December 12, 2008

  • Sungei Buloh 15th Anniversary Walk

    Last Saturday, i dragged myself out of bed at 6am even though it was the school hols. Why? Because i signed myself and my parents up for the 15h anniversary walk at Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve. It was also my parents first time there and they really enjoyed themselves. The turn-up for the anniversary walk was good and the weather was almost perfect. I was hoping to take a sunrise photo before heading out but there wasn't much of a sight to take so no photo there.

    We were greeted by some of the Toddycat
    volunteers (with the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research at the
    National University of Singapore) and when everyone was ready we kin    da
    grouped ourselves into the various groups before heading out to the
    Mangrove Boardwalk. Mom went off with a different group because dad
    went to the toilet, so i told her to go ahead first while i stayed back
    to wait and we would catch up later.


    Sungei Buloh 15th Anniversary 2008 002-1          Sungei Buloh 15th Anniversary 2008 007-1
    Our Toddycat Volunteer                                                                 Tree Climbing Crab

    Sungei Buloh 15th Anniversary 2008 004-1
    Mom observing the roots of the Mangrove trees

    Towards the end of the walk we were at one of the shelters when one of the participants spotted a snake through the cracks of the platform and the whole group basically swarmed the spot trying to catch a glimpse of this snake. It may have been a small one but still it was the closest i've been to seeing a snake in the wild. This lil fella was identified to be a dogface water snake, didn't see any resemblance on the snake to looking like a dog but nonetheless it was still a sight.


    Sungei Buloh 15th Anniversary 2008 011-1
    The best photo i could take of the snake.


    Moments later, another participant spotted something popping it's head out from a hole not too far where we sighted the dogface water snake.... it was an eel of somesort. Furthermore, we spotted a school (erm, can we say 'a school'?) of stingrays ... about 10-12 of them in the swallow water near the shelter. So you can imagine the excitement that was buzzing around the shelter because even the seasoned volunteers themselves say that such sightings are rare.

    After the walk, we proceeded to the carpark where there was tentage set-up in celebration of Sungei Buloh's 15th birthday. The highlight of the celebration was the VIP who is none other than SM Goh. Too bad the speakers were not set up properly as i could barely make out what he had to say because the speakers were all situated near the stage and none were situated at the back of the tentage. Pity.. because from what i could hear sounded very interesting. Oh well ....


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    After SM Goh officially launched the celebration and unveiling future plans for the reserve, my parents and i took a walk out to the aerie and back. I was glad to see that they were enjoying themselves, just wished they had the luxury of time and stamina to stroll through the route instead of almost power walking through.

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    Sungei Buloh 15th Anniversary 2008 022-1

    Sungei Buloh 15th Anniversary 2008 024-1
    One of my favourite photos taken of mom and dad

    Personally, the highlight of the day was the talk that Sivasothi a.k.a. Otterman gave about "Adventures in the Mud!". Given that we all had to study about Mangroves for Science during our primary school days, i wished i had Siva as my teacher because he made it sound so fun and so interesting!

    It was definitely a good day out at Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve.

    Additional Link : Habitat News

October 19, 2008

  • ROUGH

    The past week has definitely been a long rough week at work... there are just simply too many tasks to look into and too many projects to complete. I just felt like i was pulled into so many different directions that completing them all seem increasingly impossible. I had a lil tear session on Tuesday afternoon... but Friday afternoon was bad. Real bad. Spent most of the afternoon teary-eyed until my supervisor and my administrator talked to me and i let it all out. I just needed to vent ... my partner in class Suzana was also feeling stress and both of us were so high-strung that we were both on the edge. Thankfully, we have a group of very very caring co-workers and we felt much better towards the end of the day. We went out to chill and spoiled ourselves with a good dinner and just hanging out after work just to relax ourselves. Am hoping the next week will prove to be a better week than the last.

September 26, 2008

  • F1 Night Race

    Thanks to Kenneth, i was invited to catch my first F1 race... well more like a practise session but not like i cared. :) I was having fun listening to the cars whizzing by and the ear-piercing half-screech half-engine roar .... at certain stretch of the course they travel so fast that if you blink you will miss them whizzing past you. *hehe* I snapped over 250 photos but giving them a quick glance through on Picasa only less than 15 will make it on my Flickr. I am definitely addicted to the sound of those racing machines.....

    However, a certain ass had to ruin my night with his screwed up mentality and notion of what proper is... yeah gave him the tall man....

September 23, 2008

  • Sillie Old Me...

    Alright, i have gotten past my annoyance and anger towards myself and the emotion i am feeling right now is dejection.

    Long story short, i was making pom poms for the kids for Children's Day next Tuesday. I have been working on them for the last couple of weeks. Since Children's Day is coming i have been bringing my bag of pom poms and other materials that i need to make them (shakie eyes, ribbons) to and from school so i can work on them in any free time slot i have in my busy day. This is the complete  :

    A) 2 original ATCs that i drew - one was a "Thank you" ATC for the parents who threw us a Teacher's Day party and the other was a "Children's Day" ATC.
    B) 50 freshly printed, pasted on art paper and cut to size digital edition of the "Children's Day" ATC.
    C) Printed ATC back details (which has my flickr address and email address).
    D) 35 pcs of pom poms
    E) 24 pcs of folded (using A3 coloured paper) goodie bags
    F) 10 pcs of folded (using A4 coloured paper) goodie bags

    This evening, I had stopped to check my mailbox and feed our resident stray ... Shmiley... left my sling bag and plastic bag with my Children's Day stuff in it on a ledge while i was feeding Shmiley. Guess i forgot it when i was done and only picked up my sling bag. Only realised this much later because i had gotten home, showered and dropped onto my bed and immediately fell asleep till my alarm went off at 7pm. When i went down to check before going for tuition at 7.30pm nothing was there ... i even looked into the rubbish bins around the area.....

    So yeah now... less than a week before Children's Day celebration i have nothing but 28 pcs of folded (using A3 coloured paper) goodie bags and scanned copies of the 2 original ATCs mentioned above.

    Back to the drawing board... have to think of alternative plans.

September 14, 2008

  • WEEKEND WEEKEND WEEKEND

    Finally went out yesterday to just window shop and walk around a shopping mall after a hell of a week at work... and i do mean that literally... thought i would head out to catch up with some polymates. Zalila and Jamie had planned to go out shopping for an outfit for the upcomming Teacher's Day Dinner.
    A dinner  that is 3 weeks too late organised by the grassroot leaders and the MP. *rolls eyes* Just give us cash for the amount of the dinner and the gifts that you are planning on getting us. Want to have a dinner to celebrate an occasion you do it before not THREE WEEKS later.

    I digress....

    Unfortuntely, i had already made plans to meet Madhu at Raffles City Shopping Centre, basically to do some window shopping and catch up. We walked around Robinsons for a while where i saw this gorgeous fushia halter dress (fushia satin for the top of the halter, off-white chiffon bottom with embroidery flowers of beads and sequins in matching shades of pink) going at 70% off its retail price. Too bad it didn't have the size i could fit in and was tempted to get it to motivate me more to lose the weight and wear it for my big 3-0 in 6 months. *hahaha* Oh well ....
    We sat down to chat and catch up at Starbucks over lattes and bagels, then walked around some more just window shopping.... In the end, we ended up going to Chinatown for me to look for props for the year end concert
    drama and dance followed by a trip to Little India to get my first ever
    eyebrow threading session done.

    After i had my eyebrows threaded i
    swore off plucking! The space between my eyebrows was once a growing
    Amazon is now soooooooooooooooooo clean and smooth! Madhu didn't know
    which one place to go get it done just knew that there were places to
    get it done at Little India Shopping Arcade. So yeah we just walked
    into the first place that offered such services. The neat part about
    this place is that there is a membership card where you get a stamp for
    every threading session done and after 10 stamps you get a free
    session. Best part...... the price... $6 sing dollars (about $4.40
    cad)... i've heard that there are places that offer their eyebrow
    threading services for $5 sing dollars (about $3.70 cad) but the
    shopping arcade is near the MRT and easily accessible so why not. :)

    Later in the evening, we parted ways and i headed over to Kenneth's for the evening to watch the match between Man U and Liverpool over dinner. Had really good red wine too... i am not a reds person but this one was really nice and sweet! Good food, good company.... ahhh *sigh contentedly ... for now* .... quite a good way to start the short weekend... wish i didn't have to feel so tired all the time. It's only the first week of the new term!

    Oh also borrowed this very old school Atlas from way back in the 80s from Kenneth too... which comes with a very amusing and cute story that his mom shared with us. Apparantly, Kenneth won this book through a Ribena on-the-spot colouring competition when he was about 5-years-old. When they were annoucing the winners of the consolation prizes he actually asked his mom why his name wasn't called. She had to console him by say maybe his name would be called for the top 3 prizes... which he did ... he came in first (i think). She also jokingly said that as long as you coloured within the lines you would win a prize. *lol* So yeah going to treat this book with great care, after all don't think it is in circulation anymore. So vintage!

    Today, i did NOTHING.... did absolutely nothing at all but laze around and in a blink of an eye.... the weekend has come and gone..... *SIGHS* I WANT MY WEEKEND TO LAST LONGER.....

September 13, 2008

  • Updates of  the Week past

    Conversation with a Kid (9th Sept)
    Jason :    Teacher Ee Wei, I finished [my] drawing.
    Me :       *looks at the paper* Jason, are your face, hands and legs purple?
    Jason :    No...
    Me :       *points to the drawing* So why are you purple here?
    Jason :    Because all my friends are using the peach colour pencils.
    Me :       And you couldn't wait????

    Shared this story with Kenneth and he said that this could be their way of showing their creativity... heh i don't think so. 
    And yes this is the same Jason mentioned in my previous entry.

    Koko's 6th Birthday (11th Sept)
    September 11th is my adorable little girl, Koko's 6th birthday. She celebrated the day with a feast of chicken nuggies, egg, ham and mayo sandwiches, a multi-coloured layered jelly cake (shaped in a ballerina bear) and a baby bugs and taz chocolate birthday cake for a her friends. She also came armed with birthday goodie bags for her friends too which were 'kidnapped' by Teacher Zalila and Teacher Liza to see her reactions. All in fun. But Koko didn't think it was funny, poor girl cried her heart out and it was nice to see how her friends 'sneaked' into the K1 classroom to bring back all the goodies and hide them in the corner of the classroom. Or how a few of them 'barricaded' the entrance to the classroom when Teacher Liza walked towards it fearing that she was back to grab the goodie bags.
    Koko 6th Birthday 004a.JPG
    How sweet is this photo....


    Both Koko's parents were there early before their snack break to set up the food and all before the children came in. Half way through the party and celebration, Koko ran up to me with a pink Tom and Jerry party hat and said :

    Koko :    Teacher Ee Wei, for you!
    Me :       You mean i have to wear it?
    Koko :   Yes, my party you must wear party hat. I keep this for you.

    How can i not laugh and be a good sport and wear the party hat when she had saved it for me. *GRIN*

    Koko 6th Birthday 014a.JPG



    ATC @ Pausability (11th Sept)
    Headed down to Pauseability for ATC #13... was a real fun nite of watching and listening to Rita and Richard's playfully throwing 'insults' at one another, lots of yummie cocktails (courtesy of Leonard from Drinkdings) and a WHOLE lot of innuendos in our conversations! *heehee* Speaking of which i need to finish up my themed "Nine" ATC for Richard for our trade. *heehee* Plus work on the ones for next month's ATC theme of "Flower Power". *heehee*


    ATC #13 DrinkDings.JPG
    Don't you just love Elfie's expression? :P

    September 11 ... Do you remember what happened that Day?
    Time does fly.... it has been 7 years since we've all watched and witness the collapse of the Twin Towers in NYC. I still remember what exactly I did that day leading up to the tragedy.... do you?

    In the morning, i had an interview with Singapore Art Museum (SAM) where i was told that the lady interviewing me was not my direct supervisor.
    The lady i was to report to was in NY collecting the precious cargo of a collection of Feberge eggs that were to be in Singapore for an upcomming exhibition.

    Later in the afternoon, i met Kenneth and Chevelle to watch the movie "A Knight's Tale", before the movie started they screened the trailer for the first "Spiderman" movie.
    I don't know how many have seen this trailer but in one scene it showed Spidey spining a web in between the twin towers and snagging a helicopter in the web.

    After the movie, we parted ways and headed for home. As i entered the door at around 7.10pm, Kenneth sms'ed me to say that there had been an attack on the twin towers.
    I walked into the living room, saw my dad standing in front of the tv with the news on and moments later watched both towers collapse right before my very eyes....


    It still feels so surreal to me... 

September 8, 2008

  • The darnest things i say...


    Took half the class out for an outdoor walk around the school to try and and explain to them what they were going to be covering this term. Term 4 is all about their "Physical Environment" and as i was trying to explain what it meant i asked them :


    Me :      "Where is your house in relation to the school?"


    Jason :  "Teacher, what do you mean?"


    Me :      (trying not to laugh at myself for having ask the question using the words "in relation to")
                     "Point to the direction of your home from where we are standing now."


    Sometimes i forget that i am dealing with 6-years-old as some of them are really wise beyond their years. Only some. Though doesn't hurt for them to be expose to the language and terms.

September 4, 2008

  • Had a Portrait Drawn

    Last month, a friend of mine Betsy (she is the one that organises the monthly crafting club that i am part of) ran a contest on her blog.


    KnottyBicsie


    So i threw in my entry..... and yeah... heh... i won. With this photo.

    Ooi Ee Wei


    I had purchased the pom pom making kit back in June not long after Darcy flew home just to keep myself occupied. I have made quite a bulk of pom poms and so i attached it to one of my beanies and took this shot you see above. It took a while for my family and friends to realise it was me in the photo. *hahahaha*

    Betsy has a Japanese friend who is an art student. She met him while his friend (a street artist and a fellow art student as well) was does weekly live drawings outside Shimokitazawa Station in Japan for an upcomming exhibition back in May. Anyways, He saw this photo on Betsy's blog and it inspired him to draw this...

    080903_2256~01


    *heehee* I don't know why but heh it makes me feel a tad bit teeny weeny special for someone who has never met me before to want to draw a portrait of me. :)

    Thank you, Rokuhisa-San!

August 30, 2008

  • My kids made me feel Special and Loved today

    Spent Thurs nite wrapping and decorating all the gifts i bought for the whackie bunch of teachers in my kindergarten. Even though Teacher's Day is on the 1st of Sept it falls during the one week term break so we moved it up to Friday. *heehee* When i got to work on Friday morning, i dropped all the gifts in the classroom first before going over to the staff room to drop off my bag. When i walked it i was greeted by the others with hugs and gifts. Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww i felt loveeeeed! Told them their gifts were in the classroom so we all went over and Zalila and Liza actually lined up in front of my classroom to receive their gift. *lol*

    After giving my dear teachers their gifts which i hope they like... it was time to start the day. The Sunday before i had attended the Singapore Fireworks Festival courtesy of Betsy (she held a competition for the biggest Knottie Fan and heh ... yeah i won..) and during the event there were teenagers selling these braces-like flashing lights thingie for $. At first i thought that it was somewhat disturbing and a cause for concern that it might malfunction and eletrocute the kids but then realised that the voltage would be rather minute. Well i got myself one and was going to greet the kids with flashing lights coming from my mouth. Heehee all the children squealed in delight and were laughing really hard. They even asked Suzana why there were lights coming from my mouth and she told them that i had swallowed some batteries the day before. They ACTUALLY believed her! *lol*

    The Teachers
    The teachers with their gifts from me.

      Mars 2008
    Mars children with their gifts to me.

    The next hour or so was a frenzy of trying to organise the presents that they gave us on the table so that i could take a picture. I managed to take most of the children with the present they gave me so i could remember them by ... missed out a couple though .. but got most of them. After i took the one and only shot of the presents that i received from the other teachers, i got them to open the present i gave them...not before i took a shot of them posing with the present. *heehee*  After a few hours of feeling relax, letting the kids play freely and with no deadlines to meet... it was time for them to go for their snack break.

    When we walked into the snack room, all the tables had bee nicely arranged and set up.... there was a huge spread of food and a huge ass cake right in the middle of the snack room. There were also a handful of my k2 parents in the snack room helping out and making final adjustments.... in my mind i was going "Oh no... did we forget that one of the kids is celebrating his/her birthday today???" Then it dawned on us that this was for us... the K2 teachers..... the parents threw us a part.... a Teacher's Day Party!!! Omg.... it was really touching to see how 19 parents came together to plan for this party.... *tears* I was soooo touched.... i felt sooooo special.... i felt like i was loved....It gave me so much more motivation... it was like i was given an energon cube and felt recharged.

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    The lovely cake and the teachers cutting into the cake.

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    The huge spread of food and the children desperate to tuck into it.


    All the teachers were invited to cut the cake but not before making a wish and heh we all basically wished for the same things... after cutting the cake, we showed the parents that teachers have a wild and fun side too... how did we do that? Each of us took a turn to swipe the cream from the cake, then running around chasing one teacher and smearing the cream on her face. *lol* That was fun. *heehee* The children were definitely harder to manage since they were all hungry ... but after digging into the food they basically entertained themselves and kept on eating and eating. I spent a good hour or so chatting and laughing with the parents and all .. so much so i had to tell hubbie i would talk to him when he gets up in the morning cos i was still trying to soak in the atmosphere and talking to the parents.

    I also received a bouquet of bright orange Gerberas from Hubbie with Chupa Chups and a note that got all the teachers laughing and giggling. Don't think i will reveal the note here since it's a lil naughty but heh it is safe to say, the ladies won't see lollipops the same way ever again. *grin* THANK YOU, HUBBIE!

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    This pink rose was complimentary from the florist for Teacher's Day.


    In the afternoon, i greeted the afternoon class the same way i did with my morning class..... yep with my flashing lights mouth. *hehehehehe* I had some really nice cards from the afternoon class. :) Really sweet and thoughful cards... One of the girls was really really upset that she didn't have anything for us nor did she have a card made. While the children were gathering around Suzana after their insistent on opening up the presents in front of them, she was just sitting down there looking really upset and tears running down her cheeks. I gave her a nice big hug and asked her what was wrong and she said quietly "I don't have anything for teachers...". Awwwwwwww.... she felt a whole lot better when i said i really appreciate that she wants to give us a gift but it is the thought that counts. And if she really want to, she could go to the art studio and draw us a picture or make us a card and we wouldn't peek and it still be a surprise for us. Seriously we don't expect the kids to be buying lavish gifts for us and i even mentioned that i would rather they drew and made me a card or letter. She ended up drawing each teacher a full size painting that she was really happy with. 

    Jupiter 2008
    Jupiter children with their gifts to me.


    At the end of the day when all the kids had left and i was cleaning up the classroom, i heard a voice call out from the main door.... "Teacher Ee Wei!" ... I turned and saw Mock Zhen Yuan... one of the little boys from my first class of kids from 2006. He transferred to another kindergarten a couple of blocks away in 2007 and since then he has never failed to drop by just to say hi and give us a hug at least twice a month. Today he dropped by just to give me, Zalila and Liza... three teachers who have taught him over the years... a felt rose with a pen attached to it. I only taught him for 6 months and i never expected him to drop by this often for the last 2 years or so just to say hi. His grandma has told us that he has always pestered her about coming to visit and all. It is really touching to have a child remember you even when he has left the school after so long.

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    Mock Zhen Yuan... such a sweet kid!

    I cannot say how thankful i am to be in this career...i really feel good about myself to have found my calling. I've said this in the first 3 months of being a kindergarten teacher and i will say it again ... This is one of the most rewarding, fulfilling and loving job i have ever been in.

    To all the children that i have taught and currently teaching... thank you for giving me your unconditional love. I will miss you all when i leave Singapore next year...

    Teachers Day 2008 069
    HAPPY TEACHER'S DAY!

August 27, 2008

  • 2 days before Friday ...

    It has been a long and hectic 2 weeks in school being that these are the last two weeks of the term. Plenty of loose ends to tie, plenty more to complete and return to the kids before the week long school holiday (starting next week). The kids ... unfortunately have not been on their best behaviour... 24 kids per class... coupled with enforcing certain rules set for the kids (especially telling their friends "I don't friend you"... big no no) ... in addition to maintaining some semblance of control and order in the class.... in addition to an endless list of administrative stuff... i almost lost my temper big time on the kids last week. This week is no exception just have to keep telling myself to breathe. Though, i always have my Koko to make me smile. Certain things some of them do or say that just makes me want to smile... makes me all the stress i have melt away in an instance. I DO feel bless... blessed with the unconditional love that these kids can have for me.

    Incident 1 :
    Rough morning, hectic as usual. Afternoon lunch meeting with supervisor. All i wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep ... sleep the week away. I open the door to let the afternoon class in and there was Rui Xian standing there with his arms stretched out to me with a nice homemade red card with a heart in the middle! That took my breath away because he was my kid from nursery last year so i didn't expect him to have me in mind as one of the teachers that he would give a present to. Why? Because next Monday is a big day for teachers and his mom told us that he was just tooooo excited about it and wanted to give the teachers our presents early.

    Incident 2 :
    I have been giving tuition to this boy since last May. I have had to be firm and strict with him right from the start. Simply because he cannot pay attention and gets distracted very easily. He is not as smart as most kids so he needs the added help and push to finish any homework or project. Tonite was a rough nite for him ... was really firm and strict with him compared to before. At the end of the nite as i was turning to pack my bag, he jumped up from the table and presented me with a present ... also an early present for next Monday.Yeah, i felt guilty for having being rough on him all these times.... i've always felt guilty ... but i only wanted to give him my best and hope i have...

    So yeah... it is a rewarding career... it is a fulfilling career... makes you strive to be a better person for the kids. Despite all the stress and the hell that comes our way at times, the kids make it all worth it.

    THANK YOU.