Dinner With My Former Students

January 1, 2010 at 7:30 PM I will have a dinner date with my former students from Homestead Schools, Inc. We decided to meet up at Le Creperie in Long Beach, CA as researched by the ever relying Ms. Krystel. I was looking forward to this dinner because I will see my former students again after nine long months after they graduated from school.

I left my apartment at 5:30 PM and again followed the direction as instructed by the ever-relying GPS. Well, you know what happened? It gave me a longer route instead of the shortcut. I kept driving and driving around the bay area and had noticed that I was a little bit lost. So I decided to re-route myself and finally I reached the place after several hours of driving. I arrived there at 6:50 PM then spotted a good parking space at Argonne Street.

Since the reservation was set at 7:30 PM I decided to roam around the shopping area to look for a flower shop and decided to buy four peach roses for the people who will show up as texted to me by Roselle. Then ten minutes before the meeting time, Roselle texted me that they were there already waiting in front of the restaurant.

After paying for the roses and had them individually wrapped, I headed at Le Creperie which is just three blocks from the flower shop and where my former students had been waiting. Roselle, Abby, and Maui Ann were there already. Krystel is yet to come, she will be late a little bit, though.

We then went in the restaurant and waited for our turn to be called. While waiting I started talking to my students how were they doing and how's their Christmas and New Year came about. They were so eager to tell their stories and we chatted for a little bit. Then Krystel came just in time we were called for our table. I gave the roses to all of them and Krystel gave me a bottle of Moscato d'Asti wine which she knows that I like best.

The restaurant was French-themed and very very stylish. There were a lot of big gold-rimmed-mirrors around the walls. The setting was patterned to a middle-aged French era when Marie Antoinette was still reigning. There were replica paintings about that time hanging everywhere.

Two big crystal chandeliers were perched on both ends of the ceiling and the lighting was kinda dimmed with only both the chandeliers illuminating the whole place. It's just like living during a Moulin Rouge Era.

There were also people who played piano and bass. The ambiance was very very posh. Even the waiting area was adorned by two intricately patterned Victorian-style couches for the customers to sit on while waiting for available tables.

When we got sitted we browsed their menu and started to chose for our own individual order. We ordered calamari for a start and then I ordered the Parisian Crepe as my entree. In it were chunks of chicken breast, with basil leaves, chopped tomatoes and capers topped with a creamy white wine sauce. It was so delicious!We all ordered a crepe entree with different toppings.

In between the dinner we also talked about what had happened to them after their graduation. I then knew that Abigail and Krystel had passed their NCLEX board exam and were working now. Roselle had just took her board exam lately and is still waiting for her result to be released soon. Maui Ann was still under the batch that I handled in my Sunday clinical and is almost graduating. She just tagged along with Roselle and Abby tonight for the dinner.

I also asked them what had happened with their classmates and they gave me the updates of each and everyone of them. I was surprised that they were so updated about their classmates and I thanked them for that. I really missed this group because they were the first group that I handled eversince I transferred to Homestead Schools, Inc. from my previous teaching job.

After we ate our entree, we continued talking while I told Krystel to order us desserts. She ordered a chocolate-strawberry-banana-crepe topped with vanilla ice cream. My God, it was so good! After eating it we decided to quit the night off. We didn't even noticed we were there for two long hours.

We bade goodbye at each other and promised to see each other again whenever we were free and if God willing. It was fun to see my former students and had dinner with them. I couldn't forget this night, on a New Year's Day night, having dinner with three of my former students.

Hopefully this will not be the end of everything and we will see each other again. I was glad I had a deep friendship bond with this group who in one way or the other were thankful that I had handled them. I was so happy now that they were successful in their chosen career and had a decent job to be proud of. I just can't imagine how thankful they were that I am a part of their life now.

Thanks guys for your time and thanks for this memorable dinner night. I just couldn't contain my emotions seeing you all happy and successful in your chosen career. Good luck guys!