Tired but fulfilled...
Well, so this morning Peiwen and I cabbed it down to the Cheshire Home for the Severely Disabled (yes, cabbing has become my favourite form of transportation next to Daddy's Taxi Service.) and spoke to Joanne, the volunteer coordinator there.
Good news: Kailuo is to teach Veeki, a 16 year-old Normal Technical resident of said home, Sec 3 Math. Once weekly, on Saturdays from 10 to 11.
Bad news: KAILUO is to teach Veeki, a 16 year-old Normal Technical resident of said home, Sec 3 MATH. Once weekly, on Saturdays from TEN to eleven.
Both statements are identical, kinda. BUT! Note the different focus in both statements. Haha. The next paragraph will take my loyal reader into trying to analyse the different emphasis placed on the different words.
Firstly, KAILUO in the second statement was meant to be emphasised. Picture this scene early this afternoon, in Joanne's office after she'd handed PW and me Veeki's school books and left the room.
KL: Eh, how ah... MATHS leh.. MATHS leh...
PW: Uhm.. you want me to ask my father to tutor you so you can tutor this boy?
KL: Huh.. let's see..what is.. a perfect square huh? How to complete huh?
PW: (frantically searching for pen and paper in her bag, and finally coming upon them) YES! Now we can try out the questions ourselves... see if we remember.
~ 5 Minutes later ~
KL and PW: (scratching heads) ..............................
Okie, maybe that analyses the second emphasis also. On the word MATH.
Third emphasis was on the TIME. TEN to eleven. Now, let's work back.. to reach Cheshire Home at 10, fresh and with extra time (for prayer and to freshen up after the walk), I canNOT wake up at ... sigh. At eleven/twelve anymore in the near future. As I've been doing for many a day during the hols. Well, looking on the bright side.. I won't ever be late for worship practice in the future too.
Well besides talking to Joanne and puzzling over Sec 3 Maths books, we also talked to Zainal, one of the residents at the home. He's perfectly normal intellectually and can hold a conversation with us for hours, although I have to admit, it kinda gets stressing when one has to strain over and sometimes try to decipher what he says. Cos admittedly his motor skills aren't that good. But hey, this guy is a brilliant conversationist - AND a lady killer to boot! =p
Check this out. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out not one, not two, not even three, but about half a dozen (!!!) A6 sized notebook, all scribbled with names of the people he's made the acquaintance of. And about 9/10 of them are female names! So PW and I got a voyeuristic glimpse into the lives and thoughts of "Louisa Meimei" or "Leah Aku"... as they wrote down their addresses, birthdates, and described the joy they'd felt upon meeting Zainal. Seriously.. this guy is ... POWERFUL.
At first, of course, other than thinking him the brilliant conversationalist and sweet talker he is, I was of the opinion that Zainal was a bit too much of a flirt. After all, in just this one day, we posted for him 2 letters (and there were 2 more, oh-ho) from him to 4 of his "mei-mei's"!!!!
But after a while.. I realised. Hey, this guy isn't a flirt. He isn't desperate... at least not for female company, like many of his male counterparts in the society are. He's just desperate for LOVE. Any form of care, concern, or love.. any form of long-term relationship or company. That was why he clung so frantically to the volunteers that'd come, and asked them so much about their particulars.. he just wants a friend, someone who he knows will never leave him in the home and go about doing their mundane, everyday business in their everyday lives. He wants to know details about people out there, people outside the home, not purely because he's kaypoh or wants a nice "mei-mei" to boast about to gullible people like PW and I.. he really wants a FRIEND that he can write to, that'll write back to him, that'll come and visit him and never forget him.
Sometimes I really wonder.. if the residents of such homes hate the volunteers who go there once, twice, three times maybe - and bring them so much joy and happiness - and then just withdraw? This is really not a personal attack upon anyone who's done that - I never meant to. There're only 24 hours to a day and each and everyone of us is busy. =) It's just a random question, one I just thought of. Afterall, by doing that, we're giving them a glimpse of blessings, hope, that they might never have - and then cruelly snatching it all away again. Or ARE we doing that, by volunteering? Alternatively, is it better, as was once said (in an Andy Lau watch advertisement, no less) - to have and to possess once, and then to lose something, rather than to NEVER have possessed that thing?
Yup, I'm aware that's a terrible translation. But bear with me, my Chinese sucks. (More than my Maths)
Sigh. How much he needs Jesus. How much we ALL need Jesus.
Good news: Kailuo is to teach Veeki, a 16 year-old Normal Technical resident of said home, Sec 3 Math. Once weekly, on Saturdays from 10 to 11.
Bad news: KAILUO is to teach Veeki, a 16 year-old Normal Technical resident of said home, Sec 3 MATH. Once weekly, on Saturdays from TEN to eleven.
Both statements are identical, kinda. BUT! Note the different focus in both statements. Haha. The next paragraph will take my loyal reader into trying to analyse the different emphasis placed on the different words.
Firstly, KAILUO in the second statement was meant to be emphasised. Picture this scene early this afternoon, in Joanne's office after she'd handed PW and me Veeki's school books and left the room.
KL: Eh, how ah... MATHS leh.. MATHS leh...
PW: Uhm.. you want me to ask my father to tutor you so you can tutor this boy?
KL: Huh.. let's see..what is.. a perfect square huh? How to complete huh?
PW: (frantically searching for pen and paper in her bag, and finally coming upon them) YES! Now we can try out the questions ourselves... see if we remember.
~ 5 Minutes later ~
KL and PW: (scratching heads) ..............................
Okie, maybe that analyses the second emphasis also. On the word MATH.
Third emphasis was on the TIME. TEN to eleven. Now, let's work back.. to reach Cheshire Home at 10, fresh and with extra time (for prayer and to freshen up after the walk), I canNOT wake up at ... sigh. At eleven/twelve anymore in the near future. As I've been doing for many a day during the hols. Well, looking on the bright side.. I won't ever be late for worship practice in the future too.
Well besides talking to Joanne and puzzling over Sec 3 Maths books, we also talked to Zainal, one of the residents at the home. He's perfectly normal intellectually and can hold a conversation with us for hours, although I have to admit, it kinda gets stressing when one has to strain over and sometimes try to decipher what he says. Cos admittedly his motor skills aren't that good. But hey, this guy is a brilliant conversationist - AND a lady killer to boot! =p
Check this out. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out not one, not two, not even three, but about half a dozen (!!!) A6 sized notebook, all scribbled with names of the people he's made the acquaintance of. And about 9/10 of them are female names! So PW and I got a voyeuristic glimpse into the lives and thoughts of "Louisa Meimei" or "Leah Aku"... as they wrote down their addresses, birthdates, and described the joy they'd felt upon meeting Zainal. Seriously.. this guy is ... POWERFUL.
At first, of course, other than thinking him the brilliant conversationalist and sweet talker he is, I was of the opinion that Zainal was a bit too much of a flirt. After all, in just this one day, we posted for him 2 letters (and there were 2 more, oh-ho) from him to 4 of his "mei-mei's"!!!!
But after a while.. I realised. Hey, this guy isn't a flirt. He isn't desperate... at least not for female company, like many of his male counterparts in the society are. He's just desperate for LOVE. Any form of care, concern, or love.. any form of long-term relationship or company. That was why he clung so frantically to the volunteers that'd come, and asked them so much about their particulars.. he just wants a friend, someone who he knows will never leave him in the home and go about doing their mundane, everyday business in their everyday lives. He wants to know details about people out there, people outside the home, not purely because he's kaypoh or wants a nice "mei-mei" to boast about to gullible people like PW and I.. he really wants a FRIEND that he can write to, that'll write back to him, that'll come and visit him and never forget him.
Sometimes I really wonder.. if the residents of such homes hate the volunteers who go there once, twice, three times maybe - and bring them so much joy and happiness - and then just withdraw? This is really not a personal attack upon anyone who's done that - I never meant to. There're only 24 hours to a day and each and everyone of us is busy. =) It's just a random question, one I just thought of. Afterall, by doing that, we're giving them a glimpse of blessings, hope, that they might never have - and then cruelly snatching it all away again. Or ARE we doing that, by volunteering? Alternatively, is it better, as was once said (in an Andy Lau watch advertisement, no less) - to have and to possess once, and then to lose something, rather than to NEVER have possessed that thing?
Yup, I'm aware that's a terrible translation. But bear with me, my Chinese sucks. (More than my Maths)
Sigh. How much he needs Jesus. How much we ALL need Jesus.
posted by Yellow Garfield at 12:44 AM
2 Comments:
sec 3 NT maths rulex~
you know the foundation on the unit, you will know how to do the rest..
trust me =]
but i think i prefer sec 4 NT maths.
HAHAH =)
somehow its easier.
HAHA
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