"It's funny how the rope of time unravels its knots."

A decade later, and I still remember my kindergarten days.

I was dressed up in a light-blue collared shirt, with dark-blue shorts, if I remembered right.

Mum and Dad would look at me, his arm slung over her shoulders, and both would say 'what a handsome boy' I was. I remembered grinning till my cheeks hurt.

I had a Power Rangers haversack.

Grandma (to be known hereafter as Ah Ma) and I would always walk five minutes to the Yishun PAP Education Centre from home, and if I was lucky, I would have gotten for myself an ice-cream treat.

That particular day was lucky.

I had no idea of this 'school' that I had to go to- I don't remember any nursery days.


There was phonetics class though, where I learnt to identify words at four.

The phonetics teacher who taught me about dinosaurs did not believe my identifying brachiosaurus as a 'sauropod' (pronounced saw-raw-pod, not sow-row-pot, that's what she said), and thought that supersaurus was an imaginary dinosaur that I made up.

I remember proving her wrong the very next day by showing her my large dinosaur book. Maybe I started my rebellion against the system since that very day.


Still, the prospect of being in a class without Mum or Ah Ma seemed to be terrifying.

The teachers, I remember a Miss Lee or something, would invite all the parents or guardians in for the first five minutes, providing a false sense of security to the little tykes, only to disappear soon after, prompting yet another bout of crying and wailing.

Yeah well, blah blah blah.

I couldn't understand why the other kids were so painfully annoying, it's not like they would be gone forever. We would be home before 3pm, no? (I only knew that I would go home at 3pm. I don't remember knowing how to tell time, yet)

Anyway, why are they crying so hard?

Sheesh. At least I knew Ah Ma was still there with me.

Right, Ah Ma?

Ah Ma?

... W-w-W-wWwAaAaAaAaAaaAAAaAaAAaAAaAAAAAAAAAAA!!~

I think I was the last person to start crying. Y'know, only after -everyone- had stopped?

It was, as Mum would later teach me, "embarrassing". (Remember boy, it is spelt with double 'r' and double 's'.)

We would have Milo breaks. Nap times (oh, I hated sleeping so much) were horrible.

Art time was- I remember getting three gold stars for a particular assignment! I was so...

"Proud, dear. P-R-O-U-D. Spell it for me... Good. It means you feel a sense of achievement (ac-what?) and you are happy for yourself. But remember, you must always be humble. H-U-M-B-L-E."

Hm. I learnt pride before humility.

I also learnt the word "friend".

F-R-I-E-N-D.

And two in particular were very well remembered.

.
.
.

Xin Yi.

Tan Xin Yi.

Funny how I could never forget that name.

She would be sitting on my left.

She had semi-long hair, a brilliant smile, and the cutest laugh.

She was the girl I remembered to pull a chair out for her to sit on.

There would be a boy sitting on my right.

He was thin, and had the generic little-boy-mushroom hairdo. That and he had an extra finger on his right hand. That, and he had the most sincere smile I ever did see. I was most intrigued.

No wonder he was the first person I said "hi" to in Kindergarten.

Toh. That was his surname. Toh Yong.. Something.

I never caught his entire name, not even once during the entire two years that I sat next to him. I always called him Yong.

Yong and I would always help each other out in studies. I was never good in chinese. He excelled in almost everything. But, time and again I would always do my bit to catch whatever english words that the Miss Lee wrote. I think he explained to me the concept of telling time, when I didn't pay attention.

I remember Xin Yi and I playing with sprinkles during a particular art lesson. We kinda went overboard and made the floor glitter. One of the funniest moments in my pre-pubescent life.

All three of us would be play at the playground after 3pm, waiting for our parents (or in my case, Ah Ma) to fetch us home. We would sit around and discuss our favourite foods (I liked pizza). Either one of them liked ice-cream, I remember.

Bah, but memories do get fuzzy as time veils over clarity. Time flew pretty fast, too. Two years went past, and Xin Yi went to Chong Fu Primary (I think Yong went there too). I went to Xishan instead.

Six years later, it was to my surprise to have met Yong again in Anderson Secondary. Toh Yong Yuan.

And guess what? A decade after Kindergarten, and I meet Xin Yi again. In Yishun Junior College.

Singapore sure is small.

Yep, full circle. :)