And the K-madness continues...

Came up with this last night. *grin*

What an inspiration for learning the language.

*rofl*

Lao-Tzu says...

"He who knows does not speak, he who speaks does not know."

Random things to think about

Educational Colonialism in our classrooms?

Worldwide homogenizing.

Societal Convergence.

Social orientation and cognitive processes - cognitive processes can be modified through cultural exposure (and a certain level of internalisation by the receiver).

K-Virus

I've been infected.

Badly.

It all started with a simple curiosity over the show My Name is Kim Sam Soon (내 이름은 김삼순) cos I had read somewhere that the show started a "Sam Soon syndrome" in South Korea where women started to question their social position and worth based on their marriageability and looks (the Sociologist in me could not resist such curiosity). I didn't even watch the show from the start. I'd totally forgotten that it had started its run on TV. Then one fateful evening, I was channel surfing and... TA-DAH! There it was. And I was hooked. Helped too that the lead actor was such a sight to behold (*grin*).

So well, I'm now just about obsessed. I shan't even try to hide it. As you can see, I've even worked out how to type Korean using my QWERTY keyboard.

Mad, mad, madness.

Good thing though - I am *so* not alone in this. My happy scrappy nutters of friends are equally giggly and schoolgirl giddy-headed about the cute actors and singers. Never thought I'd get this crazy at this age, but hey, the convent girl lives in me. Ho ho ho!

Badly infeKted I am.

Now this makes sense to me...

"The heavy is the root of the light...The unmoved is the source of all movement." Chapter 26, Tao Te Ching

If Western thought looks like this...

...then I am totally Asian.

"Either a thing is in its place or it is not. If it is in its place, then it cannot move. It is impossible for a thing to not be in its place; therefore nothing moves."

The Greeks were mad I tell you.

We've moved!

Ah... I've had so many things I've been wanting to blog about for the longest time, but I somehow never got down to it. This, though, I gotta blog.

We've finally moved! We've finally got a place we can call our own! It's not a huge place. Small and cosy, only 65 sqm. But it's ours! We've got a wall full of books (something both of us have always wanted), a proper study room, my own little kitchen (little is right), a rain shower...! :)

I wear a broad grin now. I've not slept this well in a long while.

22 Days To Go

Counting down.

We're finally moving out. Can't wait. Yet, while I eagerly anticipate having a place I can call my own, a place in which I can do as I want, when I want, how I want, I am keenly aware that the enthusiasm is not keenly shared by all in this house.

In a country where apartment living is really the norm, and there's hardly enough room for more than one family per apartment, it's amazing how culture, which expects sons to remain in the household even after marriage, has outlasted the practicality of such living arrangements.

My in-laws own a huge house. There is enough space for us here, so in this regard, I am luckier than most by far. Yet I reckon if they lived in an apartment, my mother-in-law would still want us staying with them. Nevermind that a single room is hardly enough to grow another family in (and people ask why we still haven't started one).

Culture defies all logic sometimes.

Nevertheless, logic has prevailed. Again, methinks. 'Cos we're finally moving out. Either that or the evil-mind-controling daughter-in-law is secretly to be blamed. How cliched. We could make a movie out of this. Truth be told, the decision to move out was my husband's (glad as I may be about it). I'm a firm believer of letting the man lead the household, make the decisions, all that.

Culture defies all logic.

22 more days to go.

I am in the Land of Stupid...

...where Bob the Builder and Thomas the Tank Engine have to speak American English in order to be understood. I kid you not. I turned on the TV on Sunday morning and horror of horrors, there was Bob speaking in heavily American-accented English! As if that wasn't enough of a shock to my system, Thomas followed after with the same drawl! Goodness! And then Angeline had to suggest at breakfast that there's still Paddington Bear that they had not got their hands on yet. I totally lost it and screamed, "NOOOooooOOOOO!!!!" The absolute nightmare should that happen. But then after I had calmed down sufficiently, Tien and Angeline pointed out that the Yanks getting to Paddington was highly unlikely because

1. They would have to explain where "Lightest Peru" was; and
2. They would have to answer to questions on whether London was in Peru,

among others.

Too much to explain.

This is it!

Hardly slept a wink last night. KM thinks it's cos I've slept too much all weekend. I reckon it's got more to do with the body clock having gone absolutely haywire thanks to 7am nights in the past week. I sure know how to prepare for the start of the school term.

Taking the bus to work feels weird. Since I started working, I've never taken the bus. MRT, maybe. Never the bus. What's even weirder is going to work in town. Never before. I figure I'd quite enjoy it.

Well. This is it.

Lunch Time Conversation with Jasmine

Me: Let's have lunch
Jas: Subway
Me: No. MOS Burger
Jas: NooOOOoooOOooooo!!! You always want to have MOS Burger!
Me: You always want to have Subway! Why don't I go get MOS and you go get your Subway?
Jas: That's not eating together!

We always have the same conversation. Why we even bother each time, I dunno, cos it never changes...

Ha ha ha...

Nervous, nervous

I start at my new work place tomorrow and I feel like I'm not ready to step into something new yet. 2 weeks of leave haven't been enough! I don't feel rested, I don't feel rejuvenated, I don't feel charged up and ready to go yet! I just wanna stay at home and scrap more, space out more, scrap some more...

*sigh*

I feel energy-less and nuah...

meow.

I'm free! I'm free!

Whee!!! Today was my last working day in MOEHQ. I still have 2 days of course to attend, but other than that, free! FREE!

Just before I left today, Benny asked me, "Are you sure you won't miss this place?" I told him, "Nah. I have enough photos of this place to remember it with." *broad grin* Strange though. I truly walked out of the building without even so much as a twinge of nostalgic loss (whatever that means). Guess it was really just time to move on and move out. I'll miss the people though. I had good colleagues. Fellow SHeeP who, for some reason or other, always indulged my nonsensical outbursts and need for madness - hopping around (literally), coming in coordinated attire (red day, pink day, stripes day, mandarin collar day, red & green christmas day), singing Christmas songs 6 months too early. They were more than colleagues. They were friends who were there when I needed to vent, when I needed to cry. Not just when I needed to laugh.

"Are you sure you won't miss this place?"

If the place is made up of the people, then yes, I will.

Next stop, Singapore Arts School. I pray I will be equally blessed with friends there.

Bongo Bongo!

On a whim, we went to the Night Safari for dinner tonight - BONGO BURGERS! My Lamb Burger was puuuuuurrrrfect! And what's more, there was a performance by a group from the "deepest, darkest depths of Borneo" (yeah... rite...), flame throwers, fire eaters and what not. Quite so entertaining, really. :D

Bongo bongo bongo bong... Hehehehe...

7 Gypsies Preview Class - Oh so disappointed!

After all that hype about 7 Gypsies coming to town in their caravans loaded with things to sell at the flea market, all I can say is that I felt so let down that their wares were simple and few.

*sigh*

A group of us Lofters were given the opportunity to attend a 7 Gypsies preview class at Laine's Paperterie @ Wheelock Place, an opportunity we jumped at so quickly, it barely took us 18 hours to get all the places filled up, discount or no! For weeks, the ladies on the Loft spoke of nothing but the preview class - what exciting things we could get to see in the class, what new ideas the 7 Gypsies latest line of scrapbooking products would bring, and what cute new embellishments we could pick up at the flea market - gypsy style as we were promised - to add to our pages.

Sadly, much of the 7 Gypsies items were sold out before the preview class even took place, and the album kit we were greeted with this evening felt like a sad show of leftovers. The sample we were provided as a guide for our project was little less than inspiring, especially for the experienced scrappers among us, and flea market items seemed to be made reluctantly available to us.

For $68, the class felt overpriced. And though Sharon was a sweet and most accomodating instructor, I left feeling thoroughly let down by the class content and material shared. There's really no need to attend a class to complete the album which we did, and my pocket certainly feels the pinch of a class wasted.

Bintan Lagoon - the Last Resort

We're back from our weekend getaway, and sad to say, we would've rather got away from it sooner. The resort's too large to be cosy, too far from the beach to make it a beach side resort (in my opinion), and the food was BAAAAAD!!! If anything could've saved the weekend, it would've been the food, but that was pretty awful (they didn't even get the local delicacies right! Satay sauce was too dry...). I had indigestion both nights we were there. :(

Ah... No more Bintan Lagoon for us.

One thing good about the weekend though - we got to spend time with each other. At least. :)

We're one!

Can you believe it? Cos I can't. :) My friends think it's cos it's been a happy year for us. It hasn't been an easy year, that's for sure, but yeah, I think it has been a happy year. It's been a year of learning, growing and learning some more.

Happy Anniversary to us!

Vote for Gan Kim Yong!

I've been going round, telling everyone I know to vote for Gan Kim Yong. He's the nicest minister I've worked with. My colleagues think I'm mad, but I tell you, I'm his biggest fan. Hahahaha... He's a great boss to work for. Humble, real, nice, and gives clear directions. If only I were in his constituency. Too late to change address now. I would've if I'd known. Darn.

VOTE FOR GAN KIM YONG!

About Pocky

On way home from Turf City with 3 boxes of Glico Pocky in the bag, Kee Min tries to open one of the boxes. "But Pocky is an at home food," I tell him.
We're home now. Time to open the box of Pocky. :D

Too-bad situation day

I stepped into Giant at Turf City, hoping to get me some pencil leads for my lead-less pencil. They don't have any. Kee Min asks me if I managed to get any leads. I shake my head and tell him, "It's a too-bad situation day. They don't have any pencil leads on sale. Too bad."

Kee Min says I say strange things. Shrug.

Global Language, Heightened Sensitivities

Today's the last day of the Global Language Convention held in Singapore. I've been attending it over the weekend, and I must say, it has set me thinking about a lot of things, and I'm not sure where my mind is headed on most of the thoughts.

Nothing brings greater awareness to yourself than being at an event that supposedly brings like-minded people together (or in this case, people of the same profession), where you try both to seek a personal identity in the midst of similarities, and try to search for others truly like you once you think you've found that self-identity. I babble. But let me try to straighten out my thoughts.

I've spent more than 7 hours each day over this weekend among (mostly) language teachers in IB schools in the region, and most of them, English Language teachers. Every other person you ask the question, "where are you visiting from?" responds with "Hong Kong" or "Shanghai" or "Tokyo", but throw a stone in any direction and it's bound to hit someone with blonde hair with a strong British or American accent of some sort. We spend hours talking about English being a global language that brings minds together, opens cultures up to each other, and in the same breath, say that English leads to the loss of indigineous cultures and identities, loss of native/mother tongues.

All of us speak English, and all of us are trying to classify each other into what kind of English you use. Is English your first language, second language, foreign language, mother tongue? I don't know the answer to that with regard to myself. Does it matter anyway, since I live in Singapore where no one has never asked me that question before? Should anyone else ask me even?

I'm on my own at this conference. But it's held in Singapore, so that's supposedly familiar ground for me. But I'm on my own, and desperate scans through the entire conference area brings no comfort - I find no one like me. I'm not unable to be independent. It's not like I'd get lost in my own country, or that I should get unnerved in a place I grew up in. Everyone else around me speaks English, so no worries about striking up a conversation, right? While that may be so, I find lots of people looking awkward, not knowing where to fit themselves either. Yet when I try to talk to them, I don't feel like our awkwardness brings us together. I move on. And finally, what do I find relief in? Someone who sounds just like me! She doesn't look like me. She's Indian. I'm Chinese. But she sounds just like me! She's Singaporean! We CLICK. INSTANTLY. And I feel a great sense of relief. Seriously.

English doesn't unify us. Goodness knows what English does to us. Brings about access to information, but certainly doesn't make me like the rest of the people at the conference. The conference is like this HUGE international school, where international simply means a gathering of many different types of people who really haven't found comfort with each other, even if they are able to speak the same language.