Classmate

Had afternoon tea with SL. We did not see each other for 5 or 6 years, and I was too happy to have the opportunity to chat with my old friend again.

You know, the two of us have so many old stories to share. We were in the same class all through the six years of our secondary school study, and we were in the same volley ball team. (Difficult to believe I used to play volley ball, eh? But yes, I did. The more difficult thing to imagine is: Our department chairman used to be in the other team.)

SL and I continued to be classmates in the medical school and now, he is working in Australia as a consultant. (He comes back this time for a conference as well as to visit his parents.) His wife used to be a classmate of ours when we first entered the medical school, but she soon emigrated to Melbourne and continued her medical study in Monash.

(Since they were separated so early, their romantic story remains one of the most unexplainable incident that I have ever encountered.)

When we were final year medical students, we shared the same room in the hostel. I’m afraid the two of us were the least well off students in my class, because our room was probably the only one that did not have air conditioning. (Those were the days when medical students had to bought and set up their own air conditioner in the hostel.) Nevertheless, thanks to his endurance of my awkward living habit, I could do what I liked and had a most enjoyable year.