Halloween Night

Went with Henglip and Kar Cheng to Zouk to celebrate Halloween. Kar Cheng was dressed up as a fat Incredibles hero (and unabashedly wore his old and mud-stained army boots to match) while Henglip simply passed himself off as a doctor with his white coat and stethoscope.

When we got there, we were mesmerised with the creativity of the people there. Of the impressive ones, we saw Power Rangers, the Black and White demons, Lin Zheng Ying (Jiang Shi Dao Zhang) and his troop of Chinese vampires, Miss Desker Road, carpark attendants, a group of aerobics-fanatics jogging and blowing on their whistles at the same time, and even a blatant cheat who passed himself off as a ghost by simply draping a large white cloth over him (and not forgetting to cut two holes in front for the eyes).

Four expressionless girls with blood dripping from all the wrong places

I had to join the normal queue because I was not wearing any costume, but I ended up entering the club way earlier than Henglip and Kar Cheng. I had to wait for them to enter for about 45 minutes, and Wee and her friends also arrived.

As we got drinks and moved around, we realised we were getting sicker and sicker because the crowd was increasing. Henglip enthusiastically went around taking pictures with people in outstanding costumes, and Kar Cheng and me joined in the fun.

Me and my two cousins, Kar Cheng and Henglip

In this picture, it was only me and that grey mouse

I didn't think the ape was happy with us fondling him all over

Lin Zheng Ying! (Did he steal that bell from a sai gong?)

I REALLY love these cute carpark attendants, with tudungs, white gloves and those electronic gadgets to boot!

I simply love this group of people - so smiley (I believe evil Spiderman was also smiling under that mask)! Check out the one in a white hood, white gloves and white specs, whatever caused him to smile like that!

Finally, Kar Cheng and I really had enough of the crowd and we decided to leave. We were hyperventilating and I was so grossed out with my arms and bare back glistening with other peoples' sweat. There was a point where we were so stuck in the crowd that we could hardly move and I was really overwhelmed by the tall figures around me. Kar Cheng started to mutter angrily to himself saying that Zouk did not do proper crowd control, which I somehow found embarassing although I agreed with him.

Met Slug after that, and was feeling peckish, so we had instant noodles for supper at the void deck.

It was a horrible night. It was a mistake to go to Zouk on Halloween. Should have stuck to MOS.

Last Day of School!

Finally, the last day of school! I have been looking forward to this day ever since I started work! No more late nights sloughing in front of the computer creating worksheets and Powerpoint! No more reading and marking of trashy essays! No more dealing with those naughty and puke-inducing kids!

Went to Orchard to have a mini celebration with Slug. Mood was at an all-time high the whole day.

Saying goodbye to books (temporarily)!

Trying to be lame outside the Franck Muller boutique

Lovely night. Now I am looking forward to Christmas!

1F's Cultural Fusion

My form class was buzzing with excitement today, because for that day, every Sec 1 class had to execute a project, called Cultural Fusion, that they had been working on tediously for the past term. Each class would have to create their own restaurant, and their restaurant must have their unique theme of combining two cultures together (e.g. Thai + Chinese = 'Tai-Chi'). With that, they also had to whip up fusion dishes according to that theme. The whole class was divided into groups, each in charge of various aspects like Food, Decor, Invitation, Logistics etc.

My class's theme was 'Itadian' (i.e. Italian + Indian) and I was invited to sample their cooking at 10.30am (each class was allowed to invite a maximum of 6 teachers). When I went to their classroom, those students had already spruced up the classroom, set the tables (with cute romantic candles!) and played soothing music. Upon seeing me, one of them dragged me to sign the guestbook before seating me down at a table opposite Ah Tan. We were then served our food.

Ah Tan and I, with the head chef and servers behind us

It was really refreshing to see those kids getting so into the act, with the servers trying to speak Italian and one of them actually dressed up as a chef, complete with a curly thin moustache drawn above his lips (However, that was just for show - he was not the one doing the cooking).

Ah Tan and I were first served this Spicy Crazy Mee Goreng with pineapple salad, which really tasted good. Dessert was this apricot bread pudding topped with sliced almonds, raisins and a cherry. I was delighted by its eggy taste and creamy texture until Ah Tan cautioned me against eating too much because she (being the kitchen supervisor that day) oversaw the student cooks in the Homec kitchen using one whole block of butter for the pudding. So that amounted to about a quarter block for that cup of pudding I was feasting on. I shivered and quickly pushed it aside (after snacking on the almonds). We were then served this iced apple blended, which was no longer 'iced', and had a mushy texture. They should have strained away the pulp, but heck, I gulped down the drink anyway.

Ah Tan and I had to give feedback in the form of ratings, which would help pull up their project marks. Ah Tan left to visit other classes after finishing her meal, while I stayed on to be tortured by my students. Some of them tried to make me finish my food, some tried to grill me for information on the promotion criteria for Sec 2, and some were bitching to me about who did the least amount of work, who created the most trouble, who was not contributing at all, who was unhygienic in food preparation etc etc etc.

Marshall trying to feed me broccoli using the 'aeroplane' trick

I thoroughly enjoyed myself, but till today, I still could not understand how their dishes were related to their theme (for once, Mee Goreng is not even an Indian dish).

Night Out at Merchant Court

Was invited for a night's stay at Merchant Court by Ah Sir, woo! Had an unhealthy dinner at our favourite LJS, went to watch 'Superbad' at Lido and then off to the cosy room at Merchant Court. I was expecting a stunning view of the nightscape of the CBD, but we got a disappointing view of a dilapidated building opposite ours. The room provides very comfortable yukatas.

We had a scrumptious buffet breakfast the next morning, where I could get to custom-make my omelettes and even make a mega triple-deck sandwich out of ham, scrambled eggs and some weird cheese. Lovely.

Went for a dip in the swimming pool which overlooks Clarke Quay, before deciding to stop deluding myself that I could get a tan even though it was cloudy. We then proceeded to do some shopping in town before calling it a day.

Ah Sir and her Korean perm

Visit to the Monkey God Tree

Went to Jurong West St 42 with Slug after dinner to check out the Monkey God appartition on the tree, which had been making headlines in the newspapers lately. Out of curiosity, really. I thought it would be a quiet affair, just a night walk along that street, but we were shocked to see a noisy crowd surrounding the trees.

As we jostled our way through the crowd, we came face-to-face with nothing more than a wrinkly hump on the tree bark. The so-called 'smiling Monkey God'. Bunches of joss sticks were stuck into the ground beneath it, and fresh chrysanthemums, flower garlands and bananas were strewn all over the ground.

Monkey God imprisoned in this tree?

They are practically making a shrine out of this!

The uncles were lighting more joss sticks and praying furiously. The aunties were crowded around another tree, trying to appreciate an imaginary Guan Yin portrait (on its flaking tree bark) like stuck-up connoisseurs. The Indians were fascinated with their Elephant God on another tree. The youngsters were snapping away on their camera phones, Singapore-style. Me no exception. The rest were just standing there, arms folded, and murmuring away.

As I was staring rudely at the Monkey God pop-up from the tree with the glow of the candles slowly roasting my chin, suddenly, a man pushed me aside and without any qualms, pushed a banana right into the 'Monkey God's' face. His pampering of the Monkey God was bordering on the senselessness. (I had a phobia of bananas and I quickly slid my way out of the crowd.)

Feeding time?

After a while, we grew bored and left. I know this tree had brought some 4D punters a small fortune, but are Singaporeans too superstitious or too money-obssessed to the extent of being silly?

National Inter-School Chess Competition

Was assigned to lead the school's chess team (comprising of 5 Sec 2 boys) to this National Inter-schools Chess Competition held at a primary school in Clementi. I was grumbling because it was the September holidays and I had to wake up early in the morning just for this!

19 schools (including JC) participated in this annual event

So I took those boys there, made some small chat with them along the way and sat them down at their respective table. Wow, they were playing against big names like RGS, Chinese High, ACS, Nanyang Girls, Catholic High etc. Seemed like we were the only neighbourhood school around, together with Bedok South Sec. And unfortunately for them, their first match was against RGS.

It was a swift defeat

Of course, they lost, and they were deeply demoralised. I couldn't blame them, because these boys did not receive any professional training in chess. There isn't even a Chess Club in the school! I did not have high hopes that they would win any awards. I just felt that this would be good exposure (and fun) for them.

Apparently the RGS girls proved to be too serious and shrewd to them. One of the boys complained that those girls could play mind games, like taunting them haughtily, "You cannot make this move, don't you KNOW the rules of the game?" Wow.

I was staring into space most of the time, waiting for each round to end. How interesting could chess be? I was staring in jealousy at a teacher who whiled her time away playing her PSP.

As the game progressed, the boys did win some of the other teams, much to my surprise, and that helped boost their confidence. Finally, it was 4pm and the last round of the competition. The boys were pitting against TKS, and if they won, they would be the champion for the East Zone. They were incredibly nervous, and I just told them not to take it too seriously and give themselves so much pressure.

Unfortunately, they lost and they were visibly disappointed. Nevertheless they came in 3rd in the East Zone (and got bronze medals for that), and came in 14th overall. That was considerably remarkable given that they were not trained in chess, and I do have to admit I am really proud of them.

After that, I sent the boys back to the MRT station, and I was glad I came to support these boys. It was a fruitful day.

Trip to Giant Supermarket

Went shopping with Slug at IMM Giant for groceries. Finally one rare occasion where we could get to cook dinner together! The newly-revamped IMM now boasts more shops and restaurants (even Ajisen and Fish & Co) than before, besides the existing furniture shops and bridal boutiques!

At the supermarket, we swept the biggest and freshest-looking prawns off the tray, grabbed two packs of tofu from the shelves and chose the least bloody pork ribs from amongst the bloody meats. Then came the instant noodles, bittergourd (yucks) and eggs. We side-tracked by buying a bunch of useless tidbits and some towels, pillows and bolsters that were on promotion.

Slug creeping aimlessly amongst the veggies

Our dinner for tonight (no, not all the eggs!)

Trying to be seductive (ha!)

I absolutely hate the queues at Giant. The cashiers are freaking slow (mainly the BLACK society people) and I could not understand why the idiots ahead of us had to pile up their trolleys with so many things (from burger fillets to toilet paper). It took us a good 15-minute wait in that constipated queue for our turn to pay up.

Left Slug to do the cooking while I watched TV, hoho! What a happy day.

Teacher's Day

Teacher's Day today! A special day when teachers are able to cast benevolent smiles at the students (for once) and a special day when students suddenly appear so sweet and adorable.

Early in the morning, the principal was giving out awards to teachers for various categories, like Most Humorous Teacher etc, and they were voted by students. Unexpectedly, I was voted as Most Inspiring Teacher, and my mind was in a blank as I walked up to receive the award. Underneath the bright fake smile, I could see in the principal's eyes a burning desire to ask me 'What have you been inspiring those kids lately?', but I could only stare stunned and speechless at her and at the camera. Ah Tan was voted as Most Caring Teacher. The two of us felt like plunging into the school pond and hide there until the ceremony was over.

The whole school was buzzing with activity as students were busy preparing for their class parties and teachers flitting from class to class to join in the celebrations. I was swamped with gifts from the students, ranging from sweets to chocolates to soft toys. Awww ...

Some sweet 5C girls giving me a personally-decorated plate and a jar of folded heart-shaped straws

Me and some naughty boys from 1C

My form class was sweet enough to perform a dance for me! The two fat boys in a sweet embrace weren't even supposed to be in the dance, but nevertheless it was amusing watching them making a fool out of themselves.

My form class 1F

Me and some students (with cheeky Imran trying to sniff at my hair)

Now I had trouble finding space to store these lovely keepsakes ...

A beautiful hand-made cake (with *gulp* PURPLE icing)

The best part was ... HALF DAY! I was raring to go home and take a rest, and as the exhilaration wore off, I knew things (the usual scoldings and chasings) would be back to normal the next schoolday.

Teachers Day makes all the hard work done worthwhile.

I&E Day

Went to the Live Science Symposium organised by my school at a primary school during its annual I&E Day. The morning event started with a talk on marine biology and I fell asleep promptly, until my savior, Ah Tan, came along. She led me to the Homec booth set up by her and a student served us some oatmeal cookies and pandan tea! Nice!

Ah Tan and I at the Homec booth

My beautiful Saturday morning was totally wasted.

Trip to Science Centre

Went to the Science Centre with Slug. Maybe our stunted mental growth granted us this amazing ability to be perpetually fascinated by the kiddie optical illusions and interactive exhibits there. That is why we keep returning to this place!

We first visited our favourite marine ecosystem section.

Australian Snow Crab (someone bring on the sweet chilli sauce and bread morsels!)

My ever-favourite moray eel!

Coral that glows under UV light (quite a lacklustre glow, though)

Then it was on to the biology section ...

Venus Flytrap!

Let's mingle with our common household friends!

Mouse foetus, chicken skeleton and rabbit anatomy immortalized in goo

And the ever-favourite incubator! How many chicks has this incubator help give birth to, but the mystery that must have been bugging most primary school students is - do these cute and fluffy chicks, after earning our adoring oohs-and-aahs the moment they poked their heads through the shell, end up on our plates three months later?

Nevertheless, we were lucky to actually see some of the chicks hatch!

We ended our visit with a picture of Slug having fun with an optical illusion.