Today was a rather meaningful day!
After attending the secondary school's 50th anniversary celebrations where I was more of a disciplinarian trying to get 2L to behave at the back of the hall, I went back home and decided to pop by the barber for a trim so as to prepare myself for the duo-D&Ds that I have later in the evening. I was so tired that I took an hour-long nap after a shower to get rid of the stray hair from the barber's. Anyway I headed down to Meritus Mandarin Orchard Hotel for the USP D&D and guess who I met? Long-time-no-see NUSPEans MV and DV!
They complained that my smart attire drowned them out and made them look lousy in the picture. MV even suggested a super conspiracy theory that their comparative drabbiness was the reason why I wanted to grab a shot with them! Grr!
At the USP D&D reception, I met GR, another long-time-no-see friend who was my neighbour when I stayed in PGP during second year in university. His graduation's delayed by a semester, having went on both student exchange and overseas college. Gosh!
The room, called 'Act I', is rather small and cosy with a nice interior decor. Great choice!
Meanwhile, I was glad that MS could make it as she was easily the most affable friend I have from the USP crew, having spent much time together in SoC, USP and NUSPE. We had a very fun conversation, and I got myself high from drinking red wine after the second dish which was shark's fin.
That's me & MS! Hope her bf doesn't get any wrong idea!
That's A/P Peter Pang giving his short address.
Ah, that was time to go to the secondary school's 50th anniversary dinner! I missed all the performances put up by the USP staff, and was embarrassingly caught by some of them who were visiting the toilet when I was waiting for the lift to get me out of the hotel.
Anyway I thought I was way late, so I decided to splurge and took a taxi cab down. I was feeling high then, so I tried to be friendly with the taxi driver. I got too much from what I expected - the journey was a tiring tirade of the taxi driver's views on education and politics in Singapore. Finally we reached Singapore Expo! I hopped off, and still feeling high, walked around and said hi.
Me & MsW, an old buddy of a total of 10 years?! Gosh!
The wonderful administrative staff from the secondary school, namely CTR, (opps I can't remember her name) and SL who has been totally terrific in helping me with paperwork with the Ministry of Education.
Me with ATM, the current secondary school librarian. I didn't really ask them politely to take pictures with me too though as I felt uninhibited after being so high from driinking red wine at the USP D&D. Hope nobody found me offensive. I also met a long-lost administrative officer ATAL, who left the school right after I graduated! Gosh, I never realised... it was nevertheless fun to catch up with her, and she shared a few very wise words with me. Thank you very much!
Last but not least, that's EG in the middle and a new teacher-buddy JM on the right. Throughout the fortnight where I was relief teaching, JM has been very friendly and we regularly chat. It was always fun to hear about his teaching experiences and observations. A wonderful colleague! Sitting beside me in the office is CRL, another nice, patient and seasoned teacher of 8 years. Such a pity I didn't get to take pictures with her. Maybe I should do that on Teachers Day next month, though I think I should already be busy working by then if all things go well. EG's a humanities teacher I met last year when I taught for a week.
Actually it was quite a crazy affair, me going there in a high mood. Many words splurted from my mouth which might sound offensive, so I really hope I haven't stepped on any tail there. Like when I was hanging around at the table where my ex-Chemistry teacher and the subject/level head whom I reported to when I was relief teaching the past fortnight, the Chemistry teacher commented that I've been so busy over the past 2 weeks that she hasn't got a chance to talk to me. To that, I replied that the head teacher had bullied me with so many classes everyday. Gosh! Another was to JM - he commented how lonely he felt at the dinner as he's only been in the school for a short while and has yet to send any kids out of the school for them to return. I remarked that most of the alumni present that night are not the younger ones, and whether the situation now or the situation a few years later when 'old fogeys' return to pay respect to him! Oh well, at least if I don't ever get call back for relief teaching, we'll know the reason why. :)
I also met many classmates who've gone everywhere too, such as YJ and CW. YJ-wise, I only heard from others that she's been in pursuing Chinese studies in Fudan (or is it Beida) under an MOE scholarship and now she's back in DMS teaching Chinese. Now to think of it there're tons of ex-students from the school who have now become teachers too. That's more to me like 'opps.. maybe I shouldn't go into teaching or I'll end up as another statistic..'. I've also met some old teachers, though I'm not exactly very fascinated since I've already been seeing a number of them for the past 2 weeks. In a certain sense I'm a little upset that I left the USP D&D early, 'cos the food at Mandarin beats the food at the school D&D hands down.
While leaving the premises, I suddenly realised BJMF would be arriving at Changi Airport from Japan an hour later, so I bade goodbye to QK and TY and took the MRT. I met 4 student councillors along the way, one of whom was a student GNL whom I taught the past 2 weeks. Poor chaps, these councillors, they haven't eaten anything since an early breakfast! I gave them a treat in the end, though I was slightly miffed when they suggested high-end eateries. However, most of them were closed when we got there (phew!), hence settling for BK. It wasn't cheap though as I was feeding 4 ravenous elephants!
It was quite fun I guess, hearing them bitch about their lives. However it was with candor that I realise I can only sit there and nod my head as their lives are very different from mine and it is so difficult to relate to them as most of what I said would end up as words from a seasoned preacher. Oh well. In the end they left in one of their mother's car and I waited for BJMF. I thought I got the time, or worse the date confused - thank goodness I got him right there as he finally came out from the gates an hour after the original estimation of 12 midnight. After a quick hi and bye as his mom was there and he's tired, I left, suddenly realising that my last bus left 40 minutes back. Shit. It's a taxi back to home then.
After observing and thinking for another day, though I kinda relish the idea of continuing my teaching stint for another 3 months till the end of the academic year and usher my current students onto the next level, I realise it will only be a short fairytale which will leave me in quite a dilemma when it ends as it will already be 6 months since I've graduated. Moreover the salary isn't attractive at all too unless I keep rigidly to the minimum of 5.5 hours to qualify for a full day's pay and to do that will do injustice to the students. There's a lot of preparation to be done! As such, with a heavy heart I bid goodbye, and hope to be back some time soon.
So what's next? I have no idea, though I relish the break I get next week. :D
