firsts' forever

I entered my first kindergarten in my thirtieth year. When I was of the age to attend kindergartens, I refused to attend any.

My brother is about two years older than me. When I was of the age to attend pre-school, he was in his first grade. I vehemently opposed the humiliation of attending a school in the neighbourhood when my brother had the privilege of travelling to school by bus. Even before I knew my ABCs, I told my parents I want to go to a school that needs travelling by bus. So I did.

I still travel to school by bus. Only on Monday mornings do I take my express mode of transport - the Ha Noi xe-om (motorbike taxi).

To be precise, this is not a school. It is a kindergarten. It caters to Vietnamese kids and I am the English teacher to the toddly-wobbly curious batch of 2 to 5 year olds.

The batch is magnificent in more ways than one. The youngest ones can barely walk but will always charge forward for the high-fives at the end of the class. The elder kids are jealous when a younger kid manages to attend the entire English class while sitting on my lap. They discipline each other, fight with each other and the next thing you know - they are charging towards the teacher with the welcome pin-her-to-the-wall focus.

When I joined as a kindergarten English teacher, I didn't know what to expect from the job. The last thing was to expect finding the possible vocation of a lifetime. There are truly firsts' for everything. The joy of finding a job that makes you happy is possibly the rarest of its kind.