the sec 2 students have to do outdoor cooking during their pe lesson, to prepare themselves for the upcoming sec 2 experiential camp, because they will also be doing outdoor cooking. if i rem correctly my first outdoor cooking experience was in jc year 2, during a student leadership camp. i only remembered we got solid fuel, mess tins, oil, and potatoes. i forgot what were the rest of the food we had. and so i started the fire, poured the oil in the mess tin, and cut the potato into small pieces, and threw all of them into the oil. we had deep fried potatoes. it was a very oily affair. and of course the subsequent outdoor cooking experience was in BMT, where we cooked maggi mee during our field camp. eating maggi mee outfield was really a shiok experience. it brought us to civilisation. anyway the students had fun lighting up the solid fuel, cooking the maggi mee and the most fun moment was of course eating the maggi mee. hope they can cook the chicken properly during their sec 2 camp.
this morning i went to bedok reservoir and camp christine for the sec 2 camp recce. this year i am the camp commandant of sec 2 experiential camp. for me the highlight of this camp is outdoor cooking. the kids are given one whole chicken, pizza and kebabs!! super excited to see how they will transform the raw food to edible food. camp christine is at jalan bahtera, which is very near my army camp and also very near ntu. so we went to nie canteen to have our lunch, to reminisce the nie memories. how i miss the bak chor mee, the western food and the apple yakult drink! anyway the video of the cirque du soleil performance is finally up! :)
this is my 2nd international performance. the first international performance was at mauritius. and speaking of mauritius, xuehong is leading a dance group to mauritius again! they will be flying off tomorrow morning. have a safe flight, and enjoy yourselves over there! have a successful performance!
the weekend was spent with darling watching a drama performance 'off centre' on sat and watching 'avengers - age of ultron' on sunday.
can you recognise my little sister? she is part of the ensemble cast but i think her role is still quite prominent among the ensemble. before the performance i bumped into the #nochemistry dance partner yokekay, and she happened to watch the same performance! hahaha too coincidental. after the performance yokekay told me that the little sister is very good! :) this performance was super long. at least 2 hours and 30 minutes. both darling and i are amazed that i can hold my weak bladder for so long. hahahaha. and my butt was a bit painful and sore after sitting for so long.
avengers was good! i like! typical predictable storyline but who cares. the visual effects are good enough. this movie was 2 hours 20 min but after 1.5 hour i have to go to the toilet already. hahahahaha.
i feel thankful that i can still do crazy stuff like this at the age of 31. when i move, i feel good. kudos to the girl in green, because she is a dancer from modern chinese dance, and she is also a tae kwan do exponent! she won the bronze medal for her age group's sparring category in the inter-sch tae kwan do competition. graceful as a dancer, fearless as a tae kwan do exponent!
syf choir results are out! my show choir got an accomplishment. i just finished my PE lesson today at 930 am and was walking back to the staffroom. then one of my show choir kids ran towards me and said to me with disappointment in her voice:"cherrrrr, we got accomplishment..." and she showed me the results that were obtained from the syf website. kids are really very resourceful nowadays. i was overjoyed. i am really satisfied with this result. the most important thing was that we dare to go to traditional choir syf as a show choir, and we dare to make a difference as well as create an impact. this afternoon we had our celebration party, as well as the farewell party for the sec 4 students. this batch of sec 4 students has really been a great batch. they will be terribly missed.
giving a speech to everyone, followed by showing them the farewell video (that was done by yours truly).
let the party begin!
haiyo my student ahhhh... zzz... #unglam #moment
with the fellow teacher in-charge. she will be my successor after i leave the workplace.
my instructors enjoying the kimchi salmon. :D
adding more kimchi to the salmon. hahahahaha.
with the president. she removed her braces two months ago.
i am allergic to the workplace. over the weekend at JB, i didnt cough at all. when i was at darling's house on sunday i also didnt cough. this morning once i step into the staffroom i start to cough again. and i coughed a few times throughout the day. and back home i am coughing again... haiz... hope this cough can recover fully. my workplace did very well for syf! so far we have 4 distinctions and 1 accomplishment. now waiting for the choir results to be out. i am honestly afraid that we will get commendation, and my kids will be greatly affected. let's hope we can get an accomplishment...
performance went well (in my opinion). i did not cock up the fire part. the only person who cocked up was derek who dropped his fire stick on the floor. haha. other than that, everybody was safe and no one was injured. this morning was a mad rush especially for the make-up portion. kudos to adam, derek, yunnie (derek's wife) for successfully completing the make-up for 20 performers. you shall know why the make-up was crazy.
group pic at the hotel lobby before we set off. courtesy of my gopro.
she took off her braces two weeks ago!
more pics to come after xiaoyun's brother upload the pics. :)
i finally took off my braces, after two years! and the first photo that i took with was actually not darling, but was her niece. hahahaha.
i think she is too well trained to look at hp instead of my gopro. hahahahahha. and then i went to woodlands mrt stn to meet with xiaoyun and wilson. we are going into JB tonight for a rehearsal at city square mall. the performance will be on the next day afternoon. we left woodlands mrt stn at 730 pm, and was stuck in a horrible jam, and we finally passed johor customs at 9 pm. we hor lan a bit on the way to city square mall, and by the time we reach there it was around 940 pm. we started rehearsing at 10 pm, finish rehearsing at 0020, and by the time we checked in our hotel it was 1 am...
we stayed at bliss boutique hotel, which was only 5 min drive away from city square mall. the hotel was not bad! love the interior deco. my roommate was adam, and he bought mango sticky rice and papaya salad for us to share together. both dishes tasted soooo goodddddddd!! i slept at 2 am. adam, derek and some of the senior dancers still went out for supper until 3 am plus. i admire their energy and stamina. i can no longer stay up until so late already.
and the syf was finally concluded! felt like a proud father watching the kids performing at SOTA concert hall.
so sweet of my instructors to buy a rose for everyone! next wed the results will be out. and we are having a party on that day to reward all the students' efforts for syf (irregardless of the results), as well as a farewell party for the sec 4s who are stepping down. feeling a bit emotional to see them go as they have been with me since sec 1 when i first became the show choir teacher in-charge in 2012. my instructor ask me to prepare the signature kimchi salmon for the party. HAHAHAHAHA.
tmr will be my first time bringing a CCA for syf. to me, syf is a platform for students to shine and to express themselves, but at the same time they go through so much stress and so much practises, just to achieve the certificate of distinction. that's why i told my show choir that results does not matter to me. i want them to do their best on stage, express themselves fully, and at the end of the performance, if they receive thunderous applause and a standing oviation from the audience, that is more than enough. we want to go to there to make a difference and create an impact. i started teaching as a contract teacher in july 2007 until july 2008. the cca i was allocated to was wushu, because of my expertise in wushu. i finished my nie in 2010, and was posted to a sch in pasir ris. the current workplace came in and swooped me away from that sch. from 2010 until 2011, i was allocated to wushu again. then during the end of 2011, i was having work review with my HOD, he told me that in 2012 i will be taken away from wushu and changed to choir. my immediate reaction was like: HUHHHH??!! CHOIR??!! I CAN'T SING FOR NUTS! I ONLY SING KTV. he read me like a storybook and told me that it was the sch leaders' decision, as the choir will be changed to a show choir, and it will be good for me to be there to oversee the 'show' portion. and the rest, they say, is history.
this morning i hosted the syf choir exchange for four schools, each school showcased their syf item and the various conductors gave feedback on how we can be better.
hope that they will do well in wednesday's syf. it is my first time bringing a CCA to syf. and then right afternoon i have a performance rehearsal with RnM, all the way until 6 pm. i nearly died of exhaustion. hahahaha. this upcoming performance will be at JB city square mall, 18 apr at around 2 pm. do drop by and say hi if you happen to be at that area! the theme of this performance is circus, and so i will be doing some wushu moves, a bit of dance, a bit of duet, and a bit of fire stunts. the fire stunts are pretty exciting and i am glad to try out something new. next friday i am going to see my orthodontist, hopefully for the last time!
in 2009, 2011 and 2013, i always managed to watch our modern chinese dance syf. but this year my lesson clashes with their syf and hence i am unable to go. :( luckily xuehong, bin gege and yokekay were there, and they msg-ed me saying that my sch was not bad. hopefully they get the result that they wanted. after my lesson i cabbed down to ucc to watch the remaining schools. only ninja hawk was good. the rest were ok ok only.
with the president!
with the alumni!
of course must take dance pose photo with audrey yong, who was also the dance president last year!
my birthday present for darling was a staycation at swissotel merchant court. i have a good rate for the staycation, because i am a farcard member. :)
room is a bit smaller compared to marriott
they also have expresso machine! damn cool. dinner was at swissotel merchant court ellenborough market cafe, as i have a 50% discount voucher, also thanks to my farcard membership. favourite dishes there for me was the black pepper crayfish (i ate 7!!!), salmon sashimi and the durian pengget. i also arranged for a complimentary birthday cake from swissotel. the farcard has so many benefits! :D
darling's BFFs from secondary school also joined us for the birthday celebrations. today we continued with the birthday celebration by having atas high tea at anti:dote, at fairmont hotel. there are two types of tea set. the anti:dote tea set and the oriental tea set. both anti:dote and oriental cost $45++ each, and the only difference between the set is the starter dish. if you choose anti:dote tea set, the starter is scrambled eggs with black truffle (DAMN NICE YOU MUST EAT THIS). if you choose the oriental tea set, the starter is a dim sum dish with 3 types of dim sum (har gao, chive dumpling and scallop siew mai). both of us ordered the anti:dote tea set. you can choose your drink, which is tea (from a series of TWG tea) or coffee (cappucino, macchiato, latte). and your drink is refillable ONCE.
it's TEA TIME!
THIS BLACK TRUFFLE SCRAMBLED EGGS WITH 2 X BREAD STICKS IS DA BOMB!
and here comes our anti:dote tea set, in a wardrobe. the wardrobe is very heavy!
top layer is the desserts: Strawberry gateau; Limoncino Napoleon; Cappucino comtessa; Framboise lychee macaron; Red cherry rose ball; Karukera chocolate mirror tart; Chocolate pralines; Butter cookies; Chocolate-dipped strawberry
first drawer from the top is the savoury items. from left to right: Confit duck rillette, foie gras terrine, pickled onion; Boston lobster roll, confit lemon, chervil; Berico ham quiche, mozzarella, black truffle; Smoked salmon, lemon and dill cream cheese, ikura roe; Coronation curried chicken, apple second drawer from the top is warm raisin and candied ginger scones. the waitress advised us to eat the scones first because they are still warm. if we left them for too long, they will turn hard.
bottom drawer is biscuits packed nicely for us to da bao back, and 3 types of jam to go with the scones. from left to right: Devonshire clotted cream; Lemon curd; Homemade strawberry jam. initially my favourite was the lemon curd, but towards the end my favourite became the clotted cream. hahahahaha. and because i am a farcard member, i got 20% off the total bill! woo hoo! happy birthday darling!! hope you enjoyed being pampered on your special day~ love you~
