Basics

Ok. You've just finished with all the speeches by the principals and other teaching staff, is feeling relatively excited for Sec 1 Orientation Camp and starting lessons. But basics never fail to amaze. Here's the usual nitty gritty stuff...

1) Uniform.

The uniform of St. Nicks is

1) Almost identical to all IJ schools
2) Extremely cool.

All CHIJ schools have the same dark blue pinafore and white blouse, so if you ever spot a girl wearing uniform like yours, she may or may not be a fellow St. Nicks girl. It has some catches, though. When wearing your uniform, always pull the blouse down, straighten it at the back, and check occasionally in School that the back's not crumpled up. When you raise your hands or bend down, the blouse will get pulled up, and will thus...rumple up. It looks really weird from the back, so, always check! (refer to the following paragraph on how to unrumple your blouse)

Shorts. It is highly advisable for you to wear shorts underneath. It doesn't have to be School PE shorts. Home shorts will do. When overexcited, you'll find yourself in circumstances where your skirt will fly up or a certain sitting position will reveal the colour of your _____ to everyone. Shorts. The best choice. And it makes pulling down your blouse easier too! Just lift up your pinafore, reach for your blouse and tug it down.

Don't buy pinafores too long either! If it's too long, the belt will seem really really high, and that makes you look...weird, too! If you have a problem with high belts, try pushing the belt down a little. Don't detach the belt completely from the waist, though. It's against the school rules and won't look good on you! :)

Collar button. It comes unbuttoned if you're not careful, so always button it. Besides, if you don't, and it opens wider, people will be able to see your bra. O_O And don't purposely unbutton! Dood, like low belts, unbuttoned collars are a no-no! :) (Yes, you won't look good in it too.)

For those whose primary school uniforms are not pinafores, better be warned. Do not attempt to put more than your wallet and handphone in our enormously large pinafore pockets! If it's too heavy, the whole pinafore will just slant to one side. It looks really...ah...bad. For recess, a wallet should be sufficient. Leave the phones in class.

School socks. Ah. It is in the student diary that the initials SNG must be clearly seen above the shoe. So you either 1) Buy low cut shoes or 2) Buy higher socks instead of the normal ankle SNG socks. When the counsellors arrive to do the daily discipline morning check, if you don't wanna be pointed out, just pull up your socks. (literally) You won't get booked for low socks, but it doesn't feel nice when you're tapped on your shoulder every morning to pull 'em up.

Name tags. Hm, for Sec Ones, you usually won't get your real name badges until after a while, so you'll be using the transparent plastic name tag thing. We all hated it, and took it off immediately after school was let out. (As a result, I crushed mine on the bus cos I sat on it accidentally, but you really don't need to know about that). So, if you don't want to look obiang and weird, just take it out, but REMEMBER TO WEAR THEM THE NEXT DAY, DURING MORNING ASSEMBLY. Cos if you don't, you'll need to buy a new one for one dollar.

PE attire. You don't really have to tuck in your PE attire, only during PE lessons, when the teachers are screaming at everyone to tuck in. If you're wearing them before PE, you can tuck them out. (Even though it's against the rules and everything, but, hey, that's just a minor offense compared to letting everyone see your bra cos of an unbuttoned collar!)

*btw, we think it is rather unfair for the PE uniform to be scorned upon just cos it's white and plain. I mean, how many white and plain PE uniforms can you find nowadays without a corny House name and stained with all sorts of different House colours? St. Nicks PE attire looks great. You'll learn to like it. Plus, that School crest at the front is blazing and bursting forth from the white cotton material, it's so magnificent, you want to keep looking at it.*

2) Getting around the School

St. Nicks is...rather confusing in its layout. To go up, you have to come down first. It'll take you some time to figure out the short cuts, it took me months, so don't worry. Just keep clinging on to your PSLs, and if you're lost, try looking for the field, cos it's big, green, and you can't miss it. And directly behind the fields are your classrooms. :)

3) Canteen food

We HIGHLY RECOMMEND Orange Bowl. It's the first stall from the left, and it's easy to spot cos the line is always the longest there. It's a St. Nicks tradition. My sister graduated from there eleven years ago and still knows about it. Do not request chilli if you're not the chilli person, cos Orange Bowl chilli is rather strong. But since it's always such a long que, me and my buddy don't usually eat Orange Bowl. We head to the back of the canteen, where there is another row of stalls, and go for the GREEN COLOURED PLATES stall. They sell the best chicken rice there, and their chilli goes just right with a cup of iced milo/tea/ice lemon tea from the drink stall. The WESTERN FOOD STALL is alright too, located just beside the Green Plates Stall. The writer and her buddy gorge on their unhealthy fried rice and pizza and coleshaw when we're feeling pretty stressed out from the morning lessons. Trust me, Western Food is great if you feel you need some supplement support.

Stalls to avoid: We don't want to make any of our kind canteen stall holders lose their business, so we're not mentioning any names. Just look out for those stalls that generally doesn't have a lot of que, but I'd say go try their food anyway. They might be to your liking, after all.

And, oh yes, all St. Nicks staff, non-teaching or not, are friendly and kind and loving. The aunties and uncles all treat the girls as people they must protect and care for, likewise to the canteen staff. Their food might not be satisfactory, but boy, they deserve the Gems award. Do not bully them and treat them disrespectfully, saying thank you after they give you your change doesn't hurt, and if an uncle takes the plate from you to put inside his dish trolley for washing, say thanks too. Smile. And when putting your plates back into the dish bins, put down gently, we don't want any broken plates in St. Nicks.

As mentioned above, there are Dish Bins for us to put our plates back into after we finish eating. The stalls at the front of the canteen have their bins located on the right, and if you bought food from the stalls at the back of the canteen, (if you face the back of the canteen) their bins will be on your left. All drink cups should be returned to the Drinks Stall. They have their Cup Bin there.

4) Weather

When it rains during School, the long, unsheltered bridge linking the Primary block and the Secondary block will be closed. Just go down one level of stairs and then you'll be able to cross towards the other side, sheltered. Always keep an umbrella in your bag, because there isn't any shelter sheltering all St. Nicholas exits. (not that I know of.) Definitely not the main ones like the Street 13 gate (which is the long stretch of gravel leading out from the Father Barre security desk), and the Avenue 2 gate (which is the gate leading out from the field)

5) If you happen to be sorted into one of the classes whose back doors face out to this glorious, steep slope of grass, you'll find out that if you just climb very cautiously all the way up the very steep slope, it'll grant you immediate access to the canteen. But, I caution, never, ever attempt to climb up the slope after rainy days. You will never make it up without slipping and getting mud all over your white school shoes. My buddy herself experienced this when she attempted to run down from the top of the slop, and ended up slipping on a mud patch. (to my buddy: ;) ) So, it's dangerous. And, in front of the hall, with the primary kids' playground, there's a rather steep green slope too. Running down from it is tempting, but inertia builds up and you might crash into a wall, or have your feet slap into a puddle of concealed mud water. Be safe. Take the stairs like everyone else does. :)

And oh, there might be snails on the green grass slopes after rainy days, you wouldn't want to step on one!

Alright then. These are just the basics. I'll come up with more when I can think of it. Like how you might want to avoid sweating too much before mid-morning lessons start. Cos you won't be able to concentrate. :) And how to sleep discretely in class!! :)

May the wind rise under your wings,

St Nicks Girl (1)