Thanks so much for the contribution, Jennifer.
"So, I signed up for Facebook and it exceeded my expectations. I soon got back in touch with quite a number of my high school friends. And mind you, we've lost touch for almost 13 years. Some of them are mothers now, while others are high flying corporate women. And the one thing that we treasure so much, besides our friendship and aquaintance, are the memories of our school.Yea, no big deal?!
No, it IS a HUGE DEAL for us.
We all went to Bukit Bintang Girls’ School - me being a true blue BBGSian, going from Std 1 right up to Form 5. Even my aunts (3 of them) went to BBGS. I think if BB had a kindy, I would’ve attended that, too.
Anyway, another person that I stumbled upon on Facebook was the daughter of one of my teachers (she studied in BBGS, too, obviously!). Mrs Yeoh was my class teacher when I was in Primary 6. She was also the school’s discipline teacher and upon discovering that as a 12 year-old, I was terrified! Imagine having the discipline teacher as your class teacher!
Anyway, I have to confess that she was the only primary school teacher that still have a spot in my rusting brain. I do not know why but it might be because I was reprimanded more than a 12-year old would like to be. Lol. Yea, although I seem to be a decent, hardworking girl now, I used to be quite naughty when I was young.
The clearest memories of me being told off was rattling off non-stop to my Chinese friends in Cantonese. I shouldn’t really be doing that, I know, cos as soon as we set foot into secondary school, we would be ‘punished’ for speaking in other languages besides BM and English.
Thinking back now, Mrs Yeoh probably wanted me to get used to speaking either in BM/English before I opened my mouth and get punished in secondary school. Well, unfortunately, her efforts didn’t really work cos I was still quite rebellious, and used Cantonese. Honestly, I have lost count on the number of ‘world maps’ that I have drawn. To those who are confused, we were required to draw world maps every time we were caught by prefects communicating in our mother tongue.
Besides being the talkative girl, I was one who constantly forgets her flute for music lessons. It is funny thinking back now, and I am unsure why I still remembered this so well. I couldn’t remember the name of our music teacher, but I hated music. I can’t even sing now to save my life (but I did join the school choir once, which is another story altogether) and I couldn’t at all read the music notes. So, how can I play the flute if I can’t read the music notes? I don’t know, but somehow I managed to pull through.
What I remember vividly was Mrs Yeoh reminding me to bring my flute the 1st time I forgot and I kinda took the reminder too lightly. However, when I forgot the 2nd time, she got a bit upset and reprimanded me. Still, I don’t know why I didn’t really care. And when the 3rd time came, I got scolded. I was, of course, very scared and never forgot my flute anymore.
I wasn’t mad at Mrs Yeoh (cos I knew it was my fault), nor did I run complaining to my parents (parents those days will side the teacher instead of their kids, unlike now). It was just a lesson that I learnt. However, I also remember finding out that she sort of wasn’t in good terms with my music teacher and because I did not bring my flute, it gave her (the music teacher’s) a chance to pick on Mrs Yeoh’s students.
That — made me feel even more guilty.
In addition to that, being in the first class (coupled with the discipline teacher as our class teacher) meant no hanky-panky and fun. I remember how jealous the whole class was when friends from the other Primary 6 classes could go on trips and play games after the UPSR exams while we were stuck in class with Mrs Yeoh teaching us Form 1 Maths. I still remember what it was - Nombor Perdana (ie Prime Numbers, if I’m not wrong). "
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