Comprehension Deficit

There are times when I read journal articles, and truly begin to question whether I have a language comprehension deficit.

It's times like this when I feel like someone who has receptive aphasia (a deficit in understanding language), thus allowing me to empathize more when I see or hear of anyone with receptive aphasia and think to myself... "Ahh.... I feel like that sometimes, it's just that they feel like that ALL the time".

The two main language areas: Broca's and Wenicke's

I know sometimes people might not understand how someone can lose their ability to understand spoken or written language after a stroke? How can you possibly lose something which you have spent your entire life using? It's almost as baffling as amnesia right? (Well, at least the selective amnesias we always get to see in melodramas or movies like The Promise/Vow or whatever it was called)

But the next time you meet someone who has had a brain injury, or dementia, or stroke or whatever, think of it as something like this:

Imagine an instance when suddenly, all the people around you are speaking French/Swahili/German or whatever unknown tribal language. You may or may not have a rough idea of that language (e.g. German has similar syntaxt to English), and you might or might not be able to say all the sounds in the language (such as the clicks or trills in some tribal languages). Because more often than not, someone who has had a stroke with impacted language, might also have some difficulties in actually moving their mouths, tongues and teeth and coordinating them to form the word, despite having that word in their head.

What it feels like to have aphasia

Can you imagine the frustration?? Knowing that you were once able to talk and write and understand, and suddenly, it's all a foreign language to you.


I really do feel a bit like that when I read those scienc-ey journal articles on neurotransmitters, brain regions, substrates and what not (Ihavenoideawhatiamsaying)

Peace out

Quarter Life Crisis

I have/had been having a serious case of quarter-life-crises lately. Symptoms include:

- sudden urges to listen to music belonging to the wrong generation (e.g. the likes of one direction, steve mastin etc) in an attempt to make myself feel younger and more 'hipster' as opposed to the typically more 'mature' music I listen too (like, from the 1980s)

- the craving to splurge on a new instrument.. The bass guitar (also entertained the possibliity of a ukuelele, cajon drum, mandolin, but decided they might be a bit impractical)

- the urge to then take music more seriously and forget about my thesis and just spend the days belting out tuneless, wordless songs 

- questioning my abilities and the famous 'WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE??'

- and then following up with 'WHAT HAVE I ACTUALLY BEEN DOING??'

- actually saying 'I DON'T WANT TO BE A SPEECHIE ANYMOREEEE!!' on several occasions when I feel overwhelmed and later contemplating just progressing into trade as that offers more job security and renumeration (rubbish collectors apparently earn up to $100k/annum, and what's the whole hype about dishwashers at Sakae Sushi being offered $3000/mth? *scoffs*). So I might as well just apply for those jobs now

- the horrible urge to just splurge (on anything, moving, not moving, edible, wearable, put-on-able)

- the need to have a pet/something living to fill up my life with some life. Unfortunately my aqua pet that resembled the sea monkeys died after a short lived 4 days. And the wheatgrass I currently grow will soon end up in my tummy. Not too good if you eat your pets hey. Kinda defeats the purpose..

- Toying with the idea of being a free-spirited Hippie and taking on their tree hugging lifestyle and dressing all bohemian and getting dreadlocks in my hair.



I better get out of this chaotic state of mind soon. I don't actually have a lot of time to get it together.

It's been a long time since I ranted on this blog (I try not to, as I think online rants can be rather pointless and annoying to readers), but hey, not many readers, or, don't read if it sesms pointless. OR, if you are sharing my sentiments, YAY YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!!!

(Tell me and we can go start a garage band together and sell satay and teh-tarik to get by).

Smile in a while...

Haven't watched a video of a cover that made me smile till my cheeks hurt and my vision gets blurry (as my eyes reduce to half it's normal size when I smile). Heeeee

Singapore vs Aussie: Parenting

This episode of a TV series doesn't say it all, but it definitely says a lot. I started watching the episode with a light heart, laughing and sniggering at all the seemingly absurd strict rules we have in Singapore, and at how Memphis (the girl) put her hand to her chest to say our pledge a pretty hilarious manner. The episode started to get a bit more heart warming near the end, as both teens began to appreciate their parents.

It's definitely not so that all Singaporean parents are that strict, or that all Aussie parents are that laxed. But I really enjoyed seeing the flaws and imperfections existing in both families (and cultures). We might seem extreme in our little asian, authoratitive country, but you have to admit, that you do see results. Yet again, a lot of what we do is 'learnt' behaviour, rather than us thinking for ourselves.

It's a touchy topic, and I would rather not elaborate as much, but just as a little digression, our group of four Singapore speechies were having our group discussion on ethics this evening, and spent a rather long time stuck in a rut over a seemingly simple ethical dilemma, which, at one point, I think all of us agreed that our "one-track-mindedness" that has been well honed through our education system was getting us no where, and that we very much needed the dynamic viewpoints many of our Aussie counterparts had. A lot of times we are quite rigid in our thinking, especially for those of us who have been in science streams. Whereas I've observed quite a number of the Australians having no difficulty thinking outside the box. I've loved every bit of my course and stay here, and I hope to continue to bring the best of both cultures together.

Mr Moon

Some of you might know that a blue moon occured on Friday night. A blue moon simply means that a second full moon occurs within one calender month, and occurs every 2.5 years or so. (And is not actually blue). IT was like any other full moon, bright and amazing, but the following night, was what surprised me more.

Here's a little poem I came up with (half when I was about to go to sleep, and the other half when I sat down to write this post). It's not a fancy, difficult poem, I would say it takes on a style more of that of a children's poem:


Last night as I lay in bed,
With eyelids heavy in my head,
I noticed an unusually bright glow,
Coming from behind my window.

I peeked through my curtains,
Thinking it was the neighbours
Only to be partially blinded,
By a bright rays that just seemed to burst.

I peek through my fingers, and what do I see?
Mr Moon sitting there, shining at me.
"How bright you are tonight," said I to he,
"Just light from the sun, I pass on to thee,"
I open my eyes bravely, no longer needing to peep,
But soon my eyes and mind and drift off, into a deep, soundless sleep.

Although my picture from my lousy Nokia N97 fails to capture the brightness and awesomeness of the moon, this is the best shot I could do. It was like someone had a searchlight shining directly at my room!

Heh heh if I have no job next time I shall go draw illustrations and try to write children's books.

Singapore vs Aussie: Small Talk

One of my main concerns whenever I went out on a clinical prac was always this:

Small Talk (aka Corridor talk)

The worrying idea that you might the awkward silence lasting throughout the entire endless corridor as you lead the client from the waiting room to the clinic room was something so small, yet daunting at the same time when I initially started clinical pracs. 

Over the years I managed to understand the Aussie culture a little bit better and no have no problems chit chatting away (so much so that I forget to start the actual therapy). But something I still have the habit of saying is somethign that has been so inherent and habituated in our Singaporean culture, that is, the classic grandma question of 

'Jiak Ba Bueh?' (which translates from Hokkien to 'Have you eaten already?')

Most of us Singaporeans/Malaysians know just how much we all love and adore our food./meals. I wake up in the morning thinking of what to eat, and my sister would start asking 'What's for dinner ah?' as she munches the remnants of her lunch. (I do that too sometimes!)

It's such a second nature to us, parents would ask their children studying overseas

'Have you been eating well anot?'

 'What did you eat for dinner/breakfast/lunch/tea?' 

'Got enough food anot?'

While my mum was here for a couple of weeks last month, the question or statement she would always say before I left the house for a meeting, work or class would be 'Har... like that then how you eat?? Sure won't get hungry anot? Like that how can? Aiyo how come never eat??' 

Even when our project group mates came over and went for a late evening rehearsal in school, she frowned upon how we would all not eat during the appropriate time (as our meeting lasted from 5pm-8pm, hence missing the official dinner times)

Seeing that my mum feels so strongly about appropriate meal times, I too am one who identifies with the importance of meals. I always end up asking the clients 'Have you had lunch/breakfast?' or 'What did you have for breakfast?' Only to get a fairly blank stare that says 'Huh? Why you ask so random question? Look at how bad the weather is!'

I often had to kick myself in teh foot for asking these food questions and not getting an answer which I hoped for or am used to, namely, an excited recount of whatever food they had eaten. (Most of them tell me they can't rememeber, I bet some of them think I'm testing them)

Here most of the small talk revolves around a few main topics (as I have observed)

1. Weather: there is ALWAYS something to say about the weather, sky, clouds, trees etc.

2. Traffic: who can't complain about bad traffic right? Unless it's such a norm such like in Singapore, where it no longer holds any importance anymore

3. Parking (or the lack thereof): yup, that's the bane of uni students' lives as everyone drives pretty much 

4. How's your day been going?: which is somewhat their version of our 'Jiak Ba Bueh?' as they often don't expect you to answer differently from 'fine, going great, oh yeah, going well' 

I just have to rememebr to stop asking people what they've had for lunch and dinner!!

The disturbing truth of the current world (some part of it)

This video was just simply appalling, for a moment I say to myself, 'screw boycotting sharks fin, anti-whaling and anti-bear-bile-farming, what are we doing for our own humans who have been so restricted?' I started watching the video not expecting much, thinking it would be just a typically overdramatised, sappy American video. It still is to a certain extent, only that the truth is in the video, and what you see is what it is. Whether or not they lie about the actual ages of children, it is obvious that these people have been stripped of many opportunities.

Finally Some Photos!

I've got my lollipop and that's all that matters...

Finally Blogget has allowed me to upload at least some photos. It's been distorting not only the videos I upload from my computer, but the videos as well. I've yet to figure out if it actually is a problem with my computer or Blogger. 

Either ways, how else to start a blogpost but with such a 'shu nu' picture of Gaby right?? Look she even has such a girly pout! (I bet she was probably just eating something as usual). And about the lollipop, it's serves the purpose as some sort of a 'comfort item'. She merely just wants to hold it and gets terribly upset when there's none available for her to hold (Terribly, terribly cranky!)

So school has been horrid. Just horrid. I can't belive that I detest school so much during my last semester!! I shall keep that rant for another post. 

This one's about what ALLL Singaporeans love.....

 

 FOOD

See this is what happens when I try and upload photos.

 Here's a half shot of the chocolate tarts I made. They don't look as good as they taste unfortunately due to the lack of a camera.

So we finally decided to have a cookout on Tuesday night!! Wan Tan Mee!! Although I personally dislike wan tan mee, I find it to be one of Singapore and Malaysia's iconic dishes, although if you think about it , it's saucy noodles with soggy vegetables, 2 meat balls wrapped in dough, and roast pork.

We had THE WORKS man!!! Nw I'm just gonna post MASSIVE pictures to do the talking. =)

Ok the iphone doesn't take fantastic pictures, but it took the housemate and me enough effort to even remember to take photos. We had both fried wantans and soup wantans (that's not even grammatical). And discovered that 35 wantans was a tad too many for 4 people, hurhur.. 

Wantan soup which I'm proud to say was boiled WITHOUT any chicken stock cube or MSG! Yay me, haha

These were the highlight in my opinion. Crispy springrolls a result of excess wantan filling and insufficient skin!

So everyone kept insisting that Charsiew should be red, but in my mind, my mum's resounding advice about how 'red' charsiew is all colouring and no flavour kept rooted. Well our charsiew was DELICIOUS, hand grilled by my dear Mr Mark Lee, and remember guys, you're supposed to use the collar butt of the pig. Don't laugh people, it's an actual part, which, according to google, is a prepared from the dorsal portion of the Shoulder Square, also known as Pork Scotch! (And I know for a fact that Beef Scotch Fillets are awesome too), so that's what the collar butt is! (it's neither collar nor butt).

The house still feels of wan tan mee with all the grease on the floor, and we have about 30 more frozen wan tans in the freezer, so it's all worth it.

Anyone looking for the recipe, credits to one of my favourite websites,

http://rasamalaysia.com/wonton-noodles-malaysian-wantan-mee-recipe/

Adios!

Education Queensland vs Ministry of Education

Disclaimer: I am NOT an expert in this field or topic, neither have I had much experience in either. The following post is made solely on my own personal observations and experiences throughout my stay in both countries.

Education Queensland, Australia

Ministry of Education, Singapor

So I know it's been ages since I posted, and whilst my video of Gaby is loading on Blogger, I decided that I would finally write about what I had promised to write/focus on, which is, the topic of how the education systems differ in Singapore (MOE), and Queensland, Australia (EdQLD).

Unlike our rather small country Singapore (704 km²), Australia is massive (7,741,220 km²). The continent/country, therefore has to divide itself into it's eight different states/territories to make (I would assume) everything easier to manage. Most of the states have their own adminstrative government, and thus, have their own education systems.

So, here are some of the key differences between our education systems (in case you're thinking of your child's future education)

1. Education is compulsory for Singaporeans aged 6-15. For Queenslanders, it's from 6.5- 16 years of age.

2. In Singapore, kindergartens educate children who are in 'K1-K2', when they are 5-6 years old. In Australia, the term 'kindergarten' refers to the places 3-4 year olds go (much like our Nursery 1-2). This was initially the most confusing point for me when I first came here and expected to see 5-6 year olds in kindy. 5 year olds enter Prep in QLD schools, which refers to the year before Year 1 (Primary 1). This is optional for parents.

Basically, this means that all QLD-ers enter university at 18 years of age, some at 17 (if their birthday is late in the year). Thus resulting in some graduating with a degree at 21years of age. (Only for geniuses in Singapore)

3. Whilst most of our primary-secondary schools are government owned and regulated, about 50% of the high schools (secondary-JC) in QLD are privately owned. These schools tend to charge exhorbitant fees, but guarantee good education for your child. Their fees can average as much as $20,000 per annum. On the flip side, state education is free (but not highly sought after by the more picky parents)

4. I've seen teachers in QLD state schools wear berms and sports shoes for classes once (maybe it was just that male teacher). The rest of us know how strict the dress code for teachers in Singapore is!

5. One of the most interesting school events I've heard of is the 'Under Eights Day', where the school arranges for special events, carnival activities and fun stuff for children who are under 8 attending that school! One mum told me that it was a way to let the 6-8 year olds feel special whilst they were the youngest (and possibly smallest) in schools. For us? I guess we have our 1st October CHILDRENS DAY!! LALALALA

But the Aussie version has face painting, jumping castles and whole works... Whereas we get to stuff ourselves with candy/sugar, and watch teachers perform funny things, haha...

6. THERE IS NO SCHOOL CANTEEN LIKE OURS (Ok this isn't exactly a difference between systems, rather, culture). I might have mentioned before that an observation I made at a state school was that there wasn't the usual massive canteen with 100 benches and tables.

Typical singaporean school canteen

And there weren't the 8-10 stalls like we are accustomed to back in Singapore. Rather, there was a window much like that one in the picture with no signage whatsoever. The Aussie I asked then told me most kids eat their sandwiches on the grass or courtyard as a class with their teachers.

I've also seen the pricelist for a primary school here once, piang eh, sibei expensive.. Cheapest thing was probably the apple for 60cents. No wonder everyone packs meals to school and work!

Note to Singaporeans who are teachers: ENJOY YOUR 50 cent WANTAN MEE WHILE YOU CAN!!


Which brings my post to an end, because I should be fulfilling my last days as a student and doing some uni work instead of writing random things!

:)

Movie Review: The Woman in Black

I know I said I'd blog about the differences between the Queensland and Singaporean Education system, but a movie review on a horror movie starring good ole' Harry Potty is way more interesting.. right?

We caught The Woman In Black over the weekend via... (the internet? heh), thanks to Mark's ever resourcefulness. When he first suggested the movie, I immediately recalled a horror play I watched a few years back in Singapore with the same title. It was a fantastically theatre adaptation of the novel by Susan Hill, which has also formed the basis of this 2012 movie.

It was interesting to see Harry Potty, I mean Daniel Radcliffe, in a role other than a wand wielding boy. I must admit that it's hard not to see him as the boy wizard. Even as he wielded an axe in one scene, we all half expected him to shout out 'Experiliamus!' at one point or another. Plus, he was supposed to play a widowed father of a 4 year old.. In my opinion, pushing it a little. But he was great nontheless. Still looked like a boy next to the other actors, but he did his best as the protagonist of a horror story.


Check out the creepy iconic picture of movie... Shudder-inducing eh?

The official advertisement has all the chill-factors needed in a horror movie.. Creepy wind up toys, golden-haired little girls... And of course,  a haunting poem read out by a little girl in the most disturbing manner..




In my opinon, the advertisement was better than the movie, who's horror didn't exactly peak at the climax, rather, they made the common mistake of letting you see too much of the ghost.I find that a common mistake in horror shows. Once you get to see the ghost for too long, you realise that it's all make up, effects, and that you might even see the Nike shoes under their white flowy dresses.

It was pretty scary throughout most of the movie. A lot of the 'background-hide-and-seek' games you play with the ghost. The movie had some very subtle 'ghost' scenes, much like the asian horror shows (ghost in back grounds without the shocking 'dum dummm' music to accompany, ala the original Dark Water). Just like the window scene above, they didn't have to give you that shocking music to scare the wits out of you. Something I appreciated. However they still do use plenty of the typical Hollywood style in-your-face 'BOO' scare tactics throughout the movie.

I still enjoyed the movie nontheless, purely because I've been so taken away by the original play I'd seen so many years ago, that this movie, in some way, brought me back to the theatre all those years back and reminded me of what was so carptivating and thrilling in the first place.

Don't watch it alone ;)

The Fantastic Differences

I love how as I spend more and more time in Brisbane, I discover more and more differences between our two countries. Whether it be food, education or just culture, both countries have their strengths and weaknesses, and I'm glad I've been so blessed to have the opportunities to see these differences and be thankful about what I have in both/either country.

Since I haven't been blogging much due to the lack of a camera (poor excuse, I know), I decided that furture blog posts shall share some of these differences between Motherland (aka Singapore), and my second home (Brisbane, Queensland Australia).

Here's my pick for today:

The stereotype Western and Asian meals you find in each respective country.

 Exhibit A: Typical hawker centre/kopitiam Western Meal from Singapore

Must haves of a typical western meal:

- Meat chop of some kind, poorly pan-grilled or deep fried
- unsalted, possibly soggy, under-deep-fried crinkle cut fries
- fried egg (commonly called a 'bullseye' in my family)
- baked beans
- occasional poor attempt at coleslaw or stale, soggy, grass tasting salad


(photo courtesy of a real meal someone had on FB)


I'm sure any person from the a westernised culture will be thinking in their minds 'WTH IS THAT CRAP?!WHAT AN INSULT/POOR REPRESENTATION!!'

Well... let's look at some of the attempts at Asian food then..

Exhibit B: Common menu from pseudo-asian takeaways here in Brisbane  


I don't know how Singapore managed to have it's own noodle (I certainly have never had it in Singapore), nor have I heard of a 'pud' thai (though there is the pad thai, which might possibly sound a bit offensive and therefore renamed to pud thai). And don't you just love how the ingredients have been spelled out? Trust me, the food from this particular takeaway was pretty generic.. It tasted like they threw all the asian sauces they had on their shelves into the wok.

However, needless to say, both countries have their fair share of AMAZING representations of western and asian food places. While Singapore has a fantastic array of high-end restaurants serving up various cuisines, Brisbane has the beauty of many emigrants who have set up their own quaint restaurants and eateries which serve up really authentic food as well. I must say that Brisbane is where I'd go for the most authentic Vietnamese and Korean food due to the authenticity of the chefs!

Either ways... all that second grade food is still probably better than most of the stuff I whip up in mh kitchen (mainly the microwave) so far.. So.. no complains from me! (Besides the prices though)

Coming up next post....

Ministry of Education (MOE) vs Education Queensland (EdQueensland)!