Boy you date vs Man you marry

The title of this article said it all:
15 differences between the boy you date and the man you marry

What a jerk.

What the old man does is always right?

Saw an article on facebook and thought I would share:

愚蠢的老头子用一头牛换了一袋烂苹果，老婆子竟然回家给了他一个吻

http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzA4MTg2MDUyNw%3D%3D&mid=200366266&idx=2&sn=14fae354b5e14fcd134fa91b6396cb0b&scene=4#rd

Literally, it means a silly old man exchanged a cow for a bag of rotten apples but the wife rewarded him with a kiss when he came home.

Found the heading interesting, which old woman would be so forgiving when her old man exchanged a cow for a bag of garbage? So I clicked and led me to the page. Upon reading the introduction, it says that's a story by Hans Christian Andersen - What the old man does is always right (English version)

Well, I don't read many stories of Hans Christan Andersen but I do know that he writes fairy-tales, so this could only mean that the story is fictional. Anyway, here's a gist of the story:

This old couple lived in a farmhouse and had nothing valuable under their names apart from a horse. One day, they decided that they will sell the horse, or exchanged it for something more useful to them, so the old woman asked the old man to go to the town to do whatever he deemed fit. "You know best, old man,"

Along the way, the old man made the following exchanges, being thoughtful that each exchange will please the wife:

1) Horse for a cow
2) Cow for a sheep
3) Sheep for a goose
4) Goose for a fowl
5) Fowl for a bag of shriveled apple

(From a normal person's point of view, the exchanges are always depreciating in values.)

After making all the exchanges, the old man went into an inn parlor where he met two rich Englishmen. Upon hearing the story, the two men suggested that the old man would get an earful from his wife when he got home, but he reassured the two men that his wife will not, an in fact, give him a kiss for his work. That's when a wager was made and the three men headed back to the old man's farmhouse.

Upon the old man's return, he told his wife about the exchanges he made, one at a time. These are the reactions after each exchanged was said:

1) “Now we shall have plenty of milk, and butter, and cheese on the table."
2)“Ah, better still!” cried the wife. “You always think of everything; we have just enough pasture for a sheep. Ewe’s milk and cheese, woolen jackets and stockings! The cow could not give all these, and her hair only falls off. How you think of everything!”
3)“Then we shall have roast goose to eat this year. You dear old man, you are always thinking of something to please me. This is delightful. We can let the goose walk about with a string tied to her leg, so she will be fatter still before we roast her.”
4)“A fowl! Well, that was a good exchange,” replied the woman. “The fowl will lay eggs and hatch them, and we shall have chickens; we shall soon have a poultry-yard. Oh, this is just what I was wishing for.”
5)“What! I really must give you a kiss for that!”

And the reason for number 5 was because she was mocked at by her neighbour when she went to borrow some herbs, saying that she could not even afford to return a shriveled apple. And here there is one whole sack of the apples which she could lend even tens to the neighbour.

The two men happily paid up to the wager and thought it worthwhile to pay to see such a loving couple.


What have I learnt from this story?

1) It's heartwarming that you see the wife had absolute faith in her husband that whatever he did, he did it with her in mind. Though people might see that it was silly to get something of less value than before, the wife knew better.

2) Though not known how long they were married, I guess it must have been very long, since people in the past married young. I guess this sort of trusting relationship takes time to foster.

3) A man will think of ways to please his wife, even if the things he do may seem irrational in the eyes of others. Love is irrational anyway.

4) A wife is a happy wife if she thinks the best of her husband and have faith and not look at only monetary values of actions.

5) This story is not real, so I guess this type of wives don't exist. But I'm pretty sure this type of husbands do exist.

Best Read from the NLB book banning saga

http://hedgehogcomms.blogspot.sg/2014/07/just-another-view-on-nlb-book-banning.html

As the title suggested.

Frankly, if you don't like a certain book, just don't pick it. Why ask for it to be banned because your book "said so". And it's obvious you have misinterpreted your own book.

If you love your kids so much, I'm sure you will be able to put the books to great use by using it as an education tool. By asking for its ban means that you are just an over-protective parent who think that children should be sheltered from all problems. It doesn't mean that reading about it will make them gay. At the same time, doesn't read about it doesn't mean that they will not either. Children did not read about fighting over things to need to know how to fight over things.

Love your children? Teach them.



Cool, hedgehog is one of my favourite animals too.

More Public Holidays?

It's never an easy job to be integrating outsiders to this land scarce island, especially with this huge influx of outsiders at one go. There's little wonder that there's constantly conflict between the locals and FTs. The most recent one is this one:















photo taken from: facebook (the real singapore)

With overcrowding EVERYWHERE! And the increasing shrink in the size of new homes, there is little space for everyone. People are suffering from claustrophobia. Every wrong step anyone do is gonna trigger some other people.

It seems like nowadays we do not talk about the four major races anymore. Instead, we are always talking about gloablization and Education's ultimate aim is to foster global-ready citizens. In public schools, we can see that there are many many many International students coming from so many many different countries.

With this objective to foster global-ready citizens, we should start off by also celebrating other countries holidays. A good start will be to make Philippines Independence Day - June 12, a public holiday. That way, I think people will be more willing to include them as part of our community as the fifth major race. But wait, it's not fair for them yet, since we celebrate 3 days (I think, or is it less) of public holidays for each ethnic group here. So I scrolled through Wikipedia and hand-pick these 2 more dates:

1) Bonifacio Day - 30 Nov, celebrate the birthday of a National Hero of the Philippines

2) Day of Valour - Commemorates the Fall of Bataan during the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, and by extension, the courage of Filipino and American soldiers at the Fall of Corregidor, theBataan Death March and throughout the Second World War

Oh wait, someone just told me we don't just have Pinoys, so these 3 dates for our Indonesian Friends

1) Independence Day - 17 August

2) Day of Silence - 31 March, New Year of Balinese calendar

3) Heroes' Day - 10 Nov, Commemoration of the 1946 Battle of Surabaya

Not forgetting our friends from the Western (I'll just group them under Americans)

1) Independence Day - 4 July

2) Memorial Day - Last Monday in May. Honors the nation's war dead from the Civil War onwards; marks the unofficial beginning of the summer season

3) Columbus Day - Second Monday in October. Honors Christopher Columbus, traditional discoverer of the Americas

I think with these 9 more days of PH, citizens of Singapore will harbour less resent towards the FTs working in Singapore, allowing everyone to come together and live harmoniously as:

















PS: Have I missed out on any countries?

A bid to encourage exercise

My first impression: What about those who live on second floor? They stop at underground level?

My dad's first impression: Siao.. We pay for the miscellaneous fee to use the lift. Then now ask us not to use the lift. Got refund??

Overall first impression: Failed attempt..