Visit to Yok Eng (backlogged post)

I wanted to go to visit Yok Eng, my kindergarten and primary school in Pasir Mas, for quite some time ady. I haven't stepped foot in there since...2005, when i participated in the 6km jogathon to collect funds (and emerged champion!!! in the secondary girls category which only had 4 girls =P)

But all these years i didn't go...(not bcoz scared of teachers la! =.=) Just that i feel awkward coz i dun have a legitimate reason; besides, many teachers i knew had transferred/pensioned. Now i'll soon be leaving for US, so i felt it proper to go and visit at least once! Plus when i jokingly ajak John to go together, he said ok!

Actually...i'm scared of breaking the rules! Dun dare to simply go in without permission. That's why need some company. To infiltrate the school! (just simply push open the main gate and walk inside lah)

Young schoolchildren... in sschool compound.

The pejabat is situated in the "new block" which was completed during my first grade. 1 Merah was on the ground floor of this building. I think it's still the Std 1 classrooms until now.

Office corridor.. I really like those hanging green plants... they weren't there during my time..

Big old tree =)

Corner outside the teachers' office. They didn't have a sink when i was there.

Love the green color =)

Anyway since i was so scared of being a villainous infiltrator, i wanted to find Ms. Ong Lee Hea, the Penolong Kanan first. Went to the Pejabat. We sat and chatted for quite some time. She showed us the latest School Magazine =D

And I found out that our batch set the UPSR Straight As record...six students with 7As!! It's the highest number since my 2nd bro's year in 1994 (four students)... I feel so proud =P

Ms. Ong said that my class teacher, Mdm. Ong Seok Lee is a record-setter. When she went to Peir Chi, 14 students from her class got full As!! ^O^

Ah John with the ever gorgeous looking Ms. Ong. Btw, Ms. Ong was also my eldest bro's class teacher =P

She likes taking photos =3. This is a structure built after my time. if it was there during my time i would probably nap there.

Ci Ai...'s little sis Ci En! She's the head prefect, following in both her elder sisters' footsteps. The stone table is old, but the pot plant is new...

Queueing up for the food! I used to "jaga" there as a prefect =P

New building. In place of the old science lab.
They pulled down the science lab and built a dining room for teachers.

Reminiscing about the science lab.... it was a dim dingy room, with a lot of mosquitoes T.T My group were seated at the innermost corner...where mosquitoes reigned like mad T.T The first thing we did after we got into the lab was to clap CLAP CLAP CLAP CLAP!!! to get rid of the mosquitoes.

I still remember the most disgusting experiment we did=it was about food, well yeah... maggots in food in plastic containers after a week! =A=||||

Mdm.李梅珠. I think she was one of the teachers in charge of dance troup, with 胡老师.

I love blue skies~!

Another new structure behind the teachers dining room. i bet the teachers bring students here to brush their teeth.

WASHROOMS~!!!!!

Scenic view outside washroom. This is the ground floor girls toilet.

Pretty clean, but a little smelly. When i was in Std4(?), classes would take turns to clean the toilets after school. You can be sure that the toilets were pretty clean then. XD~

OUR TOILETS ARE VERY BEAUTIFUL~~~~

Later the school hired a cleaner. I think they're still hiring.

There are only 6 toilet stalls for girl students; 3 on the ground floor, 3 on the first floor.

There are even fewer toilets for staff =P

This is a washing basin (?), for more "dirty" stuff, like washing our inks and brushes, paint, clothes for cleaning the windows etc,. and filling the pail...

Pretty Plant: Ah!! Maria is harassing me becoz i'm pretty!

Storeroom for sports equipments. As studetns, we rarely step into this place except for gotong-royong/spring cleaning/大扫除. That's the deepest impression i have of the store.

It looks brighter and cleaner and tidier than my time lol. We played with the mini diabolos (i dun recall having those last time), but i failed terribly la, of course =P

Maria: Did we have this kind of modern looking body building equipment?!

This is one of my favorite spots in the school. I like it coz it's surrounded by nice plants and trees. Odayakana~~

The little side stage. Punishment for naughty little boys. XD~

The staircase near the canteen. This block has existed since my bro's time... but the railings have changed since my time.. looks good. And i'm not sure whether the mirror was there yet, hmm..

That's Mr. Handsome Cikgu Khoo, one of the rare breeds in the school. Know why? There are only 3 male teachers in Yok Eng, hahaha. It's the normal case to have only 2-3 male teachers in my school lol.

Standard 3 classrooms above the canteen... Used to be computer labs around here..

The Library!! is still in the same location, but the arrangement is a bit different. And i see there are more books (but still very little). I was a librarian in Std3 =D.

That is a palm tree? In the school compound, we also have interesting trees like one which has leaves that look like 'tails', another one which will give bloom to lovely yellow flowers every year...
That is a the netball/badminton court, which was set up, erm, in the later years when i was in school. Basketball court... there used to be a small basketball court behind the canteen (which was also teachers parking lot), but it was cemented and a computer lab built in place of the little patch of green.

Anyway they now play basketball in the multipurpose hall opposite the school (you can see part of it in this photo). It was built in place of the old kindergarten. Took many years to raise funds and build the hall. It was completed after I entered secondary school.

Corridor of the "center block", outside the library and meeting room. I really like those hanging green plants ^^ Wish they had those during my time.


This is the First Aid Room/ Bilik Rawatan/ 保健室. It is actually very dark inside, but my camera flash was very powerful.
John remembers being here for asthma attacks, and I remembered being here for, uhm, a big bruise on my knee =D

That's the crossover bridge. It also leads to the multipurpose hall. I wish it was built during my time. Then I could've walked home everyday from school. Gosh my house is sooo super near the school. Yet i've only walked home from school (alone) ONCE. My over protective parents...

Infiltrating an empty classroom! We found a lot of cute stuff at the back of the classroom. Toothbrush and toothpaste and cups, artworks (making octopus out of paper cups), excellently done homework on the board =3

And finally...!

A trip to Yok Eng wouldn't be complete without her lol.

Managed to catch her outside the pejabat! She recognized me at once, and immediately said my full name "汪梅花！" (whee she remembers me~ :P) but she couldn't recognize John. Guess what she said? "不要跟我讲那是国祥(mybro)!?"

Really LOL. But John does look different from when he was in primary la.

This is 卢老师, the ex-PK Koku and now the PK Hem of Yok Eng, also my Science teacher from Std4-6, and one of the teachers in charge of the choir. She sings! At our choir competitions, she will perform alongside other "fat ladies", but i forgot what their group is called.

Well, this teacher is one of those teachers whom students love to talk about-- She will remain in many students memories for being the strict, sarcastic, sharp-tongued teachers who loves to torture give students lots of homework [and possible other things I might've forgotten]. Oh, the many interesting phrases she'd use to scold and insult! Out of respect for my teacher I won't repeat them here (but you can ask me in person la). Although I had heard many horror stories about her from others, personally I haven't had that much of a bad experience with her, and it's been so long ago, I can't tell you much.

Just one particular incident i like to remember. In Std6, after UPSR, our class were punished for (not coming to the science lab or being noisy or what i can't remember liao), anyway we had to stand on our stools in the science lab and listen to her lecture and the wonderful variety of names she dealt on our heads (你们都是软体动物！通通都没有脑！！) I, instead of feeling guilty and sorry for my sins, I found it very funny and had to try very hard to stop myself from laughing :P! Very unfortunately, she saw me! And thundered,

"汪梅花，在那边偷笑！！"

Ahahaha!! I can't remember what happened after that, whether i was punished or not.

[If 卢老师 or anyone who knows her reads this and feels offended, I apologize. If you inform me I will remove the offending portion. ]

Now looking back, I no longer see her as the horror teacher (just like how you see Professor Dolores Umbridge). And looking from a different perspective, I kind of respect her now. I see her as a character who doesn't like to dilly-dally and waste time, with high expectations of herself and others, thus her brusque manner towards everyone.

One of the things she told us, has remained in my mind until now.

"靠山山会倒；靠水水会流；靠人人会跑；靠自己最好！"

I didn't quite agree with that and I still don't fully agree with that. But I now understand better what she means, after experiencing the difficulty of working with people. It's hard to strike a balance when I expect something done a certain way, but when I ask others to do it, what they come up with just don't meet your expectations. Sometimes I feel that it's less time-consuming and simpler to just do it myself. Hence the "靠自己最好". But some things just can't be done on my own, and in fact will be better if everybody can contribute ideas and their own special abilities. Mitai na~ =)

"The longer I live, the more I realize that there are so many different perspectives from which one can view a thing." said Maria Wang.

I think that 卢老师 actually liked my bro very much. Hence his torturous days..perhaps she intended to polish out his brilliance? I dunno. Just my own unsmart guess. Gyahahahaha!

*****

Later mami brought us out for more visiting. We went to Ainul's house but she was in UIAM, doing a computer course. Then we went to Cikgu Mat's house. Cikgu Mat was our BM tuition teacher in primary, and Form1 and 2. He also gave my two brothers BM tutition. He has a very loud sonorous voice, very jolly, and really pro in Sejarah. My BM really improved because of his tuition ^^. But he has really lost weight (coz of diabetes), and age may be creeping up with him. =( Hope he will be healthy and hearty as before.

^yer the proportion of writing given to different teachers seems so unfair mitai na. But I thank my teachers. I really do like Cikgu Mat a lot. But somehow, seeing him 'shrunken' and 'tidak bermaya' like that, makes me feel...sigh.

Time does pass, whether we realize it or not.