My Little Playground

The first month of 2013 has ended and I guess its time to take stock of the year thus far.

It hasn’t been a great year. Work has been hectic, some colleagues totally not enjoyable, grandma is (still) in hospital and we’ve had at least one major scare…

No wonder I have no life. That only makes me feel even worse. Though in all honesty, it’s almost a choice I have made. 

I’m very tempted to just withdraw into my shell and ignore the world. Become stay a hermit. But of course it isn’t the right thing to do and I might actually become depressed.

So… 5 blessings to count:
1) Grandma is still hanging in there. Though my prayer everyday is that she is comfortable and not suffering.
2) My form class has still been rather sweet. I like them a lot.
3) Kat is moving to Singapore
4) We’re actually really going to renovate our place
5) I have a family that I love

:) So now, I really really need to figure out how to obtain a work life balance and to stop being the hermit that I am.

For my own memory’s sake… The books I’ve read in 2012.

1) Sarah’s Key - by Tatiana de Rosnay

2) Daddy’s Little Girl - by Julia Latchem-Smith (this one was a true story!)

3) State of Fear - by Michael Crichton

4) Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin (non-fiction)

5) The Help - Kathryn Stockett

6) The Forgotten Garden - Kate Morton

7) The Veiled Kingdom - Carmen Bin Ladin (Non-fiction, written by Osama bin Laden’s sister-in-law)

8) The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood

9) The Stand - Stephen King

10) A Time to Kill - John Grisham

11) Subterranean - James Rollins

12) Room - Emily Donoghue

13) Ice Hunt - James Rollins

14) Portobello - Ruth Rendell

15) The Runaway Jury - John Grisham (LOVED this book!!)

16) Altar of Eden - James Rollins (fave book of his so far :))

17) The Rainmaker - John Grisham

18) Zero Day - Mark Russinovich

19) The Firm - John Grisham

20) Stumbling on Happiness - Daniel Gilbert (non-fiction)

21) Denial - Peter James

22) Sandstorm - James Rollins

23) Excavation - James Rollins

24) The Terminal Man - Michael Crichton

25) Micro - Michael Crichton

26) Map of Bones - James Rollins

27) Black Order - James Rollins

28) The Judas Strain - James Rollins

29) The Last Oracle - James Rollins

30) The Doomsday Key - James Rollins

31) The Devil Colony - James Rollins

32) Life of Pi - Yann Martel

33) The Litigators - John Grisham (getting to totally love his novels! :):))

34) Amazonia - James Rollins

35) The Kill Artist - Daniel Silva

36) Relic - Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

37) House Rules - Jodi Picoult

38) Deep Fathom - James Rollins

39) Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese

40) Little Princes - Conor Grennan (non-fiction)

41) The Snow Child - Eowyn Ivey

42) Behind the Beautiful Forevers - Katherine Boo (Non-fiction)

43) Those Who Save Us - Jenna Blum

44) Aleph - Paulo Coelho

45) The Sense of an Ending - Julian Barnes (absolutely loved it!)

46) The Berlin Crossing - Kevin Brophy

47) In Other Rooms, Other Wonders - Daniyal Meuunuddin

It’s almost 2 full weeks into the new year. Boy does time fly.

It has been such an exhausting period, what with the start of the new academic year and my grandma in hospital. Haven’t felt so physically and emotionally drained in awhile. I honestly hate seeing my grandma suffer so much. 

I’ve also learnt that I’m terrible at multi-tasking. Which is why I can almost never leave work at work. How do I draw the line to ensure a healthy work life balance? I’ll have to work on my ability to compartmentalize.

In any case, there are still many points of thanksgiving. :)

1) I’ve managed to do some quiet time every night, regardless of how tired I am. So I thank God for helping me find the time and resolve to do it. Next step would be to eventually make it back to church.

2) It’s end of week 1 (almost 2 weeks of school) and none of my kids have tried to kill each other yet. As a matter of fact, they have been nothing but lovely. I was dreading it because of the horror stories I’ve heard of my class as well as certain people that I will have to work with this year. However, it has been such a blessing because my kids seem to be a really sweet bunch. (of course its only week 1 so who really knows) So, I don’t dread going to class… and I love how they try hard to listen and do what I tell them to do. It’s still a work in progress but as of now, I’m still very happy to be the form teacher of my class. 

3) Even though the other class I have to teach isn’t as easy to handle (in fact, I feel like they’re the most challenging class of the level), I was very heartened when the kids saw me walk to class and exclaimed my name and proceeded to dump their stationery into their pencil case, pick up the litter on the floor, and arrange their tables, before proceeding to stand and wait to greet me. I was so encouraged that they actually remembered my instructions in the previous class about my expectations. Of course, they were still quite themselves as the lesson progressed… but I hope that what I witnessed was a good sign and that eventually I will be able to manage this class even better. 

4) Despite living in different countries and leading very different lives, I still get to see my roomies relatively often. And I pray that come what may, the special relationship/bond that we share would not change. ever. :)

Ok dinner time, will blog more often to try to keep track of the daily craziness that is my life. :)

I am a little late in blogging, but happy new year! I can’t believe 2012 is over. To be honest, not much of the year was particularly memorable.

That being said,
i) my niece was born
ii) I graduated from NIE
iii) started teaching in St Stephen’s as a trained teacher
iv) Went to Korea, Sydney, Melbourne, Great Ocean Road, Beijing and HK on holiday
v) attended Pei Lin’s ROM (special mention because she is a special friend)

(the not so good)
i) got into 2 car accidents which pretty much caused me to develop an irrational driving phobia
ii) my attendance at church has been pretty much non-existent 

It wasn’t a particularly easy year, what with work really starting proper. I have so much to learn with regard to functioning in the Singaporean work force. That being said, I am very thankful for some of the really awesome people God has placed in my life to help me along to way. 

Well 2013 is here, and I’m honestly scared of what is to come. I wish I were more excited but I feel more apprehensive and tired. Work scares me. And I guess the constant contemplation of what exactly I want to do with my life can be exhausting as well. 

So, my new year resolutions (or at least the main ones I can think of at this point in time):
i) To have a positive attitude towards work and to be the best teacher I can be
ii) To work on my relationship with God (i.e. read the bible, pray and go to church)
iii) To work on my bad temper
iv) To try new things and not be so afraid of failure
v) To work on my relationship with friends and family

Here’s to an fulfilling and blessed 2013 ahead. I pray that I will make the most of the year. :)

OMG! The day couldn’t have been more awesome. Strategic Planning Seminar was a lot more enjoyable than I expected it to be; I simply love talking about education related issues and ideas. So discussing the minister’s speech, especially in relation to what is being done in the school, was totally up my alley.

Part 2 of the day was even more awesome. I honestly didn’t expect too much from the Art and Science Museum… But it TOTALLY BLEW MY MIND AWAY. We got to see 2 different exhibition: i) The Art of Brick by Nathan Sawaya, and ii) Magnum, a photography exhibition. Both were extremely enjoyable, but Nathan Sawaya’s work was exceptionally brilliant. Impressive. Didn’t know one could do so much with lego! Pictures soon to come. Also, I think the curators (or whoever was in charge of arranging and designing the exhibits) were really good too! Even though its $15 per pax for the lego exhibition, $6 for the photography exhibition, $18 for both, I TOTALLY still recommend it. Especially the lego exhibition. It’s fun and inspiring and just mind-blowing. 

Of course, it was even better that it was free for my colleagues and I. I just wish I had more time to enjoy the exhibits. It’s so good I might actually consider going again. Therefore, I’ve decided that the Art Science Museum would be a place I’ll probably frequent. (I just think their exhibitions were done well so I’ll probably check out a few more.)

Then, I came home and played with my new toy. Brought it out for my virgin shoot around my neighbourhood and had people staring at me because I looked sketchy, taking photos of their houses/cars/dogs etc. LOL. :)

Finally, I went for a run. 

What a perfect day.

I realized taking P6s after PSLE isn’t THAT bad. I remember being terrified because they barely knew me and so usually didn’t really listen to me. 

Today, there were so few of them there because the rest probably disappeared to some computer lab to play computer games. So I watched the few in my class play Monopoly deal and some other card games.

Then I played 2 games with them. And WON. BOTH. :):):) The boys just don’t seem to have much strategy but I guess they are 12. lol. I guess playing monopoly deal legitimately at work is awesome! 

That was the highlight of an exhausting day. But I think my boys did a great job for the use-your-hands campaign with me as the conductor orchestrating it all! The classroom has never been cleaner. Yay!

Today I took my dad to the hospital and back for his gastroscope. For the record, I really HATE multi-story carparks… most probably because of my inability to accurately gauge how to maneuver those ramps. I mounted the kerb with my back wheel TWICE (oh the horrors because we were parked on L4). I always have this fear of scratching the passenger side of the car against the wall.

I also went for a run. FINALLY. After goodness knows how many months of my sloth-like behaviour. I am SO unfit. I almost died after only running approximately 2.7km and had to walk the rest of the way home. HAHA. OH WELL. That being said, I loved how I felt after the run. Not immediately when I feel like I’m about to puke and pass out, but after cooling down and drinking some water. I just felt refreshed and lighter, and I just don’t think so much; it’s just so much easier to take my mind off things. No wonder I ran like a mad woman back in 2010 (up to 4 times a week).

So in conclusion, I should run more; it’s good for my emotional well-being. :)

Today I went for a Destination Imagination Team Manager’s training. The training itself was ok but I thought the program was pretty darn cool. I think the boys could benefit a lot from it.

I just wish it could really be about the kids and how they would benefit and learn from it. Instead, at the end of the day, I feel that it’s still all about fulfilling some checklist, in order to obtain some awards to beef up someone’s portfolio. ^____^ How disappointing.

Then I just felt very jaded about everything.

Wow! I haven’t blogged in a long time. It’s almost the end of the year!

As a student, I think I dreaded school and looked forward to the school holidays. Surprise surprise! I didn’t realize that teachers felt the EXACT SAME way. *looking forward to the long break!* :) 

Wow… I haven’t blogged in a long time!

I can’t believe I have been teaching for 7 weeks already! And I’m definitely looking forward to the upcoming school holidays!

I’ve been feeling rather pmsy of late. I can’t think another reason for why so many things piss me off or annoy me.

1) A parent made a police report against a teacher for verbal abuse of his daughter because she said ‘I don’t want to see your face’ to the girl.

Granted, I don’t necessarily agree with what the teacher said, but what the parent did really pissed me off big time. Perhaps Im not a parent and hence fail to fully comprehend the extent of the ridiculousness of the comment, but i honestly don’t even think it was a particularly nasty comment. In any case, even if it was uncalled for and really upset your daughter, shouldn’t the first call of action be to contact the teacher directly to raise your concerns and your unhappiness? And if abd only if the teacher is unreasonable and or recalcitrant, would it be neccessary to escalate the matter to the principal. Personally, i feel that matters should end here. I am actually of the opinion that the ministry should not even entertain every little complaint that parents have. Shouldn’t they have more faith in their principals to deal with the issues appropriately? Unfortunately, parents feel that the FIRST thing they should do when unhappy with a teacher, is it *drumroll* go straight to the police! No wonder the police is so busy if they have to entertain nonsense like this. Others just go straight to the press.

As a teacher to be, I find this phenomenon extremely disturbing. How can a responsible teacher take any proper action if they are constantly in fear of unreasonable parents complaining about anything and everything? I feel that we should trust the judgement and decisions of the teachers more. It is almost impossible to be an effective teacher if one is unable to assert reasonable authority and discipline the class. Of course, even the best teachers a only human beings who WILL make mistakes. Therefore, if there’s anything a parent is unhappy about, I’m sure a responsible teacher will take the time to hear them out and explain their point of view. Parents should then try to understand why a teacher might have needed to say or do something. If what was said or done was really unneccessary or wrong, I’m sure the teacher would also really like to know of they have upset or a hurt a student that they care about. I’m sure a teacher would make a conscious effort not to make the same mistake twice, and also apologize to the student. What’s the point of making such a big fuss out of nothing and going straight to the police?

I just hate how people like to use underhand means to assert what power they feel they should have. People like to use external agencies and the higher ups to pressurize the schools and teachers to give them what they want. Instead of really wanting to right the wrong and help both their teacher and their child, they are just spiteful and want to get the teacher in trouble. perhaps they just want to vent their unhappiness and anger. Is a top down approach in situations like this reply helpful and neccessary? I really beg to differ. No wonder so many teachers just try so hard to protect themselves these days. I just hope I will never end up like that, and that I will dare to make decisions and do things based on my beliefs and what I feel is right. Why can teachers be treated with dignity and respect as they once were?

That being said, I know that not all parents a like that. I really appreciate the nice parents out there. I think it is ok to be demanding, after all, I know parents want what’s best for their kids, I firmly believe that. Surprise surprise, teachers care too! Most anyway. So why not work together? Just please do not be unreasonable. And the first person you should speak to when unhappy is the teacher. Thank you. I mean, if your colleague was unhappy with you, wouldn’t you appreciate them speaking nicely with you than going straight up to your boss? Same logic.

Attended Adelene’s wedding and finally got to meet the lucky dude! :) (Well, actually it was just the dinner held in Singapore. Her actual wedding was held in Melbourne sometime in April!)

It was really fun helping out, in whatever little way I could. I just can’t describe how happy I feel, watching my dear friends get married. It’s just watching them move on to the next stage of their life, watching them embark on the next chapter with a person they love who loves them back.

It’s amazing because I’ve known the twins for more than 10 years now! Time just flies so ridiculously fast. I can still remember the many times I went to their place to hang out before ballet, or the many times I met them for lunch during their lunch break at work… <3

Ms Ho and I taking photos at the reception desk - duty part 1. :)

It was also a LOT of fun seeing my ballet friends again. Honestly, my table was rowdy beyond words. We were all just very happy for the couple, and we wanted to have fun. We were using our chopsticks to hit our drinking glass (an aussie/western tradition) to get the couple to kiss, took photos with our phones, laughed at my pathetic driving in a carpark skills, and we talked and laughed about everything from children these days (many teachers at the table!), dance, and even traveling! All I needed to do was say that I wanted to go to Sri Lanka for a holiday at the end of the year and all hell broke loose. My ballet teacher and her husband went on and on about how UNpleasant the place was. I think they were kinda high, but the way they described the place was just hilarious. I think, it might have been one of the most fun weddings I have attended. Can’t remember the last time I laughed this much.

Our crazy table with the gorgeous couple! :)

Ballet girls all grown up with our hot ballet teacher! LOL! The lucky bello among the bellas! :):):) Our ballet teacher’s hubby kept getting us to show off our legs and point our toes to take this photo… all the time calling us ‘bellas’ at the top of his lungs! 

Finally… a photo with the gorgeous couple. :):) Congrats Adelene & Liam! <3<3<3 I wish you 2 a happy and blissful marriage! Can’t wait for us to have dinner before you 2 head back to Aussieland!