Penguin Parade

It was a happy day yesterday. Strange actually, it was a strange blend of joy mixed with envy and a dash of inspiration to top it off. It was graduation day for my Faculty, with two ceremonies one at 4pm and the other at 8pm to cope with the number of students dressed like penguins to collect their testamur.

I never thought much about graduation when I did it. The emotional aspect of completing my course was exhausted by the time I finished my last exam, and the donning of the graduation robe felt more like a masquerade for parents rather than a self-closure of a journey past.

Yet it was so different yesterday. Just seeing the pride on the parents’ faces gave me a certain feeling of warmth and a trickle of anxiety (although I couldn’t help but imagine some of them were thinking to themselves “it is about bloody time after all the money I’ve spent.”) At one end, it was reminiscence of how my parents felt when they took pictures with me wearing the cardboard hat. On the other hand, there was anxiety of wanting them to feel the same again when, hopefully, I’ll one day be able to replace the cardboard with a cushion.

I met a handful of my students who graduated yesterday. I felt like a celebrity over their eagerness to take pictures with me. They thanked me and made me feel like I made a difference - it was a priceless sensation. It is moments like these that make me appreciate why my mom never gave up teaching after thirty over years.

But of course, the main reason I was there was to offer my congratulations to my friends. Swallow was collecting her testamur for a Masters in accounting (although it still sends a shiver down my spine just on the thought that someone would actually pursue that course). Two of my colleagues finished their seemingly perpetual pursuit to obtain a doctorate. Watching them dressed up like an elaborate table-lamp with a mushroom-head made me green with envy.

Vietboy and I looked at them two and without any exchange of words raised the same question simultaneously, “when the hell is it our turn?”

Kempetai!!!