It's a Small World

Another rainbow was painted into my fabric of life this afternoon.

I was walking along the road looking for a taxi when one passed by so I waved and the driver stopped. I hurried to the taxi and got in, telling him where I wanted to go.

He turned around and looked at me. Then very politely, he asked me, “ Excuse me, you are Mrs Peggy Chan, aren’t you?”

Was I surprised!! “Yes, I am,” I replied, “how do you know me?”

His answer almost bowled me over! “You were my teacher in La Salle in 1982.”

Wow, it really is a small world. After that he regaled me with his experiences of the past twelve years in Kuala Lumpur, his promotion of Sabah to the German and Canadian tourists he transported in his taxi, etc., etc. However, he misses Sabah very much and he intends to return in a couple of years. Kuala Lumpur is very different from rural Sabah where people are still very friendly and there are no pronounced racial divides. It is very common to see people of different ethnic backgrounds sharing a table in a Chinese coffee shop. This is not often seen in Kuala Lumpur.

All too soon we arrived at my destination but meeting my ex-student was really wonderful. He spoke perfect English and I’m very proud of him. I was his English teacher all those years ago. Zulrushdy, you have done your school proud. He still has fond memories of Datuk Brother Charles O ’Leary, our former school principal. He said that on his next visit to Sabah he’s going to tell his friends how he met their Cikgu Peggy Chan and that her kampong is Jalan Imbi, right next to Bukit Bintang!!