Old School Orgy: Yu Neng and Dunman High
Turned out Eric knew way back in secondary that I used to be from his primary school.
Me: I was in E(for excellence and elitism, ha) class from Pri 2 to first month of Pri 4 before I transferred. But you weren't there hor...
Eric: Yeah, I was in E class from Pri 4 onwards.
Me *gravely* : I see. So it's because of me ie my leaving that you got into 4E. What do you think, Weixiang?
Weixiang *solemnly* : I think there's a very high possibility of that being the case.
Eric: ....
Can't see his expression 'coz it was dark and he was driving. But I'm quite sure we were all immensely tickled.
And so settling down in Siglap's Cafe Cartel, post the Esplanade event, Eric, Weixiang and myself embarked on the precarious journey of unraveling our connections with one another and discovering whatever happened to the rest. At the moment, the unlikely trio's having a mini mini class gathering for primary and secondary times.
So who do you keep contact with from the E class? So Tuyi, Xiangrong and a couple names more were tossed out. Tried very hard to name all the people in the class. Talked about being stupid model prefects then (we were all prefects) with powers that we abused and guarding the corridors. Basically, the guys only kept in touch with the guys. Nobody knew what happened to the girls. I only know my Gongshang Primary darlings well enough, not Yu Neng, for we were all too young then.
Then came to the hot topic, that Meihui, Minxiu and myself have been discussing informally lately (quick! set venue and date for next orgy for major debate!). Of the insufferable indignity of being a Dunmanian, even though Meihui will want to contest that, I'm sure.
In a simple note, the three of us agreed Dunman High was all stuffy and hateful, and we would probably go somewhere else to study if time could somehow rewind itself. Reminisced about Kiw, about being part of 2I (which excluded Weixiang) which had Shaun and Weijie (also from the legendary E class, Yu Neng), about how stifling and intellectually impotent the entire environment was.
We were spuriously taught, and never empowered to question, to poke, to challenge, but to accept with grace and gratitude.
It was a good trip down memory lane. We mourn the gradual demise of a fine school and its inevitable degeneration with the need to modernise. Most of all, we wonder why Dunman High fails to see where and why it failed to breed leaders (and still failing spectacularly) when it's so obvious to us.
Then we remembered we were supposed to be effectively bilingual, or in Eric's words which he claimed was coined by Straits, we are 双语奇才 and here we are yakking brilliantly in English even though we have a very traditionally Chinese schooling for 4 years. And acknowledged sadly there haven't been many opportunities to speak our language growing up over the years.
Subsequently, we made a sad attempt to have the entire conversation in Mandarin.
I ended up saying I wanted more water when I couldn't, for the hell of it, remember what a bloody jug is called in Chinese. Hence, I couldn't say, Please pass the jug.
Weixiang related how he was momentarily thrown off when a couple of China students, when attacking a Math question, was arguing about Calculus in Chinese, and he's like I know how to solve but what the hell are they talking about.
We agreed we weren't schooled to speak of useful things and it's virtually impossible to translate an English article to a Chinese one 'cos we don't know the proper equivalent terms.
Sigh.
On the bright side, when we speak Mandarin, it's with a lilting tone and we enunciate impeccably and correctly, better than most people. That's a slight consolation.
You know what I really like to see? A major school reunion of the Dunmanians our batch (1992-1996) to find out how we have been ruined (or rejuvenated if it applies to you) by our experiences there, and how far we have since all travelled. Which I feel is possible. Coz we still keep in touch with quite a lot of the "important" people. Important in the sense we all sorta know one another, one is a friend of this and that, and word can spread easily. So it will be fun to find out where we all are now. I mean, if Eric and Weixiang can have a good time dissing and discussing, imagine a mass orgy! That just so turns me on.
We could also tell Dunman High if we bother, how it's all wrong and how close they come to screwing us up, if they didn't. But that's really secondary.
*on the concert and ruth later.
Me: I was in E(for excellence and elitism, ha) class from Pri 2 to first month of Pri 4 before I transferred. But you weren't there hor...
Eric: Yeah, I was in E class from Pri 4 onwards.
Me *gravely* : I see. So it's because of me ie my leaving that you got into 4E. What do you think, Weixiang?
Weixiang *solemnly* : I think there's a very high possibility of that being the case.
Eric: ....
Can't see his expression 'coz it was dark and he was driving. But I'm quite sure we were all immensely tickled.
And so settling down in Siglap's Cafe Cartel, post the Esplanade event, Eric, Weixiang and myself embarked on the precarious journey of unraveling our connections with one another and discovering whatever happened to the rest. At the moment, the unlikely trio's having a mini mini class gathering for primary and secondary times.
So who do you keep contact with from the E class? So Tuyi, Xiangrong and a couple names more were tossed out. Tried very hard to name all the people in the class. Talked about being stupid model prefects then (we were all prefects) with powers that we abused and guarding the corridors. Basically, the guys only kept in touch with the guys. Nobody knew what happened to the girls. I only know my Gongshang Primary darlings well enough, not Yu Neng, for we were all too young then.
Then came to the hot topic, that Meihui, Minxiu and myself have been discussing informally lately (quick! set venue and date for next orgy for major debate!). Of the insufferable indignity of being a Dunmanian, even though Meihui will want to contest that, I'm sure.
In a simple note, the three of us agreed Dunman High was all stuffy and hateful, and we would probably go somewhere else to study if time could somehow rewind itself. Reminisced about Kiw, about being part of 2I (which excluded Weixiang) which had Shaun and Weijie (also from the legendary E class, Yu Neng), about how stifling and intellectually impotent the entire environment was.
We were spuriously taught, and never empowered to question, to poke, to challenge, but to accept with grace and gratitude.
It was a good trip down memory lane. We mourn the gradual demise of a fine school and its inevitable degeneration with the need to modernise. Most of all, we wonder why Dunman High fails to see where and why it failed to breed leaders (and still failing spectacularly) when it's so obvious to us.
Then we remembered we were supposed to be effectively bilingual, or in Eric's words which he claimed was coined by Straits, we are 双语奇才 and here we are yakking brilliantly in English even though we have a very traditionally Chinese schooling for 4 years. And acknowledged sadly there haven't been many opportunities to speak our language growing up over the years.
Subsequently, we made a sad attempt to have the entire conversation in Mandarin.
I ended up saying I wanted more water when I couldn't, for the hell of it, remember what a bloody jug is called in Chinese. Hence, I couldn't say, Please pass the jug.
Weixiang related how he was momentarily thrown off when a couple of China students, when attacking a Math question, was arguing about Calculus in Chinese, and he's like I know how to solve but what the hell are they talking about.
We agreed we weren't schooled to speak of useful things and it's virtually impossible to translate an English article to a Chinese one 'cos we don't know the proper equivalent terms.
Sigh.
On the bright side, when we speak Mandarin, it's with a lilting tone and we enunciate impeccably and correctly, better than most people. That's a slight consolation.
You know what I really like to see? A major school reunion of the Dunmanians our batch (1992-1996) to find out how we have been ruined (or rejuvenated if it applies to you) by our experiences there, and how far we have since all travelled. Which I feel is possible. Coz we still keep in touch with quite a lot of the "important" people. Important in the sense we all sorta know one another, one is a friend of this and that, and word can spread easily. So it will be fun to find out where we all are now. I mean, if Eric and Weixiang can have a good time dissing and discussing, imagine a mass orgy! That just so turns me on.
We could also tell Dunman High if we bother, how it's all wrong and how close they come to screwing us up, if they didn't. But that's really secondary.
*on the concert and ruth later.
9 Comments:
I laughed really hard at the "jug" bit, mainly because I also have no fucking clue what a jug is in chinese.
I asked my mom, and she claims it's hu2, like the "pot" in "teapot".
Me: (half-serious) Is is because they don't have jugs in China?
Mom: I think so.
If anyone knows what a bloody jug is in Mandarin, please enlighten us.
yep! pls see comments on mx's blog.
It saddens me that Eric thinks the same way too.
n i dun noe what the hell a jug is in chinese too.there is no use knowing because if u actually use that word on the waiter, the word will be so foreign that he has not a single clue abt it or he will be rolling on the floor laughing his head off.
meihui
what i meant was given a playback, i would gladly have given RGS a try and not write it off immediately because it was all girls. Could be better, could have been worse is something we can only imagine and guess non-conclusively. but i'm willing to take the risk.
the ppl in DHS was all right. i would never have gotten to know you, Minxiu, Eric and rest otherwise, and life could be an entirely different story if so. may be, just maybe, that makes good enough sense to choose DHS all ove again, if you guys promise to make the same exact choice together.
when you free - this fri - sat? what? we can expand on this. and all these remarks i made were in good faith. i want to be proud of DHS and i want it to be the best. believe that if these considerations i raised were weighed, they may contribute positively. or at least let the teachers know how we feel and let them explain away, if that's possible, if everything is, could be, just a, misunderstanding and we are being wilful ingrates.
i like to think we are all fair and recognise good.
Eric, Weixiang and myself are very proud of our junior college alma mater. Victoria, Hwa Chong, Temasek, we are just full of praises. Lotsa teasing about how better our individual JC was, compared to the other two.
There must be a reason why DHS just couldn't earn our affirmation.
Hmm. As far as I remember, the teachers in TJC weren't all that fantastic either. Some were really good, but unfortunately, as part of the "best triple science class", I got saddled with some of the most boring people imaginable. Still, at least the lectures were on a rotational basis so you weren't stuck with the same terrible person all the time.
I'd like to think GP forced us to think somewhat, and was at least welcoming of more alternative viewpoints, if you could back them up.
Hello, the time on your blog is all screwed up. You need to change your settings.
don't care, and don't know how to change settings for comments :)
actually, i think uni was really what turned the tide intellectually. i have never felt more ignorant or challenged in a way. like who the fuck were all these famous people i got to read that i have never heard of.
i actually felt sad when no one cared a hoot that Derrida died and they have never known about deconstruction (within the realm of our individual specialisation).
thanks to uni, i can never write a GP essay again. GP essays are shallow and routine.
Temasek was great - opportunities abound, wonderful social life and amazing teachers. even if a couple couldn't teach, they were nice and caring.
Well, for me I'd have to say that JC could've been where the tide was turned, but uni was where the friggin' tsunami swept in.
hey u shouldnt post about dhs like that. i mean, you were once from thr, you should at least be thankful for what u are today. it is indeed very sad to see that you are not proud of dhs as your sec sch. well, you should have tried out for rgs instead since you're not proud of being a dunmanian and the fact that you once studied at a hateful place called dhs. please stop saying dhs is hateful BECAUSE IT IS NOT and stuff like dhs not teaching you to be effectively bilingual. you are the one studying! anyway, your image/view of dhs was years ago, but i think the dhs now is pretty good. the lessons and extra programmes are quite all-rounded. i'm sure dunmanians are proud of their school! you might say we cannot compare the dhs now and the dhs then, but i feel that you should respect your sec sch AT LEAST.
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