Ah, big big St. Nicks

I am back again. Boy, I'm dedicating more time to this blog than my own blog! Wrapped most of my books next year in plastic this morning, took me three tries to perfect book-wrapping, then I still had to get down to reading (browsing) a few chapters of History, Geography and one miserable chapter of Science. (Acids and Alkali.) Thus explains my tardy appearance on cyberspace this day.

Venues of St. Nicks

I'm gonna outline most of the places in School.

1) Classroom. Some classrooms are smaller/bigger than the others, but it's gonna be your home for one year, so treasure it. St. Nicks has green boards instead of white boards in some rooms, so you don't use regular markers on green boards. You will be supplied with special green board markers, and every time the ink runs out (say, three to four days), somebody will have to bring it up to the office to get refills. Green board markers tend to leak when you hold it the wrong way, and is oily to the touch, so try not to wipe the green board with your bare hands. Green board marker ink, when left on the green board for long, tends to stay there forever. So make sure somebody wipes it with a piece of WET cloth (dry ones won't work) at the end of the day. :D

Your personal desk is made of gray plastic. If you are ever sorted into One Truth (that was our class), you'll find that most of the desks have been vandalized on with personal doodles and "Whoever was here at 9 am"s. I have never vandalized a single desk in all six years of Primary school, but once the St. Nicks madness set in on me, I vandalized CASUALLY, only if I feel particularly distressed, and write random stuff on it in extremely light pen ink. :D If you happen to get a heavily vandalized desk, you can spend hours poring over it looking at past vandalisms. Your tiny little desk space beneath your desk is made to hold all sorts of rubbish and textbooks. Generally, you can leave your D n T textbook and sketchbook, History textbook, Geography textbook, pieces of scrap paper and newspapers. (you will be issued an issue of Straits Times every Monday, which will be used during your English lessons.)

Try to tidy up your desk every few weeks, because some pieces of important paper might get crumpled or torn in the mess, and you'll have difficulty finding the things you need. When you have homework that requires a particular textbook, always write a note in your diary reminding yourself to bring it home, or else you'll have big trouble when you find that you left the text in class. Especially maths. You'll be using your Maths textbook for most of your homework.

As for those heavy bulky files, it's best to transfer them to school one by one, then put them on the floor vertically, leaning against your desk leg. Make sure you don't step on it, though. If you're going to put stuff in the lockers behind your class, be prepared for dirty cubicles (spider webs, mysterious droppings of some insect etc. But don't get grossed out!) It also doesn't have a reliable lock system, so you'll have to bring your own lock. :D

You're allowed to stay in the classrooms even after school's over, you can skip lunch, do anything. (I love skipping lunch and doing my homework/reading in class. It was pretty anti-social, but it's much more productive that way. :D) But all classrooms will be locked at 4.30, so you've got to leave before then.

Eating in class. Basically, eating is prohibited in everywhere except the canteen. But we cannot find the time to sit down and eat a proper meal when we have a project due in two hours' time. (last minute work ;) ) So the trick to eating in class is, buy hand food (etc. burgers or bread from the Toast Stall) and sneak them into class. Try not to eat in full view of everyone. Hide behind a wall or sit down inconspicuosly at your desk. Getting caught by a teacher or the vice principal herself (We all love Ms. Goh. She takes daily walks around the school observing lessons and even during recess time. She's a really good vice principal) is bad trouble. So, unless you can't help it, always eat in the canteen. Besides, you don't want to dirty your classroom, do ya?

2) Toilets. There are toilets everywhere in St. Nicks, but there aren't a lot of male toilets. Toilets in the Secondary block will be locked shortly after lessons end. The canteen toilet isn't exactly the cleanest toilet in the school. If you want a clean toilet, try the Gym toilet. (The gym is at the top level of the school, one level above the canteen.)

3) Canteen. I don't know about you, but the canteen in my primary school was located on the ground floor. The canteen of St. Nicks, however, is rather high up. If you stand at the railings, you'll be overlooking the St. Nicks field, and feel the warm morning breeze against your face, watch the older girls' PE lessons going on as you slowly lick your ice cream. The whole canteen is also decorated with oriental tiles, and overhanging some parts of it are entwined dried flowers. It's very kitchenly and homely. :D On Monday to Thursday, Sec Ones and Sec Twos will have the earlier recess period. Sec Threes and Fours will be slotted into the later one. On Fridays, the whole Secondary cohort will have recess together, and the usual 45 minutes for recess will be lengthened to one hour. So we'll have one hour recess on Fridays. :D But there usually aren't a lot of seats in the Canteen on Friday, so sometimes you'll have to resort to eating standing up. (That's really the worst extreme, but I've done it around twice. :D)

4) Library. Ah, silence. To borrow books in St. Nicks, you have to produce your Ez-link card. We aren't supposed to use the book drop unless the library is closed or it's during the holidays, so you have to give your book to the student in charge of the library counter. (Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, Library is a CCA too.) For every day you're late returning a book, the library charges ten cents. So five days late=50 cents. There're also tables in the library for us to study and stuff, but there's one corner with a long, glass table with cushioned seats. That's the TEACHER'S CORNER. Do not ever sit there. I was studying by myself during the second month of school, I think, and then this teacher came up to me and said "Excuse me, this is the teacher's corner." I was darn humiliated, packed up and decided never to study in the library again. Computers are open for all to use, just sign yourself in at the library counter and you're good to go.

I find that there aren't any more places with rules, spoken or unspoken, left to talk about, save for the various labs and studios, but you'll be briefed on them more aptly by your subject teachers...We should move on.

As always, any queries or opinions, shoot our dear taggy. If you wanna know more about various venues in St. Nicks, just ask. :D

Cheers!

St Nicks Girl (1)