Eye Doctor - Mother gets her eyes examined

January 13, 2020

Mother gets her eyes examined

Mother has been losing her eyesight for a long time. The last trip I was home, I noticed she struggled to sort out the clothes in the laundry. Also, she no longer want to watch movies with me on my laptop.

I talked to my brother Seng and he said he knew that too. He has taken mother to the doctor's, and he confirmed that she has cataract, which makes the lenses in her eyes appear cloudy, and so she is unable to see clearly.  Because she has had the condition for a long time, the cataract on one eye has matured, and became hardened. On the other eye, it is half-mature, and so she can still still through that eye.

Primary School

I went to Shih Chung Primary School for my first three grades.  Here, we call these years Standard 1 to Standard 3.  After Standard 3, I have to continue at another school called Shih Chung Branch School.

The old school was created in 1929. A local rich man donated his mansion in Penang to become the school. When I started at Standard 1, there were about 30 students in the class. Today, the classes in this building are very small. The smallest? One student only in Standard 4.  Other classes have from 3 to 8 students per grade.

On Saturday, Jan 11, 2020, my brother attended a class reunion at the old school. I was invited to go along.

A few cars were already in the front yard of the school. When I was a student there, in 1955, the front yard is our playground. There was a slide to the right and a teeter-tooter to the left. The rest of the yard is for running around.

Towards the gate, there is a gatehouse. It is now a security office, but in my days, it was the canteen. That is where you buy food and drinks. A bowl of shrimp noodles was 5 cents, and a drink was 5 cents also. You can also buy candies and biscuits (crackers) at the canteen.

The school day was short, I think. The school has morning and afternoon classes. I was in the afternoon class. The afternoon students gets in at 1 PM, and finishes at 6 PM. In between, we get 30 minutes for recess.

Inside is the main hall. This used to be an area we can have for indoor sports. There were a few ping-pong tables on the right side. It is now a stage. I suppose the school concerts and shows are performed here.

To the left, the space is now blocked by a wall. It is used as a library and teachers' offices. In the picture are three of uncle Siew Seng's classmates.  Uncle Siew Seng is in the background, the second person from the right.

The classrooms are further behind this hall. There are two floors. My first year Standard 1 classroom was in the second floor, at the back of the school. I remember the first day of class, and that is, the first day of my life that I attended class, my mother brought me to the classroom. She found me a seat, left me at the seat, and went to the teacher. She presented the teacher with a thin rattan cane, and told her to use it on me if I ever act up.  I was a good student ever since.

I don't remember too much of my teachers in this school. I only remember my favorite teacher, Miss Chung.  Miss Chung was my Standard 1 class teacher. She taught Chinese. One day, at the end of the school day, I stayed behind to class the blackboard, and cleaned the dusters.  Back in the days, the teachers use chalk pieces to write on a blackboard.  The blackboard were cleaned using a duster - a tightly bound block of cloth. The chalk dust were swept into the cloth dusters, and they have to be cleaned by hitting the dusters on a hard surface, or hitting two dusters together, to shake out the chalk dusts. This is usually messy. Anyway, I did the cleaning, the dusting, and Miss Chung said to me, "It is late. I better take you home."

She gave me a ride home in her car! I sat in the front passenger seat while she drove. It was the first time I was in an automobile. I was so excited. The front windshield can be pushed opened to allow in fresh air. I played with the crank, pushing the windshield open and close. I marveled at all the instruments in the car. I was hooked on cars since then.

I do have one teacher I didn't like. A Mr. Soon, my second grade English teacher. I don't remember much about his classes, except that he changed my name. I had handed in my exercise book, with my name "Mui Siew Mun" on the cover.  After he corrected the homework, he returned the book, and he had corrected my name to be "Mui Siew Moon".  He said that new spelling better reflect my dialect. I was so mad, I changed it back to "Mui Siew Mun" immediately.  We were never on good terms ever since.

This is a picture of one of the classrooms. On the right, the bigger brown table is the teacher's table. In front of it, are two students' desks. The class has only two students.  This is very common in this school, this year. There are not many students in this school. In the past, there would have been up to 30 or more students in this room.  Imagine having only two students in a class. The students must have to really pay attention to what the teachers say.

This classroom has five students.

This is my first grade classroom. I sat behind the teacher's table. Uncle Seng and his classmates and I talked about their old teachers and classmates.

We toured through the classrooms, and the new canteen.

At the end of the visit, we had a group picture taken at the front gate,  The lady in the picture is the security guard for the school. She followed us through the tour, and provided much helpful information about the classes.

My primary school

Shih Chung Primary School

I spent my first 3 years of school at Shih Chung Primary School.  Shih Chung translates to Time in the Middle, or a timely education for all.  It is situated in Love Lane, in Penang.  Another famous school, the Saint Xavier's Institute is just down the road.  My two older brothers, Siew Loon and Siew Kai, went to Saint Xavier's.  I broke the tradition and started the tradition of our siblings going to Chinese school.

Shih Chung is a one building school. It used to be a rich man's mansion. The front yard you see here is paved with cement. Back in my days, there were only two or three cars parked in the  front yard.

The teachers' room and administration office is in the front part of the building, upstairs. Behind the office toward the back of the building are three classrooms upstairs and three downstairs.  Facing the classrooms is a big sky well.

The classrooms were airy and cool, with tall ceilings. My first year classroom was upstairs, just behind the teahers' room.  I remember my first year teacher was Miss Chong.  She drives a big Ford sedan. I like her and usually volunteer to clean the blackboard for her after school.  One day, after I cleaned the blackboard, she said it was late and she will give me a ride home.  I got to sit up front in her big Ford. I was very thrilled, and admired all the equipment in her car. 

For recess, we usually play in the front yard. We ran around, chase each other or what not. In the parlor of the building, there were two ping pong tables. Some of us learned to play ping pong.

The canteen is right next to the gate, at the position where I took this picture.  It is a very small room, probably the gatehouse of the mansion.  There they sell flavored ice water for 5 cents, or noodle soups for 10 cents. They also sell candies and other small items.  I don;t have allowance, so I don;t use the canteen.

The school is small. I spent the first three years here. For grade 4 to grade 6, I have to go another two miles to the Branch school on Northan Road.  The school is now abandoned, but not demolished, because it is a historical building.

Penang Street Art

Penang Street Art

Street arts in Penang is a tourist attraction. You can find interesting and amusing artworks on the streets in Penang.  Here is an example: the picture drawn on a wall of a little boy in yellow shirt, stepping on a broken crate trying to reach a hole in the wall. The hole is real, and the crate is real, but the boy is a wall painting. There is another hole next to this first hole in the wall. 

Tourists try to imitate the little boy. They will reach for the hole as well. The girl in the picture is Trish Saw. She is part of our tour group.

This is another example of a street art - two children on a bicycle. The boy and the girl are drawn on the wall, but the bicycle is real. This give you a three dimension effect, a bit closer to reality.

Tourists like to sit on the back of the bicycle and have their pictures taken.

Another street art of children on a swing. A tourist playfully joined the children and had a go at the swing.

There are many examples of street arts in Penang.  I found the last one from Google.

Durians

Durians are in season in June. By now, one week into July, the season is slowly winding down.  There are still many durian stalls on the streets.  Most of them are selling the regular, unbranded variety of durians. The most common is the "Green Skin" durians.

Ann and I made a trip to Ayer Itam, a small town near the middle of the island, to sample the famous Asam Laksa - a fish soup based noodle soup.  We took a walk around town after eating the soup, and found a few durian stalls along the street.  The first stall was selling Green Skins, at 10 Ringgits a box. The durians have extracted from the fruits and the meaty inside scraped into plastic boxes, so the customers do not have to open the durians themselves.  In the picture above, my mother is eating from a box of D14 (name brand) durians.

We bought two boxes and immediately ate them at a local food court.  They were so good we decided to buy some for home. We bought about 6 boxes of various types of durians.

My mothere is a durian fan. She loves to eat durian. We try to limit her, because durian is a very rich food, and may not be good for her digestion.  Actually, mom only took two pieces of the meat, and put the rest in the refrigerator.  It was good to see her enjoying it though.

Sisters

Sisters

We visited our fourth aunt, Aunty Peng, at the nursing Saturday.

My mother is the one in the dark blue sweater, and aunty is in the lime green shirt. We visited the last time I came back to Penang, and Molly and Peter will usually visit aunty once in a while.

My maternal grandparents had six sons and four girls. Grand pa died early, leaving grand ma to raise the ten children. She went through a lot of hardship taking care of these ten children, but sadly, the children did not grow up to be very close knit.

On the girls's side, the oldest girl, our first aunt, married to a merchant in Sarawak. She was very generous, and used to send us care packages of clothes, and food. I remember seeing her in one of her visits to Penang, and remember she was very nice.  There are some old pictures of her when she visited. I may show that sometime, when I can collect them for the blog.

My second aunt, Ah Yee, never married.  She dedicated her life to taking care of my grand ma and died about 10 years after my grand ma died.  Very nice lady, and a good seamstress. She used to earn money sewing dresses for customers.

My mother is the third girl of her family,  She met and married my father during the second world war and was only 19 years then.  My parents have seven children - five boys 2 girls - and we are close knit. We still write to each other frequently, although nowadays, it is on the cell phones instead of computer emails. My dad died in 1971, and mother took over raising her children.  We went through a lot of hardships, but grew up happily. 

Aunt Peng is the youngest of the four girls. She was a rebel, and left home in her twenties. She married to a man in Taiping, a small town about 60 miles from Penang. She has two boys, but the oldest died in his 30s. Her younger boy, my cousin Lawrence, lives in California. I visited him before this Penang trip.

I will tell you more stories when I can find some old pictures.

Sunday lunch

Sunday lunch

At the dinner yesterday, we invited everyone over for Sunday lunch. Loon and Lilian were the first to arrive. In the picture above, my mother is sitting in the seven o'clock position at table. Lilian in white flowers, black background is to her right. Then it is Siew Loon, Sui Laun, Siew Cheong, Siew Kai, Sui Fun (Molly), Peter (Molly's husband). Next is Christian Chenu and Linda Vee.  Christian is Linda's boyfriend. Next to Linda is Ronne, her brother.

The food today is simple. We have pork choke (pork gruel), roast chicken, roast ducks, and fried rice. My brother Siew Seng and wife Ann hosts the Sunday lunch almost every week, and Molly and Loon always attends. The purpose is to have a family get-together, and to see mom. The food is secondary, but always good.  Mom is not much for talking, but she enjoys the food, and enjoys listening to everyone just talking and laughing.

Loon is the oldest brother.  He likes to joke and always have everyone laughing.  He has a loud laugh and mother always say the neighbors will be complaining soon.  Lilian is not much for talking either. Sui Laun and Siew Cheong only comes to Penang when I visit, or when there is something going on in the family, like for example, they come for the April Cheng Meng (Memorial day) celebration.  Sui Laun and I like to discuss Chinese poems.  We often talk for long times about Chinese songs and poems.

My second brother Siew Kai is a very smart man. He is retired now, but he used to be a civil engineer, and has done some very big projects in Singapore and Malaysia. He doesn't contribute much to the conversation nowadays, after his throat operation. Myself, I am the third son, and I like to throw in jokes into the conversations.

Molly is the fourth sibling. She is smart and beautiful. She and Ann usually team up to tease Loon, but Loon always seem to get right back at them, in a playful way. 

I love my brothers and sisters. They are very nice, loving and generous people.