Schools

The time has come for SL and I to begin thinking of the kind of school to send NN to. We had visited a public school near our soon-to-be new home and were told that we can only register her name next year.

I must say that there’s pressure to choose a Chinese school, as more and more Chinese parents do so for various reasons.

Recently, we asked ourselves, “why do we want to choose a Chinese school?”. Frankly, those reasons aren’t good enough as far as we’re concerned…

* Peer pressure. I definitely wouldn’t want to do something out of peer pressure.
* Learning the Mandarin. Also do not want to do so only because of that, not to mention the punishing pace of learning/drilling set by these schools. I believe there are other means of learning the language without attending a Chinese school.

Reason #2 is also the #1 concern we had because of the fact that both SL and I don’t know the Chinese language. Therefore, it’ll be a barrier for us to be of assistance to her in her education later on. We don’t believe in putting the entire responsibility of educating NN to the school or teachers and we don’t need a reason to do so. We need to be involved somehow. If language barrier means taking us out of the equation, then I think we have to look at other alternatives. Not to mention that, sending her to the school will mean segregating the Malay, Chinese, Indian, etc. even more.

That’s how we arrived at our decision and hopefully it is a good one.

Lunch Chat

Had an interesting conversation with my colleagues over lunch 2 days ago. We talked about our National Service, Chinese people, and people who serves the country. Our conversation is as follows…

When the National Service first took off, many people were not receptive to it (I am sure there are still). It is a good thing for our youths, who are more and more segregated in terms of schools (public schools, Chinese schools, Tamil schools) and more and more pampered. Even in churches, I think we are somewhat segregated. NS is a good place where people of all races can come together as a community to achieve something.

Then, we have the Chinese whom we think are migrants and consumer-minded. See how our grandparents have migrated from China to Malaysia to earn a living and build a fortune (for some). Now, Chinese are still asking where else better to migrate to as far as better opportunities and easier lifestyles are concerned. It never ends.
The Chinese hardly think of how to serve the country. Look at how many Chinese are in the military, police force, etc. because all we think of is how much benefit can we draw from doing something.

Ready, Set, Go...

Symptoms of readiness, that’s what we hope it is we are seeing in NN, which will help her usher in the new baby soon. This would mean easier handling for us too.

Nowadays, she has been helpful at home. We noticed that she is a particularly orderly person. She would close any doors which are ajar, arrange things which are not in place, and after doing so she would ask us why aren’t things put properly (she sounds very much like a big sister already). So, we decided to start her off with some simple tasks like folding clothes (not very proper, of course, but a good start) and wiping tables at home. I remember once reading something about giving kids simple responsibilities will make them feel important and good.

We also discovered that in order to want her do something she is reluctant to, we need to constantly explain and then remind her. This has worked pretty well for us. SL used to send NN to the babysitter’s home in the mornings and NN totally refuse to allow me to send her instead. So, we thought it is time to find a way to transition her from SL sending her to me instead because SL will be out 2 months during confinement. Thank God, we managed to explain enough to her so that she is willing to go with me. So far so good, she has been willingly going with me for a week now.

Yes, this is all the nitty-gritty part of parenting. An awesome responsibility indeed.

Tribute to My Grandparents

This past Sunday, my parents, siblings, and I went to pay respect to my grandparents on the annual event of Ching Ming. I am, again, reminded of the path which they had paved for us so that we are what and where we are today.

I am especially emotional when I think of my paternal grandpa. He had always been the advocate and catalyst to my parents in sending me abroad for studies. He was also the one whom I did not get a chance to say goodbye to during his passing because I was in the midst of my first semester of studies in the US. This was 10 years ago.

When I think of my paternal grandma, I always can hear a very loud voice shouting at misbehaving kids. Towards the end of her life, she had toned down a lot.

As for my maternal grandpa, it is funny that this is what I remember most about him. He used to like to drink a lot. Whenever he is drunk, he will speak English, and when he is sober he hardly speak English 8-)))), good thing is he is never violent when drunk. He was someone who was very independent even until old age, always not wanting to trouble anyone for anything.

2 Sundays ago as we were on our way to BLC, there were quite a bad jam. Bad jam on a Sunday, we thought? Then, we realized that it was Ching Ming. My wife told me something which I found to be profound. Not exact words but it went something like this, "I don't understand why these people must wait for a once in a year opportunity to come pay their respects and caused all these traffic. Aiya, I think the best is treat them good when they are alive and not when they are dead.". Yes indeed, something for us to digest.

Grace@Work

I have been fretting a lot about how my boss has been too lenient on some of my colleagues who have violated the companies' policy. I often thought that he should be more firm in dealing with this kind of issues. However, sometimes I do remind myself that I may one day need this kind of grace shown to me as my boss has shown to my colleagues.

Yesterday, God spoke to me again regarding this through BLC's friend Tan Soo-Inn. "The gap between all of us are smaller than we think. Today, my friend falls and tomorrow I may fall.". These are the words that keep ringing in my mind after his message to BLC.

Having said that, I think my boss' patience is running low on them too. I have seen opportunities for them being taken away and given to me. So, May God be my judge rather than me. May God also change me not to take injustice too hard but rather to depend on Him.