looks like working stress gets to alot of people and it can be quite scary. first mdm june fell sick, next was molly who took 2 weeks mc. overheard some of the teachers on the phone with molly and she said something about not ready to face the office nor staff yet. and now comes sophia who fell ill yesterday and i doubt if she can come in tmr cos she's having a fever. which brings the total number of people at the front office to a wonderful number of 2. me and yanlian. 2 newbies. how wonderful. im not trying to be sacarstic but it cannot be helped i guess. very often we either stare into stark empty space together, or running around like little bees flitting everywhere in the office trying to contact teachers or getting keys for them or busy fending off students.

now i understand why most people choose to be relief teachers after Alevels. it helps to keep them in touch with school life i guess. just that the roles are reversed this time round. we're the teachers/staff and the students live in "fear" or "respect" of us. which is apparently true. sometimes i walk around the school compounds during my lunch break and the vendors or students call me "teacher". sigh. i tried correcting the vendors but they still like to call me "lao shi". how amusing. and some kids can recognise me. like just currently when i was buying my lunch, this ava boy whom i had striked up a conversation with on saturday came running to me. the conversation was something as follows.

boy: weina! weina!
me: yesh what?
boy: my class got no teacher now. how?
me: who's sposed to be in there?
boy: mrs peng..
me: mrs jennifer peng is on mc today. there's should be a relief teacher in your class.
boy: i dont know! office asked me to come and look for you
me: *puzzled* office? sophia is in the office you know, and im sposed to be having my lunch break now!!
boy: ooh, sophia is in the office? dint check just now.. okay, now i go office and ask. byebye!

cheeky little fella. tried to cheat me by saying that office asked him to come and ask me. haha. i can recognise some familar faces too, and they would smile at me too. the feeling is nice and warming i guess. nothing beats more than being able to interact with students, teachers and feel as though im in a big family as well. the HODs here are real nice. especially some of them, like mrs wong, mdm salbiah, mrs loo, ms florence lee, ms margaret teo, mr thiru, mr subash. think i've named everybody except for mr loh. me and yanlian agreed that mr loh is scary. whee. and have i mentioned that the female teachers at hillgrove are all damn chio? super pretty and good figures too. and they are real friendly too. i quite like my job here i guess. it beats staying at home rotting my time away.

ooh, and im going to camp christine! for volunteer camp. i know i've mentioned it before but this time round it's confirmed! i'll be the only one representing beyond social services so i guess i would be feeling quite nervous. i sure wonder how would the camp be like, how many people are attending etc. dont really know the details yet but i should be expecting a phone call from them anytime soon before the camp itself. i like making myself busy, with meaningful stuff. whee. i dont mind getting tired because of volunteering because i know it is all worthwhile.

i love volunteering. whee. *hop*