i came across this website: Dear Photograph quite a while back and loved the idea immediately and told myself i should do this. Take an old photo of a place and go to that place now to match it up and take a new photo; remembering the past with the present.
Unfortunately, my birth/home country of Singapore moves so fast and changes so much in a short time, it is quite difficult to find an old photo of me and my family, or a place we have been to, which still sort of matches up today.
This is Singapore’s Skyline when i was growing up. Credit: GolferToAxis on Photobucket
While progress may be a good thing in some aspects, i miss the Singapore i grew up it; it is disappearing so fast. This year we have made efforts to try to show our son where we used to go to school. However, only my husband’s primary and secondary school still stands today. My own primary school and secondary has been torn down and rebuilt or moved.
Singapore’s Skyline of the same area today. Credit: Wikipedia, Tourism in Singapore
Not just the physical buildings have changed but schooling itself has changed too. Demands on kids are so high now, extra lessons are the norm. In my school years, you get extra lessons only if you needed help in a subject and your parents had to hire a private tutor for it. Now, schools provide not just help but even supplementary classes so you can learn extra stuff.
Many other things have changed too. It is difficult to find the old eating places our parents used to bring us to. The friendly neighbourhood spirit seems less now. Public transport is so overcrowded. People notice the people around them less; all absorbed in their digital devices.
i miss the Singapore i grew up in. It was noisy, not so clean and less advanced BUT it was warm, friendlier and comfortable. Maybe i’m biased.
… No, not St Gallen, Switzerland, which is shorten to SG in Switzerland.
SG = Singapore, for me.
Yep, it is time once again for a pictorial summary of our annual trip back to SG. We left exactly one week ago (myself and Tobias that is, Walter came home 10 days before us). This time we spent 4 weeks there – 28 days to be exact.
This year we flew Lufthansa again. They are not a bad airline to fly with and this time i felt that the service was a little better than last year. Maybe because this year we flew in their new A380, non-stop from Frankfurt to Singapore.
Remember my Gush! post? Well, the penguins went on their very first outing 😉 Aren’t they just adorable?!
On the way to SG…
We landed in the afternoon, unpacked, got a bit of rest and then the next day, we hit to the town! 😀
We did some touristy stuff, such as visit the new Gardens By the Bay. It was nice – the outside was not quite finished and the flowers/plants didn’t seem to be in full bloom yet. But we really liked the 2 indoor conservatories – the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest. The plants/flowers were really quite interesting in these cooled areas but my little guy got bored after one conservatory. His interest perked up again at the indoor waterfall and when we were at the video presentation near the end of the visit. The whole place is built to conserve power, it even produces its own solar power which is enough to power the whole attraction. The solar panels are actually mounted on top of these huge “metal trees” – i call them the “Avatar Trees”. There is a skywalk which links a few of these trees – it has quite a nice view. We were told the whole gardens look prettier at night but we chose not to stay into the evening as we already had a whole day out.
The “Avatar Trees” – the small group with the cooled conservatories in the background, the large group of “metal trees”, the skywalk…The “furry” flower, the 1000 year-old olive tree, the purple “trumpets”…The king of the forest asking when are we finished 😉The indoor waterfall at the Cloud Forest…
Of course, we also did the usual things – mainly eat all the foods we miss ;p And the one thing we always do is our morning walk by the beach, followed by breakfast at MacDonald’s 🙂
Father and Son watching the waves wash the sand away from their feet…
Spending time with family and friends is the other main reason we go back each year.
L to R: Tobias spending time with Godbrother and Godsister, Showing little Godbrother electronic games, Us with our beloved Godson 😉
This year we were also faced with a rather unexpected sad event – the passing of a friend from church, Ronald. Our thoughts are with his family.
Tobias had his first taste of seawater – his reaction? “Pah, Ptooie” and a sour expression on his face. Ok i stand corrected, this is not his very first taste of seawater but the first one which he reacted to. His very first exposure to seawater was when he was quite small so he doesn’t remember it. He got over it pretty quickly and was soon having a ball of a time.
Throwing the water-rugby ball to Cookie and riding on Cookie’s shoulders…
We also went to the Jurong Bird Park. Again it was one of the places we had brought him to before but he was too small to remember. He really quite enjoyed this trip.
The feathered friends we met…
Universal Studios Singapore was another stop we made. After this second time there (now it has more attractions than our first time there), my advice is to go early and plan to stay till closing to get on as many rides as possible, make it a 2-day event if you can afford it. There are a couple of kiddy rides but most would be entertaining for both adults and children. Do note: the Battlestar ride has size restrictions. Oh, another thing – bring a fan and an umbrella. It was very hot the day we went but towards the early evening it rained for a short while.
Top Left: View of the Battlestar ride from below, Bottom Left: At the start of the day, with friends we met in CH, Right: Expressions before the start of the Accelerator ride…Tobias and i with his great-grandmother at her birthday party…
Last year we went to a restaurant to celebrate my grandmother’s (Tobias’ great-grandmother) birthday. This year it was a quiet affair at home with just immediate family. i love that i can still celebrate my grandmother’s 98th birthday!
We went, we laughed together with, ate with and spent time with family and friends, we enjoyed. 😉
i’m appalled that the education scene in Singapore has come to this! Children getting tested even for classes that are supposed to help them do better in school.
These people are just after the money – they don’t really care about the children who come to their classes! All they care about are results (the kids getting good results so they can brag & get more customers); & with results come more money. i say if you don’t truly care about the kids, then don’t join the education business… (incorrect to say business cos then it will be about money)… don’t join in educating children!
When i went to school, sure there was pressure to perform & be the best but never to this extend where everything is dependent solely on the results you produced. i’m ever grateful to my parents for being who they are; for never pressuring me to do more than i can; for saying that as long as i have done my best, it’s good enough.
The other thing which makes me mad about this is this – What about the kids who truly need that little extra help to get up to standard (which is constantly shifting)?? They are the ones who do need the extra classes & attention. What about them? Whose helping them? By allowing only the “smart” kids to join these classes, they are just making the rift between the education of “smart” kids & “normal” kids bigger; which leads to an even bigger middle-class gap in society! Isn’t education about allowing every child the opportunity to do his/her best & to excel in doing what they do best & love best. To educated them, not discriminate against them!
A friend commented on her Facebook about this, speaking about whose is to blame – she is right & here i quote her cos i could not have said it better:
Some say it’s the education system’s fault. Some say, it’s the parents’ fault. To me, both have their share in this whole rat race. It’s scary, but it’s very real, and our children are living in this kind of environment and expectations. How they’ll ‘survive’ will greatly depend on us and the values we instill in them since very young …
This article just makes me appreciate the education system in Switzerland even more. That is not to say that it is a prefect system; far from that, it has its flaws but at least they realise & see the need for children to be children, to enjoy their childhood & playtime; which will teach them social & coping skills which books/academics can not! i share a tiny bit about the differences in the systems here.
This article has sparked much debate in Singapore now. i hope & pray that such debate will lead to positive action & improvement for the sakes of the children.
trippingdifferently 