2 weeks in a day

Since i didn’t have time to blog and things were so super rushed, i shall just summarise my last 2 weeks before leaving for Japan in one post.

19 July, Monday

I went to Bugis with Zanet for lunch and to get the souvenirs for the Japanese teachers. Singapore really needs to create better souvenirs man... Time was tight and we didn’t manage to do much else, but it was just good spending time with her :)

20 July, Tuesday

Tried to get my stuff together and prepare today. And just because my brother wanted to go out for lunch, we went together with my mother to EwF at HV for lunch. The food there is pretty good :)

21 July, Wednesday

Had a pretty last minute Toothless outing today. I think it was only decided over the weekend? Kind of expected that turnout would not be that great, but it was ok :) Kind of the standard for first OG outings. Haha.

We went to watch Despicable Me and then walked down to 313 cos ZZ had some coupon for Cold Rock that he wanted to use. He had some trouble using it, though, cos he printed the wrong thing or something, but that uncle just haggled his way and got it in the end! Haha!

We walked around a bit before deciding to go to EwF at Orchard Central to visit Ruth and have dinner there. I think we kind of ended up disturbing her instead :P But it was fun and i ended up eating EwF 2 days in a row. Heh. The one at HV is better though.

After dinner, rather strangely, ZZ, the only guy, ended up dragging 5 girls along to go shopping with him! None of us wanted to shop, but throughout the day, he just kept suggesting going shopping! And he has such expensive taste too...

22 July, Thursday

I met up with YS for lunch at school. I hadn’t met up with her for so long, and now when i finally do, it’s gonna be another whole year before i can meet her again :( Kind of wish i’d met up with her a bit more before this. It was great catching up nonetheless :)

While leaving, i noticed canvas sheets hanging outside the societies area and went to check. Sure enough, the logs team were there packing up the room. I’d never seen it so clean! Haha! It was a pleasant surprise to see them :) And then, Sharine happened to pass by then too! Haven’t seen her in ages as well and was glad to be able to chat with her a bit too :)

After YS had to go back to work after a rather extended lunch, and then i headed off back to AC :) I ran into Ms Kuah outside the staff room and we had a good chat. She also gave me a smiley thumb drive! :) She then brought me over to see Mdm Tham and chatting with them together is just so entertaining! It’s really a side of teachers that you don’t get to see while still a student :)

Mr Kuna had gone home already, so i didn’t get to meet him, but i did manage to get Ms Too as she was heading off to remedial class. Since i had nothing better to do after that, i went walking around the school while waiting for SH. I love the sense of familiarity. I love how as i walked past the classrooms, i’d remember that we had such and such lesson there and some interesting things that happened. I went up to the rooftop where we had taken class photos, to the viewing gallery, which still smells the same even after so many years, i explored the new building a bit, and then ended up at A3.09 where i’d spent many free periods. It’s now air conditioned.

I was just getting kicked out of the room by the cleaner when SH called and i went to meet her. We went to look for the teachers again and managed to meet Ms Kuah as she was preparing for gardening club. We also managed to catch Ms Too for a longer period of time.

We went off to HV to meet Mas and Tim for dinner after that. Had a good time catching up. I wonder when the last time i’d met up with Mas was... I’m glad i got to meet up with them nonetheless :)

23 July, Friday

More preparation today. Had lunch with Steph and Laura at TDS. They finally came to TDS at my place! Haha! We ate a lot of ice cream! And sat there chatting for a long time too. And since we were there, i managed to say bye to a bunch of the TDS folks too.

I didn’t realise how long we’d been there. I ended up making my mother wait a really long time for me to go shopping :P

24 July, Saturday

I met up with HJ and Kitty for lunch at Bugis. Again, i don’t remember when the last time i met up with Kitty was. We had a good time chatting and they had a good time taking lots of pictures... Haha.

Kitty had to leave first, then HJ and i went to go walk around and look for my watch. We saw some paper exhibit at Iluma which was pretty cool :)

I was supposed to have gone off long ago to go help out for the post camp gathering, but ended up being late. Coincidentally, i met Janet on the crowded MRT! What are the chances of that happening? Haha.

Even though i’ve been to Tok;s house so many times, this was actually the first time i’d walked there by the canal way. Heh. We ran into some of the camp comm who had gotten themselves lost along the way and helped them to get to Tok’s house.

Turnout for post camp was sadly small with 2 entire groups missing :( And the old people were not invited too, which is just sad... Still managed to have fun nonetheless and as always, chocolate fountain! :D

I think it was cos the turnout was so small, a lot of people left early. By 10+, most people had left and only a few camp comm and a couple of others was left. Our small gossip session turned out to be the most fun of the whole night :) Unfortunately, in order to get home, we had to leave at around 11. This is the earliest i’ve ever seen a post camp gathering end! What happened?! D: It was nowhere near as happening as last year’s post camp. Sigh.

25 July, Sunday

Met up with the MG girls for lunch today. It was good chatting with them as always, over good food and dessert :)

At night, i met up with Elaine for dinner. I hadn’t seen her since graduation! It was so good to catch up with her and realise that we’ve been together in the same schools all the way since MG. It’s like we walked the same road, albeit a little differently. Had a good time of sharing with her :)

And at the Bukit Timah market where we had dinner, i ran into Daryl and John separately! Haha! What a small world! :)

26 July, Monday

I spent most of the day packing my stuff before heading out at night for dinner with ZS, MR and SJ. Our rather belated post Absolut dinner. Haha. I realised that the dynamics are different when talking to the old people and the new people. The old people have a very different perspective as compared to the new people and it’s really interesting to chat with them :) Although i had wanted to go home earlier, we ended up just sitting and chatting till late :)

27 July, Tuesday

Packing again in the morning before i headed to PGP for lunch with Cheryl. I really wish i had been able to meet Cheryl properly, for a longer period of time than just an extended lunch break, but being able to meet up is better than nothing i suppose.

We had a good lunch and a good time of sharing. Talking to Cheryl is always great :) Do keep me updated!

Oh, halfway during our lunch, this bird flew into the fan and dropped dead on the canteen floor... :S

After parting with Cheryl, i headed to the post office at YIH before going off to town to meet the psych girls for dinner.

I arrived early and ended up having to wait a super long time cos they all were late. Most of them thought we were meeting later cos they didn’t read my sms properly...

I didn’t like that we were meeting on a week night cos that meant that we had very little time. We only managed to have dinner together before having to leave for home. But while it lasted, our time together was enjoyable :) Thanks so much for the photo thing btw!

After the rest had left, Mer and i went to go walk a bit and went to see the Helix bridge. They really have ATCG on that thing! Haha! But i had a good HTHT with Mer that night :)

28 July, Wednesday

Had to finish running all my errands today. Went to get my international drivers permit done and then went to buy bak kua to bring over to Japan for the teachers. After all that running around, i went home and did some more major packing.

29 July, Thursday

More packing in the morning before i rushed down to school for the bidding session. By the time i got there, they were almost done and most of them had left. Ah, well. At least i had lunch with a bunch of them. Finally ate laksa from the yong tau foo stall! Haha!

Rushed off to get my completely not noticeable haircut after that. I guess the head massage that came with it was worth it. It felt really good, especially since i’d been so stressed lately with all the running around and preparation.

Later that night, my dad dropped me off at the Japanese association for the farewell reception by the embassy. There was such a huge jam and it was raining, but thank goodness i managed to get there on time!

I managed to meet the other Singaporean JETs again and get to know them a bit better. And that’s also when i found out that the other Singaporean JET who was supposed to go to Ishikawa with me has dropped out... I’m so sad! :(

Knowing that i’ll be the only Singaporean JET in the whole prefecture scares me. Now i’d have to travel to another prefecture completely if i want a bit of Singaporean-ness.

30 July, Friday

More packing, as usual, before going to meet Mer for lunch at HV. Thanks to the heavy rain, the bus took forever to come and i was super late to meet her. Thank goodness she was able to take a really extended lunch. Heh.

We went to EwF and couldn’t finish our food, so we da-baoed the fries (and a piece of garlic XD) back. Haha! I’m glad i got to have some one on one time with Mer :)

After lunch, i went to the dentist who told me that i should get my teeth check out with a specialist... Like i can do that now...

31 July, Saturday

Today was spent finishing up my last minute packing and preparing before going to my grandmother’s house for her early birthday celebration. Early cos my family won’t be around to celebrate her birthday since my parents are going to come help me settle in.

I don’t think she really understood that i was leaving though. And then i had to endure boring conversations with my uncles who were suddenly so interested in my life now that i’m going overseas. Bleah.

On the way home, i dropped by TDS again cos i won’t be able to eat ice cream from there for a long time. Again met more people and said bye to them too.

And that was the last 2 weeks before leaving for Japan. I’m so glad i got to meet so many people, but i do wish that i had remembered to take photos with many of them! And sometimes, i’d forget my going away book too, so there really should be more entries in it than there really are.

For the most part, i think i was really stressed throughout the whole of July. With all the things i had to do and all the people i had to meet, it was so hectic! And to think that this is just the beginning, my adventure hasn’t even started yet!

I’m really thankful for all the support my family has given me, especially. I think it’s a really tough time for my parents too, having to deal with their child leaving and worrying about it. And they’ve been so great helping me to get stuff, chauffeuring me around and so on. I’m so thankful for them :)

I’m really gonna miss everyone...

Camp post is up somewhere below btw.

Thankful for: All the friends i have, all the good times spent with them, all the people i didn’t get to meet but who still cared enough about my leaving.