Volunteering at Willing Hearts’ soup kitchen.
Since I decided that I was not going to travel anywhere during my two week break, I thought of volunteering at a soup kitchen run by Willing Hearts. I called the volunteer coordinator and was told to show up “anytime from 6.30am”, which of course I could not do. But I did manage to drag myself out of bed at 7am, grab a quick breakfast and have K drop me off just after 7.30am.
When I got there, the kitchen was already in full swing, with people cooking food and packing it, and others peeling, chopping and washing vegetables. I found myself at an empty vegetable station, in front of a basketful of cabbage. This was where my complete and utter lack of presence in the kitchen showed itself – I had no clue how to cut the cabbage and had to look at what other volunteers were doing. Once I figured things out, I chopped my way through so many cabbage heads that after a while, I was working in a blur.
As we neared the bottom of the cabbage pile, a lorry drove up and offloaded crates of half-rotten leeks. “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet,” one volunteer told me. Apparently, peeling potatoes is worse. So is broccoli because it comes in crates filled with melted ice cubes, which makes the veg rot. The veg comes from the market where stallholders donate their unsold produce, which explains the slimey soggy mess. Anyway, since I have no frame of reference, the leeks were pretty darn bad. And the smell of them! But there was still good, edible veg to be had under all that slime, so we put our hands to work. I think there were nine crates in all. I helped with three or four then called it a day at 10am. I have never cut so many vegetables in my life.
The soup kitchen cooks and delivers 2,500 packets of food daily to needy families all over Singapore. Tuesdays and Thursdays are the best days to go, because that’s apparently when fewer volunteers show up. Things wind down by 10.30am to 11am, so going at 7.30am will give you 3 solid hours of work. I’m planning to go again next Tuesday and Thursday. If you’re going, let me know!
Willing Hearts soup kitchen is at HighPoint Community Services Association at Block 1 Lorong 23 Geylang Road. The person to call if you have any questions is Tony Tay at 9690 2086.
Youtube taught me how to crochet.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have FINALLY learned how to crochet. And I didn’t have to pay anyone $300 to do it either! I don’t know why I didn’t realise this sooner, but Youtube has thousands of tutorials on how to knit and crochet, and learning is as simple as finding the right Youtube video that shows the steps up close. After trying a few videos, I found the Howcast Arts & Recreation channel, which has excellent tutorials on all kinds of crochet techniques. After crocheting an hourglass-shaped swatch of single crochet (I did it all wrong and kept adding and dropping stitches which resulted in the shape) and a more or less perfect rectangle, I decided to plunge in and try crocheting in the round with this beginner’s tutorial for Christmas baubles.
It took me about two hours to make this. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to do the hanging loop the way the tutorial says to do it, so I improvised with chain stitches.
Now that I know the basics, the world of amigurumi has suddenly opened up! So much to crochet, so little time. My next project is all lined up, though. I’ll be making Zoe a crown using this tutorial.
I also found time to make some soft flannel covered rice pillows for my mom, who wanted them for my sister’s soon-to-be-born twins. These pillows are like bean sprout pillows - rice makes sense for my sister’s babies because they live in a temperate country and the pillows can be warmed in a microwave or toaster if necessary. I used this tutorial but made some modifications. At my mom’s request, I sewed the rice into the two ends of the pillow so that the middle portion would be empty. I also reduced the width of the pillows by an inch because babies have short torsos.
Zoe's Build-a-Bear models the boy twin's pillow with a cute robot slipcover.
I am really liking the time I have for crafting now. Hopefully, I’ll be able to turn my hand to other crafty things in the next two weeks. Apart from doing more crochet, I also want to make a cover for my sewing machine, and finish the lunch bag I’ve been promising Alison. All the pieces are cut already; they just need assembling!
Bryan and Sunshine’s first trip to the beach.
We are bad dogparents. Very bad. Bryan is nearly three years old and today marked his first time on a beach. We don’t know for sure if this is Sunshine’s first time ever since her former family could have taken her, but today was the first time we took her. From her reaction, it probably was the very first time.
Both dogs were super excited to be out, until we led them onto the sand. They were transfixed by the sound of the waves crashing on shore, and the water that seemed to be rushing in to attack them.
Sunshine gingerly checking out the backwash.
Neither dog was keen to go near the water, so K put them on the leash and led – no, dragged – them in.
No, Sunshine, sitting on Bryan will not give you more traction.
After about an hour of manhandling two unwilling dogs, he finally succeeded in getting them to swim, more or less calmly, back to shore. They also got over some of their anxiety about the waves, but it was definitely not the grand vision I had of them plunging in and emerging triumphantly from the water like Pam Anderson in Baywatch.
Wet look.
"I prefer to be dry, thankyouverymuch."
I think we might try again when they’re due for their next bath in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, here’s a video of Bryan trying to bite water:
To the beach.
One of the things that K and I have resolved to do with the children this year is to spend more time in the great outdoors. We said we’d try to take them to the beach or park every Sunday afternoon, and today was the first day we actually made it out the door and to the beach. Here’s the pictorial evidence!
Watching sailors from the Mana Mana Beach Club play with all sorts of sailing equipment.
The main purpose of the outing - sandcastle building - was not very successful because the sand was not of the right consistency.
After a while, the sand was abandoned in favour of water.
And of course, the mandatory horsing around.
Arrr! The year of the dragon is nigh!
The comfort of familiarity, the comfort of change.
Sorry for the long silence since my last post – I’ve been trying to wrap my head around my final assignment for the first module of my MPH. Now that it’s been uploaded to the university’s assignment system, I can finally breathe easier. I have a couple of weeks to chill and get other stuff done before the second term rolls around.
We’ve been doing a fair bit of spring-cleaning around the house, not so much because of Chinese New Year as an irrepressible need to declutter and streamline our life. In the process of throwing out stuff (I donated a huge bag of clothes to my workplace’s jumble sale), K unearthed an old lovey from his childhood – a ragged Snoopy plush.
K's mother bought him and his brother one Snoopy each. K slept with his every night for years, and it shows.
Snoopy has been promoted from the confines of a large Toyogo box, to our bed, and K is back to holding on to him every night while he sleeps.
No, there's no shame in this.
It’s nice to have something familiar from childhood to cling to, to recall happier, more innocent times. I certainly wish I had a security blanket of my own, since I will be going through yet another change – no, not menopause! – in early February. Let’s hope keeping my wits about me and God’s favour will suffice. This particular change in my circumstances has been coming for at least a year, and it’s comforting to know that it’s just around the corner.