Thankful!

UPSR result was released this morning.
Joyful with the marvelous result both my classes gained!
Thanks, boys and girls from 6H and 6M, thanks for your hard work and greatest effort, what you reap is what you sow, and your wonderful performance have also lifted my spirit to keep striving on the path of my teaching career!

Thanks and good luck to you for your days ahead!

Most Creative Curtain

How creative our children are!

Anti-Drug

Time flies, another batch of students will be leaving the school soon. And as usual, before they leave the school, we shall equip them with sexual and drug abuse knowledge before they set out for their teenage journey.
And this time, the members from a drug rehabilitation center were invited to give the students a talk on drug abuse. The students were taught to identify different kinds of drugs, how to avoid taking drugs, and they were also told about the consequences of taking drugs. A short pantomime was presented to convey the anti-drug message to the students:

Our most heartfelt thanks to Mr Lin Wan Liang, and his members for their effort to guide the students and to share their experience with them, thanks and may they always be blessed with happiness and good health.

Mr Lin Wan Liang from 良善之家 drug rehabilitation center

Boiling Eggs At Hot Springs

TRAP-the acronymn of Taman Rekreasi Air Panas Sg Klah, or Sg Klah Hot Spring Recreation Garden is located at Sungkai, Perak. The entrance fee of the park cost RM10 for adult and RM8 for children. There are several hot spring pools there for the visitors to have a most relaxing moment while dipping their feet in the warm water.

relieving the weariness after a long walk

There is also a pool where the temperature of the water in it reaches 100 degrees celcius and thus we had gotten ourselves some eggs to be boiled in the hot water and it was really interesting to boil the eggs in such a way outside of the kitchen.

boiling eggs in the hot spring

eggs boiled

the students were sharing the boiled eggs

Heaven and Hell

Almost every of my friends who had visited India would used to tell me that they felt like coming back to heaven when they were back to our country!

My old girl Xinyee had just come back from her 4 months' practice in India the day before. She visited me this afternoon together with her parents, and she brought her laptop along to share with me the pictures took in India while telling me lots of stories about her life over there.

The pictures below had made me feel very lucky and thankful to have been staying in our very prosperous and beautiful country:

dusty and unorganized town

shelters that could hardly found in our country nowadays

roadside could simply made home

a boy was defecating on the road

the earth is made his bed, and the sky is his blanket

I had just read about the ranking of the world top ten millionaires on the newspaper today, and 4 among the top-ten-millionaires are from India. I just do not understand how could the gap between the rich and the poor in this country be so great, and what had the very-rich been contributing to the poor of the country? How could the very-rich enjoy their heavenly life while most people in their country are living a hell-like life??????

Smell of the nature

We had spicy fish wrapped in banana leaves for lunch today.
I used to treat food as substances to nourish my life and to fill my stomach when hungry, but today, I had some special experience while enjoying the spicy fish wrapped in the banana leaves.
When the fish was served and when the banana leaves were unwrapped, mm.....the fragrance of the toasted fish with the most wonderful aroma of the banana leaves was such appetite stimulating! And it's the aroma of the banana leaves that made the food smelled such special!
I have never known that the smell of the banana leaves is such wonderful, it's the smell of the nature!

Son Of The Estate

My old boy, Harry had just graduated in the University of Malaya on 7 August, 2008. Promised to attend to his graduation ceremony on the day but unfortunately the convocation fell on a Thursday which was a school day, and thus I could only send him my best regards through his parents who traveled all the way from his hometown to attend his graduation ceremony.

Harry was one of my students during my first posting in SJKC Ladang Pengkalan Bukit, a mini size school in an oil palm estate. He came to my class with his brother as a 'squatter' a year earlier before he started his primary one lesson. And thus we had been together for a total of 6 years though I left them a year before they graduated.

We had been getting along very well throughout those years and I could still remembered how he won me a 3rd prize in the district level English Elocution Contest, and that's an unprecendented achievement of the school too!

I could still remember how I squeezed my brain to write him a simple article entitled ' To Live is To Love' for the contest, how he started the elocution with a verse from the song 'Nobody's Child', how he was scolded when he was unable to pronounce and sing the song well, how he tolerated me though he was sad to be scolded, and that's all because of love, he worked hard because he loved his teacher, and eventually, he didn't disappoint his teacher, and I am proud of his achievement till today!


We had lots of beautiful memories together in those days. And now he is graduated, a son from the Pengkalan Bukit Estate!
Congratulations, boy! SJKC Ladang Pengkalan Bukit is proud of you, the Pengkalan Bukit Estate is proud of you, and we the teachers from SJKC Ldg Pengkalan Bukit are proud of you too!

Good luck and all the best to you in every walk of your life!

Turtles Management Centre

The Padang Kemunting Hawksbill Turtles Management Center is located somewhere near Pangkalan Balak at the beach along the Straits of Malacca. There is a hatchery center where eggs of the Hawksbill turtles are collected and taken good care till they are hatched. There is an exhibition hall too and the center is open to public from Tuesday to Sunday from 10.00am-4.00pm.

turtle's eggs are buried and incubated here

date and number of eggs are labeled

It takes 50-60 days for the turtles' eggs to hatch.

In the evening, around 6pm, we were invited to release the baby turtles back to the sea. I was really touched by the scene when the little creatures squirmed their way heading towards the sea. It's such an amazing scene..........

Kuala Rompin

Kuala Rompin is the gateway to the fantastic Endau-Rompin State Park as well as the sea gateway to the Tioman Islands. Seafood lovers would better visit this place in the months of September and October, especially for lobsters.

Seafood restaurant at Kuala Rompin

Road that leads to the Endau-Rompin State Park

pool at the Endau-Rompin State Park

Ferns found in the state park

creeper plants creep gracefully up the tree

sandy beach at the Summerset Resort, Kuala Rompin

Enjoy the gentlest sea breeze that kept whispering at my ears so much.

clams that breed on the rock

Life is such wonderful in the nature world!

starfish found on the beach of the Summerset Resort

boats that bring the visitors for fireflies seeing at night

silent and peaceful morning at the Summerset Resort

A visit to the orchard

It's fruit season, I was invited to a durian farm this time. Went to the farm with my sister, younger brother and his family as well as a few colleagues this morning.

Compared to the dragon fruit farm we visited previously, the durian farm seemed much messier and dirty. There were lots of mosquitoes kept 'attacking' the kids till my colleague's boy became very much irritated and kept making noise...

scratching...

The so-called durian farm was more like a duku-langsat farm as there were more duku-langsat plants in the farm rather than durian plants. There were also a few rambutan plants and longkong plants. As the durian season is coming to the end, we could hardly find more durian hanging on the tree.

durians

The duku-langsat plants were all grown with lots of fruits, they were so sweet and juicy. Both children and adults enjoyed the freshest fruits really much.

duku-langsat

mangosteens

Before leading back home, we had also went to buy some mangosteens. The mangosteen vendor gave us some ripe bananas, they were so many of them till I was thinking of asking the monkeys to help us to finish them.

Root of all the mess...

Many of us here may have already read this or this!

All of a sudden, I feel really tired of the endless accusations, allegations, declarations, revelations etc...
Something has gone wrong with the politics of this country, and everything seems out of control now, and where is the root of all the mess which is getting messier and messier day after day?

It's the bad harvest from all the wicked and evil deeds accumulated some times ago?
And the present government is suffering from the growing and spreading of the cancerous problems caused by the evil seeds planted?!

Just too tired to talk about the politics here...

Politics

I was reminded that I haven't been updating my blog for quite some times...

I was rather busy recently, busy with school works, housechores and some other activities involved...
In fact, I had also spent lots of times going after the dramatic politics news everyday... Lots of unbelievable, bewildering, exciting, confusing and explosive events are exposed or revealed almost everyday...
I do not know when will all these excitement and confusion that caused by the politicians among the people of this country will come to an end!

And no matter how is the politics show going to end, I believe that we are all looking forward to a government that really cares the interest of the people and the development of the country!

Let's pray for the wisdom of our politicians and peace for our country!

Hatred

When one is overwhelmed with hatred, one will never be peace in the rest of one's life till the hatred is removed!
Hatred cannot be ceased by hatred, hatred can only be ceased by loving kindness, that's the eternal truth!

Two Different Governments

China’s Premier Mr. Wen Jia Bao soothed the children survivors of the Szechuan earthquake:

“Don’t cry, it’s a disaster, you are saved... the government will take care of you...”

Millions of people from all over the world had witnessed the concerned scene and were all moved to tears...

As the leader of the country, Mr. Wen Jia Bao’s presence at the scene had brought the victims of the disaster and the rescue teams his greatest support. He had also assured the victims that the government cares about them, and is always with them...

In another country, Myanmar, where the cyclone hit victims are still living in hell and thousands of children are at death’s door due to the selfishness of their cruelest government, lots of aids from many other countries are trying to reach the victims, while the government that suppose to take care of the people are trying its ways to block the helping hands from stretching to the victims of the country!

I just couldn’t imagine how a government could ignore thousands of its people’s lives like this! Compared to the cyclone victims, though thousands of the earthquake victims in Szechuan had lost their homes and their beloved ones, but, they still have the government that gives them hope and energy, and so many people from all over the world that care and support them.

Feeling really sad for the people in Myanmar! Many countries are still making great effort to try to get the aids to reach the victims who are still starving and suffering after the cyclone. With the effort made, hopefully the victims will be saved from starvation and diseases, and will be able to rebuild their home soon!

Let’s pray for the victims of the disasters of both the countries...

They care...

I have never thought that there are still students that care in our school...

After the teacher’s day assembly in the morning, when I was about to enter the staff room, I noticed a few boys were gathering around the table outside the staff room, and they were talking and looking at something on the table. Those boys used to be restless and playful in the school, but they looked serious at that moment.

Out of curiosity, I walked towards them to find out what on earth they were discussing about. And when I got near to the table, I was really surprised that they were looking at the pictures on the newspaper and discussing about the earthquake happened in Szechuan!

I have never known that there are still students that care in this school. What I know is the children today know nothing and care nothing other than their studies, homework, exam, tuitions and material needs. They are well protected by their parents, living such comfortably that they never bother to care about anything around them. They are not taught to observe, to think, to care, to help, to share, to love...

I was really touched by the scene they gathered round the newspaper on the table, and in order to guide them to be more caring, I immediately joined them in their discussion...

A Visit to The Fruit Farm

We brought our PBL society students as well as some of their most enthusiastic moms visited to the fruit farm this afternoon. The weather is extremely hot when we reached there. The farm owners were so warm-hearted and the students were so excited! The students had some new experience in the farm, they learned how to wrap the dragon fruit, how to cut off the ripe fruit and pick the passion fruit. They learned some knowledge about the fruit plants from the owner that guided them going round the farm and from the question sheets prepared for them.

The children enjoyed the visit so much, it might be quite an interesting experience to them other than homeworks and tuitions , and we feel so much contented with the visit planned!

And we would like to express our most heartfelt gratitude to all who have been contributing so much to make this wonderful visit a success, they are:

The Headmaster of SJKC Chung Hwa Presbyterian,
Mr Chua Hwa Kiang
for his support,

Mr and Mrs Chan,
the owner of the farm who sincerely welcome the students with their warmest heart,

The loving mothers of the children,
Mdm Yang Mei Jin and Yang Mei Fang,
who contributed the transports to the students,
Mdm Lim Yok Lang,
who contributed the lunch, drinks and transport to the children,

Our senior colleague,
Mdm Lim Siew Moi,
who brought us to the farm before the visit was planned,

and all the workers of the farm,
who had been so patient and friendly to the children!

Thank you and your loving kindness are very much appreciated!

Retired...

We have 2 senior colleagues retired in a week.

They are Mdm. Lim and Mr. Lau. Mdm. Lim has been teaching in our school for 28 years while Mr. Lau 23 years. They are both our school’s most precious, experienced and dedicated teachers! Their leaving is definitely a great loss to the school.

Mr. Lau has been contributing so much to our school’s sport activities throughout the years. He is one among the teachers that helped to make the “instant sport day” a success!

May the retirement opens the door to a whole new world of enjoyment, adventure, and happiness to both our dearest colleagues and may they be well and healthy forever!

Farming

getting ready to start...

The theme of the children's project this year is 'agriculture', and they are provided a small corner within the school compound to do farming, each of the groups has chosen its desired plant to be planted, such as okra, peanut, passion fruit and vegetables. The children seem enjoying the activities so much, they hardly have chance to get involved in such activities other than studying and going for tuition classes everyday. And all of them are looking forward to the visit to fruit farm next week; the visit is arranged by the teachers with contributions from some of the parents among them.

Too busy to write more now, shall tell you more about their project next time…

60

The government is expected to extend the retirement age of the civil servants to 60.

Our colleague cikgu Fatimah jeered that she may have to come to the school with a walking stick at the age of 60, and by then, she may even be bullied and beaten by the students with her walking stick.

At the age of 60, all the aged cikgu who have all become presbyopia will spend most of their time on the never-ending, stupid, useless paper works and redundant computerized work rather than teaching, as all the elderly are slow in producing those work while the amount of the paper works used to be very much more than teaching works and seemed more significant to the authorities.

Besides, I just can’t imagine if I were to leave the world immediately after I have completed my service at the age of 60, I can’t even enjoy my life at all if that will to happen, isn’t it sad enough?!

If the retirement age will to extend to 60, our staff room will become an old folks’ home!

Dragon Fruits Farm

dragon fruit

passion fruits

Together with 2 other colleagues, we visited to a dragon fruit farm yesterday.

It’s a very beautiful farm, the dragon fruit plants are neatly planted, the farm is so green and clean, the environment is so peaceful, the air is so fresh and the owners are so passionate! Oh ya, there are passion fruit plant too! Click at the slideshow for more pictures.

A Responsilbe Citizen

88-year-old mom had never failed her duty and responsibility as a citizen since she migrated here from China a long long time ago.
And here she is again, to exercise her democratic right and cast her vote for the sake of her third generation:

May Our Dream Come True...

Yes, the 'angpow' promised right before the 15th day of the Lunar New Year had been received

With the amount of money, hopefully the teachers won't get wet again while walking along the staircase and corridor to the class as water used to drip from the upper floor in rainy day. And the students would not have to be shone by the morning sun in the class where many window panes have broken and lost, and they would not have to shift their seats and squeeze together to avoid hitting by the rain too, the aged school building really need repairing and renovating very much to ensure a safer and more comfortable place for the students to study in!


Thanks to the 12th GE!
As the largest Chinese school of the town which has around 1,400 students, our one and only science lab is modified from a container which is definitely not a safe space for certain experiments to be carried out in it. Besides, our school assembly as well as other ceremonies or activities are always terminated, canceled or postponed when it rains as all the activities are held outdoor without a school hall, and we are looking forward to the next GE, by then, maybe, our dream of having a school hall and a safer science lab might come true too.......... ^_^

Miss Not the Golden Opportunity

I received a call from our PTA chairman last night excitedly sharing a good news with me, the secretary.

He and our school HM had successfully squeezed into the crowd around the MCA President Mr Ong Ka Ting who made a visit here last night. Their aim of squeezing into the crowd to approach the President was none other but to grab the golden opportunity asking for contribution to renovate our aged school building. And the President had verbally agreed and announced to grant us a sum of money.

I am very much rejoiced by the good news indeed, the amount of money granted will help to improve the studying environment of the students and enable them to study in a safer and more comfortable building.

On behalf of the parents and students of the school, I would like to thank our PTA chairman and HM for their effort to get hold of the 'Golden Opportunity', and hopefully the check will be arrived soon before the 12^th GE, else, another 3-4 years would have to be waited again till the next 'Golden Opportunity'! ^_^

Old Students

Here they are again, my old boys and girls from the Pengkalan Bukit Estate!

This time, they are my earliest guests on the first day of the Lunar New Year. Really glad to have them back again, they have never failed to be back here since the past few years, and they promised to have somebody here every year! They have really touched my heart with their most sincere promise!! Even if they couldn’t make it, I shall always know that they really love and care their cikgu who had been spending 6 years with them in the estate, and a number of them really grew with me throughout the 6 years, like Harry and Meizhen, I was just like their nanny in those days!

Promised Harry to attend his graduation convocation in August, he had completed his degree in the University of Malaya, congratulations, boy, Pengkalan Bukit Estate is proud of you and all of us will cheer for you!

They are boys and girls of another group of my old students that I thought they wouldn't be here this year, but they did! Like the Pengkalan Bukit group, they had been back here on Lunar New Year for the past few years too. They were in Year 2 when I first came to the present school after leaving Pengkalan Bukit Estate. And most of them are studying in colleges and universities now, some of them who are granted JPA scholarship will be leaving the country soon, their presence had very much rejoiced me as the previous group did.

Girls and boys, either from Pengkalan Bukit Estate or CHP, thanks for your visit every year, and wish you all the best of luck wherever you are, and lots of love from your cikgu too!

So......cheap!

Mom had stomach ache since morning; we brought her to a doctor when I came back from school in the afternoon.

When we paid at the counter, we were given 2 packs of pills and the doctor charged us RM12 for the consultant and medical fees. Both my sister and I were really astonished by the fees charged, especially my sister who stays in PJ where everything is so costly there, it was so..........cheap! I feel really touched by the kindness of the doctor; it is such rare for a doctor to charge his patients so little for medical fees in today's world especially when price hikes are seen in everything recently!
I find no word to show my gratitude to the most compassionate doctor but to wish him many good returns for his kindness!

Beautiful Childhood

Nigel and his brother Norman had had lots of fun that they could hardly experience in Singapore during their stay here in Chinese New Year. They had bamboo-gun war, cycling, lion-dancing, visit to our neighbor's veggie farm and many other more activities that really rejoiced them a lot! May all these wonderful experiences be part of their most beautiful childhood memories in future!