tmr marks No. 3 :) will be working hard to keep it going

tmr marks Day 1 of becoming a student all over again :) will need to have a positive attitude

Aussie land and its aftermath

tons of good stuff happened. Happy times shared. Memories created.

there were the Opens :[
sandy grass
broken strings
discounted yoghurt
finding the way when it poured at night
breaking a bowl, BSBJ
finding value food and buys
not-just-fast but superman fast, arghhhhhhhhh :o
smoke detector
jam, butter, salt and pepper
pies
juice
scrubbing pans
AUD249!
A380
wotif
hertz
where's the camera?!?!
wet tutu of josh’s

am now exercising social responsibility for 7 days

J.M. Coetzee's Disgrace

Because he has no respect for the material he teaches, he makes no impression on his students. They look through him when he speaks, forget his name. Their indifference galls him more than he will admit. Nevertheless he fulfils to the letter his obligations towards them, their parents and the state. Month after month he sets, collects, reads, and annotates their assignments, correcting lapses in punctuation, spelling and usage, interrogating weak arguments, appending to each paper a bried, considered critique.

He continues to teach because it provides him with a livelihood; also because it teaches him humility, brings it home to him who he is in the world. The irony does not escape him: that the one who comes to teach learns the keenest of lessons, while those who come to learn learn nothing.

There is truth in what is written though I do not agree with it in its entirety. I wonder with the influx of more into the teaching profession will make this phenomenon more prevalent than ever.

btw, let me know if I am showing signs of becoming one....thanks

shanghai shi4 ji4 xi1 wang4 xiao3 xue2

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.

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

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.

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...

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

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...

Li Jiang I

cold cold cold...

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...

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.

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 =.=

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 ... ...

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 ... ...

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!

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....

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

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!

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?"

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