k r i s a n d r o

There was a recent buzz in Singapore over comments made by the leaders of the country, encouraging the usage of mandarin and saying that learning or maintaining of other languages; specifically dialects, hinders the learning process of children and thus preventing them from being proficiently bilingual in English and Mandarin.

Such comments (or any comment by the government actually) stirs the hearts of many Singaporeans, especially those who are fluent in English, Mandarin and other dialects in which they treasure.

I suck at mandarin and it’s no wonder, considering the environment that I was brought up in. My parents and relatives speak English dominantly and throughout school life, I formed a pretty high resistance towards learning Mandarin and it came to the point of hating the language during a certain phase. The reasoning behind leaving a trail of blank Mandarin spelling test papers and frustrated Mandarin teachers was that English is the world’s universal language. Why should I waste time learning Mandarin when I use English to answer 10 of my other subjects. My computer games were in English, newspapers and magazines were in English, most of my friends spoke in English, I use English if I met a foreigner or somebody of another race. Hell, I even think in English.

If I felt so strongly about not needing Mandarin in my life, imagine how dialects are to me. Dialects to me, were used to communicate with the older generation and the occasional swearing I need to have a place amongst the cool ah bengs and ah lians. Apart from that, there wasn’t much reasons to pick up dialects at all.

Some people argued about the statements of our leaders that if the older generation is able to be multilingual, why not the younger ones? Some lamented that dialects contain rich heritage and shouldn’t be allowed to die off. Some pointed at our roots and called shame upon us for not speaking the language of our forefathers.

Seriously, what’s the point of preserving more languages?

Frankly, I would prefer everyone in the world to just pick up one language as it improves consistency and it would really help us understand one another better. But in the real world, there is just too much culture and tradition in languages such as dialects. Having them die off may be a pity. And I do find myself in many situations when my lack of proficiency in Mandarin or Hokkien left me frustrated.

But, isn’t it easier to learn just one language that is widely adopted than to learn many?

Are the reasons for preserving languages more important than a step towards one, universal language for the sake of peace?

*insert Miss Universe music*

This is as close to a modern day fairytale romance as it gets. Four years ago, Italian guy meets Singaporean girl in a virtual 3D world and was besotted with her avatar. Guy relentlessly pursued her but she was resistant to his charms. Girl finally found a side of him that makes her fall unwittingly in love. After months and months of knowing each other, girl takes the plunge and accepts a ticket from guy to visit him in Italy. Cartcart, the Italian guy and Rinaz the Singaporean girl are married on 18th of December 2008, exactly 4 years after they got married in the virtual world, Second Life. A marriage that transcends continents, distance, race & culture; the rest of the story of Rinaz and CartCart would be best read at her blog or at ST.

I had the pleasure of being invited to this lovely Muslim wedding and it was my first Muslim wedding of a friend that I have ever attended. Rinaz is very active and well loved in the local social media scene and throngs of bloggers were seen at the wedding, furiously snapping away at the couple. I don’t know if it’s a normal thing but I had to actually queue up to give them my blessings and once again to take a picture with them.

Rinaz will soon move over to Italy and she will be sorely missed in Singapore but I’m happy, knowing that they will live very blissfully over there! And besides, we will always see them online.

One of the perks (or bane) of living in such a heavily populated country like Singapore is the fact that we can be almost anywhere and hear conversations of strangers even if we don’t want to.

I was on the train with KuKuNehNeh (KKNN) on our way to Ang Mo Kio via the North South Line and somewhere along the trip, a group of 3 teenage girls boarded the cabin along with the 1,653,428,201,737 passengers that were already inside with us. They stood next to us and were talking pretty loudly and drowned most of the chatter around them. KKNN became very quiet and there is no prize for me to guess that she was listening intently at the girls conversation.

I cannot accurately replicate what they said but it went along something like this…

Girl A: “CHEE BYE LAR! I cannot stand it leh. CHEE BYE!”

Girl B: “What lar CHEE BYE?”

Girl C: “Angry for what CHEE BYE?”

Girl A: “Fucking CHEE BYE! I just cannot stand his CHEE BYE face lar! Chao CHEE BYE!”

Girl B: “Ya lar, I know lar… He is a one bloody CHEE BYE.

Girl A: “The next time I see his CHEE BYE face, I am going to slap his Chao CHEE BYE!!! Cheeeeeee Byeeeeee~~”

 

Most Singaporeans will be very appalled by the use of their language but I am thoroughly amused. ‘Chee Bye‘ is just a Hokkien word for ‘Vagina‘. So, the above dialogue actually goes like….

Girl A: “VAGINA! I cannot stand it. VAGINA!!”

Girl B: “What VAGINA?”

Girl C: “Angry for what VAGINA?”

Girl A: “Fucking VAGINA! I just cannot stand his VAGINA face! Smelly VAGINA!”

Girl B: “Ya, I know… He is a one bloody VAGINA.

Girl A: “The next time I see his VAGINA face, I am going to slap his Smelly VAGINA!!! Vaginaaaaaaaaaaa~~”

 

Not much of a foul conversation anymore is it? WAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAH!!!

The Singapore Slingers have a month before their next game on the 5th November against the Malaysian All-Stars and were all given a one week break. Nicholas took the chance to organize an outing with a few of the stars on the team and boy were we lucky! My favourite player, Eric Sandrin and the teams tallest player at 2.21m, Sam Harris, were free to accompany the bloggers for a night out in town!

The people in attendance apart from the basketballers were Mo, Nicholas, Hillary, Daphne, Molemole, Jason, KuKuNehNeh and if you haven’t realised by now….. myself as well.

Eric is a huge man himself who stands at 2.05m in height and already attract stares from the crowd with his presence. But when Sam arrived, he became an instant celebrity and if I get a dollar for every stare, jaw drop and photo request from strangers, I would have made quite a tidy sum from that day alone.

We decided to dine at Newton Food Centre and let them try out delicious stuff like Satay, BBQ Stingray, Kang Kong and delicious dessert like Cheng Teng, Chendol and Ice Kachang. We then drove to City Hall and took a long walk in the heat to the Esplanade and the Merlion and to Raffles MRT where they took a train back to where we started just for fun.

Eric and his girlfriend, Mo

Chopsticks that look like toothpicks in Sam Harris’ hands

Satay will be a million dollar business if he sells them!

This is how pathetic it is when a 1.77m tall Singaporean faces off with them

If you look closely, Sam cast a shadow ON THE CEILING!

Eric trying to sneak on the Merlion

MRT cabins were not built for people of their size

 

It was great fun hanging out with the basketball stars that day and they were extremely funny and friendly! I have to warn you people on the dangers of neck aches when talking to Sam Harris for extended periods. Wahahahaah!

 

Catch them in action on the 5th of November at the Indoor Stadium!