Every time I see you folks, I get one awesome surprise after another.

Firstly, I'm still very touched and grateful for the surprise birthday celebration. It was the first time people had ever sprung a surprise on me at my house. It will remain an unforgettable 26th birthday for me. :)

Secondly, a big thank you to those who organised and showed up for the BBQ today, even wearing the class tshirt!!! :) Special thanks go to Yan Zhi and Jack, who brought the food, started the fire, and spent most of the night BBQing. They even peeled prawns for everyone to eat!!! Did we ever expect to have our tough guys Yan Zhi and Jack peel prawns for us one day? I certainly didn't!!! Hahaha... ;) In case you were wondering, I didn't eat any prawns, but the guys also BBQed mushrooms for me!!! We were very well served throughout the evening. Thanks too to the other guys who pitched in to help with the BBQ and transport the leftover food; Zhong Ping for organising; Vaisha for collecting $$$; the gals for buying charcoal & drinks; the guys for walking out with me for about 20 mins to buy additional materials... the list goes on. :)

Thirdly (isn't this turning out to be a good essay?), I am just knocked out by the really beautiful scrap book some of the girls created, of all the memories we've shared as 5NA. It's really gorgeous. I will probably cry over it in my sad MOE office cubicle next year. I still can't really imagine working in an office from 8am to 6pm daily; I guess I'll deal with it when the time comes.

In a couple of hours, I'll head off to Kopan Monastery in Nepal, where I will be attending a meditation course for about 5 weeks. I won't be able to respond to email or SMS, so I'm sorry about being completely uncontactable. You can find out more about the Kopan November course here, if you are curious. One of the meditation practices is to send loving thoughts to all the people around you, so rest assured that you will all be in my thoughts and prayers. :) I will pray very hard for all your dreams to come true! ;)

Lastly, I will certainly see everyone in January/ February 2010, because I will take leave to come and give out your GCE 'O' Level results. Don't worry about the exam anymore, because it's over! :P In the meantime, rest well, have loads of fun and work hard if you have found some part-time employment! I'll try and look up you folks working all about town when I get back - I'm kind of excited about seeing people in action in a work environment. :)

Also, we should have some kind of CNY reunion! :) Yan Zhi has suggested doing steam boat at his place; another suggestion from me is to have a picnic at the Botanical Gardens one of these days... so people can go and play soccer/ frisbee while lazy people like me can just sit around and talk. ;)

Enjoy the wonder of being 17/18, of having so many opportunities and possibilities ahead of you, of loving and being loved every single day. It's a miracle! I'm so glad to have met all of you in my short career as a teacher, and to have you all as friends.

:)

(Miss) Ruby