September 1st is Teachers’ Day in Singapore, and this is taken very seriously – unusual, to the eyes of someone from the cynical, jaded West.
Madame Ge was giving a bagua demonstration on Saturday night, so we took her out for a meal on Sunday, instead – which worked out well for me, as I didn’t need to choose between capoeira and bagua events.
We went to a Chinese seafood restaurant at Marine Parade Central. Naturally, all the courses were fish, but the staff brought me my own, separate, little veggie dish at each serving! It was really nice stuff, but by the time of the final, main, course I was so full that I couldn’t eat more than a couple of spoonfuls, and had to leave the rest – and there was no way I could face any dessert!
Most of the evening’s conversation was in Mandarin, as Madame Ge doesn’t speak English, but I’m used to that, and anywaymy classmates gave me some translation.
It seems Madame Ge came to Singapore in 1993 when her husband got a job here, but she only started teaching bagua two years ago – I think because she was raising her kids in the meantime, but I may have misunderstood. That’s why she didn’t take any students to participate in Saturday night’s demonstration; she says no-one is ready to represent the school in public.
In that Chinese way, as soon as the food was finished, we all got up and left; not for the Chinese the post-food chat and lounging around of the West! So, I waddled over to the bus stop and came home.
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