A Single Savory TreatKyra

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Author’s Note

In this story, my grandmother is in Malaysia during the Japanese Occupation. All of this took place during World War Two (WWII), when the Japanese invaded Malaysia and Singapore through Indochina. The exact date of this story in unknown, but it did take place sometime in February, 1942-1945, during the Japanese Occupation.! In 1895, four Malay states combined to form the Federated Malay States. Malaysia carried on like this, until 1942 when the British invaded.! Whereas in Singapore, Singapore became a main base under the British rule in 1922. Until, of course, the Japanese invaded and took over. In 1946, Singapore became an independent colony. Lee Kuan Yew became prime minister of Singapore in 1959.! The Japanese Occupation affected my grandmother’s own experience, in ways I didn’t know it could. After the Occupation, she started school, which she never thought she would be able to do. Despite the awful situation she was in, during the Occupation, it wasn’t an entirely miserable experience, as shown in my narrative. She is thankful for all the experiences she received from the Japanese Occupation.

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Family Tree

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This is my grandmother, the

protagonist in my narrative.

A Single Savory Treat

! I caught a whiff of the bland scent of food, which was being served by several fatigued and famished workers. For a moment I wondered what the meal was going to be, until I realized that it was just another bowl of flavorless gruel. Finding the food to be unappetizing, I headed out of the canteen and off to some other kids around my age. ! “The meals here are horrible!” one boy complained. “They should give us something better to eat.”! “The Japanese don’t care about us!” another child whined. “We’re just a bunch of Malaysians trapped in the middle of our home country! We don’t even get to learn, or go to school!”! “The British probably would’ve let us have an education, but they just surrendered us to the Japanese!” the first boy stated.! “Yes, yes, we all know what happened. The Japanese invaded us through Indochina, then they attacked us and Singapore,” an older girl declared, in a rather know-it-all tone. “But back to the food. I was thinking... you know what? We should cook our own food! I saw a few potatoes lying around.” I didn’t know all of the kid’s names, or any of them, in fact. The other children had gotten to know each other better, whereas I mostly stayed with my parents, taking care of my baby sister.! Although I definitely didn’t enjoy the canteen food, I didn’t want to do something I wasn’t supposed to. Being such a young child, I was terrified by the thought of Kyra Identity Portfolio

getting in trouble. “Is that a smart idea?” I queried, fumbling with my long, brunette braids. “Won’t we get caught?” ! “No, it’ll be fine! No one will notice five six-to-nine year-olds roasting a few potatoes to eat,” the girl confirmed. “We just have to create a clever plan to ensure that we won’t get caught!” ! Carefully, the other four kids and I crafted a devious plan to cook some potatoes, which just so happened to be sweet potatoes. One person would make use of their culinary skills; another would keep their watchful eyes alert; two kids would make the tiring journey of getting the potatoes to the cook; a single person would help out in places that needed assistance. ! “OK, Show Sin, you get the glorious job of cooking. I’ll stand nearby to make sure no one is watching,” the girl explained. “The others already know what they’re doing. So, are you ready?” ! Though I still wasn’t completely convinced that a group of kids should be sneaking off to cook some potatoes, a rush of ecstasy came over me. “Yes, I am most definitely ready. You can count on me to get the potatoes cooked,” I announced. A wave of confidence ran through my body, leaving me ready to get the job done.! One by one, each of us made our way over to the barrel of coals for cooking. Focusing so much on my task at hand, I was completely unaware of the other kids. The coals mesmerized me, glowing with an intense orange hue. The waves of heat coming off the coals comforted me. I could hear the sizzling of the coals whenever I

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moved them around, the sparks of fire threatening to burn me. ! I received one sweet potato after another, letting the wonderful, aromatic scent fill the area around us. As quickly as I could, I used my long, slightly heated tongs to grab the fresh, steaming potato and pass it to one of the kids. Once a child had a potato, they dashed off to the kids’ area, giggling and whispering to themselves in excitement. Hopefully the adults wouldn’t take notice of the crowd of chuckling children gathering together.! After I cooked five sweet potatoes - one for each of us - I carefully placed the tongs along the side of the coal barrel. I extended my slender fingers in order to grab the wonderfully warm potato, and scampered off to join the others.! On the way there, I sank my teeth into the redolent potato; its lilac skin peeled off and saffron yellow center begging to be eaten. The potato melted in my mouth, its flavor sensationally sweet, so I took another delicious mouthful. The Japanese Occupation didn’t matter to me at this point, because all that was on my mind, was the savory flavor of the sweet potato.

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Interview

Name: Show SinHistoric Event that affected them: Japanese Occupation of Malaysia & SingaporeDate of Event: February 1942-1945Physical Description: Rather short, thinPersonality Traits: Smart, forceful, willful

1.Q. How did you feel when Japan invaded Malaysia/Singapore?

A.It was a very quick invasion. The useless British army which was supposed to protect the colonial citizens surrendered quickly.

2.Q. How old were you at the time? A.5-8.

3.Q. Which part of the invasion do you remember the most?

A. Having to take care of my little sister, who was about 1 year old.

4.Q. What was the scariest moment for you? A. I was supposed to take care of my sister, but I wanted to

take a break and play instead. So I had her sit and she fell down. She ended up getting a cut on lower chin. I went back to my parents and got hit by my mother.

5.Q. How did the Japanese Invasion affect you? A.Life was difficult, I was only 5-6 years old. I had to go to

the wilderness and search for vegetables. I also had to

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grow vegetables. Big drain to catch fish to eat, with family and others.

6. Q. Did you go to school? A. I only started learning after Malaysia beat Japan. Before

then, I didn’t learn.

7. Q. Where did you live? A. Because of my father’s work, my family lived in a tin

mine. There was a fish pond next to our house.

8. Q. What was your happiest moment? A.My happiest moment was sneakily cooking sweet

potatoes with the other kids. After the adults finished cooking and started eating, the other kids and I would secretly cook sweet potatoes to eat. We cooked them by using long tongs. Every search for food was an adventure.

See Smell Hear Feel Taste

People eating

the potato fragrance

coals sizzling

tongs sweetness of potato

coals Freshly made food

people talking

heat of coals

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Bibliography

"Singapore Profile." BBC News. BBC, 07 May 2012. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15971013>.

"Malaysia Profile." BBC News. BBC, 10 Oct. 2012. Web. 05 Nov. 2012. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15391762>.

My Family Member: My Grandmother: Show Sin.

"Sweet Potato Picture 1." Sweet Potato Vine, Now What? (resources: Seeds, Plants, Honey, Consulting, Etc. Forum at Permies). N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2012. <http://www.permies.com/t/6475/resources-seeds-plants-honey-consulting/sweet-potato-vine-now>.

"Sweet Potato Picture 2." Roasted Sweet Potato Stacks | Healthy Malaysian Food Blog & Food Recipes. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2012. <http://www.justasdelish.com/roasted-sweet-potato-stacks/>.

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Re!ection

1. What specific challenges did you face during this project?!! Some specific challenges that I faced when writing this narrative, was finding background information, and writing in the perspective of my grandmother. Because my topic was already so specific, it made it difficult to research information about the subject. My topic was World War II in Malaysia or The Japanese Occupation, so it was challenging to find further details. I personally found it hard to write in the first person view of my grandmother. Since it’s not my own personal experience, it was relatively hard to put ‘Voice’ into my narrative. I had to stop thinking in my mindset, and start thinking in my grandmother’s mindset.

2. What did you learn about your family member? (personality, character…)!! A few things that I learned about my grandmother was that, even though she’s tough on me, my brother, my cousins, etc., she was still a child once. She was one of those children who were ‘good kids’, kids who followed the rules. But upon writing this narrative, I learned that she wasn’t always such a well-behaved child.

3. What did you learn about yourself (as a learner, as a family member)?!! There are a few things that I learned about myself as a learner. I learned that I can write from the point of view of another person, even though it may be difficult. Besides that, I also learned the proper way to conduct an interview, even though I’m not particularly talented at it.

4. How have you grown? (as a writer…)!! As a writer, I learned how to write in first person, from the view of a character that wasn’t me. I have learned that I need to think like the person I’m writing about, instead of thinking like myself. Instead of acting the way I would act, I needed to act the way the character would act. I have learned how to do that. Upon writing this narrative, Kyra Identity Portfolio

I have improved the ‘Voice’ that I put in my narrative. This way, I need to be my character, instead of being me.

5. Why do you think doing a project like this is important?! I think that doing a project like this is important because this way we learn new techniques. We have learned how to weave historical facts into our narratives, and be in the mindset of another person. In the process, we also learned how to create a story, with an introduction, events, a climax, and a resolution. Also in the process, we learned what a real writer would do in this type of situation.

6. What part of this process did you enjoy most? Why?!! The part of this process that I enjoyed the most, would be actual writing the narrative. Even though I found it quite challenging, I still pulled through. I personally like writing, so I enjoyed writing a challenge.

7. What part of this process did you least enjoy? Why?!! There was one part of the process that I didn’t like, and that was interviewing my grandmother. I’m not an out-going sort-of person; I mainly keep to myself, and I am very quiet. Even though I had to interview my grandmother, I’m glad that my mother helped me a lot. Since my grandmother is more fluent in Chinese, as opposed to English, my mother needed to translate my questions, and my grandmother’s answers. The interview became an interview between my grandmother and my mother, instead of me. From this experience, I know that I need to work on my social skills, and be more comfortable speaking up. Conducting an interview is definitely something I need to work on.

8. How do you plan to share this project with your family/ family member?!! I plan to share this project with my grandmother by, hopefully, sending her a copy. Her current residence isn’t the same as mine, so I hope that they are able to receive the narrative. I can, however, share this narrative with my mother during SLC’s (Student Led Conferences).Kyra Identity Portfolio