Today i went with my cousin as her accompanying person for her piano class at Yamaha at Tampines Mall. Hurhur i got paid to do this errand for my Aunt, who is currently gallivanting in HK with the rest of my family. So took 66 -HAHA IT'S SUCH A POIGNANT FEELING TO WAIT FOR 66 AGAIN- I have never taken this part of the route before, from Serangoon Road all the way down to Bedok. Journey took about 45min, then i went up to my Aunt's place to sit for a while, and then took my cousin, the 7-year-old P1 girl, to take bus to Tampines mall and i sat in with her for class.

When i first saw the teacher, HAHAHAHA she reminds me a lot of Chen Laoshi HAHAHAAHA! There were 6 students in class, including my cousin, and they were on the electone keyboard (er is that what it's called? I dunno. The 2-levels keyboard kind) and beside the rectangular keyboard bench, there's the small round stool for all the Accompanying Parents/Person(for me) to sit. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA i found the arrangement damn amusing, because it's really, that space is JUST NICE, for me to sit against the wall, with my legs stretched out behind my cousin's bench, and i lean my elbow on the electone so i basically form this L shape around my cousin.

The lesson itself was rather interesting, actually i thought it was rather packed and , because imo the teacher went through so many things in that 1h! Actually i have never taken formal music lessons, so my recent Guitar Class at the CC is my first formal music class. Actually i feel rather stressed during the guitar, because it's all taugay music sheet and i am a damn slow taugay reader. And so i recently learnt the difference between black, white-striped and empty taugays. HAHAHA i never knew they meant different counts. And i also learnt that my internal metronome sucks and i am always rushing (to get incarnated).

Anyway, wow did you know that the teacher will sing along during the lesson!? HAHAHAHA like, the DOH RE MI FA SO LAH TI, AND SHE'S THE SAME TONE AS THE PIANO. OMGGGGGGGG HOW COOL IS THAT. HAHAHAHAAHAHA! But actually i dunno if she's sick or if it's just like that for her last lesson (ours was 815-915pm) everyday, that she kept clearing her throat and can tell she's quite strained. But still, sound the same as the piano.

The first thing in class was this Song Singing practice, really song like got lyrics and all. So today they learnt the 2nd verse of this song called "Thanks A Million" and there was a background CD and the teacher will give instructions like "*singsingsing* ...ok here softer, GO!" Then they did some practice of scales (ER, THE FINGERING THING.) and the teacher played this cute (and also cool, to me) sounding chord sequence/overture and all the kids rushed forward to her piano (the teacher's piano is a black upright Yamaha piano) So that overture turned out to be some attention-calling everybody-gather-round thing, which i thought was REALLY GOOD.

Too bad i cant integrate this into my Convo Chinese class or something. Hmm how about "*BANGS BOARD* TMD，给我住嘴，看白板!"

Then the teacher played a few songs and the kids were all supposed to sing along. Dang, unfortunately i can remember the names of the songs but not how the songs go, so they did songs like "Gypsy March" (WHICH BTW, I AM DAMN INSPIRED TO LEARN NOW HAHAHAHAHA) and "Treasure Hunting" and "Lavender Blue".

AND, DO YOU KNOW HOW CUTE LITTLE KIDS SOUND, WHEN THEY SING IN A CHORUS OF NOTES?!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA AWWWW! Ok seriously they were cute. But i was also damn tickled and kept laughing to myself.

Then after that, they came back to their seats and followed the teacher in playing the right hand of Gypsy March, then the teacher gave homework, which was to fill in the missing chords of Gypsy March, by copying the chords of the first few bars, etc. Then they were called forward again so while the kids were swarming at the teacher's pianos, all the rest of us Parents/Person just sat at our circular stool behind the electone.

AT THIS POINT, i was appalled to notice that, the mother at the next electone, was promptly taking out pencil and ruler, AND DRAWING IN THE TAILS OF THE NOTES, IN HER DAUGHTER'S BOOK. WAH LAU EHH?!?!?! KIASU COW!
By drawing in the tails for her, it also means the daughter wont need to know where exactly to write in the notes, because the position of the tail is set already. RIGHT?? Wah lau eh... The mother was this relatively young looking, well-dressed lady in her late 30s/early 40s kind. And yet, KIASU COW, TO THE MAX, MANNNNNN.

Then Parents/Person were supposed to copy down the homework on the whiteboard, while the kids line up to show the teacher their Written Work from the last week. At this point, i also noticed that young kids are instinctively and compulsively in motion and, they do the funniest things. While queuing up, the kids just started bouncing up and down?! HAHAHAHAHA a boy in the middle of the queue started it, then my cousin, 2nd last in line, also started jumping and hopping on the spot. While looking to me to give some approval, but i was giving this look between WTH?! and HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA THIS IS THE FUNNIEST THING I'VE EVER SEEN.

Anyway ok i think the Parents copying down the homework is rather justified, probably because they can write faster and intelligibly, and it's also to make use of the time the kids are showing their homework. And yes i copied for my cousin, if you were wondering. Then after that class was dismissed, and i was just waiting for my cousin to pack her bag (ie i was offering no assistance), and she was one of the last.

Me: Eh 你每次都是最后一个 ah??
Her: Mummy 每次会帮我 pack!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA erm oops.

BUT NO, I AM STILL ADAMANT ON LETTING KIDS LEARN HOW TO PACK UP AFTER THEMSELVES. YES THAT IS THE WAY TO GO.

Heh so i happily waited, and when we were leaving, i had a short exchange with the teacher. It was on impulse, but in retrospect, it's actually rather customary-parent/teacher-PR-ing, sorta. But i didnt mean anything else, other than just to tell her what i want to say

Teacher: Bye!
Cousin: Byebye.
Me: Thank you :)
Me: I think the lesson is very cute!
Teacher: CUTE?! (HAHAHA her tone was like, i-haven-heard/felt-that-in-a-long-time)

Hurhur interesting experience today.
I SHALL LEARN "GYPSY MARCH" SOON.
Btw i think it's probably one of the ways the lesson caters to the young kids - when they finish one lesson of that particular song, they get to paste a sticker on that page. So there are 4 stickers, and today they stuck on the 2nd one, so i guess at the end of 4 lessons, it would indicate they have finished it. Quite good eh?
The teacher's piano-playing was also impeccable. Of course. AAH i'm damn inspired.

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Today at office, there was a little bit of drama. Or so i think, because it was out of sight, and i could only hear the verbal exchange, and infer what is going on. It was between our Nice Imperturbably Natured Accountant and the Angsty Lavishly Eloquent pseudo-Expert. So Nice Accountant was trying in vain to convince Angsty Expert about an erroneous accounting concept of the latter, but the latter being a pseudo-Expert, refused to listen and insisted.

Then suddenly, i hear a "Eh, dont cry leh!" 0.0 OMG?!?!
Then i hear the doorbell - infer someone just went out of office
Doorbell again - someone just came back.
Noises, hub bub mainly of only 2 voices
Voice 1: Eh why you buy Cheezels!
Voice 2 (pseudo-Expert): Nah i buy Cheezels for you, dont cry ok.

Then the owners of Voices 1 and 2 came into sight, and sat down opposite our table and had a lengthy discussion about the original mistake of pseudo-Expert, and the difference is now Voice 1 is much more patient (surprisesurprise!) and tolerant of steadfast hubris (HAHA i just realized - what a pun! Considering the subject's religious background.) and well, patience pays off and pseudo-Expert realizes the error.

Aah. It was a nice gesture to attempt to make up/pacify after a nasty disagreement, hurhur it's surprisingly simple and straightforward - buy food (but still CHEEZELS?! LIKE WTH!? HAHAHAHAHAHA) - and i think pseudo-Expert will be forgiven and all will be well again, back to normal, with no hard feelings. Though there was no audible pardon from Nice Accountant. And actually, after that during the Make-Up-Period, i hear pseudo-Expert proclaiming (i think it's part of a self-criticizing-and-get-consensus-approval-without-losing-dignity maneuver) "I finally know what i can do - I CAN TALK. A lot."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HEAR, HEAR. (And, what a pun!)

Maybe i was overly sensitive, or biased/prejudiced, but i think i detected some redness in the eyes, when i was goodbye to everyone on my way out.

Ah a con of a small office is, everyone knows what's going on, with everyone else. Hmmm.