construction

Wanted to post abt this a few weeks back, but just couldnt find the time for it, coz i always have something else that seemed more blog-worthy.

The other day i was in the bus with my parents when i looked out the window and saw to my utmost horror that my primary school is GONE!!!!! REALLY ALL GONE! its been levelled to the ground.

"Must be en-bloc.. sold to build new condos..." my parents mused.

I was really quite shocked and very sad. At that split second, memories of my primary schools days came flooding back.

CHIJ Katong Primary was formed with the merger 2 primary schools, namely CHIJ Opera Estate and Katong Convent. That was in 1990. I remember it being a grand thing, this merger. The whole school (I was from CHIJ Opera Estate) boarded buses and walked into the brand new building. I even remember whose hand I was holding as I walked in. It was Nuraini, my best friend in Pri 3&4.

I remember the well around which there were many stories of how nuns used to fall inside and get drowned. Or how students would throw coins inside thinking that it's a wishing well. I remember the little garden with a pen which housed some feathery friends, like a turkey (!) and chicken, and a pond with fishes. I remember the little bookstore where I bought many five stones, and where I got most of my eraser collection from, and where I caught a student shoplifting. I remember the storeroom next to my classroom which my friends and I always think is haunted. I remember the time I was supposed to play the Majulah Singapura tape from the PA system and before the 2nd stanza, i stopped it..becoz i thot it ended. I remember the mornings I was scheduled to raise the flag, making sure the Singapore Flag reaches the top of the flag pole before the school flag. (raising the flag was my FAVOURITE prefect duty during that time!). I remember how excited my friends were when a hopskotch area was created. I remember loving the library because it was just above the admin office and it overlooked to the field. I remmeber the canteen which was always swamped with crows eating the leftovers on the table. I remember waiting in the canteen for the registration of my IC. I remember the little alley way in between the school building and the private estates next door, which had many little papaya trees, and through which we'd squeeze through to get to the other side of the school. I remember the dental clinic (oh horrors of horrors), and the nursing room where we got our dreaded immunisation jabs!

I told my colleague (who was from the same primary school as I was) about the "disappearance" of our school, and she didn't believe me. haha. Anyway, I checked the website, and apparently, its undergoing renovation.

Phew. At least the school isn't gone for ever.

But it'd never be the same.

Sometimes life is like that too.