Unlike last year, Starbucks and chocolates didn't keep me company as much whilst I marked, though the airport remains the best spot to mark. With a "don't finish this pile - don't go home" mantra, it sure was a good way to motivate myself to complete my marking in the least possible time.
An experience I had on one of such days was when I was sitting by Pacific Coffee Company one day on one of those red comfy couch seats. i had an empty seat beside where I was sitting, and somehow, it attracted single diners to ask if they could join me. From Singaporeans to Hong Kongers to Aussies, I had them all. The Aussie was particularly interesting, cos we struck a conversation longer than the rest.
The pile of marking and the red pen always spurred strangers to ask, "Are you a teacher?"
"Oh, yes, I am."
Questions will follow that, ranging from how the students are in Singapore to why I was marking at the airport, and interestingly enough, I got to know them better.
The Aussie was from Darwin, an electrician, broke his hand and so decided to head to Phuket for 10 days to relax and get away from all the phone calls he would have to reject cos he couldn't take on the jobs because of his hurt hand. He used to be a guide for bush walking in Darwin, and had a nephew staying with him. He's got a huge family of 8 brothers and sisters, not to mention the 20-something nieces and nephews. He was on transit in Singapore and was waiting for his flight. He had 10 hours to burn when I met him, and so I sent him off to Tampines Mall to watch a moive before heading back. He was surprised to catch me back at PCC when he came back after the movie! I guess he must have thought teachers in Singapore work hard!
Back at school, I've been keeping my hands busy with designing. I have become the unofficial in-house graphic designer, churning out artwork for the invite card, to touching up the artwork for the banner, liaising with T-shirt suppliers, and printers, to choosing and scaling pictures to size for the commemorative stamps, and my biggest project ever, the commemorative pack.
And with 8 gigabytes of pictures to look through, and albums of pictures of the school since the 1950s to flip through, I have sure seen snapshots of the history of HIHS - literally!
It's a love-hate relationship I have with design, having dabbled with it since uni days, and perfecting it only when I was working at the Public Policy Programme where I took on projects that saw me designing everything for both print and web, Many have since asked me to go into graphic designing full time, but I've declined. I did consider quitting my job once to study at TP doing a graphic design diploma, but the opportunity cost was just too high. And so, here I am... an unofficial graphic designer..
Well, I've to get back to doing up the commemorative pack now, and before I sign off, I'd like to show you my masterpiece - and to thank Lynn and Chuanlian for their "mother's day" gift. Thanks, girls... I was really touched when you said, "You're like a mother to us." Study hard for your O-levels, and do yourselves proud, ok?
Starfish signs out...
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