ADD YOUR MEMORIES , COMMENTS AND THOUGHTS AND CONVERSE WITH OLD FRIENDS.. HERE

TO WRITE IN THIS BLOG, CLICK THE "NEW POST" LINK IN THE UPPER RIGHT HAND CORNER OF THIS PAGE (MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR OWN FREE GMAIL ACCOUNT AND ARE LOGGED IN.) A flurry of emails have been exchanged recently. Many of them contain memories of our days at Yuet Wah, the teachers and priests who taught us and life in Macau over 40 years ago. As you look back at the past please use this space to jot down your recollections and thoughts. Or use this space to converse with friends. It might revive old experiences we all shared but have long forgotten.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

May 29, 2007

Hi Keith

Getting the photos of everyone at Yuet Wah motivated me hunt up the diary that I kept while I was in Macau.
I looked up todays' date and here's what I wrote back in this day on May 29, 1961 when we were all in Form III at Yuet Wah.

"Mr. Victal got mad in class today because some of the boys behind the "38th parallel" were talking while he was giving his lessons.
He walked out of the classroom and stayed outside our window. He came in some time later and threatened to go down to Fr. Rubini and lodge a complaint if the boy who was talking didn't volunteer to go to the blackboard and write down the lesson as punishment.
He counted to ten.
When he got to ten and no one confessed he stormed out of the room again.
Shortly he came back in and gave us all "one final warning."
At last Lo Wing Yu (number 21) stood up to confess. He confessed but showed no remorse."

Thought it might bring back some old memories

Ernie

6 comments:

Hamster said...

Hi Ernie,

I am glad that you have me in your diary.....46 years ago. I wasn't a bad student but could be a little naughty. It's great to hear from you and wish that you can be at one of our "Re-union" events in the future. My son and his family lives in Los Angles. I am a grandfather since last August. I normally will visit them once to twice a year and hope that I can catch up with you even earlier.

I've been in the airline business since 1966 (41 years now)....first with Pan Am, than United and now Continental. You and Frank are always in my thoughts. Take care and stay in touch.

As ever,

Stephen (Lo Wing Yiu).

Hamster said...

Hi Stephen
I certainly do remember you well. Hard to believe that a lot of you guys are grandfather's already. My daughter isn't even married yet so I have a few years to go before I can call myself "grandpa".

I don't recall the incident between you and Mr. Victal that I wrote in my diary. Did it ring a bell with you?
Looking through my diary I notice that the priests or teachers were usually mad at us for something.
Do you recall that everytime a teacher would come into our classroom to begin a new lesson we would always say a "Hail Mary".
One day (when we were all in Form 4) Fr. Kirkland (the Dutch priest) came in to begin his social studies lesson . He strode into the room, put his books down on his desk, crossed himself and started to say the Hail Mary. The room hadn't quite settled down and a lot of us were still talking to one another...he was standing there practically praying by himself.
All of a sudden his Hail Mary started to get very very loud ...and his tone started to sound very very angry
Without a pause he switched from an angry " Hail Mary" to shouting at us in Chinese (most of the priest spoke fluent Cantonese I recall). I don't know what he said because I couldn't understand Cantonese...but you could tell he was hopping mad.
The room got quiet really fast.
That was the only time I ever saw Fr. Kirkland lose his temper.

Do you ever make it up to Northern California...the San Francisco area??? Frank and I are not far away. He's actually closer to SF than I am. If you come up this way, let me know. I'd like to see you again. I'm guessing that you can probably fly almost anywhere for free

Ernie Geefay

Hamster said...

This is Paul Chiu, the guy in the picture taken at the recent gathering in Macau.
You may recognize me as the person on the far right.
I do remember the 2 Geefay(s), and still do not understand how you got that family name.
Now I have to come to SF to find out.
I shall be in San Francisco together with my brother Peter, from the 8th June.
It would be wonderful if we can find time , say on the 9th or 10th to meet up with you & Frank.

Best regards,

Paul

Hamster said...

Hi Paul
How could I forget you. You taught me all those nasty Portuguese words. I still remember one or two of them (though I won't repeat)

As for our family name, the short story is that when my father opened up his business in Chicago back in the 1940's he changed his name so it wouldn't sound so Asian. Back then there was a lot of racial prejudice. His name was Gee Ying Fay. So you can see how he put together our family name.
Proudly, we are the only people with that family name. I've never seen it anywhere else

It would be absolutely great to see both of you again!!
I'll let Frank know.

I will be filming a job on the 8th. And then my wife and I will be going to Lake Tahoe on the 9th and 10th at a friends cabin.
But tell me what your plans are. How long will you be in the area? Where will you be staying. What days are you free? Are you traveling for business or pleasure? Just you two or with family too?
I am self employed so I have a lot of flexibility in my schedule as long as I am not actually doing any filming. Let me know your schedule and I'll figure something out.

Frank is at his office in Colorado during the weekdays and comes home Friday-Sunday
It would be great to see you again.

I can still recognize your face from the recent photos.
At least I recognize you , Paul. I don't know if Peter was in any of those pictures.

So good to hear from all of you after so many years.

Ernie Geefay

Hamster said...

Ernie,

You have no idea how valuable your diary is to us. It is like a period of history in a time capsule. If possible, & in your convenience,
pls compile your diary notes & share them with the rest of your old classmates. It was a chance of luck that someone like you would take the time to write a diary about the daily events at school. The best part is that you have preserved your diary all these years. I do understand that it is going to be a lot of work for you. It is up to your discretion to share what is comfortable to you.
I know it is a big order to fill, but I am sure your classmates will certainly appreciate your generosity of sharing a piece of history which otherwise would have been forgotten forever.

Regards,

Peter Chiu

P.S. I am confident that somewhere in your diary you had a description of me as a ` model student ' & not a rebel.

Hamster said...

Hi Peter
How are you!!! I remember both you and your brother well. I think I may be confusing you and your brother. Paul the one in our class, right?? I think you were in another class because you were younger.

I would certainly love to get together with all my old classmates one of these days.
I make a trip to Thailand every year or so since my wife is from Thailand and has family there.
We are thinking of retiring in Thailand in a few years and bought some property in a city called Hua Hin near the ocean.
For now we are living in California

If you ever make it to California, I invite any classmates to visit me. I live in between San Francisco and Lake Tahoe so there's a lot to see and do in this area. We would enjoy showing you around.

Tell me about your family and what you are doing for a living.

About posting my diary, not sure it would be all that interesting to the others. There are a lot of personal Non Yuet Wah related things in my diary.
But There might be some things you would find interesting.
Here's what I typed out today.
http://yuetwah.blogspot.com/
See if it's of interest to anyone. Mostly I went here...I went there. Nothing exciting. But for me it brought back a flood of memories...details that I had forgotten so long ago.
I did one weeks worth of entries today and I'll do more as I get time. If I make new entries I'll let you know
You can find them here

You can also add comments of your own so if you remember something too, you can post it in the "comments" section

Ernie Geefay