Eight Fingers & Two Thumbs

I was invited to play table tennis with the other R&D groups today at Choa Chu Kang Sports Center. In the late eighteenth century or the early nineteenth century, the Sultan of Johor allowed the Chinese immigrants to plant "ganmi" and pepper along the river bank. These immigrants were called "Kangchu" - the word "kang" means river and "chu" is the clan name of the first headman in charge of the plantations. Its no longer rural with lots of housing and even its own MRT (train) station. We had a good time and my table tennis skills were well tested! On the bus back, Peter, an elderly man began to ask me about the Singapore Table Tennis Team -- big news since they won a Silver medal at this year's Olympics. I thought they did well - just need more experience and offered how pleasant and outgoing Singaporeans are. Well at that moment the magic happened again in his reply: "Singaporeans are 8 fingers and 2 thumbs." I had to digest that, but I think he was saying that only a few are outgoing -- most beneficial, like thumbs. What a nice way to ride!