Sports Day!!

This year, I went back to my school for the Sports Day.

Our school welcomed us in a new garish orange coat, news about the headmaster leaving this school and more teachers joined this army while some gone.

Everything changed, yet everything unchanged.

Standing on the very field, somehow the atmosphere changed. Though they still do the same thing, ran, drill, set up stalls, I sensed temperature drop. Sports Day used to be carnival with boiling hubbub but now there are less people, less heat and less passion, even the lelong sounded powerless.

Is it because now I am a trespasser or the missing of team house decoration and mascot? We used to have all cute and creative mascots representing each team and amazingly decorated tent with various themes such as the Egypt Pyramid which I am looking forward to. I am really disappointed to see only plain tent with only some balloons. Well, I heard this is an order from our headmaster. He wanted the student to focus more on their studies.

But personally I think those wasted moments are what make Sports Day so special, skipping class to collect money, training after school, sweating under the sun for drilling practice, drawing those decoration and even stay till late night to this the last piece of decorations. Though I am not involved in Sports Day preparation, those vivid images are still in my mind. Crowds busy with piling T-shirts and beautifully painted polystyrene board that emit irritating odor. People are damn busy but also super energetic, in ecstasy. Though those pyramids only live for a day, it is worth it.

Pick up little conversation with our teachers. Standing in the same staff room, breathe in the super cool air con, it is like falling into the past in movies. The scene turns black and white with the same teacher sitting on the same place with the same position and maybe even chatting the same topic. I mean, I graduated, went to matriculation and graduated again, everything here is in their place. The almighty time doesn’t seem to have much effect here.

I managed to hit my target, talk to every teacher in my list. Hoho, my favorite teacher is still the same, maybe increase in weight? It is really quite warm to receive concerns from the teachers and exchange details of our recent life. I had to admit, it is quite tiring to answer same questions multiple times. But it is nice to hear about how my classmates doing, haven’t seen some of them for a long time.

A durian from the sky knocked our head. Our dearest teacher Miss Ting agreed to yumcha with us. She is going back to university, which means the very thing that keep attract me back to school are leaving too. Anyway, this is good for her, to start on another journey and maybe encounter her Mr. Right?

As usual, Sports Day is a reunion day for alumni and surprisingly this year, half of our class came back. I can’t help to notice how this one year sculpted us. They become more cheerful, more active, more mature and some aloof. They are talking about subjects that I don’t know, and the pressure. Sometimes I wish I knew how to help them but.....

I can’t press down the worries that bud in my mind, though now we met almost weekly, can we guarantee that all these difference will not tear us apart? I mean, I sensed the already, we live on different world, having new friends and distinctive topic. What will hold us together then?

Just like this school, when time flowed, more and more are leaving till one day, I can’t even find a familiar face in this place. New building rose while old trees chopped down, little is left for us.

Nevertheless, something will stay, just as our primary school sports day song, after 10, 20 or hopefully 50 years, we still sang with the same rhythm~前进吧，健儿们~