Last night we attended the 30th anniversary of the La Sallians’ class of ’82 at a well-known hotel. The turnout was very good, 25 tables of ten pax per table. Former students who now reside in different parts of the country and globe came together to celebrate with their former school principal, Datuk Brother Charles O’Leary, now a venerable 87 years of age, as the guest of honor.

There were four classes in the graduating class of 1982, 2 science classes and 2 arts classes. I was the form teacher of 5 Science II. All the four form teachers as well as subject teachers were invited and feted to a grand dinner. Dancers and a live band provided entertainment throughout the evening.

This function also gave their former teachers an opportunity to meet and renew friendships as we all have retired and no longer see one another.

These old boys have done their school and teachers proud. They donated a princely sum of two hundred thousand Ringgit to the school. They also presented to each of their teachers a Tissot wristwatch. We were most touched by their generosity and their remembering us.

What makes the teaching profession a satisfying vocation is the knowledge that the students have done well in life, are successful and they still remember their teachers. It makes a teacher very happy when former students, especially after having left school 30 years ago, come up to you and ask, “ Do you still remember us? You taught us.” Young boyish faces have now become middle-aged faces but they haven’t forgotten us.

Here is my class of '82 who were present last night.

All the forms had their photos taken together with their former form teachers.

Thank you class of ’82 for remembering your teachers. It was a great evening that will be remembered for a long time but some of us will not be around at your next reunion in five years’ time. Viva ’82!

An Unusual Pedicure in Shenzhen

We had an interesting experience in Shenzhen last weekend. My friend and I had been shopping and we couldn’t find the way back to our hotel. As we walked among the crowds we came across a small shop offering pedicure and manicure services for a small sum.  We decided to try it out.

No sooner had we sat down, soaking our feet in warm water when a middle-aged man came up and he checked my friend’s foot.  He offered to do “feet scraping”, i.e. scraping the dead skin from the soles of the feet for a sum. This is different from scrubbing which the nail salons do back home. They have a special tool which had a sharp blade.

Then after pressing her sole, he declared that she had three corns and these were causing her shoulder pains. He stressed that the removal of those corns will alleviate her shoulder pains and he could do it without causing any pain. This would cost extra money.  My friend decided to go for it.

As for me, my feet were attended to by a younger man.  He scraped the soles of my feet.  I didn’t have any corns but I had ingrown toe nails which were in fact causing me pain intermittently, depending on how far and how long I walked.  He said that he could remove the ingrown part of the toe nail and this would be painless.  Besides, the nail would not become ingrown again.

I was wary because I wasn’t sure that it wouldn’t cause pain or bleeding.  He said he would do one toe for me.  Indeed there was no pain and he did it very swiftly using a special cutting tool. I saw the part of the nail he had removed.  So I agreed to let him do both the big toes for me.  It was a tad expensive but I reckon it was worth it. Now my big toes no longer hurt when I press them and they are soft, not hard like before.

After that, he said I should have a small growth removed from the bottom of my right sole as it was the cause of numbness in my calf. I was surprised because indeed, my right calf often became numb. Since he had removed the ingrown part of the toe nails and I didn't feel any pain, I decided to have the growth removed. It has been a few days since I returned home and so far my right calf has not gone numb. Keeping my fingers crossed!

After this two women did the usual pedicure for us, trimming the nails and buffing them.  We declined to have the nails coated with nail colors.

When we finally got back to the hotel, my friend was astonished to find that indeed her shoulder pains had disappeared! She regretted not having done the other foot as the other shoulder still had some pain. Unfortunately we didn’t have the time to return to the shop as we had to go for dinner with the rest of the group.