My jie jie!

I was on my way home from CG today. Standing beside me was a mum, her daughter, and the maid. The daughter was about 8 years old. Oh man, she was super duper hyperactive! Jumping around, and talking non-stop, but i don't mean it in a irritating way. She was cute! haha. anways..during the 20 mins train journey, i can't help but to look at the 3 of them. The daughter was hugging the maid ( let's not call her maid, i don't like calling that, let's rename her as aunty) and aunty was kissing and playing with her. They had so much fun! But the mum just stood her, looking at the both of them with envy eyes. I don't think she's angry with the aunty or what. But i just think that she may have felt a bit left out and sad. Then, at Jurong East station, many people alighted and there were 3 seats available. The daughter sat the the most left and hence, there're 2 seats empty to her right. When the mum sits down beside her, she actually gently push her mum to the most right so that aunty can sit beside her!! And the daughter continue playing with aunty. Man..if i were the mum, i would be so sad la! i would be thinking, "My daughter don't wanna sit with me! rather sit and play with aunty!"

I guess this is the "risk" that parents would have to taken when engaging helpers at home. I had a maid ( i call her Lita jie jie) since i was born till when i'm 6 years old. I was really closer to her than my parents then. haha My parents were both working so i spent most of my childhood time with her. I mean, she's super nice and i really like her a lot! We eat, sleep and play together! And i'm super attached to her. However, when i was 6 years old, she went back to Philippines. I was sigh....devastated. I cried non stop for days!! And the next year, my parents actually brought me to Philippines to meet up with jie jie! We had few days with the tour, then for the last 1 week, she came to fetch us at the hotel to bring us to her house! And let me tell you, haha she's the richest woman in the town with the nicest house built! muahaha... We had this idiom in chinese saying.."blah blah..ye4 bu4 bi4 hu4", meaning, even at night, don't need to shut the doors because neighbours trust one another. And the amazing thing is...this idiom applies to jie jie and her town!! Her neighbours can just come into their house, sit around..etc etc. And the villagers really treat us like royalty. They cook up a feast, even slaughter a pig on the spot just to treat us. The table is filled with like 20+ different dishes..really a lot..But the villagers will not eat with us. They will let us eat first, after that, then they eat. They really honour us as guests. =D

And jie jie bought me a dress ( those princess princess kind LOL) and gave it to me, i still keep it with me till today!

During the last day in Philippines, jie jie and the villagers sent us to airport and the journey takes like 2 hours. And the thing is..i got car sick. i vomitted all the way for the 2hours. Got really sick. Then Due to the jam, we missed our flight! =X We took the next flight the next day. Later, we found out that jie jie and the villagers actually waited 5 hours for us outside the airport fearing that we missed our flight and had no where to go. But we actually went to check in into the airport hotel, not knowing they're outside waiting for us.

When we came back to Singapore, Jie Jie and I still remain contact, she knows that i'm v attached to her, so she would see me cassette tapes of her greetings and she will write letters to me like once a month! =D And of coz, for the next 10 years, she would send me birthday and Christmas cards yearly. However, when i'm 15,16 years old, we lost contact already. During the 10 years, she went to various countries to work. And now that i moved house, i think we might just not see each other anymore.

The next time i see her, i don't know how would i react, but i would give her a big hug first =D Coz she play a very big part in my childhood! =D