Dreams

Thousands of 'em.

Every night.

Every minute of the night. The past few weeks!

About previous classmates, and school. Why? Maybe they need an outlet.

I remember clearly their faces, their names, and a little about them. I even remember their full names, the ones I haven't seen in 20years! Facebook didn't manage to search up any of them, or maybe they are under a different name.

Maria, Agnes J, Kevin S, Ephraim, Dewi, Umi, Siti N, Dayangku N, Mohd Z, Mohd A, Yuking J, Omar, M Rafi, just to name a few.

So glad to have recently found Jessie J, Abdul M, and Firdaus! Although there's probably not much to talk about, at least I know they're ok. And they still look the same as they did 20years ago.

I do miss the old times when we kids were forced to give up our Saturdays to come early to school, with our own rags to wipe the school windows and carry pails and pails of water up 3 flights of stairs. Although it was a chore, it was ok. Anything but sitting down in the classroom was ok by me!

I also miss the one time when our school got flooded but we still had to go to school. I was in primary 2, and the whole class stank like rotten fish. Those days, we only had a plastic mat on top of a roughly cemented floor. Everyday, someone was assigned to sweep the mat and underneath it. Chairs were floating in the classroom as we continued on with our lessons on the tables. Of course, that Saturday, we had a gotong-royong to cleanup the school. 8 year old kids!?

Once it was raining so hard and some of my classmates who couldn't afford umbrellas had their whole schoolbag and books drenched.

"Go and help to jemur all their books, and take L to see the principal to get some meds for her headache," the teachers' instructions still ring clearly in my head.

I remember waiting for the sun to come up and carefully placing each textbook outside on the dirty cement floor near a small drain. It took days for the books to dry, then they became crispy.



We went ladybird and grasshopper hunting, played hopscotch in the sand, made our own skipping rope out of rubber bands, and once I got sand in my hair and face when this spoilt little boy lost a game of hopscotch. Hmm. Maybe I laughed at him that's why :P We played in the huge dry drains, and played basketball in the hot afternoon sun. Who'd ever thought I did all those in the past?


But nothing beats my childhood friend and classmate who ate his boogies. Yep, he was genius at maths but I couldn't get over his weird habits. Dig with one finger, smears it on another finger on the other hand, then it magically disappears in between his lips. And if it doesnt, it gets smeared in between his fingers and rolled up into a ball. And flicked into thin air.

Oh the joys of having boys as besties in primary school.

I can't help but wonder how much kids these days are missing out on. Are stones and ladybirds even available anymore these days? They have air conds and fans in the class and cleaners too. And there are school nurses and parents have cars. In all, school life in Australia is far too good, incomparable to 20years ago back home.

Ok NOW, I feel rather old.