| Saturday, December 10, 2005 |
| An unexpected meeting...and a big shot of nostalgia |
Had carecell at Marche today with the women. While waiting for someone to come fetch us from inside, a big group of people walked past us. The person with the book of reservations asked, "Mr David Ng?"
It didn't hit me then, though the name struck a chord within. It was only a split second later when Hannah said, "Eh isn't that Mr Ng?" and then proceeded to shout his name and wave. I was shocked because he looked so different! He had this half? shaved head...I absolutely can't describe his hairstyle. Nevermind. And he had a moustache. And he was wearing a red football shirt...Man U?? Haha.
He was there with his family. His wife looked different too; she's looked different for each of the 3 times I've seen her - on their wedding day (awww), 2 or 3 years ago when he invited us to his house for Chinese New Year, and today. I think it's the hair - the first time I saw her, it was straight and long; the second time it was short, and today, it was brown, long and curly.
After Pastors and Sis Christie, Sis Jac etc arrived, they actually took the table beside Mr Ng's. And according to Hannah Pastors looked shocked to see us talking to this stranger...haha!
I'm feeling very nostalgic now, because I really enjoyed the time I spent in 5B Sapphire, when Mr Ng was my form teacher. I remember so many things about him and that year - how we were his very first form class at River Valley; how he used to always wear t-shirts and shorts; how he once got so mad with the class for being noisy, he smashed the long wooden ruler on the ground and broke it into two...I can still remember how he used to look when he was younger, the picture is so clear in my head. Despite this very vivid memory of him being so mad, what I see when I think of him is a smiling face. All these smile/laugh lines would appear on his face when he did. He taught us English, PE, Science and I think even Math for a short while, cos we pretty much saw him a lot every single day.
In P5 we had to keep a journal and submit it to our form teacher weekly and he/she'd make comments. I really enjoyed doing that because I told him about many things - I remember telling him about my trip to Korea, and also about praying. This was after I started believing in God for the first time ever after Heather (my ex-tutor) gave me a picture bible. Used to meticulously wrap an A5 exercise book with nice wrapping paper and pen "My Journal" along with my name, register number and class across it in black marker proudly.
I also remember going to this day camp with Hannah at his church, this boy in our group who looked so much like our classmate, Tony, laughing like crazy outside a coffeeshop one day after the camp with Hannah, because we didn't know how to order chicken rice! We were still giggling while ordering and eating. And we saw the Tony-lookalike at the coffeeshop too. His name was Sham. We joked that it was short for 'Shampoo'. LOL.
By association I also remember Mr Chung, our Geography teacher, and Miss Ng, who taught English but whom most people knew (also she was involved in Drama which was my CCA in P6). They got married after I graduated from RVPS.
Anyway, other than Heather (whom I still think about so much all the time and hope I can get back in contact with), Mr Ng is undoubtedly the only other teacher who's made a very profound impact on my life. I can't say that he taught me any specific lessons, but he invited me to his church for something and it was the first church I had ever gone to. He was also one of my confidantes through my journals at a time where I didn't have many. During this time my love of writing was born. And he was the one who wrote in my report book that I have "a good command of English", which was something I didn't realise until I saw that line. And until now, that phrase "a good command of English" is still etched in my mind. If ever I am unsure of my capabilities, I can be and am always sure that my English is good. Since then I've always done well in English and language-related subjects, like Lit. Thank God for that positive proclamation into my life, because I spent the next few years grappling with inferiorities with regards to my studies. But I never wavered in English.
I remember that once S. told me (when we were older) she used to be jealous that Mr Ng read my compositions in class instead of hers. Haha. In my opinion though, honestly, I think her language skills have faaar exceeded mine by now.
And then to remember that in my earlier years, my English really sucked until Heather came along - wow. It was all meant to be, wasn't it? One to make and one to confirm. Expressing myself in written English is so much a part of me now, I don't think I'll be the same person if I couldn't.
I remember one year I caught a really dorky pic of him opening presents from us, his students on his birthday. He asked to see the album, and when I got it back, that picture was missing. Lol. Like that also can?
He messaged Hannah telling her that his moustache was for his church musical and that he hoped we weren't too shocked. I spoke with him briefly while trying to look for the grilled chicken, after a few awkward glances and smiles each time I walked past himtrying to find the chicken (he was alone at the table for a while). He went, "Eh your carecell so rich can come Marche ah? I also want to join already." I told him that we were actually in the women's cell already. He then said, "I'll send my wife over!" He then started 'advertising' for his church musical and so I 'advertised' back. I actually haven't been in that much contact with him since I left RV, which is a bit of a pity because I think so much of him. Think Hannah has been in contact with him more. Wonder if he even has my number?
I feel nostalgically happy when I think about P5. So far, it's been my happiest school year. Yeah, my first and current semester at Monash have been awesome, but also very stressful at times. P5 was just so carefree, as far as I remember anyway. I never worried about friends or homework or anything much.
I'm going to dig out the journals I used to write to him.
Oh, and I remember Mrs Tsao (our form teacher in P6) telling us how 'jeaous' she was that in our first journal entry of the year, everyone wrote that they missed Mr Ng! Haha. She did grow on me in the end too, but not in the same way. In P6 he still taught us PE. I chipped my right front tooth that year during PE. All this is throwing up a ton of memories! Singing in the choir at his wedding, the story he told us about his girlfriend who was to become his wife, that silly purple shirt we were made to wear, Speech & Drama in P6, the horrendous make-up.........for some reason I still remember part of our main dance. P6 was more than a bit rocky though, so I really prefer the previous year.
All in all, I have this to say: Oh, the good ol' days! |
posted by esther @ 12:29 AM  |
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| 6 Comments: |
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thats a looong entry manz..^^
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can't imagine Mr ng with a moustache! wish i were there with u guys.. =)
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thats a looong entry manz..^^