YEAR END Holidays!!

Finally, i am able to travel to VN!! Yippee.. I tink this is the thing that's keeping me going in the daily hassle of school.. I am so bogged down by work that i thot i was gg into depression soon.. BUt anyway, i am working myself out of this..

Anyway, back to my holidays.. I will be gg to 2 places end of this year! Vietnam and HK!! Yeah! Not that i am rich la, but cuz i wanna go and visit some frenz of mine.. And anyway, cuz our main aim is to visit frenz, i don't think we will buy anything.. hahaha.. It's 2 budget tours.. WEEZZ..

Mich Lim and me will travel to HCM on the 4th, then we slowly make our way up to Hanoi to see tung, trang etc.. I'm thinking of gg back to Hoa Sua to see if Vinh is there.. And frenz at Youth Hotel, students from Hoa Sua who are working now.. So many ppl to meet up with.. Dun know if got enough time of now.. But if we don't go to HCM, it'll be so funny cuz we've been to VN for 3 times and we din even visit HCM before.. that's a joke lor.. hmm..

Then from the 14-17th of Dec, Ice and me will go to HK to visit Robert and he agreed to bring us ard HK.. Hee hee.. So nice.. And he even said that he will call the other 2 participants from AKF 7 years ago!! hee hee.. hmmm.. got catching up to do then.. He sent me this pic.. Saying that he will contact them to meet up with us when we are in HK.. haha.. 3 "must do" things that we will do when we are in HK,
1) Visit Robert ( the one wearing strips in the picture and his 2 "monsters" at home.. )
2) Visit his dojo (but we don't wanna train there leh.. though he said he wanna lend us gi and sparring equipment.. ahh.. we dun wan.. very diu lian de..)
3) Eat!!

This pic is taken 7 yrs ago.. Wonder how they had changed..

tuesdays with Morrie Part 2

Quote:

Tension of Opposites. Life is a series of pulls back and forth. U want to do something but you are bound to do something else. Something hurts you, yet u know it shouldn't. You take certain things for granted, even when u know you should never take anything for granted. A tension of opposites, like a pull on a rubberband. And most of us lives in the middle.

So which side wins? Morrie answered, Love wins, Love always wins.

We do take a lot of things for granted.. And we do that consiously and sub consiously.. I asked myself, if one day, i will not be able to see and i become blind. Wat would become of me? Can i still be a teacher? Can i still see the beautiful sunset, the birds, the sky or the sea? Can i still experience the lit up faces of the children, my students, my family, my friends? If 1 day, i m crippled, will i be able to go to places where i want to go? Will i be able to go overseas and travel to the less travelled countries? If 1 day, i would just lose the use of any of the body parts that i always take for granted, what will happen to me? What will I do?? How will i react? Will i still be the strong positive person i m now?

I was reading the book on the bus these days.. However, i always stop before i reach my destination. Cuz i will always tear at some point in the book. Today, i saw the part till the journalist asked Morrie, what will he do if 1 day, he loses the use of his hands, and you could no longer talk, how would u communicate? Morrie replied that he will need the ppl to ask him yes and no qns.. Then he asked on silence, morrie's good fren, Maurie is now deaf, imagine morrie being unable to speak and maurie unable to hear. What would that be like?

Morrie's reply was "we will hold hands. And there'll be a lot of love passing between us. 35 yrs of friendship, u dun need speech or hearing to feel that." I asked myself, how many ppl's hand have i held? How many ppl's hearts have i touched? I won't have frenz of 35 yrs. Frenz are never counted in the no of yrs we know each other. It's the kind of vibes or whatever you call that, that makes us click and become frenz. I can know ppl from my primary school and yet, that person that i know may not even be as close as someone that i had known just for months!

I have held my mum's hand before she left me. The feeling of that never leaves my heart and will never be gone till the day i join her. However, what abt my family, my dad? How long have i not hold his hand? Since i was in primary school.. I tink.. That was a long time back.. Why is there a need to hold hands? I always thot holding hands as something very close and personal.. I dun hold hands with ppl.. not even close frenz.. I will feel very uncomfortable.. In fact, hand holding are for people who are very close to each other.. Parent and child, husband and wife, couples.. they share a bonding between each other.. That's why they hold hands, isn't it?? But do the couples in this present age know why they hold hands??

There's a particular time when Morrie went into class, he sat there without talking for a cool 15 mins.. Everyone in the class became very embarrassed by the deep silence. Some became agitated and think when is he gg to say something? some squirm and kept looking at the watches, some looked out of the window trying to be above it all.. The main topic he was on was abt the effect of silence on human relations. Y r we embarrassed by silence? wat comfort do we find in all the noise? If i were in a situation like this, i would be uncomfortable too.. BUt now, i tink, being silent with another party or a group is ok.. It's alright.. Let the unsaid feelings flow to the other party.. That sometimes, might be more effective than talking.. Next time i would just let the silence fall and see wat happens.. haha..

Tuesdays with Morrie

I am reading this book that i borrowed from sin.. Been wanting to borrow this book from him some time ago but kept forgetting the title.. Today i manage to get it from him.. Read the first chapters.. It's a good book.. And it's touching.. A lot of insights.. Anyway, the idea of a "living funeral" strucks me hard.. What's the point of telling the whole world that the dead person is such a wonderful person when that one lying in the coffin might never know how good he/she was? Shouldn't we tell the people that we love and cherish how wonderful they are?? It's always simple to pen my thoughts down rather than telling it to others.. It's always easier for me to express my concern n love to friends rather than my own family.. I always detest such character of mine.. But i decided to show my concern by actions.. By showing that i care for them.. Making my dad, sis, bro-in-law and my niece n nephew smile is a way of showing.. That's what i will do..

Wat abt keeping in contact with yr friends from long ago?? Are u free to meet up with them?? To me, friends are an important component in my life.. I treat everyone i meet as a friend unless they prove me otherwise.. Getting me to share with frenz is easy but once i dun trust u, i think i will be more reserved when i share.. But those who knows me, i guess u will love me as i am.. I am thankful and grateful for that.. If u want me to list down the friends that i cherished the most, i tink it'll be difficult.. But i will try listing the friends that's in my mind now.. Haha.. But if your name is not in here, please contact me, and i will tell u why... haha... BTW, names are not in order of preference....

Judy, AP, Ice, Shang, JJ, Gareth, Huiting, BK, Terence, Serene, Chrystal, CS, Jo, Joan, CH, Abbey, SW, Sharon, Liyan, Mich Lim, Mich Koh, Feliz, Tung, Thanh, Lam, Linh, Robert, Alvin, Zhicong, CK, Sensei, Jiahui, Shuping, Uncle & Auntie Tan, Ken, Robert, Shirley, Zhang Yong

Well, oF course, this list is not exhaustive.. But am i able to care for all of them at a go.. On top of that, i've got my family members too.. haha.. So my heart needs to be very very very big to be able to love all of them.. Hee hee. SO dear family and frenz, U know i love u all very very very much.. muackz... hugz...

WIll share more in future if i m not that lazy.. haha..

End of hols soon..

TGIF.. But i not that happy la.. Cuz the HOLS ARE ENDING SOON!!! SObbie.. But on a positive note, the dec hols are coming soon too.. haha.. Attended some SEED courses during this hols and i see myself preparing for the teaching aids for next year during this yr end hols too amidst the moving of school and stuff.. Wonder how i will be able to cope.. Well.. chuan dao qiao tou zi ran zhi.. I hope..

4th Sep - Went for a course in the morning after the training on sun.. After the course, we went for the mass lecture.. Adjorn to Joan's place to teach her how to play mahjong with jo and km.. Haha.. 1 more kaki..

5th Sep - Went to Villa Bali to celebrate Jo's bd with AP, Joan, CH but SW actually pang seh us.. SO darn sad.. THat place is beautiful.. THough food is real ex la.. Per person ard 30 bucks.. But the ambience is worth it and the food's not too bad..

AP refuses to be in the pic.. so sad..

An artistic shot.. CH became e 1st class photographer..

6th Sep - went back to school to set the papers.. Spent a noon there and after that, went to liyan's chalet.. It's so sweet of her.. She actually booked a chalet to celebrate her parents' 30th wedding anniversary..

Me and Mich in the pool.. Happy...

7th Sep - Was in the school from 11am till 6pm to set the exam paper.. My eyes really nearly popped out after the staring at the com for 5-6 hrs.. Really Almost brain dead.. So when i went for training, my eyes became so dry that i kept closing it.. Anyway, luckily there were no sparring.. But Terence's basic training is so tough on the legs.. Ah.. The aftermath of not training enough...

8th Sep - Went for a course at chongfu pri in the morn.. So met up with sin after the course at sembawang shopping centre.. Went to the thai restaurant that he raved abt all the time.. haha.. Yummy yum.. It's real good.. and cheap.. Fun part, we went to Yishun Safra to bowl.. Wow.. There were a grp of 7 children from P1-P3 at the lane beside ours.. They started to talk to us.. Hee hee.. had a fun time talking and yakking away with them.. cuz they were soo... cute.. Most of them were from MGS, 1 from St nic and 1 boy from Ai tong.. All the good schools.. The kids were there to celebrate 1 of the gal's bd.. hee hee.. They cheered when we striked/spare, when my ball went into the drain, they laughed.. haha.. Fun time with them ard..they were all talking to me at the same time, well, that's usual of kids, my students does that too.. Hee hee.. So funny... If they stayed longer, i would have known their family history and all.. Cuz they were answered all the qns i asked.. So innocent.. Anyway, sin's so mean, i remembered him telling the boy that they dun wanna play with him le.. Cuz they all wanted to go swimming though the boy wanted to cont bowling.. I tink the boy was very happy to have us talking to him la.. Poor fellow, the thorn among the roses.. But too bad, i din take pic with them.. Forgot abt it.. so sad.. Anyway, i had a fun time bowling with sin la.. Both of us total score only hit 200 plus.. haha.. so u know how bad we are at bowling.. The strikes and spares are all fluke.. haha.. at least i remembered to take a pic with him with my "self-taking" skill.. not bad la.. Though his head is being cut off.. haha..

Best Teachers Day Gift..

This yr, i didn't really enjoy receiving presents from the students.. But anyway, funny thing is the best gift i received is not from a student.. Instead, it's from a colleague of mine - Abbey.. She sent me a sms this afternoon...
This is wat she said:
Because you have been such a terrific teacher i have decided to donate a small sum of money to the President's Star Charity on your behalf. Have a most meaningful Teachers' Day Blessings.

When i saw the msg, i was so touched by her..
Thank you so much Abbey.. Hugz hugz..