Life's everything and anything

Trip to Melbourne - Day 2

2009-11-09T10:27:00.008+08:00

Hey guys,

So, I stopped at posting up photos of my first day at Melbourne...

Day 2 is much more memorable, I would say. I visited the iconic 12 Apostles. The view was breathtaking...it was one of the most magnificent collection of limestone stacks I've ever seen.

Here are the photos that I took on the way to the 12 Apostles. Enjoy! :)

And finally, we arrived at the 12 Apostles!!

That's me at the entrance of the site.

You see the little cave at the bottom of the land mass? Over time the little space will widen due to the hydraulic action of the waves and a new Apostle will be formed!

lol... this looks like some... weird looking cake with caramel as topping

After the visit to the 12 Apostles I visited the fairy penguins! Unfortunately, no photography was allowed... so I didn't take any photos. You could google it :) So, that's all for Day 2!

Looking Back - March Study Trip to the University of Melbourne Day 1

2009-11-06T10:51:00.010+08:00

Hey guys,

This is the first entry I'm posting up to document the enjoyable and memorable trips I had to various countries throughout my school life for the past year. This year had been extremely stressful (life in S3, you know...), especially in the academics part of my school life. However, there are many other activities and events that has made this year especially engaging. My trips overseas would, of course, be one of the things.

First up, my trip to Melbourne, Australia. This was my second time visiting Australia. Previously, I've visited Brisbane for an exchange programme with Christian Outreach College, Brisbane. I guess my trip to Brisbane was more enjoyable because of the home stay that I had with the Gray family, and there were fewer lessons to attend. A significant portion of my trip to Melbourne was to learn more about Australian history, which was also the main purpose of the trip. Besides that, I visited several breathtaking natural sites at countryside and intriguing street alleys in the city. Though it wasn't as relaxing as my previous trip to Australia, I had a sense of accomplishment after completing the 3-day academic programme at the University of Melbourne :D

So... here are the photos that I've taken... enjoy!

Day 1 - Arrival at the Melbourne International Airport

:) My first photo at Melbourne (right: Foo Ce Shun :D)

Zai Wei checking out what's Melbourne all about

Our dormitory - Melbourne Metro YHA

Aw... the room was really squeezy... 4 people living in such a small room... but it was fun anyway living together :P

A night view at the roof top of the hostel - at the backdrop is the city of Melbourne!

On the way for lunch (the same day)

Picture on the streets with Mr SLIM - what an honour!!

Just a random pic of Luk Yean eating this huge sandwich... Lol

After lunch, we had this street tour. Everyone was so exhausted and most slept through the whole city tour on the bus... LOL. Here are some photos I took after we got down the bus to have a short walk around the city and its street alleys.

Haha.. this was taken on the bus though :)

This nice antique clock tower here is also taken from the bus.. (there's a cool yellowish tinge because of the bus' window)

I'm not sure what mall this is...

Ah ha... the interesting street alleys - the beginning

Cool graphiti!!

Okay, back to the main streets:

LOL

A church with historical significance - you can see it's being built in two different periods from the different colour of the materials being used to built the church

A cool sculpture!

Next, we went to a port... a really nice one.

That's me :)

DINNER TIME!

Assortment of Pastas! :P

A huge vegetarian pizza!

Haha, yeah, after dinner we headed straight back to the hostel and to rest. I looked forward to the trip to the 12 Apostles the next day... the photos of the trip there would be in the next post. :)

Coming Back - Reviving this blog

2009-10-13T23:00:00.002+08:00

Hi guys,

As I was thinking about the overseas programmes I've been to throughout my secondary school life, the first thing I thought of was to look at my rather, "dead" blog.

"Dead" because there aren't any updates since 1 December 2008, "Dead" because its owner no longer had the time to put in effort into feeding it with photos, videos, and stories to ensure its survival.

But now... I think it's time for me to rejuvenate it and make it ALIVE once again! :D

Why the sudden urge?

Well, firstly because the exams are almost over (Yippie!!), and secondly because of the joy and satisfaction of reading my past experiences documented in my blog.

I'll be posting up photos of my experiences of my incredibly hectic S3 life. It has been quite exciting for me, really... but as I look back, I cannot believe how much I've learnt and been through in my S3 years.

So... do keep a look out! :D

Notice

2008-12-01T13:01:00.002+08:00

Hi Guys,

So sorry for not following up the posts...

I had a really month...

Halfway through the trip I just didn't have the time cuz I was returning home too late... and I was exhuasted.

The following week in Singapore I had a job attachment at the Singapore Zoo.. Didn't have time to rest - straight after touch down I rushed to the zoo for the attachment...

And then just last week I visited Vietnam for an Overseas CIP... really tiring... but fun and enriching.

So now is the only time where I can take a break and blog about all the exciting stuff that I have so fortunately experienced.

I'll try to speed up...

Just for your info, you can find many photos I took at Vietnam via my facebook accnt.

Bye for now...

Trip to Kerala, India - Day 4

2008-11-13T01:00:00.015+08:00

Hi Guys,

It's day 4 today... and as usual, today was really packed and tiring. I thought this was the best day so far during the trip...

On the bus, we got to enjoy some Indian sweets... I particularly like this one...

It's colourful, and I like the silver thingy at the top... I've never seen an icing like that...

I snapped some quick shots of interesting formations of people sleeping...

We visited a place where there were lots of elephants... a big one and a few other young ones. All of us got the chance to take an elephant ride and we took a few photos...

{ for a start... elephant dunk...}

{ all above 3 pics taken on the elephant...}

{a pic with the elephant... }

I saw this wooden structure... it's quite sophisticated... it doesn't look like a typical cage...

Later on, we went to some park to take a quick look at a river... and a view of the mountains...

We decided to play near the river... but because it was said that someone had died in that river, we decided not to go too close...

After visiting the river, we climbed a tree house nearby to get a nicer and clearer view of the scenery.

As it was Mrs. Beena's birthday today, we were all treated to a sumptuous lunch at a restaurant. The food there was good, and some adventurous people decided to try eating with their hands...

After filling our tummies, we headed to the SOS village for children. It is actually an orphanage. However, it's system of managing the orphans is very different from other orphanages. They provide the orphanages with a new family within the orphanage itself... so there would be 10 children in every "family" and they would be "siblings". There would be a "mother" to take care of these kids permanently until they become independent. The orphanage funds the orphans on their accommodation, daily needs and education.

The head of the orphanage brought us to a pottery to take a look at how pots are made, because the orphans were still at school when we arrived.

{ newly made pots - fresh from the oven }

{taking a tour of the pottery (conducted by head of the SOS village that we visited)}

{ a very simple machine used to make blocks of clay from soil }

{ (left) worker skillfully making "piggy banks"... and then there I am, trying to make a pot }

{ (left) holes which allow hot air from the bottom story to dry the newly made pots; (right) a wheel which controls the amount of hot air coming through the holes }

{lady putting on bricks to seal the heating chamber}

{ a lady making the bases for the pots}

{ a random pic of a plant struggling to survive in the ridiculously burning weather }

After the tour at the pottery, we returned to the village.

{taking a break}

Then, we decided to play a game of badminton with them.

{Song Ken preparing to hit a shuttle}

{ during the game of badminton...}

{Song Ken with 2 children}

{Dorje showing us the gift he received from some of the children}

After the game of badminton, we were interviewed by a TV crew... not really we, but Dorje and JY. Of course none of us expected media coverage but well... we just gotta go ahead with it. So the TV crew stayed with us for a mini concert arranged by the SOS villagers. We went up to sing a song but it didn't go well...

The concert was pretty Ok with dances, songs and a presentation on Kerala.

So that's about it...

bye for now

Trip To Kerala, India - Day 3

2008-11-12T01:44:00.018+08:00

Hi guys,

Once again, it's a wonderful and busy day here at Kerala. We had many events lined up for us and today's a day of Kerala's culture, heritage, architecture, history...

We started out day at Rajagiri Public School attending a session called "Confluence" where Grade 11 & 12 students compete with each other in several activities such as buzzer rounds, skit, case study, interview scenario...

{ Guests being invited up the stage, Mr. Dennis Ong being in the far left}

{Father Austin and Mr. Ong lighting the lamp to mark the start of the event}

{Johnny so happy to be present for "Confluence"; The emcee of the buzzer round }

{Reveal of the lady's ruined face; The lady and her boyfriend secretly admiring each other}

The skit was pretty cool and funny. It was meant to give the audience a clearer picture of the scenario that the 2 students from 2 teams would be debating on... something like re-enactment for a law-suit... So the case this skit was about concerned a lady and a facial product company. The lady had decided to buy a product from that company upon hearing that its effective rate was 97.5% and signing a disclaimer that she would bear the full consequences if she misused the product. The debate was about who was in the wrong after the lady's face was ruined...

{ Students debating...}

{Judges giving their comments to the debaters}

We needed to leave halfway through because there were other events lined up for us. But before going for the other events, we proceeded to the college canteen to have our lunch.

{Authentic Indian food...}

{ Mr. Ong and Man Tong enjoying the delicious Indian dishes }

{ Yum yum}

After lunch all of us went to Mr Ong's room, which was just near by the canteen, to change into casual attire for the upcoming events. (couldn't take any pictures for this)

Some random shots while making we were making our way to the bus...

The bus ride was pretty long... and a few interesting things happened...

{Dorje meditating... ; Dorje getting tricked... Lol}

At last, we've arrived at our destination...

We did some shopping as the synnagouge wasn't opened yet. There were lots of bargaining too, of course...
random photos while shopping around...

{Nice little dog; We walking around.... shopping}

There were many places which do not allow photography, so not many photographs of the places we visited...

{South India Church}

There was this church with a very nice painting about the stairway to haven...

I like the visit to the beach the most... there were chinese fishing nets.... and many nice scenery...

After a long afternoon, we went to have dinner... because I was really hungry, I didn't get to take many pictures... but there are still many more opportunities for me to do so.

After a whole day long of events, we headed back home in a bus... everyone slept until I needed to leave with my host along one of the roads...

So yeah, that's it for today... really, really tired now... so good night!

Trip to Kerala, India

2008-11-11T01:12:00.011+08:00

Hi Guys,

At last, there's something new and exciting to talk about...

I'm currently in Kerala, India... blogging.... live....

This is my first time blogging life. It's more fun blogging this way, because everything is just so fresh... the photos, the experiences, the thoughts...

It's only 10.45pm in Kerala... so I should have much more time to complete this post...

So yeah, we arrived at Kerala yesterday night. It was really late so I didn't have the time and energy to do an entry...

Nevertheless, here are some photos of the day we departed for Kerala (please bear with blur photos)...

{ Just a photo of Dorge getting so excited while boarding the plane (left); Marcus and friends chatting while the plane's preparing to take off (right). }

{ Caught Dorje red-handed playing Bridge with the rest... (left); Cheeky smiles... (right) }

At the customs in Kerala...

Me and Song Ken's room...not too bad for a country like India

The next morning...

{ HUGE and lovely dog... unfortunately locked in a high class cage (left); Justin, Johnny and Song Ken at the visitors' room (right picture) }

Just a brief summary of the today's programme:

First up in the morning we had the Science Seminar which students from the higher grades, 11 and 12, participated in.

{ Dorje and friends listening attentively to the presentation (left); The girls on the left... the boys on the right... (right) }

{ A female student presenting (left); A group of boys waving... [ i was wondering if you could spot something not very nice in the photo... lol] }

{ All smiles (left); Zzzz (right)}

After the long Science Seminar, we went to have lunch... Indian fried rice and stuff... too hungry to take pics but would definitely take a few shots tomorrow...

Then we went to attend lessons. I attended a math class, and I found the teacher REALLY fierce. The first thing she did was to scold someone... and her voice was freaking loud. But if you were a good kid, your life in her class wouldn't be very bad actually.

The students there are extremely friendly and outspoken... within minutes I was like talking to almost every single one of them. They just came crowding around me and Song Ken after the math lesson ended.

{ students cuddling around Song Ken (left); Few students posing... (right) }

{few shots of the class....}

What surprised me was that there was actually a plasma TV behind the dirty chalk boards... pretty weird huh...

The next event was boat riding... we headed down to take a bus to the jetty to have a boat ride. The bus itself wasn't nice. It was squeezy, packed, humid, warm... urgh... but it was quite interesting actually.

{ A few shots of spontaneous kids who just doens't feel shy facing a camera }

If a "picture paints a thousand words", then a video would show it all... So the following video is how the scene in the bus is like...

We had to jay walk to the jetty because the roads didn't allow the bus to enter.

{ Mr. Ong (Dorje) jay walking }

To the jetty....

{ Hong Yao with his bright smile (left); Group walk (right) }

We continued walking and walking till we arrived at a mini-mall where we did a little shopping. After buying some stuff we decided to settle down and have a drink at a cafe... and the prices were so good that Song Ken decided to treat Kenneth and me.

{The 3 cups of coffee sponsored by Song Ken...
My cup of cool latte definitely perked me up...}

{ Yummy... Hong Yao and Johnny sitting together drinking something cool}

After this we made our way to the jetty and I came across a few interesting objects...

I really wonder what kind of food is this... apparently, it's some kind of a salad...

{some random shots...}

Ah, at last, we arrived at the jetty! We quickly got up the boat...

{a picture taken from the boat}

There were so many people coming up to the boat - hosts, staff... it's like a party...

{ Song Ken and I enjoying our drinks; Father Austin sitting at the middle... not sure what he's doing}

{Johnny enjoying the sea breeze...}

There was this group of boys going around taking photos of all the guests who were on the boat. I thought they were pretty cute and hence took a video of them in action.

I couldn't really take much photos in the night because my camera's too lousy... no choice but I definitely enjoyed myself partying around during the boat ride with the rest of the Indian students and guests. Dorje had a great time too... he sang and danced liked crazy. It's such a pity I don't have any records of that...

We went to a condo for dinner and it was great. It looked so expensive - waiters serving cocktails in classic glasses, a huge variety of food... lightings... etc. just made the meal so wonderful.

{ This is just the apartment... the real party's downstairs}

{a random picture}

That's all for today... that's quite a big lot of photos I've posted. Stay tuned for more action right here.... Lol... See you guys.

Bye for now!

Back From OBS

2008-10-24T22:31:00.014+08:00

Hi guys,

Ah... at last... back to my nice and comfortable home, away from the smelly and dirty Pulau Ubin OBS campsite 2.

Not that I'm saying the camp is bad but the environment is not exactly desirable, just for campsite 2. Campsite 1 is like a resort. The difference between the 2 campsites is absolutely shocking...

But before I blabber on about my experience with OBS, here are some photos, for the 6H ppl to take a look at. It is about the rackey Kenneth, Yi Fang, Felicia and me attended... some photos are pretty interesting...

something like this?

checking the bus no.

ha... trying to hide...

Missing Home? Aw...

Journey to the NS Home Team chalet...what a long way...
spooky swing...
and shoes...
Pretty nice combination eh? the one below...

another nice one...something about these two...
there is really something between these two and apparently someone in pink is trying to look away...but hey, at least an uncle is admiring the scene...

Alright... and that's about all the photos... it's not really nice to show every single one of them... it just makes ppl bored, i guess. So I specially chose the more interesting ones... oh wait.. there's one which I'm pretty surprised about... take a look but please do not get the wrong idea... LOL

it looks pretty nice... as in if you put a dummy there and take a shot at the same position, it'll still be nice. i just like the perspective and how the background is arranged... the objects in the bg i mean.

Okay, enough about that trip... let's talk about my OBS experience...

Well, basically there are very, very physically demanding activities that over time "makes you tougher". It is really fun, though, I must say. Of course I got to know more friends, though I was pretty skeptical I would really make any before the course. It's just 5 days and I guess only such activities could bring people together to forge friendships.

There's trekking (the worst), kayaking, climbing, some group activities like reflections, jetty jumping... blah blah blah. These are just what everyone experiences in the camp but something unique that my watch (a group of 16 students) had experienced was the time spent with the trainer of the watch as well as the wonderful stories he shared (I don't know whether other trainers also tell this story, but at least my trainer told it at a watch-level). The 2 stories he shared are in one way or another, literally, related to KEYS... hm... interesting, isn't it? So here goes...

*The basic storyline is there, it's just that I'm telling it in my own words...including the title...lol*

The Birthday Present

The old man ambled slowly into his small and humble workshop. A dog-eared magazine sat on his callused palms nicely, its pages fading into a yellowish brown. His round, wooden glasses rested on his large and sharp nose as he browsed through the magazine, flipping the pages casually, one by one. He continued on for a while, till his son, Bayle, entered the room.

"Hey Dad, what are you reading... oh hold on a minute."It was a posh, red sports car, with four very big wheels and stylish curves at its rear. "Wow, take a look at this...," Bayle breathed, as his saucer-like eyes gleamed in fascination.

The old man raised his thick and grey eyebrows, which then furrowed as he struggled to see what his son was talking about.

"It looks pretty nice...do you like it?" the old man asked, he turned his gaze to his son.

"This is everyone's dream car, dad," Bayle's eyes were glued onto the page.

"I'll get one for you then. It will be your birthday gift for your 21st birthday," the old man spoke, as if he was not at all, just an unremarkable man who was working in a town very few people knew.

"Ah dad... it's okay," Bayle looked away, smiling wryly at the window, heaving a deep sigh.

"Hey boy, look at me. I'm serious about getting you that car and I won't go back on my word," the old man rested his hands on his son's shoulders and looked straight into his son's eyes.

"Thank you so, so much, dad...I'll be so looking forward to my 21st birthday!"

(2 years later...)

It was Bayle's 21st birthday. Just like any other dinners on Bayle's birthday, on the table lay two plates of rice and two dishes of fried vegetables. However this year, though, there was a special addition - 2 glasses of dark purple wine.

"Tuck in, son," the old man smiled brightly at his son, allowing his wrinkles to surface.

"You too, dad."

And both father and son started eating. At the end of the meal, the old man upon noticing his sons's eagerness, brought out a brown, hard-cover book, with four big, golden words printed on its cover "The Book of Faith".

"This is for you, son, take it, and may you live a meaningful, honest and happy life," the old man stretched out his frail, skinny hands to his son, with the book in his hands.

Bayle looked at the book and tears started welling up his eyes.

"You said you'd keep your word."

Without another word, Bayle stormed out of the workshop.

The old man's stood for a while, his smile dying off.

Bayle never returned.

(Ten years later...)

A handsome man in his early thirties opened the door. It was the day after his father passed away. He didn't even say his last goodbyes.

Bayle walked around the room, occassionally touching the objects that laid there as it is before he left, as they brought back vague, scattered memories. Guilt was overwhelming him as he reflected his foolish actions and thoughts. His father would never buy him a car. How could he be so naive? The family was too poor to afford one, Bayle knew it then.

Bayle soon approached his father's bed. It was neat and tidy, like it was 10 years ago, though the bed sheet's colour had faded quite a bit. Bayle recalled his father accompanying him to sleep when the thunder roared and the lightning flashed, the happy times when he jumped on the bed in joy as his father bought him a candy from the shop near by, the times when he secretly witnessed his father crying silently on the bed, staring out of the window...

Beside the bed was a drawer which the old man kept his personal belongings. Bayle opened the first drawer, only to find the very same brown book with the 4 words printed large and clear "The Book of Faith". It was the first time he was touching it, and flipping it, as a piece of paper slipped out of the first page...

"My beloved Son,

Dad is so happy that you're 21 years old now. You are a big young man, finally. I know my great son can achieve great things and become very successful next time. However, it is important for you to know that one must never neglect his faith, as it is his faith which gives his spirit the correct directions and hence, the path to success. At the very middle of this book lies the key to the car you dearly wanted. With this present, I hope you can expand your reach to get to know better people, to get to do things, that you've never accomplished in your life. I wish you all the best in your life and remember, dad always love you, no matter where you are, who you've become...

Love,
Dad"

Bayle continued flipping the pages as uncontrollable tears soaked dotted the pages of the book. And there, right in the middle of the book, lay a silver key, with a label, "Your dream car."

The End.

Alright.... I know it's seems to be very quickly written (I don't really check for grammatical and spelling errors in my blog) but well, you just get the idea ok?

Here goes the next story...

The Last House

A pile of soaked pieces of wood sat at a corner of the boat. All around the floor were scraps of wood, and the amount gradually increased towards the middle of the boat. There sat a man, in his middle 20s, diligently carving a dark brown log, bring it into life with his steady hands and fascinating talent.

At the other corner of the boat, on the other hand, there were a whole diversity of objects - wooden stools, statues, abstract art pieces - all of which were masterpieces. On a particular chair, which Gry had just completed, were delicate swirls running around and flowery patterns complementing them. Different shades of brown enveloped the entire chair. A block of useless, rotten wood had become a fine masterpiece.

But the price such things fetched weren't very high. Just one of those products by Gry could only provide him with a simple meal of rice and vegetables. It would be rare for him to buy anything more than this for a meal.

Gry's life carried on like that for years.

But one day, as he made his daily trip to the flea market near the capital, a man came to him to ask about the price of a statue of a lady made out of the usual material that Gry used to make any other products. It was Gry's very first time to have someone approaching him for his work.

"Good afternoon. Can I know how much is the wooden statue over there?" the man asked, pointing at his desired object.

Gry followed the man's index finger to the statue which he had completed a few days ago. He smiled, then answered politely, "20 rupees, sir".

"Wow, that's..."

"Too expensive sir? I could give you a discount." Gry didn't want to lose such a customer who seemed to have great interest in buying one of his products.

"No, no. It's really cheap... you have great talent, sir. I own a construction company which build houses. I don't think you won't be able to realise your true potential living such a life. Would you be able to join my company and help me build wonderful houses?"

"Oh no, sir, I don't think I'm up to it."

"I believe in you. Just a nod of approval from you and you would become one of my employee. What do you say, sir?"

"Well, if you have so much faith in me then... I'll be really glad to join you!"

The two men shaked hands and arranged for a meeting a few days later.

Gry had officially joined the ABS construction company.

From then on, Gry lived a much better life, with many people respecting and recognising his talent. Without fail, Gry would deliver firm and beautiful houses using materials of the best quality. The company prospered and Gry and the man who saw such potential in him became good friends.

20 years passed, and Gry thought that it was time to retire. Gry approached the man and made his request to retire.

"You want to retire... I think it's about time too, though we really, really want you to stay. But I have one last project for you, before you retire..." the man said.

Gry wasn't happy. He had worked hard for the company for 20 years and yet, he could not have his first and last request to be approved.

Nonetheless, Gry accomplised the project and built a house in a record-breaking time, almost half the time he used to built the houses of the same size during his entire career as a builder. He chose materials of mediocre standard and didn't put much effort into the building of the house. The house wasn't lousy, or ugly, but it was Gry's worst house ever built.

Gry passed the key for the house to the man. The man took the key, smiled, and then pushed the key back into Gry's hands.

Gry froze for a while. Then, a tear streaked down his left cheek.

The End.

That's all for now... till next time!

Hm... a quote from Fiddler on the Roof

2008-10-14T21:10:00.001+08:00

"If an old man eats a chicken, one of them is crazy."

It's supposed to be a joke... I guess, cuz the actors were laughing away...

Can anyone figure out its meaning?

I can't. So if you can, tag your answers!

Thanks.

Life after the Exams...

2008-10-13T15:22:00.003+08:00

Hi guys,

Though there isn't much to share, I just decided that I needed to write something to drag my blog out of the clutches of death... O.o

The results weren't too bad... not as bad as I thought, at least.

Well, it's really a relief to know that I had done ok, but it's a disaster looking at the following weeks of school.

What I had today is a series of talks by seniors who had done well in projects... and they just went on ... and on... and on... and on... and on... Try desperately not to fall asleep, I amazed myself with my stamina and tried not to look at the time, as I knew it would only make time pass slower.

The worst presentations were projects that involved Science research... ah... they are just not my cup of tea... I just find them boring... a little relief came when a Sec 4 guy came up to present about his Creative Arts project, featuring his interpretation of school life through his photos. They were really nice, and seem professional too. The best thing was he included just a few words and the majority of the presentation was pictures and this brightened up the session a bit.

We didn't have normal lessons going on because the Director of our consortium thought that no one would pay attention to the teachers as the exams are already over. I REALLY wonder whether it is the case for this sharing session.

Though the session was mostly lifeless, it's nice that the seniors put in effort into the session... actually not specially for this session... so maybe "putting effort into the session" is the right way of phrasing, I guess. (cuz they did it for other competitions) It's more of like... trying to awe us to follow their foot steps to improve our Pday grades. So I thought this session can be considered a failure. Harsh, I know, but it's a fact.

According to some teachers, we didn't do well in Pday... but hey, we do have some commendable projects, though we have room for improvement (everything on Earth has rooms for improvement)

ah... but enough of this... it's over anyway....

So, I just had a briefing for my trip to Kerela this Nov. and it seems pretty good. The only bad thing about it was it's weather - warm and humid, just like Singapore's. I am supposed, with Song Ken, to do some small research on India's tourism. I haven't started on that yet... planning to start soon. It's not a bad topic to work on.

I just love interacting with people of different cultures, regardless that country. I'm glad that there are so many opportunities for me to do so. :)

I'll do a journal for the trip and perhaps enter it in my blog... I didn't put my journal about my trip to Australia up, though I gave a summary of the events... a pretty detailed one I thought...

So now, I just have to wait. The best thing about the trip is to anticipate and look forward to the trip... the worst thing about the trip is when it's time to go home... (it's always like that, at least for me)

While I'm waiting, there are a series of events lined up... most of them are interesting, some are not really exciting, like tomorrow's discussion with Dr. Hon... FOSH isn't that nice either but it's still okay. I think it wouldn't be as bad as today's session. The event I'm looking forward to is the Zoo attachment and Old HK Tea House CIP event... OBS, ok ok.

So well, that's about all I guess...

Till next time...

Back.

2008-10-06T21:46:00.004+08:00

Hi guys,

It has been a long time.

It seemed so long then...

But seems so short now, as I look back...

I tried.

So let's see.

But what could I do now, but to look forward to the exciting events?

So let's put this away... maybe just for now, when the it isn't out yet.

Alright... so yeah, let me just share with all of you what would my holidays be like.

I've got a feeling that this year's EOY holidays would be the best so far. It's so exciting and event-packed - 3 overseas trips, a zoo attachment, OBS (not really sure whether I'd enjoy that though), primary school class gathering... ah... it's just so worth looking forward to.

It's nice to be occupied with such events... it's really boring to stay at home...

But well, the only thing that matters now is you know, the results...

So I'll blog again once I have something interesting to share...

Bye for now.

Hosting COCB Students

2008-09-12T23:27:00.003+08:00

Hi Guys,

*Sigh* Today's the last day the COCB students are staying in Singapore. I've hosted them for the past three days, reaching home at like 10pm everyday. However, despite having to go through all these, I've really enjoyed myself, interacting with them and getting to know them. Besides, I get to visit places like the Singapore Flyer, the Tea Chapter, the NEWater Plant, VivoCity and many more places. The aussie students are really good at shopping... they could shop for hours after hours non-stop... But yeah, Singaporeans do that too right?

Anyway, it has been a great experience for me to host them. The COCB students are very amiable people and so it's easy to socialise with them and get into conversations. Though the majority of the students who came are females, it didn't really affect the way we communicate or relate to each other.

I hope that I can have many more of such experiences, but meanwhile, the exams are coming up and (sighs) I'd need to prepare for them first...

The photos of this hosting will be up pretty much later on my facebook.

Bye!

HCICO-NYCO MAF 08

2008-09-05T15:46:00.002+08:00

Hi Guys,

Recently, HCICO and NYCO just had a day of interaction, in the name of celebrating Mid Autumn Festival together. I think students from both of the school enjoyed themselves. Of course, it is natural for students from both schools to feel shy, but things got better as the day advances. The committee has done a good job putting up team-bonding games and students get closer to each other (please do not get my wrong here).

I was the photographer for the event. Had to run around the whole school, snapping photos of shy students (but more often than not, because of my superb photography skills, they can't escape from my clutches :) ). So yeah, I'm not in any of the photos... :)

I guess MAF is a good event to interact with other schools. Interacting with a school with students of a different gender would be frowned upon by students from both sides at first, but with well-planned activities and time, students from both sides would get along very well. Friends can be made to increase one's network of friends, which is pretty important.

Admiring the participants who had all the fun, I'm really reluctant to be the photographer again...

Oh yea, by the way, HCI C. orchestra spent about $200 on the gift for NYCO... wow, right?

ah, whatever... Just being random. :)

Anyway, good luck to everyone who is taking their EOY exams soon... (trying to find time to mug... but time just flies too fast for me to do so... ( tcc: "You must be joking! 1 day 24 hours how to not find time to study to tell me?") lol

OH, before I forget, I'm setting up a Facebook accnt... so all the photos that I have taken would be there :)

Good Luck too all of you for the EOY exams!

This Day

2008-08-18T21:43:00.003+08:00

Hi guys,

Today's pretty eventful.

It is the first day of my Sabbaticals...IDS (Interdisciplinary Studies). We were introduced to our projects and some other information on alternative energy resources. It wasn't so boring actually... still acceptable, esp. with all the air-conditioning for most of the venues. We were supposed to educate a community on energy conservation and come up with a policy to conserve energy. The duration of this project is about 2 days plus. It's pretty short actually.

Besides the IDS, my grandfather and 4th aunty has just arrived this afternoon. Nice to see them again... When we first met, the first few lines from my 4th aunty was "wow, so big already, last time when I met you a few months ago still not as tall, now towering above me" Oh yea, it was in Cambodian - she seldom speaks English.

Today has been quite an eventful day. Looking forward for the rest of the IDC... or rather, looking forward to get more ace.

Hm... the thought of the EOY Exams just flashed in my mind... Like

So quickly that you can't really catch its physical form...

It's a force...

a force so evil, so dark, that...

that spreads the horrible, horrible emotion

fear... yes, it's fear...

Fear for all bad outcomes...

all the what ifs... or rather, all the bad what ifs...

...

Back After a Busy Week

2008-08-16T22:19:00.003+08:00

Hi guys,

Yeah, haven't been blogging because of the tests and projects once again... My life is pretty busy now, but I think it'll be much worse for the upper secondary...

But I'm looking forward to a 2 events coming up this September holiday.

Firstly, the one I'm most excited about is the hosting of the Christian Outreach College students from Brisbane, Australia. The students, however, won't be having home-stay here as my school could accommodate them in the hostels (sigh of relief - my house is unfit for guests). The fun thing about the hosting experience would be to interact with the Australian students and get along with them, making more friends. The only worry that I have is that... the different accents that we have and so yeah... you know. Nevertheless, I'm glad to have this opportunity to get together with people of a different culture and race. I really love interacting with different people around the world.

Secondly, I am really thrilled by the thought of attending the National Stamp Collecting Competition Prize Presentation. My group won the Silver award with Special Prize. I am elated as the results exceeded my team's expectations. My school also won the overall school champion with 2 teams getting Gold ( Arivan's team and Jun Rong's team), one team getting Silver with Special Prize (my team) and 2 teams gettting Bronze (Johnny's (not sure) team and Dale's team). All 5 teams are from my class. This is for us an excellent time to rejoice and show to the school the power of 2K... YEAH!

There is one thing that is pretty... well regarded with distaste by most students - Physics remedial lessons. :(

But well, that's life. Just gotta accept it. :( SAD

On top of the remedial, I still got to complete lots of Bio ACE projects to max my Science ACE... sighh... I've done it last year, so hm... maybe this year shouldn't be a problem to do the same. But the process would cause my brain to be more prone to getting 老人痴呆症.

I'll be blogging more often these few days and so keep a look out. :)

Regards

An Old Lady

2008-08-09T16:36:00.003+08:00

Hi guys,

Once again, I've something along the line of "asking for money" to share... It's just that I'm not really involved in this as compared to the "10-cent" story.

So here it goes...

Having finished my Old Chang Kee curry puff, I reached into my pocket for a piece of tissue to clean the grease on my lips but there were none. But well, I did enjoy the curry puff experience - Old Chang Kee's curry puffs are always the best.

I moved towards the left side of the bus stop having disposed the yellow paper bag which contained the curry puff. Before me was a mother with here (approximately) 6-year old son discussing about the uniqueness of the Chinese Garden. Hm... the Chinese Garden... I thought it became non-existent already, but I heard on...

"Boy, what's so special about the Chinese Garden? Why do you want to go there?"

"I want to go there because... because there is a big fish..."

"and?"

"tortises."

"Like that only? That doesn't make the Chinese Garden special."

"Oh... there are also lion dance performances..."

"I see, I see, anything else?"

The bus came and I boarded the bus, instinctively withdrawing my $1.50-wallet from my back pocket. "Beep beep!" the usual nice double-beep sound followed after I brought my ez-link card to the card reader. I glanced around, looking for a seat and I found one next to a middle-aged woman.

"Beep beep beep beep beep beep beep !!!"

"Ah...it must be someone who've just displeased the card reader with a card with its value depleted...," I thought.

The old lady held her wallet on one hand, with a few bags of NTUC groceries clinging on her feeble elbow, screaming in fear as it was on the verge of dropping to the ground. She frowned, placed her ez-link card to the card reader and received another rebuke from the card reader.

"Poor lady," I thought.

The old lady then looked into her purse, squinting her old, cloudy eyes. She shook her head slowly and explained to the bus driver that she didn't have any coins with her. She only had a 10-dollar note. The driver stared at her and I was disgusted.

"You better find coins this time," the bus driver snapped.

"This time? Hm..." I thought.

After nodding her head with eyes so pitiful, the old lady made her way down the center walkway, asking other passengers for coins to exchange. Not many people had coins with them, obviously. As she approached me, I can't help but to shift towards my right, away from her. The old lady was, though pitiful, like a haunting, evil witch, similar to the ones illustrated in fairy tales such as The Little Red Riding Hood. Nonetheless, I looked into my wallet for some coins, though I knew didn't have any - I have used my last coins on my Old Chang Kee curry puff. Feeling somewhat guilty, I glanced at her face, and told her that I didn't have any coins... She shook her head and sighed before moving on. It really made me feel really bad, but what could I do then?

The old lady moved on, and on, and on until there was one passenger who happened to have enough coins with her for exchange. The passenger was accompanying a child. Though I didn't look back, I can imagine the look on the child's expression upon meeting the old lady.

The passenger took a pretty long time to find the coins. Through the process of searching for the remaining coins, a few dropped onto the ground. The child whined, "Mummy, you see lah! You so clumsy, now the coins drop already".

I became speechless.

Upon hearing this from the child, she turned back, went to the front of the bus, and alighted at the next stop.

"Hey aunty! You don't want coins already ah?" the passenger called out, but the lady moved on, letting out a long sigh, shaking her head.

The power of 10 cents and the magical thing about giving

2008-07-13T11:06:00.002+08:00

Hi guys,

It has been a long time since I last posted an entry. I was incredibly busy for the past few weeks, rushing through projects after projects...

So now I'm going to share an incident that happened yesterday while I was making my way to Toa Payoh....

I boarded the bus in my Orange T and black long pants with my $1.50-wallet in my hand. Instinctively, I brought my wallet to the card reader and alas, the card reader beeped several times, screaming at me that I had 0 dollars and 0 cents in my card and how dare me enter the bus without a single "milli-cent" in my darn card.

I stepped back, overpowered by the scream and looked for 55 cents in my wallet. Thank God I had coins with me. There you go! The card reader which was still burning with fury kept absolute silence while I offered the coin box its meal.

I got my ticket, scanned the bus for the seat and got one quickly. I checked my wallet to see if I have enough for the next trip when I transfer buses but to my dismay, there was only 45 cents left...Hmm... let's borrow 10 cents... but wait, what if there were people like the card reader? God... how I wished I had just a 10-cent coin with me...

I alighted at the Tanglin Community Club and crossed over to take bus 105/153.... Didn't think much then. Trying my best to keep my cool I approached a middle-aged lady... "Hi, do you have 10 cents to spare because I happen to have only 45 cents with me and there's no value left in my card." The moment the lady smiled I knew the disaster was over... "Thank you so much!" "Yeah, it's okay"

So I carried on my journey...

Hav a nice time

bye for now

6H June Holidays Class Outing

2008-06-19T22:30:00.012+08:00

HI GUys,

I just went for my primary school class gathering- an outing to the Qian Hu Fish Farm and a movie screening of the Chronicles of Narnia- Prince Caspian. I enjoyed the trip to the Qian Hu Fish Farm and meeting all the 6 Honestiians. We got a group discount for both the places we go... Oh yes, not forgetting the discount we got from the class fund. THe photos below are not in order... it's just random. It's a pity that I forgot to take pictures when we are in Lot 1... too excited to watch the movie!

taking cleaning feet after the "fish spa"

cleaning feet after the fish spa

bare footed
after the refreshing fish spa

rushing to the Qian Hu fish farm

Please walk faster.

Shao Hao (in the middle of the road): This won't be a good way to die.

IT TICKLES!!! I SEE A BIG ONE COMIN'!

Let's take a photo
Walk and talk
Ladies first
Boys second
Good children using the zebra crossing

Bad children jay walking
Trying to dodge? Not so easy...

Busy eating
Enjoying his pepsi
Walk and talk and walk and talk

Laughter in the bus- PLEASE KEEP QUIET!

Waiting for more people...

Hi! Nice to meet you too!

Hey... I hate taking photos...

Talking among themselves...zzz

It's so hot... let's wipe away some perspiration....

Listen for the voice of Shao Hao in the bus video!!!

EnvirOlympics Torch-Baton Relay

2008-06-12T23:26:00.002+08:00

Hi guys!

Just yesterday I participated in one of the events of the National Youth EnvirOlympics. As you can see from the title of this post, it is a torch relay to encourage the public to save the environment and join the events held at Hougang mall this saturday in the afternoon. We basically just held the mock torch and a huge board while travelling to different areas of Singapore such as ACJC, the Science Centre and MRT stations. We got quite a lot of attention from the public from the torch and stuff but it was a fun experience for me anyway.

It's my first time participating in such an event and well, it's something that I've never imagined I have done- advertisement but I really enjoyed it. I am really glad I have chosen to participate in this whole event- not only the relay, but the competition that is going to be held this Saturday too.

The best thing is that I can earn ACE points... lol

June Holidays? Not very.

2008-06-03T14:34:00.002+08:00

Hi guys,

Well, this year's June Holidays for me is certainly packed with activities. I've never been so busy before...

The most stressful thing now is to quickly master Dreamweaver CS3 and Flash CS3 so that my Project's Day website can be up by 2 weeks time. Besides this, I still have to do some research on Environmental Laws and Environmental Science to prepare for the Youth EnvirOlympics. Lastly, on top of all these, I still need to complete the script for my 16 panels on Spices for the Philatelic competition. Oh yes, and most importantly, ACE projects.

Time is passing so quickly and I don't seem to have enough of it... no one is.

The most exciting event I'm looking forward to is to run the EnvirOlympics relay with the "torch". This is the first time I'm doing such a thing...

Okay, so that's about all... bye for now!

rgds,

Chang Hui

Hosting Experience

2008-05-27T08:57:00.003+08:00

Hi guys.

For the past few days I've been involved in the Asia Pacific Mathematical Olympiad for Primary Schools (APMOPS) hosting. I hosted 2 students, a parent and a teacher from Brunei who came to take the examination. (duh) One of the pair is American while the other pair is Chinese. I just came to know that Brunei is acutally a multi-racial and multi-religious nation, just like Singapore. It's just that the Malay community is the majority of the population, unlike Singapore's dominating community, the Chinese. They have Char Kway Teow, Chicken Rice, Cai Dao Gui, Laksa, Mee Pok, ... in Brunei- Most of the food in Brunei can be found in Singapore.

The American student won a Platinum Award while the Chinese student didn't, but it's ok cuz to be able to make it to SIngapore is already quite an achievement. According to the parent, the American student is very competitive in his studies, sports, music, EVERYTHING. Well, i think its perfectly fine but...He's so IMBA!!! Just look at his math...to be able to win a Platinum shows how good he is in his math already. Needless to say his English- he's an American. He excels in swimming and sailing, he plays the saxophone...OMG I'm not sure what grade is he in for his saxophone but his life is so...nice? My life is super boring la...stay at home do nth. Typical students would go out for LAN and just stay at home to play their games,,,, well thats also no life, facing some computer screen. Let's compare a gamer's life with this American student's....don't tell me you can't see the diff.

How I wish I can have that kind of event-filled life...of course not as in revision-events...but more of the music and sports kind. I noticed that Australians also have very nice school life...

Singapore is just too competitive to enjoy all the small things in life...They just can't stop working...or they simply cant stop not to work? I dunno..just look at you-know-who and you'll see.

I think roughly thats all...if you want a full talk about the whole hosting experience...tag my BOARD!!!! my tag board is dying.

Rgds, chang Hui

Back from exams

2008-05-11T17:12:00.003+08:00

Hi guys, at last, the exam season is over!

Didn't score too badly for this term. I'm quite satisfied with my results.

Today's mothers' day and as I walked along the streets of Orchard road this after noon, I saw many roses in the hands of proud and happy mothers---too bad, my mother's still working today...

This scene of roses sparked off a poem.

Well, originally it was in English, but because Mr. Dorje has been yearning for a chinese poem, I shall translate the poem into a chinese one...but pls dun blame me if it is too horrible to read. (i mean for the chinese translation)

So here it goes:

Title: Lifeless(?) Waiting(?) Life(?) Cherish(?)

In my hand was a rose,
so withered,
so still,
so lifeless.

I dropped a tear,
so gently,
so hopefully,
wishing to fill it with life,
just like those in fairy tales.

But as I waited,
so silently,
so hopefully
..........
....................
.........................................
so naively,

it lay,
as withered,
as still,
as DEAD,
as before...

~end~

Now, the chinese translation : :

在我手里有一枝玫瑰花，
一枝枯死的玫瑰花，
一枝失去了生命的玫瑰花。

我的眼泪掉落在那枝玫瑰花，
多么希望，
多么渴望，

能给这枝红玫瑰花
多一次的生命，
多一次的喜悦，
多一次的快乐。

那枝玫瑰花已被我的泪水湿透了。
但是，
那枝没了生命的玫瑰花，
只在我的手里，
不停地睡着。。。睡着。。。

~end~

I think the chinese translation is a little screwed...but anyway, just wrote for the fun of it...

till next time!

Long Time...

2008-05-05T21:59:00.000+08:00

Hi guys,

It has been a long time since I last blogged...
I'm too busy this season...maybe I can start to blog again next week.
Well, just hope for the best for my tests...esp chemistry.

See ya soon.

what a pity

2008-04-17T20:27:00.003+08:00

guys...

Here are the results of my primary school's SYF results:

Chinese Dance- silver
Band- silver
Choir- silver
Indian dance- GOLD
Malay dance- GOLD

I'm quite disappointed with the choir and chinese dance because they have previously attained gold.

But congrats to the indian and malay dance!

Well, guess ZPS needa work alot harder!

Jia you!

Lost Control

2008-04-17T19:42:00.003+08:00

Hi Guys.

We have been discussing about the use of crude language, anger management, gentlemanliness, etc. But apparently and sadly, our Science teacher got out of control today.

Everything was fine until someone called our Science teacher by his first name, Herbert. He got so worked up he screamed when he couldn't. The class was shocked by his uproar, and became silent. He demanded for the person who called him by his first name to stand but no one did. Some of us found it funny that he screamed like no body's business and found difficulty controlling our laughter and just reduced our laughter to a mere smile.

He ordered us to open the windows of the lab and one of us didn't hear him and just stood where he was and smiled. Our science teacher screamed at him, "WIPE THAT SMILE OF YOUR FACE! DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME TELLING ALL OF YOU TO OPEN THE WINDOWS? WHAT ABOUT THE WINDOWS AT THE BACK?!" He said something like "bloody attitude" and I was appalled.

Well, it was certain that he did not know anything about anger management as he lost control of himself using a crude word that I believe is not supposed to be used by civillised teachers like him. What's more, he insulted the whole class by saying that we are deaf people who couldn't listen to instructions so he wrote some words sacarstically big on the board. He said that our annual health checkups checked if we were blind and not whether we are deaf so he assumed that we were.

The fact that he is a teacher of such a school of ours is sadly but truly, a shame for us.

In my opinion, he should've calmly asked for the culprit and deal with the issue in a composed manner and not scream bang the whiteboard and insult us, something that is not at all how a gentlemanly teacher should behave like. He should not have vent his anger on the whole class, esp the poor boy how missed his instructions and smiled. Anyway, we are never instructed to open the back windows and what he said was "people at the side open the windows" and that boy was sitting at the back...so how would he've known?

Maybe he was in a bad mood then but as a grown up and an educated person, he should have the ability to control his emotions.

Please give your comments. Thanks.

Imagine if...

2008-04-12T19:00:00.004+08:00

Hi guys.

Just some random piece of writing I wrote. I got this inspiration while eating popcorn chicken from KFC today for lunch. It's not a poem...just a random kind of writing which might have grammatical errors...but anyway...just read it. :)

Imagine if...

Your parents are killed right before your eyes
to satisfy the hunger of greedy giants that you never saw before.

Imagine if...

You are waiting in the metal coop
being stuffed with delicious and nutritious food
which is given by the giants who are
waiting and waiting till you reach a size that is
suitable for you to be murdered
and fed to the other giants

Imagine if...

You know that you are going to be killed
and you are feeling
the anxiety
the fear
the unfairness
the anger
the sadness
the agony of leaving your family
your life
your happiness
your everything

Imagine if...

Your dear child is in your arms
looking at you with innocent eyes
starting to remember you
to love you
to treat you
as a parent.
And out of the blue you are grabbed by that giant's hand
which would lead you to your end

Imagine if....
Imagine if...
Imagine if...

You were that giant
who fed the things like crazy
then killed the things like crazy
and devoured the things like crazy

You were that giant who caused
so much fear and agony
among famillies
and treated it as if nothing had happened

You were that giant who
enjoyed all these killings
enjoyed all these corpses
enjoyed their blood
enjoyed their tears
enjoyed their misery and pain

End.

The message: We are killers and we seem, unintentionally and unconsciously enjoy being killers. We enjoy the meat of chicken, lamb, pigs, frogs, deers, bears, fishes, sharks, shellfishes etc. and unknowingly, we enjoy their misery and pain.

We seldom think of the very moment when an animal is about to be killed. What were they thinking? What had happened to them? Why are they dying for us when we could have spared their lives by not feasting on them? Aren't we selfish and evil?

We say terrorists are lunatics and evil because they kill unreasonably...if we go along this line about killing the innocent, are we any different?

Sadly, I'm one of them... lol
Well, it's really difficult to become a vege cuz the temptation seem to be too great...
But now MAYBE I'm considering (LOL)...
maybe when I'm mature enough to resist the temptation...

Remember his courage, forget his mistake

2008-04-11T22:01:00.003+08:00

Hi guys.

It is said that "To err is human"...how true.

Even our class mugger JOel Teo does make mistakes and lose to Ming Yi in Chemistry...
(No Offense, just giving eg.)

Well, something happened today...pretty Drama-like...pretty channel8-like. There's someone who placed some kind of ink on paper stuff on the teacher's table and Dorje (My chinese and form teacher) got super duper hyper angry...(Bad mood?), we dunno cuz nvr in our lifes we see the dark side of him...

So we stood for 1.5 hours, waiting for the person who did this. Everyone was famished because it was already 2.20pm then. Ming YI couldn't take it and suffered from Grastic pain- poor boy. I wouldn't blame Dorje, because he's also there spending an hour and a half of his dear life waiting for this boy to admit. Ming Yi was on the verge of tears because of the pain- no one can blame him, look at him, he's so tall and skinny.

At the 125th minute, the boy confessed in tears. Real genuine tears of apology and guilt, I should say. I didn't expect to see this from a boy like him with a cheerful(?) personality but well, he showed me his soft side.

Everyone was silent but the class wasn't angry with him...somehow our anger was extinguished by his courage to admit his mistake and his genuine apology to all of us. We gave him a round of applause to compliment his courage and this is where the drama comes in.

So I quickly left the class because I was late for my EP3 for 60 minutes. Anyway I smsed him:

I'll be late.

10 minutes later....

I'll be VERY late.

Anyway it doesn't really matter because my EP3 isn't like NCC where the seniors will just turn the cadets deaf asking them to do pumpings like crazy. Chinese Orchestra is more civillised...Haha.

All in all, the class didn't bear a grudge on that guy who made us stand with him for 1.5 hours and suffer with him for 130 minutes of hunger. We remembered his courage and forgot his wrongdoing.

Ga-day! (Australian slang for Good Day)

2008-04-09T15:55:00.011+08:00

Hi Guys,

These are the videos and photos taken for Day 3 and 4 of our stay in Australia. There are two days of photos in this post because there were two days of school visiting so I thought the photos are about the same stuff.

Enjoy!

Overview of how COCB looks like.

We had a tour around COCB...Zhou Quan(left) over there refering to his map.

Everyone paying attention to...the tour guide...except me... =P

Mr....oh I forgot his name! ANyway let's call him Mr. CRANKY cuz he taught us CRANKY and seem to luv it so much. Anyway he's our tour guide. A funny man.

He introduced two "bottle trees" to us...they do look like bottles...but too bad I didn't take a photo of them.

A class on Business...

She wanted to be my model.......so be it! CHEEZE!!!!

We attended this Grade 11/12 (?) CHem class and didn't understand a thing. What cool and classy chairs they have, unlike our pasak malam chairs in HCI.

Thank God our swimming pool is better than theirs...if not we are really screwed...haha!

Students of COCB having their recess.

We had ours....at the "centerpoint", where the high school and the primary school section is divided.

The one who is wearing a hat beside me weari is my buddy...the rest are jokers who are all so attracted to me! lol! :)

A short video of an English lesson...just as boring as it in HCI...maybe slightly worse...
The awkward thing is that students could just walk in without greeting the teacher... :

After the lessons and the assembly ended, we attended chapel. Pretty interesting chapel session. That was the first time in my life I attended chapel. Oh Yes, we got COCB badges during the assembly and a song was dedicated to us by the choir. Lol...super cool.

Getting instructed not to use chinese in front of our hosts because they don't understand chinese and it's not nice to use a language that they don't understand. You can see some guilty faces, can't you? (Australians love to use like "You like that, don't you?" or "You can't see, can you?" or "It's quite nice, isn't it?") A form of English that S'porean don't normally use because we use Singlish! :)

Han Song and the rest finding seats in the Chapel.

They sat near us and I decided to take a photo of Mr. Tan! SMILE!!!!!

This is the lunch we had on Tuesday which is the forth day of our stay...Ms. Tan licking chocolate cream off her fingertips...look yummy LOL!

Zhou Quan (left) and Clifford (Right) settling down to have their meals.

A man selling sausages after the chapel...with no customers.

I think That's All Folks! Stay tuned for more photos andvideos. Anyway, there would be times where I would us add some photos and videos on posts because I would miss some videos/ photos sometimes so...keep looking!

Lol. :)

Be Happy

2008-04-04T23:25:00.003+08:00

Hi guys!

To ppl who wished I could attend Mr Phang's Bday pt:

Pai Seh! Got a dinner at Toa Payoh! Soli! Soli!

To everyone:

I'd like to share with all of you one small little incident while I was in the lift with my neighbour.

What's so interesting?

Well, it just so happens that my neighbour's children carried the same bag as me- same colour, design, brand, but just of different size. The little girl squealed in excitement and happiness, "Hey mummy! We've got the same bag!" Her mother was like..."Yes, but the size is different- his bag is bigger." But this did not stop her excitement. She remained smiling.

Out of the blue, I began thinking about this matter at a different level. I thought about achieving happiness.

How did this girl actually achieve that short period of excitement just by realizing that there's another person carrying a simpler bag? It's not like it is the only similar bag in the whole world...

Why do people lament about pressure, stress and stuff and fail to be happy?

Is it because of the maturity of the adult that causes such pessimistic character? One who is a veteran of all sorts of stress might even think that excessive pressure and stress is what life exactly is...Many are complaining about their workload, not having enough time to really enjoy life. But does time really matter to achieve happiness? At least to me, no.

I feel that as long as we view things in an optimistic perspective and find joy in small things happening in life as well as appreciate everything he has, he'd have a happy life. I'm not saying that you squeal in excitement when you see someone else's thing that is similar to what you have you squeal in excitement- people would think you're crazy. Just look on the bright side of everything and happiness flows to you naturally.

WEll, I don't know why im writing this but there is just a sudden urge to just type something I was thinking of....

I broke it

2008-04-02T15:03:00.003+08:00

Hi guys!

I'd like to share with all of you my success in breaking the 11-minute barrier for my 2.4km run.
I'm really proud and thankful to those who were infront of me, consistently pacing me to obtain such a timing- Marcus, some guy and Ivan Mak...I actually overtook him at the last 100m then at like the last 90m, he overtook me again... :(

Stay tune for my next batch of photos!

C ya

Day 3....One of the highlights

2008-03-31T22:12:00.007+08:00

DAY 3 OF COCB EXCHANGE

Codger, the cute puppy, is having its morning stretch!

I came to join in the fun- I had my morning jump!

Oops...horrible landing! (The girl on the right is Kristin, who is 9 years old).

Driving on the famous Story Bridge!

Peng Ning (front) and Daniel (back) in the car...

We then went for bike riding along the river near Southbank...(I forgot to take pics of Southbank! :( - I was too busy enjoying my lunch and ice-cream there). (From left: Peng Ning, Me, Paul, Kristin and Daniel)

Nice and cooling under the bridge. (From the front, then left: Peng Ning, Faith, Paul and Kristin)

Peng Ning in his helmets taking a shot with the high rise buildings.

Now me in helmets taking a shot with the high rise buildings...

I'm still nice without the helmet....

I know, you can't see my face but Look! the main focus is the Story Bridge!

All the little children...(From left: Kristin, Peng Ning, Me, Daniel)

Well, we went to the church first thing in the morning after having our breakfast and the church session lasted for 1.5 hours(?). We then went back home to rest a while before going for the bike riding cum picnic outing- Super duper fun! (Best if not one of the best highlights of the trip). After the outing we returned home again and brought Codger, the puppy, for a walk to the doggy park to allow him to unwine and have fun socialising with other dogs in the park.

Well, not many pictures this time as I had too much fun to take them- not that the other days were not as fun but...you know, I enjoyed myself too much. Haha!

See ya!

Part 2 of Day 2's Photos

2008-03-24T22:14:00.007+08:00

Getting off the bus excitedly to step on the sands of GoldCoast for the first time.. :D

Nice buildings along the beaches....

The sun is setting so gracefully...admire its beauty!

Just take a quick snap with the ocean- I DON"T WANNA GET WET!

But i did....

Look at the soft sand! Oops, it's gettin' into people's eyes!!!

Cute little footprints

My master piece!

A group photo

"Mr Tan, can I take a pic of your soiled shoes?"

"Of course! Of course!"

THE AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK SPECTACULAR!

In case you guys don't know what's this. it's actually a show featuring mainly horses as well as some stuff about Australia...It's like a watch and dine kind of show where of course, you dine while you watch/ watch while you dine.

This where all the audiences assemble b4 entering the hall...It's like a pub where there's singing and sale of beers and stuff...

Look at the bar!! And this fella over here!

A bunch of sporty cowboys and cowgirls(?)

I'm gonna post the photos of day pretty soon and stay tune! If you're wondering why I took so long to complete the whole post, it's because I've been extremely busy and recently I just got a fever from my brother.

Enjoy!

Money cannot be eaten

2008-03-22T11:39:00.003+08:00

Hi guys,

I went to the S'pore Zoo yesterday and learnt about the importance of mangroves and forests in our world. There's one particular saying that I really want to share with all of you, esp. money maniacs...It's really wise.

Only after the last tree has been cut down;
Only after the last river has been poisoned;
Only after the last fish has been caught,
will one realise,
money cannot be eaten.

Indian/ African saying (? unsure...)

Well, maybe the punctuation is a little problematic, but the message is clear. So SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT and remember, MONEY CANNOT BE EATEN.

Lol...maybe I'd post some photos but I really need to find time...I'll try my best anyway!

P/S: Stay tuned for the next part of the AUST photos!

CIP activity at the Adeventist Home for the Aged

2008-03-20T14:32:00.002+08:00

Hi everyone!

Today my class went to do some CIP activity to celebrate our school's Founder's Day.

For our class, we went to the Adventist Home for the Aged, which caters to both able and disabled old people who have/ do not have loved ones...

It was a pretty nice experience for me as we get to interact with the aged and most importantly, make their day. We did some singing, games, performances to entertain all of the "residents" there and also distributed some small gifts to them. There was a language barrier between us and the elderly there as it seems that none of us speaks dialect...or maybe more of wouldn't dare to speak dialects to the elderly.

Some of us help to clean the place up after that- I helped to clean the windows while some others helped to clear the rubbish bins in the homes. I was surprised that the home didn't need much cleaning. Perhaps there are many other volunteers from different organizations to help out.

Besides helping to clean the home, we kept the elderly company by playing intellectual games such as chinese chess, checkers, Dum(?) and Carrom (?). (Isn't sure of the spelling) and had a whale of a time ourselves...

We ended 1 hour earlier than expected and went to a nearby food court to have some food while we waited for the bus for an hour...

It's too bad that we couldn't accompany the residents of the home for lunch. But anyway, it was a fun experience after all. What a good way to celebrate Founder's Day!

:)

Second Round Of Photos!

2008-03-17T16:29:00.025+08:00

Hi guys,

Here are the second round of photos featuring photos from the second day...

It's broken into 2 parts as there are too many photos to publish. So, what I've done is that I've pubished the photos I've taken in Dreamworld...

Stay tune to watch photos taken from the Gold Coast and Australia Outback Spectacular!

There are some videos too...so, enjoy!

I went to take some pictures of the house that I was staying the very next morning...I was gorgeous- clean, big, well-designed.

Front of the house...2-storeyed!

Their garage covered by the shuttle.

Half of their back-yard...See that boy over there? He's Daniel and I'm playing cricket with him...You might just be wondering...CRICKET? Yes, cricket. I've learnt cricket from Daniel and he's super good at it...

This is Peng Ning's bed in Daniel's room.

My room...which is clearly Kristin's room...you'd be able to see that from the doll and and the thingy on the wall... :)

I can see the neighbours backyard...so big also. The wind from outside also comes in through the nettings and cools the room down, making the temperature more comfortable... :) Natural Air Condition!

A picture of their living room taken from the second floor corridor...How gorgeous!

Just to give all of you an idea of what is inside Dreamworld...

Clifford, "Eh, Can help me take a photo of this please?" (on the verge of tears)

I thought that this helicopter was just for display- but relised my mistake when it flew for AUSD50.00 per person.

I'm Croc Hunter 2...kind of...

OMG....Tower of Terror- Known to be the world highest and fastest ride!

My legs were trembling....the ride travels at 157km/h....

video on how the ride is like... the long vertical thingy with something going down...

Can you see me? I can't believe I'm on this ride...Oh goodness!

Lemme zoom in in case you can't...

After that horrifying amazingly thrilling ride, we moved on on a traditional coal-powered train

Joel Teo became hungry so he purchase this sandwich for AUSD7.00 and ate only the fillings....

Cute Kangaroo munching away its food...

After looking at the Kangis, we went to see the emus

Although slow, the Vintage cars were pretty fun

Having visited the mini-zoo, we decided to go for lunch at the cafe...And GUESS WHAT? This costs AUsD 5.50...just a whole lump of cream with some strawberries on top and a super hard wafer as a base. Again, it's bought by Joel Teo who found the fast food were far from his expectations...

Clifford and I went to the Tiger show with Ms. Sandra Tan...wasn't really jaw-dropping...

Gorgeous tigers, but not a very nice performance was put up.

Clifford and I wondered into this horrible ship that went at 8km/h...Arghss...

It's for little little children...but we took a couple of photos anyway.

I think that's about all...The next part of our day would be in another separate post...so stay tune!

Photos are out- COCB exchange

2008-03-12T13:11:00.013+08:00

Hi everyone, I've downloaded the photos that I've taken during my stay in Australia...

However, to keep all of you visiting my blog again, I'll only publish the photos taken in the first day...lol :)

SO keep comin' to see more in the future!

Here are the photos:

Ms Sandra Tan, "Before we leave, I insist that all of you must hug your parents because

they have pumped in money for you to be able to go on this trip."

Let's take a group photo!

All the 2K students attending the trip...

Can I take a photo with the aeroplane?

Beautiful Waterworks...

Nicely designed and comfortable sofas to rest on...

YAY! We're boarding the plane!

Huh...are we boarding the plane?

I didn't know that...

Yo! Lemme be ya model dude!

Dispersion of light...Mrs Loi 'd be happy to see this

Yay! Arrival in Brisbane.

Where are our baggages?

LOl, that's the end for the day... stay tuned to see more... :)

Back from Australia

2008-03-08T10:31:00.002+08:00

Haish...back to S'pore from Aust.

The trip was so so so so so nice, esp with the homestay program. I'm still missing my homestay hosts and Aust. It's such a nice place to live in. Stress-free, nice weather, nice people, nice houses....it's amazing.

I lived in with family of four living in a 2-storeyed house. Their backyard is even bigger than my apartment, so u can imagine how big their house is...

I loved their dog, Coger. He's super well- behaved- never go upstairs and the sofa. Coger is a friendly dog which sledom barks and would lick u fr head to toe...he welcomes everyone he sees.

My homestay hosts were very nice...miss them so much. They pack lunch everyday and cooks every meal for us. Friendly and caring and humourous. I like them. They brought me and Peng Ning to bike riding to Southbank, a park for people of all ages. It has an artificial beach, tracks for running, nice and clean grass to sit on and have a picnic. so cool...

Well, if im going to list everything i've done, then it'll be super boring. So what i'll do is that i'll post most, if not all the photos to give u a better pic. of what i've done....

So sad...i really miss them. SOunds funny, but i really do cuz they are real nice...wait till u experience the trip for yourself then u'll clearly understand and sympathise...if i stay in a hotel instead, i really wouldnt miss AUST as much...

i hope i can return to aust next yr...it's so nice...but parents say need to go other places to see more of the world....:(

父母是否给孩子们太大的压力？

2008-02-24T09:16:00.002+08:00

昨天，我上了一个关于 MindChamps 课程的演讲会。其中有一项讨论是关于孩子收到的压力。演讲者说，孩子们受到多处的压力；有功课上的压力，朋友之间的压力，父母给的压力，等等。

所以，演讲者说，这个课程能解决那前两种压力，但第三种的压力是要靠父母对孩子的教导和态度所影响的。演讲者这是一位三个孩子的妈妈，所以她就和观众们分享他琴声经历过的一件事。。。

他最大的孩子小六年中考试成绩有两个科目不及格，所以不敢跟他的妈妈报告他的成绩。他就非常的害怕，伤心，就看着自己的成绩单，不知道该怎么样。不知不觉地，他就把自己的头发给把光了。。。他内心的痛，和害怕，竟然使他外在的痛苦给麻痹了。。。他的妈妈知道了，感到万分的痛苦。演讲者，就是他的妈妈，当场哭了。。。

那我们可以想象，那位孩子受到的压力是多么的大。

我本身觉得，父母和孩子互相之间应该有更密切的沟通，也要互相体谅，才不会给两方造成太多的压力。父母也要学会在适当的时候鼓励孩子，赞扬孩子，让他们觉得自己真正的价值而变得更有自信，也会产生好学的精神。

First solo in chinese orchestra

2008-02-22T20:17:00.003+08:00

I'm so proud of myself today.....
I played the 1st solo part in my life in the Chinese Orch practice today!!!

I screwed up(?) a little the first time....but got better. I am pleased with my performance today.

Well, everyone has their first times...and i had mine today. It turned out very well. I'll treat it as a form of motivation and practice harder to improve. :)

Anyway, it was double happiness for me today because the dizi grp got praised the most by the student conductor...yay!!!!!

LOL

I'm back from all the tests

2008-02-22T20:03:00.003+08:00

Well, at last, the tests have come to an end...

So far, i experience two disappointments, out of a possible of 2 so far...not a good sign.
But anyway, i'll summurise all my results just for you information after that so keep a good look out if u're interested! lol...

Well, i wouldn't expect myself to do well in EL and Math, maybe in lit and hist. too..i dunno, things can be unpredictable...Initially I thought of publishing another of my poem inspired from this period of time, but decided that I shall not because its too private and sentimental somehow....dun ask me anything abt my poem if u happen to meet me, ok?

So I'm both looking forward and dreading the release of my overall results, but, let' wait n see...

I'm just one week away from my trip to Australia, full of anticipation and excitement...I think Mr. Tan Boon Beng, although very eccentric and unusual or should i say, unique, has a point during the briefing about the trip. He said that at many times, if not most of the time, exchange programmes seem to be all about enjoyment and leisure, nothing much abt learning...but what's the key thing about exchange programmes or any other programs is that one needs to learn how to learn from excursions, esp valuable xchange programmes like this one which enables you to interact closely with foreigners...

It's a great ACE opportunity for EL,CL and GEOG...I'll most likely be teaming up with Han Song and Clifford to do ACE....esp a presentation abt our trip when we return to S'pore....

SO, that's basically all. I'd better start packing!!!! :)

Interacting with Hong Kongers

2008-02-16T15:51:00.003+08:00

Just went to host some HK ppl who visited ZPS with Mr.Phang (ex-form teacher), yesterday at IMM...

There was a HOngkong teacher with two other students following us...I met them in the BP library and then met Mr Phang...We then went to baliThai at IMM...

So..we had thai yu sheng, crab meat soup and many more. There were two particular dishes, fried fish and stir fried veg with red dates.

Things became funny....

For the fried fish dish, the Hong Kong teacher pronounced it as "fly fish" and for red dates, she pronounced it as "red daze".... so i was secretly laughing...luckily i managed to control it...

Oh yes...and for the yu sheng, a raw fish salad, Mr phang actually wanted the waitress to explain the meaning of yu sheng. But she said she wasn't professional and Mr phang told her, "Never mind, just explain it in you layman's terms." and I saw her eyes widened and smiled embarrassly, most probally because the word "layman's" is too chim for her.... :) Well, perhaps she's chinese educated...anyway, she presented the meaning of the yu sheng well in chinese...

lime juice : 大吉大利
fish：年年有余
plum sauce：鸿运当头
oil：事事顺利
crackers: 金玉满堂

that's all i remembered...
anyway, we had a great meal chattin' abt wad Hong kongers normally eat in their meals and stuff like that...It's quite enjoyable experience...

aft that we went to mr phang's house and went back to ZPS...

so all in all, i thought that it was a very fun and interesting trip to accompany the Hong Kongers...I think its great that at least they know how to speak maybe..3 languages? (im not sure if they could speak chinese).

So anyway, i'll not b blogging for a while cuz tests r comin'!!!!!!!

bb lol

Visit to uncle's house

2008-02-09T20:21:00.001+08:00

Hi, happy CNY to everyone. How's your home visiting experience this CNY? I had a good one.
I thought today's the best so I shall share my experience...

the best visit is to my uncle's house to have lunch. It wasn't really the lunch that matters, it was the Wii that deeply attracted me and made me wanna love it, kiss it, marry it. It was the first time I played with Wii adn I didn't know it was so fun until then. It's like the really thing, esp. for the golf game. I tried the golf and tennis and like the golf better. My uncle and father too got in love with it as they played the virtual Wii golf. Heard fr. my uncle that it costs abt 600++ (very ex) but his family rich lah, so no kick to them. lol :)

So, yeah, that's my best exp....

You have served me well

2008-02-06T20:07:00.001+08:00

This is a poem, by me, again. I got the inspiration for this poem when I changed shoes. So, enjoy! :)

You have served me well

You have served me well.

I recalled that when I first received you
I thought that you were magnificent.

You had colours that deeply attracted me
you had a design that was unique and special
at least to me.

I treated you,
as a symbol of love from my parents,
because they never got anything like you
for me.

You not only had the external features
you had the softness
you had the grip
you had the size
that perfectly suits me.

I cared about you
I washed you
I polished you
I admired you
I appreciated you
as a way of reciprocating your help to me.

You ran with me
walked with me
jumped with me
trudged with me
climbed with me
no matter where I go
you would support me.

But now,
you could no longer support me
and neither can I care for you
you have gone
you have been brought away
or should I say,
you have been stolen away
from me.

But now,
no matter where you are,
no matter who you are with,
no matter what,
I just wrote
to say that
you
have served me
well.

By Ting Chang Hui
6 Feb 2008

Description of photos and elaboration of trip

2008-02-05T20:42:00.000+08:00

Well, the photos are at the bottom....

So actually I went to Cambodia for both tour and visiting with my mother's god-sister and my mum's god-sister's mother-in-law as well as my whole family except my father, cuz he needed ta work...

Em, we actually went overseas for 2 wks total, of which we also visited Ah Ran, Thailand where two of my "half-blooded" cousins live. Basically, all of my cousins from my mother's side are cambodians so far except the two of them.

All in all, it was a nice trip as i getta meet all the relatives there, esp my grandfather whom i've not met for 7 yrs...i getta eat some of the funy foods like spiders, duck eggs with half-developed-chicks inside, some egg plant leaves(tastes ok) and cambodian salted fish which , like the chinese salted fish, stinks to the core. But surprisingly the dishes with it are dededelicious.

I've visited several places like the killing field where i could see bones all around me (it's true, no sacarsm), and of cuz the angkor wat, a VERY VERY BIG PLACE i should say cuz we needa travel on tuk tuks...

I fell really sick when i wenta thailand because of the 5 hour bumpy ride on the dirt road (i think its worse than a dirt road). so all in all, all i could say was that i went to the toilet, slept and drank alot... :(

THe nice part is also the trip to the beach (it actually took 4 hours to getta the beach! OMG) so we went there by a bus booked by my third aunty as there were also my third aunty's employees tagging along. The beach was freakingly clean and there were cow roaming around us...so FUN!!!!

I just wanna go to Cambodia again! Maybe im goin' france nxt yr cuz i've got relatives there too! :)

Trip to Cambodia continued....

2008-02-05T20:25:00.000+08:00

I just wanna share this cute photo of my bro in the wild with the cows that i've professionally taken...haha....NO PHOTOSHOP PROGRAMS USED!!!! it's all creditted to me!

I realise that i have too many photos and there's already so many photos in my blog. So, i tot i just publish what i think is the most memorable and cute photo...lol =P

Trip to Cambodia in the Dec Holidays

2008-02-04T16:48:00.001+08:00

cuz too tired already, so tomorrow then continue to post... lol sun sets....

so high.....CLIMBED AT OUR OWN RISKS...

me and my sis in angkor wat

me at angkor wat, with the sun set as backgrnd.....

ahh...why wouldn't this come out?

my grandfather and my bro

grabbing coconuts...(driven nuts by coconuts) lol....

won't the rattan swing break? :<

Malakon and Nampaet taking pic with the water works at the hotel.

walk and walk and walk....at one of the Thai festival (quite a big scale one)...

walk and walk and walk....with the performance

tough walk to the river....i wasn't feeling very well so i wore a jacket.

preparing the lamps......

My sis holding a lamp to be released into the river

This is a pic when im in Thailand, Ah Ran, near the border of Cambodia. (From left)my third uncle, my brother,my younger sis, me, my mother hugging my two young thai/cambodian cousins, my third aunty and my third aunty's mother-in-law.

LOL! Hunt for 2K's blog by Mr Dorje

2008-02-04T16:38:00.000+08:00

Hahas. Today mr dorje told the class abt his hunt for 2K bloggers to know whether we've been stabbing him behind the back! What an INTERESTING teacher!

令人感动的一篇文章

2008-02-03T20:25:00.000+08:00

你应在向我突然用华文的原因吧？这是因为我接下来要写下的是我在家里找到的一张蛮令人感动的作文。请你们仔细地读一读吧，真得蛮不错的。

作文是这样的：

孩子，当你还很小的时候，
我花了很多时间，
教你慢慢用汤匙，用筷子吃东西。
叫你帮鞋带，扣扣子，滑溜梯，
叫你穿衣服，梳头发，拧鼻涕，
这些和你在一起的点点滴滴，
是多么令我怀念不已。

所以，当我想不起来时，接不上电话时，请给我一点时间，
等我一下，让我在想想。。。。。。极可能最后连说甚什么，
我也忘记了。
孩子，你忘记了我们练习了好几百回，　才学会的第一手儿歌吗？
是否还记得每天总要我绞尽脑汁，去回答你不是从哪里冒出来的问题吗？　
所以，当我重复又重复说着老掉牙的故事，
哼着我孩提时代的儿歌时，体谅我，让我继续沉醉在这些回忆中，
切望你，也能陪我闲话家长吧！

孩子，现在我常忘了扣扣子，绑鞋带。吃饭时，会弄脏衣服，
梳头发时，手还会不停的抖，　不要催促我，要对我多一些耐心和温柔，
只要有你在一起，就会有很多的温暖涌上心头。
孩子，如今，我的脚也站不稳，走也走不动，所以，
请你紧紧地握着我的手，陪着我，慢慢的，　就像当年一样，
我带着你，一步一步地走。

－－－－完－－－－

怎样？好读吗？虽然是很多字，但是这篇文章是很容易理解的。。。我蛮喜欢的

Newspaper Collection for CIP

2008-02-02T22:19:00.000+08:00

Anyway, it didn't turn out to be that bad after all...

It's quite a fun experience going around the block collecting newspapers and old stuff. There were many helpful and sociable residents in Ghim Moh Block 1. Many had gotten ready newspapers and old clothes to donate to us while a small portion rather sell their old clothes and newspapers to Karang Guni and earn some money for themselves. And guess what, one of the "bad guy" was a female Christian who actually had a framed sewn cloth hanging at the door which shows "Let the beauty of God live in me." - What a contrast! But she did give a little little bit of newspaper out of a stack of newspaper of about a metre high. At least there's still a little good in her.

Some other residents offered us canned drinks and bottle of mineral water. So in the end we had like 6 canned drinks and 2 bottles of mineral water. Although we were told not to accept anyting, we did (secretly). ;) But anyway, we didn't just like say " AUNTY I WANT I WANT!!!! PLEASE!!!" We would pretend like to be damn good students of HCI by saying, "Aunty we are not doing this for the sake of canned drinks you know, we are really passionate to help the Ulu Pandan community. But if you really really insist, we shall accept your generous offer." lol =P

But after awhile, it was like darn tiring. Imagine, 4 sec 2 students, one of which had the size of a p5 kid, two others were in the performing arts (including me) and only one is from NCC who appeared to have muscle aches because of the harsh training the day before. There should actually be like 10 ppl in one block, LAH. But at least all the four of us, Zai Wei (the small but reasonably fit dwarf), Wei Jun (a sopranoin the chor), Zhe Wei (the strong and muscular NCC hunk) and lastly me, a Chinese Orch member, worked hard together and completed the block!!!

There was once when I walked on the 7th floor when i saw one cat guarding the door of its owner's house. WHen i arrived, it's body was like pointed all the way up and its tail was raised. IT slowly walked to be with its eyes locked onto my face. I could really see its claws coming out. I back away when it came too close. It was when its owner came out and carried it away and handed my a stack of newspapers. Phew!

THere was one thing, however, that was frustrating. It was when the garbage truck came late and the whole of 2K was held up while the rest of the classes were dismissed. Everyone was starving. But at least, it was counted into the CIP hours. It was when the garbage truck came when we realised that our effort to pile the newspapers up is all washed down the drain as the newspapers were squased and squeezed into the garbage truck till it was over-loaded. There were so much newspapers that we needed two gigantic garbage trucks to carry everything to the recyling centre! For the first time, the garbage trunks wasn't smelly - it contained only newspapers!!!

Well, but b4 the 2nd truck came, we were dismissed 4 lunch. We officially did 6.5 hours of CIP from 8am to 2.30pm non-stop. YAY!

Maybe its a fun way to earn CIP. But you'll be beat dead after that! :)

My Utopia

2008-02-02T21:16:00.000+08:00

In one of the English lessons this week, my EL teacher asked the whole class to think and write about what is our own utopia. So here's mine:

In my utopia, there should be fairness and proper use of advanced technology.

Fairness and justice is what we could see in the real world, in countries like Singapore, our home. However, there are still many people in the world suffering poverty because of the corruption and emblezzlement committed among their leaders. There are still many people in the world who are suffering in wars caused by their government. There are still many people in the world who are victims of sexual and child abuse. There are just still too much injustice and unfairness occuring in the world to be listed.

Why should people suffer the consequences of what they haven't done? Why should young children be the victims of child abuse and even, sexual abuse? Why should the lives of these people be so hard?
...Who knows?....

There are things that are just so unfair. But in fact, nothing is fair in the world. Here we are, using the internet with a computer, blogging and email-ing, enjoying the joy of living on Earth with abundant entertainment. There they are, running for their lives, enduring hunger and also, the fear of the lost of another beloved one...it just ain't fair.

Therefore, Fairness and Justice, leading to Happiness, would thrive in my utopia.

The next aspect would be the proper use of advanced techonology. Many countries, such as Iraq and South Korea, are turning into a nuclear power country. Why must the world have nuclear energy? For defence? For war? For money? For superiority?

Many criminals use the internet to commit crimes that includes hacking of systems, circulation of computer viruses and lastly, luring young and foolish teenagers to meet them followed by cheating them of their money and even turn into rape and murder. These are just ruthless ways to cheat and destroy properties and also lives of others.

Can't waita meet....

2008-02-01T20:42:00.000+08:00

I am looking forward for the reunion of 6H in ZPS. It'd be great to meet teachers there, esp. Ah Phang..oops...MR Phang. :)

It'd be great! Long live 6H!!!

Anyway, Kenneth, think we could start planning for this yrs gathering! =P

lol

ANYWAY, A VERY HAPPY CHINESE NEW YR TO EVERYONE!!!
isn't getting hong baos the happiest thing abt CNY?

Chinese Orch Performances

2008-01-29T20:17:00.000+08:00

YAY! At last this would be a first time of the yr when I could earn CIP hours !!!

I think I'll be attending 4 performances. One at the River Hongbao, another in my school for CNY celebration. Then it'd be a monday where i'll perform in Nan hua pri. , then a sunday when i perform for my school's alumni or smth like that...

Hope could earn at least avg. of 3 CIP for each activity :)

The Last Period by Ting Chang Hui

2008-01-28T20:26:00.000+08:00

Introduction:

Basically, this poem is dedicated to my physics teacher, Mrs. Loi. Whether the purpose is good or bad, read it to find out. I've actually composed it the day after that last period. Leave your comments for improvements. I welcome them.

Enjoy!

THE LAST PERIOD

It started.
There was a storm.
Lightning flashed and thunder roared,
the storm was raging.

Mirrors were upright,
beams were reflected
and papers were marked with lines.

Answers were shown
Pencils were sketching
Pens were writing
Answers were filled in

The lesson continued
The teacher sang
She sang a lullaby...

The storm subsided
The mystical voice sang with strange words
that no one heard before

Everything became calm
though it wasn't over

Everything sank into oblivion,
though it wasn't over

Everthing was unusually silent
thought it wasn't over.

The storm had ended
and the voice sang on and on till

It ended.

Having read this funny poem or prose, what do you think is the purpose? Lol, as if it's like a LIterature killer question....nah, it isn't.

Although i wrote it so "nicely" (?) , it was meant to say that her voice was so high pitch and gentle that the whole class went to sleep. Futhermore, it was the chim terms that made things worse. (Her lessons are good for insomia)

lol.

What doesn't make a gentleman?

2008-01-28T15:21:00.000+08:00

What doesn't make a gentleman?

1. A man who utters profanities?

2. A man who squeezes his way up the bus?

3. A man who said "wah" cheekily when he see the above (2) happening?

4. A man who is not punctual?

5. A man who despise others?

blah blah blah?

Please give your comments.....

Can't wait for trip to Christian Outreach College

2008-01-28T15:02:00.000+08:00

I just can't wait to visit Brisbane!

It's just so cool that it'll be the first European country I visit...
The next best thing is that I'll be involved in a home-stay programme to experience a life with a AUSTRALIAN family for ONE WEEK!!!!

I'm just so excited and elated that the school has provided me with such a beautiful learning opportunity to interact with a mass group of Australians and hence getting to know their perspectives.

This, in my opinion, would be an enriching and memorable experience.

Thank you Hwa Chong! :)

This is a link for video about the Christian Outreach College Exchange last yr. Take a look if you want to... : http://youtube.com/watch?v=99vUBwaGbHs

New and Different Chinese Teacher

2008-01-27T16:08:00.000+08:00

Mr. Ong Ghim Siong, Dorje!

He's cool. Just a music lover :) Good that he introduces to the class a song at least once a week. At least lessons wouldn't be too boring...

He's the first teacher i noe who's vegetarian. A buddhist devotee...Saw some buddha statues over at his desk.

Average size, dun really scold :)

Hope that i'll have a great yr of chinese lessons ahead!

Lost 2 books

2008-01-27T16:05:00.000+08:00

Dunno how can 2 books just mysteriously disappear like that...What has happened? Seriously hope its not an intergrity issue. Kind of sad, disappointed, frustrated, angry. AH!!!!!

Why do ppl resort to stealing?