goodbye, grade 7
today is the last day of my mentoring session for this school year. time really flies fast! i can't believe i'm done with my first year as a mentor. i'm gonna miss my mentee, michelle. =(
they are having their last day of school tomorrow, and so i thought i'd give her some sort of "farewell-grade7-hello-grade8" lunch for our last session this school year. i've planned this 3 weeks ago, and I've already asked permission from the school admin office if i could excuse 3 of her friends from lunch break to have lunch with us. last week, i asked michelle who she wants to share lunch with, and she gave me the names to submit to the office for excuse slips.
so today, before leaving the office at lunch, i already called up Papa John's to order pizza, wings and Michelle's fave, parmesan breadsticks, for pick-up. anyways, you might wonder how i know her fave... in the course of our mentoring sessions, i've come to extract some info from her, and i've tried really hard to keep them intact in my mind. the breadstick thing is one of those that successfully stayed in my memory. =)
while on my way to the school, i swear i am tempted to grab a slice and eat on the way! hehehe! i made it without giving in to the temptation, and i feel so proud of myself. hehehe!
so i headed to the admin office to sign-in. through the glass walls, i saw michelle with 3 of her friends waiting for me outside the office. i signalled them to come in, and they did. the clerk was wondering why 4 giggly girls were in the office when there's no teacher sending them there, nor a parent calling for them. i volunteered the information that i'm a mentor and i'm with them. then i signalled a "shhh" to the girls, since they were causing the staff to turn their heads toward the sound of the giggles. hehehe!
all went well for my sign-in, then we headed to the vacant auditorium where michelle and i usually meet for lunch. it was chaos afterwards! arms crossing each other, grabbing slices of pizza, chicken wings and breadsticks. there was an almost constant sound of carbonated drink being poured on a plastic cup. but drowning everything else was the seemingly endless chattering of the 4 girls i'm with.
i listened to every single story they have to tell. and there was a lot! hehehe! if i will put up an estimate, i probably talked for only 4 minutes at the stretch. those 4 minutes were mostly questions, and words of advise when the conversation borders on stuff that might get them in trouble. like the plan of one of them (let's call her girl x) to put up a pic of her butt on her myspace account, just for fun. =P i try not to sound too adult about it, so i just mentioned something like, "that's blackmail material there...that will get you in trouble...it's one of those things you'd regret doing when you grow old." surprisingly, the rest of the group agreed with me, nodding their heads and saying stuff like "yeah, you'd wish you didn't do that", and "that's gonna be embarassing", and "they will make fun of you". girl x just shrugged her shoulders, and the others shook their heads. i can tell who's the "black sheep" there. hehehe!
it was a fun experience all in all. 2 of her friends, including girl x, i've already met when we had a bday lunch for michelle. the other one is a newbie at school, who also happened to have a mentor of her own. they meet on tuesdays, she mentioned. she doesn't seem so happy to talk about her mentor, so i didn't ask. i remember michelle telling me weeks ago that she met a new scholar in school, who doesn't like her mentor. i wonder now if that's the girl. hehehe!
the next school year starts late, around the end of august. so it won't be until then that i'll get to see her again.
as michelle's friends run to their next class, she was still saying goodbye to me. i told her to keep in touch through email. she looked like she was thinking of something, so i just said "you have a great summer! ok?". then we waved goodbye and parted ways. she walked along the hall towards her next class, and i walked towards the admin office. then she turned around and waved again, "see you next school year!". i just gave a wave and a smile, and watched her disappear behind the classroom door.
they are having their last day of school tomorrow, and so i thought i'd give her some sort of "farewell-grade7-hello-grade8" lunch for our last session this school year. i've planned this 3 weeks ago, and I've already asked permission from the school admin office if i could excuse 3 of her friends from lunch break to have lunch with us. last week, i asked michelle who she wants to share lunch with, and she gave me the names to submit to the office for excuse slips.
so today, before leaving the office at lunch, i already called up Papa John's to order pizza, wings and Michelle's fave, parmesan breadsticks, for pick-up. anyways, you might wonder how i know her fave... in the course of our mentoring sessions, i've come to extract some info from her, and i've tried really hard to keep them intact in my mind. the breadstick thing is one of those that successfully stayed in my memory. =)
while on my way to the school, i swear i am tempted to grab a slice and eat on the way! hehehe! i made it without giving in to the temptation, and i feel so proud of myself. hehehe!
so i headed to the admin office to sign-in. through the glass walls, i saw michelle with 3 of her friends waiting for me outside the office. i signalled them to come in, and they did. the clerk was wondering why 4 giggly girls were in the office when there's no teacher sending them there, nor a parent calling for them. i volunteered the information that i'm a mentor and i'm with them. then i signalled a "shhh" to the girls, since they were causing the staff to turn their heads toward the sound of the giggles. hehehe!
all went well for my sign-in, then we headed to the vacant auditorium where michelle and i usually meet for lunch. it was chaos afterwards! arms crossing each other, grabbing slices of pizza, chicken wings and breadsticks. there was an almost constant sound of carbonated drink being poured on a plastic cup. but drowning everything else was the seemingly endless chattering of the 4 girls i'm with.
i listened to every single story they have to tell. and there was a lot! hehehe! if i will put up an estimate, i probably talked for only 4 minutes at the stretch. those 4 minutes were mostly questions, and words of advise when the conversation borders on stuff that might get them in trouble. like the plan of one of them (let's call her girl x) to put up a pic of her butt on her myspace account, just for fun. =P i try not to sound too adult about it, so i just mentioned something like, "that's blackmail material there...that will get you in trouble...it's one of those things you'd regret doing when you grow old." surprisingly, the rest of the group agreed with me, nodding their heads and saying stuff like "yeah, you'd wish you didn't do that", and "that's gonna be embarassing", and "they will make fun of you". girl x just shrugged her shoulders, and the others shook their heads. i can tell who's the "black sheep" there. hehehe!
it was a fun experience all in all. 2 of her friends, including girl x, i've already met when we had a bday lunch for michelle. the other one is a newbie at school, who also happened to have a mentor of her own. they meet on tuesdays, she mentioned. she doesn't seem so happy to talk about her mentor, so i didn't ask. i remember michelle telling me weeks ago that she met a new scholar in school, who doesn't like her mentor. i wonder now if that's the girl. hehehe!
the next school year starts late, around the end of august. so it won't be until then that i'll get to see her again.
as michelle's friends run to their next class, she was still saying goodbye to me. i told her to keep in touch through email. she looked like she was thinking of something, so i just said "you have a great summer! ok?". then we waved goodbye and parted ways. she walked along the hall towards her next class, and i walked towards the admin office. then she turned around and waved again, "see you next school year!". i just gave a wave and a smile, and watched her disappear behind the classroom door.
posted by beng at
5:40 PM
4 Comments:
naks okay ah, parang naiimagine tuloy kita as a mom. hehe =P
By
Anonymous, at 12:51 AM
this was so well written ... I forgot I was reading a blog. I thought I was reading a chapter from a book. =)
By
Binut/Keyt, at 5:20 PM
ditto pakner =)
it was like a short story.. =D
By
jane, at 8:33 AM
i must be high with emotions when i wrote this. hehehe! =P tengks gerls! ;-)
By
beng, at 3:00 PM
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