back to (old) school

On teacher's day, which is 29 august, i went back to my primary school - nanyang primary. I intended for it to be the last time i would pay a visit there as an ex-student, cos from next year onwards, my former school would be gmss, or rather.. clementi woods secondary. I took effort to be there early so that i would not see just the school building and hear just the wind like what happened last year. But still, i did not get to see any of my P6 teachers or any of my classmates. My P6 form teacher, who was the teacher i wanted to meet most, was on maternity leave. The only consolation i got was that one of her good friends offered to pass her a note when they meet. I thought i would never have another chance to see them again. Well, at least with my message, my form teacher would not be totally in the dark about what im like now and how im doing, after 4 years.

2 days ago, on thursday, i suddenly had an unexpected call. It was from my P6 classm8, chu xian. he told me about the ex-students day cum mooncake festival celebration on the 22nd september. this practice occured every year, but only this year did i know about it because chu xian made the effort to notify us. i was the 20th person from our class he called, using the address book we got before our graduation, and he said quite a number of them were interested to go. At last, another chance to see my classmates again! An interesting thing is that out of the 20 he called, only 3 of them had changed telephone number over the past 4 years.

Chu xian used to be one of my most detested people then; my worst enemy, cos he sucked up to teachers by being a goody 2 shoe, and in the process he stepped on my toes. Plus he was always acting smart. But when he called, we talked like as if we had always been good friends, and not even giving a hint about our past feuds. indeed, time restores relationship.

So the day came, which was yesterday, for me to meet my old classmates after 4 years. Nanyang completed its new building just after i graduated, and it is slightly furhter away. I walked along the route which i walked everyday to school during my primary school days. Memories came rushing back to my mind as i walked past familiar landmarks. I even saw the frail zombie-like old woman who lived in one of the houses. she is still alive but in the same state as before. Some of the old houses have been replaced with new modern-looking ones. There goes traces of history; gone forever.

When i arrives at the scene, there were only 4 of my classm8s there. Within the next half an hour, another 9 came, and in the end we had 14 ppl. I had changed so much over this time that even i cant recognise myself when i was P6, in terms of both looks and character. But somehow, even though my classm8s have all changed a lot, i could instantly recognise each of them. Only some of their facial features remain unchanged after this while. one guy looked nerdy in pri sch, but now he looks like some cool guy. 2 girls were good-looking then, and now both are short and abit fat. on the contary, one girl was ugly then and chio now. It was really nice and interesting to see how all of us had evolved during this time of rapid change.

We sat at the grand steps overlooking the running track and tried to catch up with each other. I noticed only a few were doing the talking, and the rest were just hanging around and replying questions. so i didnt feel so out of place. then sum1 commented that those guys who went to neighbourhood schools became ah bengs now, making inferences to some of my ex classm8s. But yet even tho i went to a lousy neighbourhood school, she said i wasnt beng at all. Im glad i can bring a better reputation to my school.

At 7, forms about joining some games were handed out, and 5 of us signed up for the 5v5 basketball game... and we lost to a team of hyperactive sec1 kids. then we went to watch the performances by some of the cca groups like wu shu and chinese orchestra. at 8pm we went to the canteen to eat some free mooncakes and have more chat, this time all around one table. I just sat there, listening to the conversation and adding in soem stuff when it appealed, while satisfying the occasional boredom with mooncakes. Tho it was a bit boring, i was just stuck to my seat until the school forced us out by offing all the lights.

After evacuating the dark school, we went to the gate, where we said a final farewell, wished each other luck, maybe exchanged emails and then parted on ways. some of us thought of having a gathering after our o lvls, but im not sure if its gonna happen. but if it does, i hope more of my ex classm8s would come.