January Update..

I miss 2-1 '09.
I guess I miss the familiarity of a close-knitted bunch whom I'd gladly identify with as a FT....able people whom I can trust to get things done...kids who had already reached a certain level of maturity. 

2010 has been....I'd say, challenging so far.  It's been a long time since I've had to take up the kind of workload that I've been entrusted with this year.  And on top of that, have been given added portfolios too.  Most people would think that it's a good thing, afterall, being given more to do is possibly a sign that one is being noticed, and is an affirmation of one's ability.  But...for me, what I like most, is to be able to spend quality time on what I enjoy most, which is simply, to teach.

Another challenge is, that I have not had to work with small little 13 year olds for about 4 years now...and now, I've got 74 of them.

It's been really quite a hectic January I must say...and, I think my body clock had turned a little wonky.  I feel sleepy by the time it is early 12+am, fall asleep, and then wake at 4+am to continue working.  I thought I had already gone past this stage of work about 3 years ago?  AND, to add to it, I'm getting all sorts of funny aches and pains!  Have been to the doctor twice, and a sinseh once over the last 2 weeks.  Gosh, I'm not even 30!  Hmmm......but I guess, like it or hate it, I still gotta get through it somehow, so...hopefully I get used to the amount of things I gotta do soon.

At least a loong weekend is coming up for CNY soon, so, that's something to look forward to.  Just like the last 2 years, I'll be going over to Hong Kong to visit my maternal relatives for the festive season :)

Much has taken place in January besides work....and I shall let the photos do the talking..

Bro's wedding

My maternal relatives who came over from Hong Kong for my brother's wedding...this is us, along Orchard Road..all of them all happily holding onto a piece of $1 durian ice-cream that we bought along the road :)

The night before the wedding...my aunt and granny pasting the Xi (meaning "Happiness") onto my brother's room's door..

My cousin W and I on the actual day of the wedding... :)

My new sister-in-law together with my mum, brother and I.

My nephews and 2 nieces....cute right?

Maternal relatives :)

Firestation Hillside Gastrobar

Not sure how many people actually know that there's this old firestation at Upper Bukit Timah.  I think the concept is a little similar to that of Old School at Mount Sophia, except that for Old School, it was a old school-turned-Arts Hub, whereas for this place, it is an old firestation-turned-Arts Hub.  Inside this revamped firestation, is a place called Firstation Hillside Gastrobar.  Nice little cosy western dining place tucked at a small corner of the firestation with 'live' music on some nights.  Food's not bad, ambience is nice..quiet and beside greenery.  Definitely a nice little cool chill-out place for meet-ups.

Meet-up at S's house

Haha, what can I say, it's always nice to meet with old friends =)  And no, it's not that I love wearing the shirt I'm wearing, it's just that I had come from a newspaper collection community involvement project that took place that morning with the kids.

Meet-up with 4-1 '08

Met up with my 4-1 guys just a few days ago...am amazed at how they're always able to get a group of at least 15 out whenever they meet =)

If you enjoy attention on your birthday, you should celebrate it at Fish & Co.  Haha, the waiters and waitresses literally shout and clap simultaneously in a rhythmic manner to get EVERYONE's attention before they break out into the birthday song.  AND, on top of that, you'll be made to stand ON your chair, with a sparkler in your hand.  ;)

4-1 '08

Next update should be CNY in HK ;)  Now, it's back to marking my 2 million tests...

Nice teaching quotes

Saw some meaningful and encouraging quotes about teaching/teachers in one of those little calendars that Singapore Teachers' Union gives to their members at the start of every year.  Just thought I'd post it here, as a reminder and inspiration to myself to do always put in my best, as well as an encouragement to the rest of my friends who are teachers :)


"Teachers teach because they care.  Teaching young people is what they do best.  It requires long hours, patience, and care."
~ Horace Mann

"One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. "
~ Carl Jung

"The mediocre teacher tells.  The good teacher explains.  The superior teacher demonstrates.  The great teacher inspires.  "
~ William Arthur Ward

"If you plan for a year, plant a seed.  If for ten years, plant a tree.  If for a hundred years, teach the people."
~ Kuan Chung

"In a completely rational society, the best of us would be teachers, and the rest of us would have to settle for something less."
~ Lee lacocca

"Whoever first coined the phrase 'you're the wind beneath my wings' most assuredly was reflecting on the sublime influence of a very special teacher."
~ Frank Trujillo

Highlights of Mount Ophir (Final)

Highlights of Mount Ophir Trip II (Final)

 After all the garang-ness, we had to brave the rain (being in the MIDST of a raincloud  :P), and make our way to slightly lower ground, where we were sheltered from the incessant cold winds of the summit.

P and I, happy that we've conquered Ophir once more :)  (btw, i DIDN'T climb with this stick, my sports walking stick was with one of my cadets ;) Doesn't it look like something that Gandalf from Lord of the Ring would carry??? ')

At the lower ground, thanks to our vendor, we had the luxury of eating bread and sausages (taken from our breakfast in the morning at the resort :)) in the middle of the mountain.  Water was also being refilled into the bottles of cadets who had emptied them on their climb up to the peak.

Then, it was time to make our way down the way we came up...using those ropes and ladders at the snakes-&-ladders stretch of the climb..

More photo-taking opportunities along the climb down as it was steep and treacherous, thus, there was sufficient waiting time for the whipping out of cameras for nice shots like these.  Simply LOVE this shot...has this nice feel to it...as if I could almost tag a line to it that says "From boys to Men" :)

We didn't go down the entire trail that we climbed up, but instead veered off onto the service road at one side of the mountain to make our way to our campsite.

The beautiful view from the mountain..

Us, on a big big rock, with our backs facing the summit of ophir.

The landmark of the summit of Ophir.  I still remember when I first climbed Ophir about 5 years ago, they'd told us that we weren't allowed to snap pictures of this.  Hmm....

The long walk down the service road down to our campsite..where at every turn of the road, you'd think that you have reached, but alas, it's just another turn on the road..

Actually I quite enjoyed this long walk down.  Though tiring, and I got blisters from the walk down, it was a nice time of talking and chit chatting with the senior cadets.

The reservoir beside our campsite.  We made it!

Instructions from CSM on where to set up tents for the night..

Mass setting up of tents!

~Dinner~   Not exactly "field-cooking" as most of what we did was boil water for our instant cup noodles/milo/coffee.  But nevertheless, still an interesting experience having to do stuff without a brightly lit environment and having to rely on torches and lamps.

After dinner, was a good time of reflecting on the day's climb, learning important lessons from it, learning how to say "Thank You" & accepting a word of thanks graciously.

Was an eventful night at the campsite, coming into close contact with forrest ants (10 times bigger than those tiny ones what we have in our houses) , leeches, and even a snake!  But thankfully all went well, and we got whatever rest we could before our final descent down the mountain.

Day 3

Nice feeling being at the same level as the clouds

We tried group warm-ups.  Took a longer time than usual, but interesting.

Long walk down...

Glad the bus came to meet us along the trail down to the resort instead of having us walk all the way back down.. :)

After we reached the resort, we quickly dumped our things in the holding room, and trekked shortly up to the waterfall nearby.  But seriously, I thought I was going to roll down the stairs after all the climbing that we did the day before.  Nevertheless, we made it up, and we managed to spend some time cooling off at the waterfall!  Nice refreshing change to trekking in the hot sun.

The waterfall which was a less than 10 minute trek from the resort.

As can be seen, think the kids had loads of fun cooling off at the waterfall..

All the proud recipients of the certificate of having completed the trek of 1276 m up to the summit of Gunung Ledang.

In front of Mahkota, the nice service apartment that we stayed at in Malacca.

After spending the night in Malacca, where we were treated to nice Peranakan food & given some time for our own shoppng the night before, it was time for our cultural tour of Malacca the next day.

After a quick lunch, it was time for us to return to Singapore...

Was just reflecting on the way back on the bus....am really so glad that the trip materialised in the end, because in my opinion, nothing beats bringing the unit out & roughing it out together, it just bonds the people so much faster, and the joint experience would be something that would stay with the cadets (and the officers too) for a long time.

And thus marks the end of our expedition to conquer Mount Ophir, where we gained so much more than just reaching the summit, and along the way, learnt many precious lessons that will hopefully come in useful in many years to come.

Recent happenings...

Yes I know I should be blogging about my Vietnam holiday...or finishing up my updates about Ophir..but, those posts will take sooo long.  I have to look through all 1200+ photos of the Vietnam trip before I can post photos!  So, wait lah hor, wait :)

Have decided to just do this shorter one first.. :)

Cadet Officer Course Graduation Parade

Attended the graduation parade of 4 of my cadets where they were promoted to full-fledged cadet liuetenants (CLTs) after their 3 weeks course in NCC HQ.

The colour party

Parade march-in

Inspection of parade by the guest of honour, Chief Commando Officer of SAF

The adournment of rank by the parents of the newly promoted cadet officers..

...can tell how proud the parents were of their children..

I was very proud of them too :)

Parade march past

Congrats to the 4 newly promoted CLTs!  We'll see you guys in Jan ;)

Dinner @ Little Part 1 Cafe

Love these pictures that I took while having dinner at this small, cosy lil' cafe tucked away at a small road along Upper Thomson.  It's a little cafe that serves western food..suitable for small gatherings of friends who just want a nice quiet place to hang out and chit chat.  Thankful for DSLRs, which can capture everything so nicely :P

I just realised that this whole series of pics make it look like I'm doing an advertisement for them.  Haha..but I don't mind, it's a really nice place.

Has a really nice feel to the whole place isn't it?  Nice, warm, cosy, fuzzy feeling.. :)

Strained Finger

It's a whoooole loooong story...but here's the gist of it....

So it all started with my finger being hit by a volleyball while I was playing beach volleyball about 2 months ago.  Since then, have been experiencing slight pain whenever weight was put on my last finger on my right hand.

When I went to Vietnam, I probably aggravated it a little due to the luggage carrying and all.

So a few days after I returned from Vietnam, I experienced pain while trying to clench my fist. 

Went over to the sinseh, and......oh I so shouldn't have!!

Friends have chided me for going to the sinseh because they said I went to one that wasn't tried and tested.  Well how was I to know??  I had gone to another branch of the same chain before, and it was fine.  After I went to get my hand treated by the sinseh, the level of pain shot up by at least FIVE times the original level!!  She rubbed and rubbed and rubbed like there was no tomorrow, REALLY.  After she rubbed once, she asked me how I felt, and I told her it was still painful, so she rubbed again...then repeated the same thing twice, with the 3rd time being the most violent.  And she ended off with this pressure thingy....seriously PAINFUL.

Took a pic while waiting for the sinseh to come back with all the koyoks..

So I went home, thinking, all should be well the next day.  But nooooo....throughout the day, the pain just got worse and worse....until at night, I had to take panadol to ease the pain before I could even get to sleep.  And I woke throughout the night coz the pain was too intense. 

The super ultra swollen finger the next day.

Met some of my old friends for lunch on Sunday, and one of my doctor friends suggested that I take an X-ray because it looked like a possible fracture due to the immobility of the finger and the ultra swelling.  So off I went to Mount Alvernia hospital.

Doctor concluded that there was no fracture from the X-ray taken *phew*, and that it was a bad strain (of course, coupled with my most violent sinseh who rubbed like there was no tomorrow).  So off I went, with painkillers and a bandage to splinter my last finger to the 4th one so I wouldn't twist it.

Can't believe how I survived 2 whole days with the intense pain.  eeks.  Don't ever want to go through that again...EVER...

ACJ Choir carolling

So as usual, I went down to support the ACJ choir during their carolling session.  This year, I zipped over to Keppel Towers to watch them, and I was pleasantly surprised to see R from my batch, conducting the choir for the first time during carolling.  She had been choir teacher for as long as I'd been teaching too, and it was nice to see her taking over the conducting baton this christmas :)

The all so familiar concert attire...

I get the same warm and fuzzy feeling every year when I listen to the choir carol.  I guess it's because I was once a part of this closely knitted group, and seeing them carol just reminds me of so so much that I hold dear to my heart. 

Encore song "Have a holly jolly christmas", where the choir sang without a conductor :)

Every year when I watch the choir carol I'd tell myself that I'd make time to join them next year.  It's been 6 years now...let's hope I'd really join them next year =)

Looking forward to next week, bringing my cadets for 2-star kayaking, lunch with friends on Tue, S1 registration on Wed followed by Christmas gathering at my plc, watching my friend perform on Thur, and a wedding to attend on Christmas day.  *phew* :)

If I don't post before Christmas, here's wishing everyone a very blessed and warm Christmas ;)