Meeting former students

The week began with meeting my former student Jeffrey for lunch. He insisted that he paid and I did let him pay. I took him to Simpang Bedok to try the Chilli Dried Mince pork noodle with deep fried and saucy Niang Dou Fu. Our meal was simple but the conversation that went on was good. 

Jeffrey and I meet at least once each time he comes back from London. He would meet up with all those he taught and are fondly remembered by him. We chatted a lot about our lives. That is the difference between the teachers and me. We know about each other's lives. I met him when I was out for a walk at East Coast and he introduced his girlfriend to me for the first time. This was because he never had the chance to bum into me so casually. Jeffrey is also my sounding board for ideas and dreams and over time, he is more like a friend than a student, although he still calls me Miss Cheong. I feel quite uncomfortable when my students call me by name. I can't even address my professors by name. I still call them by their proper designation. Perhaps it is habit. But I still feel a certain respect must be accorded to my teachers even though we became good friends.

Yesterday I met two unique former students when I went to attend a sharing for Humanities teachers. Sam Soo, my former trainee at NIE came all the way for the sharing but his objective was to see me because he was curious about my resignation. The other former student looked familiar at first and then with her name, I realized she was from RGS. I taught her in Sec 2 and now she is a History and English teacher. Better yet, her former head of Department is Peck San, also a former student of mine. Coincidence? No. God is good.

Because Sam's intention was to meet me, we scooted off early to have coffee. We chatted about the good old times when I trained his class. Today, these students are still in contact with me. I just met Wan Ting my former trainee whom I supervised and graded. We met to chat about our future plans and she needed some encouragement. I brought her to church at IBC and she is now a regular member who goes for IBC's bible study. She went and got baptized. I need to follow up with her on that. She is such a wonderful encouragement for me too. In fact all my students encourage me all the time.

Sam also told me something funny. He met some of my former students still in HCI. I taught them last year in Sec 2. Sam was curious to find out if these boys knew me. They told him that not only do they know me, they miss me. They also added that they didn't understand why I made such a foolish decision to go and teach in the other school. But these boys didn't know that I also didn't like to stay where I was because I was honestly very tired and bored with all that I was doing. 


Going to school has become a chore for me after 2008. If not for my HP form class, I wouldn't have finished the year too. I wanted so much to rest. Now I got it. 


The decision was never foolish because the students I met this year taught me many precious lessons about helping people realize their potentials and their dreams. I saw the power of believing that people want to learn and do well. I didn't allow the appearance, the symptomatic behaviour deter me from the faith that the students can and will learn.

The occasional tap on my MSN window from students who have not met me for a long time is always so comforting. A tap came from Alex last night wondering if I was alright with no work. Then there is Cheng Leng who would check if I was okay. 

Of course there are phonecalls to ask me to give tuition so that I won't starve. Not to worry my friends. I will not starve. I am putting on weight because of the feasting with friends everyday. I am getting fat. 

But the most important thing now is to get a medical fund going for Melvin. So Ortus or non Ortus boys, your brother needs your help. Get ready to empty your pockets and I don't want mean change. :) ooops!