8/24/2009
9:30 pm
conversation with an old lady on the bus yesterday.
me:(starts doing math tutorial)
old lady: Is that a pencil?
me: yes
old lady: oo, that's a nice pencil. I like pencils
me: why do you say so?
old lady: i like to have the choice of erasing. It's neater that way
me: orh.. yeah quite true
old lady:where are you going later?
me: I'm going for dinner with my friends
old lady: orh, that's great, I have this seafood and I don't mind giving some to you. just heat it up and you can share it with your friends.
me: no really, it's ok
old lady: no, i really don't mind, just take it, i don't want it to go to waste
me: it's ok, It's a little inconvenient for me to carry it around since we are eating out
old lady: just take it, u can heat it up later at your friend's house(does not seem to have heard me)
me: But we are going out to eat then we will be walking around, so it's kinda inconvenient
old lady: sorry, what did you say?
me: (repeats)
old lady: you are mumbling to yourself, i can't hear you
me: (repeats slowly)
old lady: you know u are speaking too fast. and no one can understand you
me: Yar, I have a bad habit of talking too fast.
old lady: you know it's really inefficient. because people cannot understand you and you have to repeat again.
me:yah.....
old lady: I don't understand why all Singaporeans talk like that.. it's really inefficient. how can Singapore compete with other countries with this kind of standard
me: yah... true(secretly thinking... aren't you overgeneralizing, but being the polite girl I am, i kept quiet)
old lady: you really need to speak clearly.
me: yeah I know...
old lady: Then you talk like this and still resent the government hiring foreigners.
me:(Ok... how did it come to this? btw, there's alot of other criteria that employers look for beside language standard.) Yes, some people do that. But I don't find anything wrong with that, i mean not all jobs are wanted to be taken by Singaporeans
old lady: I'm not talking about that.. it's not that singaporeans do not want the jobs but they are not capable enough.
me: yar, ok...(yes.. i do believe in meritocracy, we get what we deserve.. let me finish what i have to say first b4 "accusing" me)
old lady: if you are talking about road sweepers, then that's a different thing.
me:ya....
old lady: Nowadays, you keep on complaining that you cannot find a job. When you cannot even speak properly. And young people always give an excuse "I talk like that what" or "We talk this way among ourselves" but if you don't up the standard of your language, how do you expect employers to hire you.
me: erm... i'm studying, not looking for a job.
old lady: Hai!! I'm not talking about you personally, I'm talking about you as towards the group of young Singaporeans. It's the you "plural" form not "singular"
me: (HAHA, really fake laugh) orh... I see.
old lady: Haizz... your english is really poor, singular has nothing to do with marraige ok, it just means one object, plural represents many.
me: (OMG, are you trying to insult me or something to make yourself feel superior or something? I at least know that much)my english has always been weak..
old lady: haiz.. that's why I dread talking to Singaporeans, it's quite rare to find a Singaporean who can talk on my standard. What level are you studying now?
me:university
old lady: Oh my, your english is still like that even at university
me: yeah, my english has always been weak.
old lady: ok, I think i should stop talking to Singaporeans, everytime i talk to them i need to eat a whole bowl of nuts.
me:(puzzled)
old lady:it's brain food
me:o, haha
ok... the conversation isn't over yet but b4 I bore u all to death let me just summarize what she talk about later.
basically,
she kept on emphasizing that she needed to spend alot of effort talking to Singaporeans despite living here almost her whole life
kept on criticising on how narrow minded i was for not understanding somethings she said. -.-"
lecture me on the importance of having a wide perception. when i say i know i have this problem she asked why don't i try to correct it? -.-" like it's that easy. my narrow-mindedness is due to lack of knowledge and exposure not stubborness, please analyze first
then she talked about karma, saying that teaching me all these life lessons will not do her anything good, but if she does good, it will prolly go back to her too. and there's a karma connectivity between me and her and God wants her to tell me all these things. I really think that is a self-satisfying act. She never really bothered to listen to my view and just kept on ranting on and on.
ok... overall, she's a nice old lady, quite nice to talk to.. but her ego is a little high and i say she'd generalize too much despite saying it is impt to be open-minded herself. it's a weird conversation.
waiting by the river|`