*~Sleeping Princess~*

Chung Chen Public Free Night School, 1992-1997.

This is a continuation of my night school remembrance, Part I.

Honestly, back then I was not entirely satisfied with the arrangement of having to attend two schooling sessions a day, even if the night class was only for two hours. I was young and couldn’t understand why I should be attending classes at night when my day school classmates were either watching TV or playing games at home. Heck, I wanted to watch tv at home too.

I’ve reasoned. I’ve whined. I’ve cajoled. But my dad had never relented. He says he don’t care as long as I go through that six years, even though I go there and sit and stare at the ceiling. So, I tried. I attended classes and learn. I tried my best to pay attention, and when I was tired I chatted with my classmates or read comic under the desk, much to the annoyance of my teachers.

I don’t do all the homeworks, simply because there is just too much to keep up. There are 5 subjects and with them, came along five textbooks and seven workbooks, which will be changed every half a year. I just can’t keep up with all of them, so most of the time I did the least taxing ones, and make a pass to all those tough ones.

That explains why my written Chinese is half a bucket of water, and my reading skills are half a bucket plus a cup of water.

Sometimes when I was just too tired or if there were major exams coming up in day school, I will skip the night classes. Every now and then when the lazy nerves are twitching, I skipped the night classes. I think my attendance are filled around 60% to 65% a year, which I think is good enough.

I was, by default, weakest in the Chinese subject itself, and can barely scrap a 65% score in every test. Yeah, there were tests in night school too. Bahasa Malaysia was my strongest point, with 98% to 100% scores which usually helps a lot to bring me up a few notches in the class number standing. You know, the top in class, the second, third and so forth system.

will be continued later…

Chung Chen Public Free Night School, 1992-1997.

This is the place where I spent most of my nights from 1992 to 1997. I was a English school student, a Convent school student, in fact, by day and a night school student at night. Classes started from 7.30pm and lasted until 9.30pm, daily. Back then, night school was a popular choice for parents wishing to let their English ed children learn to read and write Chinese. My dad used to attend night school for awhile and quited before he graduated, so it was his wish for both my sister and I to go through the six years of Chinese education (Primary One to Primary Six) and graduated from it.

Come to think of it, it was ten years since I graduated from that night school, and I have no idea if the school is still running today, seeing that kids nowadays are more likely to focus on their day schoolwork. Back then the school had proper staffs willing to work at night to educate us youngsters for a meager pay. Most of them were retired teachers, while some teaches two sessions as well.

We had uniforms, school badges and prefects. We wore white shirts with skirts or pants, and we pinned the badge on our shirt. We were all attending two school sessions daily, and some of us really came to learn whole heartedly.

We learned Chinese. We studied Maths, Geography, Science and Moral in Chinese. We even had a Bahasa Malaysia (Malay Language, the national language) period. We have textbooks and workbooks similar to the day Chinese ed schools.

Ideally, night school students start attending classes when they are in Primary One in day school. This would mean attending Primary One in night school too. That way by the time we finish Primary Six in day school we would be finishing our night school education too. However, that wasn’t always the case. Like me, I started Primary One in night school when I was in Primary Two in day school, so I still have to attend Primary Six in night school when I was already a secondary school student.

This is why there will be so many students of different ages in one class itself, as some students started early while some started late. Throughout the six years, some transferred classes, some skipped grades, while some drop out all together. It is a norm to have two to three classes of Primary One and six years later, only one graduation class left. We have the most graduates during my graduation year.

Back then, my schooldays consisted of the chartered transportation picking me up at 12pm to day school and dropping me off at 7.00pm after school. By 7.15pm another chartered transportation will pick me up to night school and send me home by 9.50pm. So, as you can see, I have only fifteen minutes to eat dinner and change. I will do most of my homeworks in the morning, and sometimes I have tuition classes in the morning too.

Gee, that is a lot already. I will just cut this up, so the next part will be coming up later. :)?

It sure is funny. The older your grow, the more forgetful you are of things at the present, but memories of past keep flashing vividly as if its only yesterday. I could still see myself as the little girl who used to play hide and seek in the moors, face smudged with sweat and soil carrying wild weeds and catching drain fishes. Yes, pleasant memories of childhood, albeit it might be a bit early to reminisce (I should wait until I retire or what?) but still, the nostalgic feeling is definitely timeless and regardless of age.

I was three when my cousin was born. I remember standing meekly beside his cradle, peeking curiously at the newborn, fascinated by his little fingers and toes and eyes that shone brightly. Before he came along I was alone, and before I knew we finished high school already.

The most vivid memory I had during his infant years was I used to stroll alongside my grandma when she was pushing him in the pram, literally everywhere. To the market, for breakfast or just for a stroll. Seeing him cooing and dripping saliva was funny and back then I used to carry handkerchief to wipe his drools.

A bit older and we played with our grandma’s kitchen utensils. Not those loser plastic pots and pans. The real ones that makes nice “clang,clang” noise. And we’ve got real stuffs to cook too. Those discarded raw veggies and what-nots. Haha.

Back then we were kids who were not into TV except for those good ol’ cartoons such as bugs bunny, little lulu, road runner and that sorts. And that one particular anime that we absolutely adore : Dragonball.

We used to spend our meagre pocket money on dragonball flash cards. For 20 cents a piece

Being kids that usually spent time outdoors, we (as in he most of the time) accumulated a lot of small fishes from the drain, and sometimes some bettas, that I manage to accidently squashed them most of the time. Yes I was so clumsy. Still, we manage to fill the house with bettas in empty bean paste jar.

Bettas in empty bean paste jars

Badminton at the backyard was a favourite past time. And there was once he accidentally fell and knocked his head on some bricks. Blood was gushing. I was horrified.

A plaster on the head and a while later, we resumed our game.

Bicycle was our mode of transport. We rode to the market for breakfast and to the sundry shop to spend our money on those egg thingy. Something that looks like this.

…and I only know that it is called gachapon now.

Kids being kids, we sometimes hate our dinner and make our own instant noodles and sunny side up eggs drenched with soy sauce.

And he could somehow cook better noodles. Gah!

Sigh. Those were the days when I caught myself wishing that I was young again. Sobs.