goodbye goodbye, may God bless you

i ended my last day at the kindergarten today. i [fine..my sis and i] decided to be really nice to the staff of BA and got them some begawann[spelling?] solo keuh. well..technically its my mom cos she very generously bought them on our behalf and took a cab to send the boxes to me:) we are going to pay her back i assure you.

going to back to a previous job isnt as easy at it seems. i enjoyed the kids just as much but somehow the job got a little boring after a while. maybe its a case of familarity breeding contempt but there were instances when i just couldnt wait for the days to pass. i couldnt[and still cant] quite put my finger on why so but i suspect that its the liminal nature of the work - working but not quite. in that im physically working yet it isnt hard and my mind isnt being used enough. for lack of a better way to put it, i got a little bored.

i will miss the kids most, even the ones that make me so mad. and it isnt because i do not have a trained tolerance for nonsense cos some teachers do come very close to pulling their hair out too. i miss the few seconds of each day when i take the temperature of the kids and say good morning to them. i will miss getting free hugs.i will miss the conversations and funny little things 4 year-olds do. i will miss seeing the tangible benefits a school brings to a child. i will miss the teachers and my moments of marvelling at their dedication to the kids. i will even miss some of the parents.

yet..i do not feel as sad, compared to last year, to leave. to an extent it could be due to the fact that a part of me could not wait to leave. but i guess that it really because i have someone now to share memories with. my sis and i can sometimes just talk some time, telling each other the funny little stories about the class. we remember together, even the sobering fact that the kids would not remember us for long.

my take home lesson from the last couple of months - the process of growing up is not something to be taken for granted. the element of nurturing and training is so crucial to a child's development as a person. witnessing the improvement of a few children brings meaning into what you are doing. and hence i leave the kindergarten again with an even deeper appreciation for early childhood teachers.

my prayer for all the little children would be that the 3/4 years in BA would give them a good start into the christian life. and that each would grow into a fine gentleman or lady whose faith in the Lord is solid.

will i one day enter early childhood education? i do not know. i know that i have the heart for children and we shall go as the Lord leads:)