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♥THE OWNER

little eagle
Female, age unknown, loves BLUE
Plays piano, played bass clarinet
in school band
Loves Snoopy, Chip & Dale,
Bugs Bunny, Seven Dwarfs,
Forever Friends Bear,
Doggies and Piggies
Eats when stressed.
Loves chocolates and icecream
Gets paranoid easily.
Prone to clumsiness and getting
frantic

♥DARLINKS

caixuan
huilun
yingling
wendy
zoe
huiyu
xiuqi
eehui
olivia
joyce
gmchoir
lileaglessons
H41B
faith

♥DREAMS

1. Go Tasmania
2. Go New Zealand
3. Have a dog
4. Learn driving (eventually)
5. Save more money (on-going)
6. Be Healthy (trying very hard)
7. Find someone and have a family
(trying :D)

♥HOLIDAY PLANS

1. Malacca with J21
2. Taipei!
3. Holiday lessons for Sec 5
4. Long overdue Clarinets outing!


♥SHOUT OUT


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♥MEMORIES


♥CREDITS

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♥MUSIC


Sunday, April 25, 2010


Ok, previous post is like so OUT-DATED... cos i went to Hoddaido in like December 2009? Haha...

Now what else...

These people INSIST that I talk about them...

Well, they are... a rather lovable, bubbly bunch I would say... Of course if they use the same amount of spirit they have for EVERYTHING else, on their studies too, they will be fantastic. There were really enjoyable times spent with them. Of course I have my share of disappointing moments with them too... but let's not talk about them here. :)

I started off the year with a lot of 'warnings' from various people. Basically that's what we always do. We'll ask around... so how are they? Who are the people to look out for? Some will be very general and say, they're not easy, but just continue with what you've been doing and you can do it! Some are more 'specific' and say look out for the A****, the X*****, the R*****, and R***. So, I went in with certain expectations. :)

They are not easy I would say, I had to crack my brains on how to bring them to my side and when they celebrated my birthday with me, I felt that my efforts have not gone to waste.

The celebration was a pleasant surprise. This was really one of the 'surprise' celebrations that was REALLY a surprise. In the past, someone will always manage to leak out something... Actually I should have thought of it when they asked for $20 to buy stuff for 'class deco'. Even when my colleagues came and ask me whether it's my birthday, I still didn't expect the celebration. I walked into class to see them 'extremely' obedient, greeting with extra enthusiasm, with some empty seats. Then some walked in with the cake, think they were hiding in the toilet before I came in. Well, from the noise they made, they managed to let a whole lot of people know that my birthday was coming, and had two 'seniors' walk by to see what is going on, and one even got her hp confiscated cos she's trying to get the cake.

Recently we had this carnival, which many of them worked very hard for. I was really so proud of them, seeing the way they did the carnival and how they worked together. I was actually so worried at some point of time whether things are getting done, and when I asked, they were like, ya we're doing it and everything turned out great. We were the first stall to finish selling our food. I personally think we had the best decorations, so upset when I knew there were no prizes for that. We had the best advertisers... the way they go around shouting was so amusing. The games stall was like giving away prizes at a loss, the little children kept coming back to our stall cos we place the ball soooo close to the target for them and we gave a whole lot of presents no matter what score they hit.

Then there was sports day... I was SOOO looking forward to the class relay... then they cancelled it cos of lack of time. So disappointing... I was so sure we would win something... sigh... But a number of them still won prizes in other events. This people a lot of sporty ones... Cannot stay still. This makes me miss MY Sec School's sports day. I never took part though... I'm not the type who participate in sports... see my size you'll know :)... but i love watching sports... basketball, badminton, volleyball, swimming, diving, gymnastics etc... but no soccer... I think it's boring...

So now the important time of the year is coming! Work hard! It's 40% of final ok! Don't disregard it's importance. MUST WORK HARD! Do yourself proud! Make me proud. :)

:D 4/25/2010 03:03:00 PM

Saturday, April 24, 2010


FINALLY...

Today is 'almost' FIVE months from my last entry. Ppl around are like... Hello... your blog? is it still alive? Well, I get that a lot...

Anyway, I've lots to talk about... but first let's talk about my HOKKAIDO trip... :)

Well, it's UNFORGETTABLE... the guide says it's all white when it snows... True enough... but i had lots of first times in this trip...

I saw so much snow that I almost couldn't walk through it...

Tasted snow...

Made my first snow angel

Ate KOBE beef... Cost like S$120 for a piece slightly large than your palm. It's the BEST type of beef ever available... Apparently they play music to the cows starting from 3 months old.

Made a snow man... (guess how BIG is it?)

Drank beer fresh from factory...

Ate ice-cream in the snow...

Ate sea-urchin...

Saw TWO Frozen waterfalls...


Slept on extremely comfortable Tatami... I don't mind my bed room like this in future... Save on bed frame.

and woke up in the morning and saw THIS

Love this place... I'll be back again... during the summer season... but that has to be during July... which with my current job, is quite impossible... Well, the day will come... Maybe... in many years from now.


:D 4/24/2010 01:48:00 PM

Friday, November 27, 2009


Memories of China CIP 2009

Well, finally I’m back to update my blog again. Actually not really back in the mood, but I’ve always blogged about my overseas trips, so let’s not make this the exception.

Well let’s start from the question that my colleague asked me on the last day of our trip, when we were already back in Singapore. ‘This trip is very much different from the Cambodia trip right?

I totally agreed. But of course it’s actually not so fair to make the comparison because the location was different and the people accompanying were different. On top of that the things that we did were rather different too. There’s no ‘constant’ so to speak (in the scientific sense), except me and him.

One thing that I really enjoyed in Cambodia was not the teaching… but the painting of the murals. We didn’t manage to paint any murals this time, which I was sort of disappointed. As for the English teaching, firstly the standard in China and in Cambodia is like miles apart. We could teach simple sentences for primary 3 in Cambodia, and they could read simple words, but in China, they only start their ABCs in primary 3, means we are teaching from scratch. So we’re like teaching English in Mandarin. And they have a slightly different alphabet song from us.

And now, I don’t have to do anything while they’re teaching, other than giving advice sometimes and helping out in the small group discussions. And of course taking pictures of the children and the little teachers.

Major problems that we faced were actually getting the attention of the children. Because of their background, many still do not understand the importance of English, or many simply do not even know what this language is. Therefore many show no interest. The progress of the students is also slow, and many a times, the little teachers were going too fast that they just stare blank and gave up.

Actually observing my students aka the little teachers, made me understand a lot of things and why we do or do not do during lessons. As much as we tell them, see this is what YOUR teachers have been dealing with. Now that you have the experience of it, you should know how your teachers were feeling when they were teaching. On the other hand, as a teacher, I see a lot of things too. I’m actually one who is very satisfied with chorus answers. Most of my students simply shout out the answers before I could ask anyone to answer it. The few days of lessons in Fengban Primary made me see directly the disadvantages of chorus answering. Most of the kids simply chorus with their classmates. When it comes to doing work, they simply couldn’t write a single alphabet.

The school was very small, like the school in Cambodia, 1 class per level. But the class size is only about 20 whereas the Cambodian school had up to about 40. But the school is rather big I would say, had a classroom block, a hostel, a canteen building, another classroom block for the kindergarten, and a rather large open space with a basketball court.

I had rather long conversations with one of the teachers there to understand the school’s situation… Everything in the school is provided for, including textbooks, even pillows and quilts in the hostels are provided by the government. So the students only need to buy exercise books and foolscap paper and stationary… The government also gives them a sum of money, calculated according to the number of students they have, for the running of the school… including phone, water, electricity bills, renovations, purchasing things for the school, building new facilities… But with the number of students they have in the school, they actually do not get a lot of money, considering their campus is actually quite big.

The teachers there were definitely not as fortunate as us. They had to teach almost every subject. Except English, which they had one teacher to specially teach English. But for all other subjects like Art, Music, Chinese, Science, PE etc, they had to take turns to teach every year. And of course, their pay is ‘peanuts’ as compared to us. I think their annual salary is not even my one month’s pay… (And to think I’m complaining about the 0.25 month end of year bonus).

But I admire their passion for the children. I saw the teachers play with the children, running around, and we got to learn new games like ‘Xiao Mi Feng’ and ‘Rabbit and Wolf’. They’re like one of them, but when the teacher disciplines them, the children are all ears. For me, I think I accomplished the first part, becoming one of them, but the second part on disciplining them… well, there’s still room for improvement…

Oh and I envy their pace of life. The teachers, including the Principal, were playing badminton and basketball in between lessons. Here, we’re slogging in our staffrooms and preparing lessons…. What a contrast… Maybe there’s where the difference in pay comes in…

 



:D 11/27/2009 01:27:00 PM

Sunday, September 20, 2009


This year's Teachers' Day seems extremely memorable. Why?

Because I fell VERY sick on that day. FLU, SORETHROAT, COUGH, FEVER... everything come together. Almost thought i have h1n1. Fever subsided so i dragged myself to school one day, then cannot tahan took mc the following day.

Even until now, the cough is still not fully cleared. Always lidat.. left a bit. Urgh...

Anyway, I'm going Hokkaido! Finally! But... we couldn't extend our stay in Tokyo, cos the agent said it's very difficult to extend during that time as air tickets are hard to get. So we now only going Hokkaido. Sigh... Was looking forward to DisneySea, shopping at the disneyland shop, going to Harajuku where the Snoopy shop, Kiddyland and the gigantic 100Yen shop is, Shinjuku to buy another Porter bag. T_T

I'm also joining the school on a CIP to Fuzhou China. At first say not confirm whether I'm going, cos P say give chance to other teachers who haven't gone b4. Now say confirm i'm in the team, but then MOE haven't confirm whether we can go or not... cos scared the 2nd wave of h1n1 i think.

Anyway, looking forward to both trips. Went shopping past few weeks, bought new luggage, well prepared for CCCOOOLLLDD weather now. I hope it snows in Hokkaido... I saw snow in Korea last year, but fallen ones... Haven't seen it SNOWING yet...

Also coming up. H41B chalet! Promise... I'll make cheesecake and maybe cupcakes. :)
but i still have to go back school in the morning... sigh...

Oh and I promised my ex-students I'll organise a bbq at my house again... I'll try. How about boxing day? We can exchange presents too? hehe... see how... will try my VERY best.

:D 9/20/2009 10:18:00 PM

Sunday, August 09, 2009


I discovered my talent! For so many years, my mum always asked me and I have wondered... if I don't teach, what will I do? I never had the answer... cos since like primary school, I've always wanted to be a teacher. (Actually changed to vet once... but immediately objected by my mum)

But I've found the answer! I can bake and sell cakes! There're so many people making a fortune selling cakes online... Maybe I could be one too... Anyway, I've been making cheesecakes... chilled ones actually... but I'm proud to say, people who have eaten it keep asking for more. Then some time ago I bought this cupcake recipe book by impulse... So I've been wanting to make some. Therefore this weekend, cos my relatives coming to eat popiah at my place, I decided to bake some cupcakes.

Orange Almond Cupcakes:
My mum and cousins were my guinea pigs. My mum ate it on Friday, the night I made it, and my cousins on Saturday when they came to play Mahjong... I overbaked it a little cos I was talking to my mum... Cupcakes were a little too dry... but smells and tastes good!

Chocolate Raisin Cupcakes:
I made these the following night... at 10.30 pm, cos my cousins came to play mahjong until about 9pm. This didn't come from the recipe book. I just put in some raisins, cocoa powder sprinkled some almond flakes on top, and TADA! Oh these are nice... soft and springy... Success!


Ok this is the unsuccessful one... I tried to make a Pandan cake with a recipe found on the newspaper, cos my mum likes pandan cake... but it didn't rise enough, then the centre cracked open... Dunno what's wrong... I'm bad at troubleshooting such things... Anyway, my whole family still say it tastes nice... but I think that its texture is a bit funny...

:D 8/09/2009 04:13:00 PM

Friday, August 07, 2009


Happy National Day Singapore!


Once again, my busybody-ness got me into more work.

I supposedly have nothing to do with National Day Celebrations.... But big mouth me 'volunteered' my choir to sing during the celebrations. We kept on trying to make things better, had to practice with the band again and again, in the end had to change song, and I think we took up a lot of time of the band that they didn't have much time to practice on their own. Think my girls are not used to sing with live band. Tat's why need time to get used to. But in the end, I was the one who messed it up... Sang my part too early... Anyway, I was suppose to be a 'phantom' singer, my smart suggestion to my colleague, but in the end got 'dragged' out by another teacher to show the WHOLE school that their teacher is singing so they should too...


Then I 'volunteered' to click PowerPoint too... then it was quite messed up AGAIN, cos I couldn't hear a single thing the singer is singing, and the singer never follow the lyrics! and I couldn't figure which part the guitar is playing too... Urgh... Anyway, I hope nobody blames me... :( I'm already terribly sorry...

But the good thing is, I went around asking, and most people actually didn't know it was me singing until I came out... Which means, the 'phantom singer' question would have been quite challenging actually. :(

:D 8/07/2009 04:01:00 PM

Thursday, August 06, 2009


Two long weekends. Last week had one, and now another. How wonderful!

Last week was our school's Thanksgiving. So we had a Monday off... Long weekend!
Watched the long anticipated Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince on Saturday after Thanksgiving with my family. Story line not fantastic, but the effects were good. .
And where do you think a family of four, parents and two daughters with the younger one in mid-twenties can go on a Sunday?
Clue: Famous tourist attraction, found in northwestern part of Singapore, Internationally renowned.

The ZOO! Ok the last time I went was actually in March this year, for our school's Sec 2 Subject Camp. But I was stationed at the Polar Bear for the whole day, cos I asked my colleague to give me a sheltered place hehe... so I didn't get to walk around. And the even more previous time I went was as one of the field trips in my modules in NUS, and that's like 5 years ago? As a family, I think it's at least 15 years ago.


Me and the 'otter family'
The otters are REALLY cute. No wonder they put them near the entrance. The moment they see people coming, they start running in all directions.
Cant remember what monkey this is. Not orang utan or chimpanzee. Anyway, it's a real show-off. The moment it saw a lot of people walking pass, it just kept on swing to and fro the hanging branches with all sorts of stunts.

My family and the parrots. I think I took pictures with their ancestors when I was... erm... 6?
Chimpanzees: Do you know that they are 99% genetically identical to human beings? They are our closest relative in the animal kingdom. So that 1% difference in DNA, actually made us able to walk upright, talk, NOT have hair all over our body... blah x3
Great is the Wonder of DNA.

Ah Meng Memorial. I thought a Memorial was going to be a gallery with her life story and pictures of her with tourists...

White tiger... Is this the one that killed the worker few months ago? Anyway, this one just kept on walking left and right... Is it wondering who is more delicious to eat? Anyway, the tiger show in Dreamland Australia was much more spectacular.

Elephants! My favourite animal. Gentle giants that carry heavy weights. In my opinion, one of the rare animals that are HUGE and CUTE.

:D 8/06/2009 02:59:00 PM