Yes we've conquered

More to come soon... ;)

S4 Farewell & Last day of School

S4 Farewell Assembly

I actually still vividly remember last year's S4 Farewell Assembly, and how I spent days and days doing up the farewell video...and so soon, this year's Farewell Assembly has come and gone.

Certificate of Achievement of completing 4 years of Education in CH

Speeches made by representatives of the teachers and student body

Rendition of "You Raise Me Up"

Because my colleague, who is the form teacher of my Math class wasn't able to be around for the whole duration of the Farewell Assembly, I was asked to take over as form teacher for the day, a responsibility that I gladly agreed to undertake.

Me with my surrogate form class for the day :P

See the cheeky monkeys? All trying to be at the same height as me...haha..

But I must say, for all the cheeky-ness, this class has been a joy to teach.  Of course, with every class, there's bound to be moments where you'd feel like strangling them all, but I would say, this class, is truly made up of very genuine, and sweet people.  Has been a good 2 years with them..

To 4-2: Thanks for the "Candy Girl" song that you guys personalised and sang for the teachers at Pasir Ris.  Very ingenius! And very sweet too :)  Can see the very strong bonds that you guys have formed with one another...I think your class is one of the most united class in the level.  Remember to always fork out time to build on these friendships ya in the years to come ya?

All the best in your your O's and future endeavours..and thanks for the 2 good years :)

Last Day of School

Very soon, it was the last day of school for the year 2009, 30 Oct.  Have already been hearing my 2-1 class lament and lament about how this day is fast approaching since one week earlier, and in the blink of an eye, it was here.

It's quite evil of me some might say, but I actually feel happy that the class is lamenting about the last day of school coming..because, it goes to show that they really treasure these bonds that they have formed over the last 2 years, and the deep sense of camaraderie that they are reluctant to let go of.

So the time came for me to return their report books, and after settling all the administrative stuff, I decided to let the class have some time to say a few words to each other, something that I felt was important, precious to the class...to have an opportunity to express their thoughts, thanks, and recollections of their memories of being together over the last 2 years.

My 2 chairmen starting the ball rolling with their speeches..

Alas not many people responded to my call to say a few words...... :)

The ever-supportive-of-their-chairmen class encouraging the 2 guys as they said their piece :)

Such is the depth of their friendships..that tears actually welled up... and here's my class giving a toast, to give encouragement and cheer

A common recollection of their teachers together...

And this is my form class this year :)

My 2 whacky chairmen, who have been great help :)

To 2-1:  I've really enjoyed being your form teacher this year.  Thanks for being such a teachable class.  Your unity and class spirit really warms my heart, something that I sometimes find it lacking here.  Continue to encourage and push each other on to greater achievements even as you guys split classes, and all the best to you guys in upper sec.

Tchr's Day & Homecoming

Tchr's Day

Had wanted to post this in the Sept Hols...but due to problems with photos uploading (again?!?), and also a packed schedule of work...yes you get the idea..

This year's tchr's day was interesting, because it's the first year that my pet batch of graduated students (those of whom I taught for 4 whole years) are returning to CH. The feeling is...nostalgic. I remember how I used to see all the old boys return to see my colleagues in their JC uniforms...and I'd have my own fair share of old boys coming back, just not as many as those who had taught graduating classes..and this year, it was my turn to have hoardes of those who've left, wave and say HI as they return to CH in their JC uniforms. The feeling is....sweet :) Just chatting and catching up with them, really warms my heart. And once again I feel I've moved into another phase of teaching.....

Thanks guys, for all the little gestures...

But of course, not forgetting my current students who brightened up the day with all their well-wishes and thoughtful gifts and cards.

I always gain a lot and am encouraged by simple & sincerely written cards. In fact, personally, I think just a simple card with heartfelt words from the kids is really the best gift. THANKS guys :)

Homecoming 09

So this is my stall at the CH Homecoming funfair this year, PEARL HARBOUR. Haha, super corny name for our bubble tea-cum-tea egg stall...which my class SERIOUSLY adores. Haha.

I must say, this is my most successful Homecoming ever..thanks to my very enthusiastic and able class, who managed to manage the stall almost entirely by themselves, while I busied myself now and then with being the Milo Auntie (mixing Milo in the staff lounge) so that they could have their constant supply of Milo for their Milo bubble tea.

So that's where I spent 1/2 my time during Homecoming, in the lounge. Also because I was actually feeling kinda sick that day (ending the day with a fever of 37.7 deg :S) , so the rest of the time, I spent either resting at the staffroom, or at some table in the canteen..habitually checking on the store, and ordering extra tapioca pearls and jellies when the class ran out of them. A pity I missed most of the old boys who came back coz I was not actively walking around that day..

Mobile bubble tea sellers :P

A signboard menu that my class and I made together :P

Yummilicious tea eggs :)

For some funny reason bubble tea really sells well. We had a steady stream of customers the moment Homecoming was declared officially started, and we were out of pearls by about 10am, and out of jellies by 11.10am! Haha..so had to order more pearls and jellies...which was a happy thing =)

At the end of the day, we actually SOLD OUT! Like, literaallllyyy to the last drop.

This is what I mean by sold out...when you sell every last drop of your remaining drink that you have left, by selling them in the empty syrup containers coz you've run out of cups/plastic bags!! :) Haha... :)

Coupon sales at the end of the day, was $1253 :):))) Kudos to the class ;)

Would love to blog more, but having to drag photos down from the top of the post every time I upload more photos is proving to be REAL IRRITATING. So I shall end of this post here ;)

All the best to the CH peeps for Final Years, it'll be over before you know it ;) Ganbatte ne!

Looooooooooong weekend!

Really looked forward to the National Day weekend break...2 4-day weeks at a go...great time to rest...catch up with friends...catch up with marking (?!?)....and catch up with everything else.

Figured that I better have a short update before I get whizzed off to the land of Prelim3 and common tests marking.

Flowers galore

Recently, my mum's been buying flowers home every week....love the sight of flowers in the house..just makes everything a little more cheerful and bright.

Humongous lilies that my mum bought from the market...

As usual..love macro shots of these pretty little things...

National Day Celebrations @CH

Given the voilatile situation of the H1N1 scare, for a long while all the Uniformed Group (UG) ICs were under the impression that we weren't gonna celebrate national day with a parade this year. But then, as with the voilatile nature of what can be done and can't be done due to this flu outbreak, the most recent we heard was that we're going ahead with the parade! Haha..so everyone came together to put together a simple parade, with only the Guard of Honour contingent doing a march-in instead of all the different UGs doing a grand march-in. Well, a smart move in my opinion, because I think to put together a decent full parade with a 'live' band playing, it'd definitely take more than 2-3 practices.

My Land contingent receiving feedback & pointers during one of the pracs..

Discussion of all those little little things to be ironed out from what was being observed of the contingent...

Love this shot of the march past... =)

...and this one too :)

NDP@CH: The actual NDP

This year's Guard of Honour, the NPCC Contingent.

*Beams with pride*

Flag party marching in with the Singapore flag as well as the CH flag. The actual march past.

So, in line with not having the school congregate for too long due to H1N1, this year's celebrations after the NDP, was inter-class games.

My S2s were involved in the Frisbee games.

2-1 in action!

2-1 cheering from the sidelines!

Could hear my class cheering for their classmates who were playing..... Finally! Cheers that are self-initiated......really warms my heart =)

Apparently my class was touted as one of the hot favourites to reach the finals, but for whatever reason, they didn't. Oh well...I guess we can never predict what happens..as long as everyone had fun =)

Over at the S3s side, it was the favourite game of the century, SOCCER.

Could see the boys were totally enjoying themselves...even the teachers formed a team to pit their skills against the boys! Was really fun watching my colleagues play... :)

So after celebrations in school, I headed over to Sentosa for some beach volleyball & frisbee. So fun!! Even though now, I've got this swollen bump on my right arm....just can't get the swell to go down...think the ball landed one too many times on just one arm.. *ouch* Hope it goes away soon...

Ended off the day with a nice cosy dinner beside Palawan beach at Sentosa. Ate at this place called Coastes. Nice :)

The nice ambience of Coastes...

S & S' Wedding

I think I can become a professional wedding singer already. This year, I've already sung at 2 weddings...and one more is coming up in Sept! :S It's actually not the singing that's tiring..it's the COORDINATING of the group that's tiring since my friends are now mostly married, some with kids..and all working...

The wedding singers during one of our weekend pracs....

See what I had to resort to to entice the singers to come for prac?? :P

And so we practice for about 1.5 mths, and the wedding was last Saturday.

The gal singers with the bride...

The lovely emcees...my long time friends, E and G.

The anxious groom.....he actually sang the song for the bride's march-in!!! The first of its kind.... :)

Another long time friend C, who's anxiously waiting for the pastor to say the word "exchange rings" so that he can run up to stage and pass the wedding couple the rings in his hands. Hahah...he was so anxious... :P

Think as time goes along, this sentence that my friend once mentioned becomes more and more true...."These days, we either meet up at weddings...or funerals..." How true....and sad as well...coz it means that friends do not have the time to meet up just for a simple meal, but have to wait till big organised events like weddings, or unfortunate events like funerals to meet up with one another. But am glad that over the weekend, it was a wedding and not the latter =)

National Day at East Coast Park

To top it off, my Sunday evening was spent at East Coast with Z and walking Z's dog! Boi (the doggie's name) is just soooooooooooooooo cute! Everyone who walks past can't help but comment on how small, or how adorable he is.

But seriously, I thought half of Singapore was in East Coast..I have never seen soooooo many people at East Coast all at the same time as on Sunday. Nevertheless, there was nice cool breeze...and we managed to catch the big Singapore Flag that came from the National Day Parade fly pass us....

Really love being by the sea...hearing the waves..seeing the sun set.....

So that concludes me National Day weekend :)

4 more weeks to Sept break!

H1N1 H1N1 H1N1 !?

H1N1 seems to be the buzz word for the whole of Term 3...ever since the school term started...everything that we do had to be revolved around the "measures for compliance" passed down from the ministry, some of which I don't quite understand even..
"This can, that cannot.....that can, this cannot...."
Sigh.
CHMA 2009 has been officially cancelled....what can I say...
First it was mass uncertainty.....then it was possible postponement....and finally, sudden cancellation. I had big dreams for this year's CHMA...but oh well...
Though I can try to understand the decision to cancel it..but I guess that doesn't do much to lift the disappointment...for the crew..for the finalists..for the guest bands..the emcees..
But I suppose, I'm slowly coming to terms with it.... hope the journey for everyone involved has been a fun and enriching one.

Besides that, Term 3 has been a MAD term with 2000 000 things to mark. Every week I mark an average of about 140 marks worth of Sec 4 tests....I think I'm about to go crazy from it soon. Somemore, this 2 weeks..I think the average number of marks shot up to 230 marks coz the common tests for the Sec1s-3s are approaching, and I gave them tests too! Sometimes I wonder why I do such things to torture myself..

On a lighter note, have signed up for Kickboxing sessions to try to slow down my rate of turning into an all-work-but-no-play-dull-Jane. Has been pretty fun so far...

And with the slow relaxing of the "measures for compliance" from Ministry, hopefully the end of year Ophir trip that P and I are hoping to plan for my CCA would be able to follow through. Always feel there's so much to gain from going through an expedition together...for the boys, and for the teachers too. So pleeassseee laaaaaah....don't tell me H1N1 last minute we can't go ah....