holiday plans for end of year!

it is the time to announce my holiday plans during the dec holidays! :)

firstly, i will be bringing 24 kids to hk for cultural arts immersion program, from 27 oct to 1 nov. although this doesnt count as a holiday because i am going there to work. 

from 30 nov to 5 dec i will be going to macau and hk (yes again!) with darling and her family! 

and finally on 19 dec i will go for a cruise on royal carribean, for 3 nights, together with my army friends mr leow and mr mak! 

looking forward to the end of the school year. 3 more months to go! :)

teachers' day reception at istana

it started with a phone call a few months ago. i think it was in may. 

me: hello? 

vp: yy ah, mrs chen here ah. 你九月四号有没有空？

me: ok wait, let me guess... 你要我去 istana 对不对？

vp: 哈哈哈我要约你出去可以不可以？

me: 我宁愿跟你约会，也不要去 istana! 哈哈哈。

vp: ok lah, 跟你开玩笑的啦，so 我们派你去 istana ok? it is a great honour to be chosen! 

me: huhhhhhh~ 可以不要吗？换别人去 lehhhhh~

and so after all the taiji here and there, in the end i am still the one going. hahahaha. honestly i nv like to go to this kind of events, especially when i am going there alone. 

the reception was changed to this evening, because on 4th september, the istana is hosting a diplomat. 

the teachers' day reception happens annually, whereby each sch will send a representative to attend the reception. heard that it is a great chance to network with the higher ups, and if the higher ups take notice of you, your career path will soar. too bad i am not a social butterfly. people may think i am but i am actually quite an introvert. 

so anyway, here's how the invitation card looks like:

and must be dressed in a shirt with tie! or ethnic costume. if i wear ethnic costume it will be a bit over, so i stick with shirt and tie. 

and i was perspiring while queuing to go into istana. the reporting time was 5 pm to 530 pm. i reached at 505 pm and there was already a super long queue at the main gate. it was quite a funny sight and many people were curious about what is happening and some of them start to take photos of us queuing. even some teachers also take photos of the queue. seriously wassup man... 

after registering our name at the main gate, we need to queue again to go through security screening. and after the security screening we need to queue to get up the mini bus to send us to the istana main building. 

at the reception, the president teacher awards were presented to 5 teachers, for their utmost dedication to the service, and the amount of work they had done in leading, caring as well as inspiring their students. 

food was good! and luckily i saw my presiding examiner from the o levels last year, and she was also very happy to see me. i guess she has the same feelings as me. hahaha. 

oh yah i forgot to mention that batman went too. so i should be lucky that i can talk to two people at the reception! hahaha. 

i didnt get to take selfie with tony tan, cos we were not allowed to. hence i have to make do with an atas toilet selfie. 

teachers' day celebration is next thursday! can't wait! :)

happy birthday Dad!!!

The Son, eldest child:

“以一般东方社会来说，男性仍然被视作一家之主，爸爸要承担

家里粗重的工作，做重大的决定，要有担当，有责任感，有规

划。因此一个男孩要成为一个怎样的男人，首先要在自己身边

最亲密的男性长辈上，看到一个示范。” Thank you Dad, for 

always being the role model for me to look up to, over all these 

years since I was born. Happy birthday!


The Eldest Daughter, second child: 

Happy Birthday PAPA. You're my man and I will do everything 

I can for you to put on that smile on your face for the rest of 

your life. Things has changed in some way or another ever 

since Ah Ma passed away. I see for myself, the pain in your 

eyes on that very day you know Ah Ma is gone. You have been 

so selfless and fillial that I want to do the same too. Stay happy 

always PAPA! We love you!

The Youngest Daughter, youngest child:

Today's my dad's birthday, and he's the handyman at home. 

And today... is the first time I won't be around to celebrate it 

with him. Papa doesn't know it but this puppet is for him 

(basically because Asian daughters don't tell Asian dads they 

got them presents, they just PLANT it next to them), to make 

up for all the times I can't be at home to watch the telly with 

him. Even though mini-me has huge-ass hands, she can't 

press the remote for him, but she can lean on his shoulders 

like how I did when I was young. 

Happy birthday pa~pa~

#throwback national day celebrations

thank you to all teachers and students who danced together with me! love you all~

hari raya celebrations with colleagues

i remembered last year we learnt how to beat the kompang (some malay drum thingy) and how to learn malay dance. i got volunteered (as usual) to learn the kompang and the malay dance. 

this year's hari raya celebrations was the best. we are split into our four houses. each house must nominate 3 male teachers to wear the samping (some malay traditional costume for the men). very naturally all the 4 house masters got volunteered. and then the rest of the people in the house will help us wear the samping. we look quite comical wearing the samping because can see our leg hair. 

so the 12 of us have to do a catwalk. batman and the 2 robins are the judges, to see who looks the most confident and most suave in samping. i didnt get into the top 3. hahahahahaha.  

#evaair #hellokitty

for the hello kitty fans. :)

great memories of USA

darling sent me a video of the breathtaking niagara falls, and said that she missed those nice memories. 

i missed those memories too, hence allow me to recap. :)

RIP robin williams... 

sunday post

finally tried freeing, a game whereby you are trapped in a room, and you need to solve puzzles in order to escape from the room. 

not very cheap. 28 dollars per pax, for 45 minutes. i honestly rather go watch a movie, for example teenage mutant ninja turtles, and i pay $9.50 to watch it for 102 minutes. 

yesterday's perf at NAFA cost me 22 dollars for a ticket, and i watch it for 90 minutes. but having said that, i paid 37 USD to watch les miserables at new york city. i think it is a no-brainer to determine which one is more worth it. 

the point i am making is that, i am always very supportive of the local arts scene, and always very supportive of young talents, but it is just that the tickets are really a bit too expensive. i don't think the fault lies with the organisers. i think is because of the venue costs. and why venue costs so high? probably because they need a large amount of money to maintain the venue. and everything points back to the high standard of living in sg. 

saturday post

when i see xuanxuan stare at me smiling, my heart will melt.

and then darling will 'scold' her: 你啊你。。。看到 boy boy 就笑到酱开心！

hahahahahahaha.

she is quite strong in kicking her legs. there was one time she kicked my groin. ouch. 

went to watch this with darling! my favourite moment is when the four turtles were in the lift and they start to hit their weapons to start the rhythm and then start to beatbox. 

finally at night we went to NAFA to support my students' dance performance. 

it was really a great performance! the show was divided into 3 segments: ballet, drama and chinese dance. i was so afraid that i will fall asleep during the drama segment but surprisingly it was very entertaining!

saw DLS, ZLS and BLS after the performance, and we chatted for a short while. BLS said that i looked slimmer compared to last year. hahahaha. but i think he is trying to make me happy because i am quite sure that i am fatter this year. 

without further ado, the proof:

2013 vs 2014. :p

venus, from modern chinese dance, who is now in sec 3. she really improve alot after joining NAFA. and the girl on my right needs no introduction, who is none other than foo chun ying, the best dancer i have worked with so far throughout my years in the workplace. 

class photos and cca photos

staff photo 2014

i love this year's staff photo! the best one since 2010! 

love it so much because we get to wear our ethnic costumes, and we look so vibrant with all the cheerful colours! 

can you spot me? :p

new phone!

behold everyone, my new phone! :)

what happens backstage

as the teacher in-charge of any cca, it is very important to establish rapport with your students. you show them your heart, they will give theirs to you. 

here's me, giving them a final briefing, before they go up on stage to perform, to achieve glory for themselves and for the school. :)

happy birthday singapore!

national day was spent at darling's house. we watched running man together, and cooked korean glass noodles for lunch. 

and i got a bad stomach upset after that. supposed to go to fullerton bay hotel for buffet dinner with my family and relatives, but on the way there, my stomach upset got worse, and i decided to go home and rest. thank goodness darling was by my side. 

darling cooked nutritious maggi mee for dinner. she only used one packet of seasoning for two packets of maggi mee! 

inside got egg, tomatoes and big white vegetable! very nutritious isnt it? thank you darling for taking care of me just now. :)

finally, happy birthday singapore! happy to be born here, and happy to be a singaporean. but it will be even better if the cost of living is not that high. :p

national day celebrations at the workplace

this year, for the very first time, we are singing 'reach out for the skies', and also dancing to it, together with the kids from the pri sch next door. 

honestly speaking, having the national day observance ceremony with the pri sch kids is an embarrassment, because it reveals how angelic they are, and how idiotic we are. 

every year, our kids will always be very noisy. every year, i will always have to walk among the crowd and ask all of them to keep quiet. i am not the only one, there are a few teachers who will also do the same. but it is always the same few. 

and the national anthem was being played, they dun sing out loud. the noise level generated from talking is much louder. 

hence when it comes to the dance, the pri sch kids dance with so much happiness and with so much energy. as for our sec sch kids? only the people standing in front did the dance. only my performing arts people did the dance. all my colleagues did the dance. 50% of the students stood there, and stare at me. my heart goes out to them. hope they will try harder next year. 

the outcome of all these behaviour? a 30 minute scolding session by my DM at the end of the national day celebrations. it is sad. really sad. 

ok lah at least take pics make me happier, and also my alumni came back to visit me.