PSLE Marking Exercise 2006

It was the PSLE marking exercise on the 16th to 19th October. Everyone was sent to different schools, and we all had duties. We were either the markers or therecorders. Generally, all beginning teachers would be recorders, because we have not gained enough experience to be able to mark the scripts. And so began my adventure. I was sent to Yuhua Primary, and I was doing recording or marks. It sounded like a boring job.. I know...But boy was I in for a big surprise. This was my first year there, and I imagined the worst of it.

On the first day, all of us who were allocated into the room was quite shy around each other. There was minimal talking. Most of them were from the same schools, while I was the only Clementi Primary teacher there. I was really feeling a littel left out. However, after lunch, when everyone's tummy were filled, we came back and all started to get a little crazy. We started breaking the ice, and by the end of the first day, we were all crazy and laughing like nothing about silly jokes. I guess it does make life a little easier, and working and recording less of a chore.

On the second day, our group was even so crazy that we joked that what we were doing lookled like we were working for a factory production line. By the end of the second day, we agreed that on the third day, we would colour co-ordinate all our clothes to make ourself look like factory workers...And so it was agreed that we would wear red on the third day. Even our Assistant Supervising Recorder )ASR Mr. Sundaram joined in the craziness.. haha. Here's our "factory photo" taken on the third day. =P


Well, we had so much fun together that the days seemed to pass extra quickly. It also seemed to speed up "production", because our group was working the fastest among all the recordeing rooms in the school. There were 4. Our group cleared all our work, and we even had to help other groups clear theirs so that we could leave earlier on the last day. We decided that on the last day, the colour code was either green or yellow. Haha. Can you imagine a large group of teachers doing such silly things... hmm... Here's our class photo taken on the last da. See... I was not kidding you. Even our ASR played with us...

The two pretty mummies. Their babies would be due around the same date. We were even joking that they could arrange marriage for their kids. One was a boy and the other was a girl.. haha. How coincidental. The very very pretty lady on the right in green is Tricilia. From Jurong Primary. She is really a very very nice person. WHen I was serving my Practicum there, I would really admire her from afar. She has flawless skin, and is already a mother of two. And she looks so pretty even during her pregnancy. Wow.

Here's Dina. Remember her? We had practicum together. She was also in the same group as I, and still looking as glam as ever... =)

*Sigh*. The 4 days passed so quickly... WIth great friends to work with, it really makes a job look easy... =) I really hope and pray that I would be able to work with them again next year... haha.

Happy 7th Anniversary...

Yup. That's how long we've been together.. Sometimes, when we both look, back, we would wow in wonderment, how two people who could not be more different could get together, much less stay together for so long. Hmm...

Anyway, yesterday was the 21st October, the day which Da and I got together "officially", 7 years ago. IT was also the day after Mama's birthday, and we have promised her to go for lunch with her already. We ended up at Dawson place, where we had delicious Dim Sum, with Mama, Kelvin, Shuxian, da and I. (Sorry, no pictures because we were too busy fighting for the food...)

After that, the lunch ended like 3, and we really didn't know what to do. Da and I had not even gotten down to celebrating our anniversary. In the end, we drove the car back to dad's place. This was about 4. It was really getting unnerving for me, because da was unusually quiet, and into one of his irritating moods again. (you know how guys will always just keep damn freaking quiet when they are trying to get a message across to you? ANd hopefully by some means or another, you would know what they were actually trying to say?) This was one of those days. He was just keeping quiet, trying hard to pretend that everything was normal, and that everything was going well for him. I asked him what was bothering him, guess what he said. "anywhere you all want to go lor". (Ok. By this time, mama had gone home, and it was only the 4 of us left).

It was around 6 when we finally decided to leave for home, and maybe resign myself to fate that I would not be celebrating our anniversary afterall. Along the way, I called Mama, and she said that Vivy was home, and asked if I wanted to see her. Of Course! And so, we went to mama's place by bus.

It was there that I really started to flare up. It was simply irritating. I would ask da what was wrong, and he would say "nothing" to everything. I know what all of you must be thinking now... "I thought only girls would do that what...not meaning what they said". Well, apparently not in my case...)

Then he finally told me. He said that it was getting to him, that we were not able to celebrate our anniversary, because we were not alone. I told him that I knew, but there was nothing that I could do. That didn't help, because we were still both in the worst of moods. Then I lay down on Jo's bed for a rest. In case any of you were not aware, being angry is a very tiring thing to do.

IT was then that Mama came into the room, and asked me what happened. I told her what da has just said, and told her that I really wanted to go out with da, and that we really want to go somewhere nice for dinner, but if we brought Kel and Shuxian along, it would be too expensive for us. (Seriously, it was not that we didn't want them along...) However, I found it really hard to explain to them... Then mama said "never mnd one lah. YOu never tell me that it was your anniversary. Don't worry. You all go. I will ask the two of them (Kel and Shuxian) to follow me, stay at my house. YOu all go for a good dinner".

I was seriously touched.

Then came my turn to flare up, because I had to resolve the stupid issue, while da was just outside simmering in his own anger, showing his fucking irritating face while I took the action of telling mama and asking her for help. I flared up at him, screamed at him, cried and everything on our way to town. He was angry at first, but then in the end he apologized... (I don't know whether it's just to stop the quarrel, or if he really meant it. Whatever way, it was not my fault).

ANyway, by the time we got to town, everything was more or less civilized between us, but I would not say I have totally cooled down. In the end, when Da brought me to Jack's Place for dinner, that was when both of us really settled down and felt much better.

On Thursday, Ning, Yen Ru and I went hunting for a gift for da for our anniversary. I contemplated getting a PSP (Play Station Portable) for him, but the total "package" added up to about $500, and I really couldn't afford it. In the end, he had to settle for a Creative Zen Neeon 2 MP3 player, which had 2GB of space. It also cost me close to $300 to get it...I also made him a little gift for him to place in his offce table...It had both our names... Truth be told, Da didn't get me anything. Not even a card. I was really quite pissed off already. (Evn though it was agreed that we would not get each other anything because we wanted to save up the money for our year end trip to Bangkok.).. Then, when we were waiting for our food to arrive, da made up the silly excuse of going to the toilet (as if I didn't know what he was trying to do), and then went outside to the Heeren to get me this Tigger speaker... haha.

That was how we spent our 7th anniversary. What do I think? I think it's alright... at least it ended well... =) Seriously, I was a little bit... teeny weeny bit disappointed... =(

Vivy updates...

It's been a while since I updated you people on Vivy. My darling.... =)

She never fails to bring a smile to my face when I think about her... She is simply adorable, and has a way of making people's hearts melt...

This was taken last week when I went to mama's house for dinner. She is really a picture diva..and always knows how to let people capture her best angle.. haha

This picture shows her carrying her "shopping bag"...It's easy to make her smile. All I have to do is to ask her if she wants to see the photos in my phone. She will say yes, and I will just tell her to smile nice nice, then after we take the photo we can see.. hee.

Recently, she is in this "tie hair" frenzy. Apparently, she would just go up to her mama, and say "mama, can tie hair for Vivy?" This is her. These photos were taken by Kelvin... She looks so cute...

This was yesterday, and see how sweetly she smiled for the camera?? die die, this girl will grow up to be very "hiao"... (that means vain)...

"oooh... see the pretty cloud up in the sky???" (dreamy)

Pretty...

Innovationation and Vivo away!!

Today, I hd my observation by my RO (Reporting officer) and the VP. It was the developmental supervision thingee....I really freak out when there is an observation. My mentor has been a really really great help to me. She helped me to get a very very impressive lesson for them... I did station games with the class (first time they tried doing station games. I was apprehensive).. haha.

Prior to the observation, I told the kids that the VP and the HOD were going to be in class to see how I handle them. If I proved that I was not able to handle them, I will have to leave the class. They were really good during the lesson, but then when they got down to playing the games, I guess they were really excited, and the noise level was way beyond high for me. I couldn;t take it. After the VP left, I told them that if they came back to school this Friday and saw a new teacher, they would know what happened. I must say that it felt really good when the kids looked forlorn. I even had an SMS from one of the mothers, asking why I was leaving the class again. =)

Anyway, after the observation, I was in a considerably lighter and better mood. After school, I simply didn't want to stay in school. Yen Ru, myself and Ning, we decided to leave school immediately... haha. In the end, we left school at 2 on the dot. I drove, and we went to Innovationation, the exhibition for the development of technology in SIngapore. It was really interesting.

While waiting for our turn to enter the place, we started taking photos... haha. It was so interesting, when we got in, they gave us this tap card, somthing like an EZ link card which were used to answer questions and get stuff free..
When we first went in, they got us to tap the card on the wall, and then we saw our personalised greeting... see the one that said Hello Patricia? haha

Yen Ru and Ning.

Ning the Bimbo... haha. That's what she calls herself.

At the end of the exhibit, there were booths there to let us leave our mark. We could take photos, and it would appear on this huge collage on the wall. That's our photo.. haha

Leaving the place..

After that, we drove all the way to... the new VIVOCITY!!! Oh my god! I don't believe how great it looked... I guess the moment you step into the mall, you would think that it looked exactly like how a mall would look like in America. Even though I have not been there.. I watched enough movies. It's just quite different from how the shopping centres look like in SIngapore. It's very huge......We shopped from 4 to about 10, and we still have not fully covered the place. They have a wide range of shops there, and not all were opened that day. The whole idea of going there in the first place was because Yen Ru and Ning wanted o go to GAP, the first concept store in SIngapore. After the great expectations, they concluded that it was still way more expensive than those in USA.


Here's the entrance of Vivo.

Ning and I

After shopping, we decided to take a break. FOllowed the signs that said "food court", and I don't know how we ended up here. This is the top floor of the shopping centre. The view was spectacular. As usual, took more photos. See the view? Sentosa is just there..

Pretty babes.

I even found the perfect clothes for my cousin's wedding in November. The corset top was chosen by Ning and Yen Ru. Is it nice??

Children's Day Class party...

Ok. I know this is a little late. But as I always tell my kids, Better late than never. Haha...

29th September. Had a class party..in class. Duh! =P

Here are some brilliant photos...

Looking at them, I really think I am going to miss them at the end of this year, after I leave them for another class... boo hoo...

This is Malik. His mother is a Chinese national, and father is from some exotic place..forgot where already... He has a twin in another class, and they look exactly the same.. sheesh.. can't tell them apart....

ENjoying their food in class...

them as well..See the boy in white? His twin sister is in my class...in the next picture.

From left: Amanda, Cheryl and Cheryl. Amanda is Nicholas's twin sister. Do they look alike?

From left: Keith Ng, the extra extra good boy.. Smart and nice. And sweet and all... The other one in green is the infamous Keefe Tok. He is really sweet and all.,.provided things go his way, and he gets things the way he wants to. Can get real bossy.. and nasty...and mean. But already mush nicer than when I first met him.

My Burmese girl. She is really sweet. Very smart too, but can be quite careless. She has a very "oriental" look, yah?

That's Keefe. An angel, really.

Benjamin and Gaven. The boys in this class is really quite creative and smart. As mentioned before, they are the smarter gender in my class. Sad to say.

There was a children's day concert put up for them... I am the angel.. haha

The Cabaret dancers...Yen Ru and Nancy (English HOD). They are really angels...very very helpful to me, and if not for these wonderful people, I would have probably died in school already.

Really love this quote. Must share!

Well, for those of you who have not watched Akeelah and the Bee, it's such a waste. I watched it twice, and I still think it's an amazing show. Great acting..inspiring. Brought my kids to watch it on Monday, and even they thoroughly enjoyed it. WHat's the most inspiring is the quote that comes up twice throughout the show. It is so meaningful, and I really love it. Felt I had to share with all of you...

Our deepest fear

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that
other peopls won't feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It is not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let out own light shine, we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberated others.

Beautiful, ain't it?