Alright, here’s my blog entry… my reading week, as always, was used in a practical manner.
As with every single year, I always pay at least one visit per year to my high school. Mainly to keep in touch with my teachers who have supported me along the way to university. Last year I paid a visit prior to departing from Canada. It is not any different this year as I went back there last Tuesday.
To say the least, it has been four years since I have left there and nothing has changed one bit. The paint, the ceilings, the classroom desks remained as I remembered on the first day there as a grade 9 student. But with four years elapsed, I’ve realized that a full cycle has occurred. The faces that I saw in the hallways I have never seen before as those who were in grade 9 during my final year has left last year. Also in contrast, my high school friends whom we have parted ways are now graduating from university this year and entering their non-academic lives. For myself, I have another year to go… but to see people going ahead of me, I can’t help feeling a bit of sadness.
To detail the day, I made my rounds to visit teachers who have not retired yet… for some reason every time I do this, I get suckered into giving ‘talks’ to their classes. Lucky me, I only got suckered once… and the talks typically go like this:
Teacher: So I would like to introduce to you one of my favourite students, Billy. He is from Waterloo. Do you have any questions about Waterloo?
Me: *rolls eyes* Woooo… university students are a rare species
Students: No. *eyes glaze over* I can sympathize with them… my previous years’ talks were lacklustre
Teacher: Tell me something about you and Waterloo.
This year, instead of saying mundane things like, ‘yeah, we don’t get much sleep in Waterloo’ or ‘well, we’re geeky at Waterloo but we get good jobs’, I was able to bring something a bit special to the table; my work in Japan.
Me: Well, this year I went off to Japan for my co-op job. It was a very neat experience because it was the first time that I was reduced to communicating in the most primitive way.
Students: *eyes light up* whoa… what did you do there?
Me: I did some research and development work there… and lots of drinking.
Teacher: gives me a weird face
Me: *to the teacher* how else would you want me to hold their attention?
So as an improvised ambassador of Waterloo, the high school students found out these facts about Waterloo: co-op students get cool jobs and they drink excessively.
Here are a few pics of my high school taken with my camera… it looks exactly the same as when I left.
