1 Sep 2008. Teachers’ Day. The first person who greeted me, after a little prompt from a teacher of another Singapore school, was Michael. Hence, I declared on the spot that Michael was my favourite pupil from then on. My Teachers’ Day gift was a box of name cards, which I am not sure when or how I would need them, from Mrs Nam.
Reveille was @ 6am on the second day of our stay. We were going to Gateway School and had a visit planned to one very well-established firm, Infosys.
The school is located far from our hotel in a sub-urban area and the journey took us an hour. The school is a small one with a population of 236. Most of the kids are from well-to-do local families and some from foreign expats. The pinkies (colour of their school uniform) gave us a really warm welcome.
Security was tight @ Infosys. No handphones, cameras, thumbdrives or other electronic devices capable of storing data and images were allowed. We got a bit of the video-conferencing, before a walk-around the company ground. It was kind of amazing that there are swimming pool and billiard room for the employees. In Singapore, it would have been a white elephant. You definitely wouldn’t want your boss to see you skiving in there, a sign that you have too little work. Even so, we would want to get home early after getting most of our work done.
We were back in Gateway School 2 hours later. The packed lunch was good too, local flavour. Some kids couldn’t take the spiciness, but good thing was they didn’t complain much. In fact, they were very adaptive with regards to food throughout our 6-day stay.
After lunch, we got our hands dirty with the clays. This type of activity is good for any developing child. It involves the sense of touch and elicits great creativity from them. It was heartening to see that our pupils struck up good partnership with their peers from Gateway School. Did I mention a power cut half-way through?
Buffet dinner @ Silver Steak was good. As long as I am well-fed, everything is okay. =D We headed back to hotel where Mr Justin had planned a “surprise” for us in the function hall. Though we walked into a dark room knowing that the kids would pop out from nowhere, we played along. It was good fun & laughter.
And then, it was bed again. Tired. Day ended @ approximately 12mn local time.
Reveille was @ 6am on the second day of our stay. We were going to Gateway School and had a visit planned to one very well-established firm, Infosys.
The school is located far from our hotel in a sub-urban area and the journey took us an hour. The school is a small one with a population of 236. Most of the kids are from well-to-do local families and some from foreign expats. The pinkies (colour of their school uniform) gave us a really warm welcome.
Security was tight @ Infosys. No handphones, cameras, thumbdrives or other electronic devices capable of storing data and images were allowed. We got a bit of the video-conferencing, before a walk-around the company ground. It was kind of amazing that there are swimming pool and billiard room for the employees. In Singapore, it would have been a white elephant. You definitely wouldn’t want your boss to see you skiving in there, a sign that you have too little work. Even so, we would want to get home early after getting most of our work done.
We were back in Gateway School 2 hours later. The packed lunch was good too, local flavour. Some kids couldn’t take the spiciness, but good thing was they didn’t complain much. In fact, they were very adaptive with regards to food throughout our 6-day stay.
After lunch, we got our hands dirty with the clays. This type of activity is good for any developing child. It involves the sense of touch and elicits great creativity from them. It was heartening to see that our pupils struck up good partnership with their peers from Gateway School. Did I mention a power cut half-way through?
Buffet dinner @ Silver Steak was good. As long as I am well-fed, everything is okay. =D We headed back to hotel where Mr Justin had planned a “surprise” for us in the function hall. Though we walked into a dark room knowing that the kids would pop out from nowhere, we played along. It was good fun & laughter.
And then, it was bed again. Tired. Day ended @ approximately 12mn local time.
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