The Schooling Years

"The human is no match for a doll, in its form, its elegance in motion, its very being. The inadequacies of human awareness become the inadequacies of life's reality."
Kim





My carefree days were gone when I moved into the housing estate of Ang Mo Kio where I now reside in. My family rented a one-roomed flat and we moved into the small and unfamiliar environment. Although the space in the flat was relatively small in comparison to my previous home, it was the place where I spent the majority of my childhood day-dreaming and role-playing, imagining myself as a soldier and tackling hostile terrains and shooting invisible enemies. I went to a kindergarden school nearby managed by the PAP. It was there where I met my first good friend and learnt about the essence of friendship. However, it was also the place where I learnt about the negativity of Man, where I was often bullied by classmates.

My memories of my kindergarden were relatively unpleasant and if you saw the photos I took, I seldom smile. During lessons, I would sit with 2 other girls, the roses of the class, together with my best friend. Although we sat together, I seldom spoke to the girls, especially the prettier looking one, for unknown reasons. I was often sabotaged to sweep the floor and clear up the mess in the class. Fortunately, my best friend was the biggest in size in class and as a result, I figured out I escaped being physically bullied. I still remember a particular incident when I had my revenge while we visited the aquarium. I grabbed a goldfish in one of the smaller pots and while my arch-enemy was busy looking at other things, I slipped the goldfish into the back of his shirt without him aware of it. That day was the first day I smiled while taking a photo. During the bus ride home, I was allocated to sit together with the 2 girls of my class...turned out that the not-as-pretty girl was quite talkative and dominated the conversation. But, I kinda enjoyed the kiddish conversation we had (I still remember the contents of the conversation..we were talking about those biscuits with different colored creams on them).

The photo-taking for my graduation was sort of a disaster as the photographer tried to make me smile. With great difficulty, I managed to force myself to "fake" a smile after half an hour. Guess I was already very moody back then...That was the end of my kindergarden education. Come to think of it, there was nothing I enjoyed during those 2 years but it had only served to deepen my perspective about the frailty of human beings who pick on others to derive their happiness.

Join me in the next part of my life-story as I move on to the next important phase of education: Primary School, which I felt imparted the greatest values of life in me.