A Comedic Workplace

I'm so going to start writing down all the random things that the students at the tuition centre do. They bring all kinds of comedy and ridiculousness in between classes (sometimes even during them) that I really shouldn't waste all this blog-worthy hilarity. 

So as I previously mentioned, I started working at this tuition centre at Hartamas called Pusat Tuisyen Minda Inspirasi in January. It's been really great and I'm really enjoying the work and the company of our nutty kids. Yup. Enjoying time spent with kids. Who would have thought, right?

Last Monday I was teaching Yusuf, one of my Maths students about locuses. And I just heard his voice in my head reminding me that they're called loci. FINE Yusuf you one upped me this time, they are called loci. I'm surprised he learned anything that day though. See, I have this eye infection that back then looked like someone had just punched me in the eye (Now I look like the hunchback of freaking Notre Dame, but who's keeping track right?) that really fascinated almost all the students in the centre. On the bright side of this sudden spotlight, some students who I think had never had a reason to talk to me finally did and I made new student friends YAY. 

Anyway back to Yusuf. He was so distracted by my eye that whenever I taught him something, all he would say was "Does it hurt?" or "How long has it been there?" or "Have you seen a doctor?". I felt the love. I did. 

OR.

He could have just been distracting me from locuses.

FINE I meant loci. Jeez.

Yusuf story, check.

On to the two little boys who are pretty much the darlings of the whole centre. Kabir and Luvdeep are Larry's students and they're at the centre almost every day. When they're not being crazy mischievous or rock-concert loud they. Are. ADORABLE!

One day when I was passing by Larry's class to grab a book or a cup of coffee or something, I did a classic double take and walked back to the door of his classroom to make sure I wasn't seeing things. Allow me to describe what I saw.

Kabir was sitting quietly and doing his work all diligently and Larry, having already given the boys their work to do, was getting some stuff done on his laptop. And what was Luvdeep up to, you ask? Oh nothing much, he was doing his work at the table too.

Except he was....under...the table.

Larry looked up to see my puzzled 'What the hell' face staring at him from outside the class. He shrugged helplessly and gave me a 'Don't even ask' face in reply while Luvdeep smiled in wolfish mischief from under the table. I proceeded to laugh for the next 10 minutes at the mental image that refused to disappear for the next 10 minutes or so.

Then there's RJ's student Beatrix? Beatrice? who came around the other day offering us a box of chocolate, saying, "Food?" Larry and I laughed and we had a nice discussion about whether or not chocolate could be described as food. It was a 'you had to be there' kind of funny but I wanted to blog about it anyway :D

Oddly I have met three students who remind me of my friends!! Only one of them is my student though. Her name is Leea and she reminds me sooo much of my friend Elisabeth. The way they talk is really similar. Then there's this Form 1 boy Daniel who is a carbon copy of my friend Chek, only of a different race lol. And there's this boy Hardiv who I could swear has been cloned using my friend Sanjeev's DNA. 

It's very interesting. I have a theory that if I do this long enough I'll eventually have a student who reminds me of myself. I wonder if I'll love her or hate her for it lol.

A Degree of Closure

Yes, yes, it’s been a while, I’m horrible, I really should find time to update more, yada yada yada. There, outpouring of guilt done. 

But seriously, I really should update more. So much for having a passion that outlasted blogging being the latest trend. Hah. 

Anyway, been running around like a headless chicken a lot lately. In other words, busy as usual. I’m settling into this whole tuition/tutoring thing. It’s going pretty well really :) 

On the greyer side of life, Life Con test that accounts for 20% of my final grade is coming up on Friday. Joy. Someone, please, stop this rollercoaster of fun and cheer that is my degree life. 

Speaking of my degree life, I had this odd feeling the other day when I was walking out of campus. I was looking around and daydreaming as usual when suddenly I had this weird out of body experience where I thought ‘Man…this is really ending’. 

I mean, it’s Week 12 of my final semester already! It totally snuck up on me, I thought I was stuck in an endless time vortex where it stayed Week 8 forever. Next thing I knew the Bar List was out and the timetable for finals was out and it’s almost Easter and Lent’s almost over already (It feels like Ash Wednesday was yesterday. Really) and now finals is in three weeks (Three weeks? Two? Whatever, finals is coming) and…yeah. 

My student life is almost officially over. 

I guess the last time I thought the end was near it didn’t really feel like the end. I was freaking out about the future and strolling into the real world like I belonged there even though it felt more like I was desperately shoving my way out of childhood when I wasn’t ready and struggling to come to terms with it. 

But it’s different this time. 

I’ve slowly made my peace with the reality that I can’t stay in my little corner of the world anymore. It’s been an adventure putting a toe across the line that is adulthood. I know I’m not there yet, but I’ve accepted that it’s time to accept responsibility for myself and my life and my decisions, a little at a time. 

Besides, I’ve done my time as a university student. The best part of life at uni has made its way to graduation already; the friends I’ve made, lost and held on to. Some still remain, but it’s not the same. I found my share of crazy stories about life as a student; eccentric lecturers, too smart to be true classmates, the annoyance that is 8am classes, the aura of wrath and potential homicide that surrounded the Faculty General Office. The rose tinted glasses have come on already, romanticizing the whole thing. It seems more funny than anything else now, which above all else convinced me that it was time to let go. 

So this time when I walk into that hall to sit for my final paper, I hope it will be the last time. I have somehow found it in myself to remember my time in university with fondness instead of growling impatience. 

Here’s to my last semester at the university we all used to mockingly call ‘our choice’ on a daily basis. To UTAR, the home of Unlimited Tests, Assignments and Reports (geddit, geddit, geddit??), the place that drained us dry, yet gave us memories to despise and unconditionally love in equal measure. To the next step in our journey that is our one life (Well, depending on what you believe that is) that has been one hell of a ride already. 

To…us.