About: klammed

Name:klammed
2008-06-29 16:12:17
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Born 1990, Singaporean. Lived in Glasgow from '95 - '98. Presently living in Singapore.

Posts by klammed:

Glaswegian/Singaporean TCK

Hi all, name’s Sarah, and pretty new to all this but rather relieved to find that I’m not alone. Then again, I often wonder if my reaction to the whole moving away wasn’t over the top… seeing how I’ve really only spent 3 years in a ‘foreign’ country. The feeling of displacement/loss has never gone away after what, ten years now, and I often wonder if I’m just being stubborn/stupid and not knowing how to appreciate what I’ve presently got, or the experiences I had overseas for ‘what they are’, as so many people have tried to tell me, and seeing how it was so long ago… well.

I am Chinese, I am Singaporean, born, and lived here for 15 years of my 18 year old life. Three of those years ( 5 - 8) were spent in Glasgow, and I still don’t understand how those three years managed to change my outlook and perspective of life and the world so drasticall. For better or worse, it has. I’ve never been able to go back to Glasgow all these years, but now that my A levels will be over in about 5 months, I’m working on saving up to get back there for a few months/as long as I can. Yup.

That’s it for now, I suppose, I don’t think you’d want a terribly long, angst ridden rant about my life. :P

July 2, 2008 | Filed Under Introduction | 2 Comments 

Poem: Fraud



Well it’s actually called Singaporean Chinese, I? , and written some time last year, I think.

 

The product of diaspora:

Eyes jet, hair of ebony,
Bronzed skin.

 

The spoke Cantonese, Hokkien.

I understand neither.
When I think ‘Mandarin’, I think
Not of the language,

But of oranges.

 

My mother tongue is not MY tongue.
I quote Shakespeare,

Know nothing of LiBai.

I reason; think; dream in—

I breathe English.
My mouth itches to lapse into
the sole dialect of familiarity:
Glaswegian.

Say “opera”, I see Pavarotti
Not Madame White Snake’s glistening gown.
”Instruments!” Why, violins, trombones, flutes.
What Guzheng? What Erhu?

 

Rice is not my staple, bread is.

Kueh Lapis and Ang Ku Kueh

I eat not. Scones and jellies

were there first.

Singlish feels foreign on my lips
I am Chinese, I am Singaporean,

but not bilingual.

 

Bicultural? I am alienated,

From one by birth, the other by upbringing.

Displaced, misplaced, forever skirting the fringes.
A lost, English-educated, Chinese illiterate,

Fraud.

July 1, 2008 | Filed Under Stories | 3 Comments