nothing as dramatic as friday has happened to me before....
4th July 2008 (Friday) 5.30pm i received yen's call that she will be late for our ladies nite out...cos one student from dac is lost...n i thot he was from the afternoon session....untill my admin reminded me he is from morning session and was dismissed from school at 1pm!! he had just started taking his own transport home for less than a month....yen was training him to take bus on his own....from dac he shld take bus 2 directly to home....but he was missing for almost 4 hours already! so i started panicking and called siti if they needed help...
6.00pm din want to alert my staff as they were all going for courses from 7-9pm...but before i could realise it, the admin has alerted all of them...so all of us were discussing where to split up to look for him....places where he went for outing, chinatown, ps, paya lebar, changi airport, tampines mall...places near his hse at lavendar...so aljunied, geylang, serangoon....n with only 15 of us....who many places can we split to?? n each place is so big!
6.15pm ferst piece of good news...yen managed to call him via his hp...n as drama as it can be, he only managed to say he is in serangoon before the line was cut off....goodness gracious me....but at least dat narrows down our search places in the hope that he was accurate in saying he was at serangoon....still, serangoon is huge!! boss suggested broadcasting it on 933 since we are adopted by them....but the dad refused....dad has made a police report....
6.20pm 4 of my staff went by angela's car to serangoon and mi, yh and clara ran all the way to changi hospital to take cab....we literally ran like mad women...haa....n when we hopped on, we had no idea which part of serangoon to go...so uncle suggested just drop off at the 2nd hand goods bazaar opp sim lim...."dun go into the small streets ar....v dangerous...got perverts".....yar.....poof...browsed through the bazaar....lots of men...old men, bangla....felt out of place...flashbacked those drama scenes where the actress/actor will look all around dat street to look for a missing someone...n i felt like i was the actress....looking out for a 22-yr-old guy in white t-shirt....gosh....it reali isnt making tings easier...
7.00pm we had walked to little india....combed all the streets, passed by the strong scented shops, n so mani indians there....searched at mustafa too...haven been there ever since when i was v young...n after dat imh visit i haf phobia of meeting dat guy there man....now no choice haf to go in....heck....no news....phone was unusally quiet...before dat we were calling each other to update our whereabouts....hmm..dinner time...mabbe we should look out for eateries or fast food restaurants....cos he'll probably be hungry liao....
7.30pm combed farrer park nel stn....no RW in sight....haiz....we r getting disheartened liao....cos so dark liao....n he has been lost for 6+ hours....called siti to ask wad's the plan now...there was a comm breakdown where most staff is gg down chinatown....onli 3 of us at farrer park....so i told siti...just give instructions...u'll be the main contact person...it's too confusing taking instructions from everyone....so the plan was....we'll split up n cover every nel station from little india to hougang....since we have combed little india and farrer park, the next one was boon keng...so we headed there...
7.45pm we were hungry n clara kept complaining that she needs to eat else she'll faint...haiz...com'on lar...who's not hungry n tired?? but the longer time we take, the longer time he'll be lost and the lesser chance we'll have of finding him! we looked arnd the stretch of shops near the station...it was getting real dark.....the possiblity of finding him is very slim now....unless he runs into big troubles so much so dat pple report it to police.....his hp cld haf been snatched away....or if he ends up in geylang red light district, dunno wad will happen.....
i decided to go look under the blocks of flats in case he is resting at the void decks or basketball courts....i walked one big round alone.....i guess i walked the perimeter of boon keng....stretching to bendemeer n towner man....blister....yh called me to ask where i was....must admit i quite daring leh....i dun even noe boon keng well n i'm walking alone on the streets....so she said meet them at nel station....ok lor...made my wae there....poof...damn tired liao....
8.30pm "hey siti, we've covered boon keng as well oreadi...where else?" n we were discussing where to go, wad to do next....according to the plan, we were to abort the search if it reaches 9pm....cos we cant search forever....it was realli like hai2 di3 lao1 zhen1....plus he probably is not going to be stationary....he'll probably be walking around....even if we haf walked around the estate, it doesnt mean dat he will not be there.....poof....
8.45pm just as we were in despair, n i was still on the phone wif siti, suddenly i was shocked n stumped by words....all i could do was just point excitedly at the escalator going down to the station....n it was only after a few sec that i screamed out his name, "RW!!!" my 2 colleagues turned round n we quickly surrounded him screaming in joy!!! n over at the other side of the phone, siti, sheila n all were screaming too!!!! i looked at him n was nearly in tears....he was stunned...probably who's this lady? cos i've only met him once at dac...so did yh...he probably only noes clara...."are you lost, RW?" "LOST!" he said in a loud booming voice.....i quickly called boss n tell him we've found him....he was driving around chinatown to look for him too....unexpected huh...boss leh....i noe my boss is a kind soul la...haa...the other staff cannot believe it..haa...
8.50pm quickly brot him to kfc to have dnr.....poor ting....drank up his water....n had nth except his haversack n ez link card....phone no batt....was perspiring all over....he was shivering as he ate....fer a moment he stared at me....it was intense eye contact that i din noe wad it meant....he probably wasnt able to express his feelings.....he can answer one word answers, but definitely unable to approach pple fer help...after a while, siti's group reached, followed by john, followed by the dad n uncles, then angela's group.....we were all so excited n it reali was like the amazing race....n my team reached ferst....haa....it really felt good yet incredible!! even till now, i'm finding it super unbelievable.....never man....the chance is slimmer than winning the 1 million toto or big sweep man....it was realli the right place at the right time wif the right eye.....must admit i reali haf sharp eyes....haa.....
dad kept thanking all of us....i guess he was scared stiff man....even i who aint even his direct teacher felt the shudders....how can he not?? dad was surprised dat i onli saw RW once too...haa....cos he said like never see us before....heh.....
boss declared all those who participated in the race gets an extra day for annual leave! yippee!! plus $150 bucks fer dnr cos all of us haven eaten....
realli touched to see that team spirit actualli exists here....15 teachers and therapists, 1 boss, 1 dad, 2 uncles all looking fer tis one boy....singapore aint small when it comes to looking fer a person! n dat my staff actualli sacrificed their time to look for him....(mabbe cos dey dun wan to go fer the course too lar..haa...) okie...shall not doubt their sincerity....heh....we r all passionate n concerned about our students...dat's one ting fer sure.....
i'm still bubbling wif excitement till tis very minute i'm typing tis....it's realli a lifetime experience not mani will get....n i reali treasure it....=]
so all of us went to clarke quay fer dnr at 10am....n spent 300+ for dnr man...gosh...wae exceeded the 150 bucks...haa...obviously....then some of us went over to amara hotel for the ladies nite...heh...but we had a man wif us lar...heh...mr kelvin....he driver leh....wah...the club there was fer salsa dance one....so out of place....so mani pple spinning around in the room...make me giddy.....we did our own style of dance...haa....the rest all so pro...but heck lar....siti even went in her phua chu kang-saac t-shirt...haa...best....drink was free....entrance was just a dollar...haa....reached home at 2.30pm man....dead beat....
it was realli a fruitful dae even tho class has horrible todae in sch....poof....but nth can steal the limelight of me finding RW....it was reali like a dream.....shared the story wif my family n i tink mum was a little in tears too...cos it reminded her of losing me when i was young at the big bookshop....haa....i was a typical kid lor....RW's not.....
