Work hard for exams guys!

Hi guys! I’m back with another post before I start getting real busy! Last weekend seems like the smallest group I’ve ever seen that came for visiting. It made me feel lonely when many of the regular faces were not around. Though I understand that many of you are unable to make it due to projects and exams, it’s still kind of saddening to see such a significant drop in the number of people. L

This time round, there are some guys from the Mediacorp who came to film our interactions with the elderly! Not sure what they filmed in the end because they didn’t visit my group but they sure came at a bad timing when there aren’t many volunteers around!

Anyway my partner for the day is Hui Jia and we went to visit everyone’s favourite(most likely) Uncle T.C.C! It’s my 1^st time meeting him so I’m quite nervous. Before we set off the rest were telling me to think of a nickname for myself. O.O

Well I introduced myself using my own name since I think it’s easy for the elderly to remember and Uncle T seems to like it a lot and keeps repeating it! Apparently his granddaughter has the same name as me and he started boasting about how his granddaughter is a university graduate and currently works in the airport as a clerk. But later I learnt that he does not have any children and I wonder how this granddaughter came about.

We accompanied Uncle T down for his usual dose of coffee with butter at the coffeeshop downstairs and helped to retrieve his letters on the way. I can see that he trusts the regular volunteers a lot as he passed them his keys to help him lock the door and to open the letterbox. He also requested Hui Jia to help him cut his nails later as he trusts her and that he would be afraid to ask us newer volunteers to help!

Uncle T is quite chatty and since I’m a newcomer, he asks me about my family. He then likes to tease Hui Jia about her family a lot since she’s rich apparently. He kept saying that she will get a Mercedes car next time since it rhymes with her nickname! I start teasing Hui Jia together with Uncle T, which made her feel flustered.Haha! XP

Oh and I heard that Uncle T has many “girlfriends” in the past! But perhaps because of that he splurges a lot and I can see that he kind of regrets it now, he keeps telling me to save up on my money and complains to me that he has quite little to spend from the monthly allowance given to him by the government.

Uncle T seem to notice that there are lesser people today since it’s nearing the exam period. He start questioning about each of the regulars and that’s when I heard of all the interesting nicknames the regulars have come up with! I had a hard time following up because I didn’t know who they refer to so I had to keep asking Hui Jia who is Hakao, Char Siew Bao, Lin DiDi/MeiMei and Chachamambo (plus some other normal nicknames). Halfway through the 2 other regular volunteers Engineer and Chachamambo joined us, which lifts Uncle T’s spirits up more!

On the way back we met Vernon and Luting who accompanied us back to Uncle T’s home. He had invited us back to his house as he wanted to show off the new alarm clocks he received from other volunteers! He likes them very much as the alarm plays old Chinese music (a short version) when it’s time! Although you are supposed to turn the alarm off, Uncle T actually let it continue sounding until it stops! Apparently there are 2 alarm clocks with each one set half an hour apart so in total the alarm will ring continuously for an hour. It may seem annoying to have an alarm ring for so long, but the music is actually soothing, not the noisy type, so it’s quite enjoyable. When Uncle T plays the alarm for us, he immediately became a stone statue and listens intently! We are all amused by the sight as we silently watched on, not bearing to stop his alarm. But the alarm clock is really interesting since it plays various old Chinese songs. I felt tempted to buy one for my grandma too!

Well that’s all for last week’s visit! Everyone Gambatte for the upcoming exams and be sure to come back and visit them once the busy period will be over okay!  Sad to know that I won’t be able to go for visits for the next 2 weeks though 

Lynn ^-^