my busy busy 2 weeks

i had been extremely busy for the past two weeks that i really had no time to blog. well, there is a part of me which is guilty too for spending quite some time to finish goals and catering orders on the game cafe world instead of writing and updating. there is a time limit for all the goals, hence, those have to come first. hehe....yes i am an addict.

but i will be slowing down this week. i won't be that busy anymore with extra activities, it is now back to the core business. and the pressure begins as well to produce some results. haiz.

anyway, here are some of the things that had happened in my life for the past two weeks.

first up, i celebrated the 11th anniversary of my career in teaching on 18 june. waaa.....i was reminded of the date actually by a colleague who entered on the same day. i was too busy that i had forgetten the significance of that day.
so in the end, i got to have some kind of 'celebration', with 2 ex-students and some beer and chips. it was nice getting to do something on that day. and it had been ages since i got tipsy from drinking too. it was fun going to bed with a heavy head and just drop dead once the head hit the pillow. gosh, i need those sound sleeps!

next, this is a random photo.
bought myself some propolis. google what it is if you have no idea. it will be another health supplement i am taking almost daily. it is so easy to take and has many health benefits. i just need to put 5 drops into my drinking water and that's it. it does not taste bad as well. you will get used to the smell. so every morning, when i fill my water bottle before going to work, i also add in 5 drops of propolis. easy. it is not that expensive anyway, i got mine for rm56....but just 10ml ah from an organic shop here in bidor. have given my mom a bottle too.

now to all the things that kept me really really busy and making me a skin tone darker.

sports!

i really love it but it was really exhausting.

there was the training, selection, getting body aches, painful soles of feet, discussion, persuasion, comforting, scolding, jesting, etc.

but i was really happy seeing how all the kids who were really interested listening to every word i gave and following my instructions. my pride. and i was happy to see them learning in the process, not that they know that they are learning....but i hope they will get to see all the benefits when they grow up.

and oh, there were also those touching moments when the kids came to show you all their medals and bowing and saying thank you. i almost choked. some were nobodies in form 1 and i managed to make them champions and some although did not win, they still enjoyed themselves in the competitions because i did not stress on winning. i only wanted them to try and learn and have the confidence that they can do it. it was really good and i hope i will still get to see them on the field and coming to me telling me that they still want to practise. keeping my fingers crossed.

some photos from the sporting activities i was involved in.

the kids getting ready in relay race at a neighbouring school. good exposure.

someone called this gangsta group. hehe.......on our way to collect banana leaves for a project.

gathering free banana leaves courtesy of another colleague who helped us to saw them off the plants.
discussion time.

halfway there ;) i stayed back in the evening to offer my support and help. my ideas ain't that bad.

and here are the photos taken on annual sports day.


ta-da, what we did with our hut. there were photos hanging on the wall....photos of everyone involved in making this project a success. we also had a few live tortoises in the pail there. although quite simple, it is a very soothing and calming corner to be at. okokok.....i am blowing my own trumpet....just slightly lah.

the winning goal-post-cum-hut on the actual day. congrats.

this year they even had a theme and mascot for every sport house. gosh, so much headache and effort and money too. my house did not use much as we recycled a lot. i don't see a point in wasting resources and only making things beautiful on the outside only. this win is not the kind of victory i am looking for.

yellow fighting bee.

loyal ladybird red.

slow and steady turtle green.

marine world blue.

all neatly in their lines....on a fine saturday morning.

balloons for the officiating ceremony. nope, there were not released into the air. they made some kids very happy at the end of the day.

yours truly running the last leg in the relay race for staff. first time taking the last leg. still felt extremely nervous with palpitating heartbeat and cold palms. well, it was a win again ;) but not because of my leg alone, all my other team members were good as well. unity and enthusiasm won us the hamper.

my girls doing me proud. we won both the tug-of-wars for boys and girls. nobody expected us to win in the boys category, but it just went to show that one could never count the chicks before they hatch.

oh, our hamper from the relay race. to be shared tomorrow. i am aiming the packet of mamee snacks.

see, the swing was very durable indeed. it took some courage to sit on it haha. i had some scouts in the team and also my neighbour, a kid from another sport house who helped. shhhh.....don't tell his teammates.

the winners!!!!! time to blow the trumpet really loud this time.
champion in the cross-country competition.
champion in sukan tara where every member in the house had to run, jump and throw to accumulate marks.
champion in the athletic events.
and of course....without a doubt, we became the overall sports champion for 2012. haha........we won that too last year.

we did not expect to get such excellent results at all at the beginning.....but just like the tortoise, slowly and steadily we faced all the obstacles and emerged victorious. sweet.

ok, i was not trying to show off with the two big trophies. they were left on the field and nobody was planning to collect them that i ended up doing it. haiz.....so much for sporting spirit. and no, it was not special effect on the photo. only when going through the photos that i noticed how over-exposed this shot was. not sure what happened.

so that was sports.

now let me continue and finish this post with non-sport related stuff.

;) all the way from england. sent to an address there, brought back by a kind friend.....who kept the paper bag and box all in its original form. thank you thank you thank you.

just couldn't resist myself from taking out that credit card when i saw sale on mulberry.com and the sale is still available....so go and check it out.

i got this small pouch. i was smitten when i saw love and peace. that was it. it broke all barriers and off i went frantically thinking of ways which could get me the cheapest shipping cost. not sure how i am going to use it yet.....maybe to keep loose things inside a bag.....or on its own......well, it is to be decided when the time comes.

hmm......can i call this pouch the first birthday gift to myself to be revealed here? after all, it is 1st of july now and it is also my birthday month. ;) kakaka......excuses.

some green after the black. this is the dying passion fruit plants in the house now. a hole had been cut in the middle of all the vines as they were drooping too low and they were already drying up, turning all yellowish and brownish. i guess it is just a matter of time before we chop them all off. it is good to let some sunlight finally get to the bare ground too. i can see grass already started growing. yippee!!!

what is this??? can you guess?? it is like a defibrillator that is keeping my phone alive. you can call my phone brain dead now and is only kept alive by this external battery charger. i cannot charge the phone by plugging the charger into the charger port. nope, the connection is broken. so once the phone runs out of battery, i have to take out the battery pack, slip it into this external charger, and plug it to the power point, switch it on, wait for about 3 hours for it to be fully charged, and then put the battery pack back into my phone and turn my phone on again.

so now, the clock on my phone is all wrong. once you take out the battery, the clock goes off and i am too lazy to reset the time everytime it happens. i guess my messages sent out will have weird times attached to them. kakakak.....one way to make ppl confused.

i am just patiently waiting for the release of iphone 5. so please......survive!!!!

parcel time

whoever out there does not like receiving parcels raise your hand???

i am definitely not raising mine. i love signing acceptance forms hehee.....but in this post, it was mom who signed all the forms as i was away in the camp when they arrived.

first:
a new vacuum cleaner which i got using the treatpoints from my credit card. it is for the rented house in bidor. it is so difficult to sweep the girls' hair on the floor. so this vacuum is really apt for a lazy person like me. very convenient indeed.

second: oohhhh laa llaaaaaahh..............my first PRADA!!!!

p
r
a
d
a

hmmhh............not so great deal lah......

it is sent all the way from the USA....... all the way from a museum.................


haha. the metropolitan museum of art ;D

see.....i told you it is a prada.........

okok.....it is a prada which is not usable nor wearable. it is just a shoe ornament made in conjunction with an exhibition they have at the museum. the shoe is smaller than my palm. but i guess it will be a collectible.....one day.

gosh.....am i turning into a hoarder??

hmmh......these coming photos show things which are yet to arrive and are at different parts of the world ;P

hello kitty from mcdonalds singapore ;P hahaha.....thank you thank you to my meal eater who had weekly mcd meals just to get me these. these dolls are already selling at high prices on ebay. so if i am short of money, i know where to go to. i wonder when i will get them. will definitely not take them out from the plastic bags.

and from singapore, we now go to australia.

first birthday present ;) thanks to my sis, brother-in-law and nephew whom i have yet to hold and see with my own two eyes. he is really really adorable. i actually have plan to get the pen one of these days, but they beat me to it with their thoughts and generosity. so thank you very much you guys. i hope the ink is really smooth.

ooh....and these books.....also from australia. a sister of my colleague sent them to her after she read them, and now, they come to me. haaa.....it has been a long long time. mills and boons, aka Modern Bible. kekeke.....a name coined by my form 3 english teacher. yup, they were my secondary school reading. i heard that the stories nowadays are raunchier. they will make great holiday reading materials hahaha.....

who will i give these books to after i have finished them?? i wonder if my sis is interested......that means, from australia to malaysia, these books are going back to australia again. what a cycle.

i can't just mention the adorable nephew and not post his photo right?? cute mou??? he looks soo sooo chubby in this photo....but i dun think he is that chubby. it is the gap jacket that makes him so big and wide. the first time he smiled in so many of the photos taken. he looks like a doll!!!

memories from the camp

i am back from the camp, all in one piece.

the experience is not as hard as i expected. i thought i would be all knocked out, all clumsy and all blur-sotong, making lots of mistakes along the way....kakaka......but i survived.

and i had a great time! learnt lots of games, made lots of friends, had lots of fun and part of my heart was stolen by a few kids who are really really cute!!! the participants all were really great! they were disciplined, showed great commitment and enthusiasm and all worked together to make the camp a success. i will definitely recommend this camp to others who want to experience something different outside the formal education at school. i read some of the feedbacks given on the forms collected and all said that they had an awesome experience, praising the facilitators, the programmes and the things they learnt.

the participants for this camp were all orang asli kids (aborigines) and they came from perak and pahang. so the camp was conducted in malay language instead of english. they were all sponsored by dana belia 1 malaysia.

so what is this camp??? it is diode camps organised by leaderonomics, a social enterprise organization. i get to know about leaderonomics from the star because their ceo has a column in the paper. the camp that i went to was sponsored by dana belia 1 malaysia hence the kids did not pay at all. they charge about rm500++ for this camp and it is 6 days long.

so if anyone is interested to know more about the camp, you can go to www.leaderonomics.com/diodecamps

now, let's feast your eyes on some of the photos i took.....not that many though because i had to facilitate activities.

so i arrived at the campsite earlier than the rest of the facis and i had the time to take a stroll of the camp area.

the campsite is just by the side of the road, on the way to cameron highlands. from tapah tol exit, it is about 5 mins drive.

this is a leadership camp. we did not know how many participants would come because there was no pre-determined name list. so we only registered them as they came. some left after 2 days because of some other commitments. in the end, we had about 40 plus who finished the camp.

it is all green everywhere and there is a stream that runs through it. pristine and serene. and that bridge is the only place where you can get phone signal.

the main building where the office, dorms, hall and bathrooms/toilets are.
see those poles with tyres? the kids had to get the tyres out and it was really fun seeing how agile and fast some were. they just climbed onto the pole as fast as monkey and in less than a minute, the tyre was out and they were on the way to the stream in a second.

imagine telling urban kids to do that? they would take forever i bet.

one of the rooms in the main building. everything is clean so sleep came. kakaka, that was my main main worry. if i do not get my sleep, my body will slowly collapse and illness will come. that is one thing you don't want to happen to you during a camp.

the air-conditioned hall. it got really cold at night. this was where most of the indoor presentations and talks were given.

cross a small bridge, go straight, and you will reach the canteen.

everybody has to play their role and keep the place clean. wash your dishes and cutlery here please.

across the stream from the canteen is the outdoor campsite for tents. the boys slept in the tents. and this part of the stream was where they frolicked after evening activities.
the sleeping ground in the tent is elevated. good to avoid flood during rain.

the canteen where appetising food is served 4 times a day! fat!!!

pavilions. you can also sleep here but it will be pretty cold at night. even the kids i spoke to did not want to sleep there because of the cold. they wanted to be with their friends in the tent which was warmer.

ampitheatre, which we did not use.

obstacle challenges.

the toilets cum bathrooms near the tents.

ok, that basically are the facilities in the campsite.

the participants had a lot of team games because we wanted to build their team spirits. they enjoyed the outdoor games the most.

this is my team, filling up plastic bags to use as water bombs in one of the games. i had 6 members in my team and they were the most boisterous and talkative among all. so the camaraderie and chemistry in the group were really good.

water bombs!

in the midst of the game.
ok, no more pics of the fun games they played ;(

now to food....which made me come back with a rounder face. time to make my hair do its job to cover the two chubbier sides hehe...

if you want extra helpings, just go, there is always extra!! how not to get fat??



chicken chop!!!



last but not least.....the sweetest memories of all, the participants of the camp! i think everyone of them went home missing their friends more than anything. i asked one of the boys what he would miss most, and his answer was - kawan-kawan. oooooowwww......


frolicking with friends and facis at the stream

all looking dapper in their camp shirt. take our photos please....

my team. posing for their project.....and yippppeeee!!!! my team was announced the overall winner of the camp. so proud of them.

here are some beautiful faces i captured while they were playing at the stream.



the boy who i will always remember as agile as the monkey. he can really climb the pole and my wish to him is to reach greater heights.

styling his own hair for the last night of camp.

and this, is my favourite. he is sooo sweet and cute. has such a charming smile that melts my heart. am already missing his companionship.

other previous souvenirs from the camp:

words of encouragement and appreciation from fellow facis and campers. priceless.

gift from my group.

all looking handsome and pretty in the blue camp shirt.

you know, we kept asking the campers what they learnt from the camp, but when i came back, i asked myself what i learnt from them instead.
they are all really happy kids that you can't help from being infected by their carefree attitude. i learn to seize the moment and appreciate the time we have spent together. i learn to be grateful for what i have and embrace what i am given. haiz....words fail to describe what i am feeling now. i guess i really miss them so so much.

well, it is time to switch mode soon. maybe i can still wallow in this melancholy for a little while more. then it is time to pack the bags and head back to bidor.

this coming week, will be all preparation for sports day. so it is time to get dark and sweaty and all bouncy for the kids.

greetings from tapah

it is the second day at the camp and so far it has been all right.
the weather has been quite mild too. i have been complaining that it was as hot as the oven or even hotter before i came here and it made my nose itched and run non-stop, but surprisingly, once i got here, i have not faced any running nose problem. ok, touch wood, there were a few sneezes when the temperature in the hall got too cold, but that was it.

most of the activities are held in the air-conditioned hall, so we are away from the heat outside. there are so many greens around us that frankly, it is the only colour i can register in my mind. there is also a small stream that runs through this camp and some of the kids have been having their baths there. yup, i saw less people in the shower rooms today, and i quickly got in to take mine. they are used to bathing at the stream i am sure.

so the kind of accomodation we have here. the boys sleep in the tents outside, and some in pavilions/ huts. all the girls sleep in dormitory and rooms. yeah! all bunk beds. i am sleeping in a room of 4, on the upper bunk. there is an oscillating fan in the room, and unfortunately, that was the source of my sleepless night yesterday. the fan made loud droning sound once it oscillated to the far right and again when it reached the far left. i only managed to catch some sleep around dawn. yawn!!!!

so as soon as everyone got out of the room this morning, i climbed onto the metal shelf by the wall, and twisted and turned the fan, adjusted the oscillation, and now the fan is blowing only at one direction, being as quiet as it can manage, and hopefully, tonight, i will get my sleep. the room is really clean and bedsheet is provided. i use my own pillow and blanket.

one of the facilitators have fallen sick. he has high fever and after this, someone is going to send him back to kl. it could have been the heat from outside, and the sudden dip of the temperature in the hall once he finished the outdoor activity.
i definitely won't allow myself to fall sick.

so there are about 48 participants, only 15 are boys. the rest are all girls. initially, most of them thought that this camp was going to be a christian camp. well, i guess, to them, camps are equivalent to that. so i guess this leadership camp thing is a new concept to them.

i have already done my t-shirt making workshop. phew...it turned out well. there was no stitching on any sequin. they painted their shirts with the paints brought and also using all the stencils i have cut and prepared. well, my hardwork at cutting up those stencils is worth it then. one girl even said that those who did not choose this workshop did not know what they were missing as they would not have themselves a souvenir to carry home. that was nice to the ears. rocket making with plastic bottle was popular too. there were also ice-cream making, touch rugby, frisbee and dance workshops.

and the food here is really good. all chinese style and there is definitely more than enough. i will definitely not loose weight here.

ok, it is time for dinner now. will only upload photos when i get back. the internet connection here is quite unstable. don't even mention phone line. there is none, except by that small place, next to a tree by a stream. a few mesages managed to get in, and i managed to reply them. but i don't want to spend so much time near the stream looking for signals.

till the next time i am free to write again.

off to my second week of holiday- facilitating

one week of holiday is already over.

tomorrow is the beginning of the second week and tomorrow is the day i have to check-in to a youth leadership camp i am volunteering in. well, the campsite is not far, just in tapah, but i hardly know the condition i will be sleeping in. yes, that is my main concern.

since i will only be facilitating, there will be those who are more experienced to guide me, a newbie. yucks, a newbie, it scares me when i am this old and still a newbie.

so this camp i am in, sufes camp, there are dorms, pavilions and tents to sleep in. where will i sleep? we have been reminded to bring sleeping bag. aaahh!!! my nightmare!!!

my cousin has been to this camp 9 years ago and he said it was infested with mosquitoes and his tent was flooded when it rained.

the weather has been a nightmare too these few days. it is extremely hot hot hot and my sinus of course is acting up. the nose is flowing like an open tap. i hope it won't happen in the camp....or i will be known as the facilitator who has the flu.

that reminds me, i better bring lots of tissue paper just in case.

yeah, packing is almost done. i am going to bring a pail, washing detergent and some hangers too. i don't care that the others are not planning to wash their clothes for the 6 days they are there. i can't take it. anyway, since i am driving alone there, the car has plenty of space for even a mattress. okok...i am not bringing that. but the keys to my rented house in bidor will definitely be in the bag....who knows...it is just a short drive away.

look forward to some photos yah. i will be bringing my camera there to 'document' my experience.

so have a good week, to you and to me.