WHEN THE HUMANS RETREAT

A MEETING WITH A DIFFERENCE


The Humanities Department Teachers tried something different for their Mid Year June meeting. Instead of having it in school as we usually do, we headed towards Singapore Botanical Gardens on the morning of 26 June and had our reflective retreat there. I had not been to the gardens for a long time.

My last visit there was when Taman Serasi was still the hot spot for office workers to have their lunch and the evening crowd thronging there with families and fighting for places with the Glenagles Hospital visitors who dropped by after a visit at the hospital next to it. I remember having the best yong tau hu in town and snacking the roti john for tea. The satay was a real killer too and the mamak stall was a hit with the 'angmohs'. The father and son fresh juice stall was synonymous with Taman Serasi. Everyone would bound to order from them. Why do good things have to end? Now I could never find the same yong tau hu sold back then at Taman Serasi.

We started of with some internal reflections on how we could improve and strategise the department's plans and strategic thrusts. We played some games too to bring out teamwork spirit and finally strolled around the gardens, looking for designated locations to complete the reflective amazing race.

I happened to meet some colleagues who had retired from my former school that morning. That was truly unexpecting. The morning air was refreshing and the revisit to the gardens brought fond memories to me. I used to bring my two sons there when they were young. They would feed the swans and roll on the open green spaces.

After the debriefing and sharing of the learning points for the day, we thronged to Straits Kitchen @ Hyatt where we had booked ourselves for a well-deserved lunch.

We were spoilt for choices and dizzy by the well-spread of Northern Indian, Malay, Chinese and Peranakan dishes and not too mentioned the dessert to top your main meals. Since it is a Straits Kitchen, the dessert served are those you could mainly find in the olden days like love letters, banana fritters with gula melaka, kueh bangkit, pineapple tarts and chendol.

I gorged myself too much and my earlier plans to paint the town red and do some retail theraphy were thrown to the wind. I simply needed to go home and find my own retreat on my soft bed and lulled by the soft June breeze peeking thorugh my organza curtains.