My Kiasu Teenage Life in Singapore (4 page)

I think I'll stop here and post this.

Oh ya, we have to memorize some poems for Literature. I've memorized a love poem by Shakespeare. I don't really appreciate or like poems very much.

I was also eating potato chips when I was writing this letter!

Here're a list of ECAs I'm joining: Choir Club Music (violin), Badminton (not confirmed yet), and Malay Club (don't want to but I think it's compulsory for people who take Malay as a subject.) ECA means Extracurricular Activities, in case you didn't know. In Singapore you get points for joining ECAs. It's also important to have some important post in the ECA instead of just being a member because all this counts towards getting a scholarship for JC (Junior College) or university.

Life would be perfect here if you were here. For one thing, if you were with me, I'd probably not be so shy and unsociable. Anyway, reply soon and goodbye and see you in 22 days' time. Hope we get to spend more time together despite all your tuitions and school.

Saturday 11 January

Dearest Mei Yee

I've just posted a letter yesterday and here I am writing to you again! Actually it's now Saturday, 12.15 am and I'm still awake. I'm feeling happier than I've ever felt since coming here.

Today is Jen Nee's birthday, and yesterday after school, Alisa and I bought Jen Nee two tubes of potato chips ('coz I want to eat potato chips!). And I made her a card. People here get sabotaged on their b'day! Like all their underwear stolen (for fun) and things like that.

Oh ya, my English Teacher told me to pronounce “their” as “there”, not “thiar” like we normally say in Malaysia.

OK, to get to the point of why I'm happier: I guess I've finally realized (at last) that no matter how miserable I am 'bout you not being here, you still aren't going to be here. So I'm trying to make the best out of being here.

Yesterday at school, it was quite nice—at least I mixed with some of my classmates instead of just sitting glued to my chair and talking only to my partner. My classmates are quite nice actually. It was so funny, we were learning about Malacca in History.

Singaporeans find Malay spelling difficult. The teacher asked us a question to which the correct answer was “Laksamana”. Lingling spelled it “Laksaman” (a man who sells laksa! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!).

Oh ya, I wanted to tell you this but forgot—remember I told you Nicole is so sociable and everyone likes her. Well, anyway I don't like her 'coz she's selfish, boasts about boys and is bossy. I didn't know that other people (a lot of them) also dislike her, until yesterday. I was so surprised. Nicole appears really popular, you know, and I thought I was the only one to dislike her. She likes this Sec 2 guy, Wei Keong (he's a nice guy). She tells me about how well they get along, and makes it sound like Wei Keong is the one who likes her and not she who likes him. She wants me to tease her about Wei Keong liking her. And when I do, she says, “Pei Yi, ah …” in a pseudo-irritated voice. Anyway, just a few hours ago, I asked Betty what she thinks of Nicole and that's when I found out a lot of people dislike her.

I'm also happier 'coz I get along with Betty. She came to Singapore last year. She told me about how these three guys in the hostel were
perasan
that she liked them, and then they liked her back, but actually she'd just treated them like normal friends because she's from a co-ed school. Anyway, it was very interesting. She has a lot of admirers. She's friendly to everyone, including guys. I can't be sociable with guys, like she is. The three guys really liked her. Then she made it clear to the guys that she doesn't like (the bf-type-of-like) them. Now some people think she's
hiau
for leading the guys on, then jilting them.

We're going to have a class party during recess next week 'coz the first topic for Moral is Celebration. Oh dear, I'm having problems with my Maths. I'm quite bad at Maths. I have to practise more! Last night, we went to CJC hostel to get some signatures from the ASEAN scholar seniors there. Gosh, some people have about 70 signatures and I have only 34!!! If we don't get 75% of the list, we get forfeited. Have to put more effort into it. There was one guy who asked me to tell him about myself and when I said I have two cats, he wanted to know the names. He roared with laughter at “Lolo” and when I said “Bimbo” he asked me, “Do you know what Bimbo means?” He wouldn't tell, which means it was probably something dirty. At last he told, it means “prostitute”!! (That may explain why Bimbo always gets raped by the male cats in the neighbourhood! Poor Bimbo!) Then there was another guy I was so annoyed with. He told me a pack of lies about being Betty's cousin and kept asking stupid questions about her. At first he said his name was “David”, then “Leland”, then “Kirk”. (David is his real name.)

CJC is not a very disciplined hostel. The girls and boys can go into each other's rooms without the Father (who is the director) knowing.

Oh ya, yesterday we had a Mass in school. A Father came and it was quite boring. First he praised Lord for this and that, then we sang hymns and songs (I don't mind singing), then he said some more prayers. All together, he must have said 20 prayers but when the Catholics prayed, I didn't. Actually I was feeling sleepy. I always go to sleep late at night. I'm glad I'm getting closer to the people at my hostel, so I'm not so lonely.

Gosh this letter is really messy. It's now 1.40 am. I'm going to stop here.

Love, Pei Yi

Hi again

It's now 1.50 am and I've just finished writing in my diary. Since I'm writing to you so much everyday, I've stopped writing a lot in my diary like I used to. Oh ya, remember I told you we call RI “Retarded Institution”? I also thought of “Rapists' Institution”, and today at CJC one guy told me they have many such bad names for every school, including mine (CHIJ), and some of them are vulgar!!

Sunday 12 January

Dear Mei Yee

It's now 1.15 am on Sunday and I still haven't gone to sleep. I have so many things to tell you. Now where do I start? Yesterday morning, we woke up late. We missed breakfast so I cooked Indomee. I just put
mee
into a pot and put boiling water from the boiler and it's ready. Then Betty, Jen Nee, Alisa and Nancy gathered in my room. We told dirty jokes and ghost stories. I got really scared 'coz the ghost stories were true. I want to tell you and see what you think, if you want to hear.

OK, then we went to Beauty World for lunch (ate at KFC).

Betty told me RGS is moving to a new building, becoming hi-tech and is going to be privatized. They'll have lasers in the classrooms, an underground air-rifle range, cards (like ATM cards) for buying canteen food and books and for storing your personal data in. And all classrooms will be air-conned … Very impressive.

There's this girl Elizabeth (a new scholar, Sec 3), who flirts around with boys a lot! She's the not-shy-at-all type and really flirts! She talked about dirty things to a senior guy, who then told Betty he was so disgusted he didn't want to speak to her again.

Now, something else I must tell you. I phoned my family at about 8 pm and I was alone at the phone booth, which is on the ground floor at the end of the block. After hanging up, I heard a voice out of nowhere calling “jie” (sister in Mandarin) twice and I got SO scared. Betty asked me to go to her room, so I went. I told her about the incident and started crying 'coz I was real scared. She told me not to worry, that it wasn't true and all that; then she played some guitar. After a while, however, I heard the voice calling “
jie
” again! I asked Betty if she heard it but she didn't. I can't tell you how afraid I was. Betty explained that if you hear someone calling your name in the middle of the night, don't answer until the fourth call, 'coz if it's a spirit, it'll go away after the third call if unanswered.

Jen Nee's now asleep on my bed. I wanted someone to sleep with me 'coz I'm scared. Sometimes we talk bad about Nicole.

So embarrassing at dinner time! For Signature Hunt, I had to go up to two tables where the guys were sitting and say, “Hello guys, I'm here to entertain you with some singing!” And I had to sing loudly. It was very embarrassing. Then, to get one more signature, I had to go back and say, “Hi, I'm back” and sing a song that went, “Tingeling ke ling-keling … I love you …”

Jen Nee got sabotaged—they poured water over her head.

Love, Pei Yi

Monday 13 January

Dear Mei Yee

I feel lonely in class. I'm not close to my classmates. I prefer hostel to school a lot. The CHIJ girls are not disciplined. There's this girl in my class who's quite defiant. Our Chem teacher shouted at her for rocking her chair and fined her 20 cents to be given to the class fund. After a while, she started rocking again and was scolded again. I prefer decent,
kuai-kuai
people to undisciplined, defiant people.

I wish I wasn't the only scholar in my class. Sometimes I hate it when some girls treat me like they're
boh kam muan
'coz I'm a scholar. It's hard to explain. You see, some girls dislike scholars 'coz they think we're clever. Today, this girl was copying someone's address from my address-book and there was this number, 4881479 (I'm using any number), and the last digit wasn't so clear—could be 9 or 4, and I said, “I think it's a 9 'coz she writes her 4 this way.” And she said, “Scholars will be scholars. So clever.” Isn't that insulting? OK, I don't want to talk 'bout my social problems.

I received a calculator from my family.

I slept the whole afternoon and woke up for dinner! During dinner, Sunny and I had to go to every table and announce “Hi! I'm — and —. We're the prettiest girls on earth. Whoever wants to marry us, please raise your hands!”

Love Pei Yi

Wednesday 15 January

Dear Mei Yee

It's now Wednesday and I came back from school not long ago.

I had choir practice. We auditioned to see whether we're in Soprano 1 or 2, or Alto 1 or 2. I'm in Soprano 2. The pianist has Grade 8 but her playing is terrible. Probably all she learned were exam pieces to pass the piano exams. She bangs like anything. I've watched her play Smash Hits and she can't even play semi-quarters properly. OK, enough criticizing—I'm not good either.

I've joined the swimming club 'coz I wasn't accepted into badminton. They take old members only. I pay S$15 for a course. No meetings yet.

Yesterday, my period came during PE. Thank goodness I've put a pad in my bag a few days ago.

For AEP yesterday, we did something fun. We each copied the sketch we drew last week onto a big piece of cardboard. Then we put starch on the table (the nice part is playing with the starch) and use newspapers to create a two-dimensional effect. For example, my piece looks like this:

We stick layers of newspapers onto the tree trunks, so that the nearer trunks will have more layers and rise high above the paper. I was all alone during AEP 'coz Alisa, Jen Nee and Nancy are in Mr Huff's group. The girls in my AEP are sort of in cliques so I'm alone.

You know, before I came, everyone told me that it's going to be so tough studying here but it's not true at all! I'm quite free (and lazy).

There's an ASEAN scholar at my school who's staying at Marymount Hostel. There're only 36 girls there and NO GUYS! There are six girls to a room and in the whole hostel there are only four toilets! They can't go out, like go shopping! And they have nuns to watch them during prep time. My God! It sounds terrible. Their rooms have no tables, terrible!

That girl I told you about—Yoonphaik—has very funny features. Her ears are small and shaped differently from ours, and her arms have two lines at the elbows (instead of one like ours) and her arms bend like this: