The Week in National Mourning: A prayer for Lee Kuan Yew

Palm Sunday: I thought the service started early, because I got in 15 minutes early but the kyrie began before I even found a seat.

A kind usher directed me to the leaflet when she saw me flipping the missal frantically –

A pre-service requiem for Lee Kuan Yew, it was. Being protestant, I personally have problems singing the litany of saints, where the lyrics go ‘Sancta -insert name-, ora pro nobis’ (saint –, pray for us). I believe that our great privilege as Christians is to be able to approach God in prayer through Christ, instead of having to go through the saints, who were once human like us. Nevertheless, I knelt in prayer as the litany was intoned.

This is the one week where I’ve actually prayed for my nation, for my country to be able to continue the good work that was Lee’s life. Praying for the country is usually included as part of the regular services, but I do not usually pay much attention. This past week, I gained a better understanding of the necessity of doing so – you become a concerned participant in the national narrative when you pray.

Wishing the Lee family rest and solace,

The Week in National Mourning: The Guards of Honour

I queued five and a half hours alone on Thursday night into Friday morning, and just as I was about to be admitted into the Parliament, I watched the rehearsal for today taking place, at about 4.30 in the morning.

The gun carriage and the empty hearse

Then the guards of honour in slow march

The SAF band.

Watch the boys do it today in the rain.
Pathetic fallacy as the skies cry along with the nation.

The Week in National Mourning: In Memory of Lee Kuan Yew

ends today, with a state funeral and a cremation. I have felt uneasy, unsettled all week, and I think that strange. My logical mind tells me there will be no practical change to my way of life; the death of a country’s founding father, a man who has been officially out of politics for twenty-five years, has no direct bearing on my life. After all, he is someone we hardly bring up in regular conversation (except when we are complaining…?). Why the grief then?

Perhaps we’ll miss his piercing intellect; I know I will miss his writing, where he makes difficult and complex political and social issues direct and comprehensible (that is, simple, not simplified), a skill many professional writers struggle with. Perhaps we’ll miss his no-nonsense manner, the sharpness (Tony Blair, former British PM, calls it bluntness) of deep insight that made him an advisor to world leaders. (This is something Singaporeans are surprised and proud of – the international tributes from significant political figures are deeply moving and inspirational, aspirational. Also, it must be rare to receive outstanding tributes of praise and thanksgiving from both past and present Chinese and American leaders.)

Perhaps it isn’t as abstract as all that: the very fact that he did create this immensely successful paternal state makes us see him as ‘Ah Kong’ (grandfather).

I queued five and a half hours alone to pay my respect to the late Mr Lee. To be sure, it felt a little anti-climatic: after the long wait, you are ushered in, you bow, and you are urged to hurry out because there are 8 hours worth of people behind you wanting to do the same. But no regrets doing so: I’ve been brought up to know that the dead can’t come to the living anymore, the living must send off the dead. My family did turn up at Tanjong Pagar though, and because we were there on a night where the crowd was thin, we were allowed time to contemplate the life and works of Mr Lee.

(My dad wrote in Mandarin: Hope you’ll bring Mrs Lee to our SG50 celebrations in August)

today feels like…

mostly because it has been taxing emotionally and intellectually preparing for class and on top of that, preparing for further lessons in memory of our founding father Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

and now, after a 14-hr work day, I’ve decided to join the serpentine queue to pay my respects to the great man lying in state at the parliament building.

joined the queue at 2333hrs, and we’ve just walked around the WW2 memorial. will update as and when i can, provided the battery lasts.

Sunday cooking 7

prepared a snack: honey roasted macadamia nuts

wanted it to be a healthier version so i decided to skip the last step of rolling them in a fine sugar and salt mix. it still tastes good, for sure, but they now clump together in a rather irritating fashion.

then there was the basic brunch: omelette and chicken.

i think I’ve about perfected the art of pan-frying chicken breast slices…they come out really juicy and tender. however, that effect doesn’t last, and when they cool they become the regular dry slices we too frequently associate with the chicken breast. wonder if there’s a way around that.

Sunday cooking 6

The results of my marketing trip: Brunch!

just a simple fry-up with sauteed red onions (that made me cry quite hard), sauteed button mushrooms, and chicken breast slices marinated in mixed Italian herbs, salt and white pepper.

my food presentation needs a bit of work…

Sunday marketing

Previously, I blogged about the markets at Baseco and Rome, and over my impromptu marketing this morning, I felt that my own market deserved a post too.

Behold the sights and sounds of Redhill Market, known colloquially as ‘angsua pasat’.

The red packet (angbao) decor from the recent Chinese New Year celebrations is still there…prob still squeezing the year for all the luck and prosperity it’s worth.

Our wet market sells everything from the usual meat and vegetables to potted plants and fresh cut flowers to pet fish and terrapins.

A dried goods store seen below, where you can buy condiments, dried seafood such as anchovies (ikan bilis) and shrimp (he bi) to flavour your soups/dishes with, even freshly grated coconuts or tapiocas.

fun fact: did you know the word ‘ketchup’ has Chinese origins?
‘qie zhi’, literally tomato (fan qie) juice (zhi).

Then the shop from which I bought today’s groceries.

Yay for fresh and brightly coloured produce!

postcard from the Vatican: it arrived!

Bit of a belated post…but hello postcard!

Mailed: 29th Dicembre 2014
Stamped: 30th Dicembre 2014
Received: 23rd Febbraio 2015

Stamped: Gloria in excelsis Deo
Et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis
“Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace to people of good will.”

Random question: is there a different stamp for Lent, given that the Gloria is taken out of mass during the period of Lent?

Ciao dal Vaticano!

Wow…where has my postcard been all this while; languishing amidst the Christmas backlog? I’d given up hope on it, forgetting even that I sent it, and here it appears.

I sent one to my ex too, the very one who introduced this protestant here to catholicism. Every catholic church I stepped into reminded me of his all too conspicuous absence. Even so, if it hadn’t been for him, I would not have appreciated Italy the way I did. Previously, I was an iconoclast (and still am, a little), and I might’ve easily dismissed much of the sacred art and architecture as being the worship of idols but I have since gained a deeper understanding of the faith.

And if you were wondering whether a reply came from the ex, no, there wasn’t. To have given up expecting a reply and yet still harboring hope for communication is sometimes the hardest of all to bear. and quite sad and pathetic.

Have a good weekend, y’all.

my passion project: an art website

It is only now that I realise what an impact the art in Italy made on me, for I have spent the past several weeks collating artwork and putting them onto a website to be used as part of my lessons. It’s art therapy for myself, really – I pick and choose the artists that I like, art pieces that make sense to me, art pieces that give me pleasure, others that disturb me, and in so doing, begin to experience a ‘refining of the palate’ in terms of my taste and preference in art. The trip to Italy made me appreciate sacred art a lot better, mainly because I got to see them in the context of worship, with artwork adorning the chapels and altars. This experience is so different from just five years ago when, as a complete noob, I looked at sacred art in the National Gallery in London and yawned. Seeing Madonna after Madonna after Madonna made me roll my eyes and I naively believed that she was only painted because people were paid to paint her (eh, perhaps that isn’t too far from the truth). I think it fair to say that I have made some progress in my knowledge of art and as such, the pleasure I derive from looking at art has also increased. I am glad for that, and also a little pleased, for much of it was self-taught.

Enough of that pre-ramble…click here to visit my art website (without too much copyright infringement i hope!) Website is best viewed on a desktop as I have yet to work on the mobile site.