I did make it, last Sunday. I was going to take the subway there, as people mostly do nowadays in Taipei, but then I decided to take the bus instead--that same old bus line (#208) that used to take me to school for my 3 senior high years. It still ran the same route, but with much nicer vehicle, much less crowd, and a stop a few hundred feet off the old spot where I used to get off.
Right after I walked into the school, I met a couple of welcome stands manned by today's high-schoolers, respectfully instructing us elders to where the celebration party was, a 5-story building I didn't recall seeing when I was attending the school.
All seats of about 50 round tables were pre-assigned. One quick glance at the seating plan and Bingo! I knew I was the only person from my class (we had a total of 26 classes graduating in the same year) who came today.
I was early, so I sat at my table and waited. All of a sudden a guy in red shirt approached me. Surprise! He was an old college friend of mine who also went to the same high school. We had some larky happy catch-up before he had to rush back to his own table.
All the rest of my table mates had arrived by now. I chatted with one sitting next to me. A few exchanges later, I learned he was a doctor and we actually shared a few common friends that were either his classmates in high school and mine in college, or mine in high school and his in college, or some of my classmates who became doctors and he knew them through the medical profession, etc, etc... The intricacy and power of Mark Zuckerberg's "social graph" many times manifested.
The majority of people at our table were a group of 7 who came from the same class (they had been in touch before they decided to come to the event), and once I mentioned the name of the junior high school (再興) I went to, they said one of their close classmates (who didn't come today) was from that school too so we kind of connected right there.
Sitting across the table from me was one of those larger-than-life "celeb kids" during our high school years, in this case an openly gay boy at a time when homosexuality was a societal no-no and looked down upon by many if not all. Though we had never met before, I initiated a conversation with him asking how he'd been doing since graduation. He said he had been involved with gay rights and HIV/AIDS prevention movements all these years, but not too much into the current legislative fight for same-sex marriage that's been the talk of the town these days in Taiwan. For what reason, I didn't ask... passing the baton to the next generation, perhaps, judging from the soft, mellow tone I heard from him speaking.
It was a celebration not only for us 40-year returnees, but also for those who graduated 30, 35, 45, 50, 55, and 60 years ago. The guests of honor included the former president and a congressman of the country, both alums themselves. There were also musical performances and magic shows, singing and dancing and photo taking... all the fanfare, along side a delicious banquet lunch.
Not bad for a Sunday morning.
The former president making speech on stage. He seemed a much happier man than when he was president, from what I saw.
Each holding sign showing the class they belonged to. Like many there, I was the sole representative for my class.
On an outing with my high school classmates, when I was 17, going on 18.
No comments:
Post a Comment