DWG Toastmasters' Club Contests

I could not believe I could win in our Dennis Wee Group Toastmasters' Club contests for both international speech and table topics. I had just returned from an 8 days' vacation in Penang. Though I had plenty of time, I was too lazy to write out my speech by pen as my sibling did not have a computer at home. Hence, I waited till I reached Singapore to write my speech. It was somewhat stressful because I also had work to catch up after being "laid off" for 8 days. After printing out my speech in our company, I read it a number of times and tried to remember the key points.

As for table topics, I realised I had little practice. Most of the times when I visited clubs I was either a prepared speech speaker or an evaluator. Hence I seldom participated in table topics as I felt that everyone in the meeting should participate and be given a chance to do so.

I felt that Shirley Gwee was better in her prepared speech than me and expected her to win the contest. I also felt that Lionel Ng was better than me at the table topic contest. It is really a humbling experience. Now I have to represent my club and compete with other winners at division level on 24th March.

I will fine tune my prepared speech and practise on my own at various table topics at home. So long as I have tried my best for my club, I know I have given my best even if I do not win both contests at divisional level. It is most important that I enjoy myself and keep improving all the time.

Gan Chau

Jelutong Village

 

 

Whenever I am asked by Penangnites where I used to live, I would tell them "Jelutong Village". There was always this momentary look of surprise. I remember how my boss would not even dare to drop me at my village when she gave me rides home. She would stop a few hundred metres away!! You see, Jelutong was notorious for its gangsters.
The above pictures are shots of our house which I recently took when I visited Penang. This is the house where mother gave birth to a bouncy baby girl called Choo Choo. Her arrival into this world was unexpected because she was much younger than all her four siblings. However, Choo Choo's papa considered her arrival his "most blessed mistake". The wooden house stands on about 5,000 sq. ft. of land. Singaporeans would be envious of the spaciousness for they could build a bungalow on 5,000 sq. ft. of land.! Now the house is being rented out, as second brother and family have moved to their own condominium and all of us are now living in different parts of the world.

I love Jelutong Village. Although our home was humble, I guess I was the happiest kid in the village for I had the most wonderful family. Being the youngest, I was pampered by almost every relative and friend. I had never seen my grandparents and often wondered why all my friends had grandparents and I had none. But being sweet-tongued and suave, I also followed suit in addressing all the elderly folks, "Ah Ma and Ah Kong (Grandmother and Grandfather). You can imagine the amount of red packets I received during the Lunar New Year!

Papa gave us lots of freedom to run around. We played rough games like police and robber and hole in the sand where if a player got hit by a ball, he would have his face drawn with black ink with a Chinese brush! Soon there would not be enough room on his face and he would have his arms and legs painted with ink!!!

There were so many coconut trees that we could climb. In our compound alone, we had guava, rambutan and chiku trees. Second Sis was the most agile of all. Sometimes we teased her that she must have been a monkey in her previous life! Since I had short legs, I could not manage to climb very high. I could only manage the lowest rung of the coconut tree and of course when I looked up, what did I see!??

My students loved my stories about Jelutong Village. I often reminded them that they could not play tricks on me, for I knew all the possible tricks of teenagers. I guess I have proven my point because during the ten years of teaching, I was the one who tricked the students on April Fool's Day!!!

In my next article, I will tell you more about some of the interesting and unique characters in my village.

Home Again!

After spending 8 days in my hometown to celebrate the Chinese New Year with my relatives, I am back home in good, old Singapore. I brought my good friend, Amudah, with me to Penang... it was incredible the crowd of people rushing home to Malaysia. We arrived Penang 4 hours behind schedule. Hence, I was relieved when there was no traffic jam when I came back this morning, probably because it is already the 8th day of New Year and it is a Sunday today.

This time, I have my new digital camera... hence I have taken lots of photos and for the next few articles, you can guess, they will be all on Penang. I did not mind at all that I received many calls and sms from clients and agents while I was on holiday in Penang, and a co-broking agent even succeeded in getting my client's apartment rented out. Holidays are always great because they allow us to reflect, re-analyse and re-examine our thoughts and actions and help us to recharge ourselves for greater challenges ahead!

For now, I have to clear my hundred and one mails, clean the apartment, phone up clients, view a property and get ready my international speech rehearsed for a contest tomorrow at our Dennis Wee Group Toastmaster's Club.

At times like this, don't you also wish like me to have 48 hours a day instead of the normal 24!

Cheers!

Gan Chau