my first grade teacher

After almost thirty years, I got the chance to see my grade school teacher from Papua New Guinea…right here in Dubai!

As most of you may know, I was born in PNG and I spent my elementary school years there. Rabaul International Primary School was where I studied Grade 1 and 2, and I remember liking both of my class advisers.  Mrs. Clayton (as how we called her then) was really, very nice; I don't recall her ever shouting at me or my classmates, considering majority of them were boys.

I'm the really small girl on the extreme right of the front row

When I left for the Philippines, I never thought that I would see any of my teachers again. Since most of the people I knew were expats as well, it was highly unlikely that our paths would cross. But thanks to FB, my sister was able to connect with several of her classmates and former teachers, and found that Lorna (now Mrs. Elliott) was going to stopover Dubai during one of her travels.

So on Ate Ning’s birthday last 19th of October, we had dinner with Lorna and her husband in one of the restaurants in Souk Al Bahar. Of course we couldn’t help but recall our lives in Rabaul and talk about my former classmates and the other people we used to know. It was really great to see her again after all these years.