cancelled my leave on 31st cos i wasnt feeling too settled with sch just starting in 2 day's time n i'm totally not prepared...the classroom wasnt prepared too....
early in the morning, my colleague came to me with a card...and asked me if i knew WZ's aunt....WZ is a potential 16 yr old student who is starting sch this coming jan...well, i've met him and the aunt during one of the parent support groups.... Me: yar...kind of...met her but din really talk to her...y? Colleague: cos WZ died.
i was stumped for words. Huh?? Died? She passed me a condolences card for me to sign on. Apparently this boy fell to his death in his flat on the 9th storey. it was a freak accident. And if it wasnt that she wanted to remind the aunt about his enrolment date, i guess we will only find out on the very dae...it's so unbelievable...too sudden...he was one of the rare high-functioning kids we were going to take in...once studied in mainstream...n during the parent support group he kept making eye contact wif me n yh, trying to disturb us cos he was too bored....
life is just so vulnerable. one day u happen to meet this someone, n the next minute you talk about him he has vanished from this world.
My sincere condolences to the family and loved ones. WZ, may you rest in peace.
ends at 8:52 AM
Monday, December 15, 2008Y
wun be updating on my korea trip day by day. planning to do up a scrap book. just wished i had enuff time. so to force myself to have enuff time, i bought lotsa materials so that i can start on it anitime. plus it's gonna be a sunken cost if i dun start on it. this trip really costs me a bomb. but it was worth it!! so when the book is done i'll bring it arnd...but, mabbe gimme a yr to do it...hahaha.....i seriously hope i dun take so long...just like the one for my taiwan trip...till now i din touch it...=P
lotsa interesting characters in my tour group....mostly families...the kids were cute...a few teachers in the group too....n the old folks are quite farnie in their own wae too.....
my ferst time to see snow!!! it just livens up the mood!! tho winter seems to be cold n unfeeling, but it wasnt like dat! i felt really excited! despite the brutal coldness....it ranged from -20deg to around 5 deg....ferst few daes were unbearable...but the last few days when i snowed, the coldness was secondary...
went skiing, horse-riding, submarine, swimming in the cold, everland theme park which was like a winter wonderland (everland....forever you'll feel like a child there n wants to stay there forever), teddy bear museum, climing up to icy mountains, steep cable car rides, blown away by the winds, made kimchi, wore hanbok, slept on tatami in the ski resort, shop a whole street in 1 hr...2 shopping malls in another hr, ate kimchi n side dishes fer every meal, eat ice cream in the cold, saw my idol life-sized, listened to korean songs while i fall asleep in the hotel n on the plane....
it was a good enuff exposure....wanna go back again!!! mabbe in spring....or maybe all 3 of the other seasons....i miss korea!!!! *sobz*
the song below was blasted at almost every other shop we went to n over the mtv channels there...cute mtv with catchy tune....
ends at 9:18 AM
imagine this.
there were less than 10 staff in the whole sch. all was so quiet but it was such a stressful day. early in the morning, i received a call for MC on my way to werk. had to send replacement teacher to the other centre. n dat teacher's hp was off. had to call office line to get him.
ordered mac. but cos i was orientating this new staff who joined us todae, so i din eat. wanted to wait till i finished. but before i could finish, i met boss in the office when he was supposed to b on leave. n he wanted to meet that replacement teacher to do up some slides urgently. had to msg the other centre's OIC to send him back in the afternoon. then boss wanted to meet me n programme coordinator. my other 2 fellow OICs not around. so we went in and talked for nearly 4 hours on a new site n programmes. during the meeting, i had calls frm my dental clinic to remind me of my appt tmr. they called many times but i couldnt answer. the other OIC msg me to remind me to remind the prog coordinator that he needs to talk to a teacher who cldnt make up her mind whether she wants to stay in the centre or come back to sch side. haiz. n during the meeting i was sms-ing another colleague to help me finish orienting the new staff who was waiting for me. felt bad. but no choice. then my colleague msged me to ask how many days of compassionate leave everyone has. n the teacher aide had menses cramp n she sent me an sms to ask me to help her. didnt read her sms untill much later. oops. but how to help?
after the long meeting wif boss, we had an additional report to do. we met up wif the indecisive teacher aft dat. cos it's gonna affect the teachers allocation again. i dunno how mani times we've gone thru this. there was another teacher who had problems coping wif the job scope. so that was another story. so we talked to her fer an hr or so before i ate my mac breakfast at 2pm. wad the crap.
n before i could walk out wif my prog coordinator fer lunch, my volunteer came. so wif my supervisor waiting fer me fer lunch at my door, i had to settle the tings for my volunteer to do while i go lunch. gosh. n lunch was werk still. but at least we squeezed out 5 min to go shopping arnd cgh. how exciting.
so back in the office, we discovered boss had left. so the teacher who came back from the other centre actually came back for nth. argh. then when i called boss, he said he's not coming back. best. had to discuss the filming wif him over the phone. and at the same time teach my volunteer how to use a particular software. then my prog coordinator called to say he was gg home. gosh. while i stayed till 6+pm again. i really wonder y even during sch holidays i can be this bz. when i was packing my tings to go off, i saw my whole water bottle full. i hadnt drank a sip this whole day. n not to mention gg to the toilet! poof.
rushed down to boon lay frm simei to teach piano. ended at arnd 10pm. still hadnt called this filming company who wants to film our sch urgently, like wed. heck. shall call them tmr morning. but i'm on leave! still....haiz. n i probably wun go on leave if it werent for my dental appt. but it'll be a gd time fer me to do some shopping which i left off at korea. regrets. n so many presents to buy. will still be teaching piano tmr morning ferst. haiz.
who lives a life like mine? at a meeting i can hold conversations wif 3-4 other colleagues via sms. walk along the corridor, there are 3 persons talking to me at the same time. (hey pple, where are the social skills we teach our students?) finally had time for lunch at 2pm but it was actually my breakfast. din haf a chance to sit down at my table the whole day. no time to check emails. no time to pack n clean the ants off my table. sleep at wee hours in the morning everyday.
imagine this happens every single day.
i feel bad towards my frens who tried to contact me. sms me for a meet up. sms me for a gathering. sms me to tell me their woes. my response time is getting longer. sometimes i have no answers immediately. cos my schedule is all packed. plus my piano schedule is also in a mess towards the end of the yr. i spend little time wif family n minimal time wif frens. hardly even come online to blog or msn. i haven been a good listening ear. but a troublesome fren to have. of cos i dun like it when i'm the limiting factor to arrange for a gathering.
my dearest frens n family, i'm really sorry if there are times when i can't cope up wif everything. it's just all too overwhelming for me. i'm oreadi multi-tasking at a speed even i myself didn't believe i can.
tmr shall go fer retail therapy! n christmas shopping shall be fun!!
ends at 8:15 AM
ever since the last 2 weeks of sch...i've been superbly bz....bz wif wad, u may ask...i haf no idea....tings past so quickly i cant even get it etched in my brain....i guess it was all the paperwerk before sch ended....progress reports, scheduling for parent meetings, end-of-yr party, planning for next yr, appraisals of my teachers....argh....the progress reports alone nearly killed me...2am in the nite i'm so pek chek from marking the teachers' reports....teachers'...yesh u heard me rite....super low standard english....my english is oreadi not v good but theirs....gosh....direct translation never mind...worse is when it's direct translation plus bad grammar....so much so dat my co teacher reminded me to send him for grammEr course....had to sms him back to say it's grammAr.....faints....dunno to luff or get upset.....poof....
then came the preparation for my korea trip....absolutely no winter wear....no time to shop n buy....n gosh....there was a hell of tings i dun haf...from head to toes....thank god my colleague offered me her winter wear...n i managed to fit in....phew.....only bought my ear muffs (so glad i bot them! my ears super sensitive to cold....), woollen socks, 1 woollen gloves, and 1 ski gloves, hat, long johns....n not fergetting moisturizer n lip balm fer the very dry weather...
my sis helped me buy long johns....i bot the hat, socks n woollen gloves like less than a week before...the ski gloves n ear muffs i bot them just b4 i boarded the plane at east point....yesh....i was werking on the friday before i fly off....had to bring my luggages to werk dat dae lor....sigh....
it was raining heavily dat nite n my sis came to meet me at my werk place...cleared all my werk till the v last min....still cldnt get them done...but heck...i had a plane to catch! so handed over to my colleague to help me wif it...heh....felt bad....but now she go holiday i have to take over....=(
but once i was at the airport....i was a little stressed....looked forward but at the same time scared...cos dunno if i can take the cold.....never been to cold countries b4....plus all the late nites for the past few weeks.....unbearable....but on the plane i slept a little....cldnt fall into deep slp....mabbe cos of the excitement....n dat finally i'm away from werk....no wae of checking emails...tho my colleagues still msg me via hp while i was there.....haiz...din reply them man....so off....
it was a really fun trip.....enjoyed myself so much i din want to come back....in terms of activities, it was realli packed wif interesting activities.....but the only regret was....shopping time was too little....wanna go back again in another season man!! i'm missing it oreadi when i'm on the plane....haiz.....will share abt my trip in the next post...
aniwae, i went back to werk the very next dae cos i haf straight 3 day meetings again....despite that i touched down spore at 10+pm the day before....haiz....sad life....so from then on....i felt like i had no break....cos i'm again v tired....too packed wif werk....planning to do....documents to track....errands to run....n the list goes on n on....i haf no idea how i will survive next yr....told boss during my appraisals...i'm too tired...too stretched....
ends at 7:38 AM
Monday, December 01, 2008Y
sorrie if i'm alwiz so last min...but peeps, i'm on my wae to see won bin~!!! am at the airport now and flying off in another 1.5 hours! so exciting....have been rushing thru my werk just now n finally kinda cleared all by dumping it to my colleague...=P
so c u all...will be back when i'm back...haa...dat's 8th dec...next tues....ciaoz~!!!
