Back to RI for a visit

I went back to RI for the Prefects' Investiture todae.

The school certainly looks new. For the first time, I went up the Rajaratnam Block coz my ex-form class was on the 7th floor. I must say that the view from the 7th floor corridor is pretty beautiful. Previously, when I was staying in boarding, I've gone up to the roof before and had nice views of the pool. The view from the 7th floor lets me see all the way to what I believe is Bishan St 22. Very pleasant.

It was nice having a quick catch up with the 2M boys. I've always been a little sad that I wasn't able to spend as much time as I would have liked with them last year due to my frequent overseas recruitment trips. Thanks for the quick updates (esp on WJX's scary love life). Too bad the prefects, monitor and asst monitor weren't in class.

After the quick visit, I met some of the teachers for lunch in the canteen. Yes, I am very glad that Kampung Istimewa is back. And their fried rice + fried fish filet + chicken curry is still as yummy as ever! Too bad I wasn't in the mood for their famous fried chicken. And I certainly miss their Briyani too! First impression? The canteen looks really small. It looks smaller than the previous canteen. Quite funny, considering that it's supposed to serve over 1800 students. The popular bookshop is a nice addition. At least there was less need to run all the way to J8 to get last minute mounting boards/colour papers/etc. I even saw the mini-cafe place inside. Happening siah!

After lunch, I went for a chat with the teachers in the teachers' lounge. As expected, there was the usual 'work doesn't get any less' and 'students don't get any better' sentiments. Heh, I think these are complains which are ever present with each generation. It was kinda sad to see so many new faces. I think it's sad for the students too, coz when they come back to visit RI after they leave, they find that their teachers are no longer there.

As I walked in the hall for the investiture, I was greeted by clapping! Wow... thanks so much for the warm welcome. I'm not sure, but I think it was mainly the Sec 2s. Sigh, I do remember our fun times at camp, especially with Rippy the Gator and Carrot Juice is Murder. I heard they didn't do it with the Sec 1s this year. What a waste! The Investiture went fine. Short and sweet (but speeches a little long lar). Again, brought back many happy memories. Especially when there was that slide show with the 'old' pics of events from last year. That was really nostalgic. I was really glad that so many of the J1s came back for the investiture. Even some of the J2s were back. Those were really fun times we've had.

After the Investiture, we had a quick walk around the new CCA block and managed to sneak a peek at the new auditorium. Firstly, the auditorium really looks quite nice. But the brown curtains were really wrong. The CCA Block has a nice view of the field. I'm not a huge fan of fake turfs. Somehow, I think a field ought to be a field. All grass and stuff. The CCA rooms were really small. The mini-grills next to the doors were weird. It almost felt as if it was a prison block. Well, I guess they had to make some trade-offs so that more CCAs can get a room. But the rooms are really small.

On the whole, I enjoyed my visit back. Yeah, I really do miss the times spent working with the prefects and having fun with the students. No, I don't really miss the work-part though. heh. Anyway, to all the prefects, Congratz on your investiture and here's to a fulfilling year ahead!