Hello everyone, today me and a couple of friends got our first taste of vodka... *hick*

Thats cos today we all went to our Chen lao shi's house to go bai nian. Can't see the linkage? Haha... Let me explain.

It had all started out like this. Chen lao shi, our TMS sec 3 chinese teacher, had contacted my friend, Shu Yu (TJ) and asked her to invite us all the HCL ppl to her house for the new year chu er. So naturally, some of us made ourselves free and we all trooped down to her house. Duh. Like Chen lao shi's this really kind, friendly patient teacher we all like. We all missed her a lot, so we gladly came over with oranges. (I forgot mine, damn, had to share with Cel).

So I met Cel and Shu Yu at the bus stop, and we proceeded to wait for Seng Long, Kevin and Hong Keat. She lives near TMS, just 2 stops down on bus 229. When everyone arrived, we walked over to Tanah Merah Mansions and waved to the security guard to let us in through the side gate. "Mrs Tan, is it?" Yah, we all replied. I had this sinking feeling we were one of many who came that day.

Boy was I right. When we arrived on the third floor the door was open and the flloor in front of it was covered with pairs upon pairs of shoes! She recieved us at the door, and we sat on her sofa, a lovely chinese rosewood set. Her house was like this mish-mash of East versus West, very nice. There was even this minature pond at the balcony, with an odd guppy or 2 swimming around in it. A grand old granfather's clock cum showcase chimed every half-hour and the place was packed with ppl.

All students! It was scary. Some of them had even brought their children along. There was one guy who had been visiting since 1963! He had achieved gold member status, he joked to us. As we entered the house, some of the other former students stared at us, and asked us our year. We were the youngest so far, graduated 2002.

Not for long. After that, some of our juniors came in, former TMS and former TMS/TJCians. They all settled down around the huge dining table. To our surprise, Chen lao shi started carrying out small bottles of liquid. I had thought it was some iced tea or smth, but it turned out to be alcohol! She even pushed aside a rolling door cabinet, and it was chock full of liquor of various types from ceiling to floor.

Later on, Chen lao shi's husband, which looked a little drunk, came over and offered us beer. We politely declined, but he walked off and came back with 3 cans. Planting them in front of the 3 guys, he urged them to drink.

Kevin was expressionless, Hong Keat looked scared, and Seng Long looked surprised. I was reminded of the 3 monkeys: Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. All of us gals were, simply, amused. Haha... :)

In the end, brave Hong Keat took the first sip, followed by the rest. We were all cheering Hong Keat on, jia you! I was screaming, " Hong Keat, jia you, wo men yong yuan zi chi ni! " After that, we found out that the beer had expired in 2002. But, the guys were still all right, so we forgot about it.

Cel wasn't too bad either. She drank quite a bit too, among us gals. Later on, especially, when Chen lao shi came over with 2 bottles of vodka. She explained that her whole family drank a lot, and that this was really quite normal. Cel was interested, and after trying the blue grain vodka, she went on to the pink peach vodka. However, my favourite was the mudshake one, the chocolate milk-vodka fusion that came later. We all drank a little at a time, in glasses. However, ithe vodka starts to burn down your throat and belly after a few sips. Even though it was only 5%, it was really strong. I understand why the Russians drink it for winter, it really makes you sweat after that. Whew.

However, I kept pointing out to Cel and Shu Yu how red-in-the-face our juniors were getting. According to Cel, instead of sipping glasses, they guzzled bottles! One of them threw up after that, I think. Poor gal.

We also got to explore her house, namely the kitchen and the guest-room. We even saw this cute terrier that she kept locked up in the back. She had too, she said. It was male and kept peeing all over to mark its territory. Ugh. Seeing the guest room, Cel thought up the idea of thonting at her her house during the holidays. We'd all squeeze in the guest room.

After talking with her for a while, we left, promising to come again next year.

Well, that's it. Gotta go and sleep. SATs tomorrow, yuppie.