was transferring pix from my N73 mobile phone to the notebook when i chanced upon this:
some "gifts" from the students who (bless their souls) remember that their tutor was unlikely to have special plans for the day.
one of them made me a plastic heart out of green and yellow straws, another had baked some cornflake cookies no doubt for the chinese new year, and the 3 kids from my previous semester's tutorial class (coincidentally from miss ene's care group) presented me with a chocolate chip cookie, painstakingly wrapped up in red crepe paper with a card. actually i had bumped into the last group at the canteen when i was having a late afternoon lunch. maybe they hadn't planned to give me one but since i'd already seen them and they had explained to me what they were doing they felt awkward not giving me a cookie...
oh well. never mind. the cookie's been digested.
a few of the students had already indicated their intention to skip school and even told me about their plans:
kids: "cher, we not coming to school on wednesday. tell you first hor."
me: "why?
kids: "because it's valentine's day! i'm going out to celebrate!"
me: "but i’m giving back the test. i want you to look through the paper. what if i didn’t add the marks properly?"
kids: "it’s ok la. we trust you."
celebrating valentine's day was obviously more important than their results. a few of the kids did ask if i was going out with the hub:
kids: "cher, got plans for tonight or not?"
me: "of course NOT. i'm already married!"
kids: "but married still can go out what!" (crestfallen look on their faces when they realise that marriage changes MANY things)
me: "yes but i've got young children. it's very troublesome to bring them out."
kids: "then go out with your husband alone la!?"
me: "then who's going to look after the kids?"
kids: "put at home lor! you buy anything for your husband or not?"
me: "no. we don't celebrate. used to, but not now."
kids: "WHY? HOW CAN YOU NOT CELEBRATE VALENTINE'S DAY??!?!!!???"
*sigh*
at that point i realised i was perceived as an old fuddy-duddy. really, we don't celebrate the event because the novelty has worn off. the hub and i have known each other for 13 years, dated for 4 years, been married 8. there's no point rushing to restaurants for meals because they'd be too crowded. i'm not a 'flower person' and the hub thinks it's madness to pay for overpriced bouquets especially since i don't appreciate them. it's just another commercial event aimed at ripping consumers off.
but in the end we did have a special dinner. hub dropped by at chomp chomp and bought our favourite celebratory seafood - sambal stingray, clams and cockles - at our haven @ arif. he spotted couples at chomp chomp having their dinner and described how the ladies with immaculately painted faces in formal dresses were obviously in a foul mood because they had to spend their valentine's dinner at a crowded, noisy, smelly, humid hawker centre, with their melting make-up and sheepish dates.
we didn't open a bottle of wine, but we each had a can of chilled coke from the fridge. it was a relaxing one-hour dinner without the kids, in the comfort of our own home.
and honestly, that's good enough for me.
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