Wednesday, January 10, 2007
*.* God is Good *.*
God is good.I prayed this morning for the following:1) That we (Eunice and myself) could successfully negotiate for a Choir concert.2) During CCA bazaar today, Choir would be able to recruit many freshies.3) That our Choir mistress would agree to Apr 13th for the concert.Against all odds, God gave us the wisdom, courage and determination to persuade the key personnel to agree to the concert. For this, I'm grateful. Their consent meant a lot to us. And what touched me most was the support given by colleagues who do not have any direct linkage to Choir. I'm grateful for that oo.Also, I heard from Eunice that many students signed up for Choir. I really hope after auditions and filtering, the J1 cohort would be more than 30. Oh God, pretty please..And what was quite amazing is that the choir mistress managed to bow down and agree on the concert date.Life is going to be very hectic now. But seriously, we have been fighting a war for the past 2 months. Now, the real war, the real challenge has just begun.I think Eunice and myself a a tad bit afraid, anxious but yet determined and raring to overcome this challenge.We will. We must do our best. With God, nothing is impossible!Thank You God for everything. Continue to sustain us for the next 3 months as we put in our best for the concert.Love You!
A Child of God blogged @ | 11:35 pm
Sunday, December 31, 2006
*.* Blessings in 2006 *.*
Before I left for my Thailand trip, I have been taking time out to look back at my life in 2006. Somehow, 2006 was split up into 2 parts - the first half as a student and the second half as a teacher. Nevertheless, all these looking back could have gone to waste if I was not reminded by Father Simon Pereria during the last Novena Service to take note of the blessings I had received in 2006.
This list is not exhaustive. I had actually looked through my blog posts fron Jan to Dec to note down my blessings. So here's the list, not in any order of merit:
1. I am now a full-fledged teacher.
This is at least a stable job compared to my previous 2 jobs, with little stability in pay and work environment. I never felt so thankful before because at least I can look forward to a promised higher pay, good bonuses and a good work environment. With this job, I can at least do some planning for my future.
2. I plucked up my courage to take up a refresher course.
Having not driven for 6 years, taking up the refresher course was one of those things that I planned to do "something for myself in 2006". I'm glad I took up driving all over again. Driving gives me more courage and confidence. I love driving now, provided I know the routes.
3. I pierced my ears.
14 years after my last piercing, I finally pierced my ears again at a costly price of $120 at Be Dazzle. Piercing my ears was a reward to me for losing weight till 80 kg. I did it during the Sept hols. It was so painful that I think my "ouch" could send some shudders through the Wisma Atria building. I overcame my phobia of piercing my ears finally. And nope, I'm so not going to have a 2nd pair of ear holes.
4. I spent time with my family.
I took time off from church work to spend more time with my family. 2006 was spent building up stronger bonds with my family. I'm glad i did that. Though life can be routine now, at least I know what is going on within my family. I have become a pillar of support and listening ear to my mum. Some sundays are spent going out with my family instead of church work. The time spent with my family can never be replaced. At least now, I feel like I'm part of them.
5. I spent time on myself.
I feel that 2006 has been a turnaround year for me. For the first time in my life, I feel that I had invested a lot of my resources and time on myself. For the uninitiated, I took on a weight management program and embarked on an attempt to lose weight. When I took it up, I was seriously skeptical. The weight management program called for a total and complete change in the way I eat and how I eat and for me to lose 60 plus kgs sounded totally unrealistic and demanding.
Now, I lost about 57 kg and have about 5 kg more to reach my ideal weight. All because of the Thailand trip, I gained some kgs back but I guess when it's back to school, I will start losing the weight again.
So what have I gained from all these?
A complete lifestyle change. I feel as if I went for an extreme makeover except that I worked very hard for it, and I sacrificed so much things for it. I love my life now because I can walk for so long without stopping. I feel more accepted by the society now. (Yes, society do go for appearances after all.) I can buy clothes more easily now and it's off the rack. My clothes are cheaper. I'm making wiser eating habits. I feel more confident of myself now. I'm simply looking after myself.
Because of this weight loss, I had also taken time out to go for foot reflexology because they said it's good to lose weight. Though painful, at least this is a luxury for me to pamper myself.
I had learnt to pamper myself through rewarding myself at different stages of the weight loss.
Simply, to summarize, life has been completely different and people say I look like a complete different person too. And I know that in 2007, my life will not remain stagnant. There will be more changes to come.
6. I did my bestest best for my 2nd semester in NIE.
Perhaps because I felt that my first sem at NIE was slightly wasted as I felt I was underachieving. Nevertheless, I'm glad that I worked hard for my 2nd semester in NIE. I improved on my grades and that was sufficient for me.
7. I scored a distinction for my practicum.
Practicum was another life-changing experience for me. Even though it was simply a module all NIE students had to undergo, it was to me, a process of growing. Practicum taught me many lessons such as learning to believe in myself, learning to fight for something and not giving up, that I was in teaching partly because of my dad, the joys of surrendering to God.
Getting a distinction for practicum gave me a very strong affirmation of my gifts and talents. I will never forget how I managed to win the praises of my supervisor who is renowned for her very high standards. I will also never forget how I managed to impress the moderator for my distinction observation when the slight hiccup occured.
Getting the distinction was something I thought I couldn't achieve in my wildest dreams. And when I did, it made me learn that sometimes, things are possible, we only got to believe in ourselves.8. I got posted to NYJC as my practicum school and final posting.If I had not gotten into NYJC, I wouldn't have found a Catholic support group in a workplace. Coincidentally, it started only in 2006 under the initiative of my colleague. It's difficult to keep a prayer group going but I guess to keep it going, it needs everyone's co-operation...NYJC as my practicum school was God's given because I was blessed with a supportive CT (in a different way) but nevertheless, without her, I wouldn't have gotten the opportunity to do distinction. And getting into NYJC as my final psoting was God's will. I had initally applied to CJC and AJC, got headhunted to go into SRJC. But despite all the upheaveals, God's will took over and He willed me into NYJC even though there were no more vacancies left.Either way, I'm enjoying myself in NYJC. I'm blessed with manageable students, good teaching and working facilities and good colleagues to work with. No doubt, like any workplace, there are some things to be improved but I guess working in NYJC is more than good enough for me.9. With the help of God's grace, I tend to see the good in students.Seriously, I don't know how I do it but it's all in God's grace that no matter what, I'm just able to see good in students. Don't ask me how I managed to do it but I could only attribute it to God's grace. One student worthy of mention is Glenn. This boy has never did a single piece of tutorial, didn't even bother to open up his bag for class. Of course, he failed his entire promos and had to be retained. Eventually, he decided to leave JC and take on the poly route. In his last week with the school, he was sweet enough to apologise to me for the times he was a difficult student. Suddenly, it seemed that he had grown wiser. He shared with me his regrets for wasting one whole year and that when he enters poly next year, he will definitely work hard and do well. It dawned onto me then, that if a student seems impossible, he/she is in fact, possible after all.10. I met up with my old friends.I met up with Thava. Thava is one friend that I had not caught up for about 2 years. I had known her since my secondary school days. I met up with Gery. She's my CJC classmate. Gery is one person that we only meet twice a year - during the June and Dec hols. I met up with Carol, my NUS classmate and fellow CSS friend. She has been in Australia for a couple of years now and I think she will just settle down there.I met up with my council mates - Gerald, Bernadee and Calvin. There's another friend I wish to meet up though - Fiona. She's my NUS classmate and is one of my closest friends in the uni. I really wonder what she is doing now.Nevertheless, it's great to take up the initiative to meet up with them. I'm happy to do so in 2006. It's quite amazing to see how lives have changed after a year or so. I wish them happiness in 2007 and hope to have more get-togethers!11. I still keep in touch with the five RCIYians.Shawn, Meixia, Alycia, Juliet and Leslie.It's been more than a year since RCIY ended and we are still meeting up!It's really great to have all of you as my friends... let's have more rosary prayer meets yah? Let's have more meet ups?As we grow older and have more engagements, let us try to meet up more often and to keep this friendship going.Oh my... it will be quite interesting to see Juliet get her first permanent job, meixia and alycia graduating from JC, Shawn going into army and leslie getting his diploma...We're growing up with one another!12. I have a good friend in NIE - Charissa.Adding onto my list of good friends from different stages in my life is Charissa. She has been a very sweet friend, especially when I could eat at a limited range of places due to my strict diet. She has been very tolerant indeed. She has been my pillar of support in NIE when I just started out on this weight management program and didn't know how to tell my friends that I'm on this program.Together with her, we went on shopping sprees and excursions to Sentosa, Escape Theme Park, Mount Faber and a total pig out at Vivocity.I look forward to a great 2007 with her, despite our busy teaching schedules.13. I'm blessed to have good classes to teach.There are of course some black sheeps in some classes. But generally, I'm blessed with good-natured students who are willing to learn.I'm blessed with students who are reciprocative and humble to learn.14. All my 4 classes did well.My H2 classes: 0604 had 100% passes for their promos. 0615 had the top 3 scorers across the whole level.My H1 classes: 0631 took first place while 0621 took second place.They had worked hard, after all! =)15. I was put in Choir as my CCA and blessed with Eunice as my working colleague.Eunice is Catholic and we were good friends during my practicum. So to be put in Choir and to work with her is a blessing in disguise even though I didn't even put Choir down as my choice CCA. I look forward to working hard with her and to bring Choir up to higher heights.16. I'm blessed with a good tuition kid.I took up a tuition assignment, teaching not Eocns but Maths to a Normal Academic kid, Cherly. She's a great kid and so determined to do well. I feel so blessed to have a tuition kid who's so willing to learn. And some more, I can still communicate and establish a relationship with her.17. I'm blessed to be in this family.Although we may have some misgivings about each other, I feel so blessed to have my mother, my sister and my brother. My mum has been my strongest pillar of support in keeping up with this weight management programme cos she has been waking up early to cook my breakfast and lunch for me so that I could reach school on time, without much hassle. She has ben my marketeer, always buying the things that I could only eat. And my brother for teaching me how to upkeep my przed possession. He tends to be naggy and possessive but he means well.And my sister for givng me dressing tips on how to dress better and not to go back to those baggy and chunky stuff. I'm blessed to have a supportive and loving family who has constantly provided me with a strong shelter that I can run into. Not many of my friends and students have this supportive family. I'm indeed blessed.18. I have some form of financial wisdom now.I'm glad to have been put through some difficult circumstances and was in an uncomfortable situation. Without all these, I would not have gained some form of financial wisdom. I tend to spent less on the impulse now and have more control over what I spend.19. I'm working with God now.After being ministryless for a year, I thought it would be difficult to upkeep my faith. Will I be less faithful than before?Thank God for this teaching job because without it, I wouldn't have been in a ministry of reaching out and nurturing them. Leaving house at 615 and reaching school at 645 always gives me that 15 to 20 mins to quiet time to start off my teaching day. I'm glad I kept to this to have some Vitamin S to keep me going in this job.20. I'm blessed to feel blessed and to be filled with gratitutde.I'm blessed to be able to end 2006 with feelings of blessings and gratitude. There would be some people around the whole world who might be nursing their sorrows, anger, frustration, etc. But I'm glad that I'm blessed with a thankful spirit.So... I'm glad that I maanged to come up with 20 blessings. Actually, my list stopped at 17 but I managed to come up with 20. That's good!I hope that by typing these down, I'm constantly reminded in 2007 that God provides in His ways and that we should always surrender everything to our ever-wise God.
A Child of God blogged @ | 5:55 pm
Friday, December 08, 2006
*.* The Nativity (I) *.*
I'm back from watching the movie, The Nativity.
Unlike the Passion of Christ, the Nativity has much lesser violence and definitely less hoo-ha. In fact, now when I compare Passion of Christ with the Nativity, I think the Passion of Christ was a little bit too loud and too widelt acclaimed. It makes me wonder whether Mel Gibson wants the whole world to know that he actually produced Passion of Christ.
Anyway, Nativity got off to a slow start but I pretty liked the development of the story. I liked the ending very much. Of course, I wish that Mary could be prettier. Joseph was handsome in the show, I think.
Anyway, I thought I should blog about my reflections that I gathered:
1) God provides. He provides exactly what we need. When we think it's not enough, it's because WE think it's not enough. God measures by His own standards, not ours.
2) We should always be contented and grateful for our lot.
3) Amidst all our apprehensions, keep on trusting in God. Surrender all your fears to God and seek solace in Him.
4) Be giving in heart and in action.
5) Be accepting and non-judgemental. Who are we to fault others?
6) God is good. All the time. Have faith in Him.
I think if I watch the show again, I would have gathered more reflections. I really liked the ending and I felt it reminded me of how humble I must always be.
Anyway, the holidays are sort of here cos I'm done with work and with my courses. I'm definitely making sure I'm taking time out for myself. I have been going out quite frequently for the past two weeks. I'm quite scared that the holidays run out so fast that I feel I have not had a good break yet.
Advent is here and time and again, I'm taking time out to think through the past year. I hope I have the time to blog these down too!
Anyway, gotta go... will catch up soon...
A Child of God blogged @ | 12:52 am
Monday, November 20, 2006
*.* Choir *.*
Choir Singing In the Rain
Eunice & Myself - The 2 Teachers In-Charge
Today was the choir camp and even though I was only there for 3 hours, it was great joy seeing my students having fun singing. I guess it was a good decision to make them sing outside of an enclosed area for it made them open up their boundaries and get used to singing to strangers. I'm proud of them for this.
I think they will never forget how it was raining today and they had to squeeze into a shelter at Pasir Ris Park. And when there were some other people sharing the shelter with us, they broke away from their inhibitions and sang infront of them. I'm really proud of them!
I'm happy in Choir. Though I can't sing, though I don't understand how they can detect off tone or the right notes to sing, I'm happy that I'm part of this family. And I'm happy that we initiated this Choir Year End Camp. It was a good decision. Go Choir Go! ROAR!
I pray that it will be a perfect weather for them to play games and have a good BBQ tomorrow. Lord, please hear my prayer!
A Child of God blogged @ | 10:52 pm
Sunday, November 12, 2006
*.* Confirmation *.*
I attended a Confirmation mass yesterday and I got reminded that it's more than a year since I left CTK RCIY. That's fast. A year of so many changes. One day, I should spend some time blogging the changes I experienced in the year.
Anyway, the Gospel passage was about the parable of the sower. And the Archbishop said soemthing interesting. You know, all along, I thought I should be a planter of seeds in fertile soil. I should carefully grow my seeds to seedlings and to beautiful plants. But His Grace said something like "We should be that fertile ground."
Now... that's interesting. A fertile ground is better than a planter. A fertile ground holds more seeds. A fertile ground lays the foundation but a planter doesn't lay the foundation. A fertile ground usually stays fertile unless something happens (which I don't really know). But the key idea is, the likelihood of it becoming unfertile is slim but a planter being bad has a high likelihood.
So His Grace changed my perception of teaching. I always thought I was the planter. But I'm more than that. I'm the foundation now. And I'm supposed to create a fertile ground for my students to grow. I've to provide a healthy and conducive environment for my kids to grow as much as they can.
Yups... that's my insight on the whole lot of what His Grace was talking about.
A Child of God blogged @ | 11:13 pm
Saturday, November 11, 2006
*.* Oh my gosh! *.*
I realized that I had spent 2 solid years blogging! And still going on strong! I'm pretty amazed. Hah... I think it's time to give this blog a revamp. But you know... procrastination?
A Child of God blogged @ | 12:08 am
Friday, November 10, 2006
*.* Getting back together *.*
I went to my student's birthday party today. It's my first student's birthday party and I look forward to many more of such parties. I feel it's a privilege for the student to actually remember you and invite you to her party. I mean, of all the dozens of teachers she has, why did she choose a selected few?It's good to see my old students again and they were sharing with me about their fears in adapting to their new Econs teacher next year. One girl from another class actually said that the whole class wrote a petition to the HOD Arts. And in my mind, I was like... "Hah.. He should be getting sian of receiving such petitions again." And when I met the birthday girl's mother, her mother actually offered to write into the principal to request that I should teach her child! Could you have imagined how anxious I felt? I'm so afraid that it would create an uproar or something.I'm blogging this so that I'm always reminded that the role of a teacher is ever so important. I teach but I inspire my kids to love what they are studying as well. I need to look at each student as a child gifted with many talents and my role here is to nurture them and mould them into the best they can be. They will learn how to grow into self-achieving individuals. I must always remember this. I don't know why but the moment I see my students, I get turned on to help them. I don't know why. It's just innate. I'm quite amazed at myself at how I can casually talk to my kids. It's as if I'm talking to the RCIY kids. I feel strange that I'm talking to them as individuals not as students and yet, they are also giving me the due respect. They even bothered to say bye to me before they left. Perhaps it's because of the school culture I'm in. Perhaps and for that I should be thankful.I will always miss my students and though chances are, they might not be reading this but I just want them to know that yes, I'm always available for you. I'm a sms, call or chat away. Feel free to call me out for tea, coffee, a chat. Anytime. I'm here for you.
A Child of God blogged @ | 11:55 pm
Choir Singing In the Rain
Eunice & Myself - The 2 Teachers In-Charge