School Nostalgia III

Rather than the actual lessons, events that happened before and after that were the memories which gave me the most impression. I guess this applies for most of you too.

Silent Reading

I used to dread the silent reading time, for several reasons. We were made to sit crossed legged within our small cramped area in the crowded hall, and had to bend our backs to read our own books. It was neither a conducive environment nor a comfortable posture for reading. The worse thing was the morning assembly at the carpark, where we had to sit on the rocky surface and read. It was a torture for both my butt and legs. Of course many students couldn’t concentrate on reading and started to play with the stones. Attacking others by throwing stones was a common sight.

I was not a systematic person at that time, and did not have the habit to check my bags daily. As a result I often forgot to bring any storybooks. Textbooks weren’t allowed. In order to avoid being caught by those pesky prefects, I had to bend over to hide the textbook, and pretend I was really engrossed in reading some fascinating novel. If I was lucky I could borrow an extra book from my friends. Sometimes the prefects did not spot me, and in some unlucky times my name was jotted down. Well, it was nothing but a mere warning. Nobody kept track of how many times we were caught, so it was just warnings all the way.

Talking about prefects, negative impressions start to flood my mind. Some were so righteous that they didn’t understand how to close one eye. Some were so obnoxious that they were detested by even their own classmates. Some were notorious for throwing their weight around the students, but appear obedient and acquiescent in front of teachers. How early for them to acquire the technique of bootlicking! That was one of the reasons why I turned down the offer of becoming a prefect. The image of a prefect didn’t seem to be very pleasant among the student body. More importantly I wanted to stay under low profile.

To counter my absent-mindedness, I once decided to leave the same book in my bag all the way, for about a week or two. It wasn’t a good idea after all. Upon finishing the book, I started to stare blankly at the words, and flip the pages mindlessly. It was really a chore being forced to read the same story over and over again. Really unproductive as I was just waiting for time to pass.

Flag Raising/Lowering

Between these two kinds of assembly, I prefer flag raising. Firstly, it usually marked the end of the grueling silent reading when I could finally stand up and stretch my body (and voice). Secondly, this was usually done just before lessons start (for morning session). This means if we were to dilly dally, it would just eat into our lesson time anyway.

On the other hand, flag lowering (for afternoon session) felt like a troublesome affair for us students who couldn’t wait to go home. Movement from the classrooms to the parade square (or carpark) was often slow, and dismissal class by class felt like forever. Teachers often took this opportunity to make classes stay back for misbehavior. Grr...

At lower levels, everyone was so enthusiastic in singing the national anthem loud and proud. But as we progress up, it became more like listening to the music only. The pledge also became some aggregate of words which we could recite without much thinking.

School Bus

Most of the happening events in my primary school life took place in the school bus. It was the place where students gathered without law and order. The bus driver couldn’t supervise us and we became a mob of madmen. Battle of the sexes was a common sight, and scandals were easily created out of trivial actions, like sitting with the opposite sex. Hence the bus was some sort like a enclosed warzone.

I wonder how did the bus driver managed to drive the vehicle with such a din. Most of the time, he tolerated with the noise, but occasionally he lost his temper and shouted at us. However it was only a short-term ceasefire as we began to make a racket soon after.

There was one thing I didn’t really understand. The first seat of the bus (the one just behind the bus driver) seemed to be a very popular seat which everyone wanted to snatch for. I admit that I was drawn into the frenzy as well, as my friends were grabbing for that particular seat. Whenever we were dismissed, everyone would make a wild rush to the bus and quickly land their butts onto the First Seat. Those who failed would sit at the subsequent seats and wait for the person on the First Seat to alight, when he/she would quickly chope the First Seat before anyone did. Now that I think about it, such acts really does sound silly.

'That' again...

It does seem like some things are just beyond our control, no matter how hard we try. Well, the problem of punctuality for lessons is still bugging me up till today despite having already experienced 1 and a half semesters.

Waking up on time is definitely not an issue. I've never overslept for any lessons before. As for leaving home on time, I've improved on this aspect since Sem 1. One semester should be more than enough to allow us to gauge the travel time as well as the traffic.

But why does lateness still persist? I guess many of you are also facing this problem.

We know that buses heading towards the campus will experience a peak passenger load around 9.30am and 11.30am. So today I decided to leave home 1 and half hours earlier before my 12pm lecture. To ensure that I could board the bus without much problems, I decided to take an alternative route instead, probably for the subsequent Mondays too.

Just when I thought I would reach school earlier than expected, the bus came to a halt at the expressway. My heart really sank. The jam was so bad that the bus appeared to have move only 1 km in 15 minutes. It felt really helpless being trapped in the highway, being unable to alight and take alternative transport at all. And it's really quite frustrating to see vehicles from other lanes proceeding forward while the bus remained stationary. The passengers were becoming impatient, and even gave a stunned expression when another bus of the same service overtook us.

Indeed my 'very early' became 'very late'. Only entered the lecture 30 minutes after it started. By then, I had missed the project work briefing, beginning part of the lecture, and more importantly the lecture quiz (zero marks for that). The teacher didn't seem to be very pleased with me barging in so late in the lecture. After all we know Japanese are very particular about punctuality. What's more, this is the 2nd time she has witnessed me being late for lessons.

Anyway do you think it's possible to travel from Science faculty to Arts within 10 minutes? Probably so since it only takes a short shuttle bus ride. However this is not the case at 4pm last Tuesday. (or maybe every weekday every week) Both bus stops at Science were super packed. Even the chargeable bus 95 was filled to the brim. (looks like everyone has bus concessions)

Yup, that was my 1st time. Doesn't it feel embarrassing being the last to arrive late everytime?

And why am I ranting the same issue over and over again...? There seems to be no end to this problem...

Maybe the brains reading my blog can give me some suggestions. =p

Language Crisis

Let’s say you are alone in a tutorial without any familiar friends. The class is told to carry out a discussion among one another. What language would you use to initiate a conversation with the other students? It should be English 99% of the time. Again, let’s say you have just joined a new CCA on your own. What language would you use to start interacting with the other members? Well, undeniably English most of the time.

It seems that whenever we try to make new acquaintances or attempt to initiate a chat (or rather a casual Q & A session) with others for the first time, we tend to use the universal official language – English. Nostalgic school days aside, this phenomenon is especially true in university and workplace. Since one does not tend to switch the language of communication with the other party, we will end up sticking to English for as long as we know each other.

For my case, I’ve hardly made any new Chinese-speaking (or rather Mandarin-speaking) friends in NUS. Most started off with English, and hence it’s English all the way. Personally, speaking in Mandarin to friends makes me feel closer to them, whereas speaking in English seems to create a gap of formality. It’s like the difference between the phrases “I would like to... “ and “I want to...”.

Since English is the main mode of communication in Singapore, it’s difficult to initiate most conversations in Mandarin. Firstly, everything we learn in school is in English except Mother Tongue. Put in other words, every youth in Singapore is officially English educated. (the unofficial part refers to family). It can be hard for us to express certain ideas in Chinese only.

Secondly, Singapore is a multi-racial society. By speaking in Mandarin, we are discriminating the presence of other races to a certain extent. When someone of a different race is present in a group, it would be very impolite to speak in our Mother Tongue, even within fellow Chinese. Thirdly, we have quite a number of kantangs in Singapore, who are weak in speaking Mandarin. (Listening should not be much of a problem) Of course there are rare cases like people who cannot understand simple Chinese, or even dread the language.

To sum up, Chinese is a second class language in Singapore. English is preferred in most cases especially during initial conversations and formal situations. I guess it might be correct to claim that the number of Mandarin-speaking people (as well as families) is gradually decreasing?

Education starts from young. If a child speaks English at home, watches English programmes, listens to English songs, and is greatly exposed to English in school, it will not be a surprise that the child cannot speak his Mother Tongue as he grows up. And this will further trigger a domino effect.

Fortunately we have an influential Chinese media in Singapore. The media probably plays the most important role in defending against the decline of Chinese. It also seems to provide the best ‘incentive’ for studying Chinese – understanding the programmes or music, etc. Without the Chinese media, I doubt many would seek to understand the language further, since only English is essential in this society.

Well, I speak Mandarin with most of my closer friends. I’m not sure if it’s Mandarin that brings me close to them, or our closeness that makes me speak Mandarin. On the other hand, for most of those whom I speak English to, we never seem to get closer beyond a certain point. There are some exceptions of course, but this is the general trend among my friends.

The ironic thing is, I speak English at home. But that’s due to some reasons. =p

Looking at the nation-state of Japan, every Japanese shares a common heritage, identity and language. Problems of language segregation don’t really exist. In my personal opinion, I think Singapore is still quite far from calling herself a nation-state.

I guess everyone has a preferred language and I respect it. I don’t expect one to speak Mandarin if he/she is not comfortable with it. What I feel is, if both of us are comfortable in Mandarin, why not?

work work...

I think I've been neglecting my blog these days. Can't really find anything to blog about. The recent entries are about nothing but school work. This is probably a sign of farewell to youth, and a step closer to lifeless adults. Well I can't deny that my life is getting really dull. Even my JC entries were more eventful and frequent despite being busy with homework too.

Thanks a lot to Zhui Xing for spicing up my mundane lifestyle! University life doesn't seem to be that wonderful after all (except the holidays haha).

Managed to survive my first 8am to 8pm weekday. Had 9 hours straight of tutorial and lectures, followed by a 1.5 hours break while I made my way to Orchard Road for another 1.5 hours of Japanese lesson. That morning started off quite fine as I was feeling rather awake, but then became sleepier in the bus. By 10am+ I was already dozing off in lecture. At around 1pm, I was kept awake by the presence of WJ. Thereafter I became more spirited due to the frequent movement to and fro faculties and lesson venues. The reward for the exhausting day was probably the good sleep I had that night. Feel asleep a moment after I closed my eyes.

Anyway many thanks to JH for cutting 2 hours of lessons off from my timetable. This also means that my worries 2 weeks ago about being unable to secure a good tutorial slot are unfounded.

Had the best yusheng so far in my life yesterday with Zhui Xing. My previous experiences with yusheng weren't that pleasant. The atmosphere of eating at a neighbourhood coffee shop really feels different with friends instead. When Mango was peeling the orange, it reminded me of my mum who used to peel oranges for me. =p

I guess it's time to be more proactive and embrace GIYF or Wiki. It really stresses you up when you don't understand the lecture, don't know how to do the tutorials, or didn't perform up to expectations in tutorials of 100%CA modules.

*Just wasted about 2 hours looking for a method to solve a tutorial question, but still failed. Sometimes we have to learn when to give up...