On Friday I had the privilege of catching the opening night of the play, ‘For The Pleasure of Seeing Her Again‘, adapted from the (Canadian) French original and performed by our very own Ivan Heng and Neo Swee Lin. I was not disappointed.
Literary buffs (or at least, former literature students) may experience some deja vu in the opening scene. The transition scenes were taken care of subtly. I particularly liked how the change of fashion and attitudes adopted by both characters indicated a new stage in their lives. I was tickled by Neo Swee Lin’s impersonations. And what an ending! Contrary to expectations I did not cry, though I did shed a tear. That’s enough. No spoilers from me.
On Saturday night, thanks to the persistence of friends, I did something I usually avoid: Karaoke. I felt as alien in a world of Cantopop as a fish out of water. The only song I knew how to sing was ‘Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xin’ because at least I remembered the tune, if not all the words. However they did let me sing a few George Michael songs so it wasn’t too bad.
Which makes me wonder if I am going through a culture shock in my English-only world. My colleagues speak a smattering of Mandarin and English and call me ‘pantang’ meaning ‘potato’, which is the equivalent of ‘banana’ (yellow outside, white inside).
Moreover, this Thursday’s Alpha session was unexpectedly conducted in Mandarin because we had two guests who were much more confortable in the language, and they were giving wonderful testimonies to us. Made me wonder who was really learning – us helpers, or the newcomers!
And to top off the end of the week, I sat through nearly four hours of Mandarin and Cantonese songs. Phew! If I keep at this maybe I could bump my D7 grade back to a C6.
Comments
I went to Partyworld Karaoke Clementi a few weeks back with some friends…although there were hardly any chinese songs sung, they sorta dragged me kicking n screaming into the place 🙂
Thanks for reminding me about the play. It was on my ‘must- watch’ list.
I think it’s good improve your Chinese or at least be exposed to a few things Chinese, even if it’s Cantopop! =) yeah, listen to me, I had a C6 for AO Level Chinese. But over the years, after living away from home, I kinda got a little more Asia-centric. Maybe we’ll get you started on some Jimmy Liao books, which DSD, D, Tiggie and I love! They’re probably the only Chinese books I’m able and willing to read.
You’re a REAL potato babe. It’s “kantang”, not “pantang”. 😛
oh yes! i had a lot of fun reading Jimmy’s books… :C)
ha ha. DSD and I can drag u along too when we next visit the ktv!!! then u can improve yr mandarin again!!! yes, maybe we should get u started on jimmy books too.
heheh, i wanted to mention the pantang vs kantang thing as well… (pantang has an altogther diff meaning!).
you can start with David Tao, or Mayday for mandarin songs. 🙂 the easier karaoke songs would be Fish Leong’s or sandy lam? 🙂