The session at Lorna Wh*ston

It was a little too short. I wish it was longer and we could have discussed with more depth. We did a few simple tests to determine the type person / worker we are. Me? I am soooooo on the h highly emotions side. I might not agree with the whole description, but .... I am definitely disorganised. Yes, Andrea and Millie, thanks, I know you agree. Not that I cannot be organised. But I am naturally disorganised. At least my table looks it. On top of that, I am the type that wears de Bono's white and red hats. I think. That's the way I work. So ... how's that going to help me, and the English department? Well, we have a better understanding of how we work and how we can complement one another to work as a team. And I hope the others also look upon the sessions as a means to discover themselves and how they can work with the rest of the team.

My gorgeous students

Today is a witness to the fact that Sri Aman girls are gorgeous. No I don't have photos yet, waiting for Rianne. But yeah, we saw how the girls all dressed up in their traditional clothes and they looked absolutely ravishing. Those who wore the saree looked elegant and sexy too, if I may say so. Think Sonia. I caught sight of Kalai too and she looked wonderful but she was too shy to parade her saree. Jen Yeen, well, she was just so cute ... ok, she was pretty in her little pink cheongsam. Novia too looked elegant in her grandma's qipao. Those in Kebaya. Yes, really sweet looking and pretty. Those in lengha, like tiny Ain R. She looked extremely attractive and I could almost imagine her running in a park, chased by a Bollywood actor. Let's see ... ah, the shoes. We saw some rather interesting footwear. Who can miss PL's red sandals? Or Iman's VERY HIGH heels? Ah well, how can I not mention a little friend who forgot to bring shoes and ended up wearing baju kurung with school shoes????
Some worthy mentions here : June in the lengha, Atikah in cheong sam, Natashyia in cheong sam, Natasha in kurung moden (if that's what it is called), Amy in her cheongsam top and flair skirt, Aimi in her kebaya, and Trisher in her emmmm what do you call that outfit? A fusion of Chinese and western with that little blouse.
So .... my conclusion is, I have got very gorgeous students, and if your name has not been mentioned, it's not because you're not worthy. I just got lazy ... blame me.

Air Asia cabin staff would go crazy!

I was going to put "Air Asia would cr*sh" but ... nah ... not that bad. So .... what am I talking about? Certainly not about Tony F's airline being lousy. I was talking about how they would react to us Sri Aman teachers on the flight to Bangkok next month.
Well, about 25 teachers will be flying there during the first week of the holiday. Now, some of you already know how crazy some of your teachers are, yours truly included. I wonder if the cabin crew will have a massive headache melayan us on the flight. I mean, 25 of us, you know, though that includes the principal and the admin. BUT it'll be sad to miss some of our dear friends who were supposed to go but cannot make it, namely Putt and TPL. Oh by the way, Putt, I like to spell your nickname here as Putt .... hehe. If with these two along, I think they'll have to separate us all. Or else we will erupt every few seconds. Just watch us when we are having a nice meal in Tony Roma's (like today), I think we got quite a few stares. Ooooh! Pn A is going to so get upset with us .... NOT!!!!!! I think she knows our level of craziness. Teehee!
So yes, we had a really nice lunch at Tony Roma's today. It was delicious, I don't mean just the food. The company was delicious!!!!! We spent about 2 hours or so there. Someone's treat! Then we went for a quick shop ... at Marks & Spencer. And we bought THINGS! Aaaahhh! How nice to reward oneself. In case my hubby is reading this ... em .... I bought practical things. Ahem!
Tomorrow will be the Deeparaya programme for the form 3 students. We'll see how it turns out, how many will be there. I'm sorry if it seems disorganised but ... but what to do? Most of you are not in school. Difficult to plan. And I wasn't around last Friday.
Okay ... I'll see you all tomorrow.

Jon in his Baju Melayu and jeans! LOL!

These were taken by Natasha in her house. Enough said.

Another Raya open house

I just came back from another Open House. Natasha's place is quite far and I almost got lost after making a wrong turn. Nevertheless, I got there safely with Jon. It was a nice time of chat chatting with her and a few of my other students. Jon pretty much busied himself by watching Wall-E on TV and then reading the encyclopaedia. Natasha's grandparents were also there. They look rather young to be grandparents of a 15 yr old granddaughter. It was nice. The place wasn't crowded and we were able to talk. I think I exasperated Sandra and Melissa. Mean old me. Natasha was all gaga over Jon. Hehehe! Jon got a bit self-conscious when he realised we were all staring at him. Maybe I'll bring him to Penang. Easier to manage him. Maybe I'll bring Jon and Jeremy. We'll see. I'm waiting for Natasha to put Jon's photos up in her blog so that I can steal some away. Haha.

Waste of time

The course I attended was a total waste of time? Why? It is certainly not because the the philosophy of the issue was wrong. It was a good thing. But the organisers have not even decided on many things and they made us go for the course. And the people who handled the course were just incompetent. I would rate this as the most useless course I have ever attended. In addition, we are all expected to do LOTS of paper work before the school holiday starts. I don't know. It all sounds just too disorganised.

So what is it that we went for, Putt and I? It has something to do with identifying students who are GIFTED, TALENTED AND INTELLIGENT! There is a survey we are supposed to conduct whereby the teachers will have to rate their students with regards to ELEVEN aspects, from academics to drama to musical and artistic. Tell me, just how is this teacher here going to rate a student on her musical abilities .... tone, timbre, pitch, etc .... when I am NOT a reliable person to do it? How am I to rate the student on her artistic abilities when I know NUTS about art? And so we argued, most of the participants and the speaker and organiser. So, from 11 aspects, it is now down to 4 aspects. And yet the survey will tax every teacher to craziness because we we all have to rate the Form 2 and 3 students we teach. The last count, I teach 59 Form 3 students. I am to rate 59 students?? Crazy or what? And these 59 students will also be rated in part by some of their other teachers. Results of the survey must be in by the holiday. Hello ... we are 3 weeks away from the holidays. Actually we are 1 1/2 weeks away from the holiday if you look at the fact that next week we're in school 2 days and the final week is off for the Form 3 students. Plus MANY teachers will be away for SPM invigilation and PMR marking, and lots of other duties. The teachers who teach Forms 1 and 2 will be busy marking after Deepavali. So ... are we expected to just perform a miracle? Get everything done ASAP and disregard everything else?

That's what irks me to no end. I mean, it is GOOD and FINE that we want to identify students who are gifted, talented and intelligent (GTI). But the people in the ministry have not even done a proper organisation of the entire project. Who is going to do what? Once identified, what next? Who are the people who will handle the GTI students? Are they going to be pulled out of their normal classes for individualised lessons? Or are they going to remain in class but given extra attention? Or maybe they should be placed in a school for the GTIs. The whole thing is ideal and fantastic but the logistics of things is NOT. I can just hear the moans when we get back to school and tell everyone that they have THIS to do in addition to the MANY things they have to complete by year end. Yes, the word CLUSTER is slowly and surely turning into a double-edged sword. It is an honour, but it is also a curse because whatever pilot project will come to us. We will be the people who are guinea pigs. As if we don't already have enough on our plates.

At least if the powers that be have organised things, they know their directions and when we ask questions, we are enlightened. As it is, we are in the dark. We don't see how this whole project is going to work. The implementation of the project will be worse than difficult. I can just see us all being called for a Part 2 and 3 and 4 of the course to help enlighten us.

The people that caused a ruckus at secret recipe, SACC

AH! That's the 7 of us, finally!!!!

Work

It is nearing the end of the school year. And yet work is piling up. Tomorrow Putt and I will have to attend a course starting in the evening and continuing until Saturday afternoon. What's it about? Not too sure but it has something to do with identifying Pelajar Cerdik dan Berbakat. One pertinent question is .... how do you define that? What talents are we talking about? And our sessions tomorrow and Friday will go into late night. We are supposed to stay there, but we just have to come home. We have families to manage afterall.
On another note, I have banked in the money for accommodation in Penang. Now trying to organise things for the bus. I hope we don't end up having to pay more than the RM210 per person you people are paying. Such a heahache with all the work.
Paperwork. Oh that is such a painful word. There will be plenty of paperwork to be done before the holiday comes. Reports and plans for next year, etc.
Working holiday. Such silly phrase. Well, that's what I'll be having during the first week of holiday. We're going to visit some schools in Thailand. Don't know what to expect but .... I plan to shop. And eat. And shop. Get in a massage or two. Haha.
Then 2nd week of holiday, maybe we're finally going to have our Conditioning Camp for our athletes. That's another few days of my holiday gone. So my holiday does not officially start until this camp is over! Do I have anything else to do? Maybe, dunno.
WORK!

Dedicated to a daughter who is trying to do all the right things

Girl, it has been a tough period for you. You have shown each and every one of us how strong you have been, you ARE, as you go through this time of getting ready for your exams, sitting for your exams and also worrying about your mum. I know it hasn't been the best of times, especially with some insensitive remarks made by some people to you. And you have been shouldering the daughter role alone, with your sis away. And you are trying to shield her from all the pain because she is having exams. I'm sorry that you have had to go through most of the things by yourself. Just remember that you have some very caring buddies who are standing by you, and will help you if you ask. And I am also availling myself to you, should you decide my ears are worthy of your rants, and my shoulders worthy of your tired self and tears. And I will continue to pray, for you, for your mum, your family. Do take care, and remember you have people who love you.

Where were your manners?

Today I went to Rimba Ilmu with the Form 3s. It was actually a good experience with En Suhaimi showing us all the places and things. Even if you're not interested in the plants and stuff, you would learn something new. So, it was disappointing when some of YOU grumbled that IT WAS BORING! Yeah, so what if you're not that interested. You signed up to go, so you had jolly well better not complain. Treat it as a learning experience, something that opens your eyes to the world around you. Then after we went on the short hike outdoors, we went back to the exhibition room and some of YOU went and lay down on the floor!!!! Goodness!!!! How unbecoming is that???? Do you go to your friend's house and lie down on the floor of her living room? I am disappointed that you people have shown such a lack of manners. To think that En Suhaimi or his colleagues could have walked into the area and seen you lying down like that .... I shudder. While some of you were lying down, how come the rest if YOU did not bother to tell your friends off. I am soooo annoyed. I am never taking you people anywhere again.

Friends who just enjoy being crazy

Today I rushed home from school and soon rushed to Shah Alam to meet some old friends. These are my coursemates in uni. We were a bunch of crazy people having something to eat at Secret Recipe at the SACC, and most importantly, catching up on news and updating others on our latest news. I think the 7 of us managed to scare other potential customers from the restaurants with our noisy chatters. I have always said that my TESL group is any time louder than any SA girls! I was right. It is always strange to see a group of people, esp at MY age, going crazy and just let go. BUT we had a great time and that was what's most important. I missed our years in uni and the crazy things we used to do. But meeting up once in a while is good for the soul. I had not met Aida and Mariati since graduation. Salmie, I met last year. YWah and Amoy .... well I see them occasionally. Zainal, our beloved class monitor .... well, he was one secure guy being surrounded by 6 women. We used to bully him thooooossseeeee days. But we are all good friends. I hope our plan for a proper reunion will work out.

Raya photos

Ain Z's house on first day of Hari Raya

Tasha Q's open house on 11 Oct. I was surrounded by a bevy of beauties.

Trips

I am so looking forward to my trip with the girls to Penang. I have been calculating and calculating, and planning and all. Tomorrow I am going to bank in money to make reservation for accommodation. That is a big step as this means the trip is ON! I will still accept a few late comers as the trip has been approved. I hope that the trip will be fun for everyone. Although I have made initial plans to go to Kellie's Castle, we might have to scrap that so that we will arrive in Penang at a more suitable time. Other places of interest, well, we'll see as we go. Let's pray the weather will be fine when we're there. I will bring ONE son with me. Cannot handle more than that. Probably that'll be Jeremy. He's the lucky one who tends to get to go on more trips.

The trip to Genting will also be on. I'm trying to fill up the bus with more people. That will spread out the amount spent for the bus. Though it is a day trip, it will be nice to be able to just go and play at the theme parks and go on the rides. NO, I will not be there since I would hve just come back from Penang and will be dead tired, unlike some people.

As for other plans post-PMR, looks like we will still be able to go to the Beryl's Choco Factory. Yummmmmmmy! And we'll try to see if the grooming day programme will work out well. As far as I know, someone will definitely come to talk about grooming and social etiquette. I am still trying to get someone to come for the skincare/beauty/fashion sessions. Any suggestions?

Anger management

Some of us are just plain angry and I wonder .... do we need anger management? Can we be angry and not let it get out of hand?

• Case 1 : X is angry because some people need him to do some work for them but assumed that X would be ready and available at any time. So X was not told of the fact that work was going to be placed on his lap. So when X found out about it, he scolded the people concerned for not telling him in advance, esp since he was willing to help but just wanted to be told in advance.
• Case 2 : Y is angry because he was sick and was not able to do the usual amount of work. So a someone had to fill in for him and he was also reprimanded for not giving notice.

Yes, case 1 and case 2 were related. Sigh!

• Case 3 : K is a prominent person who was angry at being victimised in a certain manner and therefore decided to sue some people for causing so much trouble to her and family.
• Case 4 : C is a group of people and angry with some peole and decide that K has no cause to sue and therefore decide to help the people being sued.

What has become of this world?

• Case 5 : L is angry, at the money-grabbing people who destroy the land, etc. She blogs about it! Echoes of The Dead Crow!

Stuffed

I thank Sushi King for having their RM2 for most of their sushis every half a year or so. That's the time that my buddies and I go and stuff ourselves silly. It was just so satisfying to go and take the plates off the kaiten belt and EAT and EAT and EAT! And of course, the eating sessions were interspered with GOSSIPS! It was an enjoyable time.
While at Sushi King today, we saw that one of the staff members is a former student of ours. I think she almost fainted when she counted the number of plates we managed to gulp down. We all had a good giggle about it. Emmmmm, a few more days .... maybe I'll get to go again one more time. But right now, I am so stuffed I might as well be a bear that goes on hibernation.

Graduation & Restu & Smiles

Last night we had our Malam Graduasi. It was nice to see our girls all set to face the SPM and the rest of the world. All of a sudden they looked very grown up, young ladies who are looking forward to accept the challenges the world will throw at them.
So why was I there? One reason is because I teach Form 5 this year, so it was compulsory. Another reason was the free food. But the most important reason is the graduating students were, once upon a time, MY students. They were once, MY babies, children thrust into my care. They were once needy teenagers who came to me for help. I doubt many of them actually remember that, though it has only been 3-4 years. How does it feel when they do not seem to remember me? Sad, but I guess, I have learned not to expect to be remembered. What I have invested was done freely, not under compulsion. So, yes, though it is a little sad, I am proud of the girls.
And this brings me to the shorter Restu session we had for the Form 3 girls in the morning. For the first time, I had Form 3 students running to me to ask for forgiveness, and my blessings. Why is this a first time experience? Because all the previous Form 3 girls had never felt it was important to approach US AFTERNOON TEACHERS! We, Form 1 and 2 teachers, had never been given due recognition for our roles in the PMR candidates' lives in spite of nurturing them for 2 years. Previously, we used to just look and wonder HOW COME! It was hurtful, though we had never held it against them. This year, maybe because everyone is in the morning session, all the teachers were approached. Definitely a healthier practice. BUT I wonder, WHAT IF WE STILL HAD AFTERNOON SESSION AND WE WERE STILL IN THE AFTERNOON SESSION? Would they still come to us? From past experiences, I honestly do NOT think so.
My train of thought is kinda bringing to me the experience of how many students in the morning session never greeted the afternoon teachers. For 11 years I taught in the afternoon session. Each of those years, I saw many morning students who either a) pretended not to see me, b) looked straight ahead and refused to acknowledge me, or c) stared at me as if I was an alien with horns on my head. Why did this bother me so much? MANY of them were once my students, people I spent time with for a year or two, almost every day. Am I being too sensitive? No. Because I am not the only one who felt this way. Most afternoon session teachers felt it too.
BUT this is not to say that all of the students were like that. There are quite a number who were nice to me, who said hello occasionally, smiled at me. I do not need a trophy to tell me I have done my job. All I need is a sincere smile from those whose lives I have touched. So, do smile a lot more, girls. Not just to me, but to those whom you feel have touched a part of your lives.

Shy

Today I felt a little shy ... actually A LOT shy. I went for another Raya do this evening. I seem to be attending a lot of Raya events this year. But I digress. So I attended this Raya open house, not expecting it to be a BIG open house but that's what it turned out to be. And I digress again. Well, the hostess is another former student of mine, Tasha Q. When I got there with Jeremy, there wer quite a number of others from her batch there. I felt really shy then. All my little babies have all grown into pretty women. On top of that, I couldn't remember half of them, their names, I mean. Some faces were familiar but others were blurry to me. I was dumbstruck and just didn't know what to say. I had enterred unfamiliar territory. Honestly, I didn't know what to say or do. I'm just thankful I had Jeremy to keep me company and to distract me a bit. Tasha was more than gracious, but she was busy attending to her guests. Come to think of it, I doubt I have actually taught Tasha. It was a strange feeling.
So, to my current students, when you see me say 5 years down the line, do not be surprised that your normally very vocal and seemingly strong-minded teacher can be a quiet little mouse.

Not-so-amazing race form 3

Well, it started with the form 1 students, really. I had relief class with 1 H the other day, for 2 periods. So, I decided to make them DO something instead of sit in class and stare at one another. Today, I decided to make the Form 3 girls go through the same thing, slightly same thing. Sib and I actually made our girls run all over the school to look for info. Info such as "the principal's date of birth", "names of previous principals", "who owns what car!", "who is from where". It was hilarious how some of the girls ran all over the school, hounding some teachers and office staff. Thousand apologies to my colleagues. Some girls who were initially lazy actually enjoyed themselves. It got them to get out of their boredom, their stressedout mindset, their inability to think of something other than PMR. At least it got their adrenalin going, and they got active. I hope that they had a good time, and did not mind all the running around.
Tomorrow will be the PMR briefing and arrangement of the hall, and a few other things necessary as pre-PMR administrative business. I know the girls are going to be so anxious after that because it'll be the exam proper next. I hope and I pray that they will remain calm, and keep themselves healthy and strong for the exam.

Sore throat

Yeah, tis that time of the year to have the compulsory sore throat-which-leads-to-lack-of-voice. Somehow it has to happen at least once a year, most likely twice a year. At times like this, it is best to rest my voice, try not to talk much and drink lots of water, etc. BUT the voice is a teacher's tool of the trade. How do we NOT talk? How do we NOT raise our voices? It is simply NOT possible. It takes longer for a teacher to recover and regain her voice than most other people. So, once or twice a year, I'll have to whisper to my students, if I can manage a whisper. Tomorrow I'm handling Mantap Minda for the BIG group. How I am going to handle that, I have NO idea. Maybe I'll play charade! Or just write out instructions, hah! Sigh!

Hiding

Many of you have asked me from whom I am hiding. Or rather, from whom am I hiding this blog. Well, I am not specifically hiding from anyone. This new blog was created out of necessity, not because I am hiding. Afterall, I put the url for this blog plainly and clearly for all my readers to see.
However, I guess I AM trying to hide a bit. I am not keen to be stalked by some unknown people. I worry about people who might try to take what I have written out of context and cause disrepute to my school, my friends, my students, and to myself. I am surprised that some teenagers from another school had been reading my blog and commenting about it in their blogs. Well, maybe just one particular person. The problem is when a teacher from my school asked me if I had a blog because she heard about it from a teacher from the school of the said teenager!
The other group of people I'm trying to hide from are actually people who will read too much into what I write and start judging me, or the people I happen to mention. On top of that, I do not want some people to stalk the people I have linked in my blog. Especially because some of them actually blog using very inappropriate language. So, that's basically whom I'm hiding from. It's not a conscious effort to hide. I'm just throwing off some people.
So, who are those very welcomed here? Almost everyone, actually. I have no problem with most of those who have been coming in.
Well, messing up or not, I have been having quite an adventure in the blogosphere. I'm learning. And some of you have been teaching me. I am extremely grateful, esp to those of you who have given me suggestions and help in blogging. And I have the utmost respect for some of you because you have shown me that I (an old dog, almost) can learn new tricks! Thank you, friends.

Repeat - Shemariah Home

On the 2nd day of Raya, we went to Shemariah Home in KLipis. It's a home for orphans and abandoned children. I had agreed to bake some muffins for them, so I started early in the morning, and baked 5 rounds of muffins (I need a proper, BIG oven!), then after lunch we were on our way with our church friends. The journey there was supposed to take 1 1/2 hours. Turned into a 2 1/2 journey. The road there was jammed!!!! So we had games with the kids, and sort of tea time with them. We had muffins, sandwiches, fried noodles, nasi lemak, chicken curry, lots of buns and some tidbits. It was good to see the children enjoying themselves. And it was good for our kids to see how some children live without the things they take for granted. We finally left at 6pm and it was another long drive, jams and accidents! By 7:45 we were at Senawang and decided to stop for a quick dinner at McD. Then we got home at just before 10pm. VERY tiring indeed. But it was a good day. It was good to be able to serve and give without expecting anything in return. Oh, my friend actually asked the HOME Admin to get the children to do a wish list for Christmas. Maybe we can get each of our kids to fulfil 2 kids' wishes. Which means I have to help 6 kids from the home with their wish lists! Haha! It'll be good.Maybe if my own students don't mind helping out, they can check for things they have which they want to give away, and I can collect them for the HOME. On their list of things they need : toothpaste, toiletries, exercise books, stationery, clothes, and other daily provisions (read : curry powder, dhall, rice, oil, ikan bilis, canned food, etc). I don't know when we'll go again, but we'll try to visit them once more this year, probably December. I'll have pictures up soon.

I messed up my earlier blog. Grrrrr!

So I messed it up. What happened was I tried to change the template, import something and change the HTML stuff. It worked but I lost a few things here and there. So I reverted to the old one, and still lost a few things. And I must have clicked on something wrong because now I have lost the cbox and my links and nuffnang and everything else. Eeeeesh!