Singapore Botanic Gardens

Singapore may be a small nation city, but I’m really proud of its garden-like city landscape. Of course we can’t compare to the picturesque and quaint English suburbs, but we are much better off than most Chinese cities. Ok. maybe that’s not a very aspiring comparison. Still, am proud of our plentiful trees, shrubs, and of course, our Botanic Gardens. The Gardens is now 150 years old (didn’t know that, did ya!). Although not exactly what you would find in the Queen’s castle backyard, the Singapore’s Botanic Gardens has its own charms and uniqueness. If not for the hot and humid weather, I would have brought a picnic basket and sit down everyday on the green green grass for some quiet reading.

Rachel enjoyed her trip thoroughly. This is the first time we brought her to the Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden.

It’s a playground where children can be children.

And makes a perfect family outing too.

I didn’t know that’s how bananas look like before they are harvested!

See how these flowers bloom. Wished I can see these back in wintery Beijing.

The Cobbler

He was so busy at work that he didn’t even hear my footsteps approaching near. It was only when my camera went kacha kacha that he realized a stranger is trespassing his ‘territory’. Apron round his neck, nail in hand and hammer in the other, he looked up, gave me a wry smile, and continued working. His clients are waiting, and he can’t afford a moments rest.

His work space was simply decorated with a small stool and his machinery set up in a quiet corner. No blazing speakers nor sparkly neon lights to attract crowds. Just simply, he as himself, his skills and a perseverance to bring home enough money to feed his family. The cobbler worked all day, earning what may seem meager wages for the well-heeled Shanghainese, but to him, is hard-earned dough for his children’s education and a roof over their heads.

I hope his children appreciated that. I do, for his very presence in the corner street reminded me once again not to take for granted the many blessings we have as city dwelling passerbys living in Shanghai.

高考 Gaokao – China’s youths face biggest test in life

Today is the second day of 高考 (gaokao), China’s Higher Education Entrance Examination, a major academic test that all 17-year-old youths in Chinese schools face. It is THE exam of their life, for the results of which will determine their life and future prospects. You can’t even imagine how much this means. In a country where such an examination has a history of more than a thousand years (think about those 考状元 imperial exams instituted since the Sui Dynasty in AD605), and a relentless pursuit for a better life through academic studies, you can then picture yourself – a 17-year-old, facing the most stressful time of their life. If they do well, they are guaranteed a seat in a reputable university, which leads to most possibly a good job as a high-earning white collar office worker after graduation, with that high salary, they will possibly have a better chance of finding better, more well-off marriage partners, which then leads to a “happy ever after” type of ending where the now old-age parents can now expect to be well-taken care of and their next generation offspring guaranteed of a better outcome in life with a better chance of getting into elite schools… and so the cycle continues for yet another generation. Now you see it?

There is a school just next to where we live, and so I decided to pop by at 5 pm, when the students finish their day’s exams and anxious parents await their long walk out to the school gates. Tension is in the air. The more well-to-do parents drive their big Buick, Audi or Toyota Crown to wait for their sons/daughters. Others drive their motorbike.

It is such an event that even the traffic police are all out in full force to control traffic and maintain/create a quiet environment for the tests.

The silence is deafening, the wait is arduous. 15 mins before 5 pm, there’s still not that many parents.

As it gets closer to 5 pm, the gate is jam-packed with anxious looks and burrowed furrows.

This mother looks rather worried, or perhaps tired.

And finally, the first student walked out at 5 pm.

Others came along quickly.

Some looking confident.

Some looking pensive.

Yet others, just need that assurance from daddy dearest.

Some were discussing answers with their teachers after the exam.

Some were just plain jubilant, or maybe relieved that it’s nearly over now.

And finally, the gates were empty again, beckoning yet another day of exams, another day of anxiety. Come next year, the same will happen again, and again, and again…..

Be still

In one of my street photography sessions, I came across these two grand old dames and a cat, sitting outside their house, watching the world pass by. Will I be like them when I grow old?

In today’s culture where keeping ourselves busy gives us a feeling of empowerment and self-importance, it’s often so easy to slip into a numbing, vicious cycle of wake-work-sleep-wake-work-sleep. Some people skip the sleep part totally. “I’m important because my boss/children needs me,” we’ll tell ourselves. Is that really so? Will the company collapse if I go away tomorrow. Will my family/children starve if I decide to take a half-day break from the daily routines of motherhood to meet up with friends for tea? Sometimes, somewhere along the road, what we really need is a clean break from routines, away from the paperwork waiting to be filed, the messy kitchen waiting to be cleaned, the city noise, to be still and quiet before God.

Remember the Mary and Martha story? When Sunday comes, I’m reminded once again that the do-er freak in me should take a rest, be still and listen.

上海模范市民 Shanghai Model Citizen

I wasn’t quite sure how it started. Only remembered I was holding my camera in the street along one of the old communities near Huangpi Road, and then he came to me, smiled right into my lenses, did that V pose with his fingers and then said,” 小姑娘，如果你回来这条街记得来找我，把我的照片洗出来给我，谢谢您了！” (“Miss, if you were ever to return to this street, please come look for me, and give me a developed photo of myself, thank you.”)

I still didn’t have any clue what just hit me. I just muttered, “当然啦！我会回来的。你一直都会在这里么？” (Of course, I will be back! Will you be here as usual?)

He gave a wry smile, almost knitting his brows too, then with a sheepish grin, or perhaps its a look of sorrow, said, “是的，我20年了，都在这里扫地。” (Yes, I’ll be here, sweeping the floor as I’ve always been for the last 20 years.”

Then with a shrug, picked up his broom, put them in his pushcart, and continued down the lane as I stared at his hunched back.

That night, I was home editing the pictures, and his images popped right up in my face, smiling at me, large and clear. What a dazzling smile he had! He is not a dashing model on a runway, but he has the most captivating of faces and a billion-dollar smile that will put Gossip Girl’s Blake Lively to shame. He doesn’t seem to be well educated (or he wouldn’t be in this profession), yet he is the most polite and civilized of Shanghainese I’ve met on the streets. I’m used to being cursed and swore at when I have my camera with me, I’ve learnt to harden my heart and sometimes curse back at them, but he showed me a different side of Shanghai that is warm, welcoming, civilized and just simply, humane. Shanghai owes it to people like him to prove that there are a few good men here in this hardened, fast moving city.

Shanghai should give a “Model Citizen Award” to Mr. Dashing Road Sweeper. He is the most deserving of recipients for almost single-handedly softened a hardened heart like mine. I will be back to find him and repay his kindness with an enlarged photo of his dazzling smile.