last fri and sat i was at my late grandma's house.
there was a big scale prayers organised for my late grandpa, late grandma, late great grandpa, late great grandma and late auntie. apparently i had this auntie who was born before my dad. she passed away when she was still a child, because she was having high fever, and at that time the family no money to see doctor, so my great grandma fed her opium, hoping that she will recover from the fever, and sadly she passed away. if my pharmacist wife read this i can imagine her eyeballs stare big big.
so on fri, which was the last day of term 2, i left the sch exactly at 1240 pm to go back home and bathe, then travel down to bedok for the prayers. reach there at about 3 pm and the prayers havent start yet, so i was folding the joss papers and paper ignots with my cousins. then my uncle said... on fri night we have to 守夜...
3 years ago when my grandpa passed away and 2 years ago when grandma passed away, it was my little sis who did the 守夜 roster for the cousins. so she took up the responsibility again, and she said those who are married and the wife is pregnant, are excused from 守夜. #THANKYOUSIS
and one more thing to share... i found out that 思 is actually not the family name for the next generation. because my cousin's son is named 思敖 (SiAo hahahahahaha). so both my dad and myself assumed that 思 is the family name. then my cousin told us that he did not follow the 家谱. so my dad immediately went to check the next generation family name from his 6th aunt (who is also my 6th grandaunt). and so the next family name is 源.
so instead of 思赜 (SiZe), we shall call him 源赜 (原则). a man of principles. hahahahaha.
and the next generation (ie our grandson) family name is 后. i will psycho my son to name him as 后裔. 太阳的后裔. HAHAHAHAHA. i am totally enjoying this name calling thingy. :p
my heart was being stabbed because all the cooked food has to be thrown away. they were left in the open for too long from morning until late afternoon and may have gone bad. :(
took us so many days to fold all these joss paper and paper ignots. we started folding them like one month ago. -.-'''
literally littered with paper money.
and ta da everything is gone just like that. please spend the money happily in the 阴间!
on tue and thur afternoon, the adss pe dept organised netball inter-class games for the sec 1 students and football inter-class games for the sec 3 students.
i was one of the teachers who were in charge of the football inter-class games. for both afternoons i was the referee for all the football matches. really enjoyed myself being the referee. finally felt more like a pe teacher, instead of a discipline teacher who go around collecting statements from students who committed offences such as fighting and smoking.
on thur afternoon, the inter-class games ended with a friendly match between the staff and students. of course the staff won, with a score of 3 nil. i scored 2 goals and assisted 1 goal. :)
then as we were clearing up the football field and moving the logistics back to the pe store, the netball teacher in-charge told us that the netball girls want to play a friendly with us. #SHAGGGGGG
and we played 20 minutes of netball with them. had lots of fun too. but i went home with an aching body. 33 years old already, have to admit i am getting old and my body is not a 23 year old body anymore. hahahaha.
thank you all students and teachers for a great ICG 2016! hope all the students had lots of fun and had lots of class bonding. :)
my dad thought of a few names for our son.
for those who didnt know, my family follows the 家谱, meaning that the sons of a generation has the same first character. my male cousins all start with 渊. my dad and his brothers and his cousins all start with 泽. my ah gong's generation all start with 树. and so for my ah gong's generation, you get all the funny names like 陈树叶，陈树木。my ah gong is 陈树根.
so for the next younger generation, the first character is 思.
i thought of calling him Tan Si Jin. in dedication to yoo si jin from DOTS. hahahahaha.
jokes aside, these are a few names that my dad came up with:
极 - 顶尖；登峰造极
赜 - 精微；深奥
豫 - 欢喜；快乐
济 - 人才济济
we actually liked 思极 and 思赜.
but... being a teacher, i start to imagine what will happen if his school mates play the name calling game on him.
思极 will become 死鸡 (dead chicken).
as for 思赜, his hanyu pinyin name will be Si Ze. if you put Si and Ze together will become... SIZE. M size. L size. XL size. hahahaha i was laughing to myself when i thought of all these.
(i got the feeling that merllie from nuscd is going to PM me soon.)
i forgot when is the last time i posted about manchester united, the team that i supported since young, when i first started watching football on tv. those were the days that you can watch football matches on channel 5. now you have to pay exorbitant prices to watch football matches on singtel or starhub.
but anyway, we won the FA Cup! watched the match until 330 am because the score was 1-1 after full time and there were 30 minutes of extra time. jesse lingard scored the match winner and his volley was unbelievable. it came out of nowhere!
juan mata, the man who scored the equaliser. until now i still dun understand why he is not called up for spain's euro 2016 team.
jesse lingard, goal scorer of the winning goal!
FA Cup trophy lifted by the captain wayne rooney and vice-captain michael carrick!
david de gea, our goalkeeper, who was fantastic for us as usual. i think he is the world number 1 goalkeeper right now.
GLORY GLORY MANCHESTER UNITED! #GGMU
vesak day reminds me of the performance i am involved in with a religious association back in 2013. through this performance i made many new friends. some of them are really nice people and helped me alot and i invited them to my wedding. as for the others, i shall just deem them as passer-bys in my life.
first of all, i like to mention about nickson. nickson is a very good actor, and you can see his works at some commercials and movies, for example the famous local production, 7 Letters. and also the cpf poster 2015.
acting is just his passion, as well as his sideline. nickson's main occupation is a director of a translation company.
before my wedding, i was looking for a bridal car. so i posted on facebook, asking for bridal car lobang. and he left a comment, telling me not to waste money, and ask me to pm him. so i did pm him, and he volunteered to provide me his white bmw, as well as being the chaffeur. i was elated, and asked him how much should i pay him, and he told me to just give him a token fee ang bao for good luck. i am really thankful for his help. :)
the day before the big day, i met him at my aunt's condo. my aunt was the official florist. so he had to drive his car to the condo for my aunt to arrange the flowers.
on the big day!
besides nickson, the people whom i invited to my wedding are:
renee, the lady in maroon, who was the director of the performance. she's my senior in kevii hall.
chin huat laoshi, the gentleman standing behind renee, who is a dance instructor. he was the costumes IC of the performance. very nice guy and i love him for his straightforwardness. he was my little sister's dance instructor.
i also invited weiling, the stage manager. unfortunately she was not free on that day.
just now i listened to some of the buddhist songs from that performance to trigger some memories, as well as to commemorate vesak day. hahahahaha.
last year june i went to vietnam with my colleague Mr TSG.
this year during the june holidays, darling and i thought of going for a short trip, for example to bali or taiwan. however darling's mum is super against her taking an airplane, so we shall heed her advice and go for a staycation instead.
so for this june holidays, we are going for 2 staycations.
the first staycation will be 3D2N at... ...
.
.
.
intercontinental singapore!!!
we are going to shop till we drop at bugis, and eat till we explode.
we will have breakfast at clinton street bakery.
lunch/dinner at some of the cafes in bugis, for example hyde and co.
the next staycation will be at marriott hotel, together with darling's family. we are celebrating both father's day and mum in-law's birthday. we will be having dinner at 海底捞 and the next morning we shall eat egg tarts and drink milk tea at honolulu cafe for brunch!!
so before i start eating all these good food, i arranged for my ippt to be before the intercontinental staycation. now training myself to get GOLD. $500 is too captivating.
presenting to you, the ADSS PE Department in office wear! we were so happy that today is finally the last day of MYE, and we can wear back our sports attire. and then the news came to us that we still need to wear office wear on monday's marking day. zzzz...
finally got to try prima deli's salted egg yolk lava cheese tart. it is really very nice. but is no cheap. it cost $2.80 per tart. and you need to order at least 1 day in advance.
this morning i took the bus for the very first time in year 2016, because i accompanied a student back home as he was feeling very affected after a discipline case, and his mum is not free to come to school to bring him home, so i decided to accompany him home.
and when i tap my ezlink card at the machine... it has already expired. luckily i have coins with me and i asked the driver how much isit. to my shock, i have to pay $1.40 and i am just alighting one bus stop later.
sent the student back home and is another $1.40 back to admiralty mrt station. so i have to go and replace my ezlink card, and the ticket office actually have 'captain america: civil war' edition!
so thrilled and happy with my new ezlink card. :)
first of all, happy mother's day to my 亲生母亲. you always tell us that we are a traditional chinese family, and we dun celebrate mother's day because it is meant for westerners. and being a traditional chinese myself, it is very hard for me to say i love you to you, and also hug you in person, so i shall express my love to you on my blog. thank you for raising me up from day 1 since i was born until now, especially during the years when i am weak and frail and have frequent asthma attacks. i will always remember you piggy-backing me to the nearest clinic when i had a severe asthma attack. although sometimes i can't stand you nagging at me or keep asking me repeatedly how to change whatsapp profile pic or facebook profile pic, but i still love you and i am thankful for what you have done for me. :)
next, happy mother's day to my 岳母大人. you will never read my blog (unless darling shows it to you hahahahaha). thank you for raising darling up to who she is today. and thank you for entrusting her to me. thank you for always cooking such nice dishes and nice soup when i drop by for lunch/dinner. whenever i eat at 663 my appetite can increase 2 times. that's how nice your food is. :)
and of course happy mother's day to my darling, who is going to be a mother in mid september. please take good care of yourself and mini yy, and once you have given birth to mini yy and after your 1 month confinement period, i will bring you to sushi bar and treat you to all the salmon aburi and hotate aburi. :D
bought these yummy pastries for my mum, mum in law and darling as a mother's day gift. these pastries are from ollella, at Petain Road. comes in a box of 4. 1 box for each of them. happy mother's day!!!
this afternoon i went down to TKSS to play volleyball with my pe classmates.
before that i also met up with the ex english hod of the previous workplace, who has also transfered to TKSS. it was a great catch-up session with her, and she told me many things about the previous workplace, office politics as well as the usual gossips.
back to my pe classmates. really thankful to know this bunch of people when i went to nie in 2008. we have graduated since 2010, and every year we will try our very best to meet up to play volleyball or have lunch/dinner.
thank you for hosting us, Mr Sim (the one in baby pink tee)! Mr Sim is the SH PE of tkss, and he is now the acting HOD PE of tkss. congrats for getting a baby son a few months ago! :D
darling went to KKH for the ultrascan, and... it is a boy! :)
i am going to teach him wushu, and i am going to make him a manchester united fan and we are going to watch manchester united football matches together. :D
today is the first day of MYE. the moment i get out of my car, and walked past the canteen, i can feel that hundreds of students are looking at me.
throughout the day, i got all these comments, from both colleagues and students:
"You look so different!"
"So handsome!"
"This is the only time that we can see all the PE teachers dressed like that!"
"Cher you look very smart."
it feels good to get all these praises, but honestly, i will still prefer to wear pe attire during the exams period. hahahahaha.
watched this with darling. it is a damn good movie. go watch if you havent!
i survived four months in a new workplace. next week will be MYE already, and i can have a short break from the normal lessons.
the sucky thing about MYE at the new workplace is that... the PE teachers have to change into formal office wear. the reason being that during MYE there are no PE lessons. oh well...
i shall stock up on my office wear tomorrow. gives me a good reason for some retail therapy. :D
tried 海底捞 for the very first time, with my family.
海底捞 is a steamboat restaurant, and there are only 2 outlets in singapore. one at 313 somerset and the other one at clarke quay. the little sis said the one at 313 somerset is better because the restaurant is bigger and there is a higher chance to get a table. having said that, she still have to make a reservation one month in advance. if you did not make a reservation and want to try your luck walking in, you have to wait at least 2 hours. -.-'''
海底捞 not only provides very good ingredients for the steamboat, they also provide very good service. they take pride in the quality of their service staff. for example they have a very big waiting area for customers, with seats provided for them, and even snacks to fill up their stomachs temporarily.
inside the restaurant, the waiters/waitresses pay attention to every single detail, for example giving us zip loc bags to put our hps, giving hair bands to ladies with long hair, providing aprons, providing hot towels, constantly filling up our glasses with drinks without us requesting, etc etc.
you must order their 甩面 and this guy will perform defy gravity stunts with the noodle dough. your jaws will drop when seeing him perform.
海底捞，i will be back! :)
this year is our first Admirals' Run, held at japanese & chinese garden.
last year was known as Cross Country, and was held at Woodlands Waterfront, unfortunately the moment when everyone reached there, it rained cats and dogs, and the whole event has to be cancelled.
thank goodness the weather today was very good. and the event was a success. the P messaged my hod to convey his best wishes to the pe department, thanking us for making this event a memorable experience. :)
i really like the PE department here. starting to form very close bonds with all the PE teachers. after the event we went to brotzkeit for lunch and we chit chat until 5 pm. we were so busy during the whole event that we didnt manage to take a dept photo. haiyaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
anyway here are the pics!
from left to right: ms chin huijing (year head for lower sec); ms suba (assistant year head for sec 2); myself (year manager for sec 2, aka the discipline level coordinator for sec 2); mr jamil (chairperson for the parent support group). my duty for the event was the starter, meaning that i have to start off 9 different waves of runners. and... dun you like our pe dept tshirt? we are known as FAT - Fit Athletic Teachers :)
presenting to you, the Student Development Team of ADSS! my P is the one on the extreme left. the one in yellow at the back is my VP. the VP was a recipient of President's Award for Teachers. mai siao sao. and he was the one who asked me to be the year manager for sec 2, when i reported to the school in dec 2015. and i dunno why i agreed. (上了贼船)
today i took a break from work, because i am called up for a reservist briefing at tampines safra.
when i was staying at tampines, the previous briefings were always being done at yishun safra. now i stay at woodlands, the briefing is done at tampines.
so anyway, this briefing is actually for our 10th ICT. it means that it will be my final reservist briefing, and after the 10th ICT, i have MR-ed and i do not need to go for reservist anymore! yessss!
on 9th july there will be a batallion cohesion at tampines safra.
11th july to 18th july will be the ICT, and on 16th july will be our MR parade at Singapore Sports Hub, as part of the NE Show.
looking forward to this significant event!
darling made delicious pancakes for breakfast. :)
served with blueberry jam, honey and bananas. i am a satisfied man. i am also a blissful man.
the niece was too bored at home and so mum in-law brought the niece to our house. so we entertained her throughout the whole morning and afternoon. dad in-law popped by after lunch and da bao-ed carrot cake, chendol, cheng tng and mee qian kueh for us. what a nice way to spend a saturday afternoon. :)
after that darling and i went to bugis+ to catch The Jungle Book.
the movie is nice! we like it alot!
the last programme of the day is supporting my little sis, who is the playwright for the theatre show 'The Inheritance'. the show resonates with me very closely because... my little sis wrote the script based on huanyang's love story. HAHAHAHAHAHA. i was really engaged throughout the whole show. and the 3 cast are very good!
so proud of you tan yuyang! :)
today was the previous workplace 30th anniversary.
when i first saw this pic i was in awe. it must have took alot of effort to coordinate everything. then when i knew that it was mr hafiz who did all this, any query that i had was solved immediately. there is no other person more suitable than him for this job. kudos to you mr hafiz!
happy 30th anniversary tpss. thank you for all the good memories from 2007 to 2008, and 2010 to 2015. i am very thankful to the previous workplace for giving me so many opportunities to shine, and recognising me for who i am. i am thankful to all the colleagues and students that i met, and these are the people who make my life as a teacher so enriching and colourful.
today was also the last day of CCA for the sec 4 and 5 students at my current workplace, as they are officially stepping down to study for their national exams.
we had a commendation ceremony for the dance club's graduating seniors. i triggered their tear ducts by giving a very emo speech accompanied by a very emo background music (that's what i have been doing for the past few years for my show choir graduating seniors). after the ceremony my colleague came to tell me that i looked like i was about to cry. hahahahahaha. probably i had forged a strong bond with them within a short span of 4 months.
i admire their creativity for throwing up their dance pants in the air. hahahahahaha.
went to esplanade to support my show choir alumni. they are performing for deniece's concert, and they are in the opening item 'at the end of the day'.
'at the end of the day' was the competition piece for b-dazzled 2013. it was the most memorable item for me out of the 3 years of b-dazzled because it was my first time bringing them for this show choir festival as the teacher overall in-charge.
from left to right:
celine, graduated in 2013. she was the secretary.
wenxin, graduated in 2013. she was the vice-president.
brandon, graduated in 2014.
chauli, graduated in 2014. she was the president.
alya, graduated in 2015. she was the dance captain.
great to see all of you again! do continue to perform and relive your passion for the stage! :)
this morning i have to reach admiralty mrt station at 8 am to meet my dancers. they are performing for the CDAC Official Opening. the guests of honour for the opening are mr ong ye kung, acting minister for ministry of education, and mr amrin amin, parliament secretary for ministry of home affairs.
our rehearsal time on stage was from 830 am to 9 am, and at 820 am, mr amrin appeared at the stage area! we spoke to each other and we even shook hands.
there were altogether 11 dancers performing, and they are all sec 4/5 students, so this will be their last performance before they step down.
personally i think their performance still has lots of room for improvement. but on the account that this was their first time doing a hip hop item, and all of them are from modern contemp/malay dance background, i shall not be so demanding.
anyway xuehong also came down to watch them. he went to pay his last respects to derek's mum in the morning, and msg-ed me that he is somewhere near my house. so i asked him to come and find me and he agreed and we did some catching up. impromptu meeting up is always the best. :)
yesterday night the niece was admitted into KKH because she had chest infection and high fever. so this afternoon we went to visit her and to our surprise (not), she was very cheerful and in high spirits!
get well soon niece! anyway the niece was so cheerful partly because she had her own private ward, and she can go to a big air conditioned living room where there's toys and cars. she is treating it like a staycation. :p
