final day

the principal invited us (teachers only) to his house for lunch. the 4 VPs were there too. his house is huge! and very nicely furnished.

we ate together around a large carpet. very cosy. i like. =)

after the wonderful lunch, we went to the sch for one last time. our kids will assemble here and then we will go to the airport.

one by one we see our kids arrive, in big nice flashy cars. and the most amazing thing is that some of the cars are driven by the indonesian students. they can get their license legally at the age of 16. although most of them start learning at the age of 14. -_-'''

from the happy looks on my kids' faces, i can infer that they enjoyed themselves for this home stay. to think that they were scared in the first place. haha. they came up to me excitedly, telling me wat they did. they went shopping, went to watch concert, some even went to watch a live bball match between china and su-ra-ba-ya! omg why they so happening. haha.

we finally reached the airport. happy faces become sad faces. singaporean kids hugging indonesian kids, with tears in their eyes. kids from both countries really bonded alot, and they cant bear to leave one another. special feelings even developed.

(all of them are smiling, but before that their eyes were red and had tears on their faces)

(took a pic together with the indonesian kids and their parents. they have been really hospitable towards us. one of the parents even gave the teachers a gift. i dunno wat my female colleagues receive. rene and i got a batik shirt! so now we have two batik shirts! see a bracelet on some of our arms? its given to us by one of the indonesian boys. very sweet of him.)

inside the departure hall, our kids are still bidding their last goodbyes. a bit drama, but i am still touched by them.

finally, back to changi airport. we gathered everyone together, and shareena gave them a short debrief.

basically all of them behaved generally well. and we are really happy to watch them grow throughout this whole trip, and its our pleasure to be their surrogate parents for this 9 days. :)

no regrets going for this trip, and all of us are looking forward to the indonesians coming to sg, so that we can host them with the same warmth and hospitality that they showed us.

day 8

in the morning, the mayor of su-ra-ba-ya invited us to his palace, or should i say residence, for some ceremony. it is a formal occasion, so the students have to wear their blazer and tie. me and rene wore batik shirts. haha. its our first time wearing batik. we received different comments. some say we look like chee-ko-pek. some say we look like some rich indonesian-chinese bloke.

during the ceremony, there is a parade by the uniform groups. think of our ndp on a smaller scale, and with cmi marching. and then there is a mass performance by cute little kids, which includes military band and dance.

after the whole ceremony, we went back to the sch again. our kids are going for a home stay with their indonesian buddies. the buddies' parents are also there. we teachers dun have home stay, haha. our kids were feeling quite scared and nervous about this home stay, and they were super unhappy that we teachers dun have and can stay in the hotel for one more night. =p

some random pics:

(me in batik)

(the freedom fighter!)


(the sch's principal and rene)

next, our students showcase their performance. i did not shoot a video of my group doing the dance, cos i was behind the audience, doing the dance together with them, as i noe some of them will be nervous and forgot the steps.

anyway i did record their finale item. i was very touched when i hear them sing, knowing that every single lyric describe their feelings at that point of time.

if you dunno, the song is Graduation, by Vitamin C.

next up, is the performance by the SMAN15 choir, which i had mentioned previously. they sang 3 songs. first is you raise me up by josh groban. second is 月亮代表我的心! chinese version! they sing word for word accurately, and none of them are chinese! my god all of us were super impressed. the 3rd song is their indonesian folk song.

(you raise me up)

(月亮代表我的心)

their singing very nice rite? btw, their choir was only formed for one month. and for 月亮代表我的心, they only practised it 3 times. talented. amazing.

so after all the performance, their VP went up on stage to announce our students' names and their buddy. one by one our students went up on stage, joined by their buddy and parent.

woo hoo! finally! peace and quiet for one night! but actually, when i was on the mini bus with my colleagues, i started to feel a bit 空虚. i realised i do miss my kids. =p

me and my colleagues went back to the hotel for a short rest, and in the evening we went shopping! we had a nice dinner at this steakhouse, which have free buffet of desserts and salads. i bought nike apparel for darling. rene and i bought a batik shirt each. the batik shirts that we wore in the morning were not ours, they actually belong to our VP's father. after this morning's experience of wearing batik shirt, both of us fell in love with it and decided to buy one for ourselves. haha.

after shopping, went back to our hotel for the last night of stay.

going back home soon! but thinking that i have to go to reservist right after i go back sg i also sian. haiz.

day 7

wow so fast i blog until the 7th day already.

from reading my blog you may have the impression that i am having lots of fun during this trip. yes its alot of fun, but there are still some details that i choose to leave out. me and my colleagues do face some problems handling the kids, as some of them will misbehave and break the rules. we also have a communication barrier with our indonesian counterparts, which as a result, led to some issues unresolved.

but as a whole, all of us, teachers and students, still enjoyed our trip and its really been an eye-opener. the students have grown alot during the trip, to become more independent and responsible.

on the 7th day, we went back to the sch again. this time round the kids are not there for lessons, but to hang around with the indonesian friends they had made, and bidding their last goodbyes. its nice to see the indonesian students being so friendly and hospitable. i am sure we will do the same when they come to singapore in july.

so everyone was walking around, taking photos, chit chatting, playing with the canteen aunties' children.

after leaving the sch, we went to visit the ancient ruins of majapahit.

one of the sch's VPs invited everyone of us to his house for dinner. btw there are 4 VPs in that sch. this particular VP that invited us is a very fun-loving person. everytime during meals i always eat alot, and he took note of that, and always scoop for me alot of rice and food. its a pity he cant speak english, and i cant speak bahasa indon. haha.

btw heard that before he came into a teaching, he was a freedom fighter. in america context, it means terrorist. in indonesian context, i think it just mean a soldier.

for indonesians, they dun call buffet caterer, cos i think is very expensive. they will get the wives to cook a wonderful spread. i think it is a very nice experience to eat their home-cooked food, and the food taste delicious. :)

day 6

after our breakfast, the first place we going to is a CEMENT factory.

on our mini bus, the usual activity starts again.

we reach the entrance of the factory and i ask them to take a group photo.

some of them are still sleeping. -_-'''

the mini bus brought us to a building which is further inside. once we saw the building, we saw five big letters on the building, and we cant contain our laughter.

HAHAHA.

guess wat are the letters.

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.

.

after the factory visit, we went to a private sch. the students there put up alot of exhibits to show us their culture and way of life.

it was still early in the afternoon, and we headed back to the hotel to get some rest, because most of the kids are losing steam and very tired. in the evening we rehearsed for the performance.

that wraps up day 6.

day 5

nothing exciting to blog about on day 5. in the morning we went to sch for sch experience. after the sch experience, we went to another shopping mall. there was a anime shop selling anime souvenirs, and also got sell different anime costumes. i wanted to buy the naruto sleeveless vest but there's only one size left and its too small for me. haiz wat a pity.

i also bought JCO donuts for my group, because they had been behaving very well. so all of us ate the donuts in our mini-bus, and we were all squealing in delight. its my first time eating donuts from JCO, and they taste really great! i seriously think their donuts can win donut factory. the moment you bite into the donut, the cream inside will ooze into your mouth and the feeling is heavenly. not only that, the cream on top of the donuts will also smear the sides of your mouth, and one of my kids took candid shots of me eating, which i refuse to post up here, cos the pics look damn disgusting.

the kids have to put up a small performance on day 8 for the teachers and students of SMAN15. my group has been arrowed to perform the song chan mali chan. actually they were supposed to practise this song to perfection before coming here, but they didnt. same goes for the other groups. so we teachers have to help them with the practise to make sure they dun sia sway on stage. my kids ask me to choreo some dance steps for them. well, i din actually choreo, but i just use some steps from a dance item i performed.

can you guess wat item isit?

scroll down for the answer.

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yup, the glory goes to 我的家园 from DR07. hope ding laoshi wun ask me for copyright fees. haha!

its really very funny to see them dance to these steps. even the boys were complaining the movements were very gay. =p

day 4 - animal safari

the highlight of the day: ANIMAL SAFARI!!!

this means that you will be seated inside a vehicle, and go inside a enclosed park, where the animals will roam on the streets and get very very close to you.

the journey to the safari is about two hours. halfway through the journey, one of my students 尿急. being a bladder-problem person myself, i noe how it feels to be 尿急, so i get my malay students to ask the driver to find a petrol station.

since journey is quite long, most of the kids are sleeping, and i decided to do sth funny.


ta da! doing a classical pose made famous by chio outdoor enthusiast.

its my first time to a animal safari and is really damn cool. imagine lions and tigers just a few steps away from you, and you really have to close the bus window, just in case they ki siao and jump inside the bus and bite your head off.

everyone loved it and had a really enjoyable time.

i will definitely plan a trip to africa to visit their animal safari! :)

day 3

it was a monday. the first day of a new week. and also the first day we went to SMAN15 for school experience.

the morning assembly took one hour! my god. there is a parade, where students will march the flag to the flagpole. after the flag raising ceremony, the principal will give his speech and then read out the school rules. after that the principal give a welcome speech for us. next is my vice-principal's turn to give a speech. after all the speeches is morning announcements. i think my kids' legs were going to break already, cos back in our sch, the morning assembly take about ten minutes. and here they are, standing for one hour.

after the assembly, the kids were split into different groups to go to different classrooms. the teachers were split also. shareena teaches maths, so she follows one of the maths teachers. rene follows the physics teacher, and i follow the chem teacher. natalie is the hottest property among us, because she teaches english and english literature. all the english teachers invited her to their classroom for lesson observation. and some even extended their hospitality by inviting her to stay at their homes.

i followed this female malay teacher to her class. actually the students had finished their final year examinations, and their vacation is coming soon. so everybody is in relac mood. the teacher dunno how to speak english, but thankfully the students knew. i introduced myself to them and then go and sit down at one of the tables. so the teacher started speaking. and then a few minutes later, the students spoke something and they were looking at me, giggling. i noe i am in some sort of trouble.

the teacher came up to me, smiling, and spoke to me in bahasa indon, which of course i dun understand.

and then one of the students, who happen to speak the best english, told me that the class wants me to teach them crude oil....................... -_-'''

i was like huh??!! i din even prepare anything! i immediately waved my hands, refusing them politely. and the next second they were all clapping their hands, welcoming me to go up to teach. haiz.

so i teach lor. at first i just take a marker, write on the whiteboard, and use hand movements, and nv speak.

the same student raised his hand and told me, "mr tan, you can teach us in english."

me, "isit? you all understand?"

whole class, "YES!"

my god. i underestimated them. i feel so paiseh.

so i taught them crude oil. after that i taught them alkanes. and after that... we started talking cock. hahahaha.

they ask me alot of questions. they ask me the education system in singapore, wat is my impression of su-ra-ba-ya, wat is my impression of their class, and wat are my hobbies.

just to share with everyone, SMAN15 is the second best secondary school in su-ra-ba-ya. so all the students here are very intelligent and hardworking, and also highly motivated in achieving good results.

now let me share with everyone this conversation.

student: mr tan, wat is the passing mark for chemistry?

me: fifty out of one hundred.

(the whole class groaned)

me: ???!!!

student: mr tan, our passing mark is 70!

i was shocked. and also impressed. for their sci and math subjects, the passing mark is 70. for their english and humanities subjects, the passing mark is 75! my god.

at the end of the lesson, i asked them to take a photo with me. all of them were excited, and happily obliged.



and when i walked out of the classroom, a few female students rushed out of the classroom and ask me to take photo with them, which of course i obliged. haha.



after the school experience, we went sight-seeing and do some shopping at this very big shopping centre. the time given to shop is one and a half hours, and the kids were complaining that it was not enough.

after shopping, we went for dinner. my bus driver receive wrong information. instead of bringing us to the restaurant, he brought us back to the hotel. luckily i got malay students in my group, so i get them to communicate with him, and to ask him to call the other bus drivers where are they. he cant reach them, so i have no choice but to call my VP. haiz. overseas call. very ex. apparently the restaurant is very near our hotel!!! just five minutes walk only! -_-'''

finally we reached the restaurant, and i asked my group to take a picture at the entrance. they have to point at the signboard and give exasperated faces, showing that we finally reached the restaurant when it is so near yet so far. haha.



the food at the restaurant is good! the best meal we had throughout the whole trip.

clockwise from top-left-hand corner: very unique fried fish, chicken, tom yum soup, prawn fritters and fried kang kong.



lastly, a very corny video:




hungry, anyone?

su-ra-ba-ya day 1 & 2

before i blog about my whole trip, let me share some background information.

this trip is actually a exchange program between my school and this school in su-ra-ba-ya, which is called SMAN15. our students will be going to SMAN15 for a few days of school experience. and then in july, the SMAN15 students will come over to singapore.

altogether there are 32 students from my school going, led by 4 teachers. the students are divided into 4 groups, so each teacher will take charge of one group.

ok so let's embark on the wonderful journey!

the day started at six am, where everyone has to assemble at the changi airport terminal 2. can see stoned faces and also excited faces. some of them have nv travelled overseas before. some of them have nv travelled overseas without their parents. so we teachers are their surrogate parents and their safety is our responsibility. sound very noble rite.

the flight that we took is silk air, and the travelling time to su-ra-ba-ya is only two hours. upon reaching their airport, we were greeted by our vice-principal. he went there one day earlier than us. some of the SMAN15 students and teachers were also there to welcome us.

off we went to SMAN15. their principal gave a welcome speech which i totally dun understand cos it is in bahasa indonesia. after that we were entertained by their choir. their choir is good! and the conductor is quite sweet looking. haha.

next we went for some sight-seeing around the city. we went to this majestic mosque which has a very high tower. so we went to the top of the tower to enjoy a magnificient view of the city.

(my colleague, rene. he teaches physics)

the next destination is a very nice and cold place, called mount b-r-o-m-o! it is a 4 hour journey on bus. before this trip, we were told to bring warm clothes. apparently most of my students nv go and research online about mount b-r-o-m-o. thankfully i did and i found out that the temperature up there is 5 degree celsius and it can get colder at night. i brought my adidas sweater and a brown jacket and it is still not enough to keep me warm. some of my students only brought a jacket and is definitely not enough, so they do funny things like using their pants as a scarf and bringing a towel to wrap their ears and mouth. but luckily the locals got sell gloves, winter hats and scarves. and they got rent thick jackets.

and now, let me present to you my group:

they are very nice kids and nv give me much problems throughout the whole trip.

we have to sleep very early because at 3 am, we have to wake up and make our way to the peak of mount b-ro-m-o to watch the sunrise. its even more colder at that time and all of us were shivering. i think it is a very good experience for the kids. haha.

the sunrise is very nice. but is a pity i din capture good pics. the view after the sunrise was simply breath-taking. can see volcanoes, with smoke coming out from the top. damn cool. you need to be there to witness everything with your own eyes to understand wat i mean.

after watching the sunrise, we went to another portion of mount b-r-o-m-o to see a crater. btw b-r-o-m-o is still an active volcano. the crater we going to see is very high up and far, so there are horses to bring us up there. we have to pay for the horse ride. there were limited horses, so some of the students din get to go up, so rene and i stayed together with them.

and then suddenly, one of the boys suggested going to the crater on foot! so i accompanied him, and together with another boy, all 3 of us begin a test of our physical fitness. let me show you wat i mean.

from my location, i have to go all the way up to see the crater. (use this ancient temple as a landmark)

(halfway up to the crater. already si bei shag)

(still got a steep flight of stairs to conquer)


(finally at the peak! the brown thingy at the top left hand corner is my finger. the region inside the black circle is our starting point.)


(the crater, with the smoke coming out)

upon reaching there, all of us were shag like hell. i was panting. immediately i bought a bottle of isotonic drink and finished it in one go.

we stayed on top for quite a while to admire the beautiful scenery. and then we jog all the way down again. a very good workout for us. i am able to uphold my reputation as a pe teacher. haha.

it was already 7 am when we got back to our hotel. we ate breakfast, showered, and head back to the city of su-ra-ba-ya.

back from su-ra-ba-ya!!!

hello everyone!

enjoyed myself alot for this trip! lots and lots of happy memories!

i love my colleagues and my kids, and also the indonesian counterparts, for their warm hospitality. :)

wun be updating about this trip for the moment, cos i will be away for reservist tomorrow, until saturday. sadded rite??? sunday come back sg, monday go reservist. haiz. poor me.

just to show everyone some pics:

stay tuned for more updates after my reservist!