Yesterday 27.11.13 was the last paper for Lyn. That marked the end of high school for her. 11 years in the public education system and what do I see in her?
Six years in Chinese school. The first three years were a torture. She was used to be pampered in the kindergarten as she was one of the best students there. Coming to the primary school was a culture shock. The harsh way teachers treat the students. It was stressful preparing her for school after each weekends.
Her senior years in the primary was better. She found her ability. She became bolder though still extremely quiet and shy. Fear of teachers kind of drove her into her shell deeper. But she had lots of opportunities to represent the school for public speaking and story telling both in English and BM. She also joined the choir which built her love for singing in a choir.
When she joined me in the secondary school, she stayed away from all the extra curricular activities which I joined. She wanted to earn her credits on her own and not because she is my daughter. She rejected the nomination to be a probate prefect twice simply because she thinks she is not good enough and she was nominated because of me.
She found her niche in the secondary school. It's quite amazing to see her juggling lots of extra activities after school. She would be in the march pass team, first as one of the members and later to train others to march. I hated marching as I have two left legs. So it amazes me to see her shouting commands and drilling other kids. Must be the father's king scouts gene.
Then she would run off for choir practice. In no time she was leading the choir and had to drop other activities to focus on the choir. Despite her heavy commitment to the school choir she still managed to find time to join a variety of English writing competitions. For the past five years, I had been fetching her home from school at around 5pm every other day. She gets the thrill in activities and competing.
Gone is the shy and quiet girl that entered school five years ago. She talks too much and talks like a bullet train. I worry the teachers would complain to me that she is not attentive in class. They never did but I know of a teacher who moved her place because she talked in his class. (I'm most grateful for his action).
She always sits in the last corner in class. Many times when I happen to pass by I noticed she is folding origami. Still amazes me that the teachers never confiscated her papers. She says she's multi-tasking.
She has grown as a normal teenager should. I'm thankful to God that she is just a normal teenager with all the rich experiences from school.....both good and bad. Not forgetting all the ups and downs as an MYFer.
She has become a good sister to the brother. They spend lots of time talking and she bullies him endlessly. She thinks it's her right to order him around because she is the oldest. When the brother has nightmare, he runs to the sister to sleep in her room. When he has a problem, he pours his heart out to her.
She is open and affectionate to us parents now. She talks to us and is more understanding. How she has matured over the years.
I will miss praying with her on the way to school. Having her company while driving to school though she is asleep most of the time. Waiting for her after school and getting upset because she will not hurry but take her own sweet time. Listening to her when she gets in the car and goes on a bullet train talk, jumping from one topic to another. I'm lost most of the time but I'll nod and nod. Of course she catches me and say, 'mum you're not listening to me!'
So....when I picked her up from school yesterday, her uniform was like this:
The end of another chapter and beginning of a new one. God watch, protect and guide her in this new chapter that she is starting.
