Paintball

Yesterday me and about 26 other teachers from many other schools went to play paintball at Orchid Country Club. It was fun. I lost both games but I got to shoot so many people and I only got shot once on the vest. It was so very close though... we lost by a few paces bringing the ammo box towards the home base. The day after the battle, my whole body aches especially my back and my thighs. It was a good exciting workout. Should have bought more ammo to continue the game.

Looking forward to next month's game. How are you guys doing?

Class Reunion 6-1'o7

Class Reunion 6-1'o7
Teachers' Day 2008
Cedar Primary School

Thanks guys. You are the best. Will write more later. Busy busy...

Australian Outback

We started the day early at 7.45. The bus came late and we were all waiting in the freezing cold. We had to pay an additional $20 for diesel tax. At about 8, the bus left Perth.

First stop was the town of York. Nothing much there except for some really run down buildings. I did find a very good second hand book shop which sold The Education of Desire: Marxists and the Writing of History, by Harvey J. Kaye, for just $15 bucks. Amazon selling it for US$161.60. Hah hah hah...

We then went to visit a really funny dog cemetery. Found many funny headstones there: Cindy, Bobby, etc, etc... Took some pictures and will put it up once I reach Singapore and can find the time. I'm afraid once I reach our tiny island, it'll be work, work, work!

Just before wave rock, we went to have this awful lunch at this pretty place. My son touched an electric fence and got the shock of his life. That was something he'll not forget.

When we finally reached wave rock, it was magnificent! I climbed all the way up to the highest point. Met some irritating Singaporeans who insisted that I should drive round Australia. I really felt like shouting, I DO NOT WANT TO!!! Instead, as usual, I let my charming charismatic self handle the situation.

Anyway, the Wave Rock is composed of good ol' granite with a beautiful pinkish tinge. Its rounded wave-like shape was formed by weathering and water erosion and most likely, according to our guide that the weathering started below ground level before it was exposed. I think it was an underground river exposed. Will check with Prof Teh on this.

We alos visited the Hippo's Yawn, a cave that resembles a yawning hippo. I don't think that there are hippos in Australia. Most probably a name given by the, what Thanjit calls them, the tall ang mohs. Anyway, the aborigines used to give birth to their babies in this cave, far away from their men.

We also visited Mulka's Cave, 18 kilometres north of Wave Rock. We saw some well preserved examples of Aboriginal art and hand outlines. Mulka is this guy who's mother had an affair with another guy from another tribe and ended up growing taller than the rest and ate babies as a hobby and got killed. Makes no sense to me actually...

We then headed back to Perth before eating some outback cakes made by two very old aussies. Pictures later.

Mandurah

Today, we went to this town south of Perth called Manjusri... er no, I mean, Mandurah, and once again by their train. The bus servise was once again free from the station to the front shore. We ate fish and chips at this restaurant and then went for a boat cruise where we gazed at the homes of australia's filthy rich. What was really exciting was when we saw some dolphins right by the boat that we were in and several times too! After that, we went to this 7-day market which really had nothing much.

Came back to Perth, again by train and ate some asian food at this restaurant called Ole-Ole, but not before going shopping at Woolworths.

Tomorrow, we're going into the Australian outback! I think the waverock is going to be more interesting than Mandurah. The Wave on Hyden Rock is one of Australia's most famous landforms, which looks very much like a giant surf wave of multicoloured granite. It is estimated to be over 2,700 million years ago, and has been there even before dinosaurs roamed the earth!

Orchard Glory Farm

We went to the Orchard Glory farm today, slightly more than an hour's drive from Criterion Hotel where we stayed. The rooms are cool! We fed the horses, the goats, the rabbits, the pheasants and the Llamas.

But the coolest thing we did was to bottle some real wine! I got to bring two bottles home, the ones my son and daughter bottled. That's going to raise some of my friends when they visit.

Anyway, the nights are super cold! I ended up spending most of my time surfing Australian TV channels infront of the fire place munching some Doritos and dipping them in some Doritos dip. I must have burned some three logs of wood.

The owner of the farm was from Singapore and he was kind enough to bring us to the Bindoon Town, which was really just a few shop houses, for some tidbits shopping. The town people were very friendly but I can't help but to be reminded of some ulu kampong in Malaysia. Instead of some pakciks, makciks and apeks, its all filled with ang mohs.

The next day, we went back to Perth Town and the driver, yet another ex-Singaporean, brought us to his restaurant and we ate some authentic Singaporean dishes. He was also trying to convince us to become Australians and keep comparing why the life in Oz is better than in the Lion City.

Of many of his arguments, many of which is interesting, he said that the government here has more heart. The bus service in Perth CBD is free. Parking is also free. The poor must be allowed travel and work, he said.

Hmm...

After that, we went to Kings Park, a beautiful place. Most importantly is that I found out from this trip to the park is that the Perth people were very friendly and kind. Whenever we looked lost, they would offer us help and pointed to us directions. It's a shame thought to see such a nice place full of graffiti.

But yes Thanjit, the best thing about Perth is still the eggs! They taste different.

Day 1 - Australia

I'm in Perth now. Yesterday, we went to this town called fremantle. The weather is nice and cool. The trains here are quite cheap too. about 18 oz bucks for an all day pass for a whole family to go anywhere.

We went to The Round House, the oldest remaining building in Western Australia, and explored the rest of Fremantle ourselves by walking. We went to the esplanade, basically a big field where kids play under some really huge trees and picnic people feed huge seagulls.

We went to the Fremantle Prison too. It is one of Western Australia’s cultural heritage sites. Imagine a prison as a heritage site! We in Singapore on the other hand, destroyed our old Changi in the name of development.

The EShed market is kinda boring and I think the Chatuchak market inThailand has more variety. In fact the stuff sold there really looks like as if there were from Chatuchak. Same goes for the Fremantle Village Art Markets.

What I really like about Perth, are the boiled eggs. They taste different.

It looks like the people in Fremantle and Perth are very relaxed and laid-back.

The queues in their Macdonalds are always super long yesterday and people are all walking very slowly. Maybe it is still their public holiday for yesterday was some Foundation Day or something...

Maybe today would be different. We'll just have to wait and see...

Science Videos

Sorry people. Busy past few weeks! The sports carnival was a blast... many of my students came back. They are all so big! Anyway... these are some interesting videos for Science! Parental guidance advised.

Feotus development

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48_fIOpkbfA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcQzZ_qMemA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCDaR4JT75Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkvl374liGs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MnQxiSJZ4Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHLG-Ari9NA


Digestion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fff7xunqgtI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3986Yfl5cU

JZ's Awesome Choir Performance, Sin's B'day and 4 lovely ladies

Sorry for the very late update. These last five weeks or so has just been so crazy! The only break I had was during JZ's choir performance! He was awesome. His choir group belted out many many nice song with some notes that were simply mind boggling. Well done JZ!

Another break I got was two days ago when Sin invited me to his house for his birthday lunch. My wife and I met Pearl, Eli and Jeremy there. Sin, I wish you a happy 13th birthday. May your teenage years bring you interesting and nice memories to last for the rest of your life.

I know this coming week is going to be another difficult week for me with the papers and all. How I long for my holiday. The last time I went for my well-deserved break, I met four unforgettable ladies. I can still remember them like it was just yesterday. It was at The Library of Celsius, in ancient Ephesus, in Turkey.

Built in 114 AD, and once hosted 12,000 scrolls, it sure has got to be the most appropriate setting to be introduced to "Arete" (Goodness), "Ennoia" (Thought), "Episteme" (Knowledge) and "Sophia" (Wisdom), four ancient statues that have existed since the ancient world.

Actually, they are replicas of the original, but hey, they are at the original site and that is good enough for me. Can't wait for inner Mongolia this June!

National Museum Fieldtrip

We went to the new renovated National Museum yesterday. It was cool. I think it is even better than the one I went to, in Copenhagen, Denmark. Anyway, after that, some of us hang out at a place near the substation. It was cool. I had to go back earlier than the rest though. My marking is piling up and the exams are fast approaching.

Yes Carmen, there are many cats in this blog because I love cats. These cats though are the ones in Turkey. This lucky black cat here almost crossed my path while I was strolling in Topkapi Palace. It is therefore a palace cat!

Anyway, I just discovered that I'm featured in Ria's website. Sadly, it is true that I am swallowed whole, by my work. But that does not mean that my fight to raise environmental literacy and the awareness of Singapore's natural heritage has ended. I would also recommend you guys to visit the Brain Bits website, maintained by Mr Kua!

And please don't hate geography! It is only the best subject in the world...

Back Ache, Old Students and Random Thoughts

Hi all,

Sorry for the longest time since my last update. Have been very busy with work. I'm again on MC today. I should not be. There is just too much work that I cannot afford time off from work but the doctor said I should rest at home. She gave me two days but I think I'll go to school tomorrow if my back improves. The P5 camp at Sarimbun was a blast! I have never enjoyed camp this much. Sorry if you could not be part of it. It was just way too far away from school to have involved you guys.

Anyway, I met my very old student in the camp who is now a high-rope element instructor! When I was 18, I volunteered in this association and led a dozen from the youth group to Mt. Ophir. He was one of them.To think that his very first camp and very first overseas trip was with me and now he is a camp instructor! Moments like this is what make me realize how right I was to have switched my carreer to what I am doing right now.

To top that, my very old student in another school that I was attached to six years ago, whom I taught only for two months, contacted me! He is now living in India and have just completed his O's. He was so proud to highlight the fact that he took his six months ahead of everyone else! Eli and Leon came to visit yesterday. Sorry guys if I could only talk to you for a short time. I have to clear so much work! Please please sms me next time before coming next time so that I can confirm the best time to visit. Same thing happened to TCC. He came to visit last Thursday but I had to go to Grange Road for a meeting!

I'm so excited this Sunday! I'm going to see JZ's choir performance.

Why I love my job

Today was special. Eli came in the afternoon to visit. I had an urgent meeting so I could only talk to her for a while. I should have told her to visit me after 430. I thought she would stay till evening but she did not. Would have loved to talk to her more. Next week Pearlyn is coming so Eli, if you can join her please do. Please check with me on Thursday so I can confirm the best time for you two to visit.

Then later on at about 5.30, Eve and Grace came to visit and bought me a cake! I took them on a tour and sat down to talk for a very very long time. It is nice to hear and be updated of their lives in secondary school. Please do not give up on Geography. It is your teacher's favourite subject. He got a first class honours in it ok. Through them, I learned about the other members of 6-1'07 and their lives. It was hilarious but at the same time sad that I am no longer a part of these new learnings of theirs.

To top it all up, TJ and Pam smsed me. Pam, I am so proud of your results!

What is sad is that only my female students visit and sms me. What happens to the boys? I hope to see them soon. I understand you guys are busy and please, school work must come first. Just remember my 6-1'o7, study hard and enjoy secondary life. These are not mutually exclusive.

May you live all the days of your life.

To Love

Have you ever felt
Earth shattering stillness
Or heard your soul shout loud
As silence speaks…

Have you ever been at peace with anger
And not care any longer
Or blinded by seeing
As your senses are numbed
By feelings that you still despise

Perhaps…

I am too drunk with soberness
Too tired with eagerness
Too jaded with enthusiasm

I am not the Messiah of the world you say
Enjoy the passing clouds, you utter
If only I can have the strength
To name one after you

You make me fall in love
When I am already in love
When I am already in pain
When I am already insane

You make me rethink life
When I thought I knew
When I thought I am certain
When I thought I was already me

It is at last,
The shadow of a thought that I loved
And love, I realize now
Life shall never be able
To give me what I need

Very busy past few weeks

Hello people.

I'm back blogging after a very very long time. It has been a very busy week past few weeks for me. Danish meeting, Topical tests administration and analysis, Masters' Reading, etc, etc. At this rate, I think I'm going to wear out very soon. Especially the markings. I have never marked this much before. This round it is going to be a battle till the end. We're going to win no matter what. Whatever sacrifice it takes. The battle for honour has just begun. I'd rather die standing then to live on my knees.

Anyway, I enjoy the smses I still receive from my old students. It tells me that I am still remembered even after they have met other teachers in Secondary School. Keep the smses coming in you guys.

The photo is me in Turkey. Behind me is the Bosphorus. In the photo, I am in Europe and all the way behind is Asia.

Four Hour Nature Walk and A Cat At The House of Mary

This Sunday morning, Jabbar, Maimon, Anita and I went for a four hour walk from Macritchie Reservoir all the way to Bukit Timah Nature Reserves.

We started at 0700hrs and reached BTNR Hindhede Park at about 11-ish. Went straight to the row of coffee shops infront of beauty world shopping center to eat back all the calories that we lost.

The funny things was that this time it was not as tiring as I felt the last time we did this, which was last month. That time, we had Bobby and his wife, my wife, Kat's husband and his colleague joining us as well. Maybe this time I was already fitter fro mthe last trip, though I sincerely doubt so.

We took the same route as last time but today we included the tree top walk as well. I can't wait for next month's walk. It sounds crazy but I truly enjoy these walks.

The photo of the cat, if I remembered correctly, is of the cat that I saw at the House of Virgin Mary in Turkey.

I prefer radio

I went to Ubin for a camera shoot for a TV show, 'Once Upon a Tree 2' on Friday. I needed to raise the awareness of Chek Jawa being up for reclamation in four years time. I hate cameras but as usual, the cause was more important than me.

I prefer radio interviews. TV needed me to say the same thing again and again and again. Sometimes I cannot remember my lines and it was really painful to say them again and again and I am used to giving long boring lectures.

Anyway... here is a cat that we met at Mount Olympus. This cat was just below the snow zone. The temperatures were freezing and this cat was just cool. He does not seem to be affected by the temperature at all.

Look at that fur! If this cat is in Singapore, I bet it wont be a street cat.

CNY Reunion featuring the Cats of Hagia Sophia

It was a nice Chinese New Year's eve. My students, about 22 of them came back to visit their Cedar. Let me see... there was

Shao Wei, Grace, Leon, Xin Yu, Eli, Eve, Jany, Jonathan, Zhen Yu, Yong Jie, Sharon, Pamela, Ras, Sendil, Sin Hao, TJ, CC, Paul, Jeanne, ZX, Fiona, Eugene. Did I miss out anyone?





They were all so big and grown up! What happened to all my cute little students??!! Hah hah hah.

Some really changed a lot. The most changed would be Brenda of my Panther House. I really could not recognize her. Even my other students could not believe that she was Brenda

Students from my previous 4-4 also came. Shengnan, Vincent, Zhixian and Chun Wee. Sorry guys if I took some time to recall your names. It has been a while since I saw you.


What I really need to say is that the most rewarding moments in my life as a teacher is not when they revise our pay (of course I always welcome increments)... not when I win awards or stuff like that, but when wonderful students like you guys, especially my wonderful P6-1'o7, come back and visit me, with donuts or without.


You guys serve as a reminder that teaching is meaningful, and that I must work even harder for my current and future students. So to all those who visited me, a big thank you. To those who did not and could not (like Aaron, Albin, Nancy, Anisha, etc, etc), we still and will always remember you.

Oppression

Ziya Gokulp

What's that? Well... that's the name of the guy whom I have been asked to study and present to the rest of my reading group. He is Turkish, of course, and I was asked to present his ideas because I went to Turkey. I cannot see how visiting sedimentary rock churches has got anything to do with Ziya, but hey... I think it is worth a study.

Like many other wise people, Ziya Gökalp was many things in one. He was a sociologist, a poet, a political writer, and a of course, Turkish nationalism. His work influenced the father of modern Turkey, Kemal Atatürk. Ziya was influenced by contemporary European thought and rejected Islamism in favor of Turkish nationalism.

What was interesting to me was that he was in a veterinary school. How cool is that! More of him when I have the time. Now, I have to prepare my Master's paper before I meet my supervisor on Thursday.

Of Beautiful Horses and Wonderful Students

Just found out that the name Cappadocia was probably derived from Katpatuka, land of the beautiful horses, in Hittite language. Though I did not see any horses in that region.

Anyway, my students came to visit yesterday. Eli, Pearl, JZ, Jeremy and Pam. It is always nice to see the gang, no matter how busy I am with markings and meetings. They have grown a fair bit... all becoming young men and women. All of their cuteness have almost dissapeared. Hah hah hah... I did not get to see Zhixin though and for that I was a bit sad. I am very happy that he got his appeal though.

I do hope I could join the gang on the 6th. I was just told that I have yet another meeting that day. The school might be closed half day and they probably have to find a new venue. I wonder where would be a good place?

More on pigeon poo

I did more reading on ancient people who used pigeon droppings as fertilizers, just like in Cappadocia. Apparntly many other civilizations did. The ancient egyptians too used them for their crops. Studies have shown that they are rich in nitrogen.

Basically, these pigeons will go fly around in the day, eat wild seeds and berries elsewhere, go home and poo. Farmers take these nutrients and concentrate them on the soil they need to cultivate. So what these pigeons do is really just concentrating available but scattered resources.

Some modern garden composters too recommend using pigeon poo as starters. Though most warn of the fact that these poo from pigeons might contain somewhere around 26 known diseases. But hey, tell me which poo might not?

Valley of the birds

These houses and holes for bird are in a valey called Valley of The Birds. According to my tour guide, pigeons have long been a source of fertilizer to the farmers here.

Many believe that Cappadocian fruits are sweet because farmer used pigeon droppings. I wonder how they handle the bird flu threat?

My First Sedimentary Toilet Break

I was looking for the rock type of these carved mountains. I found out that these churches were carved out from sedimentary rocks and ignimbrite deposits erupted from ancient volcanoes millions of years ago.

What are sedimentary rocks? Well there are the three main rock groups: (1) igneous, those that came out of volcanoes as lava and then cooled, (2) sedimentary, those that has been eroded washed away somewhere, settled down and then hardened, and (3) metamorphic rock, are any of the two that, under pressure and heat is changed into something else. Actually, it is more complex than this but you get the idea.

In this picture, you see how neatly you can cut the sedimentary rocks in cappadocia, goreme region. Here you see tourists getting into one of the caves, now converted to be a public toilet. The toilets in Turkey are ALL super clean. I am amazed. When I asked the tour guide why this is so, they say it is because, 'we are muslims.' How I wish they can tell the Malaysians to do the same.

The only thing about the public toilets that I don't like is that you have to pay 50 liras to get in. That's about 60 cents each time you go. That means if you have a weak bladder plus the very cold weather, you will be spending a whole lot of money on toilets a day.

T'was A Good Friday

First of all, I must say that yesterday was a happy day for me. Manda and Xinyun came to visit me and it was so nice to see them happy. It was sad though that I could only see and talk to them for about ten minutes of so and that was because I sneaked out of a meeting. It is also nice to see my old students, all taller and bigger now, coming to visit me. I do hope it happens more often and how I wish my meetings would be less frequent.



Anyway, this photo here is the picture of all the churches in a row in the Gorame Open Air Museum. The rock type in this region made this all possible. It is soft enough to carve but yet strong enough to remain intact as monolithic structures.

IXOYE

Our guide explained to us what IXOYE meant. It means 'Jesus, Christ, Son of God, Savior'. According to him, it is all represented in the Maltese Cross. This picture here I took from one of the Gurame Churches. What happened was that during the reign of Emperor Nero in Rome, Christians living in that city were persecuted so they hid themselves. The cross became a secret code to mark this secret movements, where they had to meet secretly and practice their religion.

I believe forms of discrimination is wrong. I believe in the freedom to practice one's faith without being persecuted. As long as of course, your faith does not involve harming another. I think if you have the time, please read Gordon Allport on Prejudice. Worth the read.

On M.C. and Environmentalism

Today I am on MC. Have a chance to updte my blog. Strange thing is both my wife's and mine i-pod died today too.

Inspired by St. Basil's prayer, I have decided to look for some material about environmentalism in the catholic tradition. I found this:

In 1990, Pope John Paul II issued his World Day of Peace Message, Peace with God - Peace with all of Creation, in which the Holy Father announced, "There is a growing awareness that world peace is threatened not only by the arms race, regional conflicts, and continued injustice among peoples and nations, but also by a lack of due respect for nature.... Moreover, a new ecological awareness is beginning to emerge which, rather than being downplayed, ought to be encouraged to develop into concrete programs and initiatives." (source: http://conservation.catholic.org/background.htm)

More later

My wonderful day...

Today, while I was in a very long meeting. Jeremy sms-e me telling me that he'll be visiting. I said I was in a meeting and it might end late. Nearing the end of the meeting, I sms-ed him and he said he was already on his way home and he LEFT ME SOME DONUTS!

After the meeting, I went back to my table and there it was... SIX BEAUTIFUL DONUTS! Beautiful because they came from 6-1'o7 *sobs* My very first lunch treat from 6-1'o7

Actually he gave 24 but the other teachers got to it before I did so they left me only six. I would not be able to finish all 2 dozen anyways. Then Sharon, Eli and TJ came to visit too!

We had a nice chat but felt bad because I they were already starting to lock up the place. At least I feel better now being able to meet my beloved 6-1'o7. I do hope such moments are more frequent.

Till then...

Turkey Göreme

We then went to the Göreme Open Air Museum, still at Cappadocia. There we saw several churches carved out by monks more than a thousand years ago. I lost count of how many churches we went to but there must be at least 7.

Let me see, there was the Church of St. Basil, The Apple Church, The Church of Santa Barbara, St. Onuphrius and some others whose name I cannot remember now.

St. Basil was the special one for me at least. He was the guy who wrote the Catholic 'Prayer for a Deeper Sense of Fellowship with All Living Things'. It goes like this:

"O God, grant us a deeper sense of fellowship with all living this, our little brothers and sisters to whom in common with us you have given this earth as home. We recall with regret that in the past we have acted high-handedly and cruelly in exercising our domain over them. Thus, the voice of the earth which should have risen to you in song has turned into a groan of travail. May we realize that all these creatures also live for themselves and for you - not for us alone. They too love the goodness of life, as we do, and serve you better in their way than we do in ours. Amen."

We were not allowed to use flash to take photos of the church's interior, and becaue I could not figure out how to switch my digicam's flash, I just the outsides. Here I show you some.

Turkey (Kaymakli Underground City)

We visited the Kaymaklı Underground City. It is this huge underground city that the ancients dug underground. The ground they dug should not be imagined like the one we have in singapore though. This one is made of rocks that are strong enough to hold the structures but soft enough to dig using anything sharp. I think even a pen can carve out a room if you are given enough time.

Only four of the 8 floors are opened to tourists. There are ventilation shafts to ensure that fresh air can get it. There are even underground stables, a church, toilets, kitchens, and bedrooms of course.

This picture below shows a stable. See how they have carved a place for the horse to eat grass, hay or whatever they feed their horses with?



This photo below shows how deep the tunnels can bring the inhabitants of these caves into the earth below. The labyrinth also allowed them to hide from the people that might want to hurt them.

The photos below shows a church. How did we know it was a church? They left signs all over. The picture on the right shows a cross. Can you spot it?

The grindstone below is used to grind grains into flour. I took these shots in the kitchen.

This is a huge heavy stone that they use to block some strategic entrances within the city so that their pursuers could not get them.




Last, but certainly not the least important... toilets! I really do not know if they just leave it there or what, for they did not have any flushing system.

Turkey - Caravanseray

At the end of day, we got into our tour bus once again and headed off to the area of capadochia. During the journey, our tour guide said something about giving us a surprise. What happened was that he brought us to this old 'caravanseray'. The caravanseray is not the surprise though, as it was part of the itenary. More about the surprise later.

During ancient times, long before globalization, when there were no planes, no large container cargo ships plying the sea routes wrecking damage to the environment and poorer countries with their conspicuous consumption, there was this famous route called the silkroad.

The silk road was not a road made of silk, my dear students, but a famous path where goods from the east was carried to the west to be sold and vice versa. These goods were carried on camels, who could travel long distance. For safety reasons, these traders and their camels travel in large groups called caravans.

These caravans look out for safe places to spend the night, refuel their camels and themselves with water and food and sheltered themselves, their camels and their goods from bandits and the weather.

The Ottomans and many other nations recognise the economic importance of these caravans and therefore made safe stop-overs for them. In the Ottoman Empire, these camel hotels are called 'caravanserays'. As you can see from the above photo, the Muslims were very proud craftsmen and are aesthetically inclined people, so even a camel resting place were nicely crafted.

It was behind one of the two caravanserays that we visited was the real surprise. A huge crater with super black water can be seen. According to the guide, it was a volcanic crater. I can just imagine the camels giong down here to drink. It was a nice surprise. As a geography student, I truly appreciate this humungous geomorphological feature. I don't think it is a volcanic crater though. It looks like either a mined quarry or an meteorite hit landscape. I need to check this out with my geog lecturer.

After that, we continued to travel to cappadochia. More of that later.

The Temple of Artemis

From Ephesus, we went to see one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. In case you don't know what the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World are, let me list them for you:

1.

The Great Pyramid of Egypt
2. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon
3. The Statue of Zeus at Olympia
4. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus
5. The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
6. The Colossus of Rhodes
7. The Lighthouse of Alexandria

I went to number 4, The Temple of Artemis. From the photos, you can see that not much is left. In fact only one and one third of a pillar is left, out of a huge temple. How did it get to be like this? The temple was built probably around 800 BC. It was said that the temple took 120 years to be built. It was destroyed on one day, July 21, 356 BC by one madman by the name of Herostratus.

He wanted to be famous so much that he decided to burn down the temple. Today we call such need to be famous, as 'herostratic fame'. The ancient people there was so angry that they decided to remove not write his name in history records so as to not make his plan successful. They suceeded, well almost. One historian did recorded it and that's how we now know who this madman is.

The same night the temple was burned, Alexander the Great was born. Some ancient people believed that was why the god Artemis could not save her own temple.She was too busy helping Alexander's delivery.

The Youtube video below shows how it might have looked like and how it is now.

Turkey (Hierapolis)

Just beside the hot springs of Pamukkale, is Hierapolis. Because of the belief that the springs could cure sicknesses, many sick people came here with the dream of getting better. Many of these dreams did not come true. We know this because there is a large necropolis (a large cemetery or burial place) in Hierapolis. The word 'necropolis' literally means, "City of the Dead".

Hierapolis ancient ruins can still be seen here. Huge blocks of rocks made up the still visible public baths, library and even gymnasium. One of these ancient buildings have even been transformed into an archaeological museum that tourists can enter.

According to the experts, at its best times, Hierapolis grew to have about 100,000 inhabitants (a big deal in ancient times) and many were wealthy. At some points in its history, it was also multi racial and multi religious. There were signs that there were Jews here. There was also a Christian church. Philip the Apostle was said to have spent the last years of his life here. He was also said to have been crucified and his body was buried here.

All these ancient ruins made me think: Will our modern civilizations one day be ruined like this only to have future more generations discovered them and made into a tourist attraction? It sounds preposterous I know, but I bet the inhabitants of Hierapolis, especially when it was thriving, with wonderful stone buildings, towers, libraries and thriving streets would have brushed away similar suggestions by saying that that thought too was preposterous.

At the rate mankind is wrecking havoc to the environment and weathers that are becoming more and more unstable, I think that thought might just be possible.

Turkey (Pamukale)

On day 4, we headed very early in the morning to a unique geographical feature in Turkey, the Pamukale, or 'Cotton-Castle' in Turk.

As we approach the site , we could see a long white cliff face along the mountain. At first we thought it was snow but the tour guide said it was not. It was actually white travertine terraces.

Pamukale is one of the most extraordinary natural wonders in in the world! I did Physical Geography in uni and so geomorphological activities excites me. Somehow, the natural volcanic spring underneath produced water so rich in calcite that as the hot water evaporated, it deposits calcium carbonate, which is white, onto the slopes. What I do noy understand is why it created large bath tub shapes, as if purposelly asking for us to take a deep within these very comfortably warm waters.

The government of Turkey no longer allows anybody to do that now and we have cops or gendarme that patrols the slopes. This is of course understood as Pamukale has been designated as one of the World's Heritage Site by UNESCO. A heritage site confered this title is considered by the international community to be extremely valuable and must be preserved for future generations of humanity.

This is only the third World Heritage Site I've been to, with the first site being the ancient ruins of Ayuthya in Thailand and the second just a few days ago in Ephesus.

We are allowed to get into the pools without shoes and that we did of course. At first, the water that touched my feet was so cold, that it almost instantaneously gave me a bad cramp! But as I walk nearer where the warmer water pools were, it became better.

Historians have discovered that many people during ancient time actually came here from all over the known world, including Roman Kings and other VIPs, to soak in these pools as they believe that the water as healing properties. This, I assumed, contributed to the economy of Hierapolis, which I will talk about in a later blog entry.

This healing property might not be just superstitious. I do not think the warm water from the springs (about 35 degrees celcius) is responsible for the reported positive effects on rheumatism, hyper-tension and any other form of diseases. Scientists has confirmed that there is some radio active gasses that escapes from the volcanic activity below. Or it could just simply be psychological. It is becuase of these healing properties that these pools have even been called as 'Sacred Pools' by the ancients.

My kids of course enjoyed themselves and so did their parents!

Turkey (Ephesus)

When I woke up, the and looked out of the window, the scenery that greeted my eyes was just magnificent. In the dark when we arrived the night before, I didn't know that the hotel was just beside a beautiful bay.



So I went out and with my digicam, took shots of the bay slowly being lighted up by the rising sun. The air was crisp and still cold. It will remain cold the whole day.

We then went on the bus and headed for the House Of Virgin Mary at the top of the "Bulbul" mountain near Ephesus. The cold air made my batteries go berserk. Three quarters of the time, my digicam showed 'low batt'. That was why I could not take any shots up there.

The very small house where Mary, mother of Jesus, had supposedly spent her last days was one of the highlights of my trip. There was a natural spring there and to many Catholics, the water that comes from the spring was supposed to be holy water. I cupped my hands to take some and wipped my face with it, much to the disagreement of some Muslims that were in my group. I really am not sure why I did that. Perhaps, it was just because I was so happy.

I supposed they forgot that Mary is a figure recognised to be special by not just Christians, but also Muslims. So is Jesus and Moses and many others. If Mary was really here, then I feel blessed, as a Muslim, to be able to visit her last place of dwelling.



It was after that when we went down the hill to visit the ancient ruins of Ephesus. Ephesus was a port that used to be the most important commercial centre in ancient times. It became later a religious centre of the early Christianity.



Ephesus was the stage of many important events that has helped shaped the history of mankind. It has been attacked by countless armies: the Cimmerians, the Lydians, the Persians, the Greeks and the Ottomans. Many important people have stayed here: from great poets to philosophers to geographers, from great artists to important physicians. The list of names of these famous ancient people are too many for me to list down on this blog entry.

To be able to stand exactly where many great people have stood, were born, and have lived is somewhat magical. I know all this does not make any sense but to me, it just does. To be able to touch the very same marble and stone pillars that they did, made the huge chunk of my savings spent on this trip, just worth every cent of it.

Turkey Day 2 Part 2

Oops forgot...

Before we checked into our seaside hotel, we stopped at this cool shop that sold yummy Turkish Delights and tasty apple tea. They gave us samples of course to tempt us to spend our turkish liras (1 YTL = 1.20 S$).

We were of course tempted and bought boxes of Turkish Delights and box of Turkish Tea. It reminded me of how the Winter Queen tempted one of the boy to be a traitor in the Chronicles of Narnia using Turkish Delight.

Anyway, I'm still munching away on them as I type this.

Turkey Day 2

We were all wrapped up with snow attire. My heart was pounding. After 36 years on this Earth, finally I'm going to touch, hear, feel, taste and see real snow. What was magical was that I'm going to do all this with the people I love: My wife and kids.

The view from below was already spectacular. All 30 of us from the tour group cramped into the cable car as it jerks it way slowly up the summit.

The view from the cable car was already spectacular. As we move from below the snowline and enter into the snowzone, all I wanted to do was shout, "Thank you, God!" All the geography lessons I had in university came flashing into my mind.

Snow zones, of course, depends on the temperature. The higher the latitude and/or the higer the altitude, the colder it gets, the more probable snow can exists. Since Uludag is 2453m higher than the sea level, this plays snows a lot.

The snowfields of Mt Uludag were spectacular! Mt Uludag is the Turkish name for Mt Olympus, yes, the same Olympus in Greek Mythology that we covered in P5. I did not meet any Zeus or Hera but it was still heavenly. My kids and I did everything we thought we could: snowmen, a snowfort, snow angels. The only thing we didn't have time for was skiing.



I will remember this moment as one of the most magical moments in my life. Second, if not on par, perhaps only to the time I snorkelled at the Maldives and manta rays swam below us.Quickly, I learned, this time first hand, the mechanics of snow. It melts quickly as it hits warm areas of your clothings. Therefore you should get water proof everything if you can: coats, shoes, etc, etc.

My kids and I had a snowball fight. The snow ball disintegrates on impact so it does not hurt, unless you put a stone or rock inside it that is. The extra clothings also protects you from the impact so it was safe fun.

After that, we drove through the beautiful Turkish countryside to Kusadasi to our next hotel.

Turkey Day 1

The plane touched down at about 5 in the morning. It was a rainy day in Istanbul. The temperature was about 8 degrees celsius. It was super cold! It is the type that when you talked, you can see your breath like as if you are smoking.

Met our Turkish guide and we quickly got into a huge tour bus that drove us around Istanbul to bring us to this hotel to eat a typical Turkish breakfast. It was weird. The tea (cay in Turkish) tasted weird, the coffee tasted weird and there were lots and lots of olives in all different styles.


After that, we went to the Blue Mosque (see pic on the right). It is also known as Sultan Ahmed Mosque. It is called the Blue Mosque because it is covered on the inside with about 20, 000 beautiful blue-tinged tiles. It is one of two mosques in Turkey that has six tall minarets that seemed to hold the skies and clouds above it. Four of these minarets had three balconies while the other two had only two balconies. These are where the muezzin traditionally used to go up on one of them to call Muslims to prayer, five times a day. Now no longer done because they now have microphones and speakers. Also, the mosque looks more like a museum/tourist attraction now than a place for prayer.

Still, the magnificent architecture and rich cultural history was a wonderful way to start our tour of Turkey. The Central Dome of the Blue Mosque is supported by four marble columns. I think the marble are polished so often that it shines brilliantly. The one I took a photo of here on the left shows one that is so shiny, that it looks like as if it is made of a metallic substance as light is reflected from it. This main dome is about 34 to 35 meters in diameter and is about 34 to 35 meters high from the ground. The dome, like all the other smaller domes, is filled with beautifully crafted tiles, skillful calligraphy, and interesting stained-glass windows.

I was told by the guide that even Pope Benedict XVI visited this mosque on November 2006, and prayed here silently in a gesture to bring peace between the major religions.


After that, we went to the Byzantine's Hippodrome of Constantinople, which sits between The Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. The feeling of standing at the heart of ancient Constantinople's political and sporting life was magical. In the middle of it was two very large and tall obelisks. The Obelisks shows the influence of Roman times, as shown on the picture on the right. One of them, the Obelisk of Theodosius is now more than 3500 years old and was brought here by the Emperor Theodosius at around 390 AD. There was also a fountain that Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany built in 1901 as a gift to the Sultan of Ottoman and his people.

We then went to Hagia Sophia. The name came from the Greeks, which means Holy Wisdom. It was formerly a cathedral, then a mosque but now a museum. Its construction was completed more than 1500 years ago. When the Turks conquered Constantinople, it became the main mosque of the Muslim Empire and other mosques in the empire copied its designed. It was Kemal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey that converted it into a Museum as it is now.

Interestingly, there is a huge marble staircase that brings visitors to the second floor where you can see other ancient relics and even tombs of dead but important figures in history.

Later, we went to the another mosque, The Grand Mosque and finally Kuza Han (Sılk market). The temperature ıs sooo cold. about 10 degrees celsıus even in the morning, and ıt wıll get worse.

I'm now waıtıng for the bus to go to the snow fıelds of mount uludag. Hopefully the road allows us to reach the place. ıf snow ıs too heavy, we mıght not be able to go. my famıly and İ are now all wrapped up ın long johns, sweaters and jackets.

More about thıs when I reach back home. I am not sure ıf there are any more ınternet access after thıs. Bye!

Teach or educate?

"Is there a difference?" I often ask myself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0fJKvdjQgs

(Hi kids. This video is not for you. It is for my friends who also view this page sometimes.)

Turkey

We touched down at Changi Airport at 1 in the morning, reached home at about 2 and went to sleep at about three. Woke up at about 8 and went to school to clear as much work as possible before my Turkey trip.

At about 2, Mr Adi came and gave me a custome made wire fest thingy with my name on it. He just got back from Malaysia and bought everyone one. Actually, everyone got a simple key chain but I got a huge standing card holder.

I felt bad because I came back from Hong Kong and just bought him a wooden carved double decker bus that pales in comparison to his gift. I must get him and Ms Ha a better one in Turkey. They always buy me interesting stuff when they go overseas. I'm bad at this gift buying thingy.

I can't wait for tomorrow.

Day 6 Hong Kong - Shenzhen

We got into China today for the most tiring sessions of the whole conference. We left the hotel at seven in the morning and reach Silver Lake Resort, where the conference was held, at about 845.

While waiting for the bus, Prof Wheeler came to talk me. He congratulated me for yesterday's good presentation. Found out that he was in the same University as Prof Fang. He asked me some very interesting questions about sustainability and scalability but that discussion is too long for this blog

The rest of my team presented their paper today. It was ok. I reserve any other comments. Heh heh heh.

Came back to the room and entered this entry and went straight to sleep. Soooo tired. I can't wait to get home tomorrow.

Day 5 Hong Kong

Today was the presentation day. It was super cool. I was super ready. It was brilliant. The lecture theater was super filled.

First, it was my professor who presented. Then it was mine. I was on a roll man. Made the audience laughed. Made them interact with the questions. Once I saw them smile and nod, I knew this was going to be easy. Prof Marsh was in the audience too!

After the presentation, about 6 to 10 teachers came up to me, congratulated me for a, quote-unquote, 'wonderful'. One particular teacher said straight, 'it was almost perfect'. Even Prof Marsh said it was a good presentation.

Wait, wait, wait. Before you say, "See.. he's getting big headed again." I must defend myself and say that I did not think my presentation was 'perfect'. I think there were many flaws. I am fully aware that teachers have a habit of saying nice things.

All I'm saying is that I'm happy with my own performance. I did not stumble nor did I say anything stupid. I was clear, concise and I even interacted with my audience during the talk. I'm happy to be able to perform as well as I planned it to be. To top it all, I looked super sharp in my presentation suit. Like I normally do... heh heh heh.

Dinner was vegetarian pizza and coke. My room mate paid for the pizza. It was a break from cup noodles. Tomorrow, I'm going China, Senzhen, for a day for the second part of the conference. I do hope everything will go well...

My skin, after having spent almost a week in Hong Kong is super dry. It is the very low humidity I guess. I must remember to bring moisturizer to Turkey. Hong Kong TV reported of an airplane crash in Turkey. I hope my trip will be safe.

Day 4 Hong Kong.

I miss my wife and kids.

Conference proper starts today. It began with a symphony orchestra or something like that. It played a classical tune that reminded me of horse riding and also very traditional Malay stage plays.

The keynote speech that followed was quite interesting. It was stating some obvious points but interesting nevertheless, especially the examples she used to illustrate the points she highlighted. Next, I updated my blog at the café and after that, checked mail and tagged my students' blogs.

During lunch, I ate the vegetarian food: rice, lotus roots thingy, cut cucumber, and black mushrooms. It was disgusting but it was enough to fill my tummy. It was a break from cup noodles. The milk tea was nice though.

The parallel sessions were also entertaining: Journaling in Math and Inquiry Based Learning in Science. When that ended, I met Prof Marsh, as I waited for some other professors I'm supposed to meet. I introduced him to the others. He was my teacher in earlier modules. I learned a lot from him. He remembered me for being the troublesome one in class, I guess.

Then I discussed with some professors about my presentation tomorrow. They gave their inputs on how my section of he symposium should be. I agree to most of their points. Let's just get this presentation over and done with, so that I can finally enjoy my holidays and relax.

We took a cab back to the hotel. Hong Kong really has some strange systems. If you are going back to the new territories, you can only take the red cab. If you are going to some other parts, you must take the green cab and so on. The hospital waiting time was like super long. Singapore has got some systems far more correct than this place.

Dinner at the hotel was cup noodle and cream soda once again. I think I'm not going to eat another cup noodle for a long time.

Day 3 Hong Kong.

I spent the whole first half of the day in the hotel room trying to finish my PPT for Friday's presentation. At four, went to the clinic to try to get something for my room mate. We had to go to the Prince Charles Hospital finally to get just something.

Everybody else go sightseeing but I have to go send my room mate to go get his stuff. Strange life is.

We took a cab from the hotel to the hospital. It was about 5 minutes drive and cost HK$16.40. The cab drivers are quite honest even if they don't speak any English and we are tourists.

When we reached A&E, I bought this mask at the vending machine for about $1. Now I look like Optimus Prime Number. Hah hah hah... My room mate thinks I'm crazy. He does not know the full story yet.

Anyway, the doctor checked him. The doctor was funny. He was asking why we had five components to our name.

He then asked us to follow the yellow line to the pharmacy so that my roomate can get his stuff. So we did until we reached a road where there were sooooo many yellow lines! OMG!! Hah hah hah

Lunch and even dinner were cup noodles, biscuits and Schweppes cream soda. Tomorrow, we're going to HK Ied once again. Another teacher and me will be manning the poster presentation. I do hope it is not a bore.

Day 2 Hong Kong

In the morning, we went to yet another school. This time it is the Tai Po Old Market Public School Plover Cove (TPMPSPC). That's the longest abbreviation I've heard for anything, what more a primary school.

As usual, whenever we visit schools, they showed off with a wonderful band performance.

Then the parents took the stage and shared how much they like the school. They were very active and you can see that they have almost every say in the school. They were as good as the staff there. The Principal was very democratic indeed and even included two parents in the school board.

The student leaders took over. They explained how much the school meant for them. When asked what about the school they would like to change, they answered that they would not want to change anything. "It is perfect," said all of them.

It was later when we toured the school that was quite funny. I showed some of the student leaders some magic tricks and they were hooked. They followed me everywhere. Hah hah hah... that was funny.

We went to Hong Kong Institute of Education after that. That was when I uploaded my blog. They got free wireless access for online discussion for the conference participants. Somebody posted an intelligent post on the forum. When I met Edmund, he thought it was mine. Hah hah hah... that was also funny.

Got to the hotel, ate dinner. Cup noodles, Chipsmore cookies and Schweppes cream soda. How I earn for a proper food. Murtabak would be nice. Or perhaps RK House's paratas.

HK Day 1

We arrived in Hong Kong today. Reached hotel, put our bags and was immediately brought to the Korean International School. It has its own heated swimming pool, its own tennis court on a roof. Its Science Lab, Art rooms and even the typical classroom make ours look, ermm… rather… better not say it. If you know what the school fee is, it would all makes sense then.

Once we were back at the hotel room, we had dinner, which is, cup noodles, Welchade grape juice drink and unsweetened hazelnut instant coffee. How about that? I think I’m going to lose weight at the end of this trip.

Anyway, what is interesting is to see the educational pendulum swinging at ever differing directions at different places in the world. Here, we see people embracing external standardized exams while elsewhere in the world, including the educational systems that we are very familiar with, we see people trying to move away from just concentrating on standardized testing, towards aesthetics, creativity and a more holistic education. Whatever it is, I think a balance is needed. Wonder what the second day has got in store for us.

Pants down

Guess what this is. Give up? It is the fireman pants rolled down all the way down to the boots. So when they are activated, they just slip in the boots and pulled up the pants. This way, they save a lot of time changing and they could respond to emergencies much faster. Here we show the pants right beside a fire bike.

Station Visit

I went to a fire station for a station visit. We toured with a group to see some civil defense stuff. Interesting vehicles were shown. One of which is this HAZMAT truck. HAZMAT stands for ‘Hazardous Materials’. This is where civil defense officers who handle chemical and biological threats keep their stuff and transport it to anywhere to respond to emergencies.

What is interesting is that the whole container could be loaded and unloaded in a matter of minutes. Cool huh?

Pascal Programming

Nancy emailed me. She said she missed us and she was now playing with snow and hail. How lucky she is. I've never touched snow yet. My best chance would be this Turkey trip where one of the stop over is Mount Uludak.

I had reservist today. Met an old friend from what, 18 years ago? He was one of the best programmers in my class. I remembered how he tried his best to teach me Pascal, an 'ancient' programming language.

When I was still trying to get my "if-then loop" to work, he was already programming a monophonic Phil Collin song on his program. Both monophonic tones on a Intel 286, as well as Phil Collins were hot those days. Man... I feel old.

He recounted how he was in this big-shot programming company when 9/11 came. His company closed down and he had to join Civil Defense now as a fire fighter. How sharp a turn life can take. One success does not mean you have made it and one failure does not mean that you are a failure.

I've heard/seen/know so much of such stories that I'm convinced that everyday, life can throw to us surprises that could make us respond with nothing else but awe. If we give up immediately, we close the doors of future success.

Silent Walks, Ani, Borders and WALS

We were asked to go for a half hour silent walk around the Seletar Golf Club on our own to reflect and look for an item that we would like to have in our own school. This was what I took. It is a life-saving floatation device. I think I am in dire need of it. I think many of us are in dire need of it.

I just think that if you are in a habit of thinking, you do not need to have a half hour silent walk to think. The last time we did this was two years ago as part of yet another time-wasting exercise.

Why do I need a life saving floatation device? Well, I need it to be saved from time-wasting half hour walks and the inundation of many other time-wasting exercises. I'd rather take a three hour silent walk through Bukit Timah Nature Reserves, or spend that half hour to read few pages of a very good book.

Ani sent me a very very short email. She said she's in Australia but cannot spend too much time writing the email. I sure hope she is doing fine there.

Today, Borders @ Parkway opened. I won't have time to go until I came back home from WALS Conference in Hong Kong. In case you do not know what WALS is, it is not an ice cream brand. It stands for World Association of Lesson Studies. At least I have completed the paper I'm supposed to present next Friday, the 30th. Wish me luck...

20 Questions

Yesterday, we met the whole day. I think I'm going to get into more trouble. I spoke my mind on things that I think I should not have. But I just needed to get it out of my system. The funny thing is, even after saying it, I dont think it has gotten out yet. I need to talk to the relevant people when I get back from this conference trip. We'll see if the anger persists...

Learned a nice game today. A good friend of mine taught me. She calls it '20 questions'. Basically what you do is have someone think of one thing that is either an animal, a vegetable or a mineral. Then you can ask twenty 'yes/no' question to guess what it is. For example

animal, vegetable or mineral?
animal
1. Is it a mammal? No
2. Is it a reptile? No
3. Is it an insect? No
4. Is it an amphibian?No
5. Is it a reptile? No
6. Is it an athropod? No
7. Is it a mollusc? No
8. Is it a cnidarian? No
9. Does it stay on land? No
10. Does it stay in a mangrove? No
11. Does it live in a coastal environment? Yes
12. Does it have legs? No
13. Is it a starfish? No
14. Is it a sea cucumber? No
15. Is it a plankton? No
16. Is it a coral? YES!

Actually yesterday when we played it in the car trip back from that golf club where we had our meeting, back to the East where we recuperate from the meeting at the golf club, nobody solved it. They were close though. The above is just an example. I think I'm going to use this next year. This game is good for learning classifications.

But right now, I better prepare the conference paper that I feel not like preparing nor presenting. But first, I'll have breakfast.

Hey

Remember what has happened in the past but never let it shackle you from the possibilities of the future. For those who did well, use this to do better in the future. For those who did not do that well, work harder. This is only the beginning. There is a long road ahead. There's the 'O' Levels, the 'A' Levels and so on... Most, if not all of you, would know of the secondary 2 boy who failed his mid year Math only to score highest in the finals. I've told this story like a hundred times, if not more.

I'll be going Hong Kong soon for a week and then Turkey after that for three weeks, so I'll not have the chance to update this blog till I return. Till then...

Superlatives

A teacher friend told me I've given my best, I need not worry. I told him that love, fear, anxiety and their other emotional cousins, are seldom rational.

The watch shows 4.30 as I type these words. Woke up half hour ago and just cannot sleep anymore. Four more hours before anyone she picks them up. I think I'll go eat at my street's coffee shop after this entry and slowly make my way to school. Most probably have to wait for the security guards to arrive before the gates are opened too.

Today could be many things. It could be my happiest, saddest, calmest, funniest, gloomiest, nicest, proudest, zaniest, most ridiculous, most overwhelming, most irritating, most dissapointing, most elated, most agitated, most cheerful, most depressed, most discouraged, most encouraging, most enraged, most enthused, most exhausted, most helpless, most hopeful, most horrible....

Or it could just simply be the best. Four more hours for me to wait before I can know which ones of the above holds true for me. Yet again, only time will tell.

I spoke

I was practising the floating dollar note for tomorrow when the new No. 1 saw it. She was kind of tickled.

Today got meeting again in school whole day. I think I spoke too much and have said many things that might just get me into trouble.... but hey, that's me. I think I was kind of drunk just now, drunk with worry and anxiety. So on hindsight, shooting my mouth in a meeting with all the school staff, might just have been a coping mechanism to the stress that I so long to forget.

Global citizenship was what we talked about. I remembered the book that my 6-1'o7 published. I think you guys know more about it than many other adults. I wonder if my next year's class is as intesting and as full of flavour as this year's. I guess I'll worry about that after tomorrow...

I also wonder if I can get any sleep tonight...

One more..

One more day to the release of the results. I'm as nervous as a one year old cat going to the vet for the first time... nevermind.

They spoke just now during a briefing of what is to be done on the day of release. Everytime they say 'the results', my heart beats faster than it did. Anyway, I tried to calm myself by irritating the rest of the teachers with my new magic trick... I can now eat a lighted candle!

That's what I did. The reactions of my 'audience' were simply precious. They thought I was going to extinguish and relit the candle magically or something like that but instead I just chew the lighted top off and swallowed everything! Hah hah hah... sooo funny. I even performed in front of No. 2 and the new No. 1!

Time to release more of my older tricks that the school has never seen before! I normally rotate my tricks every three years of so, just when everyone thinks I have no more new ones... Perhaps just one more each term... perhaps my flaming hand next.

Anyway, I promised to reveal the secret of the floating dollar note to any of my 6-1'o7 who could beat the highest aggregate last year...

I better prepare before Thursday. The big day cometh...

Mrs Tan

Two more days before the big day. I sure am stressed. This is worse than waiting for my own exam results.

I met my Secondary School form teacher yesterday at Cedar. She was attending a Lesson Study Math Workshop and Cedar was the venue. We chatted for about 5 minutes before I sent her to the SDC where the workshop was conducted. Unlike for many others I know, secondary school life was not the best years of my life. It was good but certainly not the best. The best (and in some ways also the worse) for me was Singapore Polytechnic... but that is for another blog entry.

Anyway, I chatted with Mrs Tan and told her proudly how I am now the Subject Head for Science. I also told her that I'm now working with Mr Reynolds, my secondary school literature teacher, in a big project. I wanted to tell her about my first class honours but I just could not anymore. She asked for my email so that she could include me in the Alumni. That would be interesting. I wonder if I'm going to meet my old secondary school friends.

Mrs Tan was the teacher that really taught me compassion. I'll tell you why...

I failed my EL in Sec 4 Prelims... D7, which is preposterous. I aced EL since primary school. My composition writing was always on the board displayed somewhere for others to read. Somehow, some teacher decided to fail me prelim compo paper because it was short of 5 words! I do not know how I failed the other components but honestly, I don't really care.

What that D7 meant was, I could not go to my 3 months course in JC though I aced all my other subjects. So Mrs Tan dragged me to the Principal's office and explained the situation to him. He agreed to remark my EL papers and somehow I got a C5 or C6 (I really can't remember). I still did not go for my three months course, but I learned that a teacher's job is not about just teaching but also about learning and recognizing the potential in every student. I learned, from Mrs Tan, that only with empathy and compassion can I do this.

Anyway, I got a distinction for my English for my O Levels. That D7 could have easily made my self esteem low and God knows what implications that could have made for my O Levels. To think that Mrs Tan fought for me was something wonderful and I knew I could not let her down during the actual exams.

I am sure excited to go back to my secondary school. The guilty feeings for all the bad things I did in secondary school has prevented me from going back thus far. Meeting Mrs Tan, is just the correct reason for me to forget all that and finally visit my alma mater.

A Tribute

To my 6-1'o7,

It is very difficult to be a teacher. There are many things to prepare, to mark, to consider, to remember, to do, to not do, to say, to not say, to remediate, to supplement, to highlight, to warn, to tell, to congratulate, to think through, to review, to ask, to collect, to learn, to discuss, to discover, to celebrate... well I think you got my point.

But for the past three years or so, almost everyday, I look forward to go to school... almost every day. And 6-1'o7, you guys are the very reason why this is so. On some days, in fact on many days, you guys were the ONLY reason for me to look forward to go to school.

Trust me when I say that it pains me when I had to appear angry, when I had to pretend to scold you guys, when I had to say things I really did not find pleasure in saying. But like any responsible teacher/father/friend, I had to say what must be said.

I honestly, really enjoy the constant resistance you guys put up in class, when you challenge what I say and even when you challenge the school rules. I have never felt so proud as a teacher, as when you managed to prove me wrong. Like I have mentioned many times in class, the world needs more people who have the guts to correct what is wrong, to be able to speak truth to power, to be able to articulate arguments responsibly, to be able to empathize with the weak and to be driven by justice, love and compassion. I am confident that these qualities, the desire to correct what is wrong and to help those who are weak, will stay with you always.

The class would of course be nothing without the individuals that gives it so much character, so much flavour, so much memories:

The sagacious Albin, the hilarious Shao Wei, the cool Leon, the adorable Gerard, the confident Jonathan, the competent Zhen Yu, the best-dressed Jwalan, the kind-hearted Desmond, the enthusiastic Yong Jie, the gentle-giant Sean, the articulative Sendil, the kindest Sinhao, the cerebral Yi Ming, the serene Zhixin, the unforgettable Chun Chuan, the brainy Paul, the sharp Zuo Xuan, the gentleman Raymond and the imaginative Eugene.

The delightful Kar Mun, the discerning Linying, the insightful Manda, the brilliant Thanjit, the gentle Thiviya, the sapient Jeanne, the quiet Huiqing, the calm Grace, the cool Xin Yu, the logical Anisha, the tall Nancy, the talented Jany, the talented Ras, the mysterious Siu Min, the serene Jocelyn, the motherly Evelyn, the friendly Fiona, the serious Pamela, the judicious Pearlyn and finally but certainly not the least, my wonderful Elizabeth.

I wish all of you the best of luck in everything that you do. This is not goodbye. We will meet again in the near future. Do visit me often in Cedar. You have my email, my blog, my website, my contact. Though 6-1'o7 has officially ended in Cedar, I'll always be your form-teacher/friend, whenever you need one.

Yours,
Mr. Z