the staff were all foreigners from Phillipines and Myanmar, but there were local volunteers helping out as well.
the clients (as the head staff calls them) were all rather warm and welcoming, so interacting with them was interesting and comfortable. however, there was this elderly guy with a triad tattoo who kept throwing his temper at anyone who tried to speak to him, and during lunch when i approached him and smiled, he smiled in return. i thought, "hey, maybe he's not so bad after all!" when he started to make kissy faces at me. =.=
there were 3 elderly males who looked too young for their age. one was a 71 year old retired lecturer from Singapore Polytechnic, and he looks only 50+! same with a couple of other retirees at the facility. it must be the relaxed and joyful lifestyle they lead now.
we did some morning warmups, art-and-craft, and exercise with them, and stayed to serve lunch.
the elderly lady i paired up with has a kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder, but she was really kind to me. during the art-and-craft session, we were supposed to do paper weaving to create a rabbit card. i put my own personal twist to it by placing the cotton ball at the side as a tail instead of as a nose like everyone else did, and tore a triangular piece of paper as the nose/mouth.
when we saw how i applied my creativity, she kept smiling at me and agreed that it was very cute. that made my day.
while chatting with the clients during lunch, i started conversation with a retired lawyer, and what she said to a fellow schoolmate of mine made me glow with joy, but almost want to run away in embarrassment. she praised me as "warm, sincere, bubbly, and factual" among many others, after just a brief 10minute chit-chat with her about why some poly students sleep in class.
if the facility was nearer to home, i think i may continue to volunteer there on my own, even without SPRC organising a community service trip there again.
Mabel. 14/3/12.
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