Merry Christmas

I went out with Ivy today in an attempt to shop for christmas presents... its super crowded at vivocity and i wonder why is everyone so free on monday afternoon? haha in the end, i managed to get my fst exchange present ready and Ivy bought 3 bags of goodies for the children at hypermart... and its very torturing actually to buy presents for exchange when you dunno who is the receiver... but then, even if you know who to give, you might not know wat to get too... i am so troubled over the presents tt i decided to make it simpler and not give unless we are meeting for present exchanges... =p

my 2 year old children are so cute... haha they tried to sing christmas carols during class last sunday... even though its bits and pieces here and there, i really had a great time with them... its fun to see them grow! after one year, they can speak so well... i am so glad tt they are not blabbering so much now... haha

wondering how i am going to celebrate my christmas? haha though i can pretty much predict how issit gonna be like... but still, maybe its different this time... anyway more importantly is i have the chance to spend whole day with him! (i hope so) =) still feel happy and satisfied by just staying beside each other to spend the day... its ok to be boring bcuz there are still so many days to come... v(^^)v

JLPT level 1

so rare to wake up on a sunday and not having to go work... i quickly resumed to my studying area and was busy reading up the last few sets of grammar notes which i haven finished... :s after that, i went bugis slightly earlier to meet minhui and pauline for lunch at ajisen... den i discovered tt oh no! my da yi ma just came?!?!?! wat a timing to come? i was mentally prepared to be aching from the cramps during the exam... =(

1. Vocabulary - wat can i say? for certain sections, i was quite confident in doing... i know the words well and for those tt i was guessing their pronounciation, i was certain tt my answer could possibly be the right one... for the ultimate section of picking words that have the same kanji in different context, its a total flop... as usual, i could not recall the words which i tink must be words tt i nvr use or seen before? i just hope i can get over 70 marks if possible...

2. Listening - its a total mess! hahaha i did the past yr paper 2004 and i did pretty well... the reason being some of the questions were used in my japanese class... but this year's listening is really a killer... questions with pictures - the speaker was so fast i hardly catch anything?!?! esp the news reporting... sounds like wat u'll hear on japanese tv!!! questions without pictures was easier... at least there's more questions tt i tink i know wat they are saying...

3. Grammar - thanks for kanzen master guidebook... if not i wld really die for this paper... as usual the first passage is a killer... i took 20 mins to figure out wat the hell is the writer talking about? its so chim talking about ppl trying to track time becuz we cannot visualise time... something along tt line... the other passages were quite okay... at least from my point of view, i understood the passage... just hope i dun choose wrong answers... the grammar part is difficult for me... hm... some questions i wonder if i din study or i cant rem, in other words, i cant answer cuz i dunno??? just anyhow choose an answer... of cuz wat i studied did came out as well... but not alot though...

i cant stop myself thinking about it... whether i would pass or fail... but anyway the result will only be out in mar... still a few more months to wait... :s

Angry & Disappointed

Something that i see as important is just a joke in somebody else's eyes.

Only plain n poor EXCUSES.

No sincerity at all.

Forget abt it.

I can see myself starting to let it go.

SeeD

the plant tat daniel passed to me did not grow at all... i tink i will wait for a few more days... if it still refuse to pop out of the ground, i will... i will... i will complain to daniel and get a new plant!!! =p

Teaching & Passion

Teaching is different from other professions... in other jobs, you are probably always thinking about how to make more money and gain power, reputation etc... but being a teacher, you have to be always thinking about the students... how to let them learn more and benefit from your teaching... you gotta have the passion to do it...

Just Lazy

I have already signed up for JLPT level one exam this dec... when i first gotten the results for level two, i was very excited cuz this means tt i can take level one exam this yr... and for tt reason, i went kinokuniya to buy 2 assessment books at one go... felt pain to part with the money but i guess this is really necessary if i wanna pass the exams... but after four five months down the road, i am getting less n less enthusiatic about taking the exams... feel so sianz to study... :s

Why am i slacking though i know there's not much time left to dec now... haiz... the more i study, the more i feel that my standard is really not there lor... there's far too many kanjis tt i have difficulty reading and so many grammars tt i wld forgotten almost immediately after studying... nobody is there to study with me too... feel so disheartened when sensei said tt its impossible to pass level one... kinda understand why she said tt cuz my japanese class now is supposedly to be preparing for level two... somemore need 70% to pass level one... cant imagine issit possible for me to pass in the first place cuz i scraped through my level two... maybe i shld not grumble and shld start studying now...

i wonder

if the one closest to u wouldnt share ur sorrows, who shld u go to?

if the one closest to u couldnt accomodate to you, who can?

if the one closest to u keep on hurting you, why is that person still ur closest one?

Polling Day

last saturday was polling day... i was quite happy that it was on a saturday... bcuz its a public holiday, all of us were granted one day of rest... =) its my first time to vote as i just passed the benchmark of 21 yrs "some yrs ago"... and it was not a walkover for my region... hahaha i tot it would be a very exciting moment... but it's quite simple and short... i went back to my old school for voting... took a piece of paper and mark a cross and post it in the box... hahaha someone suggested tt i draw a smiley face on the paper... but??? the serial number is on the paper isnt it? i think somehow they should still be able to trace back the voter... so i din... =p anyway, i wonder, other den cross, wat are other types of writing that appeared on the paper for those who did not wanna take a stand? it should be quite amusing if those papers were shown... =)

My MasterPiece

For the first time, tampines seemed so untampines... the sky is simply too beautiful... despite the light drizzle, i walked out of the shelter and quickly took a snap with my K750...

maths in daily life

i was on the train just now feeling abit bored... looking at the ppl ard me and wondering wat they are doing at this time of the day and where are they heading to?

out of a sudden i recalled tt according to the contract, i have to work 44 hours in a week... if i round up to 45 hours and divide among 5 days, it will be 9 hours rite? one day only have 24 hours... minus work, travelling and sleep time, we have less than 5 hours to ourselves... and we have to meet up with frens, go shopping, do our favourite activities, housework... :s

~Praise~

i happened to be watching the discussion about how to discipline children... talking about scolding and caning becoming a thing of the past and praising is the way to go now... =)

becuz of my teaching job, i have learnt a whole lot about how to deal with children... the first thing tt i learnt is to praise them... praise is not as simple as many people think... just say "good" and "well done" is not sufficient for the children... you need to praise them accurately! call them by their names when you praise them and telling them exactly wat is their action tt makes u wanna praise them... for example, "john, you did very well for helping me to wipe the table and i really appreciate your help! thank you!" (reinforce with a big big hug) =) children need to know exactly wat actions are being appreciated and wat actions are not favoured... by praising them, they learn the right things to do!

wat happened when children did the wrong things? are we supposed to scold them or beat them? for me, i think it wld be better to explain to them (if they are older) and make sure they understands you and your point of view... if they get upset, always remind them tt you still love them but you dun like the things tt they do... of cuz if they are too young to understd, just use a firm tone to say "no" or indicate tt their action is wrong... constantly remind them if they repeat the action... when they stop doing it, its time for you to praise them for their ability to correct themselves!

how nice it is! i think i would love to grow up in an environment with praises~~~

Appreciate the children

Something happened in my class last week and it made me ponder about how adults think... When my cute lil boy cannot finish the game in class, mummy accidentally said, "you shld arrange faster. see, now everyone finished arranging and teacher showing answers now." after a while, he started to cry loudly in class... ='(

why did he cry? mummy was puzzled by his sudden outburst and brought him out to pacify him... after a while, he was feeling better and got back to the class... after class, i had a lil chat with mummy... she was telling me tt she din know why he would suddenly cry... i explained to her wat she told him just now and she was like "did i say that?" "i didn't think much about it and he actually got affected by my words"...

to me, i picked up the same message tt he received when mummy said her comments... its the feeling of rejection! to him, he is trying to recall wat i had shown him, probably wanting to double confirm his answers before arranging... he knows if he does it right, mummy will be happy and proud of him... tts the reason for him working hard at it... but mummy's one simple comment simply deny him of the efforts he put in... i think tts why he feels sad and could not help but to cry...

we often dun think much of wat we said and treat them as passing comments, however it might just affect the party who is listening to us... especially towards young children, you think tt its alright for you to say anything you like and they might not understd you... for me, i dun think this is true... even if they could not express themselves in words, your words would really have an impact on them, whether it is negative and postive!

"searching in darkness"

i rem there was once i watched the documentary film on animal behaviours... the researchers had special camera which captured the video of a troop of monkeys taking shelter in a underground cave... the monkeys walked inside the cave without any special equipments unlike the ppl... yet, they managed to move together as a whole group inside the cave and explore the underground... how wonderful they are to be capable of walking in total darkness~!

i imagine tt in the real world, we are doing exactly the same thing too... feeling lost about the present and the future? we are like walking in the underground... trapped in total darkness... where is our front and where is the back? are we really happy now? are we really satisfied with wat we have now? and of cuz we believed that something better is going to come along and tt leads us on to continue to search for the better whether it is our jobs, our loved ones, our hobbies...

because we cannot see wat is in front, we make decisions according our imagination... If ur esp tells u to go right, u will go right... tt's our natural instinct? haha i think tt is wat really makes life exciting sometimes... u nvr know wat's gonna happen next unless u chose tt particular path... if u chose to give up, u might nvr get the chance to go back already... lets enjoy our journey in the dark! Be brave!

Follow me.... =)

Last week, i had much discovery during my classes... on thurs, poorvi surprised me with her excellent memory when we were playing language game... also she can rem all the items in memory game well... i am very happy with her progress! on fri, i heard from wei xi's mummy tt she has been reading alot at home and is doing very well... on sat, ethan started to recite the memory pictures in class... its great to see him participating in class... i have been teaching him for 9 months and it was the first time he is willing to tell the answers instead of keeping quiet... =) on sun, i see yusuke trying to imitate me in class... haha whenever i said, "close ur eyes" and he starts to say "open ur eyes"... =p den my new student, yu en, tries to imitate my hand gestures in class... hahaha i just cant stop laughing... she is very cute!! two year olds sure like to imitate alot ya? =) and and chloe likes to show me her stuffs whenever she comes to class... last time she showed me her bun for breakfast before she eats... den this wk she wore her new orange tshirt to show me! great to hear from her mummy tt she looks forward to my classes too... :) not forgetting my ke ai de arielle... she keep calling my name at home... haha maybe she misses me more compared to my bf? :p because i have cute n loving children, suddenly i feel a renewed passion in my work... *

A man has multiple roles to play in life

just came to realise this sentence a few days ago... "a man has multiple roles to play in life"... hmm, its something worth thinking about... sometimes we are very good in a particular role but we might fail in other roles as well...

for example, you might be a very successful business woman... in your working role, you are powerful and knows how to run a business in order to earn profits for your company... when you return home, you might not be a good mother... you spend only a few hours with your children and they seemed to like their maids more than you...

Or maybe in the eyes of your colleagues, you are a stingy and irritating manager who is hard to please... but you are a great dad to be with and you just know exactly how to communicate with your children...

everyone has multiple roles to play in our lives... learning how to juggle between different sides of ourselves and facing the different groups of ppl is everyday's life challenge... in front of different groups of audience, you have to learn how to show the correct side of yourself... only in the backstage, you reveal your true self...

have you tried to realise the different sides of yourself?

BaReLaNg

it's a very very very beautiful place where bridges joined up the islands (Batam, Tonton etc...) initially, we passed through a reservoir which is huge and beautiful... with the mountains surrounding it... not like bedok reservoir lor... at first i tot it was a lake... in the end, we checked and realised its a reservoir... the roads are very straight and few cars travelling... before left turn into the first bridge area, there are many stalls selling drinks and snacks... its a spectacular sight to see the first bridge... reminds me of the hongkong hsing ma bridge (if i nvr got the name wrong?) there's quite a bunch of ppl taking pictures... so we also alight from the car... OH NO! the wind is very STRONG and the worst thing is, mutsumi n i were wearing skirts... hahaha trying our best to smile and take picture despite our messy hair and hands busy pressing the flying skirts... -_-"

we passed by an island called pulau tonton... so easy to rem the name rite? den i got a stupid idea... i wanna stay in pulau tonton and set up a starbucks cafe... so ppl can get coffee from me... wahaha... he says i can only earn mutsumi's money which is very true... she's a coffee addict!! anyway tonton is very small... so only me can stay in the island... =)

we travelled for dunno how long to see the oncoming bridges... i see the blue blue sky with beautiful clouds following us... and the fields and wooden huts... somehow made me feel peaceful and happy... how are the ppl spending their life? maybe they nvr really use money? they only plant their own food and leave their fate to mother nature? i am very curious about their life... i wonder if they allow homestay? i wld like to stay for one day to experience a day without electricity, hp, internet etc... mutsumi asked me if i could take this kind of life... i really dunno? maybe living in singapore is too much a luxury? so much convenience tt we take for granted... tts why it wld be nice to experience this simple life and yet i suspect tt i probably cant spend my whole life like this... because i am already so used to my life in singapore... i feel insecured when i cant use my hp and internet? maybe its not just me but everyone?

in the end, we even went to a kelong to eat seafood when we dun have enuff money to? hahaha lucky he gotten discount from the person else i think we wld be helping them to wash bowls till night... =p the scenery is quite nice... though at some point in time, i feel like i am moving with the waves? haha it was low tide when we went off and managed to see some crabs crawling out from their breathing holes... those one arm big one arm small wan... :p

on the way home, i saw pretty clouds and forced him to stop the car so tt i can take a pic... haha dunno why i just love clouds so much... =) anyway i hope to go back to barelang again if i have the chance?

by the way, he went to some nice kelong without me... saw the pictures he took... really very beautiful... the sunset and everything!!! i wanna go kelong next time!!!~

~Chinese New Year~

it's kinda funny to update this entry cuz chinese new year happened long long ago... haha i rem the new year eve, i was still having lessons... so sianz cuz everyone dun have to work except us... anyway, i rushed home right after the last lesson... dad came to drive me home... and my bro came along too... had our usual steamboat dinner before dad went to work... the first day of new year, i actually dun have feel very excited? maybe as we start to age, we start to lose feelings for traditional festivals? haha went to my dad's sister's place to bai nian... seemed very weird cuz nvr seen the relatives for so long... those korkor and jiejie tt i long knew are already turning uncles and aunties... those lil cousins are already teenagers... of cuz the uncles and aunties are turning old too... wat a festival to remind ourselves we are no longer children... :( after tt, dad drove us to ah na ah yi's house to see ah yi's daughter's baby... so cute! she is only 3 weeks old... its a special new year cuz first time dad gets to drive us around... on the streets, we see so many ppl waiting for cabs but cant seem to get one... =p

the next morning, i woke up very early to travel to harbourfront so tt i wun be late meeting mutsumi... atlas, the harbour was very crowded... lucky we booked tickets but the queue was quite long too... there was some problems with wavemaster and in the end, we only got mutsumi's ticket... i was kinda worried tt i could not get my ticket... lucky the guy at the counter was very helpful... we queue to get into the immigration while he prepared my ticket... :) den we embarked on our exciting journey to batam... haha i have nvr bring a fren to batam before... was quite worried tt it wld turn out to be boring for mutsumi... when we reached there, she had to queue up for visa which was another queue but the officer chased me to queue for the immigration side... i managed to pass through easily and i saw him waiting outside for us... but but mutsumi did not come out till very long... he was angry with me for leaving her to queue for visa cuz scared she might run into problems with the officers... heng nth happened... :s we went back to his place after a long delay den went to barelang... the next day we visited his frens' place and also a big big temple... after tt we came back to singapore... i tink mutsumi likes the food there! hahaha it turned out to be a fun trip too... everytime when they speak in chinese/teochew, i have to try translate into jap/eng for mutsumi... den everyone thinks my jap is good!!!! (even if my jap not gd, they also dunno mar???) -_-""

~MeMories of Music~

one day, my sis was suddenly playing er hu in the middle of the night... den she was trying to take photos with the er hu... i was like -.-" if she wanna take pictures, why she dun change into something nicer? *lazy* is the word... she had to return the er hu to "golden eagle" chinese orchestra cuz it was loaned... still rem the first day she brought the er hu back... kept praising this er hu is good cuz it costs one thousand and the sound is far better den hers which is cheaply bought... come to think of it, i dun understd why she had chosen to join chinese orchestra in sec sch... but she had lotsa passion for it... initially, she would practise very often at home which is very torturing cuz she cant play well... keep playing tt huang fei hong song... killing my ears with that... after tt she played well and it was more pleasant to my ears... but my mum always think er hu is meant for old uncles sitting at the street begging for money... however she is very hardworking when it comes to practising... and i strongly believe tt it is her hardworkingness tt paid off her efforts in concerts and exams... she actually gotten a grade 7 within one or two years... which is very impressive~ her active participation carried on till she was in jc... now er hu is rarely played and finally has to be returned to its rightful owner... i wonder when will she ever pick up er hu again? hm...

that day + that moment

Yesterday, Arielle made my day! hahaha its great to see her in a good mood... she was smiling when she came to class... :) when we were playing arranging cards, i asked her where is the panda... guess wat? she pointed to me and smiled... -_-" *i look like panda meh?* her mummy and i were very much amused by her action... hahaha we only stopped class for two weeks and i find that she really grown by quite abit... she is now a bit taller... wat really impressed me was that she started to speak up!!! when i was playing maths game with her, i was counting one to ten and i could hear her repeating the numbers after me... i took a quick glance at her mummy and whispered excitedly, "mummy, she is saying the numbers!"... i can ask for nothing more than to hear her speak... last term she hardly speak up at all in class except to call for daddy in the middle of the class as she missed her daddy who went overseas working... -_-" i am really glad that she stayed in my class... else i wld have miss this moment! it really spurs me at that moment to continue working in this job... ;p

Happy New Year~

hahaha so fast the term break is over and so fast i have to start work again... :s everyone is quite stressed out at work cuz have to prepare materials in advance for one more month and the timetable was out very late compared to last term... for me, i managed to get back most of my old classes which have been with me for two terms (six months) and my favourite one year old class was closed down... :'( *sadz* i have learnt to cope separating with my cute children... afterall, there is a cycle... at one point of time, some of the children may appeared to be super cute and you like them very much... at another point of time, you will start to like other children who are previously not as cute as you think they are now... =)

how did you spend your new year countdown? haha i din go orchard road to countdown of cuz... initially was considering between sentosa (which i am not very much in favour of) and mt faber (which slightly caught my interest)... in the end, i rotted at his house to countdown... when it turned twelve, both of us were standing in front of the rubbish chute to look at the beautiful fireworks... wat a spectacular view! its my first time seeing fireworks from hdb flat... haha tried to take pictures with my new hp too... though taking pictures with fireworks behind seemed like a good idea but to me, missing the beautiful fireworks can be a great pity too...

happy new year to all... welcome to year 2006... =) my children cant seemed to understand that its no longer 2005... last wkend when i was having class and telling the date and day... i asked them, "its year two thousand and..." *five!* they exclaimed... hahaha guess we played too much *hi-five*! =p