laugh at himself.
Of course, cultural differences are never as simple to instill or learn, but this is really why many Singaporean children grow up to be risk-averse, to be afraid of failures, and to not manage themselves nor their expectations well.
xx
A random but interesting thing that happened to us, which my friends told me to blog about: we actually had to pay parking fines today in this foreign land! Apparently there was free parking till 9am along the street near our backpackers’ inn; thereafter the parking meter reactivates. Having only checked out at 11am, we had not remembered the time, and were issued a parking fine of CAD 20.
It wasn’t all that bad initially, but we thought we’d just head for breakfast before settling the fine. Little did we know that in Canada, there is a time limit for paying fines; 2 hours later, we were issued yet another ticket! Roar. But it was an experience indeed, and we definitely learned to laugh at ourselves for our silly mistake.
Okay, today's pictures from Victoria!
This hostel was full of "xiao3 hun4 hun4's"! But it was quite cosy, though we had to purchase wireless connection and it was really horrible. So we kept pacing around the room to find a hotspot where we wouldn't get dc. :S
Interesting quotes outside the Ocean Island Backpackers' Inn. I like the one on the right!
Dutch Bakery - look at the amazing display of cakes and pastries in the window, and the old-lady style interior.
City Hall, where we paid our fines.
Victoria Harbour
This is the "W" from "Welcome to Victoria", the whole line spans over a large area of the seawall!
Victoria's Parliament Building, and all the effects/angles to capture the beautiful clouds.
Campus Green, anyone?
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Winifred Lim
Arthur V Mauro Residence, Box 436B
120 Dafoe Road, Winnipeg, MB R3T 6B3
Canada
About me
You are an enthusiastic innovator, always seeing new possibilities and new ways of doing things. You have a lot of imagination and initiative for starting projects, and a lot of impulsive energy for carrying them out. You are stimulated by difficulties and are most ingenious in solving them. You can get so interested in your newest project that you have time for little else. Your energy comes from a succession of new enthusiasms and your world is full of possible projects. Your enthusiasm gets other people interested too.
Your feeling preference shows in a concern for people. You are skillful in handling people and often have remarkable insight into the possibilities and development of others. You are extremely perceptive about the attitudes of others, aiming to understand rather than judge people. You are much drawn to counseling and can be inspired and inspiring teacher, particularly where you have freedom to innovate. With talent, you can succeed in almost any field that captures your interest.
A difficulty for you is that you hate uninspired routine and find it remarkably hard to apply yourself to sometimes necessary detail unconnected with any major interest. Worse yet, you may get bored with your own projects as soon as the major problems have been solved or the initial challenge has been met. You may need to learn to follow through and finish what you have begun, but are happiest and most effective in jobs that permit one project after another, with somebody else taking over as soon as the situation is well in hand.
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