Volunteer work

Wow, SGD100 for an hour of tuition? And I thought the Malaysian rate of an average of RM60 an hour was ridiculously high! So, parents who earn a modest income cannot afford to have too many children who are slow learners!

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I've decided to take the plunge. I've always wanted to do it but I have a phobia to commitments, I didn't know where to start and was busy with my currently-postponed Masters programme.

I started with guiding my nephew who was in Year 3 last year. I went to his house every weekend to guide him in his BM and occasionally, English. His parents were very appreciative until I was too busy towards the end of the year that I could not guide him every week and he got a very bad result in BM. Then, the kind gesture that I thought I was extending backfired because my brother blamed my inconsistency for the bad result. Ouch!

I still feel that I am only partly to be blamed because I kept emphasizing that I was only guiding and not giving him tuition. Nevertheless, when my sister-in-law subtly hinted that I should continue with the guidance in Tatabahasa this year, while enrolling her son in a Penulisan tuition, I pretended that I did not know what she meant. You know, you can never teach your own child or relative's child. The familiarity will make it difficult for the child to listen to you and for you to scold the child.

So anyway, I have been feeling the pressure lately because the Express class that I am teaching this year is most probably going to get very bad results for English. Actually, I think it must be my problem. I don't know how to make them write well. I've been slogging like a cow, marking piles and piles of the written work every week without results (while the other teachers just looked on and sniggered that I brought it upon myself that my table is always full of books). By this time last year, the Express class was already showing improvement in their writing. This class, on the other hand, is still struggling to give me 6 correct sentences out of 10. I'm at my wit's end, trying to figure out how to at least push the Bs to Cs and a few of the Bs to As.

I can't do much to help the kids because many stay very far away and can't stay back. So, I managed to catch hold of two kids and give them GUIDANCE after school hours. I have to do it discreetly because I don't want other teachers to know that I am not accepting money for the time I put in. I teach them in school and during school tuition, so how am I suppose to accept more money for guiding them? It's my fault that they can't understand my teaching, don't you agree?

Cross my fingers that these two will score an A in their UPSR and enjoy English after some extra guidance. Haha...can never bring myself to call what I do with the kids "tuition". :)

Tuition or to shun?

How much would you pay for your children's tuition? Do you send your children for all the subjects? Do you send them for the tuition because they need help in the subject or because everybody else is sending their children for tuition?

These are the questions that have been going through my mind since last Friday. Some parents took the opportunity at the meeting to ask if I give private tuition. Truth is, I don't believe in the way tuitions are conducted in most of the tuition centres/ by teachers. The aim-for-A concept that is followed is easy money for many teachers, especially when it comes to English.

My parents told me once that I should be giving tuition rather than spending my time doing nothing and that I should pick only the better pupils. Once the children get really good results, more children will come to me for tuition. Well, let's just say that the reason I wanted to be a teacher was not because of the easy money. Nope, nor is it because I want to shape the future generation. Haha...I am not that noble. It is mainly because of the holidays and the free time that a teacher has compared to other occupations. And, ok, partly because I want to help (not shape) some kids like how my teachers inspired me to enjoy English and school.

I digress. So like I was saying, some parents asked if I gave private tuition and told me sad stories like how they cannot help their own children in their schoolwork and haven't been able to find teachers to help the children. One particular boy's mother told me almost in tears that she doesn't know BM and English and can't help much in other subjects. She has been sending her child to tuition centres diligently since Primary One and the end result is that her son's class teacher bluntly told her that unless she sends him to a one-to-one tuition, all the money is wasted. Yup, this boy cannot understand BM nor English and can hardly write in Mandarin. Well, I do want to help but I cannot be volunteering because it would, as they say in Hokkien, "pak pai hang jeng" which means that I am spoiling the market.

So for this reason I have been asking around the fees charged by some teachers for a one-to-one tuition for English and BM. And the price that some of my colleagues discreetly revealed was astronomical. Haha...Gosh...really? Parents fork out so much money for their children yet most of these children do not know how hard it is to earn that amount of money and rather spend the time at the tuition playing and not learning much. And many parents just send their children to tuition blindly without considering that their children really just can't absorb much after one whole day of non-stop tuition. And truly, if a child is able to just pay attention to the teachers in school, most wouldn't need to go for  tuition anyway.

Hmm...what is your take?

Meet the Parents

Today was Parents' Day at my school. That means parents have to come and meet the teachers to get their children's report card and find out their children's progress in school for the past 4 months. It is a much dreaded day for some children and parents, and I can assure you that teachers feel the same way.

The first year when I had to meet the parents, I listed down the names of the children who were problematic. All 40 of them were problematic students (attitude problem, don't do homework, disruptive in class, don't pay attention etc). At the end of the session, I was so depressed that I cried all the half hour it took me to drive home because some of the parents were almost as bad as the students and defended their children's bad behaviour.

The second year of meeting the parents, I had learnt my lesson. I requested to meet only a few problematic children's parents and some who are angels in the class. To the parents of the angels of the class, I sang my praises and boost the children's confidence and made the parents (and myself) very happy. For the few problematic children, well, I don't remember much of what went on but I was accused of keeping a child's failed karangan paper for reasons only the child and his mother could think of. Ooh, and a parent of a child who never did her homework told me that she is very strict with her child at home (to which she asked her daughter to sit down and the daughter just ignored her)! Talk about the child being afraid of her. She must be living in a world of her own!

This year's meet the parents session went on better than I expected. I still had the mixture of angels and demons but more of the demons this time. I learnt that parents normally come with the worst expectations and were normally ready to defend their children's behaviour. So, this year, I told the parents with a smile that their child behaves really well/ participates in discussions/ has a basic mastery of the English language BUT I am worried because...

And all was well for me. No parent accused me of anything. No parent defended their children's behaviour. A parent or two told me a bit about their family problem. Sigh...I wish I could protect their children from it but I couldn't. Poor kids who are starved for attention and are creating trouble in the class in order to get the attention that they need. SIGH...

I got a headache at the end of the session. Some children did not turn up. A child cried. A few children almost cried. A few parents told me that they have family problems. A few parents told me that they do not know how to coach their children that's why their children have problems with their homework. Most parents told me that they normally check on  their children's progress but was too busy these few weeks, hence the backlog in homework.  Anyway, whatever the reason for their children's bad behaviour, I got the permission from most of the parents to punish the child in any way I think fit so that their child could be better. Muahahahaha....nah, I'm not a monster. Caning is one of the last resorts for me. I'd make them stay back in school first. Hehe...How else can I help these little monsters, I wonder?

Back in Malaysia

There is a slight disadvantage of going to Krabi: there is only one flight to and from Krabi a day. So, we left Krabi on our third day there at noon. We didn't do much, just walked around the Ao Nang beach and shopping in 7-Eleven. Yup, Mr. Jimmy fell in love with the 7E there and was visiting it every day. Haha!

Everything was back to normal, with me in cloud nine as I recounted Jimmy's proposal again and again to disbelieving audience. :) We had a plan to get married at the end of the year but Jimmy had to first ask my father for my hand in marriage ala traditional culture. Once that was done, we had to give our birth time to a Feng Shui master who would calculate the best time to get married.

A message came in on 7th April from the Feng Shui master telling us that the best date to get married is on the 11th September. *Panic* That is less than half a year away!! That night, Jimmy quickly set out a working schedule. We've got lots to do before September: decide on a venue for the reception, get the pre-wedding photos taken, get someone to renovate the house and most importantly, LOSE WEIGHT!!

How are we to do all that in a span of 5 months? Luckily, the Home Fair was on at PWTC that weekend. So we went to have a look at the furniture to just get an idea of how much it would cost us to renovate and prepare our house just enough to be able to invite guests in on the wedding day. Well, you can say that we almost had a heart attack just looking at the price of even the basic necessities.

Outside the fair, there was a wedding fair for Malays. Just for fun, we went in and we were stuck listening to a very persuading group of salesgirls. In the end, we came out RM 200 poorer because they told us to give a deposit so that we can still enjoy all the perks thrown in during the fair. Hmm...I suppose our wits do become dimmer when we have so much to think about. Hahaha...normally, Jimmy wouldn't be so easy to persuade. Me? I'm the typical water fish who would believe anything that any sales person says. LOL

Sigh...it has been almost a month since we have known the prosperous date, and we have managed to tick off a few things to do in our list:

1. venue

2. pre-wedding package (nope, not the one that we signed up for in the fair) :)

Wish us luck! :)

Day 2 Krabi

It is best for one to know that it is always never enough to go travelling out of a country for only 3 days and 2 nights. There are a lot of extreme sports to do in Krabi and we could only choose to go one that is not easy to find in Malaysia, so snorkelling is out of the question.

First, we had breakfast that was delivered to the table outside our room. Lousy food but the thought that it was sent over was out of ordinary.

Lousy American Breakfast sent to our room

At 8:30 Malaysian time, we went on a half hour journey to reach Bor Thor for Sea Cave Kayaking. It was tiring but worth every minute of it. Jimmy was extremely tired after the trip because he was rowing like a mad man throughout while I relaxed in front and took photographs. LOL

Beautiful view as we were coming out of a cave





Jimmy was super tired



After that, we went to a rather dirty river for a dip. Didn't take any photos there because it was really just a dirty river (although the water flows from underground).

Then, we went for an elephant jungle trekking ride. It was the most AMAZING experience ever. And it will definitely be my first and last experience! The female elephant which took us around was really nice but imagine you are about 2 storey-high up with only one rope tied across the bench you are sitting on. Not too bad, heh? And then your elephant actually had to climb up steep slopes and GO DOWN! Gosh, I was chanting Namo Amitabha almost throughout the ride! And worse was that it was raining, so the muddy trail seemed even less safe! We were dangling about 60degrees facing the ground twice when the elephant came down some slopes! After that ride, Jimmy and I thanked the elephant for getting us safely back! Hahaha...well, that's what you get for choosing something that you won't get anywhere else in the world! :)

Rewarding the elephant that got us safely up and down the muddy trail

I think if we ever go to Krabi again, we will just try to be safe and go for the white-water rafting package. :)

Krabi Day One

Once we touched down in Krabi, fellow passengers started congratulating us. It was too bad that Jimmy was too nervous that he did not ask someone to take photographs or video of the situation. Nevertheless, it will always be ingrained in my memory. :)

On the way to the taxi, when the both of us had calmed down, Jimmy started to recount the things that he had memorized prior to the proposal (something along the lines of "we have been together for more than two years now and would you give me the honour of being my wife"). And then I complained that he had actually thrown the box at me. Hehehe...

Once we reached the hotel, the receptionists were whispering to each other. When we entered the room, it was decorated as shown in the previous post, in case the bouquet couldn't be sent on board. That was when Jimmy went down on one knee and proposed in Mandarin. Awww...



Another angle of the deco on the bed.



After a short rest, we went to hunt for food near the hotel that we stayed at. We had the most delicious Seafood Tom Yam that we had in our short trip to Thailand in a nearby Dutch restaurant (the area that we stayed in catered mostly to Caucasians).



The very good Tom Yam and so-so Green Curry



After that, we wanted to explore the Ao Nang beach which is about 15 minutes' walk. The place was previously partially destroyed by the 2001 tsunami. They have rebuilt it and the place looks really good now. Along the way, these two lazy fat bums decided to rent a scooter (eventhough neither of us have a license although Jimmy used to ride a motorcycle in his Uni days). The scooter rental was only 200 baht for 24 hours! Cheap!



At Ao Nang beach



Thank goodness for this scooter!



At night, as we were walking along the touristy area, a couple from the Air Asia flight recognised Jimmy. Haha...and the lady was like, isn't he the fella who proposed on the airplane? :)

The night was still young, so I went to have cheap manicure and pedicure done. At around 8, we decided to have seafood for dinner. We chose a restaurant which looked quite good. The food and service were disappointing. The only thing good was its ambience and the dessert.



Mango with glutinous rice and coconut milk.



Love is in Air Asia

"Ladies and gentlemen, there is a special announcement." The voice of the head steward on the flight to Krabi woke me and other passengers from our naps. We must be nearing our destination now. Hmm..Jimmy was not at his seat.

"Love is in the air," the steward, Mr. Afif, continued. "We have a special proposal here from Mr. Jimmy to his girlfriend, Ms. Jiawen."

Oh. My. God.



There was a round of applause as Jimmy walked towards me (from behind the head steward) with a bouquet of flowers and a ring in his hand. I couldn't believe it! Jimmy, who is the most un-romantic guy I've ever dated, was proposing to me in front of so many people?! People craned their necks to see who the lucky girl was as Jimmy quickly sat next to me giggling nervously.



The bouquet of flowers and ring Jimmy gave me on the plane



I couldn't believe it. My hands shook as I opened the box with the diamond ring inside. Jimmy took it and slipped it into my ring finger (he forgot to ask the all-important question). There was another round of applause as the head steward congratulated the "future Mr. and Mrs. Tan".



He slipped the ring into my finger before asking the Question.





So, that is making a long story short. LOL...

Jimmy's plan started a few weeks earlier with him asking Air Asia's help to bring up the bouquet of flowers that he got from Mid Valley (and was sent to LCCT in a taxi). At first, his request was rejected. Then, a Mr. Jonathan from the Customer Care picked up his case and agreed to help.

On the day when we were supposed to leave for Krabi, Jimmy got a phone call from his boss and numerous calls which he did not pick up. I did not think much of it as it was a Thursday. When we reached the airport, Jimmy's parents decided to park the car and wait with us. I did not think much of it also as I thought the parents wanted to have lunch with us. Jimmy went off to look for a clean toilet as he told me he had a stomachache. We waited for half an hour and I got angry because we had to check in soon.

After we had checked in, Jimmy claimed that his sub-contractor had come to LCCT to meet him as he had some urgent documents for him to sign. I believed him as his phone did not stop ringing the entire morning. So, that was how he had managed to pass the bouquet of flowers to Mr. Jonathan, who brought it into the plane, without alerting me. :)

Jimmy's original plan was for Mr. Afif to hide the bouquet of flowers in his cart and push it to us as we were nearing Krabi but he did not have a chance to tell him that before we boarded the plane. When Mr. Afif approached Jimmy and asked if he had ordered a meal, Jimmy answered "no", to which Mr. Afif tried another tactic and said that there must had been a mistake and insisted Jimmy to follow him to the front. As Jimmy realised what was going on, he became extremely nervous. Looking at the almost full plane, he forgot all his plans and all the things that he was supposed to say to me. So, when Mr. Afif asked Jimmy how he wanted him to help, Jimmy was totally blank. That was why Mr. Afif took it upon himself to announce the proposal and Jimmy forgot to ask me the question. :)

Well, it would have been a big YES anyway. But it was truly a memorable proposal. THANK YOU AIR ASIA, especially to Mr. Jonathan (from Customer Care) and Mr. Mohd. Afif (the head steward on the AK 804 flight to Krabi on 17th March 2011).

Special arrangements made by Jimmy at the hotel for Proposal Plan B.

 P/S: Jimmy went down on one knee and popped the question when we reached the hotel afterwards.  :)

Do you have any proposal stories to share? :)

Demoted

I am officially playing second fiddle to my 6 month old niece. My father declared it the other day when he asked if I wanted to join my mom and him for a holiday with their friends. I was happy for a while until he said that since The Precious couldn't join them because she was teething, he called me, the second Precious. -_____-"

At 2 months old. This was what she liked to do. =)

At about 4 months old, puts everything into her mouth. Even mommy's T-shirt.

Who you calling Botak Head?

Showing off her ability to turn at 5 months old.

Actually, I don't mind. She is the cutest thing! Hehe...

The day I almost lost Baby

Baby lost her right eye last week. It happened so fast that I didn't even realise it until the maid told me. She has been reluctant to move these 2 weeks. She is now totally blind due to cataracts to both her eyes. I've read that cataracts aren't removable on dogs. If anyone knows otherwise, please let me know.

When I called out to her on Sunday morning, she wagged her tail and came out of hiding, banging her head and body against walls. And when I looked at her, I started crying because she seemed to be on her last legs. She hadn't been eating well because she couldn't find her food or water, I think. The maid told me that Baby had been falling into the drains and did not want to come out.

While I was weeping while patting Baby, Jimmy noticed that there were a lot of flies around her. When he bent down, he saw gaping holes at her neck area and they were bleeding. My first thought was that some dog must have bitten her. I called the vet but he was in surgery and his assistant told me to call again the next day.

Monday morning came and I was preparing myself for the worst. Baby is 13 years old this year, which is equivalent to 91 dog years. I don't want her to suffer. When I reached home, the maid complained that Baby was very grumpy because she couldn't see and she would snap at the maid whenever the maid tried to get her out of drains or under the car. But the maid had already bathed Baby and got her ready to go to the vet's. By this time, Baby's wound was dripping blood and she smelled of rotten meat.

The journey to the vet's was easy as Baby sat quietly and with my hand protectively on her head. She didn't seem to mind not being able to see at that time. When I reached the vet's, he took a look at her and asked if I had time to take care of an old dog like her because many more ailments are bound to come. As much as I prepared myself for the worst, I burst into tears.

I told the doctor to look at Baby's wound first and treat that before saying anything else. It turned out that Baby had a maggot infection. It started with a small scratch wound that attracted flies to lay eggs in it. The vet tried  to pull a maggot out to show me, but Baby whined in pain so he stopped. I had two options: put Baby to sleep or put her under anaesthesia so that the vet could treat the maggot infection with the risk that she might suffer a heart attack or never wake from the anesthesia.

I called my mother and she suggested that I put her down. Why let her suffer, she asked? I was crying uncontrollably by then. I really don't want her to suffer. Jimmy shouted at me for wanting to give up on Baby so easily. I wasn't giving up on her. I cared for her too much that I can't see her suffer in old age. The vet left me alone to think about it for about an hour. A second call from Jimmy made me realise that I really couldn't give up on her so easily. She came with me to the vet happily because she trusted me. She was sitting on the surgery table comfortably because she was leaning against me and because she knew I was there. How could I put her to sleep just because I think she was suffering? She surely didn't look as though she was suffering! Uncomfortable, yes. Unable to adapt because she is newly blind, yes. But she was not suffering.

I took the chance that she might suffer from a heart attack. It's God's will if she died on the surgery table. The doctor put her under anaesthesia and she suffered from spasms for about a minute. I thought I had lost her then. But, everything was well. After a 45 minute surgery, the 20 over maggots that were about 1cm each was taken out and the wound cleared.

(Googled for image)

Baby was knocked out for about 6 hours in total. When I left that night, she couldn't move her body yet but she was blinking and wagging her tail when I touched her. Thank God for Jimmy for talking me out of making the worst decision ever!

I know in my heart that there might come a day in the near future that I might have to make the decision again. But I'm grateful for the days, weeks and months that Baby still has with us.

Love is in the air

Wow...time truly flies. Before we know it, February is coming to an end. Everything seemed to have happened in a whirlwind after the Chinese New Year.

This Valentine's Day brought a surprise to me. Well, a day after the Valentine's to be exact. Jimmy actually took the initiative to take me to a romantic candle light dinner! He booked the place for 730 p.m. and after a day of strolling in Mid Valley, we went to the restaurant. Too many people booked or the person whom Jimmy called was irresponsible; no table was reserved for us. Luckily, we were early, so there were still tables for us.

After placing our order, we sat in the romantic ambience. We overheard the people at the next table saying that the service is very slow, which is fine by most of the lovebirds there. So, we sat and waited and waited. And waited. And waited. Jimmy was in a good mood because he was looking for information on his phone. I was getting more and more impatient. A couple who came later than us had already got all their food...stupid me thought that they had ordered only the main course while we had order set meal, so maybe that was the reason. We got our entree after half an hour of waiting. What finally got me angry was that the table next to us who came at least an hour after us got their main course before us. I mentioned it to the waiter and the waiter said that the food was on the way. Wow, does it take an hour for the restaurant to cook the food? By this time, Jimmy had come out of his trance and was angry too. The romantic mood was ruined.

Finally, we got our main course after twenty minutes. Jimmy had wanted to leave and I was so angry that I actually didn't touch the food even though I was hungry. And if you had noticed, I didn't mention about getting our appetizer.

After wolfing down the pitifully small main course in silence, because both of us were irritated, I told the waiter to serve our appetizer and dessert together. Yay...that finally got their attention. They've made a blunder with our order and they haven't served us our appetizer! The captain apologised and said that the dessert can be served in a short time.

The restaurant gave us 2 complimentary cakes to make up for their inefficient service. Too bad, that will be the first and the last time I'll ever go there. Since they have apologised, I will not bad-mouth the restaurant in this blog. Haha...but if anyone recommends a romantic restaurant in the Jalan Dewan Bahasa area, be prepared! We reached at 7, ordered at 725, got our entree at  8 plus, got our main course at 845, got our appetizer at around 920, finished our dessert at 940 or so, got our complimentary cakes at 945 and left the place at almost 10. Haha....Or maybe it's just my luck. :)

Candle light dinner

Flowers that Jimmy got for me in Cameron Highlands because roses are CHEAP there. HOPELESS!

My laptop still works!

Phew...it has been two months plus since my last post. And today, I finally sat in front of the laptop and turned it on. A lot of work has got to be done by tonight (after I update myself with the going-ons at Facebook, other people's blogs and finish reading my e-mail).

The past two months have been rather relaxed. Spending time with my family has been great, and I appreciate the time with my parents even more now. My grandmother who is 92 suffered from a mild stroke two months ago. It is sad to see a proud woman like her being treated like a toddler because she can no longer move around. Sigh...live the day as though there is no tomorrow. I need to spend as much time with my family as possible. That's my resolution.

Taking our parents out on a trip to Cameron Highlands. Major sponsors: sister and bro-in-law. My role? Menyibuk-ing. :P

Dog license (I)

So, all was busy with the Land of Dogs.

On Sunday, Jimmy and I went back to Rawang to have a gathering with my family and my sister's family from Singapore. Before we returned to KL, we took a photo of the two dogs (but Charlie kay-pohed and was running around). Taking a photo of Baby was a breeze albeit Charlie was also in a few of the photos because he was excited, so we had to take a couple of shots of Baby minus Charlie.

1st attempt to take a photo of Baby...Charlie is in the picture.

2nd attempt of taking Baby's photo. She was following me everywhere so I had to make her lie down first before taking her photo. (And of course, ask Charlie to get into the house.)

Taking a photo of Hunter was not as easy. He is truly hyperactive. And in the process of taking his photo, Jimmy got scratched and I got scolded for being slow. Let's take a look at the few attempts:

I was too slow to press the button, so he moved out of the frame.

He was sitting before this, and by the time the image is captured...well, this is it.

I squatted down to take a photo of him. He tried to jump on me and Charlie looking on blur-ly.

Sent Charlie and Jimmy into the house. Asked Hunter to sit and took a photo of him FINALLY. And if you notice, his eyes have an unfocussed look. Sigh...my crazy dog.

So, it was with the photos ready and all photocopied documents ready that I took them both to be vaccinated. Phew...was it a chore! Baby was all right. But Hunter was definitely more than a handful. He was so hyper that he moved around like a crazy dog and scared everyone at the vet's. When it was his turn for his vaccination, it was as though we were trying to kill him! I was trying to put on a muzzle on him and he was so scared that he rolled, growled (so the vet's assistant was scared and left me to it), shat and peed at the same time. So, there I was being scratched by him, while trying to calm him down, in his pee and poop. The vet looked at the situation and zoomed in from behind and gave him his shot (I wonder now why the vet didn't come in earlier...hmm...)

Hunter just doesn't trust me. It's probably because I don't spend enough time with him. With the mother, I could just hold her and she'd calm down. This fella was hysterical! I got scratched on my left arm mostly and one long scratch from my neck to my chest area. My silver necklace broke when he scratched me at my neck.

With the vet's card in hand, I quickly went home to change into a long-sleeved shirt to cover the scratches and rushed to the City Council branch in Rawang at 3:45 p.m. to get the license but..."kena ambik kat Selayang la, dik"... =_______="

So, after dinner, while every one was joking that I might have rabies and start biting the kids, the angry welts on my arm became swollen and one wound in particular developed a slight dark circle around it. My mom rushed me to the clinic and I got a tetanus shot. Sigh...what a day...and the license has not been obtained...

(to be continued)

Dog-haters should leave dog-lovers alone

Isn't it unfair that you have to have license to have dogs? I mean, I'm sure it is for safety reasons that they have such a ruling. But to give the owner 7 days to get a license or action would be taken is a bit harsh, don't you think? And the worst part is that I had wanted to get a license for my dogs long ago but I don't know how and where to get it! I used to ask my friend from Terengganu to buy them for me as it was very easy for her to get until I found out that you have to get the license for your dog from your City Council or Majlis Perbandaran (MP). After being sent on a wild goose chase from one department to another, I gave up. After all, life was peaceful for me and my dogs for years.

Somehow, someone in the neighbourhood must have lodged a complaint and my father received the warning letter last Thursday. I wished I could go and settle it but I am having examinations this week. So, my poor dad who never liked my dogs had to go on a wild goose chase. First, someone told my father to go and get the license from the MP. RM 20 only for a license. Then, another person  told my father that he should actually get it from the local government animal clinic. When my father went to the clinic, someone from the clinic told my father that he has to get the dogs over to any vet to be vaccinated so that the vet can write a letter or something so that he can apply for a license in the MP. And I have to take a photo of the dog. Mug shot and side view.

My dad gave up because he cannot handle the two dogs alone. I normally had to bring the maid along or bring the dog on two separate trips to be vaccinated. Luckily the two dogs enjoy car rides, but to get them out is a problem because they know what awaits them at the vet: injection and de-worming pills.

Sigh..sometimes I feel that the government is just trying to make life difficult for us nons who have dogs. Why don't they start a ruling to make cat-owners, hamster-owners, iguana owners, snake owners to apply for a license as well? They can be health-hazards, a nuisance and dangerous as well, right? And the fact that you have to renew the license every year? Just trying to make money, I think! It used to be RM 5 a license, a year. Then it went up to RM 10. Now, God-knows how much they are charging. *edited...RM50 a year a dog* And even then, you have to apply, not just buy like last time.

And I curse the person who lodged the report. Baby has been with the family for 12 years!! And the dogs have been trained to stay in the house compound until recently when Baby is a bit senile that she loves to go out for a run round the neighbourhood. And even then, we make sure that she doesn't disturb anyone (she would avoid people and animals on her runs out since she is half blind and helpless). I hate the injustice of it all! Hope you step on dog poop every day even when there are no dogs around!

Does anyone know the proper procedure to get a dog license? Please help. *For those who live in Selayang, can download the form from their website. But only 1 dog for an area of 300m squared allowed. You also need to bring lots of document along*

Once upon a Paris...

I mentioned in my blog post long ago that I was posted to a very small town about an hour plus away. In that small school in the small town, I was perhaps something out of the ordinary. You see, I was different. My first day reporting to the school, I went with my father and his driver. Since the school did not need me in the first place, my father just took me there for formalities' sake and had wanted to take me to Putrajaya to sort the problem out. (By the way, my dad got himself a driver after his by-pass surgery a few years ago and not because we are very rich or anything like that).

So anyway, since the department made the blunder, the headmistress received a call from them to tell her to take me in (even though the quota was full). So, there I was for 4 months. The town was so small that there were only 4 blocks of shophouses in the 'town centre'. And most of the time, the shops are not open. ALL the shops are also closed by 6.30 p.m. So, my arrival and the special case of the department asking the HM to take me in must have been something rather exciting to the folks in that town.

I travelled daily for a week and a half when the price of petrol was at its peak. Transportation alone cost me more than RM 70 per day (coz my car guzzles petrol like crazy and the toll fare was more than RM 10 per trip). I travelled because I didn't have anyone to rent a place with. Rather than having me to travel almost 4 hours daily and spending so much on petrol, my father said that I should rent a whole house on my own since the place wasn't too expensive either (big news to people around there as well).

My kind colleagues were worried because I was going to be staying in a house with 4 rooms alone. I told them not to worry as I planned to bring Charlie along to accompany (and protect) me. Yup, Charlie, who is friendly to everyone. But, hey, my landlord wouldn't let me bring bigger dogs over. So, anyway, I suppose in the eyes of the town folks there, I was their local Paris Hilton. LOL...

                                                           

                    

                    Low Quality Imitation

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The pupils look forward to see what I would wear to school every day. They scrutinize the brands of bags that I use. They complimented me. They whispered to each other in front of me, talking about what they liked about my appearance that day. Their comments spurred me on to look better every day. And, at the beginning, I didn't even try to look better to please them. It was just that I was the only Chinese lady teacher who had more than 10 different outfits to school. No offence to the other teachers intended.

However I hated the "no-lifeness" in that small town and however I dislike their scrutiny of what I did and when I did what with whom, I basked in the adoration of those people. I enjoyed being praised. And I took the effort to look good so that they have more nice things to say about me. Hehe...that is a good cycle, I think.

Transferring to this current school, the people aren't as simple and nice. Whatever you do would attract criticism. You wear nice clothes, some would praise you while some would say that what you wear is not appropriate or wouldn't even notice that you are wearing nice/new clothes (which is better than being criticized). You wear make-up and the teachers strongly criticizes you at the back for not allowing your pores to breathe. When you are in this kind of place, it just gets you down and you end up not doing anything to make yourself look out of ordinary or look good. This, my dear friends, is a very bad cycle. We'll all end up looking like old aunties very soon.



By the way, I googled for this image. Somehow, I ended up with Indian 18+ photos for my search for "aunty"! What has become of this world?? Sheesh!

I think I'm not going to care about what those people say. I wanna look good! I wanna be local Paris Hilton again! I'll lug Charlie to school in my back pack tomorrow! LOL...

The not-perfect housewife

I think I'm a hoarder...a mild one, that is. Since I was home because of unexpected holiday on Thursday and Friday, I managed to catch the show on Bio.. Hoarders. As I was watching the case of a young lady who uses the entire floorspace as her office because she doesn't have enough space on her table, I see a striking similarity between myself and the woman. I have a lot of books that I don't read anymore: children's books that I keep buying because I know it is a good one but I don't have the target readers (yet). Magazines that I buy but never throw because there are handy make-up tips in there (that I never use). Magazines that I subscribe to because I thought was cheap but never even got it out of the mailing packet. Paperwork that I copy and kept because you can never know when you would be asked about it again. GOSH...no wonder so many people complain that I have too many things in my room.

So, motivated, I drove 45 minutes back to my rented room and moved all the things that I have not seen in ages into my car. 2 hours later, I've cleared only a small portion of my room, and found countless pens, paper clips, files that I've "collected" over the years because I couldn't find them when I needed them. Hmm...

When I left my room, I can see that my gigantic bookshelf still cannot fit into the area that I just cleared. Sigh...

45 minutes drive home again. And now it's my mom and the maid's turn to sigh. LOL...love you, mum! =P

So anyway, is anyone interested in Newsweek? They are all brand new and I don't read them. I've subscribed to them up to next year...sigh...good money gone to waste. Leave a comment. I'll mail them to you. :)

Now, to minimize the clutter area. I gotta remind myself to throw or donate! Throw or donate! Throw or donate!! Yeah...

A B C D E...U P S R

It's raining cats and dogs outside and I'm still waiting for my gigantic bookshelf to arrive. Sigh...Jimmy finally spoke up and said that my room is really just a little messy, so he decided to buy me a bookshelf so that I can get organized. Sigh...

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UPSR results were annouced last Thursday and how did my pupils do? Better than I expected for two classes and not so good for the other. But I am happy, overall. I didn't sleep well the previous night and my pupil told me that I looked more tensed up then they were. Well said, SY! LOL

The express class that I was teaching had 7 people who scored a B in their English. The other, supposedly slightly weaker express class had only 3 Bs. The first piece of news I got about the UPSR was that. The other English teacher loudly exclaimed that her 2nd class only had 3 Bs while the 1st class had 7 Bs. Well, granted, the school expected all to get A in their English paper. Sigh...

Anyway, my last English class in which I was doing remedial lessons with 10 of them (remedial as in doing kindy things because they are at that level) had 10 failures while I expected more. It is the worst in the whole of Year 6 but I am so happy. I was actually expecting more to fail. But the same teacher who boasted that she had only 3Bs was going on and on about how her worse class had 9 failures after she found out that my class did worse. If I hadn't told her about that class, she was just talking about the 3Bs compared to my 7Bs. Dang...should have just kept quiet when she asked me about the other class.

A pleasant surprise was my BM class, which I was struggling with, has the highest passing rate among the normal classes! 80 over per cent! Woo hoot!! 7 failures for Penulisan and 6 failures for Pemahaman. =)

Well done, kids. And to the teacher who kept harping about your better results. It is not YOUR results. The kids did well because of their hard work and their ability to take in your teaching. If you don't take the blame when students do badly in their exams, don't take the credit when they do well. Phew...that is cathartic. LOL what to do? I don't have the guts to tell it to her face. Hehe...

Have a good day y'all!

I love my old man

I was reading a blog post about a day out with papa and was suddenly inspired to write about MY days out with my beloved papa. :)

The way with typical Chinese family where both parents are Chinese-educated is that the children will never be really close buds with the parents. My family is one of these families. I grew up knowing that my parents love us very much but in their own ways. There never was any outward displays of affection. My father was strict but he never raised his hands on us (except for one time, which I still complain about until today).

So anyway, my siblings and myself were always closer to my mother when we were younger. Then, when my eldest brother and sister went to study overseas, my father must have suddenly realised that children grow up very fast and that he must spend some time with his younger two. So, my elder sister and myself got all my father's attention from the time when I was about 9.

Being the youngest, I got away with a lot of things with my father. And to be fair, my sister was my mom's favourite, and I became the apple of my father's eye. My dad and I used to quarrel a lot...and we actually enjoyed the tongue sparring. =)

Recently, (well not so recently actually), I went on a movie-date with my dad. A lot of people looked at us in a strange manner, possibly thinking that I was my dad's young wife. LOL We were at the airport once and my dad was buying me bottles of perfume when the cashier tactfully asked for our relationship and I had to call my dad "Papa" so many times because people were giving us looks.

And my friends all think that it is so nice to be going out with your dad because our dads' generation just don't do these kinds of thing!

Ooh...I also go shopping with my dad quite often...as in buying household stuff. Hehe...Sigh...and to the little sprouts' mama: don't worry, your children will understand that their papa loves them very much when they are a little bit older. :)

To all you Chinaman papas out there, go take your kids out la. It's really not that bad! ;)

Googled for image. Love the warmth. Can you feel it? :)

He loves me, he loves me not...

Ahhh...the smell of coffee wafting through the air is the best wake-up call for a non-working Monday! Hehe...yup, that's what you can expect, being a teacher/student, so don't be jealous. LOL

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Anyway, I don't get it with kids these days. They want to grow up fast and they grow up so fast that it scares you. The boyfriend-girlfriend thing in the Year 6 classes is rampant after UPSR. And I am actually surprised that the "smarter" students are especially keen and excited over them. They profess their love and relationship openly on Facebook and in the class. Gosh...I don't know whether to laugh or to shout at them. I mean what's the rush? I hope they are not doing anything else that is not for their age...

Thinking back, my first crush was my best friend in Year One. He's now married to his high-school sweetheart. LOL...yup, we used to play together all the time. Erm...actually, do you even consider that a crush?

I remember my first real crush was on a Indian-Muslim senior when I was in Form 3. Yup, emotionally-late boomer. But I thought it was all right. Of course, I didn't do anything about the crush because I knew nothing would come out of it, and if he had liked me too, I would not go on with a relationship because I knew that studies are more important.

After that, I had a crush on my ICQ friend. And that was when I was in Form Five. I almost started dating him until my mom put a stop to it and that was that. From a young age, I told my dad to match make for me. You know, I always thought that parents know best. And I actually asked my dad for permission to go out on dates and told him the funny things that boys do/talk about when they were courting his youngest daughter. Gosh...I miss those days.

My next huge crush is on my Indian classmate, especially when he was singing and playing the guitar. And I almost had a second date with him until he found out that I was on the verge of going steady with our schoolmate. Shucks... =P

And at the age of 22, I started dating seriously. Yup, I was 22 (not 12!!). My own choice, but after 2 and a half years, we broke up.

Meeting Jimmy at the age of 25, I think my days of crushes and flirting with other guys are over. My dad is happy. His parents are happy. LOL. But, I don't think I'm ready for marriage yet though. Maybe it's because he hasn't asked me properly yet *hint*! Hahaha...

The first time he actually planned for a surprise. 2nd bouquet of flowers after a year plus together (at that time). Hahaha...