Yesterday night, at bedtime, I heard En whispered 'a table, stick an umbrella on it'. She was in deep thoughts and laughed once a while. Finally she broke the silence by announcing, "I can make money by selling paper-cutting craft". I replied "yeah, okay, good. Maybe you could start by selling it to your relatives and family members. Ask 'Ah Yi'(aunt), Ah Kim (aunt), grand aunt bla bla. When their friends see the great craft of yours, they will enquire about it. That's how you get the contacts"
This morning, oh my.. before I knew it, she was outside, setting up her business.
I : What are you doing out here?
En : I am setting up a table to sell paper-cutting craft. I : Oh ok.
En : See, I have dressed up nicely for customers.
While I snapped photos,
En : I love my job. I love my work. *grinning*
I : (I was speechless! What more can I say? She loves her job. Wow!! ! It's so wonderful. ) Kid should be free to explore life. And they can't do that with people telling them what to do all the time. And who decides what they are supposed to learn.
Hui : (finally spoke) Woman can go to work?
I : Yeah, I want to find a job too.
En : No need mommy, I will work. You look after mei mei. (paused)
En : I don't know how to calculate money and I took your calculator.
I : How much is this? (pointed to a little yellow thing she has cut)
En : 3 ringgit.
I : ok. I take this. (give her 5 ringgit)
En : How much do I need to return you?
I : 5 take away 3.
En : oh 2.
En used to comment " I don't like to work. I don't like to get out of the apt. I don't like to drive. Hui drives and bring me food when asked "what would you do in future".
Then one day, last December, at DPC playground, she asked me " Do you like this(pointed to Northshore) or that (Zenia)? I said "If I am single, I love Northshore. Now that I have children, Zenia would be more appropriate as it's has garden and compound for you to play. En added "Ok, I'll buy this (pointed to Zenia) but not now. I need to sell lots lots of books first" (at that moment, her ambition was an author). Zenia and Northshore Gardens
Her first ambition was a kangaroo zoo keeper, falling in love with kangaroos at aged 4. Then, she wanted to be an astronaut, wondering what up there is like. Follow by cleaner (seeing cleaner aunty sweeping the apt), bakery business because she loves food, baking and cooking. Subsequently, author for a long time before changing it to animal trainer after experiencing feeding giant tortoises at Singapore Zoo last month.
She has been typing stories, short and whimsical. One day, she passed me a book (she called it) that she has printed and asked me for RM1. (she meant selling it to me). I took it happily, commented "wow! that's cheap. Ok. Then I pointed to a book at my bedside table - this one I bought at RM60!" En was shocked! :)
My RM1 book!
Yesterday, at lunch with aunty Rayhana & aunty See Ming, she blurted out "You know I start to make money."Aunty Rayhana asked "yeah, how do you make money?". En said "doing farming".
There is so much thoughts in this little 6 year old ! (turning 6 next month).
1 comment:
Cool write up and cool Zhang En.
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