A Sleepover Meeting

“Some people arrive and make such a beautiful impact on your life, you can barely remember what life was like without them,” by Anna Taylor. A person can impact you in many ways. In Taiwan’s elementary school, we have the same homeroom teacher every two years. I met a person who opened my horizons after four years in elementary school. Before I got up to 5th grade, I think school really is just for fun and meet some new friends, nothing more. However, everything changes after I met this teacher who name is “Chen Bo Han.” Ever since then, my view changed. He broadens my scope of mind, my knowledge, my habit, and my vision to the world; he is more than just a homeroom teacher, he is also my coach and my mentor.

After I moved all my stuff to my new classroom, 508, when I got up to 5th grade. The bell ring, I sat in the classroom and met my new classmates; then I saw a person who sat behind our classroom and says nothing, just sat over there. After 20 minutes, he finally stood up and passed me towards the dais. He said, “Hello everyone, my name is ‘Chen Bo Han,’ and I am not your teacher,” I start to wonder if he is not our teacher, then who else is? Then he said, “I am your friend, but I also teach math classes and computer classes.” He paused for a minute and said, “you guys are here to gain knowledge, not to get restrained by school rules. We all have something to learn from each other. Respect is like a two-way street, if you guys respect me, I will also respect you guys; but if you guys don’t, do not expect me to respect you as well.” he said solemnly. That was the first time we met, which is also the beginning of my story.

Mr. Chen is that kind of person with 5% body fat, he is fit, muscular, stripping, strong, and he played boxing when he was teaching us. Due to that, he wants us to have a regular basis on the exercise by telling us to run the track for getting some points, the one who has the highest points in the month can exchange for a gift. Most of our class run every day just to get the points. One day in November 2007, Mr. Chen asked us, “Since you guys run so much, why don’t you guys go play baseball?” We did not take it seriously so we kind of ignore him at that moment. Then the next thing we know was that he brought us some baseball gears after one or two weeks; we were so excited. Then after a couple more weeks, he told us that we are officially a school baseball team. Thanks for Mr. Chen, our class started the first baseball team in our elementary school. He taught us some skills, he trained us by himself, and he let us compete with other schools. His training was tough and rigid, but we have learned a lot from him. He gave us advice, he made us to find other weakness, and he taught us how important is “teamwork” all the times. Furthermore, we made it to the championship when we were 6th grade, and we were the 9th champion of New Taipei City. We are the first baseball team in our elementary school, and we just brought a trophy to our school, he was so proud of us.

In June 2009, we are about to graduated, Mr. Chen told us that he got approval from the principle to allow us to sleepover in our classroom before the graduation ceremony so we can have an unforgettable memory.

The day has come, we got home as soon as possible after school, we showered, we got everything we need for the sleepover, and we went back to school. That was the first time I am so exhilarated to go to school. After we gather together in our classroom, it was about 5 p.m., so we went to a restaurant to ate dinner; then we went back, it was about 7: 30 p.m. The gate was closed, so we went trough by the security desk. The school was full of people who were there to exercise before we left to eat dinner, but it was so empty after we went back. Right after we stepped into the building where our classroom was, Mr. Chen told us to gather together and make a circle around him in the middle of the sports field and sat down. We walked to the sport field and sat down, I can feel the grass was cold; even in a summer night. After we sat down, he started by saying, “I am really grateful to have you guys as my student. I don’t know whether you guys still remember the day we first met or not, I told you that I will be your friend. Finally, we are going to be true friends after you guys graduated, because we no longer will be teacher and students; we will just be friends.” I looked up to the dark sky with a few stars, thinking about everything that we have been through in this class.

“Don’t cry!” someone yelled, it was Huang Jen Yuan, the baseball leader; everyone laughed. Mr. Chen then passed something to each of us, it was a pink envelope. He said,

“This is your gift for graduation, a letter written by me to each of you guys.” I saw someone opened it up right away, some put it aside tried not to look at it, and some like me just staring at that envelope wondering what he had written for me. He asked, “do you guys want me to read it over here to you guys or you guys want to look at it by yourselves?”

“Right now,” most of us shout out, some stay quiet.

“Fine,” he said with the letter already opened in his hand, look like he had already known what we were about to say; we opened up the pink envelope, there were two typed green sheets of papers. He starts to read the first pages, “As you guys know, you guys are graduating soon. To be honest with you guys, I will miss you guys a lot. You guys are the best class I have ever taught. You guys are strong, loyal, kind, and most importantly, united. To me that I must admit that you guys have grown so fast, I am so proud of you guys. However, time is a cruel dude that want to separate us. You guys are going to junior high school, and I will be teaching a new class next semester. Nevertheless, remember the three keys that I gave it to you guys. First, be yourselves. Do not let other people tell you what you can do or what you cannot do. Second, be thankful. No matter how high you will fly or how low you will fall, remember those who helped you and make you ‘you.’ Third, do exercise. Exercise does not only make you stronger, yet it also makes you feel better and happy no matter you are in stress or dealing with some problems.” He paused for a bit, and I saw most of the girls and some of the boys were run over with tears already, me included; he looked at us, “You guys are also making me cry,” he whimpered. That was the first and the last time I saw tears in his eyes.

“We will also miss you a lot,” I shout out.

He chuckled, holding back his tears and continued reading, “Thinking about those things we have been through, the baseball trophy we won, the relay races we won, the events that we have been through. These are the memories that you guys will never forget, I am glad that I am a part of your memory. Yet I have something to tell each of you.” He started to call everyone to stand up by their class numbers and read the second part of the letter to each of us, no.1, no.2, no.3 … no.18; finally, it was my turn. I stood up, looking at his face. He said, “Kenneth, you have a good, kind, brave, generous, loyal, and adventurous heart. But remember, there will be no one that can help you forever. Although ‘failure is the mother of success,’ do not try those things that you know are wrong or not good. I believe that when you find your ambition or your true dream, you will eventually get what you want.” I sat down and said nothing, just thought on what he had said to me and what he had taught me so far.

After he had done reading for all our classmates, he called his wife over and bring a bag of tiny candles to it in front of each of us. He lighted them up and said, “Close your eyes,” we close our eyes, “first, think about the day we met, the day we won the trophy, the day we won the race, and every fights or argument you had with someone. It is just like the candle in your hand, it will disappear anyway. The past has passed, the world will keep moving, so should you.” He paused and continued. “Now, forget those things and open your eyes. Blow out the candle, meaning that you also forget those bad things.” Then we gather together to shout out our class slogan, “608, Yu Nei Tzuei Chiang” (608, the strongest class in the universe).

The next day, Mr. Chen woke us up at around 6:30 a.m., the classroom was so empty except our sleeping bag and our backpack. We cleaned up our classroom, it was ready for the next 508 to come in. We went home to change, get prepared, then we went back again with our parents to attend the graduation ceremony. During the ceremony, everyone in our class cried. “This time is really going to say goodbye to each other,” I murmured. We made promised that we will get together every year, we hugged, we cried, and we said goodbye.

Chen Bo Han, the best teacher I ever met, he is more than just a homeroom teacher, he is also a coach and a mentor to me. He is the one who guided me to see a different view of the world. He taught me many things that a teacher would not teach, he taught me to think out of the box, and he made me understand the true meaning of “the rules are made to be broken.” People should not follow every rule, if there is problem about the rule, find out and fixed it. He also taught me what is a school like, how learning can be so fun, and what my weakness was. Ever since then, I know what to do and what I should not do; most importantly, I found happiness in school. After I grew up, I only went back twice to see him, but I always been thinking about him. I really hope that I could still went back in time to experience the whole progress again.