Importance of Common Language

In a flash, the September 1 week holidays have gone by. Let me recapped some things I have learnt and what I have done during this week of rest. Hmm. Spend 4 days on friendly matches. All of them at other secondary schools. One of the experiences that I found valuable was in Ang Mo Kio Secondary School.

As I was a reserved, (though I do play in quite a lot of matches :D) I helped out by refilling bottles, ball keeping and cheering. There was one time when I went to the canteen to fill the bottles of my friends, I realise that the two water coolers that I have found could not produce any water. I tried again and again but my efforts were completely futile. I then proceed to find someone who could help me out. I saw two school cleaners and went up to them saying, "Excuse me, the two water coolers there do not have water." (I know that its broken English) It seemed that I was either too soft or they did not know I was talking to them though there were only the three of us. I tried again louder this time and they indeed responded by looking at me, speechless. I figured after moments that they could not understand me as they were rather old and they were Chinese. I began to point to the water coolers and turning the bottles, that I am holding on, upside down to show that the water coolers could not produce water. For a moment, I thought that I was back in the era of cavemen body languages. The cleaners seemed to understand my frantic gestures better and walked towards me, leaving their job of washing the floor for a while. I tried to communicate with the auntie, whom I guess would be more friendly than the uncle, because of stereotype reasons. The auntie attempted to tell me using English that the water coolers have spoiled and the students did not told them about it. However, the English was mixed with Chinese and Hokkien Dialect, which I could understand only part of it. Furthermore, because of her lack of teeth(no offence) her pronunciation was rather inaccurate and I have severe problems understanding her. She seemed to know that I could not really understand her and she repeated what she wanted to communicate to me more than 3 times. As I was in a hurry in giving my thirsty mates their water and the match would be starting soon, I tried to thank her and be back on task without being too rude. Unfortunately, she could not sensed my urgency and tried to get me into a conversation by saying something about the students and them not telling her about the spoiled water coolers. I was in a dilemma as I really did not want to be rude or late back and she could not understand me when I told her I need to get back and passed the water bottles back to my friends, in chinese. In the end, I simply started to inch off little by little and continued smiling at her engaging in her conversation. I was glad she was so amiable and truly would like to stay and chat but my captain will surely fly into a rage at me for taking so long.

In conclusion, I learnt the importance of having a common language through a real life experience. Though in this case, its because the auntie was uneducated, but when I was to grow up and work in foreign countries, I will be like the auntie with my inferior and Singlish-English.