My Favourite Things (2)

My favourite piano that costs only $100

It's often very breezy here!

My favourite lap top

My teacher, Mr. Yan Yin Wing, tuning my favourite
violin, a precious gift from Mr. Phoon Yew Tien


Now the second part of my article, "My Favourite Things".

I just love the piano I had bought for $100 from Piano Masters International at Paya Lebar. The brand is "Kawai". Most visitors think I have paid a lot of money for it and were often surprised when I told them that the piano is cheaper than a set of stainless steel pots! I had given away my ivory upright piano to The Hiding Place when the members were helping me to move my belongings to another apartment. The piano was extremely heavy and I did not want the young members to overstrain themselves with having to move the piano up the stairs again. At that time too, I was extremely busy and the piano was soon becoming a white elephant. Now I have more time to play on this $100 piano and am enjoying every moment of the lovely sound.

Next on my list is my present little cosy apartment. It has two bedrooms and I rent out one room to two tenants from India - Avinesh and Jasmin. They teach me Hindi and some cooking of Indian cuisines. They also help me a lot with my computer. They are both colleagues from the same company. It has always been my practice to take in tenants to stay with me so as to ease my siblings' worries. Most, if not all my tenants stay with me for long periods of time because I am easy going and try to make them feel at home. I want to emulate the wonderful landlords I have met when I was a student in Canada. Hence I allow my tenants to cook and invite their friends and family members to dine and sometimes stay with them. My little home is open to visiting missionaries, friends and relatives from all over the world. When they come a-visiting, I will let them have my room, while I sleep on the sofa/bed in my living room.

I have stayed in so many different places the past 23 years in Singapore, and would say that my current abode is my favourite. It is right in the heart of the city and is only about 45 seconds walk to the Little India MRT. Best of all, it is often so breezy and windy here, so much so that we sometimes do not even turn on the fan. We often have to close the windows in the kitchen or it is almost impossible to cook. I have great neighbours of different nationalities and race. Joy fills my heart whenever I see the flower windmill turning furiously with the wind! I grow plenty of herbs and often tell my friends and neighbours to help themselves to the herbs even if I were not around.

Third on my list is my lap top. From being someone who was terrified of the computer to someone who now has over 1,000 articles in her blog....I have indeed come a long way from being a technophobic to someone who cannot imagine life without her computer!!
How wonderful to communicate with my relatives, friends, clients, associates and fans all over the world! I am so happy that the computer can store all the photos taken so that I do not have to go all the way to the shop to have my photos developed. Printed photos tend to lose their sharpness and lustre as times goes by! Everyday I enjoy reading forwarded emails from friends.

Fourthly, it has to be my lovely violin, an unexpected gift from my best friend's husband, Yew Tien. I was surprised when my best friend, Soh Wah, told me that her husband has over 20 violins which he has collected all these years, and I am touched that he would part with one of his violins to an amateur like me. Although sometimes I feel like giving up on the violin as it is quite a strain on my short, little baby banana fingers, I continue to persevere as I do not wish to disappoint my friends. My teacher has suggested that perhaps I might consider buying a three-quarter-sized violin, but I want to take up the challenge of playing a full-sized violin. Once I tried my niece, Sophia's half-sized violin, and I was very happy, because for once, I felt my fingers were so ooo ooooo l - o - n - g !! Now, as I keep practising my violin, the strain on my fingers is diminishing . The sound of the violin is so beautiful. I am indeed very grateful to Yew Tien and Soh Wah for their generous gift.

What are your favourite things, dear readers? Most important, let us all remember to use our things to bless people, and not use people to get things. Freely we receive, freely we share and give. At the end of the day, it is so much more blessed to give than to receive. For when we give, we receive even more abundantly!

Gan Chau