Читать книгу Happy Go Lucky - Jimmy Chua - Страница 8

Life is very different when HAPPY enters into secondary school, some of his peers have moved on to more prestigious schools while new friends come into his life. St Gabriel is not considered to be a premium school that most parents would love their children to be in, however it boasts of its ties to the catholic mission to educate them with societal values added to the practical knowledge acquired in school such as subjects in Science, Mathematics and the Languages. In Singapore, English language is the primary language for all subjects taught and Mother Tongue: namely Chinese, Malay and Tamil are the languages taught in school. So each child is equipped with 2 languages that they can use in their daily lives. Well, HAPPY is always wondering why it is Mother Tongue, he was thinking if it is the language used by his mother, what about his father’s then? His Chinese language teacher Mrs Annie Koh in Secondary School clarified by saying that it is actually pegged to the ethnic race that his parents have decided, because some kids qualify for multiple languages.

HAPPY was posted to the best class at St Gabriel Secondary as he was among the top students admitted into the school based on his Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) scores. So he was posted to study in the Science Stream, where he has to juggle understanding the world shaped by the Physicians, Chemists, Mathematicians and Historians.

Well, a typical student has to do more than just getting good grades in school. They have to do community service (volunteer work) per year and HAPPY was involved in a flag day, carrying a tin can to ask people to donate their spare change. It was fun time for HAPPY as he gets to go out with his friends to the MRT stations and bus interchanges around Singapore and approach “strangers” with a tin can, holding onto stickers. Each donor is persuaded to donate if they do not already wear a sticker on their shirt or handbags for ladies, so it is just like paying for a toll fee to walk past these school children during their Flag Day! Hahaha..

And on Saturdays, HAPPY is busy with his Co-Curricular Activities. He joined an Uniform group, the St John Ambulance Brigade which teaches the members basic First Aid rescue operations. His parents are very happy that HAPPY is part of the St John Ambulance Brigade because it will teach him some form of regimentation that will come in handy when he has to enlist for national service in the army, police or civil defense force at the age of 18.

HAPPY has been counting his blessings because he realized that his friends around him are usually packed full of activities designed to “enrich” them, tuition classes on weekdays and weekends, beyond what is taught in class. What he really enjoys is a game of soccer, near the HDB void decks and open spaces. Sometimes, the residents complain about the noise to the police and the police will come chasing the boys playing soccer. And the boys will run, playing “catching” with the policemen, hiding in the different levels of the HDB flats around where they play – Singapore is full of high rise public housing and this ensures most have a comfortable home to return to at night. For those boys that are less than Lucky, they will be reprimanded by the Policemen on duty and sometimes referred to their school’s discipline master for punishment. HAPPY has been Lucky truly, he has been chased by the police no less than ten times, yet each time he escaped punishment and these episodes has become fond memories of his growing up years.

Yet, as HAPPY is growing up at St Gabriel Secondary, he observed that many of his friends started having dating relationships with the opposite gender, St Gabriel is an all-boy school so the boys started dating girls from schools in the area. Generally, public schools that are run by the government are mixed-gender schools (with both boys and girls studying together). Well, HAPPY is happy to be in an all-boy school, where you can have lots of friends coming together after school for badminton and soccer. AND yes the guys have to train up for their annual physical fitness tests which include 2.4km running, chin-up, shuttle run, standing broad jump, and sit-up. This is in preparation for their national service enlistment. HAPPY is also lucky that he is not part of the Trim-and-Fit club, where obese students are flagged out to go for morning exercise designed to help them reduce their weight.