teacher and student

Thanks to the amazing social networking site Facebook, I found my long lost Secondary 3 & 4 form Teacher and got to spend a few great hours just chatting with her. As this is a public blog and I am not too sure if she'd be comfortable with hundreds or thousands of complete strangers viewing her photo here, I've mosaic-ed her face. But trust me, Ms Lim (now Mrs Neo) is not your stereotypical old-fashioned-and/or-nerdy-and/or-aunty-looking teacher. On the contrary, she looks just as cool and funky as she did 13 years ago. :D

I was actually very nervous while waiting for Ms Lim at Holland Village. I couldn't decide if I should still address her as Ms Lim like I did in school, or Mrs ??? (that was when I realised I didn't know her husband's surname and panicked a bit) or just call her by her name. I also wasn't sure if she had changed and if it would still be as easy talking to her. I was afraid the evening would end up with long awkward silences as I didn't quite know what to talk to her about.

All my worries were quite unfounded.

The moment she got out of that taxi, I went up to her, went "Hi Ms Lim" and gave her a hug. We proceeded to have dinner and coffee afterwards with the conversation just flowing non-stop the entire time. Everything happened so naturally, there was absolutely no need to think about what I had to do or say.

I learnt a lot from Ms Lim back in school and told her how she made a difference in my life in more ways than one. Even today, in the short 3 hours we got together, I learnt something new from her which I find really meaningful.

Ms Lim's favourite animal is the cow. All along I thought it was because she was born in the year of the cow (ox), but no I was wrong. Have you heard of the saying 牛吃的是草, 挤的是奶? (Literally translates to 'the cow consumes grass, but produces milk'). Using this analogy of one of the many admirable attributes of the cow on us humans: although it (we) consume(s) the simplest and cheapest of material needs, it (we) can produce and contribute something very valuable to the world and environment. After much googling on this phrase when I got home, I found that it's a famous quote by China's modern writer, political commentator and an important leader in the New Culture Movement Lu Xun (鲁迅). Ms Lim also shared with me a few other valuable lessons we can derive from the humble cow which were most enlightening. Since this is the year of the Ox we are in now, perhaps it's time to start doing some research on this cute animal now.

I have been very fortunate to have had very good teachers back in school. They have helped to shape me into who I am now and I think they did a darn good job - I am quite a piece of art now if I may say so. ;p

ps: As Ms Lim used to teach my class English, I wonder if my writing here is acceptable by her standards... ya she reads my blog... oops. *stressed* haha.