My Kiasu Teenage Life in Singapore (19 page)

Did you enter the Commonwealth Essay Competition? I wrote an essay about music.

We had New Year celebration in school. Lion dance and mass. CHIJ girls really have this spirit of belonging and pride of the school. I don't really feel it 'coz I'm not close to my classmates but I think, if I'd come in Sec 1, I'd probably have it too. If I'd come in Sec 1, I'd probably not have chosen A4 class. Anyway, I'm glad that I'll be able to leave my class at the end of the year. I feel that people who are “normal” and easy to talk to are those in Science classes, in other words, the more decent ones. I can't stand rowdy people.

I really hope to get good results so that I can go to RJC. And I really want to get more scholarships so that my parents don't have to spend so much hard-earned money to send me to England.

The other day, I was reading
The Chinese Culture
in the library and I realized that I'm so ignorant about my own culture! Everything looked so foreign to me. I didn't even know that the Chinese way of counting the age of someone also includes the time of gestation; i.e. once you're born you're already one year old. In fact last year, I said to Jen Nee, “Hey, we are actually older 'coz we spend nine months in our mother's stomach.”

I finished reading
The Irish Question,
which is about the Catholics in Northern Ireland wanting to be part of Ireland and the Protestants (Unionists) in Northern Ireland wanting to be part of UK. They feel threatened by each other as Ireland and Northern Ireland have more Catholics whereas in Northern Ireland only, the Protestants outnumber the Catholics. What I don't get is why people always separate into religious groups. Why not separate into “Those Who Like Singing” and “Those Who Hate Singing,” or anything else??

Do you know which part of China your ancestors were from? Were your grandparents born in China?

Eric gave many girls weird Chinese New Year cards. Some with ten-cent coins or batteries stuck on them. Jen Nee and I gave him one that has red dots on the outside, and on the inside, it says “If a sexy person opens this card, the blue dots in front will turn red” but we wrote that the card is spoilt and he'll have to let us check whether he's sexy some other time. The other day, I met him in the office and he asked me whether I want to check then. I said “No”!!

Reply SOON.

Love, Pei Yi

Wednesday 10 February

Dear Mei Yee

Hi! Received your letter last week. Have you received mine (the pink one)?

Yesterday was a great day, although it didn't start so well 'coz Jen Nee and I woke up late. Nevertheless, we still went to school. The wonderful events culminated with a nice time talking to Eric. That was what made me so happy. Let me tell you all about it.

Our warden–group meeting was just over. Nicole came to tell me that Eric was reading newspapers upstairs so I went to read too. But even though I sat very near, within talking distance, I did not say anything other than “Hi”. Later he began talking to some guys so I left after reading the newspaper.

Back in my room, I was feeling regretful because I didn't have any conversation starters whenever an opportunity presented itself. So I went down again and was very lucky that he was standing in line, waiting to phone. So I decided to phone my parents and got in line behind him.

I like talking to him very much. I found out that his father is a doctor and his mother helps his father at the clinic. He's an only child, and he likes his class in RI. He also likes living in the hostel because he has many friends to do stuff with. I asked him if he gets depressed a lot and he said not much. Wow, he sounds like a very positive person who is able to make the best out of every situation. I wanted to tell him about my Arts and Science class predicament but didn't because I didn't want to sound like a negative person. I didn't appear nervous, I think. In a nutshell, I was very pleased after that. Oh ya, when I was talking to him, I was trying to remember what I had read in
The Fine Art of Flirting
book.

The Fine Art of Flirting
says that people who are good at flirting are not considered flirts by others because they do it so naturally. People just think that they're friendly and interesting. The suggestions given by the book are:

1  Carry something unusual so that it will become a conversation piece

2  Enter a room with style

3  Dress well even when going grocery shopping (people in the hostel always walk around with T-shirts, shorts and slippers so that would be weird)

4  Show interest in him

Love, Pei Yi

Friday 12 February

Dear Mei Yee

Hi! Our Orientation is in a week's time (20 Feb)! I think our item is going to be very impressive and interesting. The girls are doing a unique tribal dance to the song
Free Your Mind
and the guys are doing a kung fu dance to a Chinese New Year song. We're supposed to be two antagonistic tribes and then we end with a song
In The Still of The Night.
Do you know it? I am so pleased with it 'coz the four parts sound terrific in a cappella. We divided ourselves into four groups and I taught them “Shu dup shu bi du.” The song is ringing in my head now.

Do you notice that my letters are now very short compared with last year's? I think it's because I've lost my dependency on you and don't feel the need to tell you every little petty thing now—that is good. I mean, we're still best friends but I don't have an unhealthy dependence on you anymore.

Next Saturday is Prize-giving Day. I'm getting 3rd prize for Science. It's rather silly 'coz I hardly know anything about Science. This Hong Kong scholar in 4S2 is really great. Guess how many prizes she's getting. Five! 1st for Physics, 3rd for Add. Maths, Highly Commended for E. Maths, Highly Commended for Geography and 3rd for Chemistry. Jen Nee is getting 1st prize for History. I feel so jealous 'coz everyone is so wonderfully clever.

Right now, I'm feeling quite terrible because I feel that everyone is good at this and that and I'm not.

Love, Pei Yi

Saturday 20 February

Dear Mei Yee

I just returned from Orientation. Eric slow-danced with me! I'm elated but not as much as I thought I'd be. Still, I'm very happy. The fast dance session was very long and boring and it was sweltering in the RGS hall so I stayed in the classroom with Jen Nee and a few others for quite some time. Then I went back to the hall. It was slow dance so I danced with Jen Nee. Then Eric came and asked if he could take over so I put my arms around his neck and he put his hands on my waist. I can't remember what song it was. I asked him how come he's not involved in our performance and we talked about the performance. Nothing interesting, really, but I was glad that we actually talked like friends. I mean, we're not good friends yet, but every conversation is progress in the right direction!

Then he said I have a very small waist but he guessed it's alright for a girl. I said it's not small for a girl. He said, “You mean there are smaller ones?” That's about all I can remember. The song ended and he said, “Thank you” and left.

Love, Pei Yi

Sunday 21 February

Hi Mei Yee

I'm still very happy about Eric. Maybe he asked me because he is so nice and polite and he knows that I like him, but I don't care whether he likes me or not right now. I want us to become good friends. Well, actually slow-dancing is not such a great thing after all.

Love, Pei Yi

Wednesday 24 March
(Back from hols!)

Dear Mei Yee

Hi! I figured I won't be receiving a letter from you if I didn't write first so I'm writing now. Lucky you, a whole week of hols. We only have one day off for Hari Raya—tomorrow.

I think if I see Eric again now after not seeing him during the holidays, we can probably talk for longer periods of time compared to before and maybe eventually become good friends! I've decided not to be so focused on getting a boyfriend but just enjoy friendships with guys. Eric is a good start! Yay.

Well, actually I don't have anything else to write. My daily concerns are school, reading books and eating. The usual, and I enjoy it. Well, actually I don't really enjoy lessons with my class but never mind. I'm looking forward to a good JC next year, and if you come, it'd be perfect! That's all.

Bye and reply SOON.

Love, Pei Yi

PS I hope your letter is not shorter than this miserably short one.

Sunday 4 April

Dear Mei Yee

Hi! I was very glad to receive your letter.

Nowadays, I'm becoming more and more tense and must-not-waste-time. If I don't spend my time doing something constructive, I'll feel terrible.

Yesterday I went to Orchard Road with Jen Nee 'coz I needed to buy a filter for my camera and also I was looking for sports shoes. I couldn't find comfortable and beautiful sports shoes within my price budget so I decided not to buy any yet.

Have you heard of Bram Stokers'
Dracula?
It's rated R(A). We watched it secretly last week at our batch-inning but we didn't have time to finish it so on Friday we watched it again. We had to lock the door of the karaoke room and be secretive. The videotape belongs to Betty. Such was our luck that Ms Lily Sim (remember her?) came in suddenly, swinging her key. Matt, who had his finger on the controls, at once stopped the show. The trouble-loving Ms Lily Sim immediately suspected that something fishy was going on and stood there watching so we had to play the tape. There were actually no dirty scenes. It was R(A) 'coz it was quite gory. Well, there were one or two nude scenes but they're hardly erotic. Anyway, Ms Lily Sim wanted to jump on every opportunity to make trouble so she called Mr Goh (a very nice, innocent-looking man working at the hostel office) to see it. Mr Goh watched for a few minutes and then said that nothing was wrong.

Nevertheless, Ms Lily Sim wouldn't let us off so easily. She asked severely, “Who brought this tape in?” Of course we couldn't say it belonged to Betty. She wanted us to hand it over for inspection after the show. They got so worried about it, “What if they tell MOE?” and made up some tales to tell. But, when I handed Ms Lily Sim the tape, she said, no need already. She just wanted to show her authority at that time. She probably doesn't even know it's R(A). I think it's 'coz we knew it was R(A) and we felt guilty and afraid at that moment that she was able to make a big deal out of it. Our subconscious minds attracted trouble and her subconscious mind, always on the look out for trouble, found a chance for her to flex her muscles.

Have you been keeping yourself up to date on the world news? Korea is building a nuclear weapons plant and they have resigned from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty! And do you know about Boris Yeltsin? I don't really know about him. Brandon Lee (son of Bruce Lee, whoever he was) died when a supposedly empty gun fired a bullet into him.

Oh ya, I haven't finished talking about my birthday. I was very glad to receive many books 'coz I wanted books.

These are what people gave me:

Angela, Jen Nee and Nicole—a book:
Four Great American Classics

Lingling and Huiwee—a pencilcase and a letter-writing kit including a set of stamps!

Yoonphaik—a dictionary and a bible

Nancy, Alisa—a book:
General Knowledge;
two Ziggy comics

A history book and a white blouse for me from me

My happy birthday was really consummated when I received a birthday card from Eric. It was a paper bird and he wrote Happy Birthday. It's just a piece of folded paper but I was really head over heels with delight.

You know, many of the scholars are really high achievers. Matt got 1st in a Physics Quiz for every school in Singapore! We celebrated his victory at Denny's. Actually the girls didn't want to go as we don't really like Matt but Cheng Hoe persuaded us so much that we did. Elizabeth is always winning British Council debates. We went on the day before my birthday so they sang me a birthday song and Cheng Hoe bought me ice cream and put a candle on it.

Elizabeth is a really good flirt. Not flirt as in
hiau
and cheap but flirt as in has many guy friends, as described in the book
The Fine Art of Flirting.
So, now we seldom mix with her as she finds more time for guys. Sometimes she's
zhong se ching you
(cares about the opposite sex more than friends).

Elizabeth is starting to pair up with Roger. Alisa is finding her right man in Marcus, a JC guy who is also interested in her, of course. I think he's about the only admirer whom she likes, from her lorry loads of admirers.

Love, Pei Yi

Thursday 9 April

Dear Mei Yee

How are you? What have you been doing? Do write to me if you can spare the time!

Did I tell you about the time Mr Como was very cross 'coz I was taking bad, boring photographs? It was of Jen Nee and Nicole, but I had not planned beforehand and did not think properly before I took the shots. Of course, I ended up with terrible shots that looked like “happy holiday shots”. Mr Como gave me an hour-long lecture about how I'm not using my head and applying what I know. The next day, he said he was sorry for being so harsh. On Saturday, he took me and Jen Nee to Toa Payoh Central to take photographs. I've to develop The Eye. Mr Como said my photos are improving but they still have a long way to go.

I made a birthday card for my mother using photographic paper. I put it under a nice picture, cut out the lettering and put it on top to expose it. I got quite a nice effect. Photography's a lot of fun, but not at all easy. Our Malay Prelims were just over—two days ago. Everyone was sleeping and yawning after one hour but we still had half an hour left.

Anyway, I really have to study now. Do you have mid-year exams? We only have exams for Accounts, E. Maths and Add. Maths.

Do reply.

Love, Pei Yi

Friday 20 May