Friends and Events

At different stages of our life, we may mix with or have different group of friends and attend various events. Today, I just feel like sharing about my friends and list down the events I went through…

Kindergarten
I think not many people remember about their friends from their Kindergarten days but I do – at least one. She is the first person to greet me when I arrived at the Kindergarten. I still remember her name – Kai Ling. Her English name is Vicky. We went to the same primary school but not the same secondary school. Our paths still crossed after that when we joined the same Girls’ Brigade – a uniformed society. I will always remember her for her friendliness and great sense of responsibility. She was like a big sister to me. Hope that our paths will cross again one day.

Events: Birthday parties

Primary School
I attended the St. Agnes Primary School. I remember sitting next to a boy who always drool. Hmm…not sure why. It’s not a disease. He’s a nice boy who invited me to his birthday party. He left the school after few years – no contact anymore. Besides him, I remember mixing with a group of girls who are pretty outgoing. I’m always the quiet one. I remember playing games with them, and going to their homes for birthday parties. Most of us attended the Secondary School which is just next to this Primary School.
I had a good friend. She is actually a Malay – Azura Abbas. After primary school, she went to a boarding school. We corresponded through snail mail – no email then, of course. I remember going to her house during the Hari Raya for lunch with the family. She has a few adorable cats in her house. I even have pictures of us playing in the playground outside my house. Sadly, lost contact already.

Events: Birthday parties

Secondary School
The name of my Secondary School is All Saints’. My mum taught in the school. She resigned before I joined the school. The reason is not to avoid me (:p) but to spend more time with us – her children. Since the school is next to my Primary School, after school I used to walk to meet my Mama, with a group of friends – mostly boys. Their mums also taught in the Secondary School.

My best time during the Secondary School is after Form Three. My class is known as Sains Tanjung. We are the elite batch at that time. Hee! Hee! During the school holidays, we organized trips to the island and beach. All of us were pretty close in the class. I really enjoyed the 2 years of upper secondary school. I was considered quite active and did a lot of fun things. I was both a School Prefect and Librarian. After one year, I had to give up the Librarian post because of the heavy responsibilities. Few stayed back to continue their Form Six. Most of us left after Form Five. We used to have reunion every Chinese New Year but not anymore. Some have even migrated else where. I still keep in touch with a few of them – especially Josephine, Agatha and Angela. We are pretty close.

My best friend is Josephine – also known as Phine-phine. She is still in Kota Kinabalu, married but no children yet. Whenever I go back to Sabah, I would meet up with her. We send sms and call each other once in awhile. I also keep in touch with Agatha the same way. Occasionally, she comes over here for training. Then, I would try to meet up with her.

Recently, I bumped onto Angela at my College. She was here to attend an event. We hardly keep in touch with each other even though both of us are working here. Typical!

Events: More birthday parties - Sweet Sixteen birthday parties.

College
I studied the Australian Matriculation at Taylor’s College. During this period of time, I have quite a lot of good friends whom I still keep in touch until today. One of them is Siew Yuen. She’s actually from Penang but has now settled down in Petaling Jaya. Few years ago, I bumped onto her in Centrepoint having lunch. Then, later on I met her again at a church event where my students attended. Wow! What a small world! Last year, she gave birth to triplets! One girl and two boys! Amazing, eh? I haven’t seen her since the birth of Jordan. Must call her again one of these days.

During my College days, I stayed with a police inspector, in fact, 2 police inspectors from 2 different families. Before Taylor’s College moved to Subang Jaya, they were in Jalan Pantai. The building was next to a police station, and that’s where I stayed. Yup, I stayed in the police station – 4th floor. My good friend – Valerie stayed with her Uncle and his family in the 8th floor. He is also a police inspector. Valerie and I are from the same class in All Saints’ – Sains Tanjung. We were not really close during the secondary school days but we clicked really well during College days. We did a lot of fun things together – related to the opposite gender. Hee! Hee! When her Uncle and the family, moved to Subang Jaya, I rented a room from them. We were not in the same class because we took different major. I think I miss her. We shared so much with each other – tears and laughter. We didn’t really keep in touch after we left College. Heard that she got her Doctorate as well, working in either U.S. or U.K.

Now, here comes one of the most amazing true stories.
Last week, I dreamt of an ex-collegemate who had migrated to Australia. The last time I met him and his wife was in Singapore – probably about 5 years ago. In the dream, I had difficulty contacting him because he changed his hp number. When I got up in the morning, I reminded myself to contact him. The only contact I have is his email address. Finally, I wrote him an email on Wednesday, 15 November. I had the dream on Sunday morning – 12 November. Surprisingly, he replied my email the next day and told me that he is in KL to renew his traveling documents. I was really surprise. I replied the email with my hp number included, and he called me almost immediately. It was purely coincidental. He just got his notebook fixed, managed to access the Internet, and just happened to check his email. He didn’t expect an email from me at all. Thank God that his email account is still valid. We chatted awhile. He was busy – so am I. So, we didn’t meet. We will just continue to email each other. Thank God that I didn’t ignore the dream. Otherwise, I would have missed the opportunity to hear his voice. I often get such vision/dream about people. Sometimes it’s about a specific thing/need, most of the time it is not specific. It’s not freaky. It’s a blessing to me, and I thank God for this gift.

Events: Prom Night, Clubbing? (Please don’t get me wrong – I seldom go clubbing – probably just once or twice during my College days). Hmm…somehow, less birthday parties.

University
My closest friends are those from the Overseas Christian Fellowship (OCF) whom I still contact through email and msn/yahoo messenger. This group is interesting because we are from different countries and nationalities – Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, China, Samoa, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Australia, etc. It’s good to hear how God is working is their lives. This year, we managed to set up a directory and put as many people as we can in the email list. May we continue to encourage each other just like we did in the good ‘old’ days…

Events: 21st Birthday parties, Graduation

Working Life
My circle of friends has increased tremendously, particularly because I’m in the education line. I have my church members, colleagues and even my students as friends too. I still keep in touch with quite a number of ex-students – local and overseas. Occasionally, I even attended their class reunion. I still contact some of my ex-colleagues as well.

Events: Wedding, Children’s Birthday parties, Bridal Shower, Reunion, Funeral. (This list has increased as well).


As life goes on, friends also come and go – new and old. May we appreciate all our friends and accept them for who they are. God bless all my friends!

I thank God for the Internet – email and online chat.