Written by Siew Ling on 01.02.2010
Yesterday, I went to the "Happy Family" event organised by my RSPVH friends. This time round, we could bring friends along. So, I took my mother along. While she waited for me to get ready, she fell asleep on the sofa. We left home at ten to 11. My mother saw bus service 70M and told me to board the bus. I told her that was not the right bus service so she apologised to the bus captain. A little while later, bus service 7 came which was the right bus.
At Paya Lebar, we waited for a few other people and the bus. The rest of the small group and the bus were late. My mother saw two bus service 7 when we were there. Oh, my friend P went to Lavender to pick my ex-Secondary School schoolmate, LY. P doesn't know how to go there and got lost so they were late. When the bus arrived, my mother was surprised. Instead of the smaller school bus that I usually take, it turned out to be a coach bus. P told her that there were many more people taking the bus.
On the long journey up to NTU, many of us were engaged in the activity we have been doing on the bus recently - Playing UNO! Haha... E, HS, JK sat on the seats while L and I sat on the floor. I had to keep standing to let people walk to the back seats as I was sitting at the aisle. Playing the "Reverse" card is confusing as we had to remember who was supposed to go next. My mother said we were reaching so we packed up.
I thought we could bring friends along? My mother was the only Chinese parent and there were two more Malay ones. She kept saying that the other Chinese parents were probably busy preparing for the coming Lunar New Year. I told her if she were to stay at home, she couldn't do much because her "Maria" which is me, was in NTU that day. No one will be there to help her with the cleaning and carrying.
We were put into four groups - The Simpsons, The Addams Family, Teletubbies and The Flintstones. They are all my favourite childhood TV shows. I was in The Flintstones with HS and LY. Yabadabadoo! We were each given a tag. The tags had different number of holes. Mine had three so I was supposed to tell someone three things about myself. YQ brought me around the room "Making New Friends". Apparently, everyone seems to know everyone so when the emcee asked who had made seven new friends, no one raised their hands.
We were gathered into our groups again. The emcee announced the next segment - Music Performance. A group of volunteers and beneficiaries were on stage to perform two famous Lunar New Year songs - "Gong Xi Gong Xi" and "Da Di Hui Chun". Some volunteers were on the harmonica while others sang. Two beneficiaries, Rwas on the pianica while Z on his guitar. When the two pieces were finished, the audience shouted "Encore". This time, brave J was on stage singing solo while the musicians played. "Gong Xi" has three verses but I think most of us will remember the first two verses very well but not the last. For "Da Di Hui Cun", I only know a few lines. Hahaha... =P
Ok, done with performance, now starts the fun. Each group was given a special BINGO card. It was drawn on vanguard sheet and the numbers were in Braille with red beans making the dots. We would be playing a few stations. Whichever team won that station, they could choose one of the 25 numbers. The aim was to form two straight lines, either horizontal, vertical or diagonal to BINGO.
Three-Legged Race:
Each beneficiary was paired with their family member or a volunteer. Of course, I paired up with a volunteer because my mother just sit there and watch. Hahaha... One of our legs was tied to the other. In between us, we had to support a balloon and walk a destinated route and try our best not to let the balloon fall. I felt bad as I kept stepping on my friend's toes. When that was over, HS and I tried to burst the balloon. We stepped on it, crushed and stretched but no matter which method we tried, the balloon refused to burst. Finally, I just throw the balloon upwards and didn't bother where it landed.
Longest Chain:
Each group needed to form a straight line with whatever they have other than hair or by lying on the floor. If we answered a question correctly, we have a string as bonus. We formed our line with my cane, a few belts, shoes, umbrellas and bags. A group formed their line with the help of E's UNO cards. That was really creative. Too bad, my bag was locked up in a room or else I could also use my pack of cards.
Don't Forget The Lyrics:
How well do you remember the songs from the Disney movies like The Lion King, Beauty and The Beast, Mulan... A part of these songs would be played and you were supposed to sing the next line of it. The Simpsons were really good at this and they got almost all questions right. As for me, I just stood there and told my friend that I know the song is from which movie and even the singer for a few of them.
When I had my go so it was another person's turn, I asked HS if he has ever heard of the four TV series, the names of the groups. Generation gap - he has never heard of them. So, I told him more about these shows, who the interesting characters were, interesting scenes I remembered and sang a few theme songs for him. Maybe, I can suggest some DVD watching activity to let these younger children know more? Hahaha...
Passing The Message:
Do you remember when you were much younger, you made "Cup Telephone"? For this round, a message would be passed from one cup, through a string to the other cup. For the message to travel clearly to the other side, the string has to be taut. The message was pretty long and along the line, the length of the message got shorter and shorter. Oops.
Protecting Your Precious Eggs!
Each group was given two eggs, tapes, strings, newspapers, plastic. We were supposed to use all the materials available to protect these eggs. After the given time for each group to make "boxes" to protect these eggs, the eggs would be dropped from the second floor to a rectangular spot on the ground floor. The group with the most number of eggs not broken would be the winner. We were also judged based on our creativity. My group added balloons to act as parachutes for the eggs. When our masterpiece was dropped, only one of the three balloons burst and none of our eggs were broken. However, we were penalised for using balloons.
Lao "Yu Sheng":
The "Yu Sheng" was in fact a salad consisting of lettuce, crackers, raddish, carrots and crabstick. Everyone tossed the salad and at the same time, said many auspicious greetings and hopes for the coming year. Each of us had a plate of the salad. A few volunteers acted as facilitators, walking around the room with containers of snacks like peanut cookies, love-letters, gummies, slices of fruit, cups of pudding and jellies.
To end the event, we had a group photo-taking session which seemed never to end. You could always depend on technology to behave strangely at the most crucial time.
On our the ride home, the five of us played UNO. A funny incident happened. I passed three cards to HS. He unknowingly put them back into the box. When he felt inside the discarded pile, he asked me where the cards were. I told him I gave them to him but he said no. Uh-oh, I dropped them. E was really upset as the cards belonged to him. JR helped me check if the cards were on the floor. He said there was none. Finally, the matter was resolved when HS asked me to confirm the cards I discarded were the three inside the box.
The Hawker Centre at Haig Road was under rennovations so we went to the one near my house to buy dinner.
Here's wishing everyone a prosperous Lunar New Year! Xin Nian Kuai Le, Wan Shi Ru Yi.
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