Sec 3 Camp (II)

So I had a pretty comfortable 1st night..great that our tent wasn't leaking one bit...and those sponge camping mattresses were really comfortable ;)
Thanks to some of the very gentlemenly 3-3 boys in my group who offered to help with dismantling our tent, we quickly dismantled it after we threw our bags out of it :P Thanks for taking the initiative you guys ;)
Was a little surprised to come back from the toilet to find everyone singing the national anthem followed by the school anthem....don't think we did that last year...but nevertheless, I suppose it's good practice.

Raring to go? :)

Personally, I was pretty excited about the 52km of cycling..it was a personal goal to finish it as well, as we didn't manage to complete the cycling last year due to a heavy downpour on our way to the last checkpoint..so was quite determined to finish it this year.
Sunblock...deepheat....gloves....helmet....bike........and WE'RE OFF!

As I was cycling....a lot of the sights and sounds became increasingly familiar....the houses...the greenery...the turns and bends..the cowdung even...haha....it is indeed nice to be away from Singapore after a tiring 2 terms.
This year, there seemed to be more casualties than last year. Had 2 people fly off their bikes.....and numerous with cramps along the way. Thankfully I was armed with my deepheat, so just kept giving blobs of it to those with cramps....but I think I'll bring the spray one next year (IF I'm cycling again), seems to give more immediate relief than the rubdown one. But actually, cramps can easily be prevented, you just gotta apply the deepheat BEFORE you start cycling, and at each pit stop. It really serves to prevent your muscles from cramping. Really. For both cycling trips, I've not had a single cramp ;)

Strangely, I actually find the exact same biking route more physically demanding this year. Could be because I was a little unwell...and also the slight lack of breakfast coz it was too painful to swallow the food due to my throat. A few times I actually wondered if I was going to make it...coz I was getting increasingly tired at each pit stop (& of course the butt aches don't help)...and seemed to be cycling with decreasing speed..

But YAY, proud to say that I made it :)
Even though at the time when I reached Taman Negara campsite...I was like.....err...don't know how to describe also. Just so tired out that I was stoning for a while when I reached there....no sense of jubilation or success...just.....total EXHAUSTION. Haha..it was actually quite funny when I thought back about it.....

We made it!! :)

In fact I was so tired out that I told Sharon "Can I just set up my tent here...don't want to walk already.." Hahha.

Upon arriving at the actual camping site, we were greeted with numerous stories of leeches and muddy trails....which made trekking the next day sound sooo un-enticing.
While waiting for the boys to settle their CIP (to clear the rubbish at the campsite) and their tents...this little kitten suddenly approached me from behind =)
My goodness, it's so super cute! See the way it's enjoying the scratching that I was giving it...but the poor kitty was also coughing I realised. Yes, COUGHING. In fact it was coughing non-stop...poor thing...could actually hear him wheezing as it breathed....

To our relief, the guides decided after dinner that the boys should have an early night in preparation for the trek the next day, so it was off to dreamland soon after dinner... :)

(to be continued)

Sec 3 Camp

My 2nd Sec3 camp in CHS, and I must say, it was as enjoyable as the first one that I went for last year. In fact, I think it was even more enjoyable this year as I went with the batch that I have taught since they were in Secondary 1.
The past 3 years have seen me doing much more adventure related activities like trekking, climbing, rafting, caving,abseiling,kayaking, camping outdoors because of my CCA and sec3 camp....thankfully for me, I actually enjoy and look forward to such activities ;)

This year, I was again assigned the combination of Trekking-Cycling. Though I had really wanted to either be assigned to a group where a majority of my form class was going to be at, or to a different combination from last year..but I guess, school needs comes first.

So, 26th May finally came...was kinda zonked out coz of some family matters the 2 days before that... Sped to school real early, only to realise I left my whole classes PASSPORTS at home! Wah, I almost fainted. Thankfully the roads were clear because it was so early in the morning, so I just sped home to pick them up before going back to school to meet up with the rest and settle all the admin stuff in the hall. Grouped with Sharon this year, was super fun!

Waiting to board our 2nd bus after the Malaysian customs..

After a pretty long bus ride, we stopped for our final group lunch before we split to our respective campsites. Couldn't really eat properly though, coz I was suffering from an inflamed throat, which I think was getting worse by the minute, even though I was already on antibiotics for 3 days already. Swallowing was a chore, as if there was a razor blade going down my throat.

Heard many students complaining about the flies around their drinks and food at our lunch place...I think some of them probably never saw so many flies at congregate around their lunch ever. Which is why sec3 camp is good for them...toughen them up..

Many more hours to go after lunch to reach our campsite...I think our bus got a little lost on the way coz we had to stop a few times to ask for directions (i think). Saw a bit of rain enroute too...just look at the clouds outside my bus...

Nevertheless, I think the clouds are beautifiul..........so I'm biased... :P

Thankfully we finally did get there, and before we got onto a boat to get us across the river to our campsite on the beach, there was a short briefing by our guide Sulaiman.

The view of our campsite from across the shore..

First time I'm camping by the beach..quite cool I must say..

That night, there were repeated flashes of lightning...was a little scary coz it literally lit up the whole beach whenever there was lightning...signalled impending rain for us that night. What was even more worrying was that one of our groups hadn't even arrived at our campsite even after we had all finished with our dinner. Turned out that they were brought to the wrong campsite, and then had to travel all the way back. Thankfully all was well and they reached us at around 9+.
I was quite surprised that we were offered camping sponge mattresses...pleasant surprise, since I wasn't expecting anything but an empty tent to sleep in..........

(to be continued...)

*knock knock*

Guess who visited me a couple of days ago?

*Meow*

This cat is soooo cute..first saw it when I exited the lift that night, and saw it sitting on the floor. Then after that it came really close to gate, and even stuck its paws into my house, to touch my toes =)

A pity my mum would kill me if I brought the cat into the house, if not, i surely will :P

So, after borrowing bagpacks from others for the past 2 years, I have finally gone to buy my own Deuter bagpack today! =) A big thanks to C for helping me with it ;) It's a 40 litres bagpack which is expandable to 50 litres..think the size is just right... So YAY, for once I'll be using my own big bagpack...and its maiden journey, would be the sec 3 camp!

I am really looking forward to the Sec3 camp...not only because I like taking part in such activities, but also because it signals the end of the term. Can't wait for June Hols....though it won't be much of a holiday for me, due to the many commitments that I have in school, but at least, it's a breather period from term time. I had initially wanted to go for just a short trip...just to get away and relax. But looking at my schedule..haiz. Nm, I shall go and watch many many movies...hee..

Below are just some pictures that I took over the last couple of weeks, which I wanted to blog about, but just didn't due to whatever the reason.

At Toa Payoh sports hall after the CHS B div Basketball win...

Heh, we're all smiles coz CHS just became champs again ;)

Just some graphics that S sent to me via bluetooth which I find super duper cute :P

2 street buskers at Ang Kio Central yesterday...

*yawn*..sleepy..

More sky pics... :P

Haha...forgive me..I can't keep myself from snapping pics of the sky & its clouds...just love the look of it..... :)


Mostly are taken in CHS...

CHS morning sky...
.....and the same morning sky... :P
Aaah, CHS in the evening...think the building looks kinda cool like that...

Hmm, I can't remember where I took this one...could be when I stopped at a traffic light on my way home....didn't turn out as nice as it looked in real-life...

Well, a few days ago my dad decided that he wanted to clear one of the cupboards in the house so that he will have more space to put his numerous photo albums. And he asked me about this suspicious looking little brown paper bag...saying that it contained my stuff inside..

So I peered inside, half thinking that he made a mistake..but true enough, the things were mine...AND, they were things that I would reeeally love to keep with me, for a long time to come. They were little notes and letters that friends have given to me over the years, since I was in secondary school...JC...university.......

Wow, it was amazing...looking through that stack of letters and notes...so many memories of being in school...and the friends that spent those years with me..all the memories just came flooding back..was such a sweet feeling reading through some of those letters and notes that had been given to me so long ago...just unknowingly made me smile as I looked at them. Some of the notes, I don't even remember receiving.....also suddenly remembered that there was this gal called Serling whom I used to write to pretty often, all the way till I was in JC and she was in uni. Even found 2 letters that my brother wrote to me while he was in Melbourne.. :)

Think somehow, with the progress of modern technology, and the increased pace of life, e-mails and e-cards have almost totally taken over the traditional handwritten letters and greeting cards. Somehow..it's just that much sweeter and more heartwarming to receive one that's handwritten instead of one from cyberspace....it's just somehow different when you get to see the handwriting of someone instead of a typewritten letter... Of course, I must admit that I have also been sucked into the convenience of technology... so rediscovering that bag of letters just reminded me that, the personal touch is a very vital part of communication. ;)

There were so many letters and notes in that bag, I didn't have time to look through them all..but I thought it was worth capturing into photos.... pretty obvious that I am a very sentimental person... :P

Numerous aren't they..... :)

These are the letters from Serling..wonder if i would get to meet her again someday..

And these are from my brother in melbourne :) One of them was a card for my 21st birthday...

:) :) :)

OK, it's time to get back to work!

Photo finally ;)

Photo finally =)
The pictures with the Vballers on my bday.. ;)
Am just gonna post this one, the most 象样 one! (tho Z beside me looks kinda freaky..) ;)

This post was actually meant to be about something else...BUT, due to my own forgetfulness, I left the connecting cable to my phone in school..so the pics that I meant to post up with what I was going to say, shall have to wait.

*PHEW*

My gosh...I have finally finished 11 classes worth of marking!
Goodness me....I can't believe it... It's amazing when you can literally see the level of ink in your pen decreasing rapidly as you mark.......there was a day where I finished one red pen in one day. Scary..

Well, tomorrow's the day of reckoning. I don't even know how my classes did actually..because I do not have the overall collated marks. So i'll only get to see it tomorrow.
*gan chiong*
sometimes I feel as if I'M the one taking the exams...

OK, time to sleep.

Again

Over-reliance is an emotionally tiring process....but yet time after time it happens..
Told myself to be wary...but still, it happened... :(
Where's the exit, I need to get out..fast..

My marking's only half done...and I've double-checked the same scripts countless times....why can't people just put more effort into the way they present?!?

*moody*

Life after the MYE...marrkkkiinng..

Most of the sec3s would probably be relaxing at home now after a long 2-3 weeks of mugging for the mid-years (MYE)....which marks the beginning of an intense period of marking for us teachers!

The past 2 weeks saw me giving little remedials here and there to help prepare some of my sec3s for the mid-years...I sure hope they were helpful.

During one of the evenings after a remedial session, I took this picture in school..

I just love the look of those clouds....

OK, back to the topic of MYE. I must say, when I returned to my table on Thurs afternoon, I was kinda shocked at the sight of 11 classes of scripts on my table. I was almost sure that my table was SAGGING from the weight of the papers... -.-' Thankfully I'm marking half the paper only...if not, I'm so dead.

This is where I like to spend some of my time marking over the next few days.....my little hangout place Icekrimo =)


I think I mentioned about the place here before...Icekrimo is this little ice-cream joint that's near to Sin Ming..cosy little place that opens from 11am-11pm. So all I gotta do it park my little car at the private houses area...and take a very short walk there.
Apparently Icekrimo has been featured in the papers more than once. They've got interesting flavours like Horlicks..Chempedak...etc.. I do recommend the place if anyone's looking for a nice cosy place for an evening out with friends ;)

Okie, short post for now.
Gonna recharge and go to school to mark tomorrow..

The special day..

It actually all started on Sunday night, when my friends (C, J, Jo, S and G) asked me out for dinner. I think I almost foiled the surprise myself..haha.. If I'm not wrong, my friends wanted me to walk over to Jo's house (who lives next block to me) so that we can go for dinner in one car, and then have to return together after that for them to spring the surprise on me. But because I had so much marking to do, I decided to drive on my own instead so that I'd have the flexibility to return earlier if I wanted to :P Haha...anyway, in the end, they just demanded that I go up to Jo's house after dinner.
It had been many years since the last time my sec sch friends celebrated for me...so it was really heartwarming for me after such a long time..Doesn't the cake look very cute?? Just look at all those gummy sweets and jelly beans on top.. Haha, it's an ice-cream cake from Island Creamery at Serene Centre.

My share of the cake ;)

So that was surprise #1.

Very soon Tue came..and I made it a point to treat it like a normal day, purposefully making sure that I was not unconsciously expecting anything spectacular. And, I have my reasons for doing so. In the past, I used to really really look forward to the actual day, and when it comes, and goes, as if it was any other normal day, I find myself feeling rather down by the end of the day. So to prevent that, I made it a point to tell myself that it was nobody's responsibility to remember, and that nothing much was going to happen..................or so I thought....... :P

So the day started, and I was in school a little earlier than usual as I had to do some things in the morning. And once I reached my table, I saw this..

Woah...I couldn't believe my eyes. Because I wasn't expecting a present at all....So sweet of one of my colleagues to remember....thanks Z.. =) Soon my other colleagues trickled in, and here and there, some of them actually remembered and wished me...

My second "present" for the day, a piece of coffee cake from J...heh...thanks J... =)

So, 1st 2 periods with my form class, was like any other lesson (those sneaky fellas.. :P).
And then I went over to 3-11, and from afar, I was wondering if they were behaving funnily..haha.. Coz when they saw me walking towards the class, they had this slight shocked expression and ran back in. (Usually, they'd just continue going to the toilet and walking about till I reached the class itself). So I reached the class...it was a pretty funny sight. The WHOLE CLASS was pretending to be taking a nap...haha...all the lights in the class were switched off! So I went in and switched on the lights, and that's when they broke into the bday song :) Very sweet of them....thanks 3-11 :)

After my lesson with 3-11, L stopped me along the corridor and said "see you at the comp lab in 5 minutes ok?" Protests were futile, coz they were all met with the reply of "DON'T CARE!". So I went up, and waited outside comp lab 2. Then L came out and spun this story about how the students asked her and I to come up to the lab and that she also had no idea what was happening and all.....riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighhhhtt... :P
And so we waited outside the lab for a couple of minutes..and in between there were 1 or 2 students who ran in and out of the lab (I was told after that, that it was coz they couldn't find a lighter, haha). So when we were finally called into the room, I peeked in from the corner of the door, wondering what was happening. And I got shoved in by L to the chorus of my 2nd bday song for the day.....haha. L had gotten her class to hold the cake that she'd bought me, and sing a song for me. So sweet of her, THANKS L :D
Look at my yummy cake.....
And that was surprise #2.

During the day, colleagues left cards on my table to wish me...so nice to always see something on my table when I returned from class..from the toilet..etc... =) My handphone also almost always had a new message from someone to wish me a blessed bday..from old friends and students alike...thank you so much for remembering...just a simple message really means a lot to me..
Very soon it was the last period of the day, and it was then, that L came hurriedly into the staffroom and said to me "Hey, something happened in your class (3-1), I think there's a fight! Quick let's go up and see what's happening!". And I was like, "Huh!?" and got outta my seat to follow her upstairs.. I remember thinking to myself "my goodness...this can't be happening to me. Why can't they fight on the other 364 days of the year, why TODAY......sigh..".

And so there we were, sprinting up the stairs(I was wearing high-heeled shoes!), thinking that something had really happened in my class. While I was about to reach the class, I heard from inside "fight, fight, fight!" which frankly speaking, sounded seriously weird. Haha, coz I don't think my class is the kind who'll encourage a fight...haha...but coz L made me run upstairs so quickly I didn't really have time to process stuff.

When I finally reached the door, again, I peeked in first, coz I didn't know what to expect..and ONCE MORE, I was shoved inside 3-1.
It was quite a funny sight, coz my class had all squished into a corner of the classroom, and when I got shoved in, they broke into my 3rd and loudest bday song for the day :) Amongst all of them, was the a bday cake, all candles lit (and getting blown out by the ceiling fan...haha..). I must say, I was really surprised. It usually take a lot to spring a real surprise on me, so kudos to my class for having done just that =) Felt really happy =) It's at that moment..where I suddenly felt that all the efforts and time I spend on teaching,scolding,etc them are all worth it..
Of course, it's not that it's not worth it if I didn't get a surprise, it's just that at that point in time, I just felt it so tangibly..that the efforts were worth it and appreciated.. :)

2nd cake for the day.. :)

My form class...


My lovely card and bottle of messages from them..there's nothing like an individualised and present..

Thanks guys...deeply appreciated ;)

So that was surprise #3.

And so, I thought that was a most wonderful end of all the possible surprises for the day.

Had staff meeting on Tue, and since I stayed to mingle and chit chat with 3-1 for a while, I didn't really have time to get lunch. But the cakes were pretty filling, so I thought..nevermind lor.
BUT, in the end, I was treated to a tabao'd lunch by 2 of my students. L paid for the lunch, and C ran out quickly to get it for me before my meeting.
Thanks you 2...the oyster mee sua was very yummy.. ;)

After my staff meeting, I had a remedial appointment with GH.........which turned out to be my final surprise for the day! ;) I was all ready to exit my staffroom with my tablet PC and all when he told me "It's ok ms chow, just come out, no need to bring anything." EH? :) Heh, was wondering how come I had to be reminded of the "remedial session" like, THREE times before Tue...haha...so that was why ;)

Haha, one more cake to end the day on a high note together with the sec3 Vballers.. Thanks guys....really appreciate it ;)
Think we took lotsa pics, but it's all in one of their cameras. *hint hint* I'd love to put them up here... *hint hint*...but can only do that after he sends them to me *hint hint* :P
Spent some time chit-chatting with them a little, before I zipped off home for my dinner with my parents.

Lovely presents from R and G...thank you, so sweet of you guys :)

My parents and I went to M Hotel to have a Japanese buffet for dinner...I lurrrrrrrrrve jap food! keke..

And this is the restuarant we went to, called J-Toshi I think....

It was an "A La Carte Buffet", so we order our food through the waitresses instead of the traditional buffet style where we pick the food ourselves from the counters...
Shucks, they actually have a restriction on the number of plates of Sashimi that a person was entitled to per dinner. WHyyyyyyyyyyyyy............ :P

Heh, my mum and I taking a picture of ourselves with my phone...turned out pretty nice eh.. :)

And that was the end of my lovely and memorable special day.
I think it's one of my best ever...I expected nothing, but so much was done for me.
Thank you, to everyone who had a hand in making this day so spectacular, special, and warm for me, be it in a small or big way. Feel so loved............ :)

THANK YOU =D