A long day

           It was during the December holidays and my brother and I were left at home with my grandmother and my cousin as both my parents had gone to Hong Kong themselves. We planned to go out to Tampines Mall with them that day as we were all feeling very bored doing nothing at home.

            We went there to have lunch. Just after we entered the mall, one of the stores caught my grandmother's attention and she told us to wait outside while she was inside looking at the products sold. It was only after about twenty minutes did she leave the store. We continued walking to the restaurant Swensen's when my grandmother told me to look after my brother and cousin while she walked towards a long row of stores.

             We could only stand there and watch helplessly as my grandmother took her time in each of the shops. After a while my brother and cousin started to complain that they were tired and hungry and wanted to have lunch. I decided to call my grandmother and ask her to return and take us for lunch. She reluctantly returned and took us to Swensen's for lunch.

             After lunch, her shopping spree continued and we could only sit on a bench in the mall and patiently wait for her to finish. About two hours later, she returned and took us back home. We wished that we  had not complained of boredom as going out with my grandmother was three times worser than staying at home.

An accident

       

      It happened on children's day two years ago. My mother, brother and I were on our way to Ben and Jerry, a restaurant at Dempsey Hill to celebrate my cousin's birthday which is on the same day as children's day. My father was unable to accompany us as he was overseas. 

     While we were driving there, there was a traffic jam and we were stuck in it. I even had to call my relatives to inform them that we would be late. Just as we were about to get out of the jam, a lorry behind us drove too fast and crashed into us. The impact was so great that we were thrown forward and caused our car to hit another car in front of us.

     After my mother was assured that we were alright, she came out of the car with my brother and I in tow. She then confronted the driver of the lorry together with the people in the car that we hit into. The driver of the lorry apologised to us profusely and explained that his brake was not working although my mother had seen him talking on his phone while driving. My mother accused him of trying to lie his way out of the mess he had created and the other people involved in the accident joined in.

      My mother informed my uncle about what had happened and he immediately rushed over. He told my brother and I to sit at the bench at the side of the road while they sorted the matter. Soon the police and some tow trucks came to tow the cars and the lorry away and the police took the driver of the lorry and my mother’s statements.

      My uncle then drove us to the restaurant where we had our lunch before going to their house. Although the day continued cheerfully as we celebrated the two events, that day was the most unfortunate day of my life.

    

A time that I did something meaningful

        I was at the Boy's Brigade headquaters at eight in the morning. Although I had to get up early in order to be on time, it was for a good reason. I was there to pack food. The food would go to charity. When I got there, we immediately picked up a few bags containing the food and took a hired bus to the community centre.

        There we made friends with a few old people and brought them with us as we did not speak in the same dialect as the people we were doing charity for. We needed them to translate what they were trying to say.

       When we reached the void deck of the HDB apartment block that we were going to give out the food, we were split into two teams. We were then sent up with three bags of food each. One for each house. The owner of the first house we went to did not want to accept the food as he did not cook and the food that we were giving out were all packed in cans.

       The owner of the next house we went to greeted us with a wide smile and invited us in. He graciously accepted the food and thanked us. After that we told him that we had to continue giving out the food and left. The owner of the last house was not in and we had to visit them at another time.

        After we told the person in charge about the houses that the bags of food were not delivered to, we took the bus back to the headquarters and helped out with the rest of the boys there. It was a tiring day but it was worth the effort.

Disappointment

        Until now I still could not forget the time when my parents and I agreed to visit my grandmother in Malaysia. At that time I was elated and could not contain my excitement. My grandmother was too weak to travel and therefore I had not seen her in years.

        I replanned my holiday schedule so that I would be able to spend at least two weeks in Malaysia. I even moved all my tuition lessons to the starting of the holidays. However, just a few days before the trip, my father informed me that due to a lack of staff at the office, his two weeks leave had been reduced to only a week.

        Despite my disappointment, I remained optimistic as I would still have a week to spend time with my grandmother. As the date of our departure drew near, I became increasingly excited. As my grandmother lived in Penang, we had decided to fly there. On the day, before the trip, all my excitement was replaced with disappointment when my father put off the trip once again due to an important meeting.

       Still I was not disheartened as I would still be able to see my grandmother. That was not the last of the bad news. I was shocked when my mother came up to me and told me that we would not be going to visit my grandmother in Penang at all as my father had to go on an urgent business trip overseas. I tried to persuade my mother to allow me to go by myself but she said that I was too young to travel alone. She then told me that I could still talk to her via webcam in an attempt to cheer me up. However it was not the same as seeing her in person.

                

My trip in Taipei

            It was the first time that I had been to Taipei and I found the country an interesting place to visit. My family and I visited quite a few spots in Taipei such as Yeliu, Ximending and the Shilin Night Market. My favourite place was Yeliu as there was the cooling sea breeze and there were many rocks that have been carved into shapes by nature.

            We went on a tour which took us to Yeliu. The place was divided into three sections. We visited  two of the three sections which consisted of the Queen's head, Fairy's Shoe, Candle and Dragon Head. As we went there during the December holidays, the weather there was freezing. While we was there, we also visited the marine centre. It gave me an underwater view of the ocean and there were many different kinds of marine life.

            The tour also took us to a place uphill called Jiufen. We walked along a narrow street selling food and souvenirs. It was very crowded there and when we walked to the end of the street, we enjoyed the scenery. After that, we took our lunch there in a shop selling fishball noodles. We then moved out of the area in the tour coach to a place called Shilin Night market.

            The Shilin Night Market was packed with people when we went there at night. We found many food shops there selling stinky tofu and that most of the shops sell the same food. The whole place smelled of food. The queues were extremely long and we had to wait a long time before it was our turn. As the hotel we stayed in is in the Ximending area, we had to take a long train ride back and it was late when we finally got back to our hotel room.

           

            The next day, we went to Ximending to have dinner and enjoy ourselves. Ximending is the largest entertaining centre in Taipei. We went there at night to sight-see and to have dinner. We bought some food from the roadside shops as we walked. The food there was delectable and we enjoyed it very much. Nobody knew what would happen next. My mother went on a shopping spree and bought many clothes and handbags. My father had to take my brother and I back to the hotel first as we both had no intention to follow her.