and finally. 10 months have passed and it is the last day of school for the sec 1 to sec 3 students.
presenting to you, my beloved form class, 2E2. this class is a tough class to handle, with many "outstanding" individuals, and as a result there were many "outstanding" discipline cases last year. i guess the school management have alot of faith in me and so they put me as their form teacher this year to control the class. this year the class still have quite a few discipline cases, but through these cases i get to know the students much better and have established a much stronger rapport with them, as well as their parents. so for the last day of sch, my partner FT and myself chipped in money to treat them pizza, as a final closure for 2016.
this day was exceptionally emotional for some of them. we were having circle time during the last period, and i was with 20 boys (my partner FT was with 13 girls and the remaining 6 boys). so each person was supposed to share which classmate helped them in a positive way, and also to thank the classmate. then when it was a boy's (who is well known to be mischievous and immature) turn to share, he actually started crying. all of us were stunned, including me. and later on, another quiet boy, also started to cry when he was sharing halfway. these kids are really unpredictable.
another highlight to share is that another boy, who is well known to be immobile (because he refuse to participate during PE lessons and i gave him a nickname that is 小河马), actually automatically took a broom and dustpan and start to sweep the floor of the classroom during the Keep Admiralty Clean movement. we were all surprised. last day of school can have so many magical things happening.
so anyway, let me recap my experiences for this year, at a brand new workplace, from the beginning of this year, until now.
malacca trip happened in january, which is a cohort trip for the entire sec 2 level. this was the best time to get to know my form class students.
the first group photo with the pe dept, during cny celebrations.
the pe dept's signature event, admirals' run, which was held at chinese garden. a very nice and scenic place for cross country. but the distance from woodlands is a bit... far. one thing i like about this admirals' run is that it is also a 2.4 km test. one shot clear all the students 2.4 km in one day. that is efficiency.
all the pe teachers in our formal wear. in this sch, during the mid year exams and end of year exams, the pe teachers must be dressed in our formal office attire, because there are no pe lessons during exams. during exams, all teachers must be dressed professionally. seriously i find this a bit... nvm i shall not say. there was no such nonsense at the previous workplace. but having said that, at least i can wear my clubs and countries football jerseys in this workplace. batman dun allow the pe teachers to wear them, which until now, i still do not understand the rationale.
this was mid-year exam post exam activities. i was the referee for the sec 3 inter-class football games.
august is a defining month for me, because it is the time when the whole school realise who i really am, and they also realise that i can... perform/dance. we started to teach students and staff the mass dance steps in the beginning of august, and that's how the whole school realise my hidden talent. some of the teachers also put up a teacher's special item during national day concert, and of course i was being jio-ed, and taaa daaaaa, that's my virgin performance at the new workplace. :)
teacher's day dinner, that was held at chevrons. the theme for the dinner was superheroes, so the whole pe dept dress ourselves as power rangers. the whole costume is DIY ok! kudos to our creativity! taking a pic with the best dressed female teacher, who appeared as Storm of X-men. and i was the best dressed male teacher, because i did an exceptionally outstanding performance and my male competitor totally cannot fight. after that, a very senior teacher told my colleagues, "to know YY's true self, just give him the stage." HAHAHAHAHAHA.
how can we forget ACES Day? my first ACES Day experience at the new workplace can only be summed up using one word: INCREDIBLE. the whole school danced together. seriously no kidding. i can never achieve that at the previous workplace.
and the conclusion to this post will be the photos taken with the Student Development Team, the sci dept and pe dept.
i must say this is one power packed team. missing the discipline master, mr nigel chong, who was away on reservist. he is one guy that i really respect. even if i hate doing discipline, but for him, i will bite the bullet and persevere and continue settling discipline cases.
science dept! :)
and of course, the lovely pe dept. what a virbant, energetic and awesome pe dept. i am glad to be in a wonderful pe dept at the previous workplace. this pe dept is definitely on par! together we can achieve so much great things!
last sunday was yuan ze's baby shower, at my meimei's condo, the Arc.
the theme of this baby shower is tsum tsum avengers, and i am very thankful to have my student, denise, as the chief decoration officer. she had two assistants on that day, jean (also my student) and ting wei (who is denise's ex bf and also darling's cousin).
avengers themed macaroons and cupcakes sponsored by darling's meimei.
tsum tsum avengers plush toys, that i got from qoo10.
jean and denise!
my father's 背影
darling told me the niece has been aiming the spiderman cupcake for very very long. hahahahaha.
with dad and da mei. little sis was not here because she had a performance.
elena yong and boyfriend! i got this feeling that she will be my first student to invite me to a wedding banquet.
dancers from dancescape!
tpss show choir~
darling's colleagues
my tpss colleagues~
students from modern chinese dance, with their instructor and also my chinese dance teacher, bai laoshi.
my 4 macho students.
last but not least, my good friends from nus chinese dance~
thank you everyone for the gifts and ang baos. myself, darling and yuanze are truly blessed to receive all your love.
it is past the mid-point of october.
and yuanze is already 1 month old! last saturday we had yuan ze's baby shower part 1, for darling's relatives and friends.
part 2 will be this sunday, mainly for my students, colleagues, relatives, and some of darling's friends.
some pictures to describe the happenings of the past 2 weeks!
the pe dept photo is out! really love this pic. love the coordination of colours and how wacky we are in this fun shot. :)
last fri i conducted the o levels briefing to my invigilators, i am the chief presiding examiner AGAIN (i did it in 2013 and 2015), this time at a sch in the north. after the briefing i went to visit my ex VP, who is now a VP in another sch in the north. had a really great time catching up with her, and the moment i post this pic on instagram/facebook, the general consensus is... SHE LOOKS DIFFERENT. honestly i think that she looks more 憔悴.
a pic of yuanze, taken at man yue part 1, by darling's bff. :)
on sunday morning, my army friends mr leow and mr mak came to visit yuanze, and got him gifts. thank you mr leow and mr mak!
final pic of this blog post is a family pic taken yesterday night at SEA Aquarium. our cousin held his wedding there. honestly it is a very unique experience to hold a wedding there. how often you get the opportunity to dine with fishes, sharks and stingrays. but the jia lat part is... dinner starts at 830 pm, because have to wait until 7 pm when all the tourists left, then can start to set up the tables and chairs for the banquet. yesterday night the dinner only start at 850 pm. and by the time the dessert came... it was already 1120 pm. i reach home at 12 midnight. HAIYOOOOO. but still, a big thank you to my cousin for this unique dining experience, and congrats to you for tying the knot!
the baby is the most powerful person in the whole family because when he cries in the middle of the night, everyone will wake up and attend to him.
i have encountered sleepless nights thanks to the baby, and it is really tiring, but i must say that we are thankful to have the support from darling's parents to help look after the baby. darling's mum is the baby expert, and she has the power to convert a crying baby to a consoled baby (that stops crying). because of them, i can catch up on my sleep in the morning.
sidetrack a bit, on thursday i went back to the previous workplace to play football. also shun bian meet my financial planner at TM starbucks to buy insurance for yuan ze. ok the 重点 is that i scored my first ever header goal for the previous workplace, and is a diving header! just want to document this in my blog hahahahaha. we won our opponents 5-4. :)
my sister is back from her long overdue honeymoon, and she bought lots of stuff for us. she bought under armour tops for myself and darling, bought a harry potter top for yuan ze, and the icing on the cake is she bought an oakley shades as my early birthday present. thank you THY! love you lots~
here's some photos to showcase the happenings of the week!
praying that yuanze dun bite my nipple as i am taking this selfie.
my tank instructor Tho Fengyi bought yuanze diapers. 2 big boxes! thank you Fengyi~
really love this pic! look at yuanze's deep dimple!
forcing yuanze to become a ninja. hahahahahahaha.
friday was staff photo taking day. presenting to you the science department! the most happening science dept photo that i have ever taken, with all the props. A+ for effort! the pe dept photo has props too. can't wait to see how it will turn out.
23 sept was my HOD's birthday.
we actually planned a birthday surprise for her. however it was an eventful day on her birthday. one colleague took mc. another colleague hurt his back while teaching volleyball. we have to ask another teacher to send him to the TCM at chong pang as the rest of the PE teachers are still having lessons.
so myself and miss lim decided to still carry on with the surprise. during her last lesson, we appeared during the last 5 min with a cake. and both of us, together with another two colleagues, and her PE class, sang her a birthday song.
from 7 people in the department to only... THREE. pathetic sia.
and today we had a belated birthday celebration for our boss! but still our boss treated us because it is a belated teacher's day treat. of course we bought birthday presents for her lah. we went to rasa istimewa restaurant at woodlands waterfront. my first time there! woodlands waterfront is a hot place to catch pokemon, and opposite you can see JB. the food at the restaurant is not bad! most importantly it is halal. we were there at 230 pm so the restaurant is quite empty. evenings are packed.
once again, happy birthday boss! glad to have you as our boss, and i am loving this pe dept more and more each day! :)
still feeling surreal that i am now a dad.
and i experienced these first times as a dad:
1) feeding milk to my son (and also transferred my skills of washing test tubes in nus to washing milk bottles at home)
2) changing my son's diapers everytime he poo-ed and pee-ed (there was one time in the middle of the night i was changing his diapers halfway and the fountain of pee happened and the pee kenna himself and myself)
3) bringing him to the polyclinic for his first check up (thank goodness my mother in-law accompanied me)
AND also.. bringing him back to KKH because his jaundice level was too high. on friday it was at 101. on monday it was at 251. and yesterday, darling and mother in-law brought yuan ze to the polyclinic, it shot up to 330. and the doctor said he must be admitted into KKH A&E. darling and mother in-law went back home first to feed him, and i asked darling to pack my staycation bag. i left school at 12 pm (super thankful to my hod for covering my lessons) and drove back home, to pick mother in-law and yuan ze.
thus this is my first time seeing yuan ze undergoing phototherapy, and he has to be warded for one night, and parents are not allowed to stay over.
yesterday night at about 10 pm we received a call from kkh, saying that his jaundice has increased to 334. we were so worried because his jaundice has increased, even after 7+ hours of phototherapy.
but thank goodness this morning his jaundice level has dropped to 268. the nurse will check his jaundice level again at 4 pm. if the jaundice level has dropped below 260, we can bring him back home. we are really praying for it to drop so that he can come home soon.
yuan ze, jia you!!! papa and mama miss you.
too shag in the morning because i woke up a few times throughout the night to feed him/change his diapers.
can you see his dimple? :)
darling's edd is on 14 sept. because it is her first child, she need to go to KKH one day earlier for induction, so that the cervix will be fully dilated at 10 cm on the day of edd.
our obstetrician is dr ck khoo. initially we asked xinyi, our chinese dance friend, who is also an obstetrician at kkh. but because darling works at ktph, and ktph is paying 90% of the hospital bill for darling to stay at the 1st class private ward. the obstetrician for 1st class private word must be at the senior consultant level. xinyi told us that she havent reach the senior consultant level yet, so she highly recommended her mentor, dr ck khoo, to be our obstetrician. and so we chose dr khoo, dr khoo accepted darling to be his patient, and he showed us all the love. during one of the consultations i wore a man u jersey, and he was so happy because he is also a man u fan! he praised us for being a very chill couple, and he said that it is ok to not see him that frequently. he gave us his hp number and told us to call him or msg him anytime if we have any questions. he said that he dont need to worry about us because we can reach him or xinyi at any time. so before darling's edd, the last we saw him was one month ago. other preggies still see their obstetrician a week ago before edd. that's how much faith he placed in us. hahahahaha.
on tuesday (13 sept), we reached kkh at 545 am. darling went for her first induction at 6 am. and she came out at 9 am. induction is a very painful process. :(
we checked in our 1st class private suite.
2nd induction took place at 2 pm. 3rd induction will be taking place at 10 pm. xinyi said that if the cervix has dilated to 3 com, there is not a need for the 3rd induction.
at 10 pm darling starts to have contractions already and she requested for pain relief. from the private suite (at 8th floor) she is brought down to the labour ward (2nd floor).
she had to use the laughing gas to ease the pain. the doctor on duty came in (who is xinyi's friend). the doctor checked darling's cervix. dilated 3 cm. water bag burst already.
and then dilated 4 cm. darling cannot take the pain already. request for epidural. the epidural injection will take 30 minutes, and i cannot stay inside the labour ward.
after the epidural darling felt much better. so both of us caught some sleep. one or two hours later, the side effects of the epidural start to kick in. she kept trembling. her shoulders, waist, buttocks are very pain. she has to lie in a very awkward position. the whole process of giving birth is really very painful. at this point in time, i appreciate darling even more, and all the mothers in the world, including my own mum.
the next check, she has dilated 6 cm.
i feed her water, give her massages on the shoulders (that made her feel better), keep encouraging her.
finally it is 6 plus in the morning. 9 cm already.
7 plus in the morning: xinyi came in and say hi.
8 am: 10 cm already. nurse lower the epidural. dr khoo came in and say hi.
820 am: darling start to PUSH!!! pushing is like you are having constipation, and you still push for all the shit to come out. for the first phase of the pushing, two nurses are helping us. dr khoo and xinyi are not in yet. half an hour later, the senior nurse manager came in. the senior nurse manager suggested darling to change to a lateral position to push. and the pushing really improved! better progress was made. (xinyi later on told us that the senior nurse manager got wind that we are xinyi's friends and so she came in to show us some love)
915 am: xinyi comes in and help with the pushing
928 am: ok can see the baby's top part of the head already. call for dr khoo. dr khoo comes in.
ok now is crunch time. the next minute, dr khoo put his fist on the right side of darling's tummy. xinyi put her fist on the left side of darling's tummy. so while darling is pushing with all her might, dr khoo and xinyi are also pressing on her tummy with their fists with all their might. darling was really in super duper pain and just keep pushing. the whole head came out.
and dr khoo ask yueting to stop pushing, and take a look at the baby's face. and the next second, dr khoo pull the whole baby out AND ta daaaaaaaaaaaaaaa the baby is born. honestly the feeling of seeing the whole baby come out is damn amazing.
dr khoo instructed me to cut the umbilical cord. then once the cord is cut, dr khoo asked the nurse to place the baby on the weighing scale. and he asked me to go and take the photo of the whole baby, and also remember to take the picture of the weight. baby weighs 2.98 kg.
and then dr khoo together with xinyi patched up yueting's wound. and we ended off with a group photo!
darling is so so so so brave. i am so proud of her. husbands who are going to be fathers, please accompany your wife throughout, even when she is in contractions. she will be so thankful to have your presence and support. i saw a husband waiting outside with his headphones and playing games on his hp... :(
everyone, please meet Tan Yuan Ze 陈源赜!!!
darling and i are parents!!! really cannot believe it.
my parents are finally ah gong and ah ma! they look so happy. :)
thank you everyone for the well wishes through instagram, facebook, and whatsapp.
thank you everyone for visiting us KKH. my cousin made a surprise visit yesterday morning at 1030 am (just before we are about to discharge) and bought a man u jersey for yuan ze. :)
looking forward to see all of you at yuan ze's baby shower!! :)
we had a birthday meal for xiaoyu in advance of her actual birthday (19 sept) because of the following reasons:
1) darling's edd is on 14 sept and she will be in confinement for 1 month
2) huanyang and husband are going for their long overdue honeymoon, flying off to san francisco on 17 sept
3) xiaoyu has rehearsal on 19 sept
originally we wanted to eat at swensen, to trigger our childhood memories because when we were very young, our parents brought us to the swensen at changi airport for ice cream and we were all very happy. so when huanyang called to make reservations, swensen told her that they don't do reservations.
so we are afraid of the unpredictable long queues during lunch hour, hence we opted for the safer route of going to a restaurant that allows us to make reservations. hence here we are at 福临门豆捞!
when you go to fu lin men, you will naturally compare it with hai di lao. the quality of ingredients at both restaurants are about the same. the shiok part about fu lin men is that each person has ONE pot! and the manager takes pride in the soup stock they have, saying that the soup stock is broiled for dunno how many hours, and there is totally no MSG used in the soup stock, because the boss of fu lin men is the director of two hospitals in china and he advocates HEALTHY EATING.
this was where we sat! :)
this 木耳 appetiser taste really good!
because our total bill reached $280.00, the restaurant gave us complimentary 4 x abalone. each abalone cost $10! and when they knew the lunch was an early birthday celebration for xiaoyu, the chef cooked a bowl of 寿面 for her. what great service!
xiaoyu's birthday cake is 2 x durian mooncakes from 818 durian trading company.
