Sayang Sayang

Yesterday evening I was at the Esplanade and caught the second half of a free performance at the Esplanade Concourse, “It’s Time for Sayang Sayang” by the Golden Girlz of Katong. It was a charming little skit, with two nonyas (beautifully dressed in their kebayas) teaching a new (but not young) nonya bride about the traditions of the Peranakans.

I missed the section on food but was present when the new bride was learning about the marriage gift exchange practices. These do appear a little complicated. Some gifts, you have to give half back. So if you get 8 oranges, give 4 back. Sometimes you have to give a gift, only to get it back three-fold. And then there is the brandy – which is apparently not for the bride to drink (horrors!) but for her husband-to-be and his male friends in the baba equivalent of a stag night. Some practices are similar to the Chinese customs – the wearing of a black veil to signify sorrow at leaving her family, but with a bright red dot underneath for good luck.

The play was littered throughout with Malay words, slipped into the conversation. “Sayang” is one of these words, a versatile word with multiple meanings. In one context it means “darling”, in another, “caress” or “stroke” and in another, “affection”. Somehow, I use it most often with my cats. Especially when they get a little “manja” – another Malay word which I translate as “being needy” in relation to my little pusses. But looking at the audience, I wonder how many of them are able to understand even the simple phrases used. I was talking one day to a friend of mine, who has lived in Katong all his life, and I let slip a Malay phrase which I then had to translate. Another of my ex-colleagues, who has again stayed in the east coast of Singapore all her life, had never eaten gado-gado (a salad dish with potatoes, egg, cucumber, tempeh, tauhu and a peanut sauce poured on top) or tauhu goreng (tauhu with cucumber, bean sprouts and peanut sauce on top) before. If food-loving Singaporeans aren’t even familiar with the different types of food each community eats, then it’s clear we still need to work on building mutual understanding between the communities here.

Katong Convent

Sigh. What does it mean when a fairly new school building (I believe it was completed around 1990 or so) is demolished so it can be built up bigger and higher? Way back in 1930, Katong Convent started in an old house by the sea, on this very spot. Taking students from kindergarten all the way up to 'O' levels, many generations of school girls passed through its doors, played in its fields and prayed by the little grotto in the corner of the garden. The sea by the fence went when the land was reclaimed and the new Marine Parade town was built. My mother spent her schooldays here. The school expanded, new wings were erected. I spent four years - my secondary school years here. Well do I remember standing beneath those flagpoles and singing the National Anthem and School Song. Well do I also remember the times when I had to run around the field preparing for my 2.4km physical fitness test. As for my classrooms, these were generally placed around the quadrangle in the middle of the school. The few steps leading down to the quadrangle from the classrooms were depressed in the middle because of the many years girls had stood or sat on them. At the beginning of each year, we would walk to the Holy Family church for mass to mark the start of school. But enough of these happy schoolgirl memories.


In 1987 much of the building was torn down. Both the primary and secondary sections moved to a new building meant to house the secondary school. My sister started her primary school there. This lovely new school was then built for the primary school. I think it a beautiful building. Much of the architecture of this front block reflects the old house the school started off in. The details of the architecture reflect the peranakan culture so prevalent in Katong.

Today, our education system is taking new directions. Smaller class sizes, more IT in the classroom. Although the school building is still so new, it is not enough to accomodate these changes. So go it must. And as an Aided School, the community must raise the money to pay our 5% (or is it 10%?) of the building costs. So the school shifted out at the beginning of the year to an old school building in Bedok. Today, I saw that the demolition team has started its work. I can only think what a waste of a beautiful building it is.

Unfortunately, the building of the new school has been affected by the Indonesian ban on sand exports to Singapore. So it will be a while more before the merry sounds of girls laughing and calling to each other float through the air in this little corner of Katong.

Joo Chiat links

When I first started this blog, I googled around to check out what sites already existed on Katong and Joo Chiat and found that there were very few. In fact, that was one thing which motivated me to set up this blog. But now, as I continue with this blog, I find that there are more and more sites and blogs which also cover Joo Chiat and Katong. The latest one I have found is MyJooChiat.com, which is a community-based site and covers Joo Chiat news, businesses, restaurants etc. My list of links is getting longer....

Joo Chiat Road foodie joints

I read somewhere (can't remember where exactly) that Joo Chiat road was named after some wealthy plantation owner called Chew Joo Chiat. When then British government wanted to build a road through his estate, he willingly acceded - and then sold off the land on either side of the road at a handsome profit! The shops and houses along Joo Chiat Road are still there to this day.

There are so many nice eating places to try out along Joo Chiat Road. What has really made these places more accessible is the opening up of more car parks down the road. We've been to a number of them and maybe I'll give more details in a subsequent post. But some of my favourites are in this little cluster just near the old Maternal and Child Health clinic, now newly converted into a Scanteak furniture shop. I have always liked the look of this building, in particular its simple and clean lines, and its good to see that it is now back in use.


But back to the food. Straight across Scanteak is the Ayam Penyet stall. This "smashed" fried chicken dish is now a bit of a fad, but this is one of the first few stalls which started selling it. In fact this stall also sells fish penyet and beef penyet too! I like the fish penyet, as the fish is nicely fried - crispy on the outside, yet retaining its juiciness inside.


A few shops down, is the Lau Hock Guan Kee Bak Kut Teh stall - which is mentioned favourably in Makansutra for its fish head curry and which we like, of course, for its steamed fish tail! But that was not our intended destination that particular evening. Just next door is "My Mum's Place", another Makansutra-featured home cooking restaurant (and where else but Joo Chiat would you get two in a row). And if its a Katongite's home-cooked food, it is pretty good stuff. We have been there a few times, wolfing down their juicy, tasty prawn paste chicken, tender kangkong shoots in sambal, and crispy baby squid. This time we were eating their signature dish, seafood stuffed tofu balls - crispy on the outside, with a juicy filling of tofu and seafood inside (amongst other things), their kangkong (again) and their sliced beef with ginger (not a particularly unique dish, but well-cooked and tasty nonetheless). Service is good, and the food comes quickly to our table. Great choice for a family meal. But busy on weekend nights especially, good to go on a weekday evening. That's also when the carparks are less crowded.

There used to be a third restaurant next to Lau Hock Guan Kee and My Mum's - "Tasty Penang", which obviously sold Penang food. Somehow, despite the fame of Penang hawker fare, Penang food stalls have not done too well in Katong. Penang! Penang! opened in Lau's Arcadia along East Coast Road some time back but folded (I personally think their food was a little overpriced). Similarly, "Tasty Penang" didn't last too long. Whilst a lot cheaper than Penang! Penang!, perhaps the variety of dishes was not sufficient for it to keep up with the competition all around. It's a tough neighbourhood for restaurants but for Katong residents like myself, its a great place to eat! Where else in Singapore can you get great Eurasian, Peranakan, Chinese, Indonesia, Malay, Indian, and frankly many other types of food in one small little area!!

Lumen Christi

"Lumen Christi!" "Deo Gratias!"

These Latin words come at the beginning of the traditional pre-Vatican II Easter Vigil Mass. Today, it is said in English: "Christ our Light!" and the response is "Thanks be to God!"

Holy week is the busiest time in the Christian calendar. Coming at the end of Lent, it starts with Palm Sunday, commemorating the entry of Christ into Jerusalem, then Maundy Thursday which reminds us of the Last Supper, Good Friday when we recall the death of Christ and finally Easter Sunday when we celebrate His resurrection.

In Katong, much of this activity takes place at the Holy Family church, on East Coast Road. There has been a church serving the community here since the early 1930s; I too was baptised here (not in the 1930s, thank you!). The current church building was erected in 2000 as the older building was too small for the large community. The old church building was a Katong landmark with the tall bell tower above the entrance on East Coast Road. It was a simple church building but it warmly welcomed visitors through the many doors which went all around the church.

In the old days, too, the congregation would wait outside the closed church whilst the Easter candle was lit from the newly kindled Easter fire, and follow the priest into the church. Today, the numbers attending the Vigil would make this a difficult logistical exercise. The structure of the church also makes it a little more difficult, given that we now have to climb up one storey to enter the church building as the car park is now on the ground floor. But it is still quite meaningful to sit in the dark church, listening out for the call of "Christ our Light!" and watching as the altar boys enter and move around the church lighting our candles, and then watching as the light continues to spread throughout the church.

But the highlight of the Easter Vigil mass is typically the baptism ceremony for adults. It is the culmination of a longer process stretching slightly over a year in which they have prepared themselves to renounce their sins, and cleanse themselves in the waters of new life in Christ. This Easter, the group was a fairly small one for Holy Family parish - I think just under 30 people being baptised or brought into full communion with the Catholic church. But the past groups have been rather large, so much so that Holy Family now has a pretty efficient process - the baptism with water, annointing with holy oil, the giving out of the white garment and candles were all done with true Singaporean efficiency. I recall my friend's baptism in London, when she was the only one being baptised. She wore black, was totally immersed in water, then went to a room at the back of the church to dry off (we heard the hairdryer going for a while) and change into all-white. It was a beautiful and highly symbolic service, but can't exactly be done en masse (think of the hairdryer queue).

The church itself is a beautiful place to be on Easter Vigil; the choir sings better and the congregation generally happy and patient despite the long ceremony. And although the church has changed, it is the same ceremony which has been celebrated in this place for over 70 years, and around the world for 2000 years.

HAPPY EASTER!

The Rose Window at Holy Family Church