Today is the last day of Week 1 of my attachment. Phew! Finally I have some time to do my homework and report after 1 strenuous week of activities with the kids. By right, I was only supposed to observe but I ended up having to take some PE lessons as well.

I stepped out of NIE to realise that the real teaching world is so different from what we learnt in textbooks and lectures. Many of us would want to follow the objectives of PE and conduct lessons as of most beneficial to the children. However, when I got posted to the sch, I realised it’s easier said than done.

The school which I was posted to has 2 PE-trained teachers, one of whom is the HOD himself. Mr M was trained in College of Physical Edn (CPE). It was the old name of PESS (my sch) when it first started in 1970s. A lot of the PE teaching methodologies has changed over the decades. Therefore, many of the activities done during the PE lessons were not what was taught to us nowadays. However, Mr M is a patient mentor who shared a lot about how to deal with different types of students. I do learn a lot from him.

The staff in the sch is really friendly and approachable. Having a sch with majority of the teachers coming from our days, it is really nice to have them being approachable and willing to teach the younger ones. This includes the principal and vice principal who are willing to try their best to make the new teachers feel comfortable so that they can adapt to the sch fast. They were also very nice to the trainees like me and my classmate. I feel comfortable in the sch which actually gave me a second thought on whether should I really go JJ after I grad from NIE.

However, some things must change if I am really going to stay. The PE culture here is bad, really bad. The percentage of obese children is high and they are not keen about PE. The participatory level of the students is low and the activities which have been done for the past 1 week are their Sports Day relays for the lower pri and napfa test stations for the upper pri. Now, I dun even know how to write my report and observations!

Apart from all these, what makes me feel most attached to are the children. Some of them start to recognise me and will wave to me frantically when they saw me pass by their classes. I am already having some who will come to me during their recess time just to catch my attention. Kids are the reason why I decide to choose the path and hopefully they will be the reason for me to stay on and hang in there during those days when I am down.

Tmr is my attachment!! Oh no.. *nervous*

It was good to be able to see this bunch of frenz in action again. Sports Secs, a bunch a lovable people from NTU whom I enjoyed to be with. We joked about anything under the sun. Today, quite a few of them joined me in helping FIT to run a swimming carnival for HP. It was an wasy job for most as those were the duties we did during IHG last year.

To many of them, it was easy money earned for the day as we basically just do stuff which did not require brain. Timekeep, count no. of laps, distribute tags at finishing point, play with kids during telematch, suntan on the deck chair.. Haha.. Besides, we ate almost every other hour..

Towards the end of the meet, we took our very own version of the Visa Advertisement and trust me, it was really hilarious..

I had fun today. It has been a long time since I work with this bunch of people, Hope there will be more opportunities in future..

Najib & Yanying at work..


Hmmm.. Did u see that??


Ying & me in our shades..


The men..


Caught on camera..


So loving..


Group shot..

It has been a while since I last had dinner with him. Of cos we did not eat alone, there were others around but somehow it felt weird. I had gone back to FIT for an event briefing with some of the sports secs. He came too. I thought I have let go but when I saw him once again I knew I had not. Things have changed.

I just wanna wish him well and hope he is happy now.. I am moving on. Gimme some time..

Brought my eldest nephew, Ray, to Sentosa today with Qi. Had promised to bring him out since beginning of term break. Finally had the time to do so.

Sentosa changed so much. I did not even know that the monorail is no longer operating. They are building somewhat like LRT in Sentosa to replace the old monorail. I missed those days when I took the monorail to tour around Sentosa.

Underwater World (UW) has a display of crabs and the Sand Tiger Sharks. They have given 30% discount to Singaporeans during the school holidays and of cos we are all entitled to this offer. We met some schools having excursion at UW which reminded me that I may become one of the teachers in future to bring these children for such a visit.

Ray & me at UW..


Crabs crossing underneath.. Beware!


Ray & the Giant Crab


Shocked face!!


The tank behind me was really nice..


The big one..


After the visit at UW, we went over to Dolphin Lagoon to watch a performance. Ray was so excited he early fell off a chair which he was standing on. Luckily he got back his balance if not he would land on a baby pram!

Me & Qi on an open decked tram ride to Dolphin Lagoon..


Anyway, we all had our virgin chairlift ride! It was cool.. I was so afraid that I would drop my slippers. But it was a good experience.

On the chairlift..


Nice view at the back..


Qi & me at Orchids Garden..


Initially I was supposed to bring Ray’s younger bro, Jeremy, to Sentosa too. But I reckoned that I would have trouble bringing 2 kids to Sentosa and it would be so much costly for me. This month allowance flashing amber light le.. In the end only Ray gets to go. Ray told me that Jeremy had cried the whole nite under my bro got so fed up and sent him to go to bed.

When I reached Ray’s maternal gran’s house, Jeremy was watching cartoon but when we were leaving and Ray wanted to giv his little bro a kiss, the younger one rejected it.. He must be real mad with his bro! Oh no..

We had dinner at the hawker centre near Harbourfront Station with Ysing joining us. Ray called home during dinner to hear that Jeremy is practicing his penmanship. Ysing said Jeremy could be writing “I hate kor kor, I hate Gu Gu.”. it was damn hilarious la..

I pondered over it along the way back home if I was able to bring 2 kids at 1 time. I think I can provided Jeremy is older. I dun wan to end up having to bring him back half way the trip of having to carry him back when we slept on the way..

Supposed to be going JB today but Daddy wasn’t really happy when I asked him last nite.. So I decided to stay home for dinner tonight.. Fathers’ Day coming.. Dun wan to upset him..

Went back campus yesterday for PESS FOC meeting. Faizal and his committee assigned me as a head OGL for my OG! I have always been the behind-the-stage worker. This is like a 1st time for me other than the normal camp I attending as a instructor. I am feeling excited about the orientation.

Had a long teleconversation with a close fren last night. Some stuff in the conversation made me ponder over last night. Sometimes, when u try to jump out of a shit hole, u jump into another one deeper. As for me, I am having a hard time trying to climb out of a shit hole I jumped about a year ago. Last July, I met him in NTU, single.. But now, he is someone else’s bf.

I always tell ppl ard me to move on. But I guess I am the one stagnant here. This time, it seemed so hard to move on. I tried and I am still trying. I am trying to find things to do to occupy my thoughts.

Ok.. enuff of this! Sigh..

Anyway, Miss Quek asked me abt who said hurting words to me as reflected in my MSN nick for the past 1 week. I am ok le.. Just having some mood swing during those daes.. Haha.. And I didn’t have the chance to go online so cannot change the nick..

10 more daes to Practicum… Boohoo!!

Happy 23rd burfdae to Kelson!!

My tutee Brenda is having a high fever..Poor girl.. Hope she gets well soon..

Going shopping with Shuying later.. Going back to TYR today to visit the colleagues. Going FIT to see Mummy Joanne too!! *beam*

14th June 2006
I am super tired now but if I dun blog now I will not remember.

Went to celebrate Kelson’s bdae at Selegie. Plasma KTV pub and it was quite nice place.. We sang our hearts out and I guess everyone enjoyed the karaoke session..Ok.. I am going to sleep liao..

Bdae Man!!


Me & Kel..

Happy 21st burfdae to Ah Bao!!

Just came back from a dinner with my clique. Was supposed to go PS’ Manhattan Fish Market to have our dinner but the place was full house and the staff were really impolite. Wat happened was one of them had gone earlier at around 4 to try to reserve seats for 11 of us. The staff said that they cannot make reservation for us so they suggested putting our names on the waiting list which my fren agreed. We told them that we will be there around 7pm but the guys actually went up earlier. However there was no table for us and when we asked the staff they could only say that there was no reservation made. So my guys rebutted back by asking the point of having a waiting list but the staff could not answer.

The food was nice there but the service was really poor. If they really wanna make it big in Singapore, their staff should learn how to serve from Fish n Co staff.

In the end we went over to The Glass House Fish n Co for dinner and their staff was so much friendlier than Manhattan’s. 5 platters for 11 of us…

Half way the dinner I suddenly remembered the Visa Advertisment and made a joke out of it.

*Clears throat*
To be done with an Indian accent..

Me: My fren is celebrating his 21st bdae tonight. I want to wish him Happy bdae. 5 platters.

Fish n Co staff: Hmmm.. But there is only enough for 1 platter…

Me: Ok…

(Visa music comes out..)

I thought it was super lame and funny but no one laughed except me.. In the end, I was laughing to myself for a good 20 min and the whole bunch of them just watched me laugh. They didn’t find it funny at all.. I ended up being an idiot..

Got Andy $350 worth of M1 vouchers for him to get a new Nokia phone N80. A super cute bdae card and some photoshop pictures.. Thanks toYee.. She is the woman this time round. Thanks to Leong and Jieshi for the photoshop effect. The closing of Andy’s bdae marked the end of the xiong and pocket-burning month for the clique.. 5 consecutive weeks for bdae dinner.. Presents and a lot of money spent.. Phew.. finally can rest and save some money..

P/S: Andy.. We want the brand new Ah Bao soon. You have only 1 month.. Remember hor!

Jieshi & me..


Make a wish..


Cut a cake..


Ladies Candid!


Group Shot!

Waiting for Mum to get the newspaper today. World Cup has kicked off but I am totally lost.. Did not noe how the teams have faired so far.. I must catch up soon.. Haha..

I was supposed to give tuition this morning but I overslept. Sorry Brenda!! Sigh..

I have been sleeping a lot recently. Like some animals hibernating in the winter.. Haha.. Guess I will put on some pounds real soon.. Anyway, I am going to start my detoxification diet next week. Hope I can tahan and survive..

Firstly, Happy burfdae to my Alex dear.. Old man liao.. Haha.. Hope your wisdom grows with ur age..

Supposed to be down for a fren’s 21st burfdae but was down with a slight fever and a running nose. Had to stay at home and rest. The weather recently has been bad. Kept raining and the wind was cold.. This is bad cos my nose is super sensitive to weather change.

I am starting to plan something for someone’s burfdae which is just around the corner.. I am feeling so excited about it as I think that the person will be touched by my effort. Hopefully this person will learn to appreciate.

Just received an email from my classmates that Asics will controlled the discount given to at most 30%. That means no more special privileges liao. I dun even noe whether I can still get the few DS Trainers at $126.. Sigh..

3 days passed in a blink of the eyes. I am back! It was a good start since the last camp I attended. This camp made me realised the fun side of me. My group was fantastic. There was no one being left out and the kids really had fun. I enjoyed the debriefing sessions when I shared a lot of learning pointers with them. They did not feel that the debriefing sessions were boring… Yeah!!

Surprisingly, I can remember names of my group members!! All 19 of them without referring.
Arif
Jasper
Yan Han
Alvin
Yik Kwang
Chee Hao
Yang Sheng
Jia Ying
Shidah
Fara
Nandini
Clara
Yee Ting
Samantha
KaiQing
Annette
Susan
Huishan
Chai Jing

My group..


Candid shot!


They were really funny and sweet.. Haha.. They had their campfire item and used newspapers to make boobs for a guy. This morning before they went off, they used one of the fake round boobs and made it into a heart-shaped newspaper “ball” with all their signatures..

To all in Romeo (my group and if someone from the list above happened to see this..),

Thanks for making this camp a success. Really enjoyed working with you guys and hope the learning pointers shared will be something u will remember and impart into your juniors in future.

Be a leader who makes positive imparts in someone else’s life.

Today is 06/06/06. Triple 6 represents some satanic code I heard but I did not really care. Anyway, I got back my result and I did not really do well for this semester. Must jiayou liao.. I hope he has done well and cleared most of his subjects for this semester.. :)

I am going on a camp from Wed to Fri. It is a Student Leaders camp from SRJC. I am so excited cos I have not been running camp for quite a while. So looking forward. And I just receive news from Faizal that I will be the Head OGL for my PESS Camp for my group.. Oh my goodness!! Haha..

Happy 21st burfdae to Chingyee..

Last night was fun.. We had this birthdae celebration for Yee which was planned with pain and much effort. Check it out..

We met Yee at K Box Lot 1 for a karaoke session which only the ladies as the guys could not sing for nuts. So the guys did not go. Guess she must have felt a little disappointed. Jieshi had to go late to buy flowers and prepare the Well Wishes booklet for her. I met her at Lot 1 to go together. We bought this really cute balloon crown for her and made her wear it for the night.



Halfway thru the singing session, I had to pretend to nag about Meiwei’s disappearance for the night, knowing that she was doing something impt over the other end.. Haha.. The phone call from Meiwei came and it was time to carry out our plan. Jun and I had to leave earlier, pretending that we both had something on. We went off to meet Meiwei to head down to CCK Park where the surprise party would be held. There at the park, we blew up the balloons and decorated the shed. It was then that I realised Weiwang was scared of balloons. Andy took a balloon, pretended to burst it and the both of them were chasing around the park!!

On Jieshi’s side at K Box. Together with Ping and Qi, they had to pretend to take Yee out for supper and to blindhold her and led her to the park without her realizing that we were already there. She was finally led to the park and led to the designated spot. We lit our sparklers and took off her blindfold. We sang her a bdae song in the middle of the night just before 12am. U should see the look oh her face. The usually-chatty Yee suddenly became quiet. Guess she must have felt happy and touched.

Blindfolding the bdae ger..


Ladies..


Guys & bdae ger..


Our fav photo!!


Supper at the Restaurant by the Park but we all ate very little cos we were not really hungry. But the whole plan was fun even though I think that Yee must have suspected something going on..

I missed a medical appointment in NUH yesterdae and it totally slipped off my mind.. Shit.. I am getting old.. Bleah!

Yeah!! I watched The Da Vinci Code with Darling son and darling No. 1!!

I didn’t quite enjoyed the last past of the movie as it was so different from the novel.. Sigh.. But overall I would give 3 stars out of 5 for the rating.. The albino actor was cool!!

“I said put the keystone on the table!!”