and this was how it ended (part 2)
and so, after saying my farewells to my classes, i headed back to the staff room. finally got to see the posters that i was supposed to hunt for. luckily i didnt have to walk around the school looking for them... if not many people would have seen my unglam photos before that! :D
anw, the first thing which the teachers noticed about all the farewell messages which my classes wrote for me was that they are generally pink/red HAHA :D seems like my students all thought alike (: was quite hungry then, and thankfully, the math HOD bought 豆沙饼 (omg i actually forgot what this is called in english) for everyone, and ms wang forced me to eat at least 2 HAHA. really thankful to my teachers who had been looking out for me all this while. sometimes i get so engrossed with my work that i forget to take a break, or forget to have lunch, and they will ask me down to the canteen to have lunch with them, or just to drink something.
after the food, it was time to get my exit clearance signed. there were 4 signatures i had to get before i was cleared to leave the school... HOD, library officer, IT dept, estate dept. sounds like ORD clearance haha. HOD's signature was easy to get. library officer's signature was easy to obtain too. just walked up to library, check that i do not have any books on loan, and then i was cleared.
next was the clearance with the IT department. i didnt have time to clear up my desktop, so the hebe wallpaper was still in the comp, along with the MSN program which will auto log in... so i hope they will like reformat the comp or something before they pass it on to the next user. i checked and ensured that all the accessories were in place, and quickly returned the laptop to the IT department before the staff left school. and so i said goodbye to my best companion for the past semester too. without the laptop, i think i would be seriously handicapped, and wouldnt be able to explain things as clearly. IT department clearance took quite a long time, cos the person who was supposed to sign wasnt inside the office. waited for a while before i got that settled.
after that, i headed to estate to return my VGA cable, and asked for an extension for the return of the staff pass. i wasnt in the mood to pack up my table there and then, and if i rushed the packing up, i would most certainly leave something behind, and then i wouldnt be able to come back and collect it anymore. and so i asked if i could keep the pass for one more day and return it the next day, and thankfully they consented. i then went back up to the staff room, and prepared for my last consultation with a student, before i concluded my last day of work at the RJ math department.
by then, all i wanted to do was to quickly get back home. but i had things to do too. i had to shop for some gifts and cards for the math department tutors, to show my appreciation to them. stopped by j8 and purchased some random items which shockingly amounted to over $50. i didnt really check the prices before buying... just saw what i thought was nice and took them off the shelves. turned out that some of the cards which i picked for a few teachers were rather expensive.
after that, i made my way home and finally got my nice hot bath :D then i had dinner, and was really really tired after such an eventful day, so i plonked onto my bed and fell asleep. it was a nice and peaceful sleep cos i dont have to worry about completing the syllabus with my classes, for once! :D im so glad that it all ended well, and i managed to complete the stats content with all my classes. hopefully they will all do well for CTs and do me proud (: and i hope to see many many students from my classes on the deans' list. i didnt really have much time to think back about the events of the day though, cos i promptly fell asleep.
woke up at around 11 cos i had one last thing to do... writing a personalised message for each of the 12 math department jc1 tutors. ive worked with them for quite a while, and they have all been very nice to me, so i thought the least i could do was to write each of them a personalised message. i started at around midnight, and started writing to tutors that i was less close to, and ended off writing to the tutors that i was really close to. and as i continued writing, somewhere around the last few cards, i realised i was crying. the thought of all the help which the tutors had rendered me with, the concern they had shown, the lame jokes and stories they told to brighten up my day, the numerous lunches we had together... all these made me realise how much i missed the math department already! thankfully it was late at night so noone could see me cry haha. when i was done, it was 3... so i spent 3 hours writing 12 cards! felt very proud of my "杰作", and after this, i probably wont expect to stay up late again in the near future. :D
having rested, and completed everything i was supposed to do, i started reading all the farewell messages which my classes wrote for me. it was then that i was really overwhelmed by the sadness of leaving my classes. i guess i was too tired during the day itself to feel sad, and im glad for that... if not my classes will see my unglam crying moment :S i was very touched by the comments of some of my students, and i didnt know i made a difference to so many of my students. and i think my sadness was accentuated by the loneliness and serenity of the night, and so, in the end, i did cry at the thought of how much ill miss my classes.
after the emotional message reading session, i went to sleep. woke up quite early this morning to go to school and pack up my table, as well as distribute the cards and gifts to the math department tutors. there was some major cleaning session in school, and the old ah-huay-auntie cleaning up the staff room. greeted her for the last time (she remembers me for some reason haha), and then went to clear my table.
its amazing how much stuff i suddenly realised i dont need. ended up chucking away huge stacks of paper. i decided that i wanted to keep the class mugshots of my classes, even though i can remember all my students' names... and so i made photocopies of the mugshots and kept the originals, leaving the photocopies for the next tutor who is taking over. after which, i updated the latest assignment scores for my classes, and the attendance books and that marks the end of my duties as a relief tutor.
next up, i went around to distribute the thank you cards and gifts to the math department tutors. felt like a santa claus cos i had this bag of cards and gifts and then i was walking along the empty aisles of tables and placing gifts on the tables of the tutors, who will be pleasantly surprised when they next return to their desks :D lastly, i had to hand back my pass, but i had a nagging feeling that i might have left something behind, which i have yet to pack in my bag. so, i decided to take a walk around the school first before coming back to do a final check of my desk. i also thought it was a good idea to make use of the staff pass for the last time to access areas that are inaccessible to students and visitors. and so, i walked around school, and enjoyed my last few moments in RJ (sounds dramatic, but i really do love the college). bumped into several of my students and chatted with them. also paid a visit to my most hated tutorial room A56. good riddance to that cursed tutorial room (:
and when i was finally done with my mini tour, i went back up to the staff room to do my final packing up. took a last glance at the staff room, and was quite reluctant to surrender my pass, but i did in the end, and signed out of the record book for the last time and that officially ends my stint in RJC as a math department relief tutor.
i am so glad to have met so many awesome students, and had the opportunity to have permanent classes attached to me. there was one time where i almost had to give up one class, but thankfully it was sorted out and i got to see my classes through till the end of the stats course. i am also glad to have the opportunity to work alongside my teachers, and even though they are more experienced than i am, they do listen to my suggestions during unit meetings, and let me voice my opinions on certain teaching points, common mistakes, and even on test questions. im really grateful to work with such a supportive department, and to have taught such wonderful classes, and they have all played a great role in making my stint at RJC a really memorable one. a big THANK YOU to all of them! finally, i am relieved of my duties, and i can really sleep in peace now (:
ah, but a new job awaits on monday! but till then... :D
consilio et animis
5/30/2009 10:01:00 PM
