i can't really put down in words what i've been feeling for these 2 wks.. coz its a new experience everyday.. so just some random thoughts.. many times these people make me recall wad it was like for me in pri sch..
p1 and 2s dunno the difference between 'miss' and 'mrs', 'li' and 'lee'.. after a while i didnt bother to correct them anymore.. just that it was quite embarrassing having teachers look at me with some weird looks when students shout 'mrs li' when they see me in the corridors.. haha.. but they are cute kids man.. sometimes the smile on their faces is all u want to see after a long day..
p4 gep classes have ss pw to do and they are supposed to submit a proposal.. hmm did i know of smth called a proposal in p4.. hmmm
p6s can do their own work.. or maybe coz i took the gep class.. well i dunno..
p3 classes im taking now.. and for the coming 2 wks.. one word: noisy. p1 and 2s are noisy too, but they are just playful.. p3s start to get rebellious.. its difficult not to flare up sometimes coz they dun listen to u.. haha.. and i've only taken them for one day.. good luck to me.. but i try not to be too harsh, coz i know they'll never like me that way.. but at least i get encouragement and advice from colleagues.. which is really really nice:) another problem: their classroom is so far away.. coz they're at the hilltop.. how can i get to next class and bring them to the com lab on time? hmmm i need to find a way..
should i be a teacher in future? im starting to have doubts.. but from wad i see.. though we complain alot, we mark alot at the same time.. we still have the interest of the kids at heart i guess:)
see how see how..
It's something Mystical
Thursday, February 09, 2006
withers away @ 12:12 am
ok this is going to be super long.. be prepared.. i know its long overdue but.. i've been busy.. haha.. watching tv and studying for ftt.. hehe.. i wonder if i can finish mugging man.. im teaching yet studying.. hmmm.. haha..
26012006 1.12pm
we just came out of the hotel on the way to lunch.. its a bumpy road.. coz its the more rural areas.. (im having some difficulty making out my handwriting now.. so imagine how bumpy the road is...) reminds me of grandma's house..
traffic conditions here are terrible.. not that there are jams.. but ppl here dun abide by traffic rules.. haha.. its like.. suddenly i can see our tour bus in the middle of oncoming traffic.. i hope we stay alive.. haha..
anyway its really serene and quiet here.. reminds me of grandma's place again.. with cold weather of 10+ deg.. oh well.. heard its 20deg here ytd but dunno why temp suddenly dropped.. hopei t doesnt drop beyond this..
4.10pm
there's this really cute little boy in our tour grp.. he just smelt his own bloster and said "chou chou".. so cute! has big eyes too.. vv cute.. he's the new pet of our whole grp man..
the tour guid xiao yang just said smth.. i rmbr the english equivalent.. a joy shared is a joy doubled.. a burden shared is a burden halved..
oh and we saw this grp of old man sitting around in a semicircle on the grass just now.. they were taking a rest from carrying buckets of water.. one of them was smoking using a pretty think bamboo pipe.. found it pretty interesting.. someone even took a picture with him.. haha..
27012006 7.42pm
resting in the hotel now.. just went sight seeing around today.. really nice natural beauty here.. love this hotel man.. ytd's hotel room was terrible.. it was so cold! coz the heater was of no use at all.. and the temp's outside was like.. less than 10deg? but we have pretty nice weather here now coz there's sunshine! well we're going to the night mkt here later..
oh no.. there's some prob with our tv.. that's bad.. i always survive on tv at night in the hotel before i sleep.. like last night.. we reached the hotel so damn early i was watching tv the whole night and switching channels everywhere.. hoho..
oh dad called room service and they got it fixed.. yeah!..
11.35pm
alone in the hotel room now since parents went for foot massage (they always do) and im not interested in it at all.. haha..
so now im watching a match between federer and kiefer.. its my first time watching a tennis match.. i'll never stay on this channel if not for my curiosity of federer.. i dunno much abt tennis but at least im really enjoying the match.. its really cool man..
28012006 12.27pm
xy is so nice! haha guess he's one of the best tour guides i've seen so far.. he's bought us quite a lot of snacks and stuff along the way.. its nothing ex (well wad's ex here anyway..) but i guess its the thought that counts.. its chu xi today.. bet he misses home.. he made us do self-intro just now and he told us more abt his family too.. his mum just passed away last yr.. away from home and away from mum during cny.. i wonder how much he's concealing behind that smile..
just now mum gave him a hongbao.. saw the family sitting in front of us stuffing like 100 sgd into his hands.. that's nearly 500rmb lah.. oh well..
10.20pm
alone in hotel room again.. its a v nice night.. in v beautiful dali.. in a 5-star hotel.. with a rose each compliments from the hotel.. watching the cctv cny show now.. its really quite nice..
just now dinner was great.. haha of coz it has to be.. i think its the one of the best nian ye fan i've ever eaten.. each person got a bottle of red wine free.. tastes pretty ok to me..
just now was absolutely cool.. we played with fireworks! haha.. xy and a few others contributed money to buy a big box.. yeah it comes in boxes.. those big ones like that of countdown or ndp.. well it was real cool.. i didnt think it'll look that nice till i saw it right in front of my eyes.. but its not exactly cheap too.. abt 100 sgd.. we kept playing with diff sorts of fireworks, big and small, and firecrackers.. i played with some too haha.. den there was this box with defects.. instead of shooting up and exploding in the sky, it exploded on the ground. everyone was scrambling backwards.. after that all of us kept shouting to ask them to replace one box for us foc if not we'll all check out of the hotel haha (firewords are sold by the hotel and lit just outside in the hotel carpark.. yeah there were still a few cars driving in at that time haha) it was real fun coz we were all playing and laughing tgt..
i wonder how is everyone back at home.. happy cny!
29012006 11.45am
its the first day of cny today.. haha.. now i guess we're all trying to get used to the toilets here.. toilets here basically a tiled drain (that's if u are lucky.. there are those with just cement flooring) with walls.. no doors.. oh well.. haha.. just.. keep up with the smell..
saw jay on a tv ad and heard fa ru xue from a store on the streets just now.. i miss music and jay!
there are some taiwanese people in our tour grp.. they are really unafraid to express their views, even if they may make another person unhappy.. hmm.. finally really see how a taiwanese culture is like..
30012006 9.25am
love the villa we're living in for these 2 nights in lijiang man.. though its damn cold here.. i never needed to wear gloves for this trip till here in lijiang..
the villa here consists of many buildings.. each building has 3 foors but only 4 rooms.. coz the last night we went to the gucheng (ie ancient city) to look around.. v beautiful.. imagine weeping willows and a small stream in front of every house.. so nice.. and there are fireworks and firecrackers everywhere we go.. by the roadside, in front of houses, alleys, carparks, everywhere.. once smth exploded at xy's feet while we were walking and we didnt even know wad it was or where it came from.. haha
1st floor has a hall with a dining area, com area, and a kitchen! sounds like a bungalow sia.. oh yeah that's why i could blog this morning.. for free! 2 rooms on each of the upper floors.. the room is too small to put in an extra bed for me, so i got a new roommate for these 2 days! she's 50+ yrs old already.. but seriously the only thing i do there is to sleep.. haha..
this morning was superb.. coz our guan jia (who is quite like our maid actually haha) is vv nice! well every "bungalow" of the villa has a guan jia who lives with us and will settle everything for us.. breakfast is made by her.. the clearing up of rooms too.. breakfast was good and hot.. coz its straight from the kitchen! haha.. so cool.. and we have a glass of warm milk at night.. love this place lah..
31012006 8.25am
we're leaving the villa liao.. im going to miss it man.. its so beautiful! and our guan jia is so nice and sweet.. dad gave her tips too.. he seldom does that.. haha.. the only thing is that its just too cold here.. it might v well be around 0 deg.. super cold.. 2 more days and i'll be back in sg in the middle of the night, sleep for a few hrs and hopefully be prepared to face the challenges on the first day of work.. haha
5.50pm
it'll be the last night we're spending in china.. oh well we didnt do much today really.. spent most of our time on the bus travelling and sleeping..
dun think there's much to do tonight.. nvm i'll survive on tv again! so many channels to choose from.. spoilt for choice.. we dun have enough choices in sg... ><
01022006 9.10pm
oh well its an eventful night really.. we nearly couldnt get to the airport or go back to sg on time (which was wad i was worried abt right from the beginning, that i'll be late on the first day of work). poor xy.. i still feel quite sorry for him..
on our 2nd last tourist attraction, we were all waiting outside the bus for a long time coz the driver refused to open the door.. well he's actually a replacement for our previous bus driver coz that bus had a defect in its brakes (and we were on that v bus the previous day.. thank God it didnt spoil while we were on the roads). he wants to get his pay first before he'll drive us.. coz he's not from the tour agency company or anything.. he got cheated of his pay before so he's being ultra careful this time..
in the end it got settled by xy calling his company and asking some guy to bring the pay down here to kunming for him.. so that was how we got to our last destination, a night mkt, while the driver waited for his pay..
an hr later, we all gathered on the bus but the driver still hasnt got his pay.. so he simply refused to drive.. xy was pretty flustered by then and kept calling the company, and guess wad, the line's engaged.. in the end xy and our own tour guide from sg had to give him part of his pay from their own pockets first before he drove us to the airport.. xy was apologizing profusely on the bus and even looked like he was going to cry.. pretty pathetic i thought.. he's shy but nice and responsible.. bought us loads of snacks, drinks, even a bouquet of forget-me-nots for each family today.. we were super busy trying to finish all the food.. all of us felt sorry for him man.. coz its not his fault and yet he sorta took all the blame.. well our tours guides have to take the blame for wadeva that goes wrong i guess..
that wasn't it.. the driver refused to let us take our luggage out of the bus till the person from the company - finally - came with his pay.. it was quite a mess at the airport coz we were all afraid that we'll be late.. but still we made it.. we were still thanking xy alot and he was still apologizing alot.. he's nice.. but his company's not too good i guess.. maybe he should change company haha..
10.25pm
on the way back to sg.. feeling nostalgic as usual, after a trip.. but i guess this time a bit more.. due to all the drama just now.. plus the fact that its first day of work tml and i gotta wake up at 5+ doesnt really help.. and i'll only reach home at 2+ or 3.. haha.. just hope i dun fall asleep on the first day of work.. i prob wun even have the chance haha..
It's something Mystical
Thursday, February 02, 2006
withers away @ 10:42 pm
im back im back! haha.. will blog abt my trip later (as usual).. coz i really wanna talk abt today man.. my 1st day at work! haha.. it was.. eventful.. haha.. i was lost, i got into all sorts of situations.. but on the whole it was ok.. haha.. thanks to all the people there.. even the p was nice to me:) obviously i was pretty lost in the morning, but at least there was someone to guide me around and show me places and tell me some essential stuff.. everything in the morning seemed so familiar.. xiu mei da li tang (coz they dun haf an audi, they only haf a hall), same ny sch song, same motto, chinese pledge, chinese converstation with the p and teachers.. guess wad.. i think i saw my student doing the nan zhong quan in class.. it looked the same at least.. rmbr that horrible mass dance we had to do in front of tch.. oh gosh.. the strange yet familiar env just made me feel.. strange.. haha..
class was terrible esp at the start.. i was taking over a teacher on mc.. i didnt know wad to do, wad to expect, or where the teacher previously ended.. i didnt even know which classroom or rather, where the classroom is! the furthest i went to on the day of the interview was the general office.. luckily the class's chinese teacher was kind enough to lead me for a while.. to teach me how to use the visualiser.. i looked like a complete idiot in front of the class for abt 10 min haha..
of coz the class was noisy, rowdy, with a fair share of boys who can never settle down, girls who get bullied blah blah. after an hr my throat hurt. the best thing was, i left my bottle in the staff room. and i only have abt 1 and 1/2 hours of break all the way from 7.45 to 1.30 or rather abt 2. without water and shouting all the time except for that 1 and 1/2h.. but after that was pretty slack..
things i dread.. students getting injured.. blueblack and all.. i was so apologetic towards benjamin.. he was so sweet! though playful.. he actually drew a drawing for me at the start of the lesson, saying its to welcome me to nyps, coz i said im new here.. i hope his parents dun come after me saying i didnt take care of his safety in class.. though i admit im partly responsible.. haiz.. i cant take care of a bunch of 20+ rowdy boys at one go.. but at least i did teach them a lesson (i hope).. coz they all sorta quietened down and not play so much anymore for the rest of the period..
another girl folded me a paper boat. sweet right.. the girls were so sweet.. they were actually making get well soon cards for their teacher who is on mc.. complete with envelop all made and drawn and written by themselves..
hanging around by yourself in a unfamiliar env is tough.. for one i couldnt even find the toilet.. so the first time i went to the toilet i used the girls toilet coz i couldnt find the staff one >< i dunno where the canteen is, so i just followed the kids when they went for recess.. i dunno where the libary is, so my class had to lead the way for me, not mentioning them screaming and stomping for attention along the way, till there were teachers popping their heads out of classes.. i was so malu.. oh yes.. till now, i still couldnt find the water cooler.. i need to ask sheena or huiru tml.. (yes bao surprised? sheena's a relief teacher here too!) erm the huiru is not the one we know.. oh and i found out, through random exploring by myself, that the dance studio is also called mei yun wu dao shi.. haha..
well at least i met more people, talked to more teachers and other supporting staff, though i dunno their names but i recognize them.. but its nice to hear them make an effort to rmbr and call me by my name.. i should try to make that effort too.. just that i've never been good with names.. oops.. haha
let's hope tml will be a better day:)
and may God bless mrs che..