Friendship
There comes a time when you ask yourself if you have outgrown the age to make friends. Why? Well the number of places and situations you meet friends dramatically shrink as you grow older. And it doesnt help when you dont make a great first impression. Right now the only place left for me to make friends is at work as there, people get to know me over a period of time and get used to me.

But the people I have met in the school I work in are exceptional. They accepted me quickly into their fold and really made me feel as if I was part of a group. There is no jealousy or backstabbing and people are accepted as they are. One thing that impressed me early on was the level to which people think of you. One of my colleagues used to say that when they went window shopping they would look at some blouse and say -" Oh this is a Neera blouse - we must tell her we found these. I hadnt even gone shoppping with them that early in our friendship! They had just been very observant. When they went away on long leave, there would be hugs and long speeches asking for forgiveness for bad deeds and ill-thoughts. The latter is probably an Islamic practice but most Indonesians follow it regardless of religion. I think that this practice really keeps friendships alive as people let bygones be bygones.

Recently I met an ex-colleague from Singapore who is now working in this school. In my previous school, he was disliked by a lot of people as he just couldn't stop talking. I was busy with my Sec 4s and didn't bother to reach out to him. He eventually left as he wasnt performing very well and he didnt really have any friends to support him. I expected the same situation to repeat itself here. However the same colleagues who had welcomed me, reached out to him. Now he has friends and is a lot more confident. I saw him in a new light and even felt a little ashamed I didn't reach out to him before. Contrast this with a Singaporean expat teacher who considered him boring and actually goes to his classes and tells the students that he is boring. He gets treated better by the Indonesians than his own countrymen.

Well now I accept people and friends more readily and dont have too many expectations of them. Those that drift away, I let them go. Some come back and some don't. Que sera sera. Those that stay close, remain. And I embrace new friendships for the knowledge and experiences I gain.

Recently I had the chance to experience a blossoming friendhip with one of my colleagues. She doesn't trust a lot of people or open up. She did with me and I appreciated that. At first glance she looks very aloof, but she really isnt. We often meet for coffee and shopping. After I go back to Singapore, I probably will not see her for some time but I think this is one friend I can keep.

I have a mix of people as friends. Some are from university days, some are from my days as a volunteer, some are teachers ( who else could i share the joys and pains of teaching with) and some of my ex-students who have turned into good friends - Strangely they understand me better than some of my so-called good friends. And the search for friends continues......

Was thinking of the places I want to go to ( not in any particular order)
1) Peru
2) Angkor Wat (Cambodia)
3) Taj Mahal ( India)
4) Barcelona
5) New York at Christmas time

Why these places ? Well have read about them quite a bit and would like to see it in this lifetime. Each one has beauty of a different kind. An experience of a different kind. The thing is I believe in fate, I have been to India three times and didnt go to Taj Mahal. I did go to Barcelona but for a day. So it really depends on fate if I get to these places and hopefully I do. And if any of you reading has the chance to go - do please send me a postcard.

Well its been sometime I have blogged. Just not in the mood and a little lazy i guess to get back into the habit. I have taken a break from teaching before I get back to Singapore so I should be free. But the free time and my long holiday has made me think about what I want to do when I come back to Singapore. The easiest choice is to just join a government school and go back to teaching. However after teaching for 7 years I would like to try something different though and there lies my confusion. There are various options. Do I go to a govt school or an independent school? In an independent school there would be lots of growth professionally as the emphasis would be on research and facilitating students' growth. The pressure would come from high expectations. In a government school, its good that they have come up with 5 day week but I have heard that the working hours are long on weekdays. And also the pressure and stress of keeping up student's standards. My strength is in teaching - am not very good in CCAs. Then there is the question of whether I want to teach at seconday school, JC or poly. I was looking at some private schools and now I wonder whether I should go for that option instead( not much growth professionally as being a small firms chances for promotions are low) Right now I am doing training of the teachers at the school in Jakarta - its something new for me and I like it - unfortunately I feel that in Singapore not much chance as the market is saturated with trainers. So many options yet I am confused. And then there's the biggest headache of all - getting my CV done - how do you decide which are the best bits in a 7 year teaching career?

Well I am back from my holiday in India. It was good. I had many experiences - it was fun. But its good to be back in Singapore for a bit. The bomb blast in Jakarta near the Aussie embassy is near where I live in Jakarta so that was a little scary. Thankfully both my husband and me were not in Jakarta at the time. Now I am going back to Jakarta - though it seems dangerous, life goes on pretty much the same. It just means more traffic jams as a major road is gone and we have to take different routes. Will update more later

My Sec1 form class 2003/04 

Guess what - for the fun of it I decided to type my name in the Google search engine and I got 2 hits - one of them, my MSc thesis and its in NUS - cool huh? The website given is www.lib.nus.edu.sg/bib/sh/sing1965c.html

I went to school again today. My ex-principal is trying to get me to come back and do training courses for teachers. So I had tried to send in my proposal but since Monday there has been one obstacle after another.  First the fax machine at the school had no paper - then they put in the paper wrong side ( I had to spend my money faxing from an internet cafe nearby). So I made an appointment t to see him -9am at the branch school ( which is an hour away). Was all ready to leave the house when he calls and changes the appt to 3pm at the original school.  I was going to visit school tomorrow to see my friends but decided to change to today.

I went at 1pm so I could have the time to chat with my friends - they were happy to see me as well.  The viceprincipal wanted me  to relief teach as one of the teachers had gone back as he was sick. This teacher is one of the reasons I left.  He was untrained, has a law background and questioned every decision I made as HOD. And worse will not follow instructions. He had a big ego as well.  So I should be jumping at the chance to show him up. Well - no way! I deserve my break.

I have been asked to conduct the IGCSE oral exams in October - that should be ok.

Well anyway while I was there, they were showing teachers their uniforms and taking measurements - no, I didn't make a mistake. Teachers will have uniforms - short sleeve blouses in PINK!!! and a black skirt. Indonesian schools have uniforms for teachers. This is for parents to easily identify the teachers. Some local teachers prefer it as it saves on cost for clothing.  They mooted this idea 2 years ago in my school as the primary school teachers were getting uniforms.  But it was quickly dismissed as u had people like me who vociferously opposed it. Now it has come up again and they have said its voluntary. Only a matter of time before it becomes mandatory I say. I had a gala time laughing at the rest.

On a good note ,one of the teachers came up to me and said I should conduct training for them coz he liked the last training session I conducted. Felt very good about myself.

Some of my ex-colleagues at school 

me (a close up) 

A visit
I was mobbed today and it felt like I was a film star. I went back to school for a visit and was surrounded by ex-students who wanted a glimpse of me. Walking out of the lift, I tried to make a run for the staff room when I was stopped by students greeting me in the corridor. I barely escaped and stepped into the staffroom, spoken to a colleague and turned around, when there was a huge crowd of students which had built up outside. They were all excited and were talking all at once. It was quite difficult to try and understand all of them. Even worse was trying to respond to all of them. As I opened my mouth to speak, a voice boomed,“Stop making so much noise in the corridor” . The students turned to see where the voice was coming from, turned back and continued shooting questions at me. I could see they had missed me and it was good to bask in all that attention. Some were just content to stand and stare. Still, the noise was getting louder and disturbing the other classes, so I just smiled, gave out hugs and sent them back to class.

Well back in Singapore but its been busy busy as my family starts preparing for a wedding in July. What is difficult to adjust to is the bad service I have faced since I came back especially at Junction 8. Probably a lot of pple are immune to it but after coming from Jakarta where even the simple action of serving cake comes with a smile and kindness. Yesterday was at this bakery and was asking to get a piece of cake - but the girl got the wrong piece of cake for me so I asked her to get the other one - She was upset and it SHOWED! - She roughly chucked the cake back and took the other one and then charged me with a scowl on her face. It was near closing time and she wanted to finish quickly. And that brings me to another point. Why is everyone in a rush? What are we rushing towards?
Went to NTUC and just when it was my turn - the cashier put a counter closed sign with not so much an apology - so I had to re - queue again. I went away but really she could at least told me nicely instead of impersonally putting the sign on. In Jakarta - yes the service is slow but they take care over the smallest things - if they dont have or have to turn u away its always in soft tones and politely.

Well term is over and believe it or not I have done 2 years of teaching here in jakarta. It has been an eventful 2 years I must say what with different types of students and a different working environment. Yesterday was the last day of school and lots of gifts, hugs and tears as kids found out I was leaving. I still have to go to school next week to settle admin matters but as far as teaching students its over. Didnt quite miss the teaching but I supposed the low will hit in about a month when I run out of things to do.
But I had to quit as it was getting quite busy and frankly I need a break( will explain in another blog entry later).
And what was my loot? 3 indon scarf, an evening bag, a book and some stationery. One of my students from the previous year came to my class where I was giving out report books and cried that I was leaving. I felt very sad too but what to do?
It will sad leaving my colleagues as well as they are some of the best I have had for a long time.They are warm and we have clicked really well and here well you dont have people suspecting you have backstabbed them or holding grudges for a long time. We scold today and by the next day we are fine again.

Thanks gow - glad you liked the book- I have read all four and I like the way he writes too - very simple yet engaging.
Well its the exam time right now and I keep getting distracted from all the marking. Lets see I have got 5 classes of Sec 1 compo, 60 odd enrichment compre papers and 3 classes of Sec 3 Geog. Got through half of it so far. But I suddenly have an urge to clean the study room, kitchen whatever not anything to keep me from marking - arghh i have to finish it soon.
W

The Clock
Usually when I am in my class, I glance at the clock from time to time to see how much time I have left and whether there is enough time to do another exercise. Today I was looking at the clock and the something was different. It looked very clear. Then I realised the cover was missing ( a plastic one). So naturally I turned around and asked "What happened to the clock?", there were a few giggles and then one of the boys, Anthony said " No miss, a cat came into the room and flew to the clock and broke it" Of coz I didnt buy that and asked again - this time the truth came out - while one of the boys was throwing his things at another friend, it had hit the clock accidentally and the cover was smashed. So the other boys cleared the mess and covered it up. I told the boy to take down the clock and offer to pay for it. The boys then told me that they really didnt think I was going to find out. I still find it amazing that at sec1 they can be so childish and naive ( thinking I will not find out when I stare at the clock every day!) But again there may be part of the Indonesian philosophy. If they hope and pray hard enough, bad things will not happen.

The Rat
Our photocopier has broken down twice this week. Why? A rat had gone in and gnawed at the wires. I am not kidding -it is true - they found the rat but it escaped. Thankfully I was not in the room when that happened. But today I had a shock - I came to school in the usual stupor of a monday morning and was talking to my colleague who sits next to me when she said "Don't look but there is a rat next to Chel's place and its not dead. EEEEEEK! And I had to see it - there it was stuck on a trap left by the cleaners and it was writhing. A male colleague came by and coward he was, quickly walked away from the room. Then another male colleague came to the rescue to clear the rat. I didnt stay to find out what he did - I left on the pretext of visiting the exam room. And it was gone by the time I got back. I hope no mooooooooore rats!!!!

Escapades of 1A
Last week I went into my class to pass some marked work. They were having Maths and when I looked in I found something was not right . As always, I scold first and then find out the reason later ( or the students come to explain later), some of them had changed place and I was cross they didnt ask the teacher first. So I told them off and ended off that they should have asked for the Maths teacher's permission and I left. Apparently as soon as I left my"angels" turned to the Maths teacher and said" Why didn't you tell Mrs VJ that you gave permission to change places? Then we wouldn't have got scolded - of coz the the teacher didn't give them permission to change - she didnt know so they were asking her to lie to me! Monkeys!
Then two days ago some of the students come outside the staffroom and call me. Once I go out they tell me that the class door is broken. They were trying to shut out a boy from the next class and he pushed the door open. Before coming to see me they took every piece of scotch tape they could find and and fixed the broken pieces back and then came to tell me. I t was very amusing to me but had to take teacher stand and had to ask them to write a report and in the process found out who was at fault. Their actions though I found very cute.
Today I told them I was not staying in the school and that I was going back to Singapore . First reaction? You're coming back right? and when I told them not - then the comments started flying - why must go back? why can't husband go and you stay here? (Can u imagine?)- "oh you stay here - we'll buy you a house". And then the more inventive - " I'll tie you with a chain to the class and lock the door" or " I'll be a pilot of the plane and keep flying in jkt for one hour and then land bk in jkt" or " "l'll hijack the plane until you come bk to jkt" - they are kids at heart and it was touching but at least they didnt react too badly as I has chosen a day when they all were in the right mood to tell them.
Actually I m leaving coz i need a break as I will be coming bk to Singapore early next year but I need a break coz once I start teaching in Singapore no such a long break for me. But difficult to explain to these kids - so easiest thing to say is that I m going back to Singapore.

Holiday
Yes!!! my wish came true. They declared today a holiday last night at about 930pm. Why? coz some students were still in school!!! Their cars were still stuck in the jam. There is a mall cum housing complex abt 15 min from my school. It took some cars 7 hours to get there. One of the teachers walked and reached home at 630. Her driver reached her home at 12am!. Another friend got to one point thereafter which she had no transport - no cabs no bus no becak (trishaw). So she walked for 2 hours to get to her home. Her shoes gave way and she had to stop to buy a new pair of sandals to continue. The other Singaporean teachers were on their way home past the worst hit area. They had left the school at 3 pm. Their usual route was heavily flooded so the driver took another route and kept changing the route as all of them had major jams. Instead of going in a westerly direction the driver ended up in another location in a eastern direction. In that place the floodwaters were waist level. So they turned back, came to school to ride out the jamand ended up home at 12 am. There were cases of cars that got overheated and caught fire as the engines were running too long. Can you imagine cars deadlocked in a jam and the car next to you catches fire? Quite a few teachers and students had to spend the night at their friend's place
Well today i went back to school for a while and the roads next to it - they were clearing up and repairing the shop fronts. Some of the sidestreets still had mud and standing water.
Well it was certainly a day I will not forget for some time.

A Dark Day
This afternoon at about 1230pm the sky got really dark like it was nightime and started raining. By 130pm flooding started outside my school and I guess in most of Jakarta. My class was all excited but I was doing compre with them and insisted they finish it first. Then i sent them to the window to describe the sight outside. I went upstairs to the staff room to get something and was horrified. The windows were leaking and the floor was filling up with water. Managed to move out my cupboards out of the way and the cleaners mopped out of the water later. I went back to class and had to keep them in class so they don't get too excited. So i switched off the lights and started telling them stories about school in Singapore. They loved it and kept asking for more - really made me feel good until I realised they prob liked that better than being asked to do work. Well later on found out that on the seventh floor the windows were cracked due to the heavy wind.
Getting home was another challenge. My driver got to school at 530 ( supposed to be at 330) coz of the massive jams caused by the flooding and finally got home at 730. Some colleagues who left at 4 still havent reached home. My kids are calling up asking if there will be a holiday tomoro. Tsk Tsk - on the flip side i want a holiday as well. Hehehe.

I hate britney spears. Before u all throw stones at me let me explain. Since britney came it created a fashion trend of sorts of hipster pants and bootleg whatever not. So i waited for it to be over so i can get a proper pair of pants. Believe it or not - i have been looking for the perfect pair of pants for ages ( almost a year now) and i cant get any - i tk it from the rack and once i chk its got that stupid bend at the knee - what i dont understand - who came up with the bright idea to do away with the previous designs!!!!

I m down with the flu and I have mc for 2 days. Yay! The prelim exams are going on and for the first time yesterday and today - it ran without me in school. That shows the marks of a good system which I set in place. So I feel quite proud of that.
On another note not very happy in school. Especially where discipline is concerned. Its not very consistent. We had a case recently of a student who punched a teacher and the teacher was sacked immediately - the teacher had been giving prob before and was given a warning letter before. As for the student - they are still deciding as the parents appealed and threatened to go to the press. In the investigation that happened we found out the boy had joined hands with a another group of boys and was bullying another student like throwing up on his bag and so on. And the school is still sitting on the case even after a boy was punched by these guys. And today the boy has to be in the same class with them. Hope it goes well today and they removed the boy.
Yesterday I confiscated two handphones from my class students as the other students claimed they sent porno messages. Then when i checked their phones i found they had been exchanging messages in the morning during chinese class. So I asked them to get their parents to get their phones. The boys kow-towed to me and pleaded not to take their phones - both had warnings before. But I could feel that the class felt that I was being too harsh. It is yet a part of the local culture here - a lot of pple dont see that when they do something wrong there should be consequences. They feel sorry for the pple being punished and ask that they be forgiven. And this attitude prevails on all levels of society and thts why a lot of pple dont learn their lessons.

Well i am fated. Last year I had Alex and this year I have another student K who got into trouble. He first loses his own phone. He stole two handphones from other students. What does he do with the first one? - He decides to show off to the other kid that it is a new phone and that he didnt tell his mum as she would thrash him. So when he was found out some kids said he only said he stole the phone so his mum wouldnt find out about the lost phone. I had to get the truth out so got his good friend to sit with me and question him. The good friend was so sure K was right. So he was really shocked K mentioned that he had kept back the stolen phone and taken another one. When K found out when he got home that myself and the P were looking for him, he threw the phone into the neighbour's garden. The phone started ringing n the neighbour's maid picked up the phone and thats how he got found out. He really is a good boy in my class. I just had given him the additional responsibility of collecting english files and he does it diligently. In fact other than for his big mouth - he behaves well in my class. So what to do ? I have given him another chance but its difficult. Hopefully he doesn't steal phones again.

Went for a colleague's wedding just now - she's from Sumatra and it was a traditional wedding. They had a traditional dance as the couple came into the reception and then a prayer followed by music. What I remember from the event was that my colleage had remembered that I was vegetarian and had taken the trouble to order seperate food for me. While I was looking for food, this lady came up and said " Oh are you Dian's friend who is vegetarian? and pointed me to the veg section. There wasn't much food there but what touched me was that despite being busy and being stressed with wedding preparations - my friend had asked someone to go after me and tell me about the food - no one has ever done that before at a function. Usually people just ignore that I am vegetarian or joke that there is grass outside. Being used to all this it came as a pleasant surprise that someone had thought of me on the busiest day of their lives.

The notice on the microwave has come down mysteriously and there has been no more talk about it. So peace reigns again.
More on the talk of religious sensitivties. The kids in charge of the yearbook came up with this poll by class about most talkative, most handsome etc of the students as well as some titles to vote teachers. One interesting one was the most hairless teacher. Naturally you would think its about the person with the least hair. One sec 3 class is very close to their Bio and Maths teacher who wears a tudung. They are always curious about what kind of hair she has underneath and even quiz other teachers as to whether she had rebonded hair or curly hair. So when this poll came out they naughtily told her they would vote her the most hairless. Where did I hear this from? The teacher herself who was laughingly talking about how naughty this kids were. I was quite horrified that the students had actually asked her to her face about being hairless. But the teacher herself was not offended. She had taken it as the kids natural curiosity and a joke made in jest. It made me think that back home the remark would not have made and if made would have created some tension.

The rains have started and the sky is really dark these days. Flooding in some places created massive jams all over. Thankfully I wasnt caught in one. I hate traffic jams - especially since I can't read ( I get a headache) and its such a waste of time. My husband had to go pick up someone at the airport yesterday. He left home at 5pm and reached the airport at 730pm. On a normal day the journey is about 45 min only.
Students generally were not in the mood to study and frankly teachers werent in the mood to teach. But of coz you can't tell the kids that. My Geog classes had to do a project on flooding near their homes. The day before I got a call from one of students who claimed the whole class hadn't finished their project and he wanted an extension - I didn't know what to say so I just told him any person who doesn't hand in will just face the consequences. (What he didn't know was that I hadnt thought of what were those consequences. Later I decided to give zero if they didn't finish. But I guess the threat worked. Only 1 group hadn't finished. Their excuse ? they can't work together. They didnt even try. The boy just said " I asked you to change group but you refused saying nobody would want to work with me". What I meant was he wouldn't be able to work with anyone so might as remain in this group. I didnt waste time in giving him a zero. You see the kids here have a very loose sense of deadlines. They just try their luck anyway to see if they can extend.
My form class was moved to another floor to prepare for coming open house. What I forgot to tell them was the room was freezing cold. The poor things were squirming in their seats. I had to give them a test first. So after that to warm up I came up with a modified version of musical chairs - meaning there is no music. Just the changing. They had loads of fun and warmed up a bit. Later after doing some more work they wanted to play somemore of this game. Strange I thought coz to me it really was a really childish game. I don't know what they found interesting about it.

Friday has now become my dreaded day of the week as I have lessons non - stop the whole day and then during breaks have to deal with admin problems. Its especially tiring when you have two geog classes with double periods. Today I was doing a lesson on river velocity and volume and was real tired as numerous interruptions as I was trying to explain - from 3A had some tough questions but was ok with it as that shows they are thinking while in 3B they just wanted to waste time. One boy, David who has a problem with filing his notes claimed he couldnt find my notes. He chucks all his worksheets under his table and its a big mess. So I asked his to check his bag - his bag had more chucked worksheets. Still he claimed he couldn't find his notes. So I took his bag and emptied it on the floor and asked him to find. Then he found it. Haiya I wanted to throttle him. Wasted precious teaching time.
Got chocolates from students for Valentine's Day - so sweet - even those I didnt teach.

The Case of the Microwave
Expat teachers and local teachers get along quite well in out school. We have our squabbles and spats but usually it only lasts for a day and the next day all is forgotten and we get on with life. Today that changed. A single note pasted on a microwave oven shattered all that. A note that said " Halal food only to be heated in this oven"
We used to have only one microwave and so far no one has brought up the issue before. Now since the primary school moved out we took over their oven. We still had no complaints for a whole week before the notice went up. It created a stir in the staffroom as it didnt make sense why it suddenly became an issue when it hadnt been before. And why the note had gone up without any discussion at the teachers' regular meetings. We have a few local muslim teachers in our staff and they have never brought it up before and they are the kind to openly say if they were not happy about something. So who? All fingers pointed to a Singaporean Muslim who was quite outspoken about her beliefs. On further investigation I found out that it was she who had brought up the issue with the local muslims and had "educated" them on how in Singapore workplaces had different microwaves for halal and non-halal food. Apparently she had seen some of the Chinese teachers ( from China) heating up pork. I found the whole issue disturbing and so did some other Singaporean collegues. It was not that we do not respect their food preferences. Its that the notice went up suddenly without any request. It was implying that the entire staff had been disrespectful of their beliefs. What happened after that was even more strange. While the Singaporeans were divided on this issue and had many views to express, the Indonesian locals had nothing much to say - it was a non-issue and they went on with their lives. One Indonesian Christian however was unhappy and made comments that it was discriminatory and against human rights. - Anyway as any usual spat the issue has toned down but the scars remain as we wonder what is next.The second fridge?

Another week comes to an end. Its amazing how fast the days fly when you are busy. Had Geography tests for all the sec3 classes this week. After the many quizzes they had and the scoldings they apparently were studying very hard for the test - even in their other subject classes. One boy left after lunch ( had a stomach ache) just before the test which left me wondering if he was really sick.
My form class had to move class this week as bumps started appearing in the floor. Their maths teacher came to tell about it after her class. I was going to deal with it when I went down later. When i walked into class there were tiles breaking off and coming off. The class boys had decided to have a field day jumping on the tiles and breaking them up. They got a good scolding when none would own up. Finally one boy did but later said that there were more but they were scared of me so didnt own up. We ended up spending a whole period searching for a class they could do work in - finally they had to sit on the floor in the music room.

Today was a mixed day of sorts. It was a continuation of yesterday. About a week ago I had a misunderstanding with a long time friend and although the friend has since forgiven me( i think) the friendship is still a little strained. It upset me a lot thinking about it as I was afraid it is yet another one of the many close friendships I have that may end. And at my age you dont make many good friends easily. So you keep the old ones although u have drifted apart or your wavelength has changed. When a disagreement happens and you try to be honest about your feelings you only succeed in hurting another's feelings. Yet you can't bring yourself to apologize coz you feel that it is right to express that you are upset and why. So at this moment that friendship is on the line.
What happened today though helped me have faith again in friends again. Was thinking of another friend today and really wanted to talk to her but my laptop was down so couldnt go online. Just now I just got online and who do I see? its Her. And talking to her has really made me feel so much better.
A few days ago in class I was doing a passage on lilliput and my class was very lost until I read out the story to them. One kid asked if there were really little people like that. So cute. Anyway I was a little shocked to find out only one kid had heard of Gulliver's travels. I was thinking of showing them this series I had seen on TV with Ted Danson which I thought was real real good - but where do I get it ? its not even a movie.
Today I had gone to Carrefour to do my weekly marketing and just decided to chk out the dvd shop above for latest movies. Guess what was the first dvd I saw on their rack? Gulliver's Travels! I had forgotten all about it until I saw it. So now my class will get to see it. We are doing the topic on fantasy stories right now and they are supposed to act out a drama based on the story. Ooh they are so excited about it and the story outline they came out with is quite good. So i shall wait for their dramas next.

My Bloody Valentine- All The Time In The
World



Your theme song is mellow and spirited, perfect for
a long day of relaxing. You know how to slow
down and enjoy life for what it is, without
getting stuck on the past or worrying about the
future - good for you! Sometimes people may see
you as lazy, but they'll never get the same
pleasures out of life as you do.


What's Your Theme Song?
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Morpheus


?? Which Of The Greek Gods Are You ??
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Term started and i dont know where 10 days have gone - almost in whoosh. From getting adjusted to a new timetable to 2 new classes to getting ready for prelims its back to running around. The Canadian in my department got fired as he didnt turn up for work for 3 days and didnt inform anybody. That created a split in views with some saying that he should be given another chance and others saying he shouldnt be. When he finally came to school it was like no big deal - he had broken off with his girlfriend and was undergoing depression so he just decided not to show up. Meanwhile there were parents on that last day of school waiting to talk to the teacher and he was nowhere!
Well anyway because of all that i got one new s2 geog class - one of the classes i taught in sec1. So when i walked in they were very happy. It was the next day that i was ambushed by another class outside the door to ask why i didnt take their class too - hai what to do - i only have so many periods.
The school has moved the teacher's room to a floor below so it was a bit chaotic with us packing and teaching at the same time. We finally moved down and I really like my place - a nice corner. Today the photocopier was moved away to the teacher's resource room and 5 min later it came back. Its one of these huge industrial type machines and they wheeled it to the other room and then realised that it couldnt go through the doorway so its here to stay at the teacher's room.
Today in class I made the class do a chinese lantern or what was supposed to be one but it turned out to be a round ball - well they enjoyed themselves so that was good. ( i think!)
I finally got to see "School of Rock". I thought it was a good film but didnt always agree with what he was doing as a teacher in the class - eg getting the kids to talk back/ That led to a debate with my husband who felt that the kids in that class had zero learning - which I disagreed with - they did learn something - some life skills like organising and coming up with a programme and stuff - but to do that in isolation was wrong.

Well havent been blogging for a bit. Have been on holiday and really this time was real fun meeting up with pple - more on that when i have time. The photos will also take some time. Sorry to all those I promised.
Once I got back I had to to for a two and a half day workshop at a villa like place some 2 hours from Jakarta with all the staff at school. It went quite well and had oodles of fun. We went to stay in this place that’s like a huge bungalow with an adjoining hall. I expected the worst but it was ok – quite clean and comfortable beds. We had sessions on setting standards for the school and also on coming up with mission statement and core values. That was quite boring as people would get hung out the most minute of details like “what is the difference between perseverance and determination”. But the rest of the time where we spent with doing things like going for walks, staying up late to chat, playing games like taboo was fun. On the last night – we learnt a song from Irian from the others and sang it at the barbeque. We also learnt a folk dance – “poci poci” . At one time here in Jakarta it was like the Macarena. Got to learn in a group so not paiseh la. Shocked a few pple in the process though coz quite a few pple have this impression I am very serious and dull person who is not very sporting. We have some Filipino teachers and one of them is a real great dancer so we learnt a Spanish dance as well. Cool huh.
Then we wanted to go to this snacks shop and had to go in the school car. What started out as a trip for 3 became a trip for 10 as more pple wanted to come. 10 of us squeezed into the car and off we went. It was a great 2 days as we really got to hang loose before we start school tomoro.