Kristie's Reflection
My Home
I moved to Joo Chiat when I was 8 and have lived here ever since. Looking back, I have lived here for more than half my life. Joo Chiat is home.
Starting this project, finding out about Joo Chiat’s rich colonial history, the strong holds Peranakan tradition has on it, and how it’s been nicknamed Little Vietnam, honestly speaking, I was surprised. I’d never known! Sure, I know of the colonial buildings in the area (I used to pass them every day on my way to school) and I knew of Peranakan and Vietnamese eateries in the vicinity, but weren’t they all over Singapore? Besides, I had never noticed a particularly large congregation of Vietnamese in the area.
Perhaps my ignorance was caused by my blind unawareness. After all, Joo Chiat is the place that I grew up in. I spent a considerable part of my formative years walking along its streets, wandering from shophouse to shophouse, wandering and eating (food hunting was and still is a hobby of mine, an especially good hobby since I live in close proximity to such a wide variety of delicious food). Perhaps I took home for granted, never giving much thought to it. Joo Chiat was always just there, a place that was called home. But I have never truly thought what Joo Chiat meant to others.
Exploring Joo Chiat with the rest of the group, I found myself looking out at this familiar scenery with brand new eyes, forming new revelations about these things that I have seen countless times over the years. I noticed that though Chinese in origin, many of the shophouses in Joo Chiat had Peranakan motives found in the floor tiles, walls, doors… The colonial bungalows, were not simply colonial bungalows, they were seaside bungalows (for before reclamation took place Joo Chiat was just by the sea), meant for luxury and relaxation of the wealthy. I shocked myself, noticing the prevalence of Vietnamese eateries that could be found along Joo Chiat. Along a street peppered with Vietnamese eateries, we found a characteristic Vietnamese conical hat tied to a bicycle parked outside a shophouse. It’s one thing for an area to have many Vietnamese eateries, but to even have the traditional clothing! It really told me that this was Little Vietnam.
And all these, I would NEVER have noticed had I not been paying attention. I thought I knew Joo Chiat like the back of my hand but I guess I didn’t. I’m only just discovering what Joo Chiat is as a place other than just being my home.
DATE: Friday, March 23, 2012
TIME: ||9:29 AM ||