the weekend bah..

there are many cats in my school compound, including the school canteen.
the cats will wait for you to finish your meal.. and once you get up from your seat, they will pounce onto the table and start their great banquet.

the cat pic was taken on last saturday, during the lunch break.
this is one of the super rare moments.. the cat was on the table, holding to the fish bone for quite a while and i happened to have my canon baby with me.

speaking about being at the right place at the right moment.
***

last weekend - it was quite happening. i attended a Maths workshop for the form5 students on the whole of Saturday, morning til night. And in the afternoon, a group of Japanese students came to my school. It's a stop for them before heading to Danum Valley.

handicraft. one of the Jap boy making 'kuda kepang'.
***

Then on Sunday evening, i attended LD's first 'Professionals of Today' meeting. i met up with a few teachers teaching in schools around LD and a pharmacist working in the hospital.

***

This is random. i just want to show you some giant squids. They are bigger than the Dolmio 560g pasta sauce bottle. They are really huge.... and look at their eyes! :P

****
Today is my first day of longer working hours.
tak tahan wei.
:P

pink

i had nothing better to do other than taking pictures of some jelly balls which i kept in the vase.
i am still waiting for the new timetable to start.

july test - those who used to fail the maths tests FINALLY passed the July Maths paper.
they were so happy when i returned the papers to them this morning.

oh well, they know they suck. they can do so well this time because there are ONLY 39 objective questions with 2 subjective questions and the use of calculator is allowed.

and i kind of made it easier.
some should have gotten 100%. seriously.

tomorrow.
bio.
brainwashing time.

the look in their eyes

today was my first 'official encounter' with them. Parents of 13 out of the 24 kids came and we started at 9 and ended at 12 noon.

i had a jimo walk back to my shack after the whole thing was over.

their faces. their facial expressions were translated into words like worried, disappointed, despair, helplessness, disheartened.... etc etc etc.

some of them were happy. a few of them. i praised their kids, kind of lavishly because i think those students deserved that. and i appreciated the effort they have put in and i know they can go far if they keep it that way.

some told me about the books, the vitamins, the supplements they bought for their children. they were disappointed because their effort amounts to nothing.

some asked me what the school is doing to help the students. why the teachers never monitored the students during the afternoon and night study time. sorry, there's no baby-sitters in school.

my students are 16.

probably they are too concerned about their children that they have forgotten how it felt to be a 16-year-old. when i was 16, i don't like to be forced to do anything. i felt that at that age, i am old enough and capable enough to position myself in a way that will help me to do well in all subjects. in short, you should be self-motivated enough to want to perform well because you know you are not dull-witted. parents and teachers cannot be always telling and reminding the students to study. once in a while, yes, students need to be pushed and challenged. i find it meaningless when students do something halfheartedly because all the time they are being pushed to do so. the desire to learn and excel should come from the heart.

and not be settled with that kind of rut they are (i am) in.

personally, to me, a teacher's job - besides teaching and enabling the students to understand all that's in the syllabus, is showing them there's a vast sea of knowledge beyond the textbooks and reference books, inspire them to thirst and hunger for knowledge and encourage them to work a way to get it. that's LIFE. and i called that EDUCATION. not scoring strings of A's but actually deep inside, it's empty. some might think that my kind of philosophy is crap all the way. but that's how i do things. i don't want them to admire me for the things i know (not that i know a lot, although relatively 'a lot' to them) but i want them to know that they can also do what i am doing and can do even better.

it's not fair to compare them with students in the other side of my world because Sue Sylvester reminded me that not all students were given the same opportunities. but they do need to know at the moment, they really can't match up with those kids. and so, they had better do something about it, not just for the sake of matching up with others but for their own sake.

if you can't feel it still.. i quite love my students, esp my 4Z, probably because i am the form teacher and we kind of click...

and i really hope they can do well in the future.

i finally said it.

water-less

I have no idea what's wrong with the water tank. my housemate and i have been relying on the water from the kitchen sink. to bathe. to wash. to clean. to mop. sigh.

and the thing is -- even the water from the kitchen sink, it only comes at specific hours -- early morning for a short while, in the afternoon for 3 hours, and at night for another few hours. probably that's the reason why the water tank couldn't be filled up with water.

Collecting water has become our favourite past time.

everyday we have a total of 25 bottles of water - this water is for washing, bathing and the 'manual flushing system'. and there are another 6 bottles of filtered water for drinking and cooking purposes, and 6 more bottles of mineral water which yet to open.

i have calculated -- based on the situation we are having now, on average, we are somewhere near the recommended basic water requirement. check here.

okay, it's time to get ready the bottles. water from the kitchen sink will be coming in soon.

what kind of life.

my job

6 and a half weeks more to the September school break.

the innovative and creative project is out of my hands. good. and some students just couldn't understand basic instructions and they lack common sense. it's an innovative competition and you are selling your idea. i told her to make the diagram nicer, draw and label properly. she returned the diagram with terrible labeling (to my standard), and she didn't even use a ruler to draw the lines and had to do it free-hand. what the crap. and since she doesn't care, i also couldn't care less. i don't have the time to chase after her to tell her to improve the drawing and labeling.

School-based assessment -- all the marks and grades of science experiments. sigh. i have to get it done by this friday. shucks. and i need come out with some awesome ideas on how to improve students' grades in science. more tutorial classes? one to one? more exercises? what am i supposed to do when i have done my part but they are the ones not doing their part?

this saturday is my school's parents-teachers days. lagi shucks big time. what am i supposed to tell the parents? tell the truth? tell some white lies? i am not good in this kind of 'socializing'.. haih.

i am seeing my job as nothing more than a job. don't know why it somehow sounds bad, terrible, and horrible.. :p

even though you can't see.

even though you can't feel.

where the rain won't hurt

when i lose myself i'll think of you

together we'll be running somewhere new

through the monsoon

just me and you.

1, 2, 3,.. JUMP!!

The School Sports Day was held from 6th til 10th July. It was fun. I enjoyed walking around taking pictures, catching the moments. gah, but the task of looking through and choosing and editing the pictures is quite tiring, esp when there are more then 800 pictures. If i had gone to all the events, there will be easily more than a thousand to edit.

It rains a bit here and there almost everyday. And the field is like a paddy field where you can start planting paddy, anytime, because it's already been 'ploughed' by students who took part in Track and Field, as well as students who play rugby and football every evening, rain or shine. I shall show you how the students raced along that kind of tracks. But i guess they like it that way. seriously. somehow they just like getting muddy all over their body.

I am one of the teachers of the blue house @ Rumah Barium. They use elements to name their houses. We have Magnesium for Red, Helium for Green and Kromium (chromium) for Yellow. And of course, they have animals to represent their house. Blue is Scorpion, Red is Wolf, Green is Phoenix ( i think), and Yellow is Dragon.

one of the good things -- taking jumping pictures! it's like i am introducing some new games to the students. and they really enjoyed it. ;)

back to the sports day. oh well, it's more like a sports week rather than a sports day. The students had a few events on Tuesday and Wednesday evening, the whole of Thurs, rehearsals for closing on Fri, and today, the BIG day. I was supposed to be in-charged of lompat kijang. Well, i self-appointed jiaaa to be the 3rd event photographer. :D


The conclusion, i am very happy with the first project of my own! managed to get some nice shots at the right moments. it's worth getting my sport shoes wet and mud all over my feet and trousers. i am happy. ;)

Lompat Kijang

he is one of the hardworking ones in my form 4 class.
he is good in subjects that have lots of calculations.
gah, but his english is quite a disaster and
therefore did badly in Bio during the mid year exam.

he is one of the basketball players.

he is one of the boys in my form 3 science class.

one of the members in my mentor-mentee group.

these pictures were taken this morning.
there's more in my fb.
;)

my rainbows

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high,
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.

Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh why can't I?

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?

******

you were running a good race. who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth?
Gal 5:7

******
i need that ounce of courage and confidence to decide.
to action.
to not look back and regret.

the valley of death

will He forgive me if i gave up on myself.

i want to hide.

complex feelings.
jimo.

i don't know how to translate those chinese words into english.