The students made their way to the all-too-familiar restaurant for the same breakfast for the 6th consecutive day. As they lamented the lack of variety, they knew it was eating to live for the time being. With the 2030hr lights-out timing, many were energetic, enthusiatic and looking forward to helping out at another school. The principal met us at the hotel lobby and the exchanges took place before boarding the bus.
This is a much smaller school - half the size of Jin Shan Xiang. The kids welcomed us with the usual "huan ying" cheer and we were quickly ushered to the flag pole for the flag raising ceremony.
Coloured chalks were distributed to our students and they were invited to draw on the outdoor chalkboard. Immediately, favourite SGP food, flag, esplanade, merlion and flyer appeared under the deft and not-so-deft hands. At the sound of the bell, the children rushed out like bats leaving their caves at night and surrounded the chalkboards.
The children's attention can only be kept that long and soon, they were playing catching, "eagle catching chicks" and hantam beanbag. Soon, the skilled labour that we hired arrived with cement, bricks and their tools and the foundation for the ping pong table went underway with the students lending their hands. The students would have a hand in discovering/nurturing the next Yao Ming and Zhang Yining, hopefully.
The rest of the day was spent building the table and serialising the donated books. We were hosted to lunch by the 2 principals and as usual, there was the "wo3 jing4 ni3 yi4 pei1". The only difference is that it is not beer, but hard liquor. After a few shots, i turned tomato and had to resort to mixing it with coke and voila, burbon coke.
At the debrief, I reminded the students that it will our last day to do something for them. I want you to leave Lijian feeling ambivalent. Look at your response to "What I could have done at Jin Shan" and do not let history repeat itself.
Monday, November 03, 2008
Sunday, November 02, 2008
Yulong Snow Mountains and its vicinity
The sun has finally returned to LiJiang! It was abt 5 degrees in the morning and the kids were having much "smoking" while visiting the Dong Ba Cultural Village. After squeezing with the throngs of like-minded people, we made our way to the much-anticipated Snowy Mountains via cable car...
the yet-to-be-conquered Snow Mountain tho at 5000+ metres above sea level
the yet-to-be-conquered Snow Mountain tho at 5000+ metres above sea level
used the exit that is second from the right to leave the village... and with relative ease.
Lijiang like Suzhou is a very beautiful place and a picture can speak volumes...
at the stairway, waiting for the cable car
with dirty laundry
phallic structure
am quite tired, hence the lack of words... will be visiting another primary school to help with building some simple facilities. hopefully, there will be more words tmr.
btw, told the kids to recall what they wished they had done at the first school and make that happen tmr when they visit the 2nd school.
Saturday, November 01, 2008
last day at jin shan xiang xiao xue
With a ball in hand, a little boy throws it with all his might towards the hoop. While finding its way into the awaiting red ring, the ball left its mark on the collage of mud patches on the board. The school bell resonated through the school compound and echoed off the heavily-canopied mountain slopes. Like a herd of raging bulls, the children scampered back to their spartan classrooms for their passport to a better life. 
The inevitable parting took place right after the clementeens delivered their final lessons to the children. Falling in according to their levels, the mood turned sombre as the teachers and and students came forward to give speeches of thanks. Using a variety of antonyms, Lee Pin masterfully and skilfully delivered a speech of thanks for their warm hospitality. With his hands firmly planted in his pockets, Bi Li shuffled forward and shifted his weight uncomfortably while conveying his thoughts and feelings. Soon, a confident girl emerged from amongst the children and strut forwards with a notebook in hand...
Then chaos reigned. Daniel and a few others were swarmed as the dancing began. More pictures were taken as the end was approaching and people were making for lost time.
Tears were shed as the last hugs were exchanged. A teary-eyed WT and a few others bade farewell and made promises that they were unlikely to keep given the circumstances. As we left the school and children behind, what cannot be taken away are the memories that were deeply etched in our minds...
The inevitable parting took place right after the clementeens delivered their final lessons to the children. Falling in according to their levels, the mood turned sombre as the teachers and and students came forward to give speeches of thanks. Using a variety of antonyms, Lee Pin masterfully and skilfully delivered a speech of thanks for their warm hospitality. With his hands firmly planted in his pockets, Bi Li shuffled forward and shifted his weight uncomfortably while conveying his thoughts and feelings. Soon, a confident girl emerged from amongst the children and strut forwards with a notebook in hand...Then chaos reigned. Daniel and a few others were swarmed as the dancing began. More pictures were taken as the end was approaching and people were making for lost time.
Tears were shed as the last hugs were exchanged. A teary-eyed WT and a few others bade farewell and made promises that they were unlikely to keep given the circumstances. As we left the school and children behind, what cannot be taken away are the memories that were deeply etched in our minds...
Friday, October 31, 2008
teaching and home visits
day began as usual and the kids are getting tired of the hotel breakfast le... the same goes for lunch and dinner cos altho we are eating at different restaurants, the kids hypothesised that all the cooks attend the same culinary school...
kids were dispatched into the classes to teach their prepared lessons. EL, Malay Language and Art & Craft were pretty well done tho their mandarin can be much better. the kids completed the thank you cards and thool for Art/Craft group was given instructions to follow up on them when we get back... After that was more basketball with the children.
giving away the biscuits and pencil cases
managed to take a short nap after lunch before returning to the school for home visits. it was a 20-min walk to one of the children's home and zach was complaining about the distance until i told him that that's what they do everyday. For a moment, his eyes gleaned over and stopped whining.
One of the girl's home that we visited is from a single-parent family. Her father met with an accident at his workplace when she was 3 months old and her grandfather was knocked down by a vehicle on 1 Oct 2008. As a result, the mother is supporting the 2 daughters. When we reached their home, the usual red couplets were evidently missing and replaced with white ones...
Not that I am expecting to be grieving or wear a frown for an eternity, I am impressed with their resilience. The 2 homes we visited stuffed us with tea, pumpkin seeds and freshly-plucked apples and pears... what I told our students at the debrief which they nodded in acquiescence was that these people here are happier than us Singaporeans who seemed to have everything...
sorry, no videos today :P
kids were dispatched into the classes to teach their prepared lessons. EL, Malay Language and Art & Craft were pretty well done tho their mandarin can be much better. the kids completed the thank you cards and thool for Art/Craft group was given instructions to follow up on them when we get back... After that was more basketball with the children.
giving away the biscuits and pencil cases
managed to take a short nap after lunch before returning to the school for home visits. it was a 20-min walk to one of the children's home and zach was complaining about the distance until i told him that that's what they do everyday. For a moment, his eyes gleaned over and stopped whining.
One of the girl's home that we visited is from a single-parent family. Her father met with an accident at his workplace when she was 3 months old and her grandfather was knocked down by a vehicle on 1 Oct 2008. As a result, the mother is supporting the 2 daughters. When we reached their home, the usual red couplets were evidently missing and replaced with white ones...
Not that I am expecting to be grieving or wear a frown for an eternity, I am impressed with their resilience. The 2 homes we visited stuffed us with tea, pumpkin seeds and freshly-plucked apples and pears... what I told our students at the debrief which they nodded in acquiescence was that these people here are happier than us Singaporeans who seemed to have everything...
sorry, no videos today :P
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Li Jiang - Jin Xiang Shan Xiao Xue
managed to sleep in today cos we only need to be in the primary school at 9am... after the stern warning given, all the kids were having breakfast at the appointed time... yay... As we made our way on foot into the school, we could see 2 rows of little kids standing by the side of path and chanting, "Huan yin, huan yin, re lie huan yin..." and clapping and smiling and laughing... asked our kids how they felt about the welcome, emotions like embarrassed (cos we are not used to such treatments unlike u r some government official or celebrity), honoured (wah.... we are so important hor!!!) came up at the night debrief... many also said they are obligated to do a little more if possible. 
afterwhich, the kidz siimply swarmed us as the our students began photo-taking... 
the youngest student in the school aka Hong Dong Zhi... was such an angel at first sight and as he began to get comfortable with our students, he began to box and kick our clementeens... 
the rest of the little boys who were very n2 with taking photos when the basketball hoop arrived, our students got their hands dirty and began to put it together... the hoop costs SGD1032... i wonder if it cost so much in sgp... 
see the little devil in class...
clementeens were thrown into the deep end when informed that they are to go into class and give an introduction about singapore to the kids.... i must say they did a pretty good job and we really have to take them out of singapore to make them feel singaporean... how ironic...
afterwhich, the kidz siimply swarmed us as the our students began photo-taking... 
the youngest student in the school aka Hong Dong Zhi... was such an angel at first sight and as he began to get comfortable with our students, he began to box and kick our clementeens... 
the rest of the little boys who were very n2 with taking photos when the basketball hoop arrived, our students got their hands dirty and began to put it together... the hoop costs SGD1032... i wonder if it cost so much in sgp... 
see the little devil in class...clementeens were thrown into the deep end when informed that they are to go into class and give an introduction about singapore to the kids.... i must say they did a pretty good job and we really have to take them out of singapore to make them feel singaporean... how ironic...
Li Jiang I
cold cold cold...
At the wheel monument (aka the Head) of the Ancient Town...
waking at 0415hr and having to take the very dry breakfast cos ur body needs it is no laughing matter...
the view that greets you when u step out of Lijiang airport (which only has 1 luggage belt)...
in Lijiang, the fat and the tanned are considered the pretty and handsome ones, so for once in my life i am not considered pretty nor handsome (stop rolling your eyes).
Our hotel ...
visited the Lijiang Ancient Town which is a World Heritage Site and i expected to be like those in Suzhou but no no no... it is a huge "shopping" plaza with 6000+ shops selling more or less the same things situated in an ancient town...
At the wheel monument (aka the Head) of the Ancient Town...As the day wore on, my patience was stretched to its limit cos the kids couldnt exihibit punctuality. They were late for all the meetings and gave the ultimatum at the night debrief... privileges will be withdrawn if latecoming happens again and that means no sightseeing at all on our "day off". Thereafter, we spent the evening planning for the lessons that the students will deliver for the primary school kids...
Kunming
the flight to kunming on silkair was akin to taking one on jetstar. there was no inflight entertainment at all. not even flight information!!! some of the kidz were exceptionally excited abt taking a plane and commented that when the plane makes a u-turn, the left wing will fold down while the right wing will fold up =.=
as the plane careened down the run-way, they were craning their necks to look out of the window and went ga-ga over the brief sense of weightlessness. inflight food has never been something worth looking forward to and on silkair, it is not a surprise. the ice-cream served was aptly named.
It was nearly impossible to scoop it with the plastic spoon as it was so hard, leaving deep impressions on our fingers ... and to think we were expecting ben and jerry's...
the view outside
As the plane was making its descent ... ...
the airbus 319 with no inflight entertainment...
Kids were overwhelmed with excitement when transferring to the hotel and as a result, paid no attention to the tour guide. stepped in cos i couldnt stand their behaviour. as i was telling the dos and donts like the precautions to be taken since we are at abt 2000m above sea level and crossing roads, the coach suddenly e-braked and I fell forward. right bum aching till today as a result, and when i recovered from the fall, used the unfortunate incident to reinforced the importance of safety. think that was a very good demonstration for them. had an early night cos we need to be up at 0415hr (ZOMG!) for the transfer to Lijiang...
as the plane careened down the run-way, they were craning their necks to look out of the window and went ga-ga over the brief sense of weightlessness. inflight food has never been something worth looking forward to and on silkair, it is not a surprise. the ice-cream served was aptly named.
It was nearly impossible to scoop it with the plastic spoon as it was so hard, leaving deep impressions on our fingers ... and to think we were expecting ben and jerry's...
the view outsideAs the plane was making its descent ... ...
the airbus 319 with no inflight entertainment...Kids were overwhelmed with excitement when transferring to the hotel and as a result, paid no attention to the tour guide. stepped in cos i couldnt stand their behaviour. as i was telling the dos and donts like the precautions to be taken since we are at abt 2000m above sea level and crossing roads, the coach suddenly e-braked and I fell forward. right bum aching till today as a result, and when i recovered from the fall, used the unfortunate incident to reinforced the importance of safety. think that was a very good demonstration for them. had an early night cos we need to be up at 0415hr (ZOMG!) for the transfer to Lijiang...
Thursday, October 23, 2008
a greedy cat from Egypt has (more or less) liberated me ...
my 4th batch has been sent to fight the fight that i have been preparing them for and i must say when the team went to view the paper at 1430hr, we were relieved that we have drilled them correctly and aptly for the paper. the one-word ("greed"...ZOMG, how easy can it get) was st8forward and most of the work in their portfolio could be used...
my gut feel that it will still be a proposal to the principal was right on the spot and thankfully, the last few practices that i gave them dealt with the more or less the same context... and in the words of sek teng "just spam the parents can do this, the teachers can do that and the sponsors can provide this and that".
All in all, it has proven to be a manageable paper for most of my kids. for those who decided to stay at home and study by yourself, i'm sorry that you were left out of the final preparation phase... I hope you were able to do it as well as those came for class... and for those who had diligently read all the compre passages, the cats from Egypt is something that is not new in the O levels. so the golden rule - do what i say - still holds.
now that the paper and the "cheating of money" (which i vehemently deny) is over and done with, and with news of the classes that i would be taking next year, it's back to the drawing board to see how things can be done better. perhaps i'd check my pigeon hole more often, diligently update the sign-in-out book, and smile more.
will be leaving for yunnan for ocip on tues so wont be ard when its mummy's berfday. as a result, the whole family with wati included (her's on 25 Oct) went for a nice buffet dinner on daddy's berfday... i really hope that our students can appreciate the intention of bringing them for this OCIP and bring some joy to the kids.. they have asked for a basketball rack and hoop to be provided and some simple conversational lessons to be conducted. am just glad that things that i had intended to accomplish is coming to fruition and hey, it was not as daunting as it seemed but of course, it's not an OMS, i had 2 colleagues to help out. if not for them, i would have less time to help my sec 4 and 5 at this critical period.
guess we need to periodically take stock and count our lucky stars. For me, we have just counted it yesterday... and yes, i do have one BIG lucky star.
my gut feel that it will still be a proposal to the principal was right on the spot and thankfully, the last few practices that i gave them dealt with the more or less the same context... and in the words of sek teng "just spam the parents can do this, the teachers can do that and the sponsors can provide this and that".
All in all, it has proven to be a manageable paper for most of my kids. for those who decided to stay at home and study by yourself, i'm sorry that you were left out of the final preparation phase... I hope you were able to do it as well as those came for class... and for those who had diligently read all the compre passages, the cats from Egypt is something that is not new in the O levels. so the golden rule - do what i say - still holds.
now that the paper and the "cheating of money" (which i vehemently deny) is over and done with, and with news of the classes that i would be taking next year, it's back to the drawing board to see how things can be done better. perhaps i'd check my pigeon hole more often, diligently update the sign-in-out book, and smile more.
will be leaving for yunnan for ocip on tues so wont be ard when its mummy's berfday. as a result, the whole family with wati included (her's on 25 Oct) went for a nice buffet dinner on daddy's berfday... i really hope that our students can appreciate the intention of bringing them for this OCIP and bring some joy to the kids.. they have asked for a basketball rack and hoop to be provided and some simple conversational lessons to be conducted. am just glad that things that i had intended to accomplish is coming to fruition and hey, it was not as daunting as it seemed but of course, it's not an OMS, i had 2 colleagues to help out. if not for them, i would have less time to help my sec 4 and 5 at this critical period.
guess we need to periodically take stock and count our lucky stars. For me, we have just counted it yesterday... and yes, i do have one BIG lucky star.
Monday, September 08, 2008
Mitch's Wedding
Dearest Chris and Michele,
May you have a blissful marriage and live in happiness forever :)
Really glad that I was able to help out on your special day :P
Photos are in the process of being uploaded on facebook =.=
May you have a blissful marriage and live in happiness forever :)
Really glad that I was able to help out on your special day :P
Photos are in the process of being uploaded on facebook =.=
Saturday, September 06, 2008
The Devil and Miss Prym (Paulo Coelho)
Since QM wanted to kob this book that i borrowed, tot I'd better read it before i hand it over to her.... some parts of it struck a chord with me ...
"She just realised there were two things that prevent us from achieving our dreams: believing them to be impossible or seeing those dreams made possible by some sudden turn of the wheel of fortune, when you least expect it. For at that moment, all our fears suddenly surface: the fear of setting off along a life full of new challenges, the fear of losing forever everything that is familiar."
I chose the former :)
"Once upon a time, a man, his horse and his dog were travelling along a road. As they passed by a huge tree, it was struck by lightning, and they all died. But the man failed to notice that he was no longer of this world and so he continued walking along with his two animal companions. Sometimes the dead take a while to register their new situation... It was a long, uphill walk, the sun was beating down on them and they were all sweating and thirsty. At a bend in the road they saw a magnificent marble gateway that led into a gold-paved square, in the centre of which was a fountain overflowing with crystal-clear water. The man went over to the guard at the entrance.
"Good morning."
"Good morning," the guard replied.
"What is this lovely place?"
"It's Heaven."
"Well, I'm very glad to see it, because we're very thristy."
"You're welcome to come in and drink all the water you want." And the guard indicated the mountain.
"My horse and dog are also thirsty."
"I'm terribly sorry," said the guard, "but animals are not allowed in here."
The man was deeply disappointed for he really was very thristy, but he was not prepared to drink alone, so he thanked the guard and went on his way. Exhausted after some trudging uphill, they reached an old gateway that opened on to a dirt road flanked by trees. A man, his hat pulled down over his face, was stretched out in the shade of one of the trees, apparantly asleep.
"Good morning," said the traveller.
The other man greeted him with a nod.
"We're very thirsty - me, my horse and my dog."
"There's a spring over there amongst the rocks. You can drink all you want."
The man, his horse and his dog went to the spring and quenched their thirst. The traveller returned to thank the man.
"Come back whenever you want," he was told.
"By the way, what's this place called?"
"Heaven."
"Heaven? But the guard at the marble gateway told me that was Heaven!"
"That's not Heaven, that's Hell."
The traveller was puzzled. "You shouldn't let others take your name in vain, you know! False information can lead to all kinds of confusion!"
"On the contrary, they do us a great favour, because the ones who stay there are those who have proved themselves capable of abandoning their dearest friends."
think the world needs to work on this
"Not a single voice in the crowd was raised against the choice. The mayor was glad because they had accepted his authority; but the priest knew that this could be a good or a bad sign, because silence does not always meant consent - usually all it meant was that people were incapable of coming up with an immediate response. If someone did not agree, they would later torture themselves with the idea that they had accepted without really wanting to, and the consequences of that could be grave."
something that i see unfolding in ... ...
"She just realised there were two things that prevent us from achieving our dreams: believing them to be impossible or seeing those dreams made possible by some sudden turn of the wheel of fortune, when you least expect it. For at that moment, all our fears suddenly surface: the fear of setting off along a life full of new challenges, the fear of losing forever everything that is familiar."
I chose the former :)
"Once upon a time, a man, his horse and his dog were travelling along a road. As they passed by a huge tree, it was struck by lightning, and they all died. But the man failed to notice that he was no longer of this world and so he continued walking along with his two animal companions. Sometimes the dead take a while to register their new situation... It was a long, uphill walk, the sun was beating down on them and they were all sweating and thirsty. At a bend in the road they saw a magnificent marble gateway that led into a gold-paved square, in the centre of which was a fountain overflowing with crystal-clear water. The man went over to the guard at the entrance.
"Good morning."
"Good morning," the guard replied.
"What is this lovely place?"
"It's Heaven."
"Well, I'm very glad to see it, because we're very thristy."
"You're welcome to come in and drink all the water you want." And the guard indicated the mountain.
"My horse and dog are also thirsty."
"I'm terribly sorry," said the guard, "but animals are not allowed in here."
The man was deeply disappointed for he really was very thristy, but he was not prepared to drink alone, so he thanked the guard and went on his way. Exhausted after some trudging uphill, they reached an old gateway that opened on to a dirt road flanked by trees. A man, his hat pulled down over his face, was stretched out in the shade of one of the trees, apparantly asleep.
"Good morning," said the traveller.
The other man greeted him with a nod.
"We're very thirsty - me, my horse and my dog."
"There's a spring over there amongst the rocks. You can drink all you want."
The man, his horse and his dog went to the spring and quenched their thirst. The traveller returned to thank the man.
"Come back whenever you want," he was told.
"By the way, what's this place called?"
"Heaven."
"Heaven? But the guard at the marble gateway told me that was Heaven!"
"That's not Heaven, that's Hell."
The traveller was puzzled. "You shouldn't let others take your name in vain, you know! False information can lead to all kinds of confusion!"
"On the contrary, they do us a great favour, because the ones who stay there are those who have proved themselves capable of abandoning their dearest friends."
think the world needs to work on this
"Not a single voice in the crowd was raised against the choice. The mayor was glad because they had accepted his authority; but the priest knew that this could be a good or a bad sign, because silence does not always meant consent - usually all it meant was that people were incapable of coming up with an immediate response. If someone did not agree, they would later torture themselves with the idea that they had accepted without really wanting to, and the consequences of that could be grave."
something that i see unfolding in ... ...
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
the weekend
the oral examinations are finally over and am glad the kids felt the charms work. did some late minute 1-2-1 on sat before making my way to the Ritz to view the fireworks display.
am on the verge of getting "hook" to dota and must admit i am still a noob at it. scored a first by raking up 3 kills tho I can't remember how i did 2 of them. and the other 1 is a cheap shot.
completed the army half-marathon on sun in 2 hours and 31 minutes. 1 minute above my target, but i blame it on the people who blocked the passage while strolling and talking cock to their friends.
did the first 10km within 55 minutes, which is on track. by the time i hit about 18km, left thigh began to cramp and had to stop and stretch. At the 20.5km mark, both thighs cramped *sianz* but cannot lose form and walk past the finishing line. So grit my teeth and ran past the finishing line in self-delusion that i came in first.
looks like the full marathon is not my cup of tea cos I was limping yesterday. but today, the pain has subsided. so I'll not run the standchart on the 7 Dec but focus on training for the Safra biathlon next march.
still anticipating the arrival of vios ... ...
am on the verge of getting "hook" to dota and must admit i am still a noob at it. scored a first by raking up 3 kills tho I can't remember how i did 2 of them. and the other 1 is a cheap shot.
completed the army half-marathon on sun in 2 hours and 31 minutes. 1 minute above my target, but i blame it on the people who blocked the passage while strolling and talking cock to their friends.
did the first 10km within 55 minutes, which is on track. by the time i hit about 18km, left thigh began to cramp and had to stop and stretch. At the 20.5km mark, both thighs cramped *sianz* but cannot lose form and walk past the finishing line. So grit my teeth and ran past the finishing line in self-delusion that i came in first.
looks like the full marathon is not my cup of tea cos I was limping yesterday. but today, the pain has subsided. so I'll not run the standchart on the 7 Dec but focus on training for the Safra biathlon next march.
still anticipating the arrival of vios ... ...
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
too long a break...
1) keeping 2 hamsters as pets.
2) gonna be busy with Mitch's wedding preparation in Sept
3) never swiped my plastic while on holiday (this is A FIRST!)
4) waiting for the arrival of my vios
5) oral exams have started, yay! i just have to endure one-to-one till 25 Aug. Then it's back to the preparation of the written papers. As much as I lament and gripe and procrastinate, i think this batch is more promising. hope the good luck charm works, it better!
2) gonna be busy with Mitch's wedding preparation in Sept
3) never swiped my plastic while on holiday (this is A FIRST!)
4) waiting for the arrival of my vios
5) oral exams have started, yay! i just have to endure one-to-one till 25 Aug. Then it's back to the preparation of the written papers. As much as I lament and gripe and procrastinate, i think this batch is more promising. hope the good luck charm works, it better!
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
the chaos starts
the first 2 weeks just zoomed past with oral exams, meetings, heart-to-heart with the kids and most importantly wimbledon.
our mj game were paused momentarily when crucial points were played between stylish Fed and wedgie Nadal... after entertaining (or rather torturing) ourselves with budget mj in between the rain delays, the gang was aghast with Federer's lost to wedgie boy. utterly disappointed with the results. managed to win some cab fare amidst the torture :P tho it was mentioned that the sleep was much more important. well, the gang expected me to put aeroplane but a promise is a promise, so i appeared ard 11 plus.
thanks folks for making me feel so much at ease these days....
our mj game were paused momentarily when crucial points were played between stylish Fed and wedgie Nadal... after entertaining (or rather torturing) ourselves with budget mj in between the rain delays, the gang was aghast with Federer's lost to wedgie boy. utterly disappointed with the results. managed to win some cab fare amidst the torture :P tho it was mentioned that the sleep was much more important. well, the gang expected me to put aeroplane but a promise is a promise, so i appeared ard 11 plus.
thanks folks for making me feel so much at ease these days....
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Day 11 - Shopping in Suzhou
contents abt our conversation include things like:
Feeling confident about oneself. Comes from the experiences and hardwork that we put in our work. It is something that no-one can take away from you. You reap what you sow. There is no short-cut to success.
Lunch at a Xin Jiang restaurant - delicious! roast whole lamb leg, french beans, mushrooms and i didnt have to eat the whole plate of vegetables myself. so there is a little right in the big wrong that i have done.
After my 3 periods (from late morning to late afternoon), was totally exhausted (yay, 3 more lessons to go before i go back to SGP). thereafter, it was to visit 观前街 again but with different company. bot the usual tooth-pick dispensers for mummy's shop before visiting Matro (no typo here) shopping centre. Bleed moolah there.
1) shorts for my v-ball, tennis, running and gym sessions with O.o
2) the black Y-3 belt
3) my first clothing from Dunhill (which according to someone cost a whole of tuition, :P)
4) a silver ring from Gucci:
the joy accrued: intangible (well, I see it as a form of reward for the good work that I have done in the past few years)
dinner at a teppanyaki restaurant turned up to be a surprise. Told by the waitress that they have 150yuan buffet with free flow drinks (alcohol included). Ate in moderation though and judging by the amount and quality of the food that was served, it was comparable to dining at Inagiku except that it cost only a fraction :P things that went into our digestive systems - beef, mushrooms, sweet potato, oysters, sashimi, prawns, fish, scallops. Was jus shaking my head when i realised that i did not have to eat some of the dishes all by myself. jus reinforces the notion that we have changed for the better as individuals :P
finally was able to chat on the phone and be myself while chatting tonight. The relationship has truly normalized as the conversation we had after dinner sort of really tied up all the loose ends of the emotional entanglement that has embroiled us.
Sunday is coming le... yay
Feeling confident about oneself. Comes from the experiences and hardwork that we put in our work. It is something that no-one can take away from you. You reap what you sow. There is no short-cut to success.
Lunch at a Xin Jiang restaurant - delicious! roast whole lamb leg, french beans, mushrooms and i didnt have to eat the whole plate of vegetables myself. so there is a little right in the big wrong that i have done.
After my 3 periods (from late morning to late afternoon), was totally exhausted (yay, 3 more lessons to go before i go back to SGP). thereafter, it was to visit 观前街 again but with different company. bot the usual tooth-pick dispensers for mummy's shop before visiting Matro (no typo here) shopping centre. Bleed moolah there.
1) shorts for my v-ball, tennis, running and gym sessions with O.o
2) the black Y-3 belt
3) my first clothing from Dunhill (which according to someone cost a whole of tuition, :P)
4) a silver ring from Gucci:
the joy accrued: intangible (well, I see it as a form of reward for the good work that I have done in the past few years)
dinner at a teppanyaki restaurant turned up to be a surprise. Told by the waitress that they have 150yuan buffet with free flow drinks (alcohol included). Ate in moderation though and judging by the amount and quality of the food that was served, it was comparable to dining at Inagiku except that it cost only a fraction :P things that went into our digestive systems - beef, mushrooms, sweet potato, oysters, sashimi, prawns, fish, scallops. Was jus shaking my head when i realised that i did not have to eat some of the dishes all by myself. jus reinforces the notion that we have changed for the better as individuals :P
finally was able to chat on the phone and be myself while chatting tonight. The relationship has truly normalized as the conversation we had after dinner sort of really tied up all the loose ends of the emotional entanglement that has embroiled us.
Sunday is coming le... yay
Day 10 - 南京
left for nanjing after my lessons in the morning and sat on the comfortable 弹头 train which was newer, cleaner and faster. It was well worth the price cos of the 1hr 40min train ride (travelling at top speed of 160km/h) Though it was only half the speed of the Mag-Lev train in Shanghai, what was impressive is the punctuality, the efficiency and orderlinness of the train network. Even contemplated of using the train network to see as many cities in China as possible in the future.
it was a gloomy day both in Suzhou and Nanjing cos it drizzled for almost the whole day. Upon arrival, visited the 南京大屠杀纪念馆 which was the main purpose of my visit to nanjing. it was all black, grey and white at the memorial and it was jus... ... sombre. Having read books about the massacre and watching the recent docu-movie last December, I am now going to see it for myself.
Seeing the skeletons of the victims ranging from as young as a few months old to over 80 years old reinforced the fragility of life. but these were not the work of mother nature against humanity but of humanity against humanity. so treasure the people around you and do unto others what you want others to do unto you.
tried the crab baked in salted egg for dinner but still find that the version that i am familiar with is more palatable. We'll go eat it when we get back. but must find out which place serves the "best" which i believe you have an idea, lol
brought face-to-face to the severity of my decision before the end of today and felt that things needed to be further discussed so that we can become truely what we want to be. On hindsight, the next day was really a good day for us cos we have truely become. I was able to chat on the phone ala no holds barred. He even said HI!
it was a gloomy day both in Suzhou and Nanjing cos it drizzled for almost the whole day. Upon arrival, visited the 南京大屠杀纪念馆 which was the main purpose of my visit to nanjing. it was all black, grey and white at the memorial and it was jus... ... sombre. Having read books about the massacre and watching the recent docu-movie last December, I am now going to see it for myself.
Seeing the skeletons of the victims ranging from as young as a few months old to over 80 years old reinforced the fragility of life. but these were not the work of mother nature against humanity but of humanity against humanity. so treasure the people around you and do unto others what you want others to do unto you.
tried the crab baked in salted egg for dinner but still find that the version that i am familiar with is more palatable. We'll go eat it when we get back. but must find out which place serves the "best" which i believe you have an idea, lol
brought face-to-face to the severity of my decision before the end of today and felt that things needed to be further discussed so that we can become truely what we want to be. On hindsight, the next day was really a good day for us cos we have truely become. I was able to chat on the phone ala no holds barred. He even said HI!
Day 9: Shanghai, loose ends are tighter, down memory lane
After spending an entire week in Suzhou and visiting the famed 园林, I was desperate to get to shanghai. Tickets to shanghai were very limited since most people were rushing home at the end of the long weekend holidays. In the end bought the 66 yuan sleeper ticket instead of the 22 yuan hard seat ticket, I am THAT desperate to get out.
The ride to PVG was pleasant and picturesque though the I did not lie down on the sleeper bed which I suspect is infested with bed bugs (hopefully I am wrong!). Conversation was long and very much needed given the situation. managed to verabalise most thoughts and it was good to talk and listen.
As soon as we alighted from the train, it was business as usual for us. went to 南京路步行街, ventured into the shopping centres that we visited last year and ate the delicious 生煎包. Popped over to 新天地 to check out the Y-3 boutique only to find that it has relocated. So we settle for dinner at a nice Italian restaurant before taking another train back to Suzhou. The return trip was WORSE cos the air-conditioning was almost inexistent and people were seated shoulder-to-shoulder. At one of the stations, a mother and child sat opposite us, took out half a watermelon and happily helped themselves to it, LOL.
What irked me a little was "huh, we came here before meh?"
The ride to PVG was pleasant and picturesque though the I did not lie down on the sleeper bed which I suspect is infested with bed bugs (hopefully I am wrong!). Conversation was long and very much needed given the situation. managed to verabalise most thoughts and it was good to talk and listen.
As soon as we alighted from the train, it was business as usual for us. went to 南京路步行街, ventured into the shopping centres that we visited last year and ate the delicious 生煎包. Popped over to 新天地 to check out the Y-3 boutique only to find that it has relocated. So we settle for dinner at a nice Italian restaurant before taking another train back to Suzhou. The return trip was WORSE cos the air-conditioning was almost inexistent and people were seated shoulder-to-shoulder. At one of the stations, a mother and child sat opposite us, took out half a watermelon and happily helped themselves to it, LOL.
What irked me a little was "huh, we came here before meh?"
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Day 8: visiting another ancient town but with new company!!!
Caiyun and Jiali joined us from Shanghai for a day. Arrivin last night, we managed to get the teachers from ZhengHua to get a discounted rate for the hotel that they are putting up in. Took them to eat @ 洋洋 restaurant which is featured in Lonely Planet. Ordered some of the delicious food that we ate a few days ago so that they can share our joy, lol.
Some of the food that we ate for the second time.
The 串虾 that were easy to peel, sweet and fresh.
Looks like puke right. actually it's crab meat and crab roe on top of steamed egg in orange skin. think chawanmushi. a combination sweet (crab), salty (roe) and sweet & sour (orange)
After dinner, we played guides to the ladies and brought them to 李公堤。so told them what 陶老师 told us when he brought us there the previous day. Walked about 1km along the path that was lined with restaurants and pubs before we 打的 (i.e. took a cab) back to our hotel. instead of turning in which was our original plan, SY and I stayed up to work on our slides for our sharing when we return. then called u (sorry, woke u up) before turning in.
Brought the gurls to buy breakfast from our usual spot. That's me in the mandarin collar shirt. need to stop hunching :(
The ride to ANOTHER ancient town was long and bumpy but it was worth it because were was a house that was different from ALL the houses that we have seen in the many towns. the archi change from eastern to western from one section to another. So finally, there was a breath of fresh air from the usual lily ponds, willow trees, black-white-grey houses.
the very reason why i am slogging my life away :P
another photo next to yet another lotus pond. That's SY (you can finally put a face to that name now)
called QM in the afternoon to send her a lifebouy (due to the physical distance, only can manage a bouy la) since she was searching for lifeboat. Good to hear that the camp is doing great and the kids are learning something and enjoying themselves. well, we will have to wait and see if they can deliver @ APSIRE and the other activities.
slept all the way enroute to suzhou but din drool (heh heh)
the night was spent bringing the gurls to 观前街 for dinner and sight-seeing before they return to our room to look at ALL the photos that we have taken since last Sunday. Oh ya, i ate my first dumpling in China, and it is not as delicous as I imagined it to be :(
more friends are coming to visit tmr morning and think that next week will really fly past since we are going to visit nanjing and shanghai in between my lessons. want to visit the nanking massacre museum after reading about it and watching the 50th anniversary film about it. since i had used this incident to talk about total defence in my CE lessons, i think it would be good if i have visuals to improve on the lesson for the subsequent batches.
With the TAGs, 6-1 and many many more in the past, present and future, things are def looking up and off to a good start :P
Saturday, June 07, 2008
第七天：到处都是树，川，园林，桥和很多奇奇怪怪的食物
今天到了同里 and was greeted by the same sights and sounds that were characteristic of suzhou. the 8 places of interests found in Tong Li are actually the same - houses of the officials / the rich. Each house would have a least 3 "halls", a pond, some pavilions that were used for playing chess or practice drawing etc etc etc. After a while, I was jus walking for the sake of walking and secretly hoping that we would skip some of the 8 places of interests.
Unfortunately, we visited ALL 8 of them and had lunch in between where we were served salted vegetables, fried egg and cold sour plum soup. Well, this spread was much better than the dinners we had for the past 2 nights where the dishes include deep-fried pig trotters, chilled pork belly (with an extra thick layer of fats), soup with coagulated duck blood and more pork belly. SY and I took a bite of the chilled pork belly. immdiately our eyes met in disgust and discretly spat it out. thereafter, the dish was off limits. However, we had to be polite and be respectful of our host. other than the chilled pork belly, i took the trotters, had a few pieces of the blood since we told the host "我们什么都吃" and SY was not inclined to touch any of those, lol.
the blood was not bad but i cant help thinking of how it was done.
our colleagues are enroute to suzhou now and we are currently waiting for their arrival so that we can go for dinner. I am famished!!!! We will have "edible" food at this dinner since we will be the ones ordering the spread. So no more oily and wierd cuisines for the time being.
Will be going on a 南巡 tour tmr and fall-in time is 7am!!! heard it takes 2 hours to reach the place.
selected pictures are posted in my albums on my facebook, so dun "whine" ya :P
Unfortunately, we visited ALL 8 of them and had lunch in between where we were served salted vegetables, fried egg and cold sour plum soup. Well, this spread was much better than the dinners we had for the past 2 nights where the dishes include deep-fried pig trotters, chilled pork belly (with an extra thick layer of fats), soup with coagulated duck blood and more pork belly. SY and I took a bite of the chilled pork belly. immdiately our eyes met in disgust and discretly spat it out. thereafter, the dish was off limits. However, we had to be polite and be respectful of our host. other than the chilled pork belly, i took the trotters, had a few pieces of the blood since we told the host "我们什么都吃" and SY was not inclined to touch any of those, lol.
the blood was not bad but i cant help thinking of how it was done.
our colleagues are enroute to suzhou now and we are currently waiting for their arrival so that we can go for dinner. I am famished!!!! We will have "edible" food at this dinner since we will be the ones ordering the spread. So no more oily and wierd cuisines for the time being.
Will be going on a 南巡 tour tmr and fall-in time is 7am!!! heard it takes 2 hours to reach the place.
selected pictures are posted in my albums on my facebook, so dun "whine" ya :P
Friday, June 06, 2008
Day ６: 上有天堂， 下有苏杭
the lesson has once again underwent a change so that it wont be too boring for me and the kids have more take-away from the lesson.
the highlight in school was that we finally get to witness the 835 to 845hr morning exercise. All the students were doing it properly. Tho we could tell that some were rather sianz, but they bothered to execute the moves albeit with much less gusto. while soon yeow was fliming them, i did a voice-over and said, "If it were our kids, they would standing with arms in akimbo."
the sights and gardens and hills and history were just beyond words. visited the china's answer to the leaning tower of pisa located at Tiger Hill, walked through a very old estate where original suzhou houses lined the narrow walkways and visited another pagodo and its surrounding gardens. it was a very fruitful trip especially when the teacher who accompanied us was an expert in 地方历史 and he was able to tell us more about the places we went.
it going to be 端午节了，可是到现在连一个粽子都还没吃到。 唯一卖粽子的店面看起来很不卫生，不敢买来吃。
the highlight in school was that we finally get to witness the 835 to 845hr morning exercise. All the students were doing it properly. Tho we could tell that some were rather sianz, but they bothered to execute the moves albeit with much less gusto. while soon yeow was fliming them, i did a voice-over and said, "If it were our kids, they would standing with arms in akimbo."
the sights and gardens and hills and history were just beyond words. visited the china's answer to the leaning tower of pisa located at Tiger Hill, walked through a very old estate where original suzhou houses lined the narrow walkways and visited another pagodo and its surrounding gardens. it was a very fruitful trip especially when the teacher who accompanied us was an expert in 地方历史 and he was able to tell us more about the places we went.
it going to be 端午节了，可是到现在连一个粽子都还没吃到。 唯一卖粽子的店面看起来很不卫生，不敢买来吃。
Thursday, June 05, 2008
第五天
今天终于可以睡到太阳晒到屁股。 我们也终于在永和豆浆店吃早餐。 Ok, i give up. As much as it is difficult for some of you read it, it is also very difficult for me to type in CL.
Was suppose to visit the 拙政园 and then the Suzhou Museum this morning since there is only one afternoon clas today. but found out that they were giving out free tickets to visit the Museum so we went there first instead.
Newly opened, it was also designed by the Chinese guy who designed the pyramids in front of the Louvre Musuem. So u can expect clean lines, simplicity etc . . . took many photos while inside. inside, see more trees, more ponds, more bridges ... ...
attended a CL lesson conducted by the vice-principal and i was among the 25 teachers who were seated at the back. ZzzZZzzZZz, they still use a very traditional style of teaching, i.e. teacher talk while teaching the poem “再别康桥”that was written by "徐志摩" spotted some kids dozing off while he went on and on about the imagery, personification, and emotions of the author.
the one and only lesson was great today. had this gurl who had very weak and underdeveoped bones so she is immobile (you must be mouthing the name of the disorder right not) but she is a great gurl who participated actively in class. So far, this is them most responsive class and the kids have no qualms with using adjectives like "sexy", "handsome" and "pretty" to describe themselves. changed the tail end of the lesson plan since they have the habit of coming up to the front of the class and do presentation. It was a breath of fresh air for me since this is the 6th time i am delivering this lesson (there's still 10 more).
gonna visit the suzhou industrial park tonight with a teacher from the school. hopefully,it will be more interesting than yesterday's visit to “网师园”where there was a series of "i-cannot-understand" performances. Then we bumped into a group of CHIJ St Nicholas' Primary School girls who were also touring this garden. The screaming teachers were having a hard controlling the girls, lol.
周末快到了。 我们将会到同里，虎丘，盘门， 一丝厂，浙江去走走。
Was suppose to visit the 拙政园 and then the Suzhou Museum this morning since there is only one afternoon clas today. but found out that they were giving out free tickets to visit the Museum so we went there first instead.
Newly opened, it was also designed by the Chinese guy who designed the pyramids in front of the Louvre Musuem. So u can expect clean lines, simplicity etc . . . took many photos while inside. inside, see more trees, more ponds, more bridges ... ...
attended a CL lesson conducted by the vice-principal and i was among the 25 teachers who were seated at the back. ZzzZZzzZZz, they still use a very traditional style of teaching, i.e. teacher talk while teaching the poem “再别康桥”that was written by "徐志摩" spotted some kids dozing off while he went on and on about the imagery, personification, and emotions of the author.
the one and only lesson was great today. had this gurl who had very weak and underdeveoped bones so she is immobile (you must be mouthing the name of the disorder right not) but she is a great gurl who participated actively in class. So far, this is them most responsive class and the kids have no qualms with using adjectives like "sexy", "handsome" and "pretty" to describe themselves. changed the tail end of the lesson plan since they have the habit of coming up to the front of the class and do presentation. It was a breath of fresh air for me since this is the 6th time i am delivering this lesson (there's still 10 more).
gonna visit the suzhou industrial park tonight with a teacher from the school. hopefully,it will be more interesting than yesterday's visit to “网师园”where there was a series of "i-cannot-understand" performances. Then we bumped into a group of CHIJ St Nicholas' Primary School girls who were also touring this garden. The screaming teachers were having a hard controlling the girls, lol.
周末快到了。 我们将会到同里，虎丘，盘门， 一丝厂，浙江去走走。
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Day 4
cannot follow the sec 1 chinese language lesson that i observed today in terms of the vocabulary and evaluating the questions and answers. what i know is the poems used in the lesson were very effective at stirring up the nationalistic feelings in the children. The chinese language teacher read the poems with gusto (coupled with appropriate hand gestures) and she expected the students to read it the same way. A boy was made to read it again because it didnt sound like "你爱我们的祖国”。
this is what is lacking in our EL teaching (or for that matter, in all subjects)since we have the liberty to choose our texts i.e. infusing national education into our teaching and learning. we can talk and discuss until the cows come home about infusing NE into our lesson but if the teacher does not believe in it or do not pretend to like it, the intended outcomes will not be met. haiz.
spent the afternoon cooped up in the hotel doing up the term 3 paper 2 so that i can hand it over to TC. then did the ASPIRE document so that i can arrow the others to fill in their ACTIVE and BRIGHT sections, heh heh. hopefully, they can keep to the deadlines and i will be to get the necessary stuff prepared for the back-to-school meeting on 17 June. Life when i get back is going to be so hectic - school starting, oral one-to-one, N level orals, moving my stuff back, picking up the pieces, move forward, and get healthy :P
havent ran since i reached suzhou so training for my half-marathon has come to a standstill O.o (dave is running 10km every now and then le). but i have been diligent in push-ups and crunches tho the space available in the hotel room is limited. looks like i have to up the ante when i get back.
the people here will be bringing us to visit the gardens and watch some performances tonight. hopefully, the dinner that is provided is hassle-free so that we dun have to “敬酒”repeatedly.
till then ... ...
Army of 1 (for now; physically la)
this is what is lacking in our EL teaching (or for that matter, in all subjects)since we have the liberty to choose our texts i.e. infusing national education into our teaching and learning. we can talk and discuss until the cows come home about infusing NE into our lesson but if the teacher does not believe in it or do not pretend to like it, the intended outcomes will not be met. haiz.
spent the afternoon cooped up in the hotel doing up the term 3 paper 2 so that i can hand it over to TC. then did the ASPIRE document so that i can arrow the others to fill in their ACTIVE and BRIGHT sections, heh heh. hopefully, they can keep to the deadlines and i will be to get the necessary stuff prepared for the back-to-school meeting on 17 June. Life when i get back is going to be so hectic - school starting, oral one-to-one, N level orals, moving my stuff back, picking up the pieces, move forward, and get healthy :P
havent ran since i reached suzhou so training for my half-marathon has come to a standstill O.o (dave is running 10km every now and then le). but i have been diligent in push-ups and crunches tho the space available in the hotel room is limited. looks like i have to up the ante when i get back.
the people here will be bringing us to visit the gardens and watch some performances tonight. hopefully, the dinner that is provided is hassle-free so that we dun have to “敬酒”repeatedly.
till then ... ...
Army of 1 (for now; physically la)
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Day 3
had severe pain on my lower back where my right kidney is in the morning. maybe my low threshold for pain made it seem worse off but i seriously think that on a scale of 1 to 10, the pain was definitely worth an 8. not sure what was the cause of it, but when i was printing my notes for the lesson, the pain subsided and i went off to sit in Soon Yeow's lesson.
did a short film of him while in action and took some photos for him so that we have something to share with the staff. afterwhich, it was my turn to do my thing with the students. had 2 classes today. the first was great, had about 4 teachers observing my class, taking photos and video taping my lesson. kids were responsive and managed to deliver my newly improved lesson plan. the vocab was easier for them as i have placed the Chinese equivalent next to them. I also had to give some instructions in Chinese to faciltate the flow of the lesson.
Apparently, this is a common practice for all the EL teachers in this school. They also do a lot of chorus reading that NIE frowns upon and the teachers use commands like, "repeat 1,2" and at the count of "1,2"the kids repeat the word that the teacher pronounced. then there is another command that makes them read the list of words twice in quick succession. all of them opened their mouths and REALLY read, unlike the kids back home.
so after observing the Xu Lao Shi's lesson that demonstrated the commands, I used them in my next lesson so at least the kids know how to pronounce the zodiac signs. it was wierd at first cos they behaved almost like robots. no lag time between instruction and action.
however, in this second lesson of the day, where only soon yeow is around in the class, the kids were a little more talkative, rowdy and difficult to control; but they are not as troublesome as those at home. kids are kids afterall, when their own teachers arn't around, the horns reveal themselves.
The next lesson observation was an eye-opener. apparently, the observation culture is so strong in this school that each teacher has a book to record and reflect on all the lessons that they have observed for each academic year. For a first year teacher, they have to complete 20 (!!!) observations and pen them their learning for submission. As you gain more experience, the number of observations per year decreases. When we arrived at the classroom for the lesson ob, there were 2 stacks of plastic chairs outside the class. When the bell signaled the start of the lesson, there were 16 (!!!!) teachers seated at the back of the classroom observing the EL lesson conducted by this pretty EL teacher who looks like Renee Liu (Liu Ruo Ying). There was even video taping.
So the lesson went on and all 16 of us took notes of the good, bad and ugly. Thereafter we had to adjourned to a meeting where teachers who do not have lessons come together with Liu Ruo Ying and share our findings. All was done in the spirit of professionalism. i shudder at the thought of our teachers going thru this, picture all the defensive walls being erected when comments and feedback are shared.
day in school ended abt 330pm for us. so we went back to hotel to change and get out of the district that we have trapped in for the past few days. Went to the shopping area in suzhou and it was quite ok. finally bought my nike sandals so that i dun have to wear my birkie after playing tennis, a t-shirt from izzue.com, and added another polo-t to my Y3 collection (yay!).
dinner was finally NOT chinese food. had the brazilian churrasheria (yes, wrong spelling) but u get what is it.
did a short film of him while in action and took some photos for him so that we have something to share with the staff. afterwhich, it was my turn to do my thing with the students. had 2 classes today. the first was great, had about 4 teachers observing my class, taking photos and video taping my lesson. kids were responsive and managed to deliver my newly improved lesson plan. the vocab was easier for them as i have placed the Chinese equivalent next to them. I also had to give some instructions in Chinese to faciltate the flow of the lesson.
Apparently, this is a common practice for all the EL teachers in this school. They also do a lot of chorus reading that NIE frowns upon and the teachers use commands like, "repeat 1,2" and at the count of "1,2"the kids repeat the word that the teacher pronounced. then there is another command that makes them read the list of words twice in quick succession. all of them opened their mouths and REALLY read, unlike the kids back home.
so after observing the Xu Lao Shi's lesson that demonstrated the commands, I used them in my next lesson so at least the kids know how to pronounce the zodiac signs. it was wierd at first cos they behaved almost like robots. no lag time between instruction and action.
however, in this second lesson of the day, where only soon yeow is around in the class, the kids were a little more talkative, rowdy and difficult to control; but they are not as troublesome as those at home. kids are kids afterall, when their own teachers arn't around, the horns reveal themselves.
The next lesson observation was an eye-opener. apparently, the observation culture is so strong in this school that each teacher has a book to record and reflect on all the lessons that they have observed for each academic year. For a first year teacher, they have to complete 20 (!!!) observations and pen them their learning for submission. As you gain more experience, the number of observations per year decreases. When we arrived at the classroom for the lesson ob, there were 2 stacks of plastic chairs outside the class. When the bell signaled the start of the lesson, there were 16 (!!!!) teachers seated at the back of the classroom observing the EL lesson conducted by this pretty EL teacher who looks like Renee Liu (Liu Ruo Ying). There was even video taping.
So the lesson went on and all 16 of us took notes of the good, bad and ugly. Thereafter we had to adjourned to a meeting where teachers who do not have lessons come together with Liu Ruo Ying and share our findings. All was done in the spirit of professionalism. i shudder at the thought of our teachers going thru this, picture all the defensive walls being erected when comments and feedback are shared.
day in school ended abt 330pm for us. so we went back to hotel to change and get out of the district that we have trapped in for the past few days. Went to the shopping area in suzhou and it was quite ok. finally bought my nike sandals so that i dun have to wear my birkie after playing tennis, a t-shirt from izzue.com, and added another polo-t to my Y3 collection (yay!).
dinner was finally NOT chinese food. had the brazilian churrasheria (yes, wrong spelling) but u get what is it.
Monday, June 02, 2008
Day 2
finally can get onto blogger after 20 minutes of trying... network here really sucks.
i can only post but cannot view my own blog. dun ask me why. ask the chinese govt why the network is in this state. imagine how the thousand atheletes will feel in Aug 2008. lol
Day 2 began with my first time public speaking in Mandarin. the usual butterflies my stomach, the trembling hands and knocking knees. luckily i have soon yeow to write the script. it was a good thing that we made the speech cos it was a good conversation starter for many teachers who came to speak to us.
my lesson on adjectives and the 12 western zodiac signs could have been better. The time management was not ideal and at the end i had to improvise the lesson plan while keeping in mind the lesson objectives. In the end, i only get to introduce some new adjectives to the kids and i must say although i had 3 teachers sitting at the back of the class, i did ok.
Kids were breaking out in laughter at the correct moment and hopefully, they can remember the 3-5 adjectives that best describe themselves. After the lesson, lunch at the school canteen was pleasant but food in Suzhou is really salty.
Walked ard the main branch of the school and boy, it was beautiful and huge. The gardens, rock formation, the greenery made it picture perfect. It was almost like a movie set.
then a heavy downpour helped to lessen the effect of the hot summer.
The school hosted us to a dinner and again, salty food again and did many many rounds of "wo jing ni yi bei" cos they like to do this when conversation runs dry. So the whole night was "wo jing ni (then we stand up)".... "wo zai jing ni (then we stand up again)" and the cycle continues and continues. The good thing was the Suzhou beer (like our Tiger) is very tasty. LOL.
Still gotta do some refinements to my lesson plan today. will have to add in some chinese words to make it easier for the kids.
k, gtg. i'll hope to be able to blog tmr.
i can only post but cannot view my own blog. dun ask me why. ask the chinese govt why the network is in this state. imagine how the thousand atheletes will feel in Aug 2008. lol
Day 2 began with my first time public speaking in Mandarin. the usual butterflies my stomach, the trembling hands and knocking knees. luckily i have soon yeow to write the script. it was a good thing that we made the speech cos it was a good conversation starter for many teachers who came to speak to us.
my lesson on adjectives and the 12 western zodiac signs could have been better. The time management was not ideal and at the end i had to improvise the lesson plan while keeping in mind the lesson objectives. In the end, i only get to introduce some new adjectives to the kids and i must say although i had 3 teachers sitting at the back of the class, i did ok.
Kids were breaking out in laughter at the correct moment and hopefully, they can remember the 3-5 adjectives that best describe themselves. After the lesson, lunch at the school canteen was pleasant but food in Suzhou is really salty.
Walked ard the main branch of the school and boy, it was beautiful and huge. The gardens, rock formation, the greenery made it picture perfect. It was almost like a movie set.
then a heavy downpour helped to lessen the effect of the hot summer.
The school hosted us to a dinner and again, salty food again and did many many rounds of "wo jing ni yi bei" cos they like to do this when conversation runs dry. So the whole night was "wo jing ni (then we stand up)".... "wo zai jing ni (then we stand up again)" and the cycle continues and continues. The good thing was the Suzhou beer (like our Tiger) is very tasty. LOL.
Still gotta do some refinements to my lesson plan today. will have to add in some chinese words to make it easier for the kids.
k, gtg. i'll hope to be able to blog tmr.
Sunday, June 01, 2008
day 1 in suzhou
arrived in pudong T2 abt 3pm and by the time i was transferred to Suzhou, it was 5pm le...
walked ard the school grounds and was shocked by this long bright red banner that has my name and soon yeow's to re(4) lie(4) huan(1) ying(1) us. AND they got one of the characters (the "de") in my name wrong :/
that was still not too bad since my "de" is the less conventional one. the real shocker is our hotel room that was so small that we couldn't find space to open our luggage to unpack. We had to open our luggage in our beds (nope, there wasnt even floor space for that!), take out what we need, close the luggage and put it upright again. sigh. luckily i received a call that helped to alleviate the dire situation, Lol.
looked ard for another alternative hotel but we can't switch cos it would mean that singaporeans are very hard to please (which is sometimes the case). So we will be cooped up in the dingy hotel room that soon yeow said is really meant for sleeping.
while we were waiting for the lift, the corridor next the lift had rooms on both sides. But it looked so errie cos the lights were not switched on. this dong wu hotel is a perfect location for horror films :o
now gotta rush with lesson planning so that it can be delivered tmr.
sorry, no photos now cos i forgot to bring the cable out to this non-aircon and smoky i-net cafe in suzhou china.
walked ard the school grounds and was shocked by this long bright red banner that has my name and soon yeow's to re(4) lie(4) huan(1) ying(1) us. AND they got one of the characters (the "de") in my name wrong :/
that was still not too bad since my "de" is the less conventional one. the real shocker is our hotel room that was so small that we couldn't find space to open our luggage to unpack. We had to open our luggage in our beds (nope, there wasnt even floor space for that!), take out what we need, close the luggage and put it upright again. sigh. luckily i received a call that helped to alleviate the dire situation, Lol.
looked ard for another alternative hotel but we can't switch cos it would mean that singaporeans are very hard to please (which is sometimes the case). So we will be cooped up in the dingy hotel room that soon yeow said is really meant for sleeping.
while we were waiting for the lift, the corridor next the lift had rooms on both sides. But it looked so errie cos the lights were not switched on. this dong wu hotel is a perfect location for horror films :o
now gotta rush with lesson planning so that it can be delivered tmr.
sorry, no photos now cos i forgot to bring the cable out to this non-aircon and smoky i-net cafe in suzhou china.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
et go home
things are definitely looking up.
felt really weird when i called home to inform my mum that i was not going home for dinner and will be back late cos it's mitch's berfday. it had been eons since i last did that O.o
my return also led to my first hug with my dad =]
its such a pity that i have to spend the next 2 weeks in Suzhou after coming home for abt 5 days. well, there are many more days for me to laze and hang ard when i get back.
hopefully i can achieve wat i set out for myself for this trip.
need to plan the lesson le... will post again when i reach suzhou
felt really weird when i called home to inform my mum that i was not going home for dinner and will be back late cos it's mitch's berfday. it had been eons since i last did that O.o
my return also led to my first hug with my dad =]
its such a pity that i have to spend the next 2 weeks in Suzhou after coming home for abt 5 days. well, there are many more days for me to laze and hang ard when i get back.
hopefully i can achieve wat i set out for myself for this trip.
need to plan the lesson le... will post again when i reach suzhou
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
what's the purpose of our journey?
The trip to science centre proved to be somewhat useful, at least we get to know another group who is in the same kind of shit as us, lol. Cam-whored while cabbing over to science centre, oblivious and nonchalant to what the taxi uncle is thinking.
I guess if I am the guy from Conrad and am meeting up to 12 people for this sharing session, I must be thinking what the hell are these people wasting their time on? Shouldn't they be doing things that is more closely related to their core business like teaching & learning and brainstorming for relevant and interest exhibits to entice and engage their students and visitors? Well, for this, I have an answer which is too long and troublesome for me to verbalise, think as long as we know what we are doing, it is good enough.
However, I was watching this lecture series from some China Prof on Channel U last night and she said something that knock the sleep bug out of me - "Sometimes we are too caught up with our journey that we forget why are we embarking on it in the first place." Think we should make a conscious effort to schedule time for mile-stone checks so that we always what is the meaning and purpose of our life, ya? elsewise, burn out will set in which is very prevalent in the teaching profession.
Had a talk with QM over Nuggets (i only ate 4 out of 9, phew) and Coke Light and we have a new money-spinning (hopefully) project which is useful (definitely) for students to work for this year. So am looking forward to get rid of the inertia and complete our proposal by Oct 08.
funny how a one-liner from someone who has been on your mind helps you to see things from another perspective. sometimes we can have the cake and eat it too.
I guess if I am the guy from Conrad and am meeting up to 12 people for this sharing session, I must be thinking what the hell are these people wasting their time on? Shouldn't they be doing things that is more closely related to their core business like teaching & learning and brainstorming for relevant and interest exhibits to entice and engage their students and visitors? Well, for this, I have an answer which is too long and troublesome for me to verbalise, think as long as we know what we are doing, it is good enough.
However, I was watching this lecture series from some China Prof on Channel U last night and she said something that knock the sleep bug out of me - "Sometimes we are too caught up with our journey that we forget why are we embarking on it in the first place." Think we should make a conscious effort to schedule time for mile-stone checks so that we always what is the meaning and purpose of our life, ya? elsewise, burn out will set in which is very prevalent in the teaching profession.
Had a talk with QM over Nuggets (i only ate 4 out of 9, phew) and Coke Light and we have a new money-spinning (hopefully) project which is useful (definitely) for students to work for this year. So am looking forward to get rid of the inertia and complete our proposal by Oct 08.
funny how a one-liner from someone who has been on your mind helps you to see things from another perspective. sometimes we can have the cake and eat it too.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
back to reality
My 3-week hiatus has officially ended, (*&^%$#@#$%^
If you have been waiting anxiously for an update on my attempt to clock under 10min for e 2.4km run, I have gooder (dun go tsk tsk tsk, cut me some slack. I am entitled to some bad English at times, especially given the exposure I am subjected to on a daily basis) than good news. Not only have I managed to achieve what I set myself (09:48), I came in ahead of two 20-year-young officers. lol. At the end of the run, I sat quietly at a corner and indulge myself in effervescence of pride and huge sense of achievement. Looks like the weeks of running with Dave has really paid off and it just goes to buttress the notion that there will not be success without hardwork. Really looking forward to experiencing this again in Aug 2008.
With reality rearing its ugly head and leering at my impending doom, the only consolation I can get is the teacher exchange to suzhou. Getting kids to love and appreciate the language is what I want to achieve in Suzhou unlike what I have been doing in SGP which is to get them to do well at the EL O levels. With the success that I have experiencing at preparing the kids for the O levels, I would like to see if I can ignite the love for the language which I think SHOULD be the mark of a true language teacher.
Tennis this morning was spiced up by this guy who approached us and asked if he could join us. Since there were only 3 of us, why not. And woah, is he good. While playing, three 1-week-old balls (the new ones we used when we played on Wed, yes with you) went cui. This just goes to show that the usual 3 musketeers haven been hitting the balls hard enough as we have never encountered this before. Anyway, we had a hell of a time trying to defend his shots and tire him out. Naturally, we played a little longer than usual since it was more fun, until Dave needs to zao. Looks like we still very amateurish despite having bought control racquets and played for close to 5 years.
so it's 2 weeks of pandemonium before I get to spend 2 weeks in Suzhou. Then the whole cycle starts again. Wish me luck and I know you will be there always =]
If you have been waiting anxiously for an update on my attempt to clock under 10min for e 2.4km run, I have gooder (dun go tsk tsk tsk, cut me some slack. I am entitled to some bad English at times, especially given the exposure I am subjected to on a daily basis) than good news. Not only have I managed to achieve what I set myself (09:48), I came in ahead of two 20-year-young officers. lol. At the end of the run, I sat quietly at a corner and indulge myself in effervescence of pride and huge sense of achievement. Looks like the weeks of running with Dave has really paid off and it just goes to buttress the notion that there will not be success without hardwork. Really looking forward to experiencing this again in Aug 2008.
With reality rearing its ugly head and leering at my impending doom, the only consolation I can get is the teacher exchange to suzhou. Getting kids to love and appreciate the language is what I want to achieve in Suzhou unlike what I have been doing in SGP which is to get them to do well at the EL O levels. With the success that I have experiencing at preparing the kids for the O levels, I would like to see if I can ignite the love for the language which I think SHOULD be the mark of a true language teacher.
Tennis this morning was spiced up by this guy who approached us and asked if he could join us. Since there were only 3 of us, why not. And woah, is he good. While playing, three 1-week-old balls (the new ones we used when we played on Wed, yes with you) went cui. This just goes to show that the usual 3 musketeers haven been hitting the balls hard enough as we have never encountered this before. Anyway, we had a hell of a time trying to defend his shots and tire him out. Naturally, we played a little longer than usual since it was more fun, until Dave needs to zao. Looks like we still very amateurish despite having bought control racquets and played for close to 5 years.
so it's 2 weeks of pandemonium before I get to spend 2 weeks in Suzhou. Then the whole cycle starts again. Wish me luck and I know you will be there always =]
Sunday, May 11, 2008
self praise
managed to clock 48 mins for my about 10-km run. thanks to an invisible pacer, lol. Looks like I am prepared for the 2.4 run this fri. wish me all the luck.
also pray for
1) good weather
2) mozzie free
3) no sudden urge to crap cos I dun look forward to doing my business in the wild
also pray for
1) good weather
2) mozzie free
3) no sudden urge to crap cos I dun look forward to doing my business in the wild
Saturday, May 03, 2008
No. 4 and CV
din manage to get the marksman at the combat shoot. our team did pretty well in the day shoot by hitting a 72 out of 90. i contributed the most to the score for i only missed 1 out of the 15 bullets that we were given, :P morale was rather high and the prospect of getting $200 each was making the grown men act like a child in a candy store. Raymond even exclaimed, "$200 can buy alot of milk powder for my baby. so all must tau ka cheu hor."
in the midst of shooting, also needed to be the safety officer to look into the erm... safety la. what else. there was this LTA who placed his rifle down after shooting, whipped out his mobile and started texting. WTF! walked over, threw an empty cartridge at his helmet and said, "nnm, bo message eh si ah! can you do this later!!!" sheepishly, he kept his mobile and apologised. for goodness sake, you are in your 20s and here you are acting like one of the kids i have in class. "Do the right thing at the right time," i blasted and he apologised again. LOL. scary cat.
night shoot came and it was a disappointment. we were given the wrong targets to shoot and it was disastrous. not that if the targets were right, we would have been $200 richer. tho it does affect somehow, the truth is we are bo-bo shooters at night la. so for the entire day's work, there was no monetary award for us. only a pass. looks like the $200 has to be earned at my IPPT.
the weeks of running have done some good to my fitness level, lol. at my recent IPPT, i managed to cut a further 22 secs and clock a decent 10.23sec for my 2.4km. (stop rolling your eyeballs) yes, it is still far from my personal best when i was 18 years young, but at least better than letting the timing increase right. the best thing was, the guys in my platoon are ALL between 23 - 25 years young and i came in first. when the official results were released, the guys then proposed that i take the test again and try for gold so that i would get $400 instead of $200. so on 16 may, all of my guys will take turns to pace my run. *stress* with this hurdle down, will have to start training for the army half-marathon in aug. looks like as we grow older, we constantly engage in activities that make us feel young and alive. sigh, let's hope viagra would NEVER be a facet in my life.
the one-week break from school has done me some good. i dun have to face people who like to mark their territory by peeing all over the place, dun have to put up with bad english (students and teacher alike; nope, there's no missing 's' after 'teacher'), dun have to stop whatever i am doing and entertain questions that has nothing to do with me etc... but but but, i miss being in class. so to fill that viod, made a trip back on fri after i booked out primarily to collect marking and confront students who have conveniently forgotten to hand in my work. once i stepped onto the field and saw some of my kids, i knew i was at home. and this cannot be bought with all the money in the world.
the shop is doing fine, money is coming in but parents are very tired with the close 15-hr days. looks like i have to make my presence felt more often at the shop to lighten their burden. really hope that things will turn out fine so that things at home can start to look up.
said enuff. mitch, am counting down already... ...
in the midst of shooting, also needed to be the safety officer to look into the erm... safety la. what else. there was this LTA who placed his rifle down after shooting, whipped out his mobile and started texting. WTF! walked over, threw an empty cartridge at his helmet and said, "nnm, bo message eh si ah! can you do this later!!!" sheepishly, he kept his mobile and apologised. for goodness sake, you are in your 20s and here you are acting like one of the kids i have in class. "Do the right thing at the right time," i blasted and he apologised again. LOL. scary cat.
night shoot came and it was a disappointment. we were given the wrong targets to shoot and it was disastrous. not that if the targets were right, we would have been $200 richer. tho it does affect somehow, the truth is we are bo-bo shooters at night la. so for the entire day's work, there was no monetary award for us. only a pass. looks like the $200 has to be earned at my IPPT.
the weeks of running have done some good to my fitness level, lol. at my recent IPPT, i managed to cut a further 22 secs and clock a decent 10.23sec for my 2.4km. (stop rolling your eyeballs) yes, it is still far from my personal best when i was 18 years young, but at least better than letting the timing increase right. the best thing was, the guys in my platoon are ALL between 23 - 25 years young and i came in first. when the official results were released, the guys then proposed that i take the test again and try for gold so that i would get $400 instead of $200. so on 16 may, all of my guys will take turns to pace my run. *stress* with this hurdle down, will have to start training for the army half-marathon in aug. looks like as we grow older, we constantly engage in activities that make us feel young and alive. sigh, let's hope viagra would NEVER be a facet in my life.
the one-week break from school has done me some good. i dun have to face people who like to mark their territory by peeing all over the place, dun have to put up with bad english (students and teacher alike; nope, there's no missing 's' after 'teacher'), dun have to stop whatever i am doing and entertain questions that has nothing to do with me etc... but but but, i miss being in class. so to fill that viod, made a trip back on fri after i booked out primarily to collect marking and confront students who have conveniently forgotten to hand in my work. once i stepped onto the field and saw some of my kids, i knew i was at home. and this cannot be bought with all the money in the world.
the shop is doing fine, money is coming in but parents are very tired with the close 15-hr days. looks like i have to make my presence felt more often at the shop to lighten their burden. really hope that things will turn out fine so that things at home can start to look up.
said enuff. mitch, am counting down already... ...
Monday, April 28, 2008
giving in to demands
1) i am away from school for 3 weeks due to national service. hence while you are sleeping tightly in your comfortable bed and duvet, remember that at some corner of Singapore, there is someone watching the sky for you. and that person is, of course i am not the only one but you wont know the rest of them, ME. though i still have to get out of bed at the same time, i have always seen my reservist as a chance for me to "get away". notice it's within inverted commas; so this is a good chance for a language use question, :P Every in-camp training brings back fond memories of the crap and hell that we had to take but the good thing is that there are no watchful eyes, or rather ears, over my choice of words when i am happy, sad, angry, irritated. *&^%$#$%^&^%$&
so when i get back to the "exciting" (tsk tsk tsk, i am at it again) world of teaching and learning, there is only 1 week left in the term 2 and it's the june hols and it's gonna be the same old internal oral exams, june supplementary lessons, mid-year reviews etc .. .. .. So far, confirmation wrt to my suzhou trip is still pending due to pple's indecisiveness coupled by unnecessary worries held by people who feel that they are important enough to worry for me. sorry for the very ambiguous statement. this is to cover my backside for the fear of repercussions. *free speech*
if i get to go to suzhou, it's gonna be a 2-week stint that coincides with the dumpling festival which means i get to feast on my favourite chestnut inside the dumplings. the rice and meat can give u, if u wan.
2) the grand opening of Serangoon Nasi Padang @ Blk 150A, Bishan St. 11, #01-173. this shop (since 1983) has enabled me to become what i am today; my pocket money, my education, lessons on humility, perseverance and service etc ...
if you happen to be at bishan one day and have a craving for some nasi padang which serves food like bbq chicken, bbq sotong, curry chicken, curry fish, rendang etc ... please support la. especially after all that i have done for you guys. but dun keep ur expectations too high, cos even if you say u know ET, won't ensure u a discount. probably u get better service from my other-wise "black-faced-due-to-fatigue-not-cos-she-dun-like-your-face" mother.
look out for this sign.
asked my old man why take a picture of "achar". He replied, "See already will cause people to lau chui nua (salivate) ma." Tell me if it does, at least i can tell my dad he is right (for once).
just added the shop to the local picks application under FB. so if u have eaten there, please give a review, LOL.
so when i get back to the "exciting" (tsk tsk tsk, i am at it again) world of teaching and learning, there is only 1 week left in the term 2 and it's the june hols and it's gonna be the same old internal oral exams, june supplementary lessons, mid-year reviews etc .. .. .. So far, confirmation wrt to my suzhou trip is still pending due to pple's indecisiveness coupled by unnecessary worries held by people who feel that they are important enough to worry for me. sorry for the very ambiguous statement. this is to cover my backside for the fear of repercussions. *free speech*
if i get to go to suzhou, it's gonna be a 2-week stint that coincides with the dumpling festival which means i get to feast on my favourite chestnut inside the dumplings. the rice and meat can give u, if u wan.
2) the grand opening of Serangoon Nasi Padang @ Blk 150A, Bishan St. 11, #01-173. this shop (since 1983) has enabled me to become what i am today; my pocket money, my education, lessons on humility, perseverance and service etc ...
if you happen to be at bishan one day and have a craving for some nasi padang which serves food like bbq chicken, bbq sotong, curry chicken, curry fish, rendang etc ... please support la. especially after all that i have done for you guys. but dun keep ur expectations too high, cos even if you say u know ET, won't ensure u a discount. probably u get better service from my other-wise "black-faced-due-to-fatigue-not-cos-she-dun-like-your-face" mother.
look out for this sign.
the bbq chicken cutlet, sotong and fish that got people asking for more
asked my old man why take a picture of "achar". He replied, "See already will cause people to lau chui nua (salivate) ma." Tell me if it does, at least i can tell my dad he is right (for once).just added the shop to the local picks application under FB. so if u have eaten there, please give a review, LOL.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
counting my blessings
2008 hasn't been good to me...
1) the chatbox on your right just went bonkers and i have no idea what i have to do to fix it. so let's jus heck it
2) i have succumbed to the flu bug once every month. keep burping as well cos my stomach is experiencing a lot of difficulty digesting what i put in my mouth. sianz... while i am typing this, the breakfast and lunch that i had eaten is still rolling around in my stomach.
3) had a nightmare that i was the prime suspect of a murder. woke up every 2 hours and kept telling myself that i have to prove my innonence before gg back to sleep. think i am going crazy.
BUT we must also learn to count our blessings...
experience a relative respectable amount of moolah for work done last year, hehehe. more dough for my "buy a car" fund (tho I must say is not making a lot of progress, but hey, at least the fund exists). yup, so far only 1 blessing.
Am reading this book by Paulo Coelho's Witch of Portobello and came across this excerpt that struck me:
"I'm finally coming to accept that I was only a temporary inhabitant, there as a favour, like someone who finds himself in a beautiful mansion, eating exquisite food, aware that this is only a party, that the mansion belongs to someone else, that the food was bought by someone else, and that the time will come when the lights will go out, the owners will go to bed, the servants will return to their quarters, the door will close and we'll be out in the street again, waiting for a taxi or a bus to restore us to the mediocrity of our everyday lives."
so please count your blessing. Relax, live, let live, forgive, sacrifice and donate. we come here with nothing and will leave with nothing.
So start giving. and a good starting point is my fund.
1) the chatbox on your right just went bonkers and i have no idea what i have to do to fix it. so let's jus heck it
2) i have succumbed to the flu bug once every month. keep burping as well cos my stomach is experiencing a lot of difficulty digesting what i put in my mouth. sianz... while i am typing this, the breakfast and lunch that i had eaten is still rolling around in my stomach.
3) had a nightmare that i was the prime suspect of a murder. woke up every 2 hours and kept telling myself that i have to prove my innonence before gg back to sleep. think i am going crazy.
BUT we must also learn to count our blessings...
experience a relative respectable amount of moolah for work done last year, hehehe. more dough for my "buy a car" fund (tho I must say is not making a lot of progress, but hey, at least the fund exists). yup, so far only 1 blessing.
Am reading this book by Paulo Coelho's Witch of Portobello and came across this excerpt that struck me:
"I'm finally coming to accept that I was only a temporary inhabitant, there as a favour, like someone who finds himself in a beautiful mansion, eating exquisite food, aware that this is only a party, that the mansion belongs to someone else, that the food was bought by someone else, and that the time will come when the lights will go out, the owners will go to bed, the servants will return to their quarters, the door will close and we'll be out in the street again, waiting for a taxi or a bus to restore us to the mediocrity of our everyday lives."
so please count your blessing. Relax, live, let live, forgive, sacrifice and donate. we come here with nothing and will leave with nothing.
So start giving. and a good starting point is my fund.
Monday, February 25, 2008
singapore airshow
sigh. reached pasir ris mrt only to be greeted by an anaconda. the Q is worse than queuing for 199 to get to NIE!!! and it din help cos people were cutting Q left, right and centre (which includes me)
Luckily it's a complimentary ticket. If I was one of those fools who paid a good 20 bucks, no amount of listerine can clean my mouth of the dirt caused by spewing all kinds of profanities.
in the end, settled for a nice lunch in the comfort of aircon.
so instead of seeing the A380 flying in the air, i will be in it very soon. and mitch, hopefully, I can take the a380 when i visit u in the near future. Fyi, they are flying the A380 for SQ322 (e flight that u always take when u fly back) in March. I managed to take a photo of a plane flying whilst at Bedok MRT station, so who says u need to be at the airshow to take pictures of planes.
looking forward to the vertical marathon on sun. will be hellava time. wish me luck, energy, good lungs and strong legs.
Luckily it's a complimentary ticket. If I was one of those fools who paid a good 20 bucks, no amount of listerine can clean my mouth of the dirt caused by spewing all kinds of profanities.
in the end, settled for a nice lunch in the comfort of aircon.
so instead of seeing the A380 flying in the air, i will be in it very soon. and mitch, hopefully, I can take the a380 when i visit u in the near future. Fyi, they are flying the A380 for SQ322 (e flight that u always take when u fly back) in March. I managed to take a photo of a plane flying whilst at Bedok MRT station, so who says u need to be at the airshow to take pictures of planes.
looking forward to the vertical marathon on sun. will be hellava time. wish me luck, energy, good lungs and strong legs.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
the red monster call "nian"
am still able to keep to my goal of making 1 posting per month... phew...
sigh, CNY is approaching and as always, i am not really lookin forward to it. what is with all the preparation etc... i just treat it as a break for my family to stay home and rest. period. no house calls or wat not. thanks but no thanks.
sigh, CNY is approaching and as always, i am not really lookin forward to it. what is with all the preparation etc... i just treat it as a break for my family to stay home and rest. period. no house calls or wat not. thanks but no thanks.
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