More than 40 years ago, I couldn’t apply to study at the Grantham College of Education because I was not yet 18. However, I could never have imagined that I would come to be closely associated with the HKIEd, not once but twice, in the past 10 years!

In mid-1997, not long after I returned to Hong Kong from Australia, I was appointed as a lecturer in the Department of Chinese at the HKIEd, which had just moved into Tai Po, thus fulfilling my dream of 30 years — to become a teacher, if not a student, at the Institute. Two years later, I left the HKIEd, becoming the principal of a secondary school, but I still kept in close contact with the Institute. Not only did I participate in conferences and seminars from time to time, but I also offered school visits and field placements to HKIEd students. With my retirement in 2007, I was once again appointed as a part-time lecturer at the Institute. Now I visit the HKIEd three days a week, where I immerse myself in the fragrance of both books and flowers, under the clear blue skies surrounded by verdant mountains. What more can I ask for when enjoying life as such?

As the Chinese editor of the HKIEd 15th Anniversary Commerative Book Our Visions • Our Stories, I am privileged to read and edit the articles recording the thoughts and feelings of the staff and students — a documentation of the footprints made and hard work completed at Lo Ping Road over the past 15 years. All their stories will stay in my heart, whether I am seen as passing-by or simply coming home.

Woo Kwok-yin