islandhippy

Here we have ah ma (Hokkien for grandmother) teaching daughter how to bathe granddaughter.

Sandy's whole family are down from Malaysia (plus brother over from UK), spending the long May Day weekend in Singapore to see grandchild #1. There are eight of us camped out in a two-bedroom flat. As I sleep at about 8pm these days I have no idea where the rest of them are bunking ... I suspect they're sleeping in shifts.

I'm trying to work out the new Hokkien kinship terms for everybody (grandpa, aunty, etc) from the point of view of the baby. As far as I can tell:

• grandpa = ah gong
• grandma = ah ma
• aunty on maternal side (Hueh and Ngae) = ah yi
• aunty on paternal side (Holly) = ah ko
• uncle on maternal side (Tiam) = ah ku

But do we teach Olive Hokkien or Mandarin?

"Give her a break, she's only 11 days old!" Sandy.