Hainanese Poem

I don’t know why I’m blogging so much about my mum these few days. Maybe it’s because she went to Segamat for 10 days, and I didn’t see her, so it’s probably some kind of masochistic thing.

NO-lah.. Seriously we get along very well.

This is a poem/rhyme that she told me before that the Hainanese sing:
(Word of caution: I’m not a Hainanese and I don’t speak Hainanese, so some intonation may be wrong)

"Gie kui kui, hu kia sui

Boh kia bah, boh kia kui

Neh kia low poh boh hui mui."

Translation:

Late in the night, going back home
Not afraid of cats, not afraid of ghosts
Just afraid that the wife will not open the door

She also said that they don’t like cats. It’s bad luck. Another poem to go with it;

"Kueh lai kiang

Gao lai bu

Bah lai nao sau too."

Translation:

When the chicken come, you become poor
When the dog comes, you get wealthy
When the cat comes, you wear a straw hat (meaning you become a beggar)

The Hainanese Bohs

My mum told me that for the Hainanese, they don’t call people by “Ah’s”, but “Boh’s”

Meaning if your name is Wong Ah Kau, they won’t call you “Ah Kau”, but “Boh Kau” instead.

So if your name is Li Lian, you would be called “Boh Lian”, and not “Ah Lian.”

If your name is Chek Hong, you would be called “Boh Hong”. (Sounds like Bohong, doesn’t it?)

Me: “Since your name is Cher Bee, how come they don’t call you Bobby?”

Mum: “Grrrrrrrrrrrrr…..!!!!!!!!! (giving me the evil eye!)

佛学书

我的小学是香林学校， 有一个同班同学，就是现任的MP for Kota Melaka 的王乃志。

不过故事不是关于他。

我们其中一个科目是佛学，用的书是香林觉苑所编的课本。当时的主持是释金明法师，编辑是他，所以那课本的封面就写着：释金明编。

在二年级的时候，妈妈坚持说每一本书都要用纸包得好好，以便不损坏或把它弄脏。包好后，就依照封面上的字一一写在纸上。

聪明的我，就写下了：释金明骗。

Buddhist Textbook

My primary school was Siang Lin Primary School. One of my classmate is the present MP for Kota Melaka, Wong Nai Chee.

But this story is not about him.

One of our subjects in school was Buddhism. The textbook that we used was the one published by the Siang Lin Temple. The monk who was in charge then was the Reverend Sekh Kim Min. Since he was the editor, on the front cover on the book was written: Edited (編) by Sekh Kim Min.

When I was in Std 2, my mum insisted that all books must be wrapped properly, so that they don’t get dirtied or damaged. After it’s wrapped, then we just write down on the paper the same words that’s on the front cover of the book.

And me being so clever, wrote: Deceive/bluff/Lie (騙) by Sekh Kim Min

妈妈的钻石

几个月前金的价格蛮高，妈妈就把收在保险箱里的金银手饰都卖了，只留下一双钻石耳环，和一个钻石brooch。

问她为何不卖那两样东西，她说值不了多少钱，卖了也没人要，倒不如收起来。

前几天保险箱的租期满了，我说在里面的东西不多，租个保险箱来放几张纸，好像太夸张了一点，把它关掉算了。

妈妈：“ 还有那钻石啊！”

我：“你不是说卖了没人要吗？

妈妈：“哪又怎么样？”

我：“如果没人要买，有谁要偷？”

妈妈：“你这价伙………..”

MrsT asked for a translation. Here goes:

Mum’s Diamonds

The price of gold was quite high a couple of months ago, so mum decided to sell all the jewellery that she kept in the safe deposit box. What remained was a pair of diamond earrings, and a diamond brooch.

I asked her why she didn’t sell those two items. She claimed that they don’t worth much, and even if she wanted to sell, nobody would buy them. So she might as well keep them.

The rental of the safe deposit box was due for renewal a few days ago. I told my mum that since there weren’t many things in the box, it’s such a waste of money to rent the box just to keep a few pieces of paper. I suggested that she terminate the rental.

Mum: “The diamonds are still there.”

Me: “Didn’t you say nobody would buy them?”

Mum: “So?”

Me: “If nobody wanted to buy them, who would steal them?”

Mum: “You rascal…….”

Short rambling

I've been wanting to add the links of blogs I read to my blog, so that it's easy for me to find them, but as usual, I'm just too lazy to do it. Sooooooooo, I go and visit those blogs who has a long link of bloggers, like Belacans. Or I'd pop by to 1+2mom, or whoever that I remember has a bloglist. :)

Twinsmom used to have a long list, but she dropped it. Pity.

It's not a lot of work, I know, but these days working on website is not my idea of fun. Actually it was never my idea of fun. Fun is eating ice cream with peaches, drinking beer and eating potato chips, napping in the afternoons and staying up late at night reading novels, surfing the Net as long as you can without paying for it, going surfing in the Pacific Ocean, going stargazing, drinking hot mocha on a cold night, killing cockcroaches by stamping on them hard, attending a rock concert and screaming your lungs out, drinking coke-float, eating buah keluak, tickling my children and making them laugh, pulling funny faces and challenging them to make funnier ones.....................

I think it's time for me to take a holiday. When was the last time I had one? Don't even remember. I took 4, 2 and 4 months off espectively for my maternity leaves, so officially it looks like I've had enough holidays. But holidays are for resting, aren't they? Maternity leaves don't get you a lot of rest, unless of course you have a mother or MIL who force you to lie in bed, take your baby away from you and don't let you breastfeed them, insist that you can't bathe for a month or even wash your hands, eat chicken and chicken only for 3x a day, 30 days a month, drink no plain water, eat no vege...........

I forgot to ask my friends who went through that--if you can't wash your hands during confinement, who cleans your backside after you poop?