ARE YOU A TEACHER?

Thursday is always my free day. After work, I always have free time to go settle my bills, buy some groceries and toiletries. Plus today, PAKCIK is not in town, so I have extra time. Most of the Thursday, we will have lunch or tea together before he pushes me to go to the kelas mengaji. Huhu.

So, at 2pm, I go to GIANT Hypermarket in Taman Permata. There is a cobbler next to WATSON. I always send my shoes to get them repaired or polished or wutever lah with this man. He is a good cobbler, plus he charges slightly murah than others. I send to him my CHARLES & KEITH orange shoes to get them fixed. He asks for another one hour, so go inside to the GIANT.

I manage to buy 2 sets of baju kurung for my sister. Those are for raya. So, one responsibility settle already. Mak’s baju raya has already given to her the other day. In fact, she tells me that she is now in the middle of tailoring that baju kurung. So now I have to get a set of baju Melayu for ayah pulak. But there is none in GIANT, nothing that captures my heart, so I go to the groceries department.

I am never good at buying groceries. First of all, I’m not much of a cook. Secondly, I am a fix kind of person. I dare not try things that I haven’t taste yet. So, I always end up buying the same thing, same brand, same bottle, same size, over and over again. Today, I buy prego and some light cheese because I want to make a simple bolognaise pasta. Very simple. I also buy some biscuits and other stuff to equip my kitchen cabinet before the girls coming next Saturday.

The queue for the counter is not that long. Surprising. It’s pay day today but not many people in GIANT. Owh, maybe all of them go to JAYA JUSCO ALPHA ANGLE because they are having MEMBER CARD SALE DAY. I want to go there earlier, but the traffic is just unbearable.

The guy at the counter smiles at me. I guess because he notices my face already. That shows how much I come to GIANT.

Suddenly he asks, “Tengah Lunch time ke, kak?”

I reply,:”Taklah. Dah habis kerja.”

“Eh, awalnya habis kerja. Bagus betul bos bagi balik awal.”

Ahah, ‘bagus’nyer kalau bos bagi balik awal, kan?

“Tak lah. Saya cikgu. Jadi memang kerja sampai pukul dua je.”

Then, the guy gives me that little surprise look again. It’s not the first time I get that kind of look.

“Ish, akak cikgu ker? Tak nampak macam cikgu pun. Susah betul nak cari cikgu macam ni.”

Urgh, that kind of sentence can give 2 different interpretation. I hate it. But I smile and ask again out of curiosity.

“Kenapa dengan saya?”

“Tak delah, akak moden. Cantik. Tak macam cikgu. Macam orang kerja korporat. Kalau saya dapat cikgu macam akak, saya tak tinggal sekolah. Mesti saya tak duduk kat GIANT sekarang ni. ”

“Haish, pakai baju kebaya je pun dah macam kerja korporat?”

“HIsh, susah lah nak cakap. Tapi kesimpulannya saya tak sangka lah akak ni cikgu.”

I give him my last smile before I go out and reach for my car.

Seriously, this is not my first time getting this kind of expression when I tell people that I am a teacher. Maybe because I dress up a bit, stylish up my baju kurung with colourful bags and matching shoes, accessorize it with fancy earrings I collected and sometimes with a necklace. Plus, I’m not wearing tudung and I coloured my hair a little perang. So, maybe that makes me NOT look like a normal teacher.

Whatever pun, I’m proud of my job and I don’t car what people think of me as a teacher.