Harajuku...the haven for Japanese teenage fashion. After trotting down Takeshita Doori with its very enticing shops (even for me who is not really an avid shopper), we came to this strange looking building which is like buried in some back alley.



This building is called Design Fiesta,sort of an art gallery for budding artists wannabes who cannot afford to hang their canvases in the pretentious hallways of prestigious art galleries. Mostly art students I would think. But it is really a place where creativie flows freely, as can be witnessed from the facade of the building.



There are numerous rooms in the building, not spacious by any standards, which anyone can presumably rent for a number of days, and just put up whatever they wish to showcase to people. As we walked around, people were still hammering, gluing, painting, and whatever, busy putting up their displays with the kind of meticulousness and attention to detail that only artists have. Some are eating their packed lunches, friends and relatives come visiting and to lend their support, enthusiastic artists wander around hoping to get a stroke of inspiration. All in all a very friendly and conducive environemtn to get the creative juices flowing, something which will not happen in our sunny little island.

There was this group of talented and friendly young manga artists (oh did I mention they were cute as well) who were deeply apologetic that they were still working on their displays. However, they were happy that we showed interest in what they have to offer and allowed us to take a look at whatever was ready. I was captivated by this particular picture.

I thought the use of colours was striking and the expression on the girl's face was deeply enchanting.

Some other random pictures of this fascinating little alcove:




All in all a great way to spend a lovely afternoon, especially when you have to seek respite from the mind-boggling and overwhelming fashion apparels that are pouring out of all these shops in Harajuku. Another memorable moment!

Hee..have been organizing the pictures in my laptop these few days...there are so many of them..Switzerland, Japan, China, various concerts, and I've never really got down to putting them in their proper places. Maybe I'll make use of this chance to
showcase some of the more exciting/interesting parts of my life (other than school =p)


This was the apartment where I stayed in Tokyo for 2 nights (Dec 2005). This shop (gender-free!) is on the third level while i stayed at the fourth.





Even for those who can't read japanese, I guess there are enough contextual clues to pick out what this shop is. The words in the bottom right hand corner of the red sign says "Cross-dress, SM Play, Petting Partners OK"

Btw I did not pick this place on purpose! Neither did we patronise it(it's highly exclusive anyway, with prohibitive prices).Firstly it was my travelling mate Kaile who chose it, and secondly we were just going for the cheapest place we can find. I think this place was 1000yen per night (which is like $15..in TOKYO), situated in this very colourful but dodgy neighbourhood. It was certainly an eye-opener.



As we climbed the very narrow stairs to the fourth storey, there was a huge sized "lady" standing outside the third storey (where the ULALA shop is) carrying a broom in the most subservient and docile manner. While Kaile didn't realize the nature of the shop, I certainly did and could tell who this "lady" was. It was really amusing see her being so prim and proper, she even stopped sweeping to let us walk past her. =)

Our apartment, on the other hand, was like the most cramped room I have ever seen, accommodating FIVE people(including us). Really, once we have set down our luggage we have hardly any space to manoeuvre. The other three were all japanese guys. (Kaile thinks one of them is a girl, but I am rather sure he is a guy, erm...which I deduced from the way he used the toilet.)

Hee well I guessed we couldn't expect much for 1000Y per night. While it was most uncomfortable, it was certainly a highlight of the trip that I would remember for years to come. I mean..come on, how many tourists get to stay above a gay whorehouse and in such close contact with locals squeezing in this one-room apartment?

Junkai..here's a pic to scare you

CENSORSHIP? Puh-Lease what a joke

Finally I'm back. This new beta blogger or whatever is causing lots of problems!

Tired....will blog in greater detail subsequently. For now I just want to say that the uncensored version of Royston Tan's 15 is actually available on youtube. Gosh..it's infuriating....two (or was it three) years ago at the age of 23/24 I wasn't allowed to watch the uncensored version because of censorship(17 cuts if I did not remember wrongly), but now teenagers are accessing the unadulterated version. Oh well..I'm always against imperfect asymmetrical information flow anyway... =p

I was surprised at the male nudity scenes(actually just one) though, I've always thought youtube did not allow such explicit details. In the meantime those who want to watch it might want to hurry before it gets taken down or someting. It's a shame we Singaporeans have to resort to such means to watch a refreshingly original local production.

While I'm on it, Royston's 4:30 was wonderful as well, although it was as painful to watch as 15. Somehow the emotions are stripped bare right in front of you, which can be awfully unsettling.

This is the week like almost everyone I know is flying off for holidays. Parents gone for 2 weeks in China. My Friday Supper Club is off at Thailand and Taiwan. Kaile flew off to Korea via Shanghai. Jianwei went off for Japan. Damn.. this sucks big time.

As for me, the closest I got to a foreign is ...erm....dispensing Japan travel advice to many people, and..erm..lending Kaile my travel guide to Shanghai. This is so devastating! Especially after my meticulous planning for the ultimate Japan onsen trip.

My holidays are really reolving around CO. What with Maris Stella CO concert practices ..(Junkai are you reading this? Come and support!) and watching NAC Chinese Music competition. The competition wasn't too exciting...nothing really impressed/amazed me, although it's nice to see some familiar and not-so-familiar faces and catch up with the latest gossips. =p

Oops...almost forgot about the existence of this blog...* bleah * I'm stuck in school now, staying overnight for the band camp. Rather eerie, I'm the only one in the staff room at 2100hrs. And it's so stuffy, the air-con goes off at 6! ARGH....

Eversince I decided that I'm not going to Japan (ARGH)after all, the hols were kind of boring..........at first. I played Guild Wars until I got so sick. I was so bored that I agreed to perform with Maris Stella CO, even though I wasn't that keen on going back initially.(after all I took my O Levels exactly 10 years ago!)THe juniors are all so quirky....gosh, they grow up so quickly, some of them have really morphed beyond recognition. It's good to see new faces, and many old ones as well as quite a number of grads are helping out as well.

Sigh..I've got no sleeping bag! I have to sleep on the cold hard stony floor tonight I guess....

As an econs graduate, I am certainly very amused after reading Chen Z J's "Economists say goodbye to economics", and can I say again how GLAD I am that I did my honours in English instead of econs eventually.

I certainly adored Econs as a subject when I was an A level student, mainly due to the simple fact that I excel in it, and I had an excellent Econs tutor. (Miss Wong Mei Lin who is now VP of MJC the last I heard) I was so keen on doing econs in uni that I told my scholarship interviewer that I would not take up the scholarship if I wasn't allowed to do Econs. (Back then they claimed that they had no shortage of econs teachers, and were trying to implore (or was it accost) me into doing History or Literature.

But econs in NUS was nothing like econs in JC. In the first place the professors suck, really they should be banned from teaching students. And with the increasing abstraction and formalization(Read: mathematicalization) that has plagued so many social sciences, I find no meaning in what I am studying. In fact it is only two years after my graduation now and I barely remember anything from NUS Econs.

Yes, it is true that the more you study a subject, the more you realize you have no idea what the subject is about. A level econs was really like a study of the history of econs or how the discipline has evolved through the years. As an isolated and theoretical subject it might have been interesting, but when you look back at what you did (like what I'm doing now after I finished the book) you realize how absurd and impractical so many of these theories are, and you start wondering whether what you studied for so long is really just a waste of time. Who was I kidding, I probably never really understood Economics in the first place, and I wonder how many Econs graduates can truthfully say they did.

While I would love to hunt down my scholarship interviewer and laugh in his face (With the H1 and H2 JC curriculum practically every JC student is taking Econs...resulting in a sudden shortage of econs teachers), I am still thankful that he had requested that I do English together with Econs.

Presenting......06S23

06S23..my first GP class in SAJC! I can remember the first time I met them.......hot stuffy Tuesday afternoon......last three periods of the day, at that D-block ground floor classroom which is so distracting because students on their way home via the side gate will inevitably walk past that room, so it is kind of sucky watching them walk by knowing that you still have lessons until 5.15pm. (for my students. Needless to say I am fully attentive even at the end of the day . =p)

These people tried to introduce themselves using someone else's names (a harbinger of things to come?) ..I still remember Kok Yong introduced himself as Bing Lin. The next lesson I got their mug shots from the office and memorized like ten of their names and started calling people so that I don't have to depend on their unreliable information. (I remember Colin saying "How come he remembers our names so fast?" ........ =p it's just a handful of names, my dear Colin....)

I thought I'll never get down to this, but here it goes............ from the first row, L to R:

BRANDON! My marist SC junior. =p. This boy is like the archtypical good boy. I remember all the praises that teachers sing about him, even when he is not, ahem, too up-to-date with his academic work. The charisma that some people have! Btw this boy stripped to his undies in front of me on the very first week that I knew him. Before anyone starts tsk tsk-ing, it was totally innocuous. He was changing out of his PE attire after GP, and somehow he's too lazy to find a toilet. Tsk tsk..sense of propriety, Brandon!

COLIN......The Green Club boy..yeah right. Even though I was a new teacher and chose to believe that students have hearts of gold and will never lie to their teachers, I never believed him right from the word "go". Utterly useless at solving word puzzles. Well, at least he'll have something to remember me by, when (or if) he eventually solved it. Quite a conscientious student, impressing me with his very first essay..but that was the only one time... =p His hair morphs as the term progresses, and the intermediate stages of change can be pretty spectacular.

now we have the 5 girls, ANNABEL, CHIEW YONG, SHERLENE, LENA and BELINDA, who live in the shadow of 19 other unruly boys.....or so I was led to believe. Recently I realized that they are totally capable of holding their own! (maybe except Belinda, who is really soft-spoken. Assert yourself!) My other 2 classes have only 2 boys each, so S23 is kind of a reversal of trend for me. Anyway despite having only 5 girls, the class managed to have more than its proportionate share of blossoming romance and scandalous gossips...argh..always a source of amusement, but I shan't cause undue public embarrassment to anyone. =)

Chiew Yong is, of course, ridiculously smart. How many can boast that he or she consistently gets A for A level PHYSICS? which is like the most boring subject on earth EVER. This is one scary girl.

Sherlene..ah..this girl writes like a reporter. There is a certain journalistic style in the way she writes her essays. But she has the tendency to misuse phrases such as comparing ancient Chinese women to jailbirds. A Jap freak in the making! GANBARE!

Lena, Annabel and Belinda are the more quiet ones, but they do speak up when they want to (such as asking me to treat them lunch). Hardworking, conscientious students, but remember that having an opinion to voice out is crucial in a subject like GP!

ELSON....another Marist junior. He rattles off my IC number faster than I can, so next time if I find out someone is masquerading me using my IC number I know who to look for. You have been warned! Oh, he is a favourite among many teachers too. I guess we marists just bring out the best in ourselves. * wink *

YEW LIANG.....he reminds me of this HK actor whose name I can't remember, and anyway it's one of those serial dramas I watched as a kid so don't bother. He always flashes his megawatt grin whenever he poses for a picture and he will raise his signature thumb pose, as if he is a celebrity endorsing his favourite brand of bak-gwa. This is one bright spark, marred (just slightly) by his compulsive need to engage others in conversation. Oh yes another thing, he is always looking at the laps(at least that's what it seems like from my vantage point) of those who sit beside him(usually Gland or Jerome). Very disturbing.

JOEL: Argh..this boy "chers" me like the typical annoying secondary school student. To be honest Joel irritated me incessantly initially, with his lackadaisical attitude and his annoying way of speaking. But eventually....erm...while my first impressions weren't completely off the track =p , I certainly did change my opinion of him after a while. =) This guy is just trying to be funny and did not really mean to be disrespectful(I hope).

ERNEST: ah...i think it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that I have never seen this student's eyes fully open in the course of 2 terms. He totally redefines what it means to be a laid back student, he's so laid back he's practically horizontal. Surprisingly he seemed fully awake and functional after the promotional exams. To give him full credit, I think this chap is pretty smart, he knows how to get the most number of marks by putting in minimal amount of effort!

NICHOLAS: erm...Energy rep? He helped me for a grand total of ....ONE time in the setting up of the projector, but to be honest it's not his fault because I didn't really enlist his help since I am able-bodied in every way. He reminds me of someone but until now I still don't know who. =p Rather witty and give laudable comments from time to time, but seemed to fade into the distance as the term goes on(maybe fatigue, or is it PW, finally got to him)

CHESTER: Hee hee Chester has this blur, boyish look that is rather intriguing. His facial expressions are really amusing, I remember this priceless look on his face when I was returning assignments and he was waiting for his turn and looking hopeful in anticipation of how many marks he had (or at least that's what it seemed like to me). For lack of a better description, and I mean no disrespect/malice when I make this comparision, it was like a cute little puppy knowing that dinner has arrived and wondering what fate has in store for him. Oops..I hope he doesn't take offence if he reads this. He's a rugger...don't play play!

NIGEL: This guy's smart too! I mean, how many people can boast that they get an A for Physics during Common Test? And he's not a mugger. Or at best a closet mugger. Although so far I do not have the opportunity to relish his guitar playing, this guy owns like three, and is not averse to spending big bucks on another new one. His fingers probabaly smell of metal strings all the time. Morose sense of humour.

Okay I just spent five minutes trying to decide who is more to the left, LEONARD or YIXIANG, their faces are practically in line with one another! To resolve this moral dilemma I resort to the tried-and-tested ALPHABETICAL ORDER

LEONARD: That's the one with the wide grin in the picture. This grin is his trademark, and he flashes his dazzling pearlies at you every once in a while. His Chinese name sounds pseudo-French (De Marc..I've always wanted to ask what his Chinese name actually is, but have never got down to it). Classmates call him "ELMO" and I guess it's pretty apparent why. For me, I'll always remember his as the guy who wrote " MR CHUA, Please turn over for the summary" at the bottom right hand corner of his comprehension script and when I turned over, VOILA...blank page.

YIXIANG: This guy is actually my distant cousin, although we're not related by blood. He's my ....* deep breath * father's sister's husband's sister's son. Not that we knew of each other's existence until I became his teacher. =p A rather quiet and unassuming guy in my class, although I'd bet my bottom dollar that he is not who he appears to be, since he hangs out with the likes of ELSON and JOEL. =)

BINGLIN: Another marist. And best of all, he was from MS Chinese Orchestra, even though it was a short stint from 2001 - 2002, but that means that almost certainly we have met before in Maris Stella, since I was pretty involved at MSCO during that period of time. Digging through my juniors' pictures I managed to unearth a picture of him during MSCO times, I'm going to scan it and post it here..so watch this space! Talented table-tennis player, I hear, and his assignments reflect some insightful thoughts sometimes, but then he does not hand in assignments all that often. =p I'll remember him as the guy who mistook Peter Pan for Robin Hood.

JEROME: Ah, for some reason or another I kept confusing his name with Leonard's. He was from St John's! Like me! But then I was the slack member who quit after two years while he is still actively involved in it now. ANd if my memory did not fail me, he has the honour of being my first student to add me on msn and friendster. A frequent victim of Yew Liang's crotch staring (refer to Yew Liang's entry) Hardworking and conscientious student!

GLEN: Ah..my GP Rep. When he first added me on msn, his display pic was this one where he was holding several pens in his hands and his face was horribly contorted as he pretends to be Wolverine. (at least that's what I think it was.) Then the next time he logged on, his display pic was changed to this one where he was several years younger and his hair was all spiked up like Wukong in Dragonball. My reaction was like........this student needs serious help......big time.....it was only much later that I realized he is fond of taking the weirdest pictures/videos. What I mistook as a sign of emotional trauma was actually his overflowing creativity. After which I began to enjoy his very wittingly captioned pictures and meticulously edited videos. Someone who is not afraid to speak what's on his mind, although a sense of propriety is sometimes missing. =p

KOK YONG: The sweetest boy I've met so far. although sometimes it gets overboard. How many boys can say FAMILY is short for FATHER AND MOTHER I LOVE YOU without blushing? or declare his eternal love for his gf on a PINK card in PINK ink and submit it to his GP tutor? The most unforgettable moment with him must be when I called him to answer a question in class and instructed him "Impress me". After which he proceeded to take off his shirt and muttered "Huh...to impress you I need to take off my shirt".......!!!!!!!!!!!!!! scary. DISCLAIMER: Of course he never did take his whole shirt off. So don't start writing any letters of complaints to MOE.

WEIYING: Hee..this boy is very cool, he has this yoz I'm a street boy kind of look on him. Constantly being chided for his unkempt hairstyle. Stammered for several seconds when I asked him which are the Chinese characters for his name. Ah, and he, like Kok Yong, once unfortunately sat beside me during lecture and got called to answer questions as " the boy next to Mr Chua". =p His msn nick mostly consists of soccer scores and a one line commentary about the match. hee.

And the 3 boys who weren't around to grace us with their physical presence:

BOB: Walks like a snail. Met him on the way to college a couple of times and he was taking minute little steps, barely putting his foot before the other as the world scurries past him in a flash. His face is capable of a multitude of expressions, as captured in Glen's photos, although the one he uses most often in my class is that of boredom. The most unforgettable expression from him was during Yew Liang's group's GP presentation, when they showed the pic where they offered each other assistance at the urinal while they were mugging, Bob turned around to look at me and whined "This is SO GAY!". That was a priceless expression.

JUSTIN: He has this smouldering, intense look which some people go for. Another one of those who slinked into an unobtrusive corner as the term progresses, and unfortunately I did not have the opportunity to know him better. BUt you can always count on him to do the one obscure question which nobody else did. =)

JONATHAN: Ah.,.the boy with the frail constitution and couldn't come to my class more often. * roll eyes * Despite his irregular attendance, his impressive command of the language is obvious to all, although he does have the annoying habit of using words which are too obscure when paraphasing and affecting the proper flow of his sentences in the process. Rattles off phrases like "rampant fornication" and "causality link" without batting an eyelid. Since he is a debator, his classmates always look expectantly at him during a Q and A sessions, while presenters will be praying that Jonathan is absent(which is quite frequent) or somehow inactive while they are presenting.

Sliced Bread

The biggest thing since sliced bread. That has never convinced me......I don't even like sliced bread. Why sliced bread? Is there some cultural link that I am oblivious to?

Presenting........06A02 (I've never verified, but probably the noisier half of the class)

06A02........ah...this class never fails to amaze me. It's one of the most typical arts class I have seen, and where stereotypes become reality. As you can see from the picture(I'm taking the risk of being complained for spreading communist values during GP lessons here), they are in a state of political fervour after watching the video on North Korea (that's Kim Il Sung, for the uninitiated), and they chose to display their emotions in an outspoken and perspicious manner.

We have the luxury of Innovation Room 1 for our GP lessons, until Li lian's half of the class starts complaining and demanding to be given equal treatment. =p So, yah, we get the air-con(although it IS a cause of dispute for many in the class), and the clearest and sharpest projector ever (compared to the useless ones in block D second floor) in a room where I can pratically shut out all the light if I wanted to.

* I just realized Selvan was not doing the correct pose. Bad communist! Putting self expression before the collective good! *

* under construction *

Presenting.......06S18 (the more quiet half, seemingly)

06S18! As you can see, they are decimated to a mere 9 people. Haha. Actually there were only 11 to begin with because I share this class with Karen. Too bad Janice and Rayson weren't there(in fact Rayson put on a disappearing act after promos and I have not seen him since then. Gosh I pity those who are in his PW group. * tsk tsk * )

What struck me about this class is how diffident and quiescent they are (or at least pretend to be), until I took the whole of S18 one fine day when Karen was on MC. While the other half of the class is definitely more voluble (think MICHAEL), imagine my horror when even Lauren was chit chatting with the girl beside her. LAUREN! I don't even remember her talking to anyone beside her during GP classes. =p

They're a lovable bunch, always quietly submitting to my tyranny (which is not what I can say about my other two classes...haha) and they don't yield under pressure. This class is also very unfortunate, their GP classes timing is always such that I don't get to do the same things I did with the other classes, and they always complain about that. =p I didn't even get a chance to bid farewell to them properly, since I stopped seeing S18 before all the other classes. Shucks!

* under construction *

Ah...end of term. It's almost like the sweet release of death. Having no civics class, and hence not a formal ST for PW, I was not expected to be an assessor either. Which means I have practically nothing to do from now on, even though my colleagues are still in the final lap of PW.

The usual onslaught of level, departmental and school level meetings make up the most of my the last week of the term. I was retained (literally) in JC1, just as I expected, which would mean that I can look forward (bleh) to CT-ship and PW ST-ship next year. And of course another committee/ CCA, now that my period of "immunity" is over and I have to take on a full teacher's load.

Being so free, I found time to keep myself entertained even during weekdays. KTV with fellow teachers. Two movies in one week (both of which suck). With such a thin plot and lacklustre cast, Sinking of Japan was barely tolerable. At least it was in Japanese and I can use it as an opportunity to practice my listening (just trying to console myself on (my friend's) bad movie choice). If it was the Sinking of any other country I would probably cuss and swear throughout the movie. (COme to think of it I already was).

Deathnote..........yah some went ooh and aah over it, but having read the comics already I was less than impressed. I was amused that the people they found to act as those peripheral characters resemble the drawn version so accurately. I couldn't remember theirs names (like I say they are peripheral) but one look at the face I remember that he or she is going to die. Deathnote is one of those comics which do not know when to end. (Conan is another one. Although I buy each issue faithfully, I am always in a state of disgust after I have read them.) The first few books were actually pretty good, then the story got so convoluted and complicated that by the time the newest issue came out I had to re-read the previous issues to understand the plot. (Not exaggerating!) By the 11th book I seriously think even some of my university econs textbooks are lighter reading materials. The 12th and final installment lays unread on my shelf. I had bought it and actually couldn't bring myself to read it.

Hmmm...Yew Liang implored me to blog about his class. EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM. And then I have two other classes. I guess I would, but it's really a formidable task, having just wrote comments for all my students into their profile. I'll get down to it, I guess, say, when I need to take break from Guild Wars. =p

You are going to be a teacher? Get ready to face a bunch of monkeys who threaten your authority if you do not show them who is in power. You are teaching EL and Maths? Tonnes of marking which will overwhelm you and deprive you of your social life. Giving remedial. Endless admin work. Courses and seminars to attend. Forms to fill in. Sure, NIE prepares you for all these crap (sort of). Experienced colleagues show you the tricks. But I never imagined that the hardest part about being a teacher is not any of these.

The hardest part is when you see your students not doing well and are on the verge of being retained. The hardest part is when you return exam scripts to your students, and while you know that he has already made tremendous improvement, it is not sufficient for him to pass. The hardest part is when you know a student has got what it takes, but did not manage to demonstrate what he can do in a particular exam.

This is a part and parcel of teaching that I have to grapple with.

Sometimes I have to wonder whether we are pushing our students too hard. Come on, they are 17 year olds, what do you expect from them? Honours-thesis level essays? Why can't we appreciate the good in them and applaud them for showing what they can do in a controlled exam condition? What's with all the nitty-gritty? We want our students to express themselves and assert thier opinions, but everytime they do so someone tries to put them down with all this negativity. Can't a student express his own opinion without having to substantiate every single assertion? Shouldn't we be looking out for what students have done well and give them credit(even though it's not always possible), instead of making uncalled for remarks which are neither reasonble nor helpful?

I am flouting the very rule that I tell my students: NEVER bombard your reader with a barrage of questions. But sometimes we just don't have the answers to our own questions.

End-of-marking entry

Hee hee gland, of course I don't have an end-of-promos entry. To me it's only over when I've finished all my marking..which is NOW. =) So here's my end-of-marking entry.

I can't believe I have finished marking 120 essays. While it doesn't sound like much, it's actually a mammoth mind-boggling and debilitating(My dear J1s: hopefully by now you know what this word means) task. Wading through a quagmire of illegible, incoherent, poorly-organised and indistinguishable scripts unscathed takes mental acuity of the highest degree, and obviously I'm not there yet. The only good thing that comes out of this is that my list of "Ridiculous and ludicrous things that students write in their essays" has effectively doubled in length, which never fails to be an amusing topic when old friends catch up. In fact, it's only because I am a teacher of such high moral integrity that I am able to restrain myself from duplicating these hilarious essays on my blog. Interested parties can seek me out personally and enquire, but if you are a student then you need not apply. =)

People who have me on their msn lists know that I am cursed with a sporadic internet connection that only works intermittently. The situation seems to have worsened recently, nowadays it seems like I can only get connected for 5 minues, which is not good when I'm playing Guild Wars. Enough is enough and finally I lodged a formal complaint with singnet. Hopefully they'll be able to fix it soon and I can play my online games without getting frequently interrupted.

Some of my students seem to be in a state of trauma because some teachers brazenly returned them their less-than-satisfactory promo scripts, and devastated them in one fell swoop. Sigh, well at least it cushions them for the impact of seeing their GP scripts. Going to get back my class's scripts very very soon, and it's just as apprehensive for us teachers as well. How will they fare?

Eve of the promotional exams

My renewed vigour in blogging is a testament to the increased free time I have on my hands as my teaching responsibilities draw to a close. Tomorrow is the start of the promotional exams, and while marking 120 essays is not a task I particularly look forward to, it is still a welcomed change from the hectic rush of a teaching week.

I have never been so "consulted" in the last few days as students made a mad rush to clarify doubts. While it's heartening to see them trying their best during this critical period, it would have been far more effective if they had consulted me earlier in the term and had the opportunities to put their knowledge to practice.

Teachers are of course just as anxious (sometimes more) than the students. Having marked their assignments, we know that they are not as prepared as we would have liked them to be, and a quick check around the staff room will stir up similar sentiments as colleagues groan that students still cannot distinguish well-articulated arguments from frivolous examples. Well, we have done what we could by now, and we have very little say from this point on about how well they will do. (An irony, considering that we are the ones who will mark their exam scripts) We can only hope that our incessant nagging and countless reminders will take them through this time of trial.

My students are beginning to look like walking zombies. I tasked Rayson to find me a working OHP from the next classroom that day, and when he returned wheeling the OHP along, he looked so haggard, pallid and lifeless that the OHP looks more animated next to him. In fact, he reminded me of a common sight in hospitals: sickly old men shuffling along hospital corridors, pushing along the metal structure which supports the intravenous drip that is hooked up to them. Gosh, is it that bad? Are we sucking their very life force out of them?

Anyway, except for a handful of students, I can honestly say that most of my students are already sufficiently equipped to do well (a relative term of course) in the exam and there is no real need for undue stress. (even though teachers are not easily satisfied and will always ask for more) It's just the fear that their scripts will not reflect their best abilities, which would certainly be a cause for regret. Hang in there, all my dearest students, and stay in one piece.

我不是挨家挨户硬着头皮找人试穿玻璃鞋的无聊王子
应该也不会笨到在荒山野岭随便亲吻陌生女人的僵冷尸体
（在道德沦亡， 性病猖獗的社会）

你不是难耐独守空闺而千里寻夫哭倒长城的巾帼女子
也希望你不是那种动辄回眸一笑就会迷倒众生的倾城佳人
（在战乱连绵，烽火难熄的年代）

青蛙在还没变成王子之前
就被因温室效应而起了变化的炎热气温曝干了
公主欣慰地取回它刁在嘴里的球
继续与整过容的巫婆玩见不得光的游戏

家喻户晓的童话
在霓虹喧嚣的世界里被扭曲
可歌可泣的故事
在物换星移的过程中被遗忘

随手可及的现实
既然能实现在扑朔迷离的世界里
我又何尝不能
坐着魔毯
沿着黄砖路
一路向前?

Of Coughs, Sore Throats and Husky Voices

That's the theme of the month.

It started with Kit Chan's lacklustre performance at Forbidden City. Her valiant and blood-curdling shouts of "TONG ZHI!" (which I sometimes still hear in the middle of the night) from three years ago was nowhere to be found, and some of the newer members of the cast obviously sing much better than her. Well, one could detect a tinge of roughness in her voice that night, and I guess she just wasn't on form. Not that I blame her or that I am not supporting local artistes, but one must give credit where it is due(fundamnetal principal of marking) and not belittle the efforts of the other artistes.

Then my GP rep from A02 got herself infected with tuberculosis and was out of action from school. Poor girl...all the coughing out blood and medicine and everything, and so close to the promos too. I myself had vivid memories of falling sick during exam time. I distinctly remember that I studied for O Level Chemistry sitting beside the toilet bowl, ready at any time to vomit the entire contents of my stomach out. I also recall getting dengue fever during my Year 2 July Common Tests, and I was so bored that I had to study boring Physics stuff like the duality nature of light and photoelectric effect while lying on the hospital bed.

And now I'm down with this terrible sore throat which compromises my ability to talk in class(which might be cause for rejoice for my students.. I remember Luke's disappointed look when he was unable to "switch me off" with the air-con remote.). Nowadays I punctuate my sentences with fits of cough and bouts of throat clearing. It's getting to the point where I feel my vocal cords strained and sore after 11 periods of teaching today. (YESH I have a monstrous 11 periods on Thursdays.) Apparently Leonard lost his voice entirely and had to resort to this gadget which pronounces his words as he writes them..freaked me out! Don't let that happen to me! Well it's good that the Promos are here and I'll just be marking instead of using my voice (except for the inevitable quarreling and arguing in stinking Innovation Room 2 as we mark and standardize and moderate.)

Speaking of that, all the best to my students from S23, S18, A02 and S24! It's tough, but be there for each other..we're in this together! Give yourself no reasons for regret. Hang in for the final stretch.......erm..before PW * groan *

HA-LOW? May-be....

A02 had a fine time laughing at how I said HA-LOW. Well, it's not the first time, I think some of my students in GMSS made a similar remark as well, just that I never took notice. I still don't really get it...what's so funny? * scratches head * It was just an exaggerated way of saying it to catch someone's attention...........

Qiuxuan had, of course, remarked about how I pronounce "maybe". Again I can't remember what was the problem, something to do with pitch intonation...that I had a peculiar way of changing the tone halfway or something like that.

And I notice how I always fumble on the word "society", especially with S18. And since we are looking at social issues for these two terms, I had to struggle on more than one occasion to enunciate all these sibilants and fricatives. Another terrible word is "statistics". Of course it is no problem when you pronounce it on your own, but when you are teaching and talking fast(as I tend to) my tongue just somehow does not move as fast as I would like it to..... Well, speaking in front of people is just not that easy =p

It's not easy when a student you taught took his own life.

A question lingers persistently at the back of my mind: Could I have made a difference?

Of course I'm not so presumptuous to think that I had touched his life in a significant way. After all, I only teach him PW (co-teach actually) for four weeks, and the structure of the lesson was such that I had not much chance to build rapport with the class. I was just one of the many teachers he had, an indistinguishable outline among the crowd, thus there was no reason to imagine that he would have come to me for help.

Nevertheless the question continues to linger. Not just for any teacher who has taught him, but for anyone who has felt his presence, no matter how transient the acquiantance was.

Wednesday was a horrible day, when I walked into the class for the first time after the most unfortunate event. When Suzie broke down in front of her class, I could imagine how traumatic it was for her. It is one of the worst emotions that a teacher can feel: the sense of helplessness that one was not able to do something more for one's student.

Such an acute mind, so unusual from our students. Such confidence in the way he speaks, so different from his peers. Potential too vast to measure remain unrealized, dreams too numerous to count stay unfulfilled.

While I find it hard to understand why he did this, I do respect his decision and I can only hope that it was all for the best.

May you find solace and respite in the next journey.

A Tribute to Someone whose name I do not know

I don't know your name, and I might never have the chance to find out.
After all, barely five words were exchanged between us.
You left before I knew you were leaving,
and who knows if we will ever play together again?

Is it sheer physical proximity
that caused me to listen to what you play?
Is it because I see a part of you in me
that I tried to put myself in your shoes?
I witness and I am aware of, the efforts that you put in.
I hear and I can relate to, the music which you play.
I observe and I took note, the skill with which you arranged your parts.

How can I fault the hand which holds the baton, when adroit players themselves have failed to see what you had realized?
How can I blame the tongues which wag, when they are accustomed to what they have chosen to hear?
How can I shake my own head. when I myself have elected to remain silent?

It might have been a relief to you, a chance for you to get out of the mess.
It might have been a blow to you, a setback which you would never recover from.
Your feelings I will never know, just like I will never know your name.
And you will never know, because I never had the courage to tell you.

One of the saddest thing than can happen to a teacher: It's 5.30pm, after a long tiring day and the attendants are threatening to lock you in the staff room if you don't get out in time. You turn off your laptop, tidy up your desk, try and decide which piles of assignments to bring home for marking(which you usually bring back to school the next day untouched). You say your goodbyes to fellow teachers who look as tired as you are. You clock yourself out of the biometric system, and there you are standing in front of the row of staff pigeon holes. You dig out your keys, bend down to open your pigeon hole with expectation, and there is...................nothing inside except for a few specks of dust. Despite all the promises of renewed vigor in your assignment.

It's like ...you see your best friend online, you initiate a MSN conversation and started unleashing all that you want to say to him....and then after a furore of detailed and meticulously planned utterances, you discover that he had been disconnected and none of those sentences got to him.

Ah..it really makes your day.

Would you prefer to teach secondary school or JC? A question that I have asked and have been asked numerous times.

For me it's more about preferring teaching GP to teaching English rather than JC vs Sec School per se. GP is so much more interesting..I get to do research about many fascinating stuff (although I always get censored by the school network for trying to access violent/explicit websites...hey can't be helped..that's the nature of the subject! To show the various perspectives!) Reading what students have to say in GP essays is also more interesting (most of the time..except for the dreaded "I agree to a large extent.") than reading silly stories written by secondary school students (And having to read cliche openings and nonsensical stories.......although I do miss having a good laugh =p)

And I love GP because I get to argue * eyes lit up * but sadly very few students want to argue with me. (Actually they do, but only about silly things like "can we extend the deadline" and "no you didn't tell us!"..not very intellectually stimulating!)

Having said that I do miss my lovely GMSS students(though I'm affirmative NOT all of them miss me...=p). But sometimes in secondary school I have to resort to so much nagging and scolding that I just dread myself. Hmm..on second thoughts I might have to resort to that even in JC.

Blogging again! After the onslaught of verbal assualts and physical intimidation from friends and students, I type this entry with the utmost reluctance. (Only when someone threatened to ban me from accessing her rather entertaining blog)

Since i have tons of marking to do(convenient excuse), I'll just give a brief update of my life in case you haven't contacted me for the past few months.

1. Graduated from NIE, although I did not attend the ceremony, neither did I collect my scroll. It's just too much of a hassle, with NIE being so far away and having to reschedule and make up my lessons. Anyway NIE wasn't such a defining moment of my life that I felt compelled to go for the ceremony, although I did miss the chance to meet up with the 13 gorgeous girls who are my classmates.

2. Went on a self-planned trip to Shanghai-Hangzhou-Suzhou. Not very uplifting, I would say, or like what Kaile might say, it's "approaching expectations". It was enjoyable, definitely, but somehow it just lacked the "oomph" which I got from Japan and Switzerland. The best part was the cheap books and DVDs/VCDs ..I have tonnes of books and Jap dramas (legal copies..i.e. non-pirated) which I have no time to finish(and here I am writing this entry......see Angie..how nice I am)

3. posted to SAJC. (If you don't know this by now you probably don't know me personally) To be honest I was a little upset initially, since another school had accepted me and I was all mentally geared towards that....quite a shock when I saw my posting. Well but it turned out to be a nice place..my colleagues are really nice, warm and helpful except one person (no prizes for guessing who) ...oops can't bitch here, so I'm really glad that things worked out.

4. My students are...............nice. Oops I think as a GP tutor I should refrain from using some bland and emotionally lacking words like "nice"..but then I can't type while keeping my fingers crossed. ok I'll try my best...they are interesting and funny people, rather amusing, although some are in a higher state of inertia and require more prodding....

5. Became teacher-in-charge of SAJC Band. Wow...an astonishing group of people. Both in terms of musical excellence and vibrancy. I was truly touched and impressed several times over the past month, during the concert, practices, band dinner, etc...although i did not have much chance to interact with them as yet, though I'm sure that'll change with time to come.

6. Performed with Hsing Hai. Wow this concert like clashed with SAJC Band's..so I was rushing back and forth several times that day..nearly killed me in the process. I realized it had been almost a year since I last performed on stage..quite a feat for me! Guess I won't be performing much now that I'm no longer a part of any musical group. (Flo...that's not an excuse to ask me to play the violin during GP =p)

7. Speaking of which..I bought a $1200 violin after coming back from China. Blew my budget..but just couldn't resist when they started dangling more and more expensive violins in front of me. My intended budget was only $600-$800. Sigh..well guess I'd have to wait a couple of months more for my piano.

Gosh..I lead a sad life..I can't even come up with more than 7 points to summarize two months of my life. And 5 of these revolve around the school. My social life's at stake!

My life is so embarrassingly boring that I cannot blog about it. Unless you want to hear about how I took a 1.5 hour trip to NIE to listen to a silly CCA talk that stretches for barely an hour, then to take another 1.5 hour trip home again. What? You actually do? Then your life is more pathetic than mine.

It suffices to say that the NIE induction is ridiculous. I can't believe the last stage of my student teacher life(or is it the initial stage of my full fledged teacher life) involves sitting in a LT and listening to people talk about things that I am not in the least interested in. Hopefully the visits to ITE, Changi Prison, etc are going to be more exciting, since I already gave up hope on the Sungei Gedong camp visit.

I'm so laid back and stoic now that the long list of undesirable colleagues-to-be no longer perturbs me. I think I'm already maxed out, even though I still have not met the remaining ten of them, I think things can only get better from now. (How can it not be!) I am now thankful for small favours, and the tinest positive aspects which I can wring out of my miserable life I give them full credit. (like not having to teach CME)

It has been some time since I last blogged in NIE Computer Lab, but here I am doing it again. Four hours to go before English lecture .....and Calbin just abandoned us to get a haircut when he has no need for one. I really felt like going home, but then Desi is presenting and it's not nice if we don't show our support for her. See Desi, the agony we are enduring because of you!

Today is supposed to be my last day of formal lessons in NIE. Actually we haven't been doing much since we came back from practicum, it's just like coming back to chit chat with fellow classmates. Not that I'm complaining.

ARgh..these two paragraphs took me only 3 minutes. Three hours and fifty seven minutes to go.

ROTTING AWAY

To quote Calbin, " Life has been boring". While my poor GMSS students are struggling with their exams, I am shaking legs at home having nothing (much) to do. (Btw, I noticed the F2-1 students did not come online during the exam period, while the F1=1 students continue to be online. SHAME ON YOU! tsk tsk) Well exams are over for them as well by now, so do take a (well-deserved?) rest for now. =)

For me I have not adjusted to suddenly having so much time on my hands. MOre time for maple story, more time for practising, more time for reading. Oh I haven't read so many books since I could remember. I finished Book 1 of the latest Dragonlance trilogy: Amber and Ashes. Juicy stuff. The gods are bickering among themselves again. I like the capricious and wilful Zeboim, goddess of the sea. Maybe it shall be my new pseudonym, and I do need one. I also read this hilarious book entitled "The Short History of the Tractors of Ukraine". The colourful characters and witty dialogue make the book impossible to put down and I finished the book in record time.

Kayser is my nemesis. For the uninitiated, I'm not referring to a brand of sweets(hmm..haven't seen these sweets recently actually), but the 36 etudes(studies) for violin. Despite the words "PROGRESSIVE" and "ELEMENTARY" on the cover of the book, I can guarantee that the etudes are neither progressive nor elementary. Seriously I have never played such ridiculously difficult stuff even in my almost ten years of CO, and now I am expected to play this in like..less than ten months of violin playing? I feel sorry for the millions of violin students(myself included) who contort their fingers regularly in such awkward positions to master Kayser. Well..I guess at least it keeps me busy .. =p

It all began when we heard something about someone receiving his posting via snail mail. Of course we dismissed all these rumours with a mere wave of our hands, and you can't blame us. The pandemonium that resulted in Feb everytime there was the slightest rumour that our practicum posting is out is still fresh in our minds. And hello...this is like one whole month before 12 June..how can NIE/MOE be so efficient?! So it's not surprising that the news barely stirred us.

It was not until Cedric called me to tell me he is NOT being posted back to GMSS that I realized the rumours are true. Our posting is out! The excitement which resulted from this simple fact resonated rapidly throughout the NIE population. SMSes are being sent, phone calls are being made, rumours are being verified, information is being shared. Like everyone else, I rushed home, despite the fact that I was supposed to go for a rehearsal first.

It came as a shock that I was posted to SAJC. I mean, even Mrs Ang assured us that once an agreement is made between a trainee and a school, it's almost 100% guaranteed(especially if it is a JC). Seriously I wouldn't complain about being posted to SAJC (although once again it's located in the labyrinth of expressways and those you-can-see-the-school-but-how-on-earth-am-I-supposed-to-cross-all-these-roads-and-railings-and-fences type of situations, okay not a common occurence to most people..but believe me, I have more than my fair share of these situations by now), it's just that I feel rather let-down after all the arrangements have been made.

Hee..after 20 years in our education system as a student and having no problem getting admitted to whatever school that I set my eyes upon, it's funny that now I am a teacher and I don't get to do that anymore. =p Well..I guess I'll never know if I'll like the school until I actually start teaching there, but it's almost guaranteed that I won't be able to subscribe myself fully to the school values. I've always been one who likes to fit right into whatever community/institute I find myself in (I see heads shaking...some people see me as an iconoclast.)....hmmm I guess i'll just have to wait and see and make my peace with the situation. What I know is that it will not dampen my spirit to teach........at least not yet... =p

Finally, my days in GMSS are over. No more marking, no more writing of lesson plans, no more zapping of worksheets....(at least for now). I have the gift of time on my hands yet again! And finally I have the time to update my blog...

Obviously I would have loved to bitch about certain people (both teachers and students) from GMSS, but I have to refrain from doing that since I have students visiting my blog. Haha. Well, if you really want to know, check out my secret blog at www.howdumbareyou.blogspot.com, or you can always ask me in person! (This offer does not extend to any personnel related to GMSS, however remote, whether living or dead.)

Still, there are more good times in GMSS than bad times I guess. Special thanks to my EL CT Miss Johnson for her guidance and support, and also the inspiring comments she wrote in my farewell card. I'll also miss the 120 students I have from Faith 1-1, Faith 2-1 and Faith 3-4, especially Faith 1-1 because I see them many many times a week. All the best for your mid-year exams!

Do I want to be posted back to GMSS? I don't really know..a small part of me wanted to say yes..but I don't think I'll ever be fully at home in that school.

Time and space coincides tonight...at NYJC LT 4

Today is a busy day.......after school, went to K-box to celebrate Jon's birthday....the photos that Wanying sent me are rather freaky.....cos they look exactly the same. Well, Wanying explained that the third one is actually put together from the first two ...I guess using photoshop or some photo editor......that explains a bit, but the first two are still almost identical! Except for Jon's cap....haha.

Later on..we ran into Benny..which is only the "first" freaky encounter I am going to have today.
We split up at Orchard...and we make our way to NYJC separately for the Synergy Concert. Before the concert started, I was surprised to see YJ there. Haven't seen him since like the TJCO chalet before I re-enlisted to army. And surprise...he's with Jasmine, who is my GESL group mate in NIE. Instead of calling him, I SMSed him "So free? Watching concert?", wanting to see the reaction on his face, but sadly he doesn't even have my number anymore as I found out later, so he had no idea who sent him the message.

Then during interval, I saw YJ walking down the aisle and talking to this other guy.....and I was shocked to realize it's ZH. What? All 3 of us? Here in NYJC LT 4? Watching Synergy? How much of a coincidence is that? I mean..we weren't even remotely connected to NYJC ourselves, and yet we are all watching the concert, oblivious that the other 2 are there. I SMS YJ again, "Gosh, even ZH is here!", which kind of make it obvious that it was me who sent the message. What a pleasant surprise.......a small gathering. And as Julian will say, indeed time and space has collided at a time and place where we least expected it.

JLPT CERT DISASTER

I forgot to collect my JLPT 1 cert! What with all the lesson planning and assignment marking....it sort of just slipped from my mind. And the diabolical JCS refused to entertain me! They were like....serve you right for forgetting.........well I guess I can't really blame them.

Argh....oh well...I'll just have to take JLPT again. I have this strange premonition that I will never be able to pass it ..cos I have jinxed it by not collecting the cert...OH MY ...

I'm back! Blogging again...although I'm a tad self-conscious now that some of my students know my blog...... but then..I have nothing to hide!! (=p)

It all began one fine day...when I was using my own laptop during a classroom lesson, and my email address was in full display to my students (grrr...the MSN "remember me" function). I thought nobody took notice..but then..a sharp eyed girl sitting right in the front row managed to take my email address down... And now I have 14 Faith 1-1 students on my MSN contact list....

Hee..to be honest they are nice people and haven't been bothering me too much, but they will rue the day they add me on their MSN..because now I have another medium with which to assign them homework..MUAHAHA

Hi Changsheng,

Acknowledgment of Resignation

1. On behalf of the 32nd Executive Committee, I hereby acknowledge your resignation from the NUS Chinese Orchestra as of 23 March 2006.
2. Your email address will be removed from the NUSCO Yahoo Groups as of the above-mentioned date.
3. If you so choose, you may donate your concert uniform to the orchestra.
4.On behalf of the committee, I thank you for your selfless support and contributions over the past few years for the orchestra. May you have all success in your future endeavours.

It's such a relief. Although I have no need to wait for them to "approve" my resignation, it's still nice to see it officialized. =) Finally I'm out of that hellhole.

Wow..I have never been so busy ..not even when writing my Honours Thesis! Had back-to-back assignments for the past week...and with my grandfather's funeral I barely had time to finish them, had to ask for extension for some of them. Hmm..now that the NIE term has ended, I'll just be waiting for Practicum to start (20 Feb).

In fact I just came back from GMSS, went down to meet the CTs and get my timetable. Teaching all express classes(or rather, Faith classes..GMSS name their Express, N(A) and N(T) classes as Faith, Hope and Joy respectively)...Sec 1 EL. Sec 2 Maths, Sec 3 EL. Had quite a good impression of the place, although the school was rather cramped since they are using a temporary building while waiting for their former building to be renovated. The poor teachers have to make do with very small cubicles in their staff room..and there was just no more space for us (8 trainee teachers at one go!) ..so we are all just going to squeeze in the pantry. Heehee quite okay lah..the fridge, the coffee machine, the microwave oven..all just next to me. =)

Hmm..I think I will like the place. All the best for my practicum!!

Chinese New Year has come...and gone. Well for a while we weren't sure if we were going to be celebrating because my grandpa is in a critical condition in the hospital. Doctors told us to be prepared for the worst. Well new year has passed and he's still in the hospital but his condition has worsened.

There's only one more week of school before I get a one week break. Hurrah..it has been a rather busy term. Then it will be 10 weeks of practicum. Posting will be out this Saturday..but I'm no longer eager to know where I am going..it's like..just tell me when you are ready to tell me, I'm sick of all the anticipation. Congrats to Calbin though, who already knew his posting and it is where he wanted to go. ;)

Snow, public baths, calpis and nigiri(part 2)

I was interrupted in my last entry because the NIE computer was threatening to shut down on me. I had to abruptly end my post, as a result I didn't even mention anything about public baths, calpis and nigiri which were prominently displayed on my title, resulting in some of my friends losing a few more strands of hair because of the head-scratching.. tsk tsk...

Basically public baths, calpis and nigiri are what I missed most about everyday life in Japan, and I am suffering from withdrawal symptoms. I suppose what public baths are is pretty self-explanatory. Calpis is, ahem, * JIAHUI SCREAMS * this refreshing drink commonly found in convenience stores all over Japan. It is kind of like Yakult but much more watery. Unfortuantely the word Calpis is frqeuently accompanied with suppressed giggles because it is the euphemism used by Japanese schoolboys for some kind of body fluid...The drink is milky white in colour..enough said.

Nigiri is Japanese rice balls. (饭团）There is usually some kind of stuffing inside, ranging from mayonnaise chicken, plum, tuna to other more exotic Japanese ingredients which I cannot identify, and wrapped in delicious crispy seaweed. It is convenient to eat and readily available in any convenience stores. The package is very unique: the seaweed is separated from the rice to maintain its crispness and freshness, and there is a special way of opening the package so that the whole nigiri does not come apart. The first time I bought one I just ripped open the package callously without reading the instructions (hmmm...reminds me of the time I ripped open the McDonald's Grilled Chicken Foldover.. * Calbin nods in agreement * ) ..as a result the seaweed was torn apart and I was eating the rice separately from the seaweed. Ingenuous innovation I must say.

Sadly nigiri and Calpis are not commonly available in Singapore. I was so desperate for Calpis that last week I went all the way to the Japanese supermarket in Liang court to hunt for it. They cost a horrifying $4 per bottle (about same size as a small bottle of mineral water), whereas it only costs 120 yen or so(around $1.80) in Japan(who says prices are high in Japan?? =p) There is a cheaper $2 version...but the taste is so vile it left an unremovable aftertaste in my mouth for hours. The $2 version is called Calpiso..must be a cheong brand! So sad. I am deprived of a basic necessity!

Okay, my time is up again. Hmm nowadays I am always blogging in NIE Computer Lab when I have one of those terrible 4-hour break in between lessons..... =(

Snow, public baths, calpis and nigiri

New entry for my blog! I realized that more people read my blog than I expected, so it's good to know that I touch lives in ways more than one..hee hee. I have been chastised for not updating my blog, not telling people about my Japan trip, and worst of all not putting up pictures taken during the trip. Well, in my defense, there was countless Christmas/New Year parties/chalets/barbecues once I came back to Singapore, and then the NIE term started. Since this semester is so short, everything was very intense unlike last semester which was more laid-back for me. In fact I am already half-way through the semester! (Since there are only 6 weeks this sems)

The Japan trip was good, of course, thanks to global warming which resulted in the erratic climate that Japan had to face in Dec 2005. The Kansai and Tokyo area almost never get any snow in December, but snowstorms struck Japan on 18 Dec 2005, breaking the record held for the highest amount of snow accumulated in a single day in 25 of the cities. The result: Kiyomizudera covered in snow. In fact there was enough snow that even people like me who are seeing snow for the first time finds it a little annoying after some time.

Some things I had not known about Japan:
1. When visiting a temple/shrine/places which require you to remove your footwear, Japanese leave their pricey trendy boots on the shoeshelves for people to steal, but their much cheaper umbrellas are safely locked and secured in the umbrella stands provided.

2. The sheer amount of verbal announcements on public transport. I believe up to 70% of the Japanese I heard on my 11 day trip is made up of announcements made on the train/bus. Kyoto buses growl "TO-BI-RA-GA-SHI-MA-RI-MA-SU"(The door is closing) annoyingly frequent. Shinkansen trains give a nice melodic chime before a sweet female voice purrs and reminds you to watch your steps as you board or alight. (Ashimoto o gochu-i kudasai!) The announcements are so lengthy that they need to begin shortly after the train leaves each station. My train barely pulled out of Osaka when suddenly the announcements are reminding me "Mamonaku Kyoto desu" (Soon we will reach Kyoto). But the soon turns out to be at least ten minutes of endless announcements. They tell you which doors are going to open(left or right), they tell you where you should get off if you are transferring to other train lines, they even tell you what time the next train on the other line is departing.

3. When paying with credit cards, the salesperson will ask you how many times you want to pay(literally). I was a bit taken back the first time I used my credit card and did not understand the question despite my, ahem, above average Japanese proficiency. You mean I have to pay more than once? It took me a few days to realize that most retail shops allow credit card users to pay by instalments and the salesperson was asking me how many instalments do i want to pay. * sheez *

4. Of course I had heard that the Japanese people are very orderly, but I didn't realize the extent to which the statement is true. I was in Tokyo on Christmas eve for the Christmas lights illumination. I have always hated crowds and never have I been in such a huge crowd for the past quarter of a century. (Tokyo has 7.8 million people. Compare that with Singapore's 4 million) I can barely step out of Tokyo Station although the actual illumination is still some distance from the station. An endless throng stretch in every direction and the end of the line is nowhere to be seen. Yet surprisingly the line moves pretty fast, almost at a walking pace (despite a slow one). When I reached the illuminated site, I was amused to see that nobody stops to take a picture. The Japanese take pictures with their high-tech mobile phones while they are simultaneously walking forward, not wishing to cause jama (disturbance) to the rest of the Christmas crowd. The few people who stopped in their stride to take pictures (causing the immaculate system set in place by the local police to break down) are, sure enough, tourists (Singaporeans?).

Okay, my time is up and the NIE Computer Lab is not allowing me to extend my time.....so I guess more of my trip in the subsequent entries!