Speaker: Elaine Tan, ACB, CL, DL5, MS1
Pathway: Motivational Strategy
Level 3, Project 1
Connect With Storytelling
Title: Once Upon A Time
Date: 21 April 2022
It All Began In Changi Village
This is a very interesting project.
I purpose to tell a story. A story about myself.
Tonight, I am going to tell a story about myself. In order for you to understand me, you must understand my entire life. This is why my story is entitled, “Once Upon A Time”.
I will first begin my story of my grandparents.
Once upon a time there is a family who lived in the eastern area of Singapore in a village called Changi village with many villagers. On my father side of my family, they own a provision shop, whereas my mother’s parents were just labourers. So how did my father’s parents met? My grandpa was a provision shop owner. While travelling on the road, his bicycle knocked onto my grandma. That was how they met, fell in love and got married. Eventually, they had my father and mother.
Now how my parents met was also very simple. As villagers, they grew up together, cycled together, fell in love and got married. That is how simple it was.
So how does this “once upon a time in this Changi village” involved me? Well, without my grandparents and parents, there wouldn’t be anyone called Elaine Tan.
My Birthday Present
Life was not very simple for me as I will tell you in my story. As descendants of Changi villagers, my entire family including my brothers and cousins are very good in cycling. So their expectation for me to become a good cyclist was very high. However, I was not a fast learner. I only began to walk at the age of three. So how could you expect a person like me to learn to cycle?
My story began on my 7th birthday. My parents gave me a very big present. The present was wrapped with ribbons in a very big box. I was very excited and exhilarated! I thought that inside the box was my dream playhouse, which I had always wanted.
And I still remember that fateful day on my 7th birthday. It actually took me almost half an hour to remove the wrappers. I untied the ribbons. I slowly opened the box. As I opened the box with so much expectation, to my horror, I saw … I saw … a bicycle.
Well, it was still not too bad. At least this bicycle came with four wheels. So, at least to a seven-year-old girl who only started to walk at the age of three, I could ride the bicycle without the fear of falling off of the bicycle. However, being a girl who dislike being under the hot sun, I did not really enjoy cycling. So I hardly used the bicycle at all.
Get Out There And Start Cycling
I still recall, on a Sunday morning, my father and mother said to me, “Girl! What are you doing at home? Go and cycle lah!” However, I preferred sitting on the sofa watching TV instead.
They greatly pressurised me to get out of the house with the bicycle. So what happened? I still remember after spending two weeks with the bicycle, I was still pushing it around my neighbourhood. During then, I was not living in a kampong like my grandparents and parents did. I was already living in an ordinary HDB neighbourhood.
I Lost My Bicycle
One fine day, I just left my bicycle at one of the playgrounds. I did not do it on purpose. You see, when you are not really riding the bicycle but was merely pushing the bicycle around, it is very easy for you to forget about it. So I still remember the moment I came home when something suddenly tugged at my heart.
I sensed that something was missing. What was missing? Had I forgotten something? Yes. I left my bicycle at the playground. And I could not find it again. I thought that my parents would scold me. Instead, they just sighed and said, “Fine, it’s okay! It’s okay!”
I thought that this was the end of my relationship with the bicycle. However, no! You must remember that my story began with once upon one time with grandparents on both sides of my family, as well as my parents fell in love because of cycling.
Cycling became an entire family’s mandated hobby so much so that I could not escape from it.
Not Another Bicycle!
So, a few months later, I came home one fine day and saw a bigger box than the previous birthday present I had, but this time round, the box was without ribbon and wrapper. When I opened it, horror of horrors, I do not know how I could describe my feeling, … it was … it was a bicycle again. It was a bigger bicycle with just two wheels.
Can you imagine how I felt then? My parents told me if I failed to learn how to cycle within one week, I would not get the full amount of my pocket money. I would only get half the amount of what I was getting. However, they said that if I could learn to cycle within one week, they would give me 50% more of the amount of my pocket money as from that week onwards. The proverbial stick and carrot. That was not easy! I had not been learning how to cycle with my previous bicycle but merely happily sitting on the bicycle and pushing it around.
It is not easy learning how to ride a bicycle within only two wheels. A non-cyclist riding on a two-wheel bicycle will tilt to the left and tilt to the right instead of going straight. Neither can a non-cyclist balance on a bicycle until you paddle continuously while gaining your balance at the same time. That was my problem because I simply do not know how to do that.
Impossibility Or Possibility?
So, what happened to me was that I had been walking with a bicycle, pushing a bicycle, not riding a bicycle. Eventually when I reached home, my legs were all tired out, not from cycling, but from walking with a bicycle. I believe that I was the only person who was doing that kind of thing while everybody was thinking to themselves, what was that girl doing with her bicycle.
Was she torturing the bicycle or was the bicycle torturing her? Neither did I know which was it. Nevertheless, amazingly, at the end of one week, I finally learned how to ride a bicycle without falling.
Moral Of The Story
So, ladies and gentlemen, the moral of this story, “Once Upon a Time”, is this:
if you want to do something, and if you set your mind to do it, you can do it.
Just be careful of doing something for the sake of what your family wants but you are not good at it, you might end up like me.
Thank you!
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