HELLO OI MING!! =)

super duper long weekend!

So...I have fully recovered.

Well, ALMOST. Voice still gets a bit wobbly when I talk too loudly or for too long a period in class...but well, a huge improvement from when I posted previously I guess, which is good.

Well...many many events over the last 2 weeks..

MGS Founder's Day dinner

My gang of mgs friends decided to go back for founder's day dinner this year as it marks the 1oth year that we've left mgs. Woohhoo, mighty long time we realised.

So let's see, including my table, I think there were about 4-5 tables of the batch of '97? Which was quite cool...some of the gals, I have not seen in years.. but overall, everyone still looks pretty much the same.

Our teachers too, looked quite the same...except for those extra few strands of silver in their head. AND, i must say, my sec4 form teacher has superb memory. She could actually remember my name, and I think most of the other gals from my sec4 class. Always find it quite amazing that people whom I've not met in a long time remember my name..coz I don't think my name's the easiest of names to remember. I do hope that in many more years to come, I'd be able to rattle off the names of the boys who return to CH to visit.. :)

My table of girls..

Corrine May's "Beautiful Seed" concert @ University Cultural Centre

Doesn't the stage look so nice and pro? :)

Had been looking forward to this concert ever since I caught wind of it 2 months back. Think Corrine's music is really one of a kind...simple lyrics that one can easily relate to, yet tells so much about life and it's different situations and emotions that come along with it. Feel that her music has a sort of.....healing effect...because of the stories/train of thought that are told with each song..sometimes I really feel as if I can relate to it perfectly....almost always puts one into a reflective mood..

I pretty much enjoyed the concert, she's got such a lovely voice. This time round, her concert had a band added to it..but personally I'd rather much prefer the make-up of instruments from her previous concert that I attended last year, just a string ensemble and her on the piano. During this Aug concert, I think the band was kinda drowning her out at some parts.

Wish the "Beautiful Seed" album had been sold prior to the concert...a concert's always so much more enjoyable when you're able to sing & hum along with the singer. But all in all, still a good concert.

Some pictures taken during the concert from her blog (http://corrinemay.blogspot.com/), since we were told like 1000 000 times that 'no photography is allowed during the concert'.. :P

CHS Drama Fest @ Victoria Theatre

Was quite happy & proud of the fact that I managed to nag until about 20 people from my class bought tickets for the drama festival. I suppose I can't tell if every one of the 20 people actually turned up, but at least they showed some kinda interest/succumbed to my nagging to go, which I think is a good sign of support for the guys from our class who were involved. So yay :)

So naturally, the act that I was most looking forward to was the SLB hip hop dance, coz that's the item in which my guys were involved in. And yup, I totally enjoyed it! I think hip hop is one of those genres of dance which is really hard to look good in, and you gotta have a certain flaire and attitude to be able to pull it off well. Brought along a few gerberras for the hip hop group..think it's always nice for performers to receive flowers :) So yup, well done CH and J, proud of you guys ;)

The other act that I really enjoyed was the Eng Drama presentation of "Animal Farm". Certainly one of the best performances of the night. :)

The rest were, mmmm, alright..though I found some stuff pretty funny.

Like the donkey that keeps getting pushed out in between acts....like how the pri. school children "swam" right back to the sampan that they were pushed out from amidst the imaginery big waves/storm and all...haha...

Oh, and the pri school kids look so cuuuuuute in those animal costumes!!!!

Really regret not bringing my camera, coz I didn't think I'd sit far front enough to snap good pictures. BUT, who would have guessed we'd be shifted to 3rd row from front! -.- Pek cek.
Had to settle for my lao cok cok 2 megapix camera phone without zoom function..

Hip hop item..See that super gigantic-eyes donkey on stage???

This was meant to be a pic with just CH and J...but, err, I guess the pic is self-explanatory ;)

Band concert @ Esplanade Concert Hall

Yup, yet another school production. Went mainly to support my 2 boys who were involved...felt that the previous band concert that I attended was a tat better. But oh well, it was nice watching my students on stage..both past and present ;)

NDP & CHS

Will let the collage tell of the morning's activities and celebrations...

To P, S and JH, proud of how you guys persisted and held up :)

After the parade, one of my students came to see me regarding make-up classes. Since we were gonna have a super long weekend, I offered to meet him on one of the days. But he turned down my offer. His words were "No no, cannot lah. You need to have time to yourself. Teachers have a life too you know."

Mmm, he's the first student to ever say that to me..and to be frank, I was a little touched by the maturity, thought and concern that he showed with that simple sentence.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that it's wrong of students to ask to see teachers after school hours, nor do I resent nor dread seeing students after school hours. In fact, I find that the best part of teaching, is to be able to spend time with much smaller groups of students, or have one-to-one sessions because it is really during those times where you get the opportunity to speak with them, and to understand a little more about them as a person. :)

But yeah, was very sweet of my student to say that...plus it also reminded me that, YES, I do need a life. Which was why I arranged a few meet-ups with some friends over the long long weekend..

Meet-ups over the super duper weekend

Made use of this super duper long weekend to arrange a few meet-ups with some of my old friends whom I had not met for some time. Was great catching up with Y and J..especially Y, whom I've not met since last year I think..she's currently doing a 2nd degree in Law in UK. J, my old JC friend, treated me to yummy mochi ice-cream at Ajisen, yum yum..

Being the ever patriotic Singaporean, I'd usually glue myself to the TV in the evening on 9th August. But this year, I omitted watching the NDP broadcast on TV ...for obvious reasons...

Went out in the evening instead to meet up with my gang of friends at this ulu little place called Dempsey's Hut which is at Minden Road. Apparently this is where the famous little PS Cafe is..haha, I didn't even know that until W told me about it after I came back from the gathering. Was also T's birthday :) Always remembered that her bday fell on National Day..super yummy brownie-cheese birthday cake we ate...yuummm...

The whole jing gang when I arrived..

YN, M, & I..

T the bday gal :) Happy bday T! She's one of the most garang among us....which is why she's an OBS instructor! Don't play play ah...
And this is J, an ex-journalist who's about to go to the US for her Masters. She's my next block neighbour too.. As one can see, she's happily trying out the different modes of her camera. Which got all of us started on taking black-&-white and Sepia shots after that.

One last pic before we went home..

And so....tomorrow's back to school...

So long?

I never knew that one could be unwell for such an extended period of time. Was just casually chatting with L a few days ago, when he suddenly exclaimed that I've been sick for a whole month.
A WHOLE MONTH?!?
Sure or not..... That was my own reaction. But after thinking for a few minutes, I realised to my slight horror that he was right.
I've actually taken ill for almost 4 entire weeks, having taken 2 courses of antibiotics in just this 4 weeks alone. Wooooaaaahhhh...my goodness me. What in the world is happening.
And guess what, i ACTUALLY TOOK MC on Monday. For me to take MC, says something. I really very rarely go on medical leave. Just shows how bad this bout of illness has become.
Common test was this week and I had totally no energy to give remedials... :(
For the past few years, i rarely even touched the microphone when teaching. And now, I've been using it for about 3 weeks plus. argh.
Just can't get my voice to recover!! I'm getting irritated with myself.

But I suppose, not getting enough rest is the main culprit to this prolonged period of being unwell.
Just too much to dooooooo.
Which is why, I took almost this entire weekend to sleep lots.
My condition is worrying me. If I don't get well soon, I think my voice is going to become permanently damaged *noooooooooooooooo*
(okok, I'm becoming paranoid)

Eeks, so much more to do this coming week.
Eeks.....
eeeeks...
EEEEEEKKKS!!!

*hello hello, you can finally hear me"

My boys would know, I suffered from a total loss of voice last week for 2 days of school. And now, 1.5 weeks after that, my voice still has not fully recovered. But at least I can speak now...though I sound as if I've got this layer covering my throat..finished all the medication, but still having a slight cough..bleah.

Been 2 weeks since resumed work...and boy has it been a hectic 2 weeks.

Last weekend was CHMA, thankful that everything went well.
Special thanks to W, for all the guidance and help rendered. Hopefully it'll be just as beautiful next year.

Sweet gesture received this week. Thanks Part Ds past & present, appreciate it.

Common tests are coming up in Week 5, and we're already pass Week 3. Week 5, that's like SO early. Trying to catch up with the syllabus and the other classes, plus marking, and to squeeze in time to give my guys revision class tests. And of course, some boys still don't realise the importance of self-control, and their own responsibility in handling their work.
Can I take the test for you? NO. If you can't be bothered, how shall I help? I'm not an energiser bunny by the way, there's only that much I can remind and chase you for your work. Please don't give me excuses anymore. PLEASE, for your own sake.

On my way to watch Dim Sum Dollies today, I was travelling on the ECP. From the bridge leading to Suntec, I could see a whole sea of red at Marina Bay. It was the National Day rehearsal. Sadness gripped my heart.... Without warning, came tears...I couldn't stop them.... My dad, he loved going for NDP because of his love for photography. And I know he would have loved to be at this year's NDP, since it's the first time it's being held at Marina Bay. I know that NDP this year, is gonna be a heartwrenching day for us.

A dream?

Many may know..the past week has been a whole whirlpool. It's almost as if it was a dream...I wish it was, but the fact is...it isn't.

Everthing happened real quickly...and before we had time to let reality sink in, that was it.
No last goodbyes, no last words...just deep sleep...until the end.
I wish I could say for sure that he is in a better place, but the fact remains that, I'm not 100% sure. I guess I'll never know till the day I get there myself...

When I first heard the devastating news, there were no tears, just a feeling of being lost, and thoughts of what we should do next..... it was only when I held his warm hand in mine, and touched his forehead with my own hands, did the tears starts streaming down uncontrollably. I couldn't believe it was really happening.

All through the night we stayed with him....and relatives were sweet enough to come to us in the middle of the night to bring comfort and support. Through this whole episode, I really saw the support and love of the extended family, without which I think we might have collapsed.....I promise I'll never say that I am bored of going for extended family dinners/meet-ups anymore. It is with such love and support that things seemed a little easier. My cousin B took leave and was with us all the time...2 aunties and an uncle too...
Friends also sent me waves of smses....thank you Lord, you knew I needed it..

Who would have thought that he'd go so young? Everyone who came to pay their last respects expressed the same sigh.
Over the course of the week, we met many many of his old friends, colleagues, ex-colleagues. All were full of praises and admiration for him...I almost felt as if I was being re-introduced to him all over again. He was so well-respected, well-received, well-loved by them..almost made me wonder, what people might say about me when it's my turn to go... There were so much flowers....so much so that they were being put in 2 rows..such was the impact he had..

He was the the traditional kind who believed actions spoke louder than words.
Encouragment expressed in words, were not often heard......
"He was very proud of you and your brother..when he spoke about you two, you can see his eyes lighting up.."
"He was very proud of you as a teacher...he said you really had passion for the job and the boys..."
Thank you for telling us...

How long will I take to recover? I don't know..what I do know is, reality is just beginning to sink in right now...and more responsibilities will be coming my way...

Thank you, to all those who came down to pay your respects and show support and encouragement. To my friends, colleagues, boys...thank you...be it coming down or sms'g.

Goodbye dad...

And the countdown begins...

.... do you know...................that we are exactly 2 weeks to the eve of the greatest music event of our school year? ;)









Over the past month.....much time has been spent on CHMA...I must say, it has been a real eye-opener being directly involved with the event. Thanks to the guidance and much needed support & help of W, the preparations for CHMA has gone on without too many hiccups..





The first major work done during the 2nd week of the June holidays was the photoshoot for our programme this year. Majority of the pictures that are seen in the collage above are taken from Zhongwei's blog.


Zhongwei is one of our old boys...and a fantastic photographer ;)









In that same week, we also did a recording session in the studio with the solo vocal finalists, as well as review sessions of their performances at the end of that week & on the Wed that just passed. All these, to ensure that we have a smashing time on 07.07.07 ;)





So, after all these background information......

HAVE YOU BOUGHT YOUR TICKETS YET??!!??

Wedding #2

Yup, so I attended wedding #2 last weekend.
CHS people would probably recognise every single person in this collage (ok maybe those who didn't go for the wedding wouldn't know the groom :P)

Decided to put up a collage this time round instead of putting up the pics individually. I love the collage by the way, love the tinted glass in the church... =)

Congrats again B & M :)

Sec 3 Camp (III)

YEsssss!!
I just finished checking a stack of files :P Seriously, I haaaaaate checking files. But..what to do. Must make sure the kids have all their materials nicely filed up, if not when they want to revise next time, it'll be a total mess.

So, to reward myself, I shall blog about that last day of sec 3 camp. hiak hiak.

So, 3rd day was trekking. The teachers were all braced for the attack of the killer leeeeches..by spraying 10 000 layers of insect repellant on our track shoes! Haha, apparently that helps to at least repel them away from your feet. And I was armed with my mosquito coil and holder hanging on my bag as I am a mega mosquito attractor. AND, that was how I suddenly "adopted" 2 godsons...coz they simply couldn't stop following behind me during the WHOLE trek coz they wanted to be super near to the mosquito coil..hahha.....

So after breakfast, we took a boat across the river to where we were suppose to trek.


And after I lit my mosquito coil, we started our trekking. Must say, that the NCC Ophir trips have really been useful in building my confidence and toughening me up.. felt quite at ease and comfortable during our trekking...all those familiar sites of tree roots on the floor...climbing up and down...pulling onto ropes to get up certain steeper areas...helping each other along the way. Think our group did enjoy ourselves even amongst the groans and moans of having to climb up and down and up and down :) I for one, didn't find the trek boring at all due to the immense amount of "live entertainment" that I had behind me from this group of boys...haha.. ;) Oh oh oh, and not to mention, we didn't see a SINGLE leech during our trek, as opposed to the group that trekked the day before...seems many of them got bitten, including the teachers. So, yay =)

I think this was our first rest point....

At this rest point, one of my ex-students JC passed me an almost "empty" mineral water bottle and said something like "ms chow, want to drink or not?" to which I replied "Huh, it's ok I have my own..and anyway, there's barely water inside?" And he said, "nm nm, just hold the bottle and see...". So ok..I held the bottle...and he was like..."can you see what's inside?" And there I was looking looking....saw nothing. And he pointed here pointed there.. "See see? See that white white thing??" And then I FINALLY spotted this little white furry insect which had a reddish underneath...and I just mused "AYE so cuuute!"
And this was his face --------> 0.o Hahahah...followed by ---------> -.-
JC: "Huh??? CUTE???? (turns to his friend) She's not scared at all la!!"
Ms Chow: "Huh? Hahhahahah scary meh?? So cuuute!" :P

Hahah...but seriously, I found that little creature cute. Please la, I've seen scarier insects. :P
Anyway, I think the boys ended up torturing the poor little thing by SHAKING the bottle profusely even though I told them to let it go.....eviiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiil boys.......tsk tsk.

The view looks great doesn't it? :)

We were supposed to actually go for our tree-top walk before we trek to the highest point, but there were too many other tourists there, so we carried on trekking first.
And here we are, at the highest point of our trail ;)

The teachers, all smiles :)

OK, there is a story behind this POLE inside our pic. I had wanted all of use from CHS to be in a nice pic, so I asked one of our guides to help take the picture. And this is the pic he took -.-"
Couldn't he see that the ENTIRE POLE was inside the pic!?!? Already kinda suspected that he was in the total wrong position when he stood so near to the pole...haiz....

So in the end, still had to ask one of our own students to take the pic. Thanks KK :)

Aah, isn't this so much better without the pole! =)

The nice scenery from our highest point..

And this is the starting of our tree-top walk. Only a group of 5 of us can go up at a single time, so as to not overload the bridges on top.
The path is kinda skinny isn't it? But I think that adds to the fun..hee.
A view from the tree-top walk...
This is the reason why we can only go up to the tree-top walk at intervals and in small groups..coz they actually limit how many people can be at certain points, to ensure that the weight doesn't become too much for the bridges and stop points.
Haha...just wanted to take a pic of myself on the along the way..
Remember I mentioned 2 individuals who were perpetually behind me coz of my mosquito coil? :P
A picture of our troop of people before I got off the bridge..

After our tree-top walk...we went back to the floating restuarant by boat to have our lunch before we went for rapid shooting.



No pics for rapid shooting thought I did bring my camera along in a ziplock...coz I was SO drenched....thanks to my beloved students in my boat who kept on pouring water onto me. So I didn't take the camera out.

Got a sunburn from sitting at the river for close to an hour =.=" Cannot really believe it....haiz.
And of course, with so many students around, and the teachers sitting around on the rocks in the middle, we became the target of water splashing. Haha..


After we got all cleaned up, we were off to a resort for our final yummy dinner together as CHS again.

More on that tomorrow ;)
Now I have to get ready to attend a wedding dinner!!

Busy busy busy!!

Woah, has been a hectic one week since we came back from Sec3 camp. Have been in school everyday (with the exception of the weekend) since last Fri...Maths Hols. Prog..CHMA performers' reviews + photoshoots + recording session. *Phew* Sure doesn't feel like the hols are here.
So last weekend I attended another friends' wedding (first of 3 consecutive weddings that I'll be attending)....

At the wedding reception, I got to play with my friends' baby...isn't she super cute???? Just look at her arm...such a michellin baby...heh... :P
And here's the newly wed couple...I was one of the emcees for this church wedding....and, believe it or not, I was translating into CANTONESE. Haha...thankfully all I did was stutter once...didn't make any gross mispronounciations ;)
Then on Sunday, met up with good ol' group of sec sch friends...was my friend S's birthday..so we decided to meet up and just have a mini-celebration. She's the gal with the balloon ;)
And this is T, whom I promised will upload this photo onto my blog =)

So above were some of the more exciting things that I did over last weekend. Hee.

Sleepy...*yawn* ..the rest of the week's update will just have to wait. To those who are waiting to read "Sec 3 Camp (III)"....paiseh laah..... :P Gimme some time ;)

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)