Click here for the text.

And look at my “highly personalised desk”, was I EXTREMELY HAPPY or what?

I must change my cubicle tag to –> The TOP 3 HAPPIEST WORKER HERE.

This morning 9 am.

I know it is messy. The first thing my students said when they came to my cubicle was:“Wah…cher…” *followed by a long silence.*

“Yes I know. It shows how much work I have…”

In fact, I think my desk is the top 3 “messiest” desk in my department. (not the first I’m sure)

Books from library. I think I need a trolley to wheel my books for return. Since the day I dashed out from the market place library, I decided to bring the books back to my cubicle to read instead. -_-

This morning, despite of usual morning routine of replying countless emails, I blocked out meetings and appointments just to clean up my desk.

3 hours later…Note: the top left corner. All my folders are gone!!!

Mm…probably not much difference but mind you, I have spent the whole morning shredding and recycling tonnes of documents and students’ past assignments. It just reminded me how many trees we have killed for all these paper work.

I felt very bad for the cleaner because she had to handle tonnes of waste. I waited for her to bring the waste out and we had a good chat!

Should probably start promoting green working environment by looking at the current SOPs. Instead of cultivating “paper, memo and report printing” culture, perhaps we should look at having all these done online.

One, save paper and ink for printing;

Three, easier to discard “confidential” documents. Imagine how many stacks of “confidential” papers I have shredded this morning.

On a lighter note, I found this in my 2006 box.

I used to have spongebob pictures pasted on most of my folders and boxes in my cubicle because I disliked boring-looking office stationery.

I had forgotten how “humorous” I was when I first joined. Now I am just all serious, “aged” and conformed to the work environment. Sigh….Where has the “spongebob” who used to live in my heart gone??

For 3 years…I had been seeing them through. They are my very special cohort, whom I have shared my ups and downs and travelled to many places with. They were the “shy and quiet” monkeys when I first met them during the first day. Now they are LOUD, BOLD and CONFIDENT. So confident that they called themselves monkeys. Will so miss their lame jokes..-_-

My “monkeys”..

My girls..

I was the usher standing beside the podium throughout the ceremony but I also had the chance to “send them off” one by one.

(picture taken by guiwen)

This year, the graduation ceremony was also very special to all of us, especially for Kevin and his mom. Kevin was my student for these 3 years and unlike other students, he had muscular dystrophy syndrome since 10 years old and was told that he can’t live past 17 years old.

I met Kevin during his O level result presentation. That time, I was only visited the secondary school for course counseling. There, I saw him receiving his O level certificate from the headmaster and I was impressed. Never did I expect to see him joining the school later on and chose to study my course.

Today, he received his diploma in front of thousand standing and clapping audience. I broke to tears on the stage (though I kept telling myself to stay cool since the rehearsal and even prepared tissue in my pocket). Millions of memories flashed before my eyes. That 2 minutes seemed like 3 years to me. I secretly wiped my tears on the stage and really hoped no one saw me in that awkward state.

After the ceremony, my boss came to me and said:“Wow lady, you got some tears going on there huh?” I spotted the tears!!

Gosh I was so embarrassed.

I went to congratulate both of them after the ceremony and gave the mom a hug. She thanked me and started to tear. I also cried again.

It was exactly how we met 3 years ago, his first semester at school. I wasn’t his lecturer during the first semester yet. I met his mom when I was queuing for food at the canteen. While both of us were waiting for our food, I turned and greeted her:“Hi auntie, how are you?”

In return, she greeted me with tears. I was dumbfounded. I didn’t mean to upset her by a simple “how-are-you”.

There and then, she told me her stories and I was speechless. She is one of the greatest mom I have met in my life!

Subsequently, I taught him several subjects. He loves 3D animation very much and I was very impressed with his will and passion to learn. From able to move both hands slowly down to 3 fingers, yet, he persevered. In fact, he completed his work way before his peers did.

During his final year of studies, he was not able to travel to school as frequent. Home visit and tuition became an alternative for us. Seeing how strong-willed he was to get up from the bed and struggled to sit and clicking up in front of the computer really broke my heart and encouraged. I always went home with many many thoughts.

After searching my entries in these 3 years, I realised that I did blog about him on several occasions. Time flies…

Angels in Disguise

My job

The “Make-a-wish” charity event

Several news articles also featured his stories. Click here to view.

Some people said teachers impacted lives. But I must say, all my students impacted my life in every way. Who I am today partly also because of them. My students changed me.

Nat, Jean and I went for breakfast at the school cafe. When I was digging some loose change for my drink, the cashier asked in mandarin..

“You’re the one who has kids right??”

For a good 5 seconds, I looked at her with my mouth opened. It was too random and…shocking.

“Huh??? Me? Kids??”

“YA!! They said you have kids..” Her eyes moved down to my belly.

“HUHHH!!!??? WHO? THEY?? Staff or students??”

She gave me a confused look and repeated.“They said you were the one with kids and still managed to keep a good figure.”

“Oh… NO NO!…NO!!” I didn’t know what to say, except saying NO.

“You’re not married??”

“Er…No…” *No, again*

“Oh oh..so sorry. I saw that you are slim and thought that you were the one they mentioned..”

This kind of “THEY SAID” thing really scares me. Really. Firstly, I am not a regular customer. Secondly, each time I just place my orders and says no more than “HOW MUCH” and “THANK YOU” in the cafe, and yet, could be the potential topic of gossip among the aunties IS VERY VERY SCARY!

When I walked past the counter again after I finished my breakfast, she called me again and said:“You exercise a lot right??”

“Er…Not really.”

“Really??? Because you’re slim!! Your stomach very flat!”

I wonder who that actual person is…tsk tsk tsk.

I have a student called SHINE with the surname of SUN and another called SUN. And really, they never stop bringing sunshine to my class.

Each time I call up either of their names, my brain will automatically hum:”You’re my sun-shine, my only sun-shine..you make me happy, when sky is grey…” It never fails to bring a sunshine smile to my face.

However, during my class yesterday, my brain suddenly decided to “sing out loud” as I was returning Shine his assignment. I was totally oblivious to it as I sang: “You’re my sunshine, my only sunshine..” until Shine asked with a shocking look:“Cher, what’s with the song??”

Caught red-handed -_-

What I need now is a beautiful English tea set, Earl Grey and honey.

Though I turn down the air con at my aisle sometimes, the cold air just keeps blowing from other air cons. Hence, our office is always freezing cold (the air con is turned on full blast at some sections) and people put on their jackets while working. Something that I can never comprehend.

Similar to my previous company in Australia. During winter, the heater was super-charged and my fellow colleagues started to loosen their ties and remove their jackets in the office. How irony!

Just got back from a 3D2N adventure trip to Perak. When I said adventure trip, it really meant – the heart-thumping, adrenaline-rushed and thrilling trip.

All the pictures below are taken by Nat. I was too lazy to take any.

Hot!! spring – note: most of the feet are above the water.

Nah..that wasn’t very adventurous I know. It was “the-only-relaxing” and “the ultimate reward” of the trip.

Since the trip was mainly “water” activities, we couldn’t bring our cameras along. Imagine, bringing a camera while rafting and fighting the rapid, crawling in and out of a 400 million years old cave. Mmmm…

But thankfully, one of my students, Alastair bought a few disposable and waterproof cameras. He has taken many shots on our rafting and caving action! He even hooked the camera onto his life jacket! Now, just have to wait patiently for his photos to be developed.

You know, it is not an easy task to take the students out on a field trip, especially the “adventurous” kind. Natasha and I felt pretty worried for the students. After all, we both were accountable for their safety.

Before departure (9:20pm)

But at the end of the day, it was worth it when we saw our students chatting and laughing hysterically about their experiences. It was indeed an unforgettable journey and memories for all of us.

Karaoke and dancers-on-the-go

It is great to see my students outside the classroom. I see them in different light now – more adorable, responsible, helpful and mature than being in the classroom. I see them helping and saving their peers at the very moment. I see them acting cool and calm though they were being washed down the river.

Just today, a few of my students conducted a photoshop workshop for 100 secondary school students. When I dropped by at the labs, the first thing they said to me was:“Cher, now I know how hard it is to teach!”

I asked:“So? How’s like to take my seat in front of the lab?”

They grinned. “Yeah, it is nice but it is also very tedious.”

Seeing them all dressed up, teaching and motivating the students, my heart grinned. One of them even tapped lightly on a student’s shoulder and said:”That’s very nice! Well done!”

These are the faces that I wouldn’t be able to see when they are in my class. I guess I would be all “teary” and touched when I see them again 10 years later.

Update: My student’s super brief and hilarious summary of the trip – here.

Benneth’s super detailed “report” is here.

More updates on the trip when I get the photos. To me, the best moment was when all of us standing at the back of the lorry while travelling through a bumpy terrain. *grin*

Why must the marital status be printed on the visa?? Sigh..

I will be flying off with 34 students and 2 colleagues to Tokyo for study trip. We will be visiting animation studios and schools in tokyo, as well as DISNEYLAND! But the best bit is, I can visit my FRIEND who is from one of the animation studios.

Well, I only managed visit a few attractions in Tokyo Disneyland previously. There were always long queues to rides and attractions. Even buying a hotdog took me 15 minutes to queue.:(

This picture was taken at Christmas day, Shirakaba ryokan. We went there for skiing. We had nothing better to do at night and so my japanese friends dressed me up like one of the pop stars and did her favourite pose. (In case you can’t find me, I am right in the middle with a weird hairstyle)

This trip is all about WORK, hence it is posted under WORK instead. It is going to be challenging handling 34 students in TOKYO. Hopefully they will behave, listen to instructions and remember them in heart. The last thing I want is to hunt for them in Tokyo. Sigh..

The weather has changed this year. It is still going to be as cold as 10°C in Tokyo this friday. I have learned my lesson from my Hong Kong trip last month. I underestimated the weather and was almost chilled to death.

These were what people wore..

And me Audrey Hepburn wanna-be…at 5°C. Well done..:(

Nonetheless, I look foward to a fruitful and enjoyable 9 days with my students and colleagues.

From tomorrow onwards, I will be travelling for work very frequently. Well, it would be exciting and I am looking forward to it…FOR NOW. Though I may not know how it is going to affect my life, it is worth a try.

I will be flying to Penang tomorrow at 8am and fly back the very same day at 9pm. I know it sounds crazy but I think I am going to travel like this for the next few months on the weekends.

I am helping a friend to recruit web designers. If you are keen to design cutting edge website, please email your portfolio at cherry_thj[at]yahoo[dot]com. And of course, good knowledge of CSS, W3C standards and flash preferred.

In class..I said to my student who needed a sound recording for his project..

Me: How? Do you want to go to my office? You can use the sound recording room.

Him: Ok..may be later..

2 hours later…from far..

Me: (at the top of my voice) I am going up now! How? You want to meet me upstairs??

Him: Giving me that “huh” look.

Me: Clenched my fist to mimic a holding-a-mic action and put near to my mouth, signalling that “YOU KNOW….SOUND RECORDING?!?!”

Him: (with eyes wide open) Cher…you sounded so wrong…*chuckled*

Me: What??!!?? What did I say??

Him: *chuckled* Nothing..It is what you do that…is so wrong..*grin*

Then, half class broke into laughters.

It took me almost 3 hours to figure out.