quality time

today i spent some great time with my grandparents. had breakfast at Hans (tampines) then walked around for a while. my grandfather bought 4D heh, and my grandma went to the bank. after that we took the free shuttle bus to IKEA! and GIANT. it was so fun! there weren't many people today.. and the place was generally quite quiet. we shopped for fruits and a cushion for my aunt. i really enjoyed it.

and today, after 21 years, i finally found out exactly why, my grandma has two names! and all my life, my grandma's only occupation is a nurse. something she is very proud of, something everyone knows her by. when she goes back to whompoa. everyone calls her "MIssy ah!" which in hokkien means, "nurse ah!". apparently, before she began her career as a nurse, she had a stint in a factoy which produced paper bags. and she was a also a... JEWELRY sales girl at the age at 18!

oh the irony of it! my grandma is never one for the riches and beauty that came with it. my grandmother is a down-to-earth, no nonsense kind of person. she has a heart of gold, and she and my grandfather brought me up.

and why, is my grandmother's name Tan Ah Sam @ Tan Mei Chin? see? my grandmother's hip okay. she had an email address way earlier than me. my grandmother's born in malaysia and at that time, her name was written in arabic on her birth cert. and the nurse at the hospital apparently didn't really know arabic.

so since birth, everyone assumed she's Tan Mei Chin. all the way till when she's 18, when she dropped out of school in Form 4 (secondary 4 in our time). it was till then, when she wanted to come over to singapore (we were still with Malaysia that time) that a clerk told her that no, your name isn't Tan Mei Chin!

can you believe it? what a slap in your face. imagine everyone calling you robert when your name's actually dick. but maybe if you're called dick, you wouldn't want people to find out anyway.

so my grandmother had to go to court and swear about something (i didn't really get that part), and now her I/C states, Tan Ah Sam@Tan Mei Chin.

cool right? and she's going to start cell group soon. my grandma goes to Trinity Church.. and they already found her a cell. and she wants to be water baptised soon. i'm so proud of her.

i love my grandparents so much!