The swimming instructor - Mr. Ng

We reached Seberang Jaya Swimming Pool by 2pm. At the entrance of the pool, we could see a dark and fit man talking to some Malays, but we were not sure whether this was the guy we were waiting for. By 2.15pm we saw a lady who look like reporter walking towards the man, so we also approach them.

It was a bloody hot day, 21/3 was supposed to be the hottest day ever. Trust me, shooting at the middle of the pool, no shade at all, we knew it was the hottest!!! Damn, my face and hands darken quickly. This man, Mr. Ng, is a swimming and life-saving instructor, and his assistant, Mr. Teoh, both were like charcoal, so what did they care about being dark? They talked to us under the hot sun, while training a girl of Down syndrome in the pool, casually, while we were trying to be professional but hot to the max.

Well, enough of complaining, back to why we were interviewing them… they teach disable children for free – like Down syndrome, handicapped, or generally they call them “special children” or “challenged children”. They also perform physiotherapy to them for free. If they can swim well, they will also train them for free to join any sport events or paralympic. This girl (Down) that he brought today to let us video is one of his student who enter competition. A very shy girl name Shi Ling, who knows all 4 strokes including butterfly, and according to Mr. Teoh, she is probably the only Down syndrome person to know Butterfly… I was puzzled so I asked why? He told us that people who suffers from Down normally have an extra or distorted bone at the neck that stop them from swimming butterfly, the stroke might dislocate or hurt the bone and will cause death. Besides, Down syndrome ppl also have hole in their heart, so they cannot swim too aggressively.

The Malay lady teacher that brought Shi Ling also is remarkable!! She teaches in special school with very very low salary (I think is around RM400 only), yet she is willing to bring students to swim here and there, for absolutely no fee, not even the petrol… wow! She really loves these students. But of course during the interview, they were taking the opportunity to urge the public to donate some money lah, but that’s understandable.

After the shoot, we went over to the Malay stalls opposite the pool, Mr. Ng wanted to belanja us makan. So we had ais kacang, mee goring… mmm… yummy!! And we chatted more. Then I told Mr. Teoh that I’ve met him before, that’s when I was still a lifeguard in USM years, I also saw him during life-saving competitions.

By 4.00pm, finally we were done, and ready to drive to KL, then the pregnant lady wanted to go home to take bath first. I have to agree lor, so we only started driving to KL by 4.30pm. All the way to KL, there were heavy pours, could hardly see the roads clearly. We reached KL by 8pm, my mom has all the food readied, so we just makan lah! Yummy!! By 9pm, fetched my other student from Kelana LRT, she was coming from Genting to join us, brought her home to feed her. By 10pm, we went to SS2 to meet up with Chew Yan to pass her VCD and info of the logo and to brief her on how we would like the graphics, logo, and opening to be.

We went home after supper by 11pm. Watched a little bit of 《不见》directed by李康生, the 1st 10 minute was all about a grandma looking for her missing kid in a park… boring shit! But however, I would watch it again on my own, just don’t want to bore my students to death! Then it’s goodnight after that cause the next day we need to wake up by 6am to depart for Kluang, Johor.