it was a strange feeling that i had today when i went to the new campus at bishan. on one hand, i was pretty awed by the large new building and the spacious designs... on the other, i had a twinge (a LARGE twinge) of pain, knowing that the campus i loved and had so many lovely moments in no longer belonged to RJ. i was hit with the realisation once again that i had graduated... and was never to return there as a student... to experience those 2 years of laughter and tears again.
the old campus was imbued with tradition, love, spirit. you could feel and see the generations that had been there... from the worn out track, to the gross retro patterned sofas in the library (which are in the new library... and man do they stick out like a sore thumb in the grand 3 story glass and green circular library) ... to the strange sweet smell of detergent or bodyily fumes or something else at the bag deposit area of the library... to the patchy grass field tromped on by millions of feet... to the canteen, with bubble tea pearl stains on the walls and sam's autographed playing cards on the ceiling... to the pond with turtles that ate flowers and the fish we caught for emery's snapping turtle...
there are so many memories of RJC - mt sinai that i keep in a special place.
when i get the photos of the new campus, from various other people who brought cams, i will post them up.
the new campus is... nice. as are all new things. but it presently lacks the flavour, the bird shit on the canteen tables, the ants crawling up cracked walls, the character, the flowering trees at the end of the track, the malaysian train track with its noisy trains.
its an institution, not a family.
its strange how the people of my batch bonded. the sports people especially. we bonded despite being in different classes, different ccas, different sec schools. and we were the only batch that i saw in a large group together today. we ended off our reunion with a basketball game in the courts, fitting... since we used to meet up to shoot hoops every now and then.
what can i say about the new building? ostentatious. beautiful. tastefully coloured. designer.
an indoor bball / floorball / 4 badminton court air-coned hall that took up an entire wing. gorgeous acoustics...
a dance wing with multi levels of dance studios taking up another wing...
a performing arts wing, or what i took to be one, LT6, some random rooms, a theatre...
an indoor carpark, with tennis courts and volleyball court on the top and a rifle range below taking up yet another wing...
all this aside from the main building which is made up of a few circular portions and a few blocks.
i was amazed at the size. theres also a track. a bright red, beautiful track, with a carfully turfed field.
a security guard that scolded us for playing in the bball courts without "booking" it first.
something that would never have happened in the old campus. says alot doesnt it?
. no more climbing over or squeezing through gates after late nights in school
. no more using the facilities and being welcomed, rather, expect to be chased away, marginalised.
. no more decent students, let me get a pic up of a girl who was simply sprawling in full view of everyone, in a very short skirt
one thing seems to remain the same though. thats the windy gusts blowing around cheekilly.
and the lockers that survived through a major break-in back in j2... looking incongruous against the fresh paint.
everything that was from the old rj... ended up looking out of place on the new campus. like the sofas in the library.
seems to symbolise the incongruity of the experiences in the old campus and those to be had in the new campus.
i'm sorry if i go on and on. i cant refrain.
you will never know how much i love/d RJC.
