Messing Up The Kitchen

Been messing up my kitchen a lot lately, as I'll have to cook for myself(and possibly my American flatmate) when I'm in NZ. Thought I'd let photos do the talking to show readers what kinda dishes I've been cooking...

Dish 1: Sweet and Sour Steak



Dish 2: Seaweed Tofu



Dish 3: Sharksfin Soup



Dish 4: Broccoli and Cauliflower with Mushrooms



Dish 5: Sausage and Vege Cocktail



I've also baked Molten Choc Cake and Pineapple tarts this few days but have yet to upload the photos. Might 'show off' once again some time soon - if I'm in the mood to. =P

Post-Vietnam Trip

Came back from Vietnam 3 days ago. In general, it was fulfilling as I managed to achieve my target of winning at least 1 medal. It has been a long time since I participated in an international tournament and the urge to win suddenly returned, as I saw myself training hard for this competition right after the end of my exams. Thank goodness the hard work that I had put in wasn't in pain - Came back with 2 bronzes and I think its good enough, considering how last-minute my preparations for it was.

Fell sick since I came back. First my wisdom tooth(the right one this time) got infected. My gums were so swollen that my cheek got swollen as well. Next it was my throat. The phlegm that I saw was bright yellow! Yuck. =P Went to see a doctor today and was put on antibiotics. Hope it helps. I can't stand having to rest at home the whole day! Also feel bad cos couldn't go NH to coach them today. I counted and realised how many sessions of training I have missed this month. Missed one cos grandma was hospitalized, missed another cos was dizzy after morning training(before the trip), and now I have to miss another. Missed 3 training sessions just within a short span of 1 month. Really hope that I'd be well enough to go tomorrow.

The worst part was being unable to enjoy Xmas as well as I'd wished to. Watched death note 2, had dinner, and felt so terrible that I had to go home after that when it was only about 9pm. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the day as I received a cute present and a box of gingerbread man cookies which my friend baked by himself. Those were things that certainly brightened my day.

Anyway, the Vietnam trip made me realise how bad my stamina was. Was panting like a dog by the 3rd match of the day. My strength and speed had deteriorated very obviously too. =( Think I ought to hit the gym once again and get my body toned before I leave for NZ in less than 2 months' time. Was informed that I'm likely to be sent for the World Uni Games in August next year, so I guess I should start preparing early this time. After all, it's gonna be one of my last few tournaments before I officially start work. I'm beginning to treasure such opportunities more, knowing that these are things that I will no longer get to participate in once I start my career. Also treasure the friendships forged with players of other countries. Felt very sad on my last day in Vietnam, wondering if I would get to see them again. I'm beginning to understand the spirit of such games and appreciate the bonds forged with players of other countries. Its nice to see and feel for myself how people of different countries could come together, play against each other, make an effort to communicate despite the language barrier, and last but not least, enjoy the game and learn from one another!

Oh well, how I wish that I can recover soon... wanna start hitting the gym tomorrow!

Sidetrack

Perhaps I should talk about something other than TT once in a while in this blog... talking too much about the same stuff may bore my blog and its owner to tears. Also don't want to go ranting about the prospect of the team 'merging' their training sessions with the sec sch next year... as it seems like there is little or even nothing I can do at all. In my HUMBLE OPINION (disclaimer: it is just my personal opinion and you are free to disregard it) *ahem*, '1 of the coaches' there sucks(both coaching skills and personality), full stop. Which is why I really really hope the training won't be combined. I'm sure the new coach which the players are going to have can do a good enough job and won't need any help from his 'counterpart'.

In any case what's going to happen is beyond my control, I reiterate. I can only cross my fingers and sincerely hope that the girls will not be negatively affected by any of such changes. I hope that their actions which are more or less fine now will not be 'any-o-how-changed' and no drastic changes will take place, with the exception of their improvement(i.e. 'drastic' improvements in their skills are certainly welcome). Feeling helpless at the moment. The exchange has already been arranged and it is perhaps a 'once in a lifetime' opportunity which I don't wish to miss. But with such plans come uncertainties. I don't even know the plans after my return too... not sure if they will still want me to coach them. Even if I do, I don't know for how long more I can do so either, for its just a matter of time that I start being bombarded with the duties of a 'cher'. But I know that I certainly will miss the few 'young ones' that I have started training. 1 P1 girl, 1 P3 girl, and 1 P4 girl. Not gonna mention names but it shouldn't be hard to guess who they are at all.

Anyway, on Sunday I came to find out about a coming competition that will be held in the nov/dec school holidays. Felt very excited to see it and immediately informed K's mum about it and asked them to inform the rest of the players too. Really glad that they managed to form a team of 7 people in such a short notice. I'm heartened to see how interested the players are in participating in competitions. It is certainly a good sign. I hope that in this competition, at least a few of them can emerge as medallists in the individual events. Also hope that their team can win a medal.

One moment I said I don't want to talk about TT all the time, and another moment I did it unknowingly. Going senile already, from all that studying. =P Oh yes... I remember now. I wanted to talk about happier things! Gonna participate in a competition this weekend... and its not a TT competition. Guess what? It's a competition to search for the person who can type SMS the fastest. =D Feel quite amused myself that I've actually signed up to take part in such competitions during such a time(with exams nearing), but I think it will be a good break for me from studying. The happiest part being... a friend is going to be there to support me all the way. Since young, I don't remember having any friend/s who would go support me all the way(from the start to the end) in a competition. The most touching part is knowing that this friend will have an appt on the day of the finals that has been arranged weeks ago, but yet he says to me 'If ya get into semi or finals i'll wait. Chance of a lifetime won't want to miss ur moment of glory :) '. My heart melted... it's no longer in the solid state. =P

Don't you think that one of the best things in life is having such supportive and wonderful friend(s) around you? =)

Wisdom Tooth Extraction

With 5 tests down and just 2 more to go and Deepavali falling on the next day(means no commitment), I finally had the time to get my easily-infected wisdom tooth extracted yesterday. Guess how many days of MC I was given? Not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, not 6, not 7, but EIGHT days... All the way up till next Friday. Got freaked out when the dentist's assistant told me I would be getting so many days of MC(before the op) - it only got my imagination running wild before the op, wondering how bad a state I would be in after the op.

I still remember how I woke up in the morning feeling scared, having heard of horror stories from friends about their wisdom tooth extraction experiences. Tried hard not to think too much and tried to have some food, before making my way down to the dentist's. Was feeling extremely nervous(being one that is scared of needles), and the 30 min wait for my turn wasn't helpful at all in alleviating my nervousness.

The next thing I knew, I was in the room... lying helpless on the chair(what do you call that kinda chair?). I turned to ask the dentist in a half-joking manner 'Doctor, when was the last time you performed such an op ah?' He replied 'last week'. I heaved a sigh of relief. Next, the dentist told me that he would be giving me local anaesthesia to numb the area. I asked if there's any other way out other than having injection... to which he replied 'Got, I use hammer to conk you out lor.' DIAO... but he reassured me that it wasn't going to hurt. Surprisingly, he did a good job and I didn't even know when exactly the needle went in, probably because of the cream which he applied to the area before he gave the injection. The next thing I knew, the lower left side of my mouth started getting numb. It surely did feel strange.

Then an X ray of my wisdom tooth was taken and he returned to do all the drilling and cutting. I didn't dare to open my eyes at any point of time, knowing I would surely only be freaked out by all the blood and cutting. I could feel him putting in different kinds of strange stuff into my mouth and at one point of time, using something to pull out the teeth. He was using a lot a lot of force but the tooth refused to come out, being as stubborn as its owner. =P So he did more drilling and cutting(I think), and tried pulling it out with a lot of strength again. I don't know exactly how many times he did it, and finally it came out... though I also didn't know when it came out. After that, I could feel some thread being placed inside my mouth and a knot was tied. After the excess was cut off, the dentist told me 'its done'. RELIEVED is the word to describe how I felt at that moment. The whole dreadful procedure was finally over! I opened my eyes and he showed me the wisdom tooth which he had just extracted, placed it in a small ziploc bag and gave it to me 'as souvenir'. I was surprised to see how big the tooth was, with 2 protruding 'roots' that made it look like a vampire's fangs. Couldn't believe it belonged to me because whenever I checked my teeth in the mirror, I could never see such a big tooth. No wonder it gave me problems - half of that big thing was impacted in my gums and refused to surface, thus causing the frequent infections.

Took a short rest there first before making my way home. He gave me antibiotics and painkiller to be taken three times a day, and this anti-inflammatory medicine that was supposed to be swallowed 12 at the same time. When I swallowed that, I felt as though I was trying to commit suicide. =P

Went back home and took the medication. Had to bite the gauze so didn't manange to eat anything until 6pm in the evening. At that time, the effects of the anaesthetic finally worn off and my mouth didn't feel numb anymore. Unfortunately, that was when it started hurting a hell lot, but thank goodness only for a short while. Was supposed to meet up with a classmate R before he was due to fly off today but ended up having to 'pang seh' him because of the sudden onset of pain. I wasn't sure if that feeling was gonna come back anytime soon.

Thankfully it didn't, and I was feeling quite alright. Even managed to do up some work in the night. However, it seemed that the bleeding hadn't stopped by night. I went to sleep and it wasn't easy getting to sleep because my mouth kept salivating. That wasn't good because it would 'wet' the area and that certainly would not help stop the bleeding. I finally managed to sleep anyway and woke up late this morning, only to spit out a mouthful of blood. I believe I had drank quite a bit of blood throughout the night too, evident from the colour of the phlegm which I spit out. I have officially turned into a blood-sucking vampire. =P

Ended up having to bite gauze again for an hour or so, before having some food then the medication, after which I put another gauze in to bite which is still in my mouth now. Wonder if I will start feeling strange without gauze in my mouth after 2 days of biting it. I BITE hor!

Another weekend burnt... Was already feeling really bored after having so many weekends burnt. Hopefully will be able to have some fun next weekend after the 6th test and 2 weeks before the 7th.

Doubt I will be making full use of the MC given... can't imagine skipping so much lessons just less than 1 month before the exams. =\ In any case, I'm just glad that the semester will be over very soon(last day of exams: 2nd Dec!). After which I will have a long break before heading to NZ somewhere in mid-Feb. I hope that by the time I leave, I have done a good job in training up sufficient players for next year's competition. The motivated ones I mean. I think I may have to give up training a few of them who have lousy attitude and only go training to waste time running and fooling around and save up the time for those really willing to learn and have good attitude.

It will certainly not be easy for the current team to maintain the top 4 position in the nationals, but I hope that at the very least, they could maintain their top 3 position in the zone level. Hope that the players from last year's top 4 team could motivate the current younger players and spur them to reach their level. Some are simply too lazy... that I wonder how many times I have ticked them off for being lazy and for their lousy attitude.

Enough of complaining manz. This whole post consists of nothing but my mindless rantings...

Wishing all Hindus a Happy Deepavali!

Midterm Break

Half a semester is finally gone! Finally a break from all that horrible lessons... but in return there's tests and more tests to prepare for. Will be having a total of 6 midterm tests this time and I no longer know how to feel about tests/exams. Quite immuned to them already, though I must admit that the stress of studying for them is somewhat still there. While its true that grades are no longer very important to me now and that I no longer study hard just to make papa and mama proud, it is interesting to note how disciplined I have become as compared to the past(say about 3 years ago) when my parents still asked about my grades once in a while. I guess it is really different when we do things for ourselves and we know that we are doing it as part of the process of attaining our personal goals, without the need for anyone to tell us that.

Argh... enough about studies. Talking about those stuff makes me TIRED and I guess just thinking about it might cause a few strands of my hair to turn white. I already know what's in store for me during this short break and I should just stop reminding myself (at least for now) that I need to STUDY. =P

Wonder how the P6 NH girls are getting on in their preparation for the exams. I counted and realised there's only 11 days to it, which is real soon(for people like me not taking the exam). I guess for them, these 11 days will pass by very slowly and torture them like hell, though I hope not. Really do hope that they get some breaks in between and not fall sick due to excessive studying. Hey... It's true that too much studying makes one sick physically and emotionally! Haha~! Who knows, some poor-kid-studying-for-exams-now may quote me and tell their parents what I just said... =x

As usual, gave tuition this morning and went to teach TT in the afternoon. Tuition didn't go on very well, as I was certainly displeased with my student who chose to slack at the wrong time. Gave her the 'cold treatment' and I hope the coldness woke her up a little, to make her realise that her exam is in 11 days' time.

As for the training in the afternoon, it went on well on the whole. There were 2 new P4 players, apparently there to ensure that there will be sufficient(or at least near to sufficient) number of players to play after YL, YR, SY and ZH 's batch graduate. 1 of them is good... at least she has some basic strokes and learnt quite fast. As for the other, I was a little disappointed at the rate at which she was learning... probably because there were quite a few other younger players for me to 'compare her with'.

Its interesting to note the rate at which the players learn. I realised that some of the players learn things very fast and once I point out certain things, they are able to rectify it and at least make a conscious effort to get it right. It certainly feels nice to teach these players as you really witness them picking up the skills. As for some others, no matter how many times you may point out to them that something is wrong, they will still do it wrong again and again. I wonder if thats what many people mean when they talk about 'tian1 fen4'...

In any case, I did think about whether there was a point in spending time to train up the new P4s. Once again, I was making a comparison. What I thought was... might as well spend more time training up the P3s who have more potential and can represent the school for 1 more year. But on the other hand, I guess there was also a need to ensure that there were enough people to represent the school every year for both divisions, without wasting any of the 'resources'(i.e. good players). This sure does remind me of the word 'optimization' and who knows, I may just come up with a linear or nonlinear program to find the optimal solution to this 'problem'. Haha... just in case you think I meant it, com'on, I'm not so free lah. That was really a lame attempt at trying to be funny with Maths... aww. So the conclusion is that there's no way you can get too funny if you're joking about Maths stuff. =P

As for the down side of today's training, someone seemed quite upset after playing a match and I couldn't figure out the reason... just hope that the person is fine now. After all, table tennis is about enjoyment... I think that it's quite sad if studying already is so stressful for them, yet playing table tennis also stresses them out/upsets them. Hope that all of them will try to take things less seriously(when necessary) and have less things in their lives upsetting them! ^_^

Think I should also mention that some of the players have been in pretty good form lately. Its heartening to see that YR's attacks are more powerful(I guess its because she's growing and getting stronger by the day haha) and she managed to give Mr S a hard time just now. In any case, at the rate she's going, I think she will make a very good singles player by next year. Sadly, I can't comment much about YL, SY and ZH now because they didn't attend today's training. Heard that YL and SY fell sick... see, I told you studying is bad for health! ~_^

After training, I went to city area and bumped into SZ there. This country of ours is really small eh???

On the whole, today is a nice day... I'd say it's a good start to my midterm 'BREAK'. *coughs* The thought of studying makes me sick already. Hahz...

Adjusting...

School has started and I can feel IT coming - the craziness. Who to blame but myself, for choosing to take 5 Maths modules and 1 Physics module(the LAST! :D)... Anyway, there's no time for regrets. It just means I need to be be more focused and faithful in doing my tutorials and keeping up with lessons. My life needs to be adjusted once again, to that of minimizing 'human contact time' during the weekdays. The hermit has once again resurfaced.

After 3 months of not studying, I can feel the inertia there. It doesn't help when some lecturers take a long time to upload their tutorials... When I'm in the mood to do something constructive, there's nothing to be done. When I'm tired and not in the mood for it, it comes. To make things worse, this particular lecturer gave out a piece of paper that says 'tutorial 1' but there are no questions in it. All that's written there is the title of a book that he recommends, and the exercise numbers to be done. A tutorial without questions... how interesting. So I'm(as well as the other 50 odd people taking this module) supposed to go to the library, search high and low for this book, snatch it from whoever's hogging onto it, tear out the pages(or maybe not...), place it on the photocopy machine, insert a cashcard, and press on the print button. Never knew that getting hold of tutorial questions could be such an exciting adventure. Maybe thats how level 4000 modules are made fun! *ponders* Perhaps when I start teaching in the future, I can try that - make my students hunt for their homework questions. I'm sure that will lessen my workload because most likely no one will submit it and I will have nothing to mark. =P (Disclaimer: The above is not to be taken seriously. It does not represent the views of the author.) [This disclaimer is for my future boss to see only hehe]

Other than having to adjust back to studying, I guess I also need to get used to having more and more people around me being miles apart from me. Jer and ZW have left for the States, FY is leaving for UK in a month's time, WJ is leaving for US in 5 hours time and the list goes on... Things are happening too fast for me to feel anything about their leaving at the moment but I'm sure that when all of them have left, I certainly would start to feel IT...

In any case, I'm really happy to be back in Hall after the serious quarrel with my bro some time back. If there's anyone who can get me burning with fiery, its gotta be him... so full stop about him. No point talking about him anyway, he's not gonna read this.

Another adjustment that I foresee I will need to make is having to spend some time during the weekdays for my tuition kid as her PSLE draws near. Hope that it won't be too draining and that I will survive the 'last sprint' together with her.

As for coaching TT at NH, I'm glad to have 2 weeks of break which came at a good time. After that I'll probably be focusing more on brushing up their skills and perhaps teaching some new skills. Lots and lots of multi balls are in for them. I'd think its the best time for skills-upgrading through multi ball training since there is no competition drawing near. Best time to change what needs to be changed too. Some of them have serious problems with their footwork...

As for my own playing, I'm pleasantly surprised that I still managed to beat my counterparts at the recent selection trial for the upcoming Asean University Games(in Dec) despite having not trained for a long time... BUT that might mean extra commitment for myself during the term should they decide that training should start soon. Hope that that doesn't happen otherwise my books would start crying for my attention.

Lastly, think I really need to get used to waking up early once again even though I do not have any lessons in the morning. This semester's timetable is quite horrible, with all my lessons in the afternoon and ending late/very late. Alas, I'm sick of waking up late, skipping breakfast, feeling guilty about having wasted the beautiful morning sleeping away, yet waking up late again the next day. It's about time to do something about it lest it becomes habitual.

Zzz...

A Good Choice, A Silent Hope

My school attachment programme started this Monday. The purpose of the programme is to give us a glimpse of how the various policies are implemented in schools, observe how teaching is conducted in schools as well as get some hands-on teaching experience. Also, we are all given a project to do and the principal convinced us that our project was important to them because they really needed some ideas on how to deal with a particular group(or should I say class) of students.

I was posted to a school in TPY together with 3 others. It is not the kind of school that produces top scorers in the GCE exams but still, I must say that it is a great school with a compassionate, understanding and realistic discipline master, quite a number of caring teachers and fantastic students. Not in academia but in many other aspects. A number of them have already experienced many of the various 'sufferings' of life and even though many teachers say lots of unpleasant things about them, I strongly INSIST they are not 'bad' after observing them in the past few days.

On the very first day(Monday), the four of us who were posted there spent the whole day with the principal and the vice principal of the school. They gave us a lot of information about the school and shared with us the students' background. The information were mainly statistical and were presented in pie charts and graphs but they certainly were useful in helping us to have an idea of the students that we would be seeing. For example, we were told that majority of the students speak their Mother Tongue at home and not many speak
English at home so from here, we can roughly infer that most of them are not proficient in English and may not understand English that is 'too proper'.

Next, we were given an overview of the programmes that they have in place in the school, including their CCA programme which I feel really needs improvement. Other than that, I was impressed by the programmes that they have in place for the students' welfare. They appeared to be a school that cared a lot about the students who have lots of 'emotional baggage' and students whose families are not earning enough to make ends meet. That sure made me feel heartened for I had always believed no student should be left out in the 'rat race'. In short, it seemed that the school was making a serious attempt to ensure that no student is 'left to die on his own'. At least that was the impression which the Principal and the Vice Principal gave me.

In the midst of the briefing, I was already considering going back to the school when the time comes because I could identify with the school's values, mission and vision. The only disappointing thing is that they did not have table tennis and had very few(only about 4) 'sports and games' CCA. To make matters worse, I bumped into this girl playing table tennis with her PE teacher at the table tennis table in the canteen that day when I was eating and the girl was actually good! I saw that she had the basic strokes and was one with good potential. Being unable to restrain myself, I walked over to them and asked her where she was from. I then found out that she was previously from PCPS which is also my alma mater. She enjoys playing table tennis and feels disappointed that the school does not have table tennis as a CCA. She also mentioned that there were a few others in her shoes. I felt quite sad to hear that... its really such a waste! If only the school had it as a CCA and gave students like her some support, I'm sure they can get into top 4 in the Zone competition at the very least because that zone does not have that many schools that are good in table tennis. Well, perhaps I *might* be given a chance to do something for such students in the not-too-distant future...

The rest of the day was spent meeting the HODs and being introduced to them because the HODs are supposed to 'mentor' us during our attachment period. We were then briefed about the project that the school has assigned to us. Basically we had to find out more about a sec 1 NT class students. According to the school principal and teachers, this class of students is very different as compared to the previous batches of NT students, for their behaviour was much more 'atrocious' and their result was not as good. We are supposed to
interview the students and the teachers teaching that class to get information about them and try to find ways that will help them to learn better. We are also required to observe each subject teacher teach for 2 days(Tue and Wed), after which it would be our turn to teach the class.

Thus, I spent the past 2 days observing the lessons. One pattern which I observed - in certain lessons, the students were better behaved during class and would pay more attention. In some other lessons, the students would behave terribly, talk loudly in class, run around the class during lesson, throw things around, 'fight', etc... almost everything that you can think of in your wildest imagination, you will see it happening there. As a result, during these lessons, it is almost impossible for lessons to be conducted because the teachers spend most of the time scolding students. However, in the lessons which the students were better behaved, the lessons could be carried out(with hitches here and there) and the students were able to learn something from the lessons. They will also do work that is given to them, though their ability vary greatly. There are students who can finish the worksheet given to them in less than 5 minutes while others are still struggling with the first question. In any case, the main point that was gathered from this observation was that discipline is a must in the classroom and if the teacher is unable to discipline the students effectively, it will be difficult to have a 'proper lesson', not to even mention an 'effective lesson'. Nevertheless, disciplining these students seem to be the greatest challenge for every single teacher of that class as it seems that many of them love to move about, disturb their classmates and come up with 'games' to entertain themselves. Alas, the situation was much better during Maths lessons when the students were split up into 2 classes. Each teacher will then handle a class of about 20 students and learning was much much better in that situation. However, of course, the students still do talk quite a bit and disrupt lessons occasionally.

This morning, I started to interview students during their 'student-teacher interaction' time which is from 7.40am-8am, before they start their first period of lessons. This is something which the school had arranged because they felt that the teachers needed to get to know the students better and vice versa, in order to find out if they are troubled and to 'counsel' them if they always misbehave in class. Personally I think that this is really an excellent programme because from conversations with many teachers, it seems that many students
actually open up to their teachers during this session and many problems are thus discovered by the teachers, who will then try to help. I specially requested to 'interview' this particular boy this morning because I found him to be of a very interesting character. He would often play during lesson time and disturb his classmates. He would also answer back to the teacher whenever the teachers shouted at him. However, I noticed that he was actually quite good in his work and was able to finish up work given to him quite quickly. As a result of walking around the class the past 2 days, I managed to strike up some conversations with him and feel a sense of closeness with him. Found him to be an extremely likeable person with a great personality. Thus, I chose to speak to him today and got to know a lot more about him. The more I got to know about him, the more I appreciate him as a person and as a student... I hope that in the next few days, I will continue to get to know more students better during this 'interaction time'.

On another note, I finally got the chance to teach the class(half of the class to be exact, since I'm teaching Maths) today. Thanks to the past 2 days of observation, I was able to know most of the names of the students in the class so I could skip the 'introduction'. I further split them into 4 groups and told them that we would have a 'game' whereby students who answer questions correctly will earn points for their groups. However, points will be deducted if they misbehave. I then asked them what are the 'offences' that they often commit and how many points they suggest will be deducted for each offence and they were enthusiastic in suggesting the various offences and how many points they think should be deducted. Then the 'game' commenced. To my pleasant surprise, they co-operated very well and were very well-behaved... no one moved around the class and no one disrupted the lesson. I was very surprised because I recalled that even when I was teaching in primary school the last time, I never had a class that responded so well to this 'game'. I felt encouraged and
elated by this fruitful lesson I had with them and the more convinced I was that this group of students are teachable and fantastic.

After today's lesson, I know that I have made a good choice to take up the scholarship and I start to silently hope to be back in this school 2 years later...