Wednesday, April 16, 2008
I Miss SJI!!!
It's hard to let go, isn't it? Three months and sixteen days since the New Year began, and I'm once again strongly reminded of my alma mater, all she has done for me, how she has molded me into the person I am now. Trials and tribulations which marked my difficult passage from an ignorant foreign Sec1 to a somewhat more knowing Sec4 who everyone mistook for a Singaporean at first sight.
No, I still don't want to become a P.R. Keep trying, government.
But I do owe Singapore for this scholarship for all the fond memories of SJI. And for all you 2007 graduates out there, for all of you who miss your alma mater, for those who miss:
-Running faster than we do for NAPFA to the canteen every recess
-NOT having to sing the National Anthem everyday (sorry, TJ, but I just don't do the National Anthem...)
-Singing Hail Alma Mater followed by J-O-S-E-P-H-S after practically every school event
-Saying the Josephian Pledge every P.E lesson (to all of you from 432'07, I still haven't forgotten how index number nineteen ALWAYS had to say the pledge...)
-Eating from the Purple Plate stall (and the rest but especially the Purple Plate)
-The routine 'Good morning, SJI!'
-The weird library smell
-Pretending to rummage through the pigeon holes in the annex actually to enjoy the aircon
-Saying,"I put it in your pigeon hole!" to the teachers just so it's their fault that they 'don't notice' the homework we hand up 'on time'
-The soft comfy PAC chairs with the dim lighting that's just so good to sleep in
-The many times HOL poked us awake in the PAC...
-Hiding up on Mt. Rosie on mornings that you're late
-The air-conditioned Sec 2 classes (although I myself never had that privelege)
-Sticking your head through the top half of the P.E department door
-Sitting on the track during lower sec before assembly
-Sitting on anywhere but the track during upper sec before assembly
-Sitting on the track during assembly
-A 'certain' person's hour-long speeches
-That 'certain' person saying "Therefore I urge you..." every minute of that hour-long speech (okay, maybe that was exaggerated, but you get my drift...)
-Chapel every morning
-Fighting over who gets the street soccer court/hockey pitch
-Going over to Tanglin CC's basketball court to play soccer (and getting yelled at afterwards...)
-The trips to Esso to stock up on your snacks, drinks, etc. (or withdraw money, eh, scholars?)
-And of course, our friends and our teachers!
To all the 2007 graduates reading, I'm sure you would agree to thanking all who made our stay at SJI a memorable one, and we'll miss SJI a lot, and no matter how much time ravages our memory, no matter how much life whisks us away from SJI, no matter how much we pretend not to care, we'll always have a good reason to come back to SJI.
Once a Josephian, always a Josephian. No matter where we are, who we become and what we do. Ora et Labora.
