good morning people!!

the first thing i found out this morning was that the progress package money is in!! is that great or is that great!

woohoo.. the kids are having their exams! so that gives me the whole day free!! this is RARE ok. so i am extremely happy. gonna spend my time making 125 cards for my students. each and every student of mine would get a personal card before i leave. *smilez*

i went for the metro sale yesterday. closed door exclusive sale for only metro members. bought a dress and two tops. yay! going 'shopping' again today!!

things to buy:

1) goodies for my kids
2) presents for my CTs
3) presents for my two gfs
4) housewarming gift for my beloved aunt

haiz...hopefully i can get all that i need. present hunting is no fun at all.

looking forward to tuition tonite. pay day thats why. haha.

i cant wait to meet pipi tmr. haven been giving him the time and attention he deserves. *hugs*

my practicum is coming to an end. oh how time flies. the 10-week journey. a meaningful experience indeed. i learnt a lot and am still learning. there were tough times but they were good moments as well. it was a challenging period for me. a fresh grad who is trying to pursue her dreams. the sudden piles of responsibilities. the growing demands and pressure. the struggle for balance. the search for meaning in what i am doing. what have i learnt?

i learnt that my family truly cares for me. my mum makes sure i get a good breakfast before i go to work. my dad drove me to and back from school and tuition. just so that i could reach home earlier and not be too tired from travelling. my bros spice up my life with their lame jokes. my family has been real good and supportive. my mum listens to my endless stories about work. every single day and nite. my listening ear and a shoulder to cry on. i love you mum. so very much.

i learnt that my bf is a very patient man. and very understanding too. there u go baby.. 100 points!

i learnt to deal with stress at a higher level. having to complete several things within a very short deadline. being responsible for 125 kids is no joke. and i know this number would only increase when i become a full pledged teacher. but to look at it positively, my life has been enlightened by 125 people and hopefully i have also enlightened them in one way or another.

i learnt to juggle between work, time for myself, my family and my love. i think this is one of the biggest challenge. amongst all, i think i have the least time for myself. *shrugs*.. but i am trying to work something out to solve this problem. i gotta modify the way i work. cos i believe that balance is the key to happiness.

i learnt to be an actress!! haha.. any production company wana hire me? no matter how lousy i feel, i always have to act cool and happy when i step into class. cos students get their energy from teachers. when i walk into class with a warm smile, they would greet me with enthusiasm which is an instant lift to my morale.

i learnt to adapt. having the skill to adapt is a survival skill. and i am slowly learning in. somehow someway, you just got to work it out. heh.

i learnt to appreciate two simple things in life. food and sleep. haha. the happiness it gives me is WOW. haha. have i told u guys that i think i lost weight? heh. hmm now i know why most of the teachers can maintain their slim figure. hehe.

and yes, last but not least, i learnt to give.

The GOOD friday that passed was more than good. me and my gals had a blast at NSSRC. its the SAF bungalow chalet. It was big and sooooo syiok!! i felt like i was away from singapore.. and the feeling rocks! hahaha. the bbq was great.. duh! hehe..

i have never swam when the sun is scorching hot BUT my gfs managed to convince me at the chalet! and of cos i turned out the TANNEST. haiz... i tan sooo easily!! *frowns*

but the pool was awesome.. we were chilling in the round jacuzzi tub which was slightly elevated by the side of the pool. surrounded by beautiful palm trees and a viva yoghurt drink ( pretending its martinee) to go along with. we soaked ourselves in the jacuzzi for quite a while..till we felt like prunes! hehe..

gals.. i really enjoyed myself! should do it again ok!

oh well, after the whole 'getaway', it was back to work. with the mid-year exams coming up, there's quite a bit to do! *sigh*

me and pipi managed to spend some quality time together at a secret place. hehe. *whatcha thinking huh*

there's MANY MANY things that i WANT to do and buy. and MANY things that i NEED to do and buy.

Things that i WANT to buy (and will try to work towards):

1) A holiday (seriously i want to go greece or melbourne)
2) Guess handbag
3) Guess sunglasses
4) Fossil ladies watch
5) Digicam
6) Diamond ring

Things that i WANT to do after practicum:

1) spend more time with pipi
2) cut my hair
3) BINGE

Things that i NEED to buy (desperately):

1) shoes
2) teaching bag (which means it must be big)
3) clothes (lots of them)
4) skirts (not working skirts tho)
5) acessories (especially long necklaces)

Things that i NEED to do after practicum:

1) clean up my room

hola.. i'm back. been quite a while since i posted an entry. lemme start with monday morning.

the first thing that happened to me on monday morning was my thumb drive crashed. yes. please sympathize. it was prolly the worst thing that could happen on a monday morning. my back up was not updated. so thats the sucky part. i have to redo some stuffz. argh. affected me the whole day that i kinda screwed up my bio lesson also. *sad face*

then came a call from my sup on the very same day. " i'm coming tomorrow for another observation". i could feel my heart being squeezed tite. great. first was the thumb drive. next was my sup. i had to come up with stg within less than 24 hours. something worth an observation. i was just so devastated that it all happened at the same time. but i managed to recover from the shock cos pipi came to the rescue. he offered to help me type back all the files that i lost. so sweet rite... despite his arm, he still wanted to help. i'm lucky. hehe. thanks dear.. you dont know how much i appreciate it. i owe you many many favours..which i will return after my practicum k. *winks*

the observations were not too bad.. so thank god. the rest of the week was not as bad as monday and tuesday. i must thank my CTs too for helping me through the week. thank you so much.

yesterday was speech day. it was great!! the dinner was soooo romantic tau! the school has this nice porch with a pond and some tall palm trees.. so they kinda decorated the area with lights and candles!!! candles around the pond tau... so cosy... and it was an outdoor kinda dinner.. round tables by the pond with the angklung and chinese orchestra playing a jazz piece... it was just sooo relaxing.. i totally love the ambience! the kids at the canteen manned the booth.. with their cute little white bandanas.. so adorable.

the speech given by the director of NIE, Prof Leo Tan, was very inspirational. "sometimes, blessings come in an unattractive package... life is about turning every obstacle into an opportunity" i was enlightened. *smilez*

Many of my students were prize winners for the speech day. best in maths, english, science.. and many many more.. when they came on stage to receive their prize, i just felt really happy and proud of them. its an amazing feeling. a feeling that i realize only teaching can give. tho i didnt contribute to their success, just knowing that my students have achieved something is more than enough to make me smile. i cant imagine how their parents feel. it must be an amazing feeling. my dear students... i'm proud of you all. keep it up ok. *and go get best for biology..hehe*

fizah u asked me hows teaching... its a deep question.

teaching is challenging. if you are not willing to commit, you would find it real tough. but if you are willing to commit, things will be a lot better. for me, the joy in teaching comes from my students. they are my strength. they are the ones who remind me why i am in this profession. tho there are times they make you real angry, you still love them.. cos u arent just teaching them. you are nurturing them. its not all about lessons. its about relationships. they may be the noisiest lot in the class... totally uninterested in the lesson.. but really, they are harmless students who are just trying to find their way.. they mite never talk about chemistry or biology to me.. but they would come up and share whats going on in their life. as i said, teaching gives me special moments.

i am looking forward to later part of the day. spending tonite and tomorrow with my darling girlfrens. let's bring down the house girls!

my sat was spent at my aunts place. great food. yum yum. everyone commented that i have slimmed down. not sure if its good or bad tho. looks like my profession is much more effective than my jogging of three times a week.

suzie called her mum just now and i happened to be there! so we managed to talk for a few seconds. heh. we exchanged the 'miss you(s)..' hehe. and we both laffed on the fon. dono whats so funny but we were just laffing. maybe cos it was a bit weird. good kinda weird tho.

oh..have i mentioned that i went to the gardenia factory yesterday?!

it was cool.. hehe.. i am so jakunz.. *as always*

so much bread!! and smelled sooo good... oooh lala... there was this enormous cooler which could store 8000 loaves of bread! so many! and the loaves looked so cute in that enormous cooler! heh. oops.. i am sounding like a bimbo now.

oh.. and guess what.. coincidentally, some of the students who went were my former loyang kids. they came up to me asking if i taught at loyang before. i said yes and they suddenly became so hyper! and they quickly told their teacher " cher.. she was our teacher you know!"

i couldnt recognize them cos they have all grown up. and of all things... they asked me "cher, you got any more ghost stories?!" goodness!! my art lessons must have been really useless that they didnt even remember a nut about it!. haha. they could even remember which ghost story ok! the one about the marbles. haha. so cute. how time flies. then they were still the naive adorable primary school kids. now they are the happening secondary kids. what a small world.

the calmness of a saturday morning. i was woken up by guilt. guilty of not doing what i was supposed to do last nite. my handphone showed: SIX a.m. oh great. its saturday and i'm awake at six. *rolls eyes*

i took a good shower and made myself a mug of hot coffee. yes. coffee. coffee in the morning only meant one thing - that i would have a long day.

everything is coming at the same time. goodness. everyone who survives this period should be given many thumbs up.

i met pipi yesterday. after what seemed so long. he looked good. heh. i knew i miss him. but i didnt realise how much i missed him until i saw him.

i cant be more grateful to be blessed with such an understanding, caring and strong boyfriend. he's in pain yet he is still there for me. thanks dear. thanks for everything yesterday. i am glad we met and and talked.

i love my kids. its what that keeps me going right now. despite their mischief, the joy they bring is rewarding in simple yet special ways.

i'm counting the days to GOOD friday. cos i am going to spend quality time with my babes.

girls, i miss u all soooooooooooooo much tau!

6 down. 4 more to go. *blinks and winks*

kim.. i'm gona cekik cekik you man. you know i know lah eh. hehe.

i'm smelling friday. yay? *shrugs* this weekend is gona be another busy one cos of the super extra assignment. sheesh.

i miss pipi. soo soo soo much. beyond words.

i'm smiling cos you are smiling
the tone of your voice makes a world of difference
the power of the other half
the beauty of love

yes, the beauty of love.
any kind of love.

i love what i am doing
i know my passion is still burning strong
so dun get me wrong
cos i am not falling apart
what that does not break me will only make me

what i have is my faith from within
what i need is protection from above
what i want is support from my world
what i love is what i have

times are tough. i'm really trying.

a thousand and one issues. a bubble about to burst. i'm tired.