UPSR

At last, UPSR was over!
After nagging at the students and pushing them so much throughout these many months, I do feel really relieved at this moment!

I am rather satisfied with the performance of the students after checking the answers given by them on the question sheets collected, and I believe that most of them had really tried their very best this time.

Though their true scores are still yet to be known, I shall have no regret on whatever scores they might obtain, after all, we have already done our best! I would like to thank the students for their effort and to assure them that all their hardwork shall not be in vain!

Wish us good luck!

A Bad Cough

I had been having a rather bad cough throughout the one-week schoolbreak, and it didn't seem better but got worse when the school reopened.

I managed to talk in the class for a couple of days till Thursday, when the non-stop cough hindered me from going further while I could hardly utter a sentence in the class.

As the H1N1 fear had caused quite a fuss in the staffroom, I decided to leave the school earlier as requested when I had finished all my classes.

In the evening, I went to see a doctor, hoping to get some medicine to stop the cough that was such torturing, and I was given a day off the next day, that was the last day of the week before the UPSR starts. I did not worry about my students though I had to take a day off at this very last moment because I believed that they should have already well-prepared for the coming exam.

The medicine given by the doctor didn't seem work on me after all. I am still coughing, till the muscle of my stomach becomes stiffened.

I used to thinking that nobody knows the problem of my physical body better than I am. A doctor may be able to cure one's sickness after knowing the cause, but he may not always really know the cause of the problem, and thus, I begin to trace back my most recent diet and habitual activities, trying to find out the root cause of my bad cough and then fix it myself.

Do wish me good luck!

Gift On Merdeka Day

... ...and the BIGGEST gift from the government to the people here on the Merdeka Day is the announcement of

PETROL PRICE HIKE!

The announcement can't wait to be made not even a day after our "Happy Merdeka Day"!

So sad, everything seems very saddening and disappointing here!

Should I not be so pessimistic? But it's a fact!

Sigh.....

Too Late!

The late Yasmin Ahmad was awarded the best director for her film "Talentime" at the 22nd Malaysian Film Festival last night.

There was comment pointed out that recognition in our country always came a little bit late! This reminds me of the late Sudirman Arshad, a talented top artist of our country who was just posthumously conferred a Datukship by the Sultan of Pahang recently, and it was 17 years too late!

Geniuses are ignored, talents are neglected, and the wise are rejected... ... how far can a country marches towards the globalizing world if it doesn't treasure its resources??

Haze!!

Haze again!!!

And our kampung Muar, is one among the 4 areas which recorded an unhealthy air pollutant index with a reading of 135, how unlucky we are!!!

And the moon was so sad, it looked gloomy in the hazy sky! !

API reading:

0-50 good

51-100 moderate

101-200 unhealthy

201-300 very unhealthy

Birthday

I do not used to celebrate my birthday, but just be thankful to my mom for bringing me here to this wonderful world on the day!

My one and only birthday party was held by several of my buddies when I was studying in Form 6, and it's a story of a very long time ago, ha!

However, when I started my teaching career, and when my students are grown, some of them would some times remind me of my birthday by sending me some birthday greetings through sms or cards.

And this time, they had their greetings for me writing on the facebook, thus, almost the whole world knows that I am getting older!

I am really moved by the many greetings from my old girls and boys who are now scattering all over the country and outside of the country, thank you girls and boys, wishing you all the best in your studies and your life ahead! And I love you all so much!!!

My heartfelt thanks to my girl's most loving mom for holding me a birthday dinner on the day, she has been doing so many things for her children as she loves her children so much. There were also a cake and birthday cards brought by our most sentimental and thoughtful boy yan and my old girl liling as well as her brother and sister.

Thank you, girl, xiuyi, aik, yan, and your kindest mum and dad, your love touches my heart deeply and I love you all a lot too!

Lots of thanks to my colleagues Qishun, Shanshan and their children for joining us in the dinner and sharing their most precious time with me too! Thank you and love you all too!

Thanks to Rebecca, Benjamin and Xinyee for your birthday gifts and xuefen for the card sent, I love you all so much as well!!

Besides, many thanks to my good friend Huijing, Yiming and their charming darling girl, Yongling for the birthday card drawn by Yongling and the bouquet of roses sent, thank you so much and love you all a lot too!!!

Visit to monasteries in Ipoh

Visited to 2 monasteries in Ipoh last weekend, they are the Vihara Gotama Buddha, a monastery situated on a piece of 15-acre-land near a graveyard in Temoh, Ipoh; and the Sukhavana Monastery, a monastery at a cave in Ipoh.

Love the environment around Vihara Gotama Buddha really much, it is surrounded by greenery and the atmosphere there is such serene and the air is extremely fresh. The abbot of the monastery introduced many kinds of plants to us while showing us around the monastery, there were cherry plant, camphor plant Tongkat Ali plant and many others.

the 10-year-old bodhi tree

nest of the weaver bird hanging from the tree

Kinta Valley view from the compound of the monastery
"This is Malaysian ginseng, the Tongkat Ali plant,"
said Bhante
an insect that camouflaged as leaf found in the compound of the monastery

At Sukhavana Monastery, we were shown around the limestone cave where the monastery situated by a bhante. He also had a talk and a game with the children.
We had also practised dana giving in the morning. Giving dana is a way to practise the virtue of selfless giving.

foliage over the limestone hill

"Do not tell lies..." said Bhante Kumara to the kids.