Bonus for Government Servants

Dear all...

If you are in the teaching profession, or a ggovernment person, HEAR HEAR! We are having a bonus.. of half a month...muhahahahaha...LV Bag! Here I come!!! Hahahahahah!!!

If you are NOT in the government service, then...oops. Sorry!!! =P

It feels good... This is one of the perks of being the teaching.... even though there are lots of downs in the profession, it is times like these that makes it all worth while... haha

(Pls note: the politically correct answer should be - It is when the students come back to you at the end of the day, and thank you for teaching them, that makes the job all worth while... )

Sigh. Sent my phone for repair. Again. My phone will be out for 2 days, and hence my camera...

bleah.

The SCDF Academy

Two weeks ago, we went to the SCDF Academy at Jalan Bahar for a visit as part of out NIE Induction programme. Seriously, if you were to ask me, I have absolutely no idea why we were there. Until now, I still don't. But it was fun having a look at some of the things that the SCDF had. (Just in case anyone still has no idea what SCDF stands for, it's Singapore Civil Defence Force).

It was quite interesting, and the academy was really quite huge. Cherine, upon arrival, said "Not bad, at least here got cute guys to see..." (sigh.)



Well, after a boring talk in the auditorium, we were separated into groups and walked around the place to see what sort of facilities they had for training the recruits. Firstly, we were brought to this place that looks like a hollywood set, and they had various stuff there, that actually simulate fire in different situations, and also with different chemicals. The recruits will then have to react and put out the fire. It's amazing. And although we were standing hundreds of metres away from the fire, we could feel the heat from the fire. All these fires were controlled through a control tower in the middle. Can you imagine? Fire that can be turned on and off anytime you want..haha...


Then we saw this vehicle, where they could set up a medical station within 7 minutes' time. According to the officer, many of the victims of fires die if they don't get treatment immediately. The use of this vehicle will ensure that the victims will not die, or at least lower the chances of them dying immediately... hmm..interesting.

I have one thought though... You see the tubes hanging down from the top? These things take the atmospheric air, extract the oxygen, and then pure oxygen is transported to the victims. My question is: SInce there is such a technology to convert air into pure oxygen, why don't hospitale use it since it's so much cheaper??? hmm...


The people really simulate victims, and the trained medics will have to "treat" the victims. See how real it looks? It even feels real. Yucks.. Freaky..
Of course, they will show off their famous light weight vehicle. It is small, andwill be able to make its way over to an accident in a much shorter time. These vehicles have all the facilities to control a hge fire, or tame a small fire... It is also cheaper than utilising a huge vehicle... Invented by SCDF, it is the pride and glory of SIngapore... =)


Adene and I... I think she is very pretty...

Kumutha and Adene. (Kums, I think you want this photo yah??)


FInally, the one that impresses me the most.. It is like any SBS Bus you see on the streets but modified. Let me try to describe how it works. It is basically a HAZMAT thingee... When there are hazardous materials involved at the scene, this bus will be able to help..

It's called a PDV (Portable Decontamination Vehicle).. i think. WHat happens is, on the way to the scene, the hydraulic stations at the left and right sides of the bus can automatically set up on it's own, so that when the team arrives at the scene, they will be able to get ready in the shortest time possible. On one side of the bus, it's for the people who are unconscious when sent in. The will be passed through a decontamination"counter", where they will be stripped, and thoroughly cleansed with the liquids. Then, after that, a machine is run through the entire body to make sure that they are no more contamination left on the body. (Apparently checmicals tend to stick on places where there are hair). If there are traces, the poor victim will haveto be stripped naked again. This time of his or her hair. Then the whole process of cleansing will repeat, until the victim is clean. Only then will they be sent to the hospital.

On the other side of the bus is the same process, but this time with the conscious people. They will have to walk through the entire process on their own. Ouch. Painful if they have to shave themselves clean. How sad... I was just telling my friends, if I have to do it to myself, I will rather die. Bleah.
What you see here is the interior of the bus. It can carry 29 +2 saviours....

I don't know about you. But after the whole trip, all I can say is i think our SCDF is ready to protect and help SIngapore when the need arises. I have confidence in them.. =)

Hakka "Abacus"...

Today, the teachers in my school were all out for a retreat at Orchid COuntry Club. The new teachers were not involved because we were too late for the name list...and so, I had a free day today.

Went over to mama's house today, and decided to make our famous Hakka "Abacus", which is in fact yam cake, Hakka style. Started by steaming the yam, and then mashing them up into a paste. Then Tapioca starch was added to make the yam into a dough, which was then kneaded into small round bits which resembled the abacus seeds. In the past, Hakka ate it only during the new year, and also on another occasion...which I forgot which..haha. The rationale of eating it was in the hope of the people who ate it would be able to keep money properly. The abacus symbolizes wealth, and eating the "abacus" would help to secure money, and also be able to make a lot of money... interesting culture yah? Anyway, the most important thing is that it tastes really great.
This is the "abacus" after being boiled, and before adding the minced pork to it... drooling already?? Each and everyone of them are hand made. Seriously, I have tried the same dish in many different places, and none of them are authentic at all.

To know the extent with which it is received in my family, the moment da heard that I was making it today, he immediately said that he was coming over tonight, and that he wants to have it for breakfast tomorrow morning... haha.This is the minced pork, which mama painstakingly taught me how to do, and which I tried on my own for the first time... a lot of effort ok, it's not JUST minced pork...it's all the sweat, and the blood, and what not...haha (not forgetting the saliva when I am asking questions...hee)

Anyway, this was how the finished product looks like. I really, really love it. Every year, I would pester mama to make it during the holidays. I would help with the kneading of the dough and making of the "abacus", but then the major part of frying the minced meat and the other stuff were all done by her. Today, I finally deided to learn how to make it on my own, so that I would be able to make it anytime I wanted to... =)

Extremely funny video

I don't believe how many people have not watched this video yet... almost everyone I showed this to will laugh like mad..haha

SO, for those of you who have not watched this, please do..it will brighten your day..haha (Oh, you have to turn on your speakers so that you can hear what's going on..hee hee)

I hope all the people from NIE are doing well in their respective schools...

and for Juvaira, Joanna, Celina, Hanis, Azlin, Soo Wei, Cherine, Amy, Liyang, Don't forget about the meeting on 13 June!! 9a.m at Harbourfront MRT station..see ya!

The harsh reality...

School has started..officially for us. Before reporting to school, I was hoping that we would only have to report on Monday, and then that's it. However, when we went on Monday, we had to shadow a teacher each, and then follow them just like the school observation in year one and two. Sigh. It was soooo....boring.

Don't get me wrong, it's not the lessons that are boring. However, it's the fact that we have to sit behind the class, not having anything to do that is boring. I would just sit behind, and try my utmost best to stay awake. The kids in this school are quite interesting. They are quite well behaved, from what I see. There has been no serious problems so far, and at least for the class I see, they are very enthusiastic in class for lesson.

It feels weird though. This time, it's for real. This time, we have to stay in the school, for better or for worse. It's just weird...

I hope I have time to continue writing my blog when the teaching really starts... sigh. Even as for now, I am feeling very tired, and don't feel like going for my yoga lesson. However, da da forced me to go for the lesson.. sigh. So....no choice lor... bleah =P

Reminiscing...the old times

Some of the older photos....

Well, it's nearing the last day of school...with all the people around me..and so, we decided that we would have an outing before we were all posted out to the respective schools. On Thursday 18 May 2006, we started the day bright and early in school, with talks, talks and more talks...

However, it was damn...boring, and we decided that after 10, we would just skip the rest of the talks...sheesh..

Discovered this nice place called "Cafe by the quad" at NTU. Regretted not finding out about it earlier. It's a very nice place. Actually, it's more like a food court, but with an ambience... =) They are having brunch because they were hungry...

After brunch, we moved into the Student Activity centre, and sat there while waiting for some of the others to finish the talks, and also to go over to the Lecture Theatre for the free lunch. Hey, It's rude to reject lunch, especially when the people have taken the effort to provide it for us.. haha... These are pictures taken in the SAC..

Cherine and Azlin.. A bit dark though..

Hanis and I...

Here we are, back at the Lecture theatre for the free lunch... Linnie "high" after lunch, and Jasmine laughing at the silli-ness behind....

From left, Cherine, Jasmine, Azlin, Amy and Hanis... Pretty yah?

Here are all of us on the ground having lunch. It feels good...And it's a nice feeling of familiarity with people whom you trust... and love you..

Aiyah, no guesses who made them pose like this again...

The decent one.. haha

Yay! AFter the whole thing, some of us took Liyang's car to Prinsep street, while the other 4 of us (Soo Wei, Jvaira, Joanna and I) took a cab down to meet them... We had dinner at Rex's Chicken rice, and then went ahead for more fun. According to Amy, this was our own "Dinner and Dance", and it was definitely more fun than THE D&D... haha..

Standing: From left, Joanna, Soo Wei, Juvaira, Amy, Me, Hanis.

Seated, from left, Celina, Liyang, Cherine and Azlin.

After dinner, we went over to Rochor Tau Huay for dessert. Although very soft, it was a bit too soft for me...didn't really like it... =)

All of us were trying to stare at the stone in the middle, blocking our tables, hoping that it would grant us three wishes.. haha

Ok. It was around 7 after dinner and the tau huay. Proceeded over to Mind Cafe for boardgames. It was a very interesting concept. Basically, people paid for the drinks in the cafe, and you can play all sorts of weird board games, from all over the world. It was really cool! The drinks were about $4 on average, and the games would cost $2 per person per hour, except on Tuesdays where it was Ladies' night, where the girls could play for free, and only pay for the drinks.

The games that they offered there was really fun, especially for big groups of friends. We started by playing the game called "Guesstures", where we split up into two groups, and each group would send representatives to gesture to the other members to guess the words on the card.

Look at Juvaira, animatedly trying to gesture the words. See the thingee in front of her? It's a timer, and each card would drop down when the time is up. The objective of the game is to guess as many words as possible in the time limit. If the words dropped down, the score is lost for that particular word..

This game is called "Right hand". Basically, you play in pairs, and one of you would be the right hand, and the other, the left hand. WHen a card is opened, (See the card held in soo wei's hand?) you are supposed to form the patter as shown, like what we were doing. If the picture shows an impossible action, then the players must signify that it's an "impossible" action. The slowest pairs will lose the game. The reason why our picture is here? we won, of course...

Aiyah,, lazy to explain already... If you wanna play these games, go to the cafe and see for yourself. Take the MRT and alight at Dhoby Ghaut, and walk over to Paradiz Centre. Prinsep Street is opposite Paradiz Centre. (IF you do not know where Paradiz Centre is, ask anyone who buys 4D, and they will be more than glad to tell you where it is... haha)

P.S: To all of you, good luck in your schools, and hope all of you will feel very happy in your schools... don't forget the appointment on 13 June, 9 am at HarbourFront MRT station!! =)

Love all of ya!

Photo frenzy... in NIE

This morning, I met soo wei, Cherine and Celina for breakfast...all my dearies from NIE. As the day draws nearer to the day we have to leave here, and out into the real world, I just feel sad...=(

Anyway, here's the photos that we took after breakfast. The induction programme started at 1330 today, and we deliberately met early just for breakfast, and coffee at our Library cafe which has been my source of sustenance since year 2... I am so gonna miss the coffee... sigh.

Anyway, below are all the photos that the 4 of us took while in school. We went cuckoo and took many photos all over the place. haha..

From bottom, Celina, Soo Wei, and Cherine..

Ain't it pretty???The view from the bottom of the NIE hill. Up there, that curved building, is our beautiful library. Somehow it has never looked as pretty. This was taken while waiting for Soo Wei to arrive at the bus stop..

oooh...

Three of us...trying the Bollywood... =)

Pretty girls...

Err..need I say more? This was taken by Soo Wei in the toilet..Behind is the sanitary pad dispensing machine..haha. Just in case anyone didn't know... there IS such a commodity in the ladies...haha.. although they dispense the pads that were damn thick, like a pamper. But i guess that if you need it, you need it. Beggars can't be choosers.. haha..

Ok. Soo Wei was the minds behind this photo. If you look carefully, she actually tried to superimpose our hands to look as though we were lifting up the bar...Hmm. Only she is capable of thinking up something like that..sigh..

Bollywood again, this time with Soo Wei being the tree...

Err...I have no idea why, but you can guess who suggested this pose for the photo..

Yah. See the one in turquoise? That's the one...

Here's the cafe that I was talking about. They serve good cofffee most of the time (because it depends on who makes the coffee..). That's Soo Wei advertising for the cookies that they have at the cafe..

My favourite drink: Flat White. Without sugar, none less. Look how pretty this cup was done? It's frothy, and very thick, in just the right mix of expresso and milk.. hmm..only $1.80

Celina and I. Look how cozy the place is?? These sofas are always snapped up very early, because they are very good for group discussions, or just to chat. It's nice...

See how happy I am? This is a photo of "before teaching". Maybe I should post another picture one year into teaching, and see how much older it makes me...haha.

The lamp in the lounge. The ambience is really good...when you are not thinking about assignments, that is.. haha

After this, we left to NTU for the induction programme for the day. Although most of the people were there at the start of the programme, after the break almost half the people were gone... sigh. I guess it can tell you how freaking boring it was. Don't need me to tell you..Just look at the photos I took stealthily with the camera at the side of my phone.. haha.

Look at Linnie stoning.. it was really really boring. Trust me..

Amy.. falling asleep. After 4 years of good training in NIE, we have adapted and developed different ways and methods to sleep in class without looking the part.. haha..

The programme ended late again, as usual.