FIFTY-TWO DOLLARS

so i said before, the first time i received my posting two and a half years back, i was like where?! why?! tsk! and i expected the worse. i hated the travelling and i always thought i would be posted to a school in my area. i never once thought that this school would hold a meaning to me so much.

i never even teared when i left xingnan after 6 years or fuchun after 4years and i never once thought i would leave hongkah. well. now i am, not by choice.

i used to complained a lot on the amount of work given, i did not seem to comprehend why i must set an exam paper when i was a three months old beginning teacher. why i must plan an event when i was a 6 months old beginning teacher whereas the rest of my friends still seemed to be having their orientation. and the worse i hated was i did not have a classroom that i could call my own. but you know the amazing part is, once you gotten use to the culture, everything is fun and everything does not seems as hard anymore. and when the rest of my friends started complaining about their increasing workload, i was like, "been there, done that. nothing new."

school become dearer to me the second year i was there, the same year when i got closer to that one special friend and since then, everything just got better. i look forward to coming to school, to eating lunch together, walking to our lessons together, then complained about our classes, me stoned during meetings and always leeching on her and finally ending work together almost daily. which was why i had really a hard time trying to cope with the fact that she would be going to nie when my third year came. she went, i stayed and i coped, without her. everyone knew my bestfriend left the school.

and thats when my class, the same class for two and a half years told me they would be my new friend (because they thought i only have one friend in school), i rejected them. i refused.

special friend left but she always came back to visit, during celebrations and my birthday (super touched). and in the same year, i gotten closer to my department. not that i was not, but even closer. i could really say everything and not being afraid that they would judge. i love meetings because i know in spite of all the work, i definitely find fun. i always do.

and for my reporting officer who has so much faith and for believing my potential. i am so grateful how she allows me to handle big events and allowing me to understudy so many good teachers to learn things that i never knew i would be able to handle. i thought i am just going to be subjects teacher and if not for her, i would not know i am able to handle technical duties. i really like how she took care of me and how she held my hand throughout this whole journey. she cushioned my fall and making sure i knew that there will always someone there for me. and i really really love her for not only concern herself with my work related issues but my personal issues as well. i know i am going to compare my next reporting officer to her and i know this change will not be easy.

going to classes is also fun although i gave them angry stare daily. i shouted and stared but i know things would never go out of hand because i know my students knew i truly care for them. i pushed them too hard and they simply let me push because they knew i want them to be better and i know they want to be better for me as well. i always thought they never like me because i always thought i made the least effort in trying to know them personally. but i was so wrong. i thought they were still very young to be able to feel the love i have for them. after all, they were my first class, for the two and a half years in school.

i thought i could see this class graduate and i would cry with them when i give them their psle results. i am not going to have this chance now. i knew i was going to cry on the last day of school.

and out of the parting gifts, i received an envelop of fiftytwo$ and of course i knew i would have to return to the kid. she wrote that it was her savings and apologized for giving me so little. i told my dad about it and immediately he told me that kid must have be really appreciative of me because it is not easy to give someone their savings. i always thought i didnt put in enough effort in class since i was angry half the time and this fiftytwo$ really tells me otherwise. and i remembered clearly that it all started with me asking how she felt.

choosing a school in woodlands is my choice. a choice that i do not know if i ever will regret. i am worried. super worried. i do not know how well i can adapt but well, i know eventually i would. i am afraid. super afraid.

wish me luck.

THE ALMOST FAILED SURPRISE

jiang jiang jiang. been staying over at shaun's place for the longest of time and i didn't even look like i planned for his birthday but self award myself the best girlf. lols.

yoko once told us about fat cow and so decided to bring the boyfriend to try. didn't even tell him that his friends were joining us but on our way there, yoko called to inform that she couldn't get a cake and he kind of suspected about some surprises planned so i told him that it was eileen and i actually planned a birthday dinner for him with my friends and on the way there, i actually told him that we will be meeting jamie later and so i changed my story to meeting his friends for dinner instead.

and when we reached fat cow, he said he had a drop of tear but he sucked it back. lols. we each order either the fat foa-guar don or the wagyu kare don, and we shared a spinach in creamy sauce, wagyu rib meat and a grade A5 ribeye. 

the ribeye and the beef bowl is totally worth it. like one mouth and you will be hooked.

we were all sitting and chatting and suddenly the waitress came with a "birthday dessert" and a birthday song, even i was shocked because i really wasn't expecting anything since yoko already said that wouldn't be any cake. and damn those ice cream were super nice as well.

watched edge of tomorrow after and it was a nice movie and shaun was super surprised that i did not sleep. lols. japan food fair after. super expensive but everything looks so yummy. lols.

and all these explain about our weight gain.

SCREAMS HOLIDAYS!

so i flew off the very next day when school meetings officially ended. back to phuket with yoko and jamie and we visited different islands and tried more water activities this time round.

touched down, checked in and then to the town for lunch and to book activities for the next two days. white water rafting on our first day, together with flying fox and an hour of ATV. then island hopping the next day. 

not bad. not bad.

a woohoo picture for me to ogle but he has put on so much weight after all the eating now lols.

the guide then brought us to this waterfall where i just sat on one of the rocks. shaun had friends to annoy him during this trip other than me but i am sure he kinds of secretly likes their annoyance.

the next day was to coral island and raya island for snorkeling but alas, the snorkeling disappoints and i still feel that the best snorkeling experience i had was at redang island.

so this is usually what i will do. just sit on the beach chair and shaun will have to go play water himself. lols.

otherwise he has to piggyback me, especially if the water is too deep for me.

cannot remember if this is coral or raya island. had lunch then back to the same routine of me sitting under the shade while the rest went on hunting. other than shaun, yoko and jamie also came to show me their hunts. heh.

third day was water activities day at patong beach. tried banana boat and jet ski for the first time and meh. i was scare. very scare. lols. banana boat was fun and i felt that we hung on for a long time, rode on the waves for quite many times too and finally when we fell (i don't know how), my immediate reaction was to let go of the rope and hold on to shaun. the water was extremely choppy and i couldn't get on to the banana boat after the fall. lols. initially i got shaun and myself trapped between the speedboat and the banana boat (super dangerous because we weren't wearing helmet) and i don't know why i didn't think of escaping until shaun pushed me out but i still refused to let go of him. the current then pushed us away from the banana boat and shaun had to swim against the very strong current to reach back the banana boat and dragging me was not helpful at all. meanwhile, yoko and jamie had safely climbed back onto the banana boat. so shaun and i reached the banana boat and i don't know when he climbed onto the boat and i was left in the water. i tried climbing but i couldn't get on so yoko and jamie had to pull me up. i was freaking scare because the life jacket seemed to be dropping and there were a few times the banana boat nearly overturned. finally we all managed to get me out of the water but i was still pined onto the banana boat like a dead fish. at that point i wanted to stay that way (with yoko and jamie still holding on to me otherwise i will just rolled back into the water) and asked the driver to pull us back to the shore. i was just plain unglamorous. lols. 

jet ski was fun too with the drop balls feeling. 

and after everything.

you know people usually say that traveling either breaks or bonds the relationship that you have and i really appreciate the companion other than shaun this time round. its really nice to have yoko to look back and check upon me, giving me her hand so that i won't trip and fall, and accompanying me to the toilet because of the "obstacles" (and ended up having to look at a woman undressed in front of her). then with jamie to share the joy of eating all tropical fruits which shaun does not like at all. and on top of all these, the laughters seems to be louder too. :)

MANY WEEKENDS

came home one friday and shaun decided to bring me out for dinner and movie. initially i was still quite upset when he suggested to have dinner at town because i was so tired and lazy from work that i just wanted to have a quick meal at either hollandv or star vista and then home. even tried to argue if it was necessary to travel all the way to town to eat and when he said we would be doing other things, i was like "okay. lets go!" lols. it had really been a while since we spent some time together alone on a weekend night.

dinner was at saveur and we tried new dishes and we both love the salmon. it was raw but it was not fishy. so nice. bought our tickets and we had some time to spend so we shopped for abit and rested our legs at paul for some tarts.

celebrated our anniversary the next day and we booked a table at cajun kings. they do not have dungeness crab nor sri lankan crabs so we settled for mud crabs. and i actually like their sides more than their seafood. they have this cheesy catfish mini hush browns side which is not in their menu. their server recommended to us and its really worth trying. i kept whacking those hush browns.

lunch one fine day during the weekday after work. itacho never fails.

oh. squid leg. you got me hooked.

heard the news of my promotion near the end of march and the school celebrated last week. i think i have a thing for dessert table. walked into the meeting room feeling wow. like seriously?! lols.

they even put up a photo booth.

i am really thankful for pauline for giving me all sorts of help and opportunities and for believing in my work and potential and for making me less lazy in my school work. for listening not only to work related things and also to care for my personal life.

and its really quite disheartening that we will not be working together come next year.

and our principal, who is always misunderstood but really puts in a lot of effort for the students, staff and school.

finally, our 2nd year celebration :) woke up early and …

and when i thought thats it, shaun brought me over to uss and its really the last day of our annual pass. i was really happy because i really like uss. somehow uss just seems so magical. its like stepping out of singapore. and it really holds quite a lot of memories for me, for us.

secretly happy that the roller coaster ride is down forever because that is one of shaun's favorite ride and its like a must to take it every time we come. i am scare but i always like how shaun presses his ankle against mine, the way i like it, the way i feel safer from the ride.

the mummy ride which shaun always laugh at me because i always fail to take a proper photo while sitting on the ride.

our favorite eat in uss, other than churros. the pizza not say very fantastic but its one of the food that we will think of when we have lunch in uss.

till the next time. i will definitely going to miss this place.

 a meet up with the best friend last friday and we do what we do best, what i used to do best. lols.

godzilla movie after and i think i slept through like 70% of the movie? i don't know if its the alcohol or i am just tried from school. slept through saturday and shaun finally woke me up at around 7 in the night to bring me out for dinner. actually he wanted to bring us for some crispy prata and then we kind of craved for korean meat so we drove all the way down to kallang just to realize that the korean meat buffet closed down. we then settled for full of crabs which we happened to drive pass and it seems to have quite good reviews. 

the crabs. ohh sri lakan crabs. ohh my goodness. its just so meaty, its really huge and every mouthful is meat. we will definitely come back for more.

just yesterday, celebrated edwin's birthday and finally settled for some dessert at wafflelicious and we were blown away. shaun and i always didn't think highly of this dessert shop because its signboard and interior doesn't look appealing. we will always opt for udders or brownice but never once consider wafflelicious. and we are totally wrong. their waffles are simple but nice. they have flavor to their waffles. from original to cinnamon to chocolate to banana to blueberry and to many more. although their range of ice-cream flavors are not as many as compared to the rest of the ice-cream place, they didn't go soft on their flavors. shaun was hooked on their salted cameral and its really my first time tasting sea salt and cameral in ice-cream.

definitely on my craving list now and i am not going to share one waffle with shaun anymore.

monday tomorrow again and its my last monday before the june holidays start. woohoo. :) i cannot wait.