Super sinseh diaries #3

We're finally in the month of May, and if I'm not wrong, I'm still sane. *Phew*

Today's Labour Day holiday...boy am I glad for this day of "rest". In inverted commas simply because we all know that there's LOADS of work to be done, except that we do not have to report to work. My phone alarm rang this morning at 6am, and I almost bounced off my bed upon hearing it. The first thought that popped in my head was... "what day is it today?"...."is it the weekend?" .."what day was it yesterday? " (ANS: Wed), "Eeks it's not the weekend, so I'm supp to wake up now to go to school?".....and finally " OH, it's Labour day holiday"...and I fell back onto my pillow and continued to sleep...only to be awaken by my OTHER alarm clock 5 minutes later, which is supp to prevent me from oversleeping on normal days. Haha...oh well...glad that it's a holiday afterall..

Past week has been pretty eventful. Started off with a nice dinner on Wed night (23 Apr) at Auntie Kim's, this cosy little Korean restuarant along Thomson Road. Went with 5 other colleagues coz they wanted to treat me to dinner. Little did I know that they sneaked in a cake from the back of the restuarant! Haha...that's a good one, a successful surprise ;)

Yummy Kimchi at Auntie Kim's.. =)

The bunch of us at dinner..

My lovely well-concealed bday cake...

Hee :P

Think the waiter at the restuarant almost gave the game away when he came to ask one of my colleagues "How many candles do you need?" And I saw that suddenly all my colleagues had this half-shocked look (without knowing why, haha) on their faces. Haha...super funny.. thankfully I didn't hear the waiter :)

My first present for this year came from LC, who gave it to me a day earlier so that she wouln't forget to amidst all the busyness. :)



Then came the actual day. Was still remembering how when I reached my table last year, there was this BIIIIG pink heart pillow on my seat. And vividly still remember the whole of string of surprises that ensued. That was truely one of my most memorable celebrations.



For this year, it was a slightly more peaceful one...but still with it's little perks here and there. When I got to office this year, no surprises.......yet. :P



Soon after I got to office, a voice came from the speaker phone "Can we see Ms Chow pls?" Thought it was pretty strange for people to look for me that early in the morning..so I went out of office to take a look.

And...this was what greeted me...

Haha. CUTE isn't he? My Land people decided to get it for me....super sweet of them. Thanks a lot guys, to all of you who had a part in this sweet surprise :)

Rest of the day went by pretty peacefully...

Had a loud and enthusiastic birthday song sang to me by my form class...haha..thanks guys.

Had afternoon lessons with them as well....

AND, during the afternoon lesson, I suddenly got 2 calls from J. I ignored the first one, coz I was having lessons afterall. But J called a 2nd time, and told me that I needed to go downstairs to take a look at my car coz L had SCRATCHED IT ACCIDENTALLY.

I half-believed that. But since he was persistent, I went down.

When I reached my car, another 3 people jumped out from the corner exclaiming "The wind's too strong we can't keep the candles lit! " HAHA. Super funny.
Look at the number of blotches of wax on the cake caused by the wind! Haha..
So I spent a brief about 5 minutes with them, and after they sang me a bday song and I blew the candles, I ran back up to continue with my lesson.. :P

After the lesson, stayed to chit chat a little while with the kids...


Just look at my class noticeboard!! Wah I love it...hehe...all the pictures of my class kids that I've taken of them at the various functions that the class has been taking part in. See the little whiteboard in the middle? :P

And this is an attempt to take a picture of ourselves, by stretching out one hand. Haha, it's DIFFICULT OK!? I always end up taking only like half of my face..keke..

This is a nice little thingy from A....she never fails to remember.. ")

My sumptious meal prepared by my mum at home!! :)

Yummy-looking isn't it...got 2 ang baos from my aunties who came for dinner....

But guess where the 2 angbaos went to?????

To my friends' wedding dinner the day after -.-

Haha...well, not that I'm complaining I guess, the money would have come out of my pocket anyway. Just that, it'd be nice to buy something with the angbaos given..that I could keep at home, and look at a few years down the road, and remember that it was bought by the angbaos which my aunts gave me. OK, so I'm sentimental :P

So this year I had quite a few treats, as opposed to physical presents. Perhaps coz our lifestyle is getting busier and busier, that it becomes a more viable option to treat someone on that special day, rather than go out to buy a present. But I guess it's always the thought that counts..and am always greatful for the opportunity to be able to spend time with people who matter to me.

So here's a list of thanks....

Thanks to G, who treated me to Swensons on Friday. Appreciate it ;)

Thanks to S and M, who treated me to my favourite JAP FOOD at Far East...so yummmmmy... :)

Thanks to D, who's soon going to give me a treat this Sat :)

OK, shall end here for now, post another time about last weekend...which saw me revisiting my old school campus at Mount Sophia, which has now been converted into an Arts Hub, and it's called Old School. It was SUPER nostalgic for me to be back...shall talk about that, next time ;)

My marking is coming in tomorrow!!!!!!!! *faint*

One of my loves..

Went for David Tao's concert yesterday....woooo....
My 4th major concert for this year..Ah-Mei, Jay Chou, Jeff Chang, and now, DAVID TAO.

I must say he's a really fantastic 'live' performer. Super pitch-accurate and great guitar player. And this is the first time I sat SO close to the stage. I was on the 7th row from the front...so near to the stage that I could see David Tao clearly without having to use a binoculars to view the concert. Very pleased.

Singing along was fun...something that I never used to do coz it felt so paiseh to do it. But then I realised, everyone else is singing anyway..and the music's so loud ANYWAY..so..what the heck..haha.

Met up with G and W for dinner at Seoul Gdns at Marina Square before we headed to Kallang for the concert. Has been some time since I last felt a little relaxed over the weekend...could be because I've FINALLY managed to finish rushing the super-a-lot-to-finish Sec 3 Maths syllabus..and perhaps also because it is the home-based learning week this coming week. So, a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitle more time for me to breathe.

Mum's leaving for a 2+ month trip on 28th April...feel that it'll be good for her...to be away..to relax a little. Hope dad's estate duty gets settled in once and for all while she's away so we don't have to deal with it anymore when she comes back. It's caused enough pain already..

Many appointments for this week...have had to push 2 appointments to next week as I think I'd like to spend most of the weekend at home since my mum's going to be away for 2+ months. Hope to be able to run home early enough to send her to the airport next Mon.

Alright, marking's waiting for me still.

Tata.

Super sinseh

Super sinseh diaries Entry#1

It's been a mad 2 weeks. MAD.

Mid-years are coming...in 2 weeks' time. OH MY GOSH. Once again I feel like I'm the one who's taking the exams. *gasp*

Straight after the mid-years, would be the massive preparations for CHMA. So far so good. The promotional posters are up on the walls (though some have mysteriously vanished), first announcement to the school made....promotional video coming up!! *breathe* Really thankful for the great help I was given last year and the time and space that everyone has allowed me in order to learn and pick up the ropes. Can safely say that I'm much more in-tune with the whole procedure for preparations for the big show this year.
Thankful also for the very experienced committee that I'm working with. You guys are great, thanks for all the bright ideas so far! ;)
So now we're just waiting for the registration forms to pour in. FYI, they are all located at the CHMA board which is beside the Media Resource Room. GO AND TAKE ONE NOW.

Been sneezing and coughing a little yesterday and today. Puuuhleeeassseee tell me I am not falling sick. I have no time to.

It's been 2 weeks since I morphed into Super Sinsei (Sensei - A Japanese term of respect often used to mean "master" or "teacher. Just a little translation for those who've been asking). Oops, seems I misspelt the word in my last post :/

The past 2 weeks have been.....gruelling, stressful, sleepless.
Frankly, I'm wondering how much longer I can hold out. Haiz...now it's just one day at a time.

What's happening...

An atomic bomb has landed on me.
I'm officially called Super Sinseh from next week onwards.
My gosh. Will I be able to cope?
Let's hope I don't die by the end of term 2.



Haiz.













It's only the first week of school..but I already feel stressed. Seems like more and more stuff about me kids are suddenly popping up to my attention. Is it because they are stressed too?













The holidays last week passed real quick. Before I knew it, it was already over..I really didn't feel as if it had been a break. Perhaps just a break from the routine of reporting to school at 7.30am. The only good thing that came out of it was getting sleep. Well okay..and meeting up with some old friends.













Went to watch 2 movies with my friends over the hols....can't quite remember when was the last time I watched a movie before the March Hols.

http://www.movieposteraddict.com/

filmelitist.blogspot.com

Both were about mystical creatures...hmm....haha..both were okay shows. Though I thought that the ending of Spiderwick Chronicles was most....err.....sudden...and err...innovative?

More wedding invites have come my way...most from my cell group. Guess it's a good time for me to spend time with them..

Have finally decided to go for my church's confirmation class. Suppose He's calling me to serve in the Saturday evening service...

Dad's estate duty is still not settled. It's been like what, 8 MONTHS plus already???? What's wrong with the people handling the case, don't they know that it hurts those who have to go through this whole process!?!

What's more, Singapore has already phased out this whole estate duty nonsense since Feb this year. So why are we still having to do so many things to answer to the enquiries that they keep posing to us????

STOP IT ALREADY ALRIGHT.

Haiz.

OK, enough I guess.

Shall go back to my marking, and enjoy (I hope) my last weekend before I morph into Super Sinseh next Monday.

Tired

I'm tired.
Really am..
Beginning to question why I'm doing certain things..

2008 Happenings so far..

Newpaper collection CIP

My school's sec1s & 4s went out to do CIP together in mid-january..think it's a great opportunity for the sec4s to act as big brothers to lead the younger ones in the activity.

For me, I spent the whole morning tying up the newspapers into neat bundles...got a feel of what being a karang guni uncle is like. Tough work..almost got blisters from tying stacks and stacks of newspapers that the kids brought down from the residents. But it's great knowing that it's all done for charity.. =)

My kids transporting our newspapers and other collected items over to our collection point. Doesn't my class polo shirt just look fabulous?? :) Hiak hiak..

We had to wait a pretty long time before our collection trucks came to us..so in the meantime..my kids were entertaining themselves.... =.= Haha....sometimes I wonder how old they are..
Aah, my class after a hard day's work. Good to see that they're still all smiles ;)



Jay's concert


The first of many concerts that I'm attending this year, Jay Chou's! :)

My concert buddies, W and G :)
Just look at the number of people who went to the concert!!!
Opening number...super exaggerated costumes... :P

I think of all the different types of performances, I still like the accoustic version best...

Chinese New Year
This year, the students were allowed to wear their own festive clothes to school for the CNY celebrations.. Somehow they all look so much more grown-up & mature when wearing their home clothes :)
Had a lion troupe come in to do the traditional lion dance this year...and this lion even went up to the audience! Haha...thought it was so funny how it came all the way up to my colleagues... :P

Always great to have old boys visit us in school....

CNY in Hong Kong
Believe it or not, I was in HK over the CNY period. Just a super short 3.5 days stay.......no I wasn't running away from Singapore for fun...my mum's side of the family resides in HK that's why. And since my dad's not around, and my brother's in Aust, my mum decided that we should spend CNY in HK this year.

This is my super spread of food for reunion dinner.....ALL prepared by my granny!
My cousin whom I could pass off as my sis :P
And this is the mahjong gang on first day of CNY...

Was the coldest CNY I've ever been through, simply coz I used to spend all my CNYs in Singapore. It was a mere 8 degree on the evening that we reached HK...SUPER COLD! Seriously I thought I was gonna freeze to death...might also be due to the fact that my aunt's house did not have a heater...I could literally see the condensation coming out from my mouth when I breathed....

Mum and I brought yu sheng over from Singapore for them to try in Hong Kong. Everyone looked delighted.. :)

Well, the other thing that was different about this year's CNY was, other than the fact that we spent it with my mum's side of the relatives, is that it's the first time I was spending CNY with just my mum.

Lotsa mixed feelings while I was over in HK...on one hand, was relieved that I didn't have to entertain all the relatives at my house this year in the absence of my dad...but yet at the same time, a part of me wished that things were still the same as before..that we'd be all busy on the first day of CNY, and have all the relatives congregating at my place for their annual catch-up...

I guess, life goes on....but for total normality to resume? Only time will tell...and only God and time has that power to fully heal..

Just to keep the blog alive...

Hmm...haven't posted since 2 weeks ago. Just shows how much adjusting to I had to do since school reopened. But I must say I LOVE my timetable this year. Just 3 first period lessons as opposed to FIVE last year which was an absolute disaster in terms of stress management. And I have nice little breaks in between lessons for me to do last minute photocopying or tidying up of lesson notes before I head off to class. whooppeee... :)

Well, just decided to post some stuff that was meant to be posted after my HK trip, but I just didn't do it ....just so that my blog doesn't die on me :P
This is a SUPER DUPER MEGA ULTRA YUUUUMMMMMMMMYYYY dessert that I had in Hong Kong last December. It's coconut juice steamed sweetened egg with..err....something else which I do not know how to say in English :P
Yummmmmmyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy............... :) I love steamed egg dessert... :P
Heh, my brother enjoying his dessert... :)

And this is a countdown timer in one of the Hong Kong MRT stations that counts down to the Olympics that will take place in Beijing next year! Quite cool I must say....

One fine day I decided to pack one of my cupboards before school re-opened...

FINALLY decided that it's time for me to trash my university notes that I've kept over the last....erm...6 years?? Haha..the bane of being sentimental person again....taking up cupboard space for nothing..
This is one of my "helpsheets" from my uni days..heh. The concept of a helpsheet was so exciting when we were first introduced to it..because...when did students ever get allowed to bring notes into the examination hall to refer to during major exams??

Well, in uni you do ;) As you can see, the words on my helpsheet are all ant-sized....haha.. :)

And the following is proof that my friends weren't paying attention during lectures...coz they kept drawing on my notes! Haha..this is my friend Spidey J, who wrote on my notes...

"When you do your tutorial...............
think of Spidey J" hahhaa....crazy woman.....nothing to do...wrote every letter in a different colour somemore! Just goes to show how bored she was.....

Haha and I think I was the one who drew this during lectures....oops. Haha...negative demonstration..DON'T LEARN FROM ME :P
Heh, typical of a girl...I loved decorating my notes .....Gone are the days of handwritten notes.....kids nowadays don't know how fortunate they are to get PRINTED notes in class...so don't complain!
Look at my monster tutorial solutions! :) Think it's the chapter called Network Optimisation...

Woohoo! I scored an A1 in one of my tests.....

But look at what I didn't do??! I totally overlooked this 3 marks worth of True/False questions -.- Just simply DIDN'T DO. -.-"

Haha...those were the days of being a student...............

Now it's back to the present of being a TEACHER. Muahaha.

First week of school..

First "week" of school's over.....well, actually not quite a week...only 3 days in this short week of school. Quite a nice way to ease back into school with a short week...then next week is the start of the real battle, COUNTDOWN TO PRELIM 1.

Actually, even I can't quite believe that my kids are gonna be taking prelims in 25 days. Just feels a bit...err..fast..but oh well, what to do, it's the big O's for them this year.

Though I feel it's daunting to be taking sec3 and 4 at the same time..I'm somehow still feeling quite positive and happy about this year's deployment..at least for now..till work crushes me..haha. It'd always been my wish to be in the sec4 team, and it gives me great pride to finally be a part of it. I know tough and busy times lies ahead...but somehow, I have this feeling I'm going to be enjoying the process of bringing the sec4s through the Os. I hope my gut feel is right. =)

Due to banding, I'm currently only teaching 20 out of 31 of my form class kids. Personally I feel that it makes it a little difficult for me...coz I don't get to see the entire class as often anymore... kinda miss seeing everyone in class TOGETHER. A bit sad.... =/ But what to do? I guess it's all for the good of the kids..
Find myself missing my other math class that I used to teach last year too...but like I said, what to do? Sometimes, the choice is not mine...and no matter what, it's still all done for the good of the kids.
Haiz, the bane of being a sentimental person...

As for my sec3 class, can't tell much about them as yet, since I have yet to even see the full class because a lot of them are involved in the Sec1 orientation programme. But they seem like a nice bunch of kids..

I think I'm getting old...coz I'm suffering from a sneezy and leaky nose just from one day of lack of sleep.
So I shall do the right thing now, and go to sleep.

G'nite...

First week of school..

well, first "week" of school's over.....

Photo blog

Just another photo blogging post about the stuff I've been up to during this hols...

3-1 class chalet

Glad the fire was up and starting before I managed to locate the BBQ pit..for a moment I was wondering if I'll have to watch them start the fire and start eating at 10pm.... :P
Though I had to BBQ some of the food myself...was overall quite enjoyable spending time with the class...

See my nice class t-shirt?!??? =)

Love my obnoxious cat shirt that I bought from Thailand... :)

And the den of gamblers in the chalet..haha..the rest were all gaming..

Really hope the chalet served its purpose to bond the class closer together... =)

Funny newspaper cutting

Saw this stuck on my friend's room's door. Haha...apparently her father cut it out from the newspaper and stuck it on her door after he noticed that she was overworking herself..haha..

C & K's wedding
Yes another pair of friends got married to each other.

And this is the group of us who sang at their wedding..haha...
The reason why we're holding all those toy stuff in our hands while taking this pic is coz they were our props for one of the songs called "Going to the chapel"!!

Haha...coz one part of the lyrics goes..
Spring is here & the sky is blue
Birds all sing as if they knew..

So when these 2 particular lines popped up, we raised the props that we were hiding at the back of us at the respective key words like Spring (we raised the flowers), sky (we raised the back of the Doraemon, Doraemon coz my friend C is in love with Doraemon), birds (we raised the little bird toys)..HAHA..
Think the wedding couple was quite amused, but at the same time, very appreciative of our crazy efforts in trying to make their wedding more special...

Don't you think this tiny pair of platypuses are so cuuuute???!!?
Haha..couldn't resist taking pics of it...they were one of the props that we used...super cute..

And this is the whole jing gang of VCFers who turned up for the church wedding.. =)

Christmas carolling

This is the ACJC choir carolling at the Esplanade on 24th Dec. I never fail to watch them carol every year, ever since I stopped singing with the alumni in 2001. Had really wanted to join them for their carolling this year, but somehow the timing was just inconvenient. Guess I'll have to wait till next year.
Next year happens to be the 20th anniversary of the Choral Programme in AC....REALLY tempted to join them to sing for the 20th Anniversary concert in July next year. But I'm not sure if I can make the time commitment...haiz....

So much memories of my choir days.....







Well, Christmas has come and gone, and school's starting in like...4 days???
Oh my.....but I guess I've been thinking about school and the upcoming year's responsibilities and all so much...that I've become a little numb to school reopening.

Excited...but yet...worried...that's what I feel about the new year.....I really hope that I can cope..and cope well..