Karen got married today.
It was like a mini MG-reunion at her wedding! I met old friends Sharon, Lulu, Meifang, Belinda and Juli. we were all from different classes. Belinda, Sharon, Meifang, Juli and Karen were from Arts1. Lulu was from Arts2 and I was from Science2. Despite that, we all recognized each other and the moment we met, we were like "Oh my God, (name)!!!!" Lulu and I wre trying the recall the last time we saw each other. We both realised (to our disbelief) that its been Fifteen years!! Wow....we haven changed abit. :-)
And even Mrs Moses Yu attended the wedding! We were so happy to see Mrs Yu. Mrs Yu never taught me at MG but somehow, the community was so small back then and everyone knew everyone, ever girl knew every teacher too. Mrs Yu was the form teacher of Arts1. She taught my sister and I think she even taught my mum! She's still bright and cheery. Over lunch, you can see all of us girls fussing over her, helping her get her food, eating with her, chatting and etc. No we were not boot-licking or whatever....Mrs Yu has luekemia and she walks with a stick really slowly. So were were just doing what we've been taught at school.
To master, to grow and to serve. (MGS Motto)
It was really fun meeting up with old friends. We may not have been really close back then, but somehow the connection is still there when we sit and talk about the good ol' days.
Lulu can speak fluent Japanese! She's working in Tokyo now and she has been out of Singapore for the past 11 years. She first went to the States to study after her A levels at Nanyang JC. Then she worked in LA and in San Francisco. Then she quit her job and went to Japan to work and to do her MBA there. I was like totally in awe when I heard her conversing in fluent Jap with one of Karen's Japanese friends.
Meifang's a journalist for an insurance magazine and Sharon's in her dad's business selling steel. Belinda is an event manager and the boss of her own little 2-man company. She does belly dancing too (how cool is that!) Karen's a yoga teacher. I just realised we did not ask Juli what she is doing now. Perhaps the rest already know?
Then we asked each other the typical question. "So, when's your turn?". My response, "not yet...no hurry at all and no neccessity. " Hers was "God hasn't provided me with one yet". Hmmm... okie.... Meifang isn't married either and she doesn't intend to yet (not sure why though, I did not probe). Sharon gave a firm shake of her head when asked too.
So there you have it. A handful of 31-year olds all with very different careers and all leading their own lives the way they want to (or at least, I think so). We're so diversed in our paths and we've gone all over the world (we talked about where so-and-so was now, in which country, married to husband from where, etc etc).
Some of my friends have gotten married to Caucasians more than 15 years their senior. In fact, I think Karen's husband (as I heard from the gals) is in his mid-40s. He's Canadian, by the way.
It's amazing how Mrs Yu can talk about her condition in such a candid manner. She talks about it like she just had a small cut on her finger. She can still laugh and joke with us. Her husband was with her at the reception too.
We even bitched about Ms K!! Now that we're all grown up, Mrs Yu let us in a little on how she also disliked Ms K. I related my experience of being rejected by Ms K when I applied to go back to teach at MG back in 1998. Her snorty replies put me off so much that I kind of made my mind not to go back there.
It was really really heartwarming to meet up with them again. Maybe I'm sentimental but its like we have this sisterhood bond that I could almost feel when we worked to put the lunch reception together with the caterer. We've exchanged contacts and said we'd meet up again. Lulu's flying back to Japan this Wednesday.
Oh man, I'm inspired to learn Japanese. It seems easy enough! She picked it up in 2 years without classes. She just picked it all up off the streets. Cool huh?
Being with friends from other walks of life also made me realise i'm so un-globalised (can't find the right word.) I mean, I'm so trapped in the little school in the West, entwined into the little micro-happenings going around the school, when on the larger scale, people my age are seeing the world, travelling, learning new languages, experiencing independent living overseas, discussing the price difference of LV in Japan and in Paris.(!)
I feel like a kampong girl.
I need to give myself time and space. Do I really see myself staying as a teacher in a tiny neighbourhood school for the next 30 years? For all the nobel nature of the job and the many lives that I can touch as the students pass under my hands, are there greater and more exciting things that are in store that I can explore? Do I dare to take that leap?
The thinking has begun.
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