Wow, I forgot to commemorate 16th January 2016.
Can't believe I was so pre-occupied with dread of having my last long holiday at home ever (probably) that I did not realise it by that day,

I have officially been studying in Singapore away from home for 10 years now.




Let's take a trip back in time for a bit,
To when my first day of as a kid studying abroad.




16th January 2006

I still remember waking up that morning from my new place, where I was staying in a room that I rented in the landlord's apartment.
I was getting ready for school as usual, just that this time, everything seemed different.
My mom was in Singapore too, accompanying me for the first week here.

After having a simple breakfast of a hot cup of Milo with a slice of bread spread with Nutella on top, I headed out of the apartment.
But instead of joining the school bus that I usually had back in Jakarta, I proceeded to the public bus stop.
My mom and my landlord, who I fondly called Auntie, accompanied me to school on my first day as my legal guardian.
That was when I learned and remembered my bus route to First Toa Payoh Secondary School.

I was pretty excited actually! I found it pretty funny because despite being put into such a new environment, I had a pretty great gut feeling about it.
After the staff lady from the General Office showed my class' line-up location in the parade square, I went to there and sat on the class line, 1N2.
I remembered being the second person in the line, just behind this girl I found really cute.
Damn, talk about having a crush just minutes I stepped into a new school.
(We kinda "went out" for a bit but I shouldn't talk about that. HAHA)

Then streams of who I think were my classmates started behind me.
The very first guy who talked to me was Daniel. He tapped me on the shoulder asking me if I was the new student, and of course my name.
(I found out later that day that I was one week late into the school calendar. But it seems pretty normal for international students as I recalled some people coming in even later than I did)

After the morning flag-raising ceremony, I followed them into my classroom.
My mom and Auntie probably left by then.
I was both taken aback and relieved when almost everyone (most of them the guys) in my class were very friendly and acceptable towards me.
My class had a lot of Malay boys, and knowing that I could understand and was going to take the same Malay Language class, they were especially welcoming to me, shaking my hands as they introduced themselves to me.
Man, I wonder how those guys are all doing now. They were probably my very first group of friends that I hung out regularly with in school.

Soon after, I recalled my form teacher, Ms. Liu Yaling, called me out just before the first lesson started and gave me my timetable.
I think my very first lesson was actually English Language,
Which amused me until now, because I remember feeling pretty confused about my ability at first.

In my first day at school, I remember being able to understand every lessons just fine.
Which pleasantly surprised me, knowing that I came from a non-English-speaking country.
But I had a private English tutor too, and according to her my English sucked so bad that she almost wanted to quit teaching me once.
(I think my volatile personality then had something to do with it too. But I'm glad at the end of my 4 years we became good friends and she revealed to me that she wasn't surprised at me getting the best grade possible for my English Language at O Levels. Thanks Josephine I still feel honored and am grateful until now!)

Okay back to my very first EL lesson,
Mrs. Anna Lim was my teacher then and she seemed to understand my broken English just fine too.
During my first EL exam was actually my first time writing a composition,
(which I would call my biggest burden during my first 4 years of EL tuition but now became something I truly enjoyed and probably inspired the mini-blogger inside me too! Heh),
And after telling my private tutor about it I felt pretty down because she thought I was doing it wrong.
But when I got the results back it was actually much higher than I expected. I didn't even expect myself to pass, come on!
When I asked Mrs. Lim about it, she just laughed and told me: "Why did you not ask me after your test instead? I am your teacher and am the one marking your paper, you know."

Now you know why I was so confused after that. It's like I performed in two different extremes according to both my tutors.
(But after I got promoted to the Express stream, I realised that my EL was indeed horrible. Hahahaha).

Speaking about Mrs. Lim though,
I found out during the reunion dinner held in November 2015 that she was the person responsible for my acceptance into FTPSS.
The school committee actually wanted to reject my admission, but she asked them to give me a chance. She told me that she saw a potential in me.
I mean, DAMN!
Imagine if it happened otherwise.
My life would turn out so different.
So in a way she is the person responsible for my admission, for my promotion into 1E2 in the middle of 2006 (she gave me such good grades for my EL subject), and for my inclusion into the school basketball team in 2009 (which she was in charge of).

Mrs. Lim, I wouldn't be here the way I am now if it wasn't for you. I am sure of it.

I think the rest of the day went pretty well too!

I even remember the day I took a different bus to go back to my apartment, but ended up in Toa Payoh Bus Interchange instead and having to take another bus from there to the apartment, making one big loop of a bus journey.

And so as cliche as it sounds,

The rest is history.




I am not saying that all the people I met after that did not matter in shaping me at all.
All of them did.

No matter how little my interaction with them was.
No matter if we could no longer stay close as we were.
No matter the types of relationships we had.

They all played a part in moulding me into the person I am now.




Well, so it's been 10 years.
It's been a heck of a decade.
There goes my teenage years.

I should reflect about this again 10 years from now, when I'm 33.
Just thinking about how much changes that are coming after me makes me both excited and uncomfortable.



(Holy shit I'm growing into adulthood)

02:37
Up, up, and away!