Self Initiated Learning
Learning Malay/Indonesian
At first, I started off learning malay as it is more commonly spoken in Singapore, and some of my family members are able to speak the language at a basic level. I would learn words and phrases by translating words I'm using in my daily life (throughout the day) using google translate and then commit it to memory. Sometimes, I would also borrow children's Malay books from the library and attempt to read them, using my phone or asking my mother to translate as I read more and learn along the way. Recently, I decided to learn Indonesian using the DuoLingo app since it did not have Malay.
Later on, after knowing about my interest in learning Malay, my Malaysian friend even bought some primary school workbooks for me from Malaysia!
Chinese Calligraphy
Ever since I went on a school trip to China in 2019, I've been very interested in the Chinese culture and its language. The Chinese characters are an art in itself, and I really wanted to learn Chinese calligraphy (I have only learnt calligraphy in English so far - self taught)
I watched videos from the Chinese social media app 小红书 (Xiao Hong Shu) and Youtube, which taught me the specific strokes and how to correctly use the brush, at which angle the brush needs to be to get that form etc.)
After learning this skill, I also used it to spread the love of chinese to my friends, showing them that chinese characters were actually a form of art in itself. Once, I also did chinese calligraphy of my brother's chinese spelling, to motivate him to write his words nicely (he usually writes the words too fast and messily) -- and it worked! He actually took the time to write his characters properly.
Playing the guitar
I also learnt how to play the guitar on my own (excluding some short music classes in primary school). I figured out the strumming patterns, and then learnt from online videos on chord progression. I used this later on to perform for worship in front of the school during chapel, and also to engage the elderly in chinese new year songs at St. Andrew's Senior Care.
Because of this love for playing instruments, I also asked my friend who plays the cello to teach me how to play it when I went over to her house! I also learnt how to play the cajon and have been wanting to learn to play the guzheng or dizi too :D I even have an app called iguzheng which allows me to play on the digital guzheng, and they have prompts to guide you when you select a song from the app's list to play.
Cooking
I learnt the basics of slicing and dicing from my mother and learnt a few dishes of hers, but also followed online recipes to learn how to cook new dishes that she didn't know how to make, as I wanted to learn how to cook those for myself and my family. (eg. After my A levels I cooked japchae for our family dinner)
I also even went over to my friend's place to learn from her mother how to make dumplings from scratch. A few days later, I made the dumplings from scratch at home, cooked it with noodles, vegetables and prawns for our family to eat!
I want to learn how to make la mian on my own next! I will continue to improve on my skills and learn more recipes to cook for and bless those around me :)