Uprooting oneself from one country and going to another is never easy... especially when you can't speak the language, when you have no friends there, and when you are only 5 years old.
Amidst the nightmare of staying with a hot-tempered dad whom i met for the first time that i can remember, and trying to win the competition with my younger for my mum's limited attention and energy, I also had to go to k2.
Went to kindergarten at Xing Nan Pri School, now relocated to some place nearer to the rest of humanity. It used to be sited amongst pig and vegetable farms with a couple of graves here and here in the western part of Singapore. Used to be able to see soldiers doing their jungle bashing and ending up off course and in our lil playground.
Anyway, the time in kindergarten was a wonderful time for me, becos of the teachers and the friends. The first language that i learnt in Singapore was Hokkien, cos the people who sent their kids to the school were farmers, lorry drivers and other odd job labourers. Learnt normal words and a couple of flowery ones to impress my other friends, but of course not my parents who would not be amused if they knew what i was saying.
The english and chinese got picked up a little later, in about six months, and i managed to top my class for english... a pretty easy feat given the fact that no one else really spoke any english apart from the teachers.
In the first 6 months, since i couldn't understand anything that the teachers were saying, i jus spat and fought with the other guy in class who looked like a real crook. He tried to make friends with me by teaching me how to look at gal's panties while we were having a nap time in class, but i felt even at that young age that it wasn't right... so i saboed him, told the gal in chinese, who then complained to the teacher. We fought pretty often after that. But he got most of the punishment and caning cos my english and art n craft was better... haha... ter han i think, that's his name.
The gal whose modesty i preserved became my reason for studying hard in k2, cos she was the best student in the class and if i wanted to dance with her at the end of the year, i'd have to be the top in class too. So i made sure my drawings and colourings were super zai, and my writing super neat. Got to dance "A li san de gu niang" and a couple of other songs with her. We received our prizes together, and i gave her a flower... part of the dance... part of the dance.
But even at that young age, we knew it was not possible for us to be together. In all maturity, she told me that we were too young, and she was a year older, and it would be very hard cos her parents would never allow it. I had to agree with her. And so we parted ways. And since i was too stupid to ask for a home number, i lost all contact with her. I can't remember her name, which is not surprising since i forget people's names 30secs after i get introduced to them.
So I loved my kindergarten, enjoyed it a lot more than Primary school where the stupid syllabus really ruined creativity, and the teachers seemed too preoccupied with discipline to really befriend any student.
What's your kindergarten story?
