Sitting in the train, I remembered what my maid told me - she was from The Philippines. The people in the village, the parents dont do nothing when there are no farming activities, but the children however were expected to demonstrate the utmost respect and responsibility to any elder who happened to visit. And of course, do all the housework they could possibly do. Perhaps, it was discipline, but for me, I'd rather pass, in other words, I love my life in Singapore. The children there were brought up for hard work, nurturing their diligence and determination for the future endeavours, and last but not least the ability to do house chores, as a form of helping their parents. Their parents on the other hand, chat and have small get-togethers during these times.
Living in a modern society, I am used to parents passing their things down to the oldest child in the family, thinking that the oldest was most probably the most mature and the most deserving. But in the village Philippines, it is a whole different story. The farmland is given to the youngest son in the family. That was quite an eye-opener to me.
Speaking about relatives, my maid's husband complained that her cooking had become almost tasteless when she took a short visit back home in June this year. Well, it seems to me that the Filipinos, like the Thais, have a strong liking of superbly salty food! That was what my Mum and I first realised when we got our maid, on the first day of trying her cooking. We almost could not swallow, simply because of the fact that the taste of salt stung our tongue just as we placed the food into our mouth. It was indescribable, its taste was out of this world, it could only be described plainly and straight to the point as overly salty, extremely salty rather. Ahhh... no wonder the shocked expression on her face when my aunt taught her how to cook our first homecooked dish (my aunt lives just two floors above me, and so she comes down to cook for us everyday except weekends and public holidays... haha. just jesting); my aunt didnt ask her to put salt. She said "Mam, no salt?!" with a confused expression. So now, she has improved tremendously. And now her husband thinks her cooking has deproved. Well, that says a lot about the food of The Philippines, salty, salty and salty. I sure hope to find something which suits my taste buds xD
2:06 AM
Cherie Seah Xinyi
Rafflesian; Tarbetian; RSP-ian; handbells Ex-CO
ONEOHNINE-er
TWOOHNINE-er
Bearing the scholarship of RSP, I thrive
to learn, to realise, to connect. Southeast Asia is bonded, not only by ASEAN, but it's the railways which connect us.
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