A Teochew night

And facebook reminded me of my linguistics teochew night in oct 2013...
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the crazy linguist in me~ interesting session conversing partially in teochew with a teochew native. Having spent a few nights going through conference notes to prepare for a sharing on L2 listening yesterday,   I could actually visualise my mental processes as I listened to the conversations in rather native teochew with an accent slightly different from my family's, and in context that I rarely discussed about in teochew.  I was decoding the input, parsing words which I have never heard before in standardised teochew, matching some terms into the corresponding Chinese words , and then gaining a global meaning of the discourse. Luckily, my family gave me a rather good grounding in colloquial teochew since young and I had many different sources of input from teochew speakers from all walks of life and quality input from the occasional radio news reports. So after some accommodation and adjustment, as well as familiarity with the context, I was actually able to go beyond global understanding of an accented native speaker, and understand the details (some of which I had heard once in Mandarin ). And more importantly, within a short frame of time, I can feel myself gaining my confidence in approximating the pronunciation of words which I have never said in teochew before or mimicking what I heard a while ago to try and reply more things in standardised teochew. Time to plan for that trip which has been in my mind !

3688想入飞飞的思考

喜欢在看完电影后才开始翻阅影评，继续慢慢咀嚼电影的各种细节。如果是和家人一起看的本地电影（因为我爹娘现在几乎只会为本地电影走入电影院，陪我一起当啦啦队），那就会茶余饭后继续讨论。昨天一起看的3688，其实引人思考的空间很多，很多蜻蜓点水的处理，有人说流于表面，刻画得不够深入，但是只要耐心地跟着导演的镜头漫步，就会看到镜头下很多发人深省的思考。

电影的前半部有很多小小的元素，即将在你我成长的岛国消失，有些则已经走入历史了。感觉导演急于保留这些代表着你我他的珍贵记忆，所以在电影的前半部花了不少时间把这些宝贝都剪入影片中。昨天看完后，觉得电影的后半部着实精彩，父女俩的戏牵动了心中的一种隐忧。电影后半段的沉重感，与前半段缤纷绚丽的镜头飨宴形成了相当强烈的对比。陪着父母变老的感觉是怎样的，你我都会有不一样的体会，然而戏中人的体验却是如此真实的。

戏中老父患了失智症，迷失于现在，滞留在过去。然而，导演说的岂止是老父的失智症呢？有人问，电影中的飞翔貌似可有可无，但是他的出现却正好凸显了岛国在神速发展的过程中，有很多景物在十年、二十年间全然消失。今天的老人在一辈子跨越了三个世代的城市建设和经济发展，年少回忆中的乐园几乎荡然无存。我们跟着岛国一起发展，也许大多数的我们都习惯了这样的变迁，很少再为一个地标的消失痛心，又或者已经习惯心痛后的无奈接受。但是，戏中抱着丽的呼声的失智老父不断地迷失在当下的情境，除了刻画失智症患者的境况外，是否也在悄悄地暗示着很多心智清醒的年长者因为语言政策的改变而被隔离于今天之外，因为社会的急速发展而无所适从？当今天显得那么熟悉时，只有记忆是可靠的。但是，当现实中没有标记记忆和岁月的地标和物品时，有时连记忆也不一定那么可靠了。所以电影尝试用镜头捕捉岛国这些稍纵即逝的珍贵印迹。

而我爸则看到什么呢？同样的人文思考，他则非常理性地用议论文大纲的方式写了属于他自己的影评： 

昨天去看了由陳子謙導演的本土影片3688，故事简单但却构出新加坡人面对的问题：
1. 大家庭的消失，小家庭面临照顾家老的问题越来越严重。
2. 人类的身体从七十古来稀能延长至八十，但某些身体组织如大脑，眼睛等却没停的退化，失智症患者越来越多，所以我们感觉到此病患者多了。
3. 当我们的乡情因生活方式的改变而越来越淡时，新加坡人还在找走出“不快乐”的途径。
4. 影片带出因“企业思维”而自动化，造成了社会问题。
5. 我们有不少年长还怀念着方言群体的生活年代。他们很无奈的以没亲切感的语言生活着。
6. 我们的建设经济成功了，但，是以“无形”的代价换来的。Amos 事件可能只是冰山一角。

我只能说，不同生活经验的人，会从同一部电影中看到不同的细节。一部用心采集元素的电影，则会触发隐藏在观众内心深处某一角的情感。电影尽管有不尽完美的地方，但还是能从不同角度拨动你我的心弦。Royston Tan 谢谢！

3688, A Lens into another Singapore.

3688.
Watched. How's it? Some will ask. First,  I have to admit that I have biases and am always in awe of people who dare to dream and take the less travelled path. So I tend to see the strengths and is more receptive to imperfections. And so, having followed Royston Tan films since his short film days,  I tend to see all the effort and the motivations in the movie. So,  while some may agree with the movie critics who have commented on the loose narrative structure, no one can take away the strong Singapore flavour,  and that strong sense of loss that's being portrayed in this colourful film. The colours are just a cover for the strong and sad emotions.

Maybe the director was trying to show too much of things very close to his heart that I had a little problem trying to grasp everything that was being highlighted in the beginning . But I could identify with that sense of loss that the movie was trying to build. That sense of loss, that sense of losing familiarity in your own land, losing the mementos of your precious  memories. Something I had written in proses as a uni student when I was overseas and witnessing all the landscape and societal changes. I liked the film despite its shortcomings. Joi Chua was a natural and the main plot between Feifei and her dad was quite strong that it brought some tears. I suspect the person beside me teared too. 

So, the verdict is? Bring your folks to the theatre, I mean your family,  parents, grandparents included. I brought my family to the movies because we love Singapore and we like to support local productions. The visuals are strong, colourful and beautiful. The singing is so good that the songs kept playing in my ears. And I always remember my friend Lynn Ling who shared how thankful and touched she was by the whole 881 experience some years ago because it was one movie her grandma understood and it had been decades since her grandma went to the movies. Yes,  it is about that sense of loss too.

My mom read an additional meaning to that huge sense of loss in that rediffusion box. To her, the box itself is a direct representation of that break in communication some elderly experienced when their world changed along with language policy. She said the songs were touching. I am sure my uncle and aunt had different emotions turning in them when they were watching it too. 

I guess,  every movie has different meaning to the individual viewer, depending on life experiences. It is like, how often does our movie theatre shows something that's speaks to the hearts of our older folks? And sometimes,  watching a local production is really an experience of dialoging with our inner selves, especially in this rapidly changing society. So, bring your folks to the theatre.

Pray for Nepal

Major earthquake in Nepal. It's one of the worst possible news one would want to hear about on this small and beautiful country much loved by many travellers. I first travelled there 10 years ago for my maiden trekking trip and had the opportunity to travel there two more times for different reasons. The people I met, the friends I acquainted and the friendships that I kept taught me a lot about life, and have pushed me to take stock of some of my dispositions in life. 

I have stayed in both Gorkha and Dhading, two beautiful districts in the country and have wonderful memories living together with the villagers. The people are so welcoming and take such good care of us that it strengthened my resolution to be as great a host as possible when friends visit my city. They may not have a lot financially but they are big with their hearts, giving me warm welcomes into their simple home. It is devastating to know that the epicenter is near Gorkha and the houses in the village I stayed in are almost completely destroyed. Future Village has also been affected and many places in Dhading will require rebuilding too. Many lives were lost. The only consolation is friends and families of people I know are safe at the moment. They are trying to help the rest of their fellowmen, evacuate the injured to medical services, and plan for a fresh start. I know they will be strong and resilient. And I hope that the weather and the earth will be kind to all of you, so that everyone can continue to keep safe. My prayers are with you,  my dear friends. 

Gorkha, 2011

Dhading, Future Village 2007

Maiden trip, 2005

My Lions Befriender Journey

I was told that someone joined our journey after reading the newspaper feature. So I thought I would repost this old FB entry from 11 Jan 2015.
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It has been nearly 3 years since I started volunteering with Lions Befrienders Singapore and started my weekly or biweekly visits to a group of elderly living in my vicinity. And I would like to invite you to read today's Zaobao article or listen to UFM 100.3 from 12th to 23rd Jan at 0730hrs. The radio series is aimed at creating awareness of the Befrienders scheme. If 0730hrs is too early for you, each day's program will be repeated at 1130, 1630 and 2030 hrs.

So, what do we do as Befrienders? It is named the 友伴计划 in Chinese, which means we volunteer our time to be friends and companions for a specific group of elderly that we are assigned to. While there are various financial assistance out there to help the poor on the material needs, the Befriending scheme is there to provide  emotional support for the elderly.  We offer our time and friendship to help lonely elderly cope with life and hopefully live a more engaged and active senior lifestyle. 

Depending on the area one volunteers at,  and it would preferably be near to where one lives,it may be a one to one matching or a team matching.

For me, I have been working in as a team with fellow volunteers, Larissa, Wan Jing and Derrick to visit about 13-15 households on a weekly basis. On a Weekly basis?! Some may ask. Yes, it is a commitment, which is why it took me so long to commit, ie when I knew I am done with long overseas residence. And we try our best to cover each other when we are unable to visit due to work, holidays or family commitment. Oh yeah, we need to strike that balance and it will take time for one to find it.

I have not really mentioned much about my visits on FB except for a few occasional posts on the LB gatherings with my fellow volunteers and executive staff in the Hougang-Serangoon team. It is generally for the elderly's privacy, as well as mine. But those who have met up with me in person these past few years would probably have heard a few interesting stories from my visits. Some of you have actually came forward and contributed in one way or another too. Thank you friends for showing support and care for the elderly even though you may not be able to afford the time to be a Befriender.

Well, since we have agreed to help raise awareness and join in the efforts to recruit more Befrienders, so we thought we would post something about it on FB too. We have a larger Hougang-Serangoon team and the rest of them are paired with other households. And there are many other fellow volunteers out there waiting for you to join us.

For those who are interested to find out more, you can always ask me or approach Lions Befrienders. If not, it would be great help if you can pass the message on to people who do not read Zaobao or listen to Ufm 100.3.

Thank you!

友情的细水慢慢「留」

今晚带了两位原本不太认识梁文福的小朋友和我们一起出席这场友情岁月的聚会。近五个小时的演出，估计他们觉得自己和他相逢恨晚吧。

梁文福的文字，梁文福的歌曲的魅力，是一种集体回忆，也是一种很个人的生活体验。我很庆幸自己赶上了新谣的末班车，认识了梁文福，跟着他的文字成长。因为《曾经》，对黄城有了一个模糊的想象。因为想成为黄城的一份子，是那座城，不是夜韵演出，所以后来有机会做出影响人生轨迹的一系列决定。

每一次的新谣聚会，都是一场纪念。这场聚会虽然等了好久，但是也只有到了这个时候，当他们带着人生历练重新演绎青涩岁月，少年不识愁滋味时曾经唱过的歌曲时，我们才能从歌声中品尝到岁月酿的酒的滋味。一边听歌，一边想着一些老朋友。虽然没有一起出席这场聚会，但是人生的每个阶段里都会有一些朋友常在记忆画面里出现的。所以，我能体会梁文福在开场时向那些可能20岁以后就不曾再见的朋友们问好的心情。

也感谢梁文福再次为新加坡派续写歌词。这不仅是一场对过往的告别，还是一场让友情细水继续潺潺不绝的聚会。

另一种云南缘。

跟翻译班的同学聚餐，约的是我们上课地点那里的馆子。在熟悉的地铁站下车，我循着电动扶梯的步伐，惯性地抬了抬头往外看。通讯发达的时 代，早已知道外面下着倾盆大雨。开车的同学等着我们，要顺道把我们载到山上。在教育部外的候车站看到同学时，我跟他说的是，我竟然有恍若隔世的感觉！才离开三个月，感觉竟然是那么地若近似远。

点餐前，我们一边等候其他同学，一边开聊吃大家旅游出差带回来的各国点心，好不开心。一年的同学情，尤其两周北京行之后，大家都变得好熟络，几乎无所不谈了。我们聊工作、聊生活、聊老师、聊未来，聊岁月。这是报名上课时没想过的意外收获。能通过课程认识大家，成为投缘的有缘人，真的觉得好幸福。所以接下来，我们还要再聚哦！

散会时，我们又沿着平日下课后走的小径漫步。雨停了，地面湿漉漉的，小山丘散发出淡淡的味道，是湿草地的清新鲜味。我和同学都觉得有大学的感觉。晚上十点了，发了个群聊信息。这一刻，我们不约而同发现这是我们平日下课的时间。这个聚餐地点还安排得真妙。云南缘一聚，感觉真好。

21/3/2015

重温《茶馆》

重温《茶馆》，再跟着王利发他们走一遍茶馆的50年，走一趟老百姓的50年。老百姓是谁？以前文学课分析文本时常要写到。那，不就是你和我吗？

高中啃《茶馆》，那个年龄嚼出的味道叫青涩。当时以为懂了，其实似懂非懂。

今天，学会站在小人物的角度品味《茶馆》，自是另一番体会。

第二幕，看着王利发周旋于各色想要欺压他的角色中，鼻子渐渐有点酸了。不就是要过生活吗？不就是为了家人吗？

第三幕，王利发送走家人，让小花儿她们跟着大栓去，我竟然突然莫名落泪。剧本高中时期看过n次，老人艺的演出录像也看过几次。大学看了一回昆曲话剧版的，当时被撒纸钱那一幕震撼。但是，今天这一场戏，却让我差点泪如雨下 。一个人，活到这把年纪，到了绝境时，就盼望儿孙另有希望。走出去，就有新希望。其他的就让他一个人承担。50年的经营，这就是他的一切。当一个顺民连这点透气生存的机会都没有，那个时代也只能走向句号。人，走到绝境时，真的没什么选择。

感谢当年语特的老师们，让我有机会透过话剧品位人生。

8/3/2015