Looking at the 30-second video of children in white school uniform across the screen, I could only cast a small smile as I reminisced the moments during my third phase of School Based Experience (SBE) week as a teacher trainee in a rural school somewhere situated in the land near the tip of Borneo. Up until this day, I could still remember it very clearly. That one particular moment. Closing my eyes, I found myself standing in front of class 2 Waja again.
"You can do it, right?" The person before me questioned again. It was the vice principal of the school. For a while, I just stayed quiet and looked straight at the small-sized person in disbelief. I was the relief teacher in 2 Waja when suddenly the person barged into the classroom to assign me as substitute teacher in another classes. During that time, I was already in my eighth class, substituting absent teachers one after another without taking a break. As I stared the person in front of me, I wanted to shout NO! but such impertinent behaviour would definitely get me into trouble. Upon hearing the news, my head spun while my feet throbbed painfully after standing for hours. Feeling reluctant and annoyed, I could only nod my head weakly while silently cursing in my mind. The person then left with a satisfied grin. I sighed as I felt the day seemed longer than usual. I mentally prayed to God for the day to come to an end.
But, as if the children in 2 Waja could sense my distress, one of them approached to me. "Are you okay, teacher?" A little boy asked me with a serious and concerned look on his face. "Should we sing and dance, teacher?" Another girl with lovely pigtails asked. Looking at the children around me, somehow their presence instantly washed away the unpleasant feelings inside. It was fascinating to witness that these children still had the energy to laugh, sing and dance when actually they themselves had to get up early and stuck in the school for hours in such a young age. I smiled to the fact that I was being comforted by these little ones. It was tiring indeed to be constantly in and out from one class to another without resting, but my heart swelled with happiness at the smiles of the children as they jumped around in excitement seeing me entering their class. As time went by, the person would still give new and unpredictable orders every day but from this experience, I think I kind of grew up a little bit. I learn that sometimes you just have to take a deep breath, accept things the way they are and move forward. In other words, suck it up and deal with it!