Psyching up

Christmas around the corner is usually much looked forward to BUT also signals the approach of holiday's ending. This year Jonathan didn't go on about putting up the Christmas tree. Maybe a sign of growing up. So the tree remains in the box this year. The trimmings of Christmas should remain just that I guess, ...trimmings... The church sanctuary got decorated however. It was an ad hoc thing decided during the Chinese Service prayer and planning meeting on Friday night. So the next morning a group of people turned up to put up the decorations using last few years' deco items. It is not very grand nor thematic, but it 's better than nothing. Still, the Christmas week will be good family time for our family, what with the three sisters' families getting together. There's also meeting up with friends returning to Alor Star to celebrate Christmas with their own families, welcoming the MYF carolers, Christmas worship together ... A BLESSED CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL.

Between and Betwixt

Between and betwixt school terms there are such things called VACATIONS. Vacations are times to do a list of things that we cannot normally do during school terms. GOING OUT AND ABOUT is usually on the list. That was what my family and I had been doing the last 2 weeks. We didn't venture out of the country, only out of the state. Stopping at Tapah SU Campsite to pick up Jonathan after the Tweens Camp, we proceeded to KL just to spend a couple of days with my sister's family. Their church was having a food and fun fair. My sister's cell group turned Nestle Ice-cream seller for the day. Christmas arrived in KL early.

Then we went up to Genting Highlands for another couple of days. We had two days

of very contrasting weather - rain on day one and bright sky on day two. Good thing GH has indoor and outdoor rides. Worked out just fine. The crowd was terrible. Doesn't look as though Malaysia will suffer from any economic setbacks if people are spending so freely. We came back to Alor Star, rested a day and shot off to Penang for a 3-day Mandarin- speaking Christian Teachers Camp. While hubby and son participated in the programmes, I managed to achieve the second item on my vacation list - LOLLING AND LAZING. Wonderful!! Aren't vacations wonderful???

Tyranny of the urgent

This is a phrase I picked up years ago. Told myself at that time to not fall into this trap. However this holiday that began two weeks ago has been day after day of being caught up in something that needed to be seen to immediately. Holiday seems more busy than working days. What incongruency! Today, I MADE time for what I wanted to do- personal timeout. It has been along day but what a sense of achievement one feels when all that 'urgent' matters get accomplished alongside patchwork sewing, tea with friends AND most important listing an item on ebay.com.my to test market response. If you are interested in giving a unique-one of a kind table runner-made by a very careful crafts-person (not yours truly) as a Christmas gift / birthday gift etc. do pop into ebay and search under "patchwork table runner" and acquire it. It is very well-made. See for yourself.

Time off

This morning I was a little 'trigger-happy' but only with the camera. One hand on the wheel and one finger went 'click...' Can only do this when driving an auto car. Manual car - definitely a no..no. See street lamps are still on( and some people are still sleeping!)

When I arrived at school I saw all the girls (mine is an all-girl school) trooping off to the hall. This is Monday morning. Not assembly day. Something must be on. Seems I've been very out of touch. Our school won the Sekolah Cemerlang(Excellent School) award this year, meaning that the school collected a cash award of RM500,000 - so I'm told. And this Wednesday afternoon there's going to be a 'kenduri' (feast) for the whole school. I won't be around that day. The students were being updated this morning. (This teacher required the updating too!) Seems the principal and a chosen team had gone off to KL to receive the award and would be returning Tuesday night by flight. All teachers had been informed to go receive them at the airport. I won't be there either. These are the things that make me glad that I've only slightly less than a year to go.

So having had my class canceled and the camera still unsheathed, I decided to take a morning walk to appreciate God's creation (to counteract man's ridiculousness). A 10-minute walk from the hall back to my room yielded a myriad of leaves that God created in different shapes and sizes. Took about 30 odd shots ( all different plants). I'm glad I had time off to "stand and stare...." this morning.

School and teaching

Finally, finished my marking duties for the year 2008. If there's one thing about joining the teaching profession that stresses me out, it is the having to read, correct and assess my students' written work. Other than this (and working with silly administrators) I've enjoyed the major portion of my teaching career. Looking back, I've had time to do what gave me personal pleasure and satisfaction. The remuneration may not be that great but it has improved in the last decade. I am able to live quite comfortably, especially in this small town of Alor Star. Interacting with students has been both pleasure and pain, satisfying and stupefying, riverting and revolting. Would I make the same career choice the second time around? I believe I would, without reservations but with some conditions attached.

Driving on Malaysian Roads

Haven't had time in the last week to do any blogging. MUET (also been termed 'monyet') does have its pros and cons. A change from the daily routine of school is usually welcomed after a couple of months at the grind. But having to drive to Kuala Nerang daily is not without its moments of frustrations. 2 or 3 minutes delay in departure means being caught in the jam from Hutan Kampung to the hospital. (Mind you traffic jams and Alor Star is not synonymous in my book!) Why are we usually the victims of some others' incompetence? I really sympathise, empathise, whatever '...thise' there are some more, with those who have to go through this daily. The planners should have gotten the roads ready before the hospital came into use. Considering the hospital project itself was delayed for four long years what excuse did the road-builders give, I wonder? Once past the hospital area it should be nice smooth scenic drive. It is actually. But then you have drivers who decide that they would like to go for an early morning stroll all the way from Langgar to Kuala Nerang. Then there are those lorries and other big whatyoumightcallthem who have every right to be on the road and hold up all the other vehicles behind because there's no way to overtake them. No problem - unless like me you have to reach Kuala Nerang by 7.15 a.m. to collect the test papers. Grrr..... Patience, patience, patience... Convent school training is very good at ingraining that teaching that "Nice, young (and not so young) ladies do not swear."

Another patchwork in the pipeline

Marking essays takes a toll on the sanity. Needed to get away from those mind-boggling pieces. So turned to other more relaxing mind-bogglers. Don't know how to put these blocks together as yet but at least working on them were much better than getting frustrated by the other blockhead pieces if you catch my drift.

More on exams

Mummbled ... at having to relief a double period Form 1 class again last Thursday. So many teachers away for PMR. Next week's my turn to be away. So i guess fair's fair. Anyway it was the beginning of the test schedule for these Form 1 girls and it was Art. Turned out to be fairly interesting as i walked around the class. Finally took out my camera and took some of these shots. (Blogging has made my handbag heavier). Green peas,red beans, rice, anise, cloves, cardamons, cinnamon sticks, dried chillies, coloured paper were among the medium used.

So

How do you say this word? My conversation this afternoon with a dad reminded me that our tone of voice is even more powerful than our words. This dad asked me whether it is okay to respond with 'so'. Nothing wrong, right? Wrong. Seems his son had been using this word a lot when talking to his younger sister lately and to the father's ears it sounded very disparaging. The Chinese would say 'boh hor bean' to the sister's views at all. It was all in the tone of voice that the boy was using. So we tried out 'so' in various tones and we agreed that it is not the word so much as the tone that counted. Must watch my tone.

Not flawless

This is the most recent labour of my hands and trusty sewing machine.

Why?

"Why 'sylvanite'?" you may ask. Running to the dictionary may give you an idea of this soon to be 'former' English language teacher's choice of a blog name. Of course I know that for some of you techies 'running to the dictionary' would not be done with the legs these days but with your little fingers! Whatever suits you best. The raison d'etre for the appearance of this blog in cyberspace is my son JCTC. After I bugged him to start (and continue updating) his blog, his sweet revenge is of course to bug his mama in return. The dialogue would usually go like this: Son : So, when are you starting your blog? Mama: Soon Son: So, when? Mama: Not now. I'm too busy This happens like everytime I ask him about his blog. Thus sylvanite is starting now. In the course of time hopefully this blogspot will live up to its name.