rowlandanthonyimperial
Sunday, October 14, 2007
22:29
CJCH Seniors' Farewell 2007
I have decided to post my speech in the Seniors' Farewell. Thanks to all those who appreciated it!
Two years. Imagine, two years. We have met more that three hundred new people, crossed over 200 new roads, rode on 100 new buses, ate 50 more new food delicacies, learnt 1000 new swear words, and lived together in one new home, in one new country.
These have been the fastest two years, I must say this for myself. These two years have been incredibly slow while we were on it, gliding and rocking and swaying on the same boat, some getting sea sick, while some getting addictive verve and elation, but now that these two years have passed, gosh, it was damn fast.
I can still remember the first person that I saw when I stepped in CJC. Huy. I thought he was a JC student studying in Catholic Junior College . I thought he was from China . I thought he was going to be my future roommate, because he was standing in front of the porch, seeming as if he was waiting for me all these years.
But I was wrong. He was not a JC student studying in CJC. He was merely a Sec3 student, going to be studying in St. Joseph ’s Institution, equally new and ignorant as me.
I was wrong. He was not from China . He was from Vietnam .
I was wrong. He was not going to be my roommate. He was going to be a resident of the room beside mine.
The first memories were still vivid. Le Vu, Phuc, Duy, Robert, Marconi and me as the first batch of ASEAN scholars who arrived in the hostel. Truc, Huy, Khanh and the other Vietnamese enjoying the dimness of their yellow-lit lamps given to them by Madam Tee. Julian and Marconi with me in the dining hall, eating dinner. Auntie Kristine giving us cakes on our very first dinner in CJC.
And, the first ever christmas away from home.
Soon everything changed. People started flocking the place as if they were migratory birds who just came back from the mating season. The place was filled with noise. There were different smells everywhere. Different faces. Different languages. Different ersonalities and characteristics. Like a United Nations General assembly squeezed into a few hundred square metres of glass, concrete, iron bars and wood.
People began to know each other. People began to make friends. People began to explore different probabilities of who’s going to hook up with who, or who’s going to break up with who. Gangs, societies, and alliances formed, and each distinct group successfully captured different territories inside the dining hall. Some were solitary people who felt left out, and some were solitary people who have enjoyed all the solitude all they have acquired. Some people left us, while some people have been leaving us from time to time (get my point?). Some people became friends one day and the next day they were no more. Some people were vicious enemies the moment they saw one another, but in the end, you couldn’t separate them at all.
Life was fun and memorable for us, for most of us. Some of us enjoyed the little victories we have made in our hostel games. Felt the sense of euphoria upon catching one committee member hiding in the dark corners of CJC. Felt frustration and anger after missing that one last shot in the last few seconds of the captain’s ball game. Felt confusion and psyduckishness after a wrong tally of the team scores.
Life was also unbearable for us. All the project works that we have to do late at night, all the stench and smell from our friends’ shoeracks, all the pile of laundry inside the washing machine that we need to take out because the recent washer has not collected the finished laundry yet. All the times that we had to wake up early for school, and all the excuses that we had to formulate if we wanted to skip school.
Life here has always been full of surprises. We have formed strong firendships with people that we have never thought of befriending on the first day that we have met them. We have gathered ourselves acquaintances that we have never thought of acquainting with. We have encountered people who have changed our lives for the past two years.
And we will never forget the small but soon to be special places that we have always been in.
The dining hall with Auntie Kristine.
The vending machines. Our source of nescafe.
The table tennis arena.
The CJC chapel.
The newspaper lounge.
The lounge.
The TV room.
Our room.
The basketball courts.
The steep grandstand.
The hill.
The barbage bin.
The toilets.
I hope that we will forever cherish our stay here, the bonds that have been formed within our small community. May we not forget the lessons we have learnt in life inside CJC hostel, and may we continue to move on with our lives without forgetting the past that we have shared.
