My Kiasu Teenage Life in Singapore (20 page)

Dear Mei Yee

At last I've received your letter! I was so glad—I can't believe you accumulated the pages for over a month!

Congrats for passing your driving test. I can't believe you can actually drive now! It's really a transition into adulthood, isn't it? I can't even ride a motorbike.

I can't believe I'm already seventeen! I feel that I'm still such an ignorant, silly, immature girl who hardly knows anything. And in JC and all the subsequent years, I'll probably only be learning commerce, commerce, commerce, so I'll stay ignorant forever about lots of things that I wish to know. I can't imagine how some people can drop out of school and go to work at our age!!!!!!! At this age, my knowledge is just a speck of sand in the deserts of knowledge and learning in this world.

I'm doing the Accounts exam after hols. Both Maths exams were quite easy. I was very lucky in Add. Maths 'coz for a proving question sec2 x + cos2 x_ = sec2x (or something like that) 1 + 2sin x cos x I couldn't get it so I left it. Then before the two and a half hours were up, I thought that I might as well write some rubbish and then suddenly from the rubbish, I saw the answer! So I quickly wrote it properly—seconds before the time was up. I made lots and lots of careless mistakes but luckily I corrected them. Nevertheless, there might be some undiscovered ones. I was rather pleased with how I did. I'm still waiting for the results.

The JC scholarships have just been given away. Betty was very sad not to get one, while about 60 “old” scholars did get them. I said “But it's only S$3,000”, but Betty said it's the prestige. Also, it'll be easier to get other scholarships next time. All the scholars are such super-achievers. Just to name a few: Eric is President of the Networking Club, Matt is President of Student Council, Pau Leen is President of Canoeing Club, Sunny is President of Volleyball, Ekan is President of Fencing Club, Cheng Hoe is President of Physics Club, Elizabeth is President of Literature Society and History Society, Nancy is President of Choir, Alisa is class prefect … (the list goes on).

Well, I guess the only way to be happy is to let go of all wants and desires and be satisfied with your life and make the best out of what you have. That's all. I shall end this letter here.

Love, Pei Yi

Friday 21 May

Dear Mei Yee

Betty has been quite depressed because she did not get a JC scholarship. She will go back to Malaysia to continue pre-university instead of going to a JC in Singapore. Well, at least she won't be in a
kiasu
environment anymore.

Love, Pei Yi

Sunday 27 June

Dear Mei Yee

Hi! I just came back from BM. I came back by plane. The bus journey from the airport to the hostel was twice as long as the plane journey!

Yesterday, I ate so much. My mum made shark's fin soup and throughout the day, I was stuffing myself with potato chips, milk, rice, veg, meat etc.

I phoned you last night to wish you good luck for the 1119 exam but you were out. So GOOD LUCK and have confidence if this reaches you before your exam. Tell me all 'bout it!

Yesterday I was in front of the TV the whole day! I watched
Wild and Crazy Kids, Kid's Court
(wonderful show), Cantonese serials,
Beyond Reality, Beverly Hills, Full House
and other insignificant shows.
Beyond Reality
is really exciting. Have you even watched it? It's on every week. Oh, did you watch
When He's Not A Stranger?
It's about a girl who was raped by a popular guy who is a jerk in a medical college. It was good (the show I mean).

Do you notice that we never see dead animals in nature? Not the ones like cats and dogs knocked down by cars but those that die naturally. I'm sure hundreds of animals, like birds, lizards, cockroaches, mosquitoes and bugs die each day but we never see them dead, only alive. I read an article 'bout it. I didn't notice it myself. The writer said that if a herd of elephants comes across a dead elephant, they will carry it around until a suitable hiding place is found. If they meet an elephant skeleton, they will carry a few bones each and hide them carefully.

Jen Nee registered for TOEFL exam (English test if you want to go to the USA) and my dad says he'll let me take it too so I'm going to, in August. Well, I'd better sleep now.

Love, Pei Yi

Thursday 22 July

Dear Mei Yee

Hi! I was so glad to receive your letter! It's been so long since I'd written to you—I'm gonna have to write a long letter and wrack my brains about which events I haven't told you yet.

Recently, it was Eric's birthday. Jen Nee and I made him a card in the darkroom, using photographic paper. We wrote, “We gave you an unconventional card 'coz you're an unconventional person.”

Did I even tell you my new form teacher is a pretentious hypocrite? She's always trying to be so nice! She also flirts with the new male teachers in school! But none of the students like or respect her. “Girls, I want to have a good rapport with you. The Sec 1 girls and I get along very well together. They tell me everything …” She can't teach Lit at all! She just reads from the book, tells us things we already know and she gets her own facts and characters mixed up! She also likes to boast: “Girls, I was a runner in the university. I got third place once” or “Girls, I actually learnt Science before; I switched to Arts only later.”

And she made a horrible mistake when explaining a story we were reading, the people dug a trench and burnt the grass around the trench to stop a forest fire spreading and she told us, “It's to use up the oxygen there. When there's no more oxygen, the fire can't continue burning.”!

I'm taking TOEFL. I've sent the form and the RM98 bank draft.

I used to be a terrible busybody and envy those who have a lot of gossip and know about what's happening but now I'm not anymore. Jen Nee made me realize that knowing all the gossip does not make you happier.

Jen Nee and I went to Metro to buy clothes for Farewell. I bought a white sleeveless blouse quite some time ago 'coz it was only S$6.90. There were sales at Metro and I bought these:

1  A long blue skirt with buttons running down the front for S$33

2  A black jacket for S$29. This is a real bargain. Jackets usually cost a hundred odd. (This is for the executive scene. I could have borrowed from someone I guess, but this was such a bargain!)

3  A dark blue tight-skirt to go with the jacket

I was so excited about all these new clothes 'coz they're really nice.

Jen Nee bought a long skirt too for S$43 and a black blouse for S$33. Hers weren't on sale. She actually also wanted my blue skirt but I saw the skirt first, you see.

What do you mean “The elephants are so cute”? Did I tell you anything about elephants? Oh! Is it about their bones? Now I remember!

Singapore really has a lot of acronyms. How many do you recognize? AJC, SJI, NJC, MRT, RJC, GST, TGIW, HDB, RGS, SBC, MCQ, MGS, SBS, COE, CHIJ, TGIF, KFC.

I think books influence me very easily. I always believe what I read. Jen Nee says next time, if she wants to trick me, she'll publish something in a book so I'll read and believe it.

After reading an article about how crazy it is that some parts of the earth starve while other parts get diseases from overeating, I wrote a petition about letting us take our own food instead of being served the huge portions by the canteen people, as we waste three dustbins of food every dinner. I got people to sign it then asked Nicole to pass it to the Sec 3s but the stupid boys lost it. I wrote another one, and this time, I'm gonna make sure that I keep it properly.

Well, I think I'll stop now. I'll write to you again after Farewell.

REPLY SOON!

Love, Pei Yi

PS Alisa has a bf already—Marcus from Penang. He's in NJC. They don't act like a couple in the hostel, though, only outside!

Monday 9 August

Dear Mei Yi

Singapore has its own
Candid Camera-style
show called
Gotcha.
It's really funny! I like watching the local setting. In one episode, the
Gotcha
host pretended to speak a foreign language to unsuspecting strangers, “Blob blob blob? Blob blob …” as if they're asking directions to somewhere. A woman who was eating at a coffee shop pretended to know the blob blob language. “Blob blob”, she said, pointing into the distance just to get rid of the blob blob guy pestering her!

Love, Pei Yi

Wednesday 11 August

Dear Mei Yee

Jen Nee did something very silly last week. She was walking alone in Orchard Road when a young man approached her. Stammering and stuttering incoherently, he plunged into a long, confusing story about losing his wallet in a taxi and having no money to take a taxi to East Coast where he lives. He claimed that the taxi sped away before he could take his wallet. Isn't it stupid? Well, Jen Nee was so confused, and didn't have time to think properly. Finally, she said, “So you want to borrow money, is it?” The man said yes, but he wants to see whether his friend is in Denny's or not first. Jen Nee went with him and he came out from Denny's, saying his friend was not in.

Jen Nee offered to lend him S$10 but he said East Coast is too far, he needed at least S$20. He assured her that he would return the money and jotted down her address (wow, he conveniently had a pen right there and then). As you would have guessed by now, the man was a con man! He left with S$20 and later Jen Nee began to wonder how she could have believed such a fishy story.

I could hardly believe such a remarkable incident! Jen Nee felt very angry with herself for being so gullible. I felt angry with the cunning man. He definitely has his strategies:

1  Approach young teenagers walking alone (lone people are easy to convince; Jen Nee looks very “blur” sometimes)

2  Talk incoherently to confuse her

3  Convince her you're telling the truth by appearing to look for your friend first

4  Write down the victim's address

Who in the right mind would borrow money from a stranger to take a taxi? I was shocked that such stories could actually fool people. I bet he earns quite a sum cheating people everyday.

Anyway, the next time I meet a stranger who wants to borrow money to take a taxi, I'll say: “Borrow from someone else”, “I don't have any money” or “Take a bus!”

Jen Nee and I were so
geram
that we acted out the scene again and we changed the ending to her punching the guy.

Love, Pei Yi

Thursday 12 August

Dear Mei Yee

I just finished reading your letter. I notice that I usually receive your letters on Thursdays! I cannot resist the temptation to write to you straightaway.

I got my Malay 2 results last week. Guess what? I got C3! Terrible, isn't it? I was quite shocked myself 'coz I'm a Malaysian.

Jen Nee got A1 in Malay. Nancy, whose Malay has always been the best among us all, surprisingly received a C3 too. She cried like crazy. So did Alisa 'coz she got C4. She was hysterical, I heard. I know I always think mean things of Alisa about her being
kiasu
and pretending not to study, but when I realize that she probably also feels insecure about her own intelligence, I feel a bit sorry for her.

Thank goodness I get to take the exam again in November! This taught me a lesson, not to be over-confident. I'm starting to read Malay books to improve my Malay. Sometimes I can't even bring to mind simple Malay words like
melarang
or
tegas.
My essays sound like a Primary School kid's.

I wasn't all that sad about C3 'coz it's just Malay. If it had been Maths or English, I would have cried but I was wondering how I'm going to tell my parents, as I'm usually saying to them that Malay here is very easy. Surprisingly, they weren't angry or disappointed about it. My dad was hoping that I was not too disappointed over it.

We just had a whole stretch of hols 'coz of National Day (9 August). Friday (6/8) was Mass and celebrations in school so I skipped school. Mon—the real National Day. Tuesday—holiday but I wasted it 'coz I suffered great pain from period cramps. I thought that my period pains had ceased for good but they just reoccurred this month.

The year is going to be over soon, isn't it? I wonder where everyone will be, say, six months from now.

I have the same feeling as you—I feel that I've not grabbed many opportunities in my life so far and there're many things I won't be able to experience once I'm past my youth. It's a rather sad thought.

Yesterday I was very happy 'coz my recent two rolls of films produced excellent results. It was of Jen Nee having a cocktail in Dynasty restaurant.

Next week, Jen Nee and I are putting together a photographic exhibition in school and I've more than enough prints to choose from. Good prints really please me. I can't wait to enlarge them properly. I can send them for O levels but Mr Como expects me to take even more photos. He said, “Now that you're on the springboard, are you going to walk on and leap or just walk away contented?”

Maybe I'll take more photos after prelims (starting 24/8).

Friday 3 September

Dear Mei Yi

Received a postcard from Betty who's in a twinning college in KL. She'll continue her course at an American college. She's quite happy in KL and thinks that her not getting the JC scholarship was a blessing in disguise. Actually she'll be going to a pretty good college in America even without going through all the stress of JC here. I wonder what the point it sometimes in all this intense competition for JC places in Singapore.

The hostel barbecue was fun. The JC guys entertained us throughout with their band performance. Marcus (Alisa's bf) wanted to dedicate a song to Alisa but he was too shy to say it! He stuttered, “To … er …” and the crowd shouted, “Who? Who?” Marcus hesitated, then said, “to everybody …”. “Hey!” the crowd teased. “… And to my Princess!” he finally managed! (So romantic, huh?)