Happy Teachers' Day (Part 1)

Every year, on 16 May, I tend to become nostalgic. I remember the good old days when I was still in school with no worries to tend to, no concerns to think of, except for the occasional homework and the periodic exams. Life was good right up tell the end of my uni days.

This write up is dedicated to all my teachers, from primary schools to uni. Yup, I didn't attend kindie due to my parents hardship while I was growing up. It was those hard times that strengthened my resolve to study hard and excel. It is going to be a 2-part write, I reckon, because I attended three primary schools, two secondary schools and two unis.

I attended Primary 1 at Government English Primary School (GEPS), Port Dickson, NS (we used to call it Gigi Emak Patuh Satu, GEPS!). The school is now called SK Port Dickson. It was, at that time, situated by the sea. It was nice and breezy. During my time, the school had some expats children studying there as well. One of them was Gary, a tall, lanky kid with blonde hair. He was to be my classmate when I was transferred up after the first term. You see, when I first attended the school, due to the first initial of my name ("N". All my siblings' names start with the initial "N" as well. It was the trend amongst parents then, I guess), I was put into Darjah 1 Orange (or 1B). My class teacher was a fierce middle-aged Malay lady. She once threw my exercise book across the classroom because I had terrible handwriting (I always wanted to be a doctor, you see...). Anyway, I couldn't remember her name. After the first term, I was transferred to Darjah 1 White (or 1A). That was when Gary became my classmate. I remembered I was happier after that. My class teacher was a middle-aged Chinese lady (I think, somehow at that age, all my teachers seemed to be middle-aged to me now! Hahaha!). Her name was Mrs Ong and she taught us English and Mathematics. English had always been one of my favourite subjects. I finished my first year of schooling on stage, receiving the best student award!

The next year, I was put into Darjah 2 White. The class teacher was Cikgu Mustafa. He taught us Maths and BM. He taught us with some humour and simple comedy to get our attention and focus. I remembered him pulling my sideburns once for having a long hair. I had my dad to give me a haircut that evening. The next morning, Cikgu Mustafa called me to the front of the class. He told everyone of how proud he was that I had my haircut! I was elated! ( I was only 8, ok...) He also taught many of us to think on our feet. Everyday, ten minutes before school ended, he would ask all the pupils in the class to pack their things and stand up. Then he would proceed to ask maths questions and whomever could give the first right answer could go off early. I was almost always the first! Hahaha! I said "almost" because after some time, Cikgu Mustafa refused to let me answer a question first until some one else had been given the chance! He was being just and fair, I supposed.

Before I could enter Darjah 3, the family had to move to Melaka. I attended SK Jalan Datuk Palembang, Melaka, then. 

I remember that it was quite a climb for me from the school gate to the main school below!

Due to my exemplary academic records, I was put into Darjah 3A. The class teacher was Mrs Wong. She taught us English. She was not fierce, but stern. Throughout the year, I could only remember that she only hit her pupil once. The pupil in question was me, unfortunately. I could not remember the whole event, but I remembered that I was laughing at a girl classmate (I remember her name, Dahlia) for giving Mrs Wong a wrong answer. Yes, I was a tad cheeky as a 9-year old. Mrs Wong asked me to come to the front of the class and gave me a spanking with the long blackboard ruler! That was the first time I had to come to the front for a wrong reason and that was not to be the last... (Told you I was cheeky, didn't I!).

I entered Darjah 4 with a little trepidation the next year. This was because our class teacher was one Mr Lam. He was notorious to us kids as being a very stern and fierce teacher. Hence, the trepidation to get into Standard 4. Mr Lam taught us English and Maths. He had similar habit to that of Cikgu Mustafa, ie giving us pop quiz. The only difference is that rather than the quiz being done towards the end of school day, it was done at the start of the day! All would rise and stand to attention. He would ask a Maths question and would then point his finger to the unlucky pupil to answer. And he expected the answer to come out from the tongue of the pupil like switching a light! If could not give the right answer, you remain standing. If you were the last person to stand, you would either get extra Maths homework or clean-up the blackboard the whole day! It was Mr Lam's tactics that got me to memorise the times table and the divisions table. Thank you, sir!

My family had to move again the next year, sadly. Well, it was not entirely sad, come to think of it. It was sad because I had to leave the friends I had made in Melaka but it was also good because I would be making new friends with new adventures! We moved to Batu Pahat, Johor December that year.

(to be continued...need to get some work done. Or at least pretend to have some work done. Hehehehe!)