If you want a rainbow, you must first learn to embrace the rain...

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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

DESIGNER
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brushes

♥MUSIC

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Let's continue my Cambodian Story. Let's see. I've already said so much... Some things better not put up here or else will put my head on the chopper.

Let's talk about our mural paintings. This year was much easier. Cos the pictures were all simple fruits, vegetables and trees... Not like previous years had to draw complicated precious moments pictures with all the patterns and so on... need to mix a lot of colours. And also this year we didn't have to use the left over paint of the previous groups. So the art teacher and me went out to buy all the paint we needed at one go.

We painted a lot of walls actually, just that the pictures were simpler. We painted food in the canteen, imagine a carrot bigger than yourself. The little kids were so facinated when they saw the paintings on the walls, even when it was still unfinished. I was trying to get the art teacher to draw a gigantic drumstick. Won't it be great? To have such a huge drumstick in front of you when you have your lunch? Eat plain rice also taste good haha... Anyway... in the end they didn't draw. Healthy lifestyle lah... All fruits and vegetables. But the paint keeps on dripping when they're drawing... Then all the fruits look like they're melting... and pictures look like they're crying... My fav was the grape and the orange. The egg looks cute too... Then they even drew cherries, bananas etc on the pillars. Nice!

Then we had this wall outside near the sand pit. That was quite a disaster lah. The trees look weird, the oranges on the tree landed on the floor in the end and we just had to explain that the oranges had fallen off. As usual the paint keeps dripping, so the oranges became bigger and bigger as we try to 'save' the oranges. When we thought all's well, the oranges 'melted' again overnight, so we had lots of 'orange juice' on the tree. So someone had to go rescue the oranges again.

Last one was my favourite wall. Mainly drawn by my english group and some others. We painted the wall inside the playground for the kindergarden. It was the nicest wall of all. Everything simply drawn from freehand, the students just came up with the ideas one by one... from the grass, to the trees, to the little white flowers on the bushes, the large flowers among the grasses, the butterflies, the bee, the clouds and the sun. It was really enjoyable painting that wall, and so much memories came from there. So how felt that my main contribution this time was painting that wall. We painted the pictures together, and I did the finishing touches (including the toning, effects etc), and the whole thing was like 'WOW'... You can't deny that it was my magical touch right? right? haha...

Cos I was the one who did the toning, so I had to climb the ladder to draw the tree and clouds. Then I'm a bit afraid of heights lah... While I was on the ladder painting the tree, our dear friend came climbing up the ladder to draw the clouds. I almost screamed my head off and burst into tears. Then he promised he won't shake the ladder, but then he draw one cloud and then keep turning around to ask his friend, "like that can or not?"... THEN the whole ladder shake like mad...

But really this group of students that we brought are much more artistic than last year's batch. Last year we had boys who would put paint 'everywhere' except on the correct part of the wall. At least this year we had boys who can come up with constructive ideas and paint properly. [Althought sometimes they'll just sit down there and say 'this one nice', 'that one not nice' etc]

All was well until someone painted some HUGE words on it... and totally destroyed my beautiful painting. Almost fainted when I saw them write the words on the wall. Then I vented all my anger on poking the chopstick into the coconut. Like I said, it's no use crying over split milk. But then again, number 1: can you ask the artist(s) before you write?, number 2: can you get a more artistic person to draw those words?

Still waiting for another teacher to send me the picture of that wall. My only memory left of the beautiful painting.

:D 11/28/2006 10:20:00 PM

Brought my choir to TTSH to put up a performance. They sang three songs and did very well. The whole place was like a gigantic bathroom, echos back all the sounds... which made them sound exceptionally well. The band also sounded great. But my dear girls, you need to learn how to relax and smile at the same time... =D

:D 11/28/2006 09:59:00 PM

Apart from the PAIN in the LEG, which is still aching now... I'm also suffering from mozzie bites. Can you imagine? The mozzies here must have missed me too much while I was in Cambodia. I had only like two bites in Cambodia, and now, barely three days after my return, I have almost 20 bites!!! I'm scratching like hell!

But how come I didn't see any mozzies around here? Hmmm... could it be the bites from Cambodia, but only surfaced till now? Maybe my skin too thick? Maybe too much fat? Or my body reaction slow? Urgh... So itchy...

:D 11/28/2006 09:30:00 PM

Monday, November 27, 2006

Lessons Learnt in Cambodia =P

1. U just need some good PR skills, and a clever way of 'describing the situation', and morning call would be an easy task. People will 'give u face' and wake up... don't need to kick and slap.. My ice towel didn't even leave my luggage.

2. It's useless to get 4 lazy worms to work. There isn't that much work to do anyway. So get 1 or 2 out of the 4 to work... They'll rotate... Get the remainder to run odd jobs occasionally. But studies have also shown that lazy worms work better when they are separated.

3. Which of the following is true?
A) Angkor Wat is man made.
B) Angkor Wat was actually a meteor which fell from the sky and landed on earth leaving the present architectural wonder.
C) Someone planted explosives in a mountain and 'puff' it became Angkor Wat!
(for answer: please see end of post)

4. What is the easiest way to avoid the scorching sun? Stand near the boys (the taller ones)
But it becomes useless when it's the mid-day sun. The boys are never tall enough.

5. Uses of a straw hat:
a. To block the sun
b. To fan yourself
c. To block you and your friends when you're gossiping
d. To act as money container when you're busking

6. Never spoil a child.

7. It's easier to be a nanny than to be a displinarian. I'm like a big sister cum 24-7 nanny, adopted yet another few more sons and daughters... Have to be alert, take care of people, set distance (5 metres!!), keep an eye on those rascals all the time. So tiring... Now that I'm back home, I'm going to become the whiney kid and be a little girl at home.

8. Boys like to sleep topless. No use avoiding.. Just get used to it.

9. There're two types of people who paint. One is those who can paint and willing to paint, and those who can't paint and extra one...

10. People who don't paint are the most dangerous when it comes to giving ideas.

11. There're people who just do not respect others, and never ask for your permission to do something. So just remember to good times... No use crying over spilt milk.

12. Boys are just... BLUR...
Example-
Boy: Why is she crying?
Me: Because we're leaving tomorrow, so she'll miss the students?
Boy: Huh? lidat also cry ah?

13. Punching a coconut with a chopstick is a very good way to vent anger and freak people out.

14. Boys show no sense of shame when they wear bathrobes and walk on the streets into a convenience store, and walking past a massage parlour with a lady standing outside saying "Sir, massage?".

15. Last one... There're people in this world other than my dad, who can sleep anytime, anywhere, any position... And will be totally unaware of what has happened during the times of sleeping, and how bright the flashlight of the camera was.

Almost forgot... answer to the question 3. Which one did you choose?
If you chose A), thank goodness you're sane.
If you chose B), maybe you should go do some reading up on Angkor Wat or see a psychologist.
If you chose C), you're eating too much Coco Crunch.

:D 11/27/2006 10:25:00 PM

Cambodian Experience - Part 3

I don't blog in sequence... just in case if anyone is wondering... I just type anything that comes in mind.

Did I say that my leg is hurting? It is SO painful!!! Every step I make I make it with PAIN. Why am I in pain? Because two days ago, we walked and walked and walked until my leg almost broke. Ok, I know my body reaction a bit slow. But the leg started to hurt last night... so only one day late. But I'm like that since young... my body aches always comes one day later. And true enough... after all the walking... like I said... My weight has reduced!! YEAH! Another accomplishment from the trip.

Let me explain why we walked. First we had to walk through this big gate to a temple which is like 20 min walk away from the gate... Harlo... it's under the hot sun lor... And it's only half way down the road that we realised that we could take a 'toot-toot'.

Argh... stupid... But if we hadn't walked, we won't have seen the macaques and the big piggy in the pool...

But that was still fine... We walk and walk so fast that the rest of the group were left far behind... gossip also nobody know. hahaha... But the way back we INSISTED that we took the 'toot-toot'... Pay pay lah... 2 usd only... ta boleh tahan already.

Then we went for lunch... where I fell asleep at the lunch table. Had to drink coffee to keep myself alert... or else dunno how to jaga my little princess and 4 kings.

Then we went to Angkor Wat...

That was where the nightmare came... We went to the centre of the temple... where there was this 25 m high tower. The steps were so narrow that we can hardly put our feet on it. But it's really pointless to go there and don't climb that thing... So... we did... Well, it's always easy to go up... but harder to come down!

So while we were up there, we tried to roam around... trying to delay the hard truth that we still need to come down... while we were scared stiff, our dear kings managed to nearly give us a heart attack by coming up and down again and again... and attempted to leave my camera halfway on a rock on the wall and make me go down to get it.

So we ladies die die also go queue up at the part where they installed railings and walked down gingerly...... My legs were like jelly jelly...

Cos we walked so fast... we had so much time that we went shopping at the roadside stalls, and sat under a tree, where the boys tried playing tunes with that 'out of tune' flute that they bought from the stalls, and I thought of some 'science' questions to test the few of them there.

If that wasn't enough, right after that, we went to a mountain, where we were suppose to climb up and watch the sunset. Almost fainted lah... But all the young kids going... I have to go right? Or else lose face. So chiong lor... Not that bad lah at least... the mountain wasn't difficult... cos it's just up the slope all the way... then when we reached the top, there's yet another tower... What to do? go up lor... So went up and sat under that glaring evening sun and gossip again... But even before the sun set, we were told to go down... We were like huh? come up all the way here and then never watch sunset and go down already? But luckily we went down... the mountain roads had no lights at all... And it was already getting dark when we were on the way down. Quite dangerous actually...

So... totally exhausted... the buffet dinner didn't look that attractive at all cos I lost my appetite... But it's the last day there already... who cares... Only slept two hours that night... went to sleep at 3 am and woke up at 5. I spent the whole night with some students by the pool, watching stars and chit chatting... and of course gossiping...

Above all that workout... I really enjoyed myself.. Thanx to all who made that day so wonderful...

:D 11/27/2006 09:10:00 PM

Cambodian Experience - Part 2

So much to write. And I didn't want to cram them all in one post. So bear with me. You know I'm long-winded.... sometimes VERY.

Let's talk about my english group. Initially we just had to sit in class and assist the students. Not much teaching required. But our english group teacher managed to get the school teacher to let us teach on the last day. And we had our very own students BECOME a teacher for once. You see them bring out the confidence in themselves, and use all sorts of innovative ideas to teach different words. It was not only an experience for them but also for me. Trying to reach the balance in giving them to free hand exploring how to teach the little kids, and also to give them hints on how to carry on and keep on track. Sometimes I couldn't stop laughing at the way they explain things. I'm more like watching a comedy than being in an English lesson. Now you know it's not easy to earn a few thousand bucks a month right? Overall, I must say they did very well, considering we only gave them one hour to practice on the day before, and they put up a reasonably good show. CHEERS!

English Group (consisting of three beauties, an ah beng and a bo chap aka artist)

How do you explain 'resort'? Hehe... My masterpiece...

P4 Lesson: What is your name? My name is XXXXXX...

P6: Wide wider widest

One of my favourites... Cute Cuter Cutest (guess who is who? erm... picture shows no direct reference to the actual person)

This is where I discovered that our Sec 3 students can't spell for nuts...

Another favourite: How do you explain 'cemetery'?

:D 11/27/2006 04:31:00 PM

Cambodian Experience - Part 1

Finally back from Cambodia... Totally exhausted... Slept the whole afternoon and went to bed early yesterday... Missed my mum's cooking, miss singapore's air, water and food... gobble down wanton mee and fried carrot cake tis morning... shiok...

Not that food there was bad... It was not bad actually, we were quite well fed... Not talking about those guys who dislike vegetables (cos we had a lot of veges). But got a little sick of eating bread and bread every morning... cos personally I don't like eating bread... And the rice there is like FOC cos they give us one whole big styrofoam box of rice, and I can eat like only 1/3 of it. And the water also... We can't drink from tap water, so we either had to boil or drink bottled water. The boiled water is fine when it's hot, but tastes very weird when it's cooled. Then the bottled water tastes different too. When I came back to drink the water at home, I felt like my entire digestive track cleared...

As I expected, the trip this year was so much different from last year. What's most different is our programme, and our 'boldness' to ask for changes. I daringly brought just two boys and walk out of the school to buy stuff... which is something that the teacher in charge would never let me do last year. And I brought them out more than once some more. My colleague managed to find an orphanage to bring some of the students there in the morning, and they totally enjoyed it. Wished I was there. I was told it was a totally different experience as compared to the school we were in. The orphanage was made from attap houses, basically just 'spaces' for different activities and not rooms.

We saw so much more of Cambodia this time. The contrast between the forsaken capital city Phnom Penh and the vibrant tourist hotspot Siem Reap. Along the roads of the capital city, we see abandoned shop houses. On the outskirts, we see golden rice fields, and slumps and villages, where families live in houses made from attap and twigs which are barely bigger than our toilets. Everything that we do seem to bring them so much hope, every little thing that we do made a big difference to them. People come and go in their lives everyday... but when will their lives be really changed for the better. The children pose willingly at every picture that you take of them. They wave at anyone who walks by, whether or not you wave back at them. They look so happy and contented... yet most of them will stay in poverty for life.

However, are we always able to stop and think of these people, who have barely 10% of everything that we possess. Who are we to complain, who are we to be uncontented, when we know that there are people who have nothing at all.

:D 11/27/2006 04:17:00 PM

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Holidays now... but still had to go back to school. Tomorrow is our last 'official' day... supposedly friday but because we going overseas on friday so friday we're excused.

Three and a half weeks in school... no teaching... 50% of the time I'm loitering around, trying to find things to do. The problem is there ARE things to be done... but I some how don't know where to start.

But I did quite a lot of things though...

1. Finally packed my table... and placed a big forever friends calendar mat on the table... at last there's space on my table and not mountains and mountains of papers that I simply chucked aside.
2. Cleared UNDER my table (sort of)... now I stretch my legs without hitting things.
3. Packed the Dept Resource cupboard... I tell you there're tonnes of things inside that cupboard that I don't why they are there. There're even books that were published even before I was born... and then all not recorded in inventory... had to write down everything all over again.
4. Collect ang-bao money for a retiring lab assistant. He's retiring and his child is still in primary school.
Had to get people to sign cards for the lab assistant and another teacher who is also leaving to further her studies.
5. Preparation for the end of year staff gathering at the chalet. The blowing of the balloons was so tiring... Then I had to host the games... a bit scary leh... have to talk in front of so many teachers.. including P n VP.
6. Preparation for Cambodia trip... Learn mass dance, packing, prepare lesson, brief students... the same thing have to say 10 times... (not me ah)
There was chalet also... Some problematic people 'emerged'... Will have to crack my brains to tackle them in Cambodia.
7. and last of all... Choir...
- changed attendance book
- purchase SYF set piece, and a whole list of scores (to use up budget... =D)
- settle accounts for choir fund
- ordered new S-sized t-shirts for Sec 1s
- supervise choir practices... today even had to sight read a piece to let them run through, cos instructor not around.
- oh and I learned how to set up the keyboard and sound system...

Problem with things during the holidays is so many people are not around, so things get done last minute, or not done at all.

Whatever it is we're all ready to go Cambodia now. Just a few loose ends to settle tomorrow in school, and friday we're off to Cambodia! It'll definitely be a different experience as compared to last year... looking at the students who're going with us. Just hope I don't fall sick over there and when I come back on the 26th, cos I have to bring the choir out for a performance on the 28th.
How come my schedule always filled up one... last year also come back from Cambodia the next day bring choir to perform in concert. But no complains lah... I'm happy with my choir.

Anybody wants presents? I see what I can bring back lah. Really not much things to buy over there. All I see are shawls. And I don't think guys like shawls. Food or tidbits... nothing special leh.. except chewing gum... but I admit I have no guts to bring them back. So err... see how lah... hehe

:D 11/15/2006 11:01:00 PM