Memoirs: June 2005

Kampong Glam Excursion Trip

It was definately not a glum trip - although I was disappointed that
I did not get to talk much to my 3C students who went today.

But I did take lots of photographs!

First stop - Malay Heritage Centre.

We were told it used to be some sultan's palace and been conserved so that we may learn more about our own heritage.

There was the boat, that was used to ferry Bugis people to Singapore. (People from Bugis originated from an island in Indonesia)

And the Glam tree that the Bugis used its bark to stop the boat from sinking by folding the bark and putting them into the holes on the hull.

Glam leaves may be used to produce medicated oil for insect bites too.

This is a picture of a glam tree with some fruits on its branch.

Next we proceed to the Mosque within the confines of the Heritage Centre.
Here we know that all worshippers or visitors to the mosque we have to borrow a long dress if we are not properly attired (that is wearing shorts or short skirts)

After that, we were given some free time and we browsed the souvenir shops situated
there.

Look! Some children are fascinated by the top Spinning demonstration.

LAstly we went to Raffles Landing site for a viewing. And it is situated just opposite the famous Boat Quay!

Look at all the shops at the other end of the river. They used to be warehouses. Now they are coffee houses and restaurants at this popular tourist spot.

After that we proceeded back to school and a very sweet student from 3C gave me a souvenir she bought... a little pink butterfly just like the purple one you saw earlier.. so sweet of her!

Thank you very much! =)

School Reopened again

As you all well know already, school re-opened again this week.

I am not sure if you are happy to see your classmates again, (I should think so) because you get to catch up with each other and also renewed your friendships.

It was an extremely busy busy 3 days so far for me.

Remember I said I do not know which classes I am going to teach? Yea.. on monday I was asked to teach 5A, Tuesday and Today I was asked to teach 53SB.

Actually, I feel very tired having to rotate myself betweeen these classes and not have a proper timetable of my own. Can you imagine having to rotate everyday, not knowing where you are going to go everyday until during flag-raising ceremony ?

I wish I have my own class again..

But I was pleasantly surprised when my students in 3C told me today ( when I reliefed a teacher) that they miss me (wah I was so happy!) heehee! Two children even made a "welcome back" card for me.

I am so touched!

Thank you very much!

sigh.. I really missed having my own classes...*sniff*

Photos of my school

Wanted to take pictures of my really huge school. I get lost in it. I cannot find where is my classrooms and I cannot find where is my lectures being held. And sometimes I cannot even find the canteen.

Wanted to take photo to show you but my camera's battery died on me today. Let me try to get it revived and I will try to post up by this weekend.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

By the way, one little quiz for you:
Q1. Does anybody understand what is a noun, what is a verb what is an adverb?
Q2. How do you recognise a subject? how do you recognise a verb and how do you
recognise adverb?
Person who can convinced me of a good answer, I will give you a little prize =D

I started my course

Dear readers of this blog (or whoever checks on this blog regularly) an update - I have started my course at NTU (nanyang Technological University) already. It started on 20 June which was Monday.

And finally I can answer the questions all of you have been asking me for weeks..

Question 1:
Will I see you when school reopens?
Ans: Yes, I will still be in your school for 4 weeks. Last day 22 July 2005. My course will officially start on the 25 July 2005 (Monday)

Question 2:
Will you teach our class?
Ans: This I am still not sure because the office will arrange my duties.
However, I think I would probably buddy-teach (sit in the class) with the new teacher who is teaching 4B and 3C.

Question 3:
So when will your course end?
Ans: My course will end in one year's time. Probably by the end of 2006 Term 2, I would be asked to teach again.

Question 4:
After your course, will you come back to our school to teach us?
Ans: After my course, I would be posted to schools to teach. However, MOE (Ministry of Education) will decide where I would be posted to. If I could, I would come back and teach in your school.

Okie, gotta go already. I have lessons today and I have homework to do ;)

Bye for now!

Fashionista Me!

Hello Everybody its me, Coco again!
What a cold morning!

I had such great fun blogging yesterday, I asked for permission to blog again today!

Today I am going to show you doggy fashion show!
That's a picture of me in my Bumble Bee attire.
My owner always laugh happily whenever I wear this attire.
I think that is because I am so pretty and sweet in it.
She calls me princess sometimes.

Since its doggy fashion show, I also must dress to the nines right?
I don my south-china Sea pearl necklace, so atas looking right.
Oh yes, I saw one girl whose blog shows her going out with pearl necklace everytime, so wearing Pearls must be in now. I must keep a mind to keep wearing pearls when I go for car rides nowadays.

A princess ought to look like a princess, with all her jewellery right!

A close up of my pearls... nice anot?!
They are a tad heavy, but as long as i look pretty, I dont mind the weight.
Oh, that's my doggy tag. My Owner made it for me in Sydney Australia. Didi has a similar one too. His is blue in color, mine's orange just the way i like it.

Ohhhh... this is a photograph of my birthday present this year. From my mummy doggy's owner, she bought this modern pink trenchcoat from Hongkong for me. All my other siblings got one too. But only mine is pink. I love pink, red and orange colors. They make me look so beautiful!

Another picture of me in my pink trenchcoat, before I changed into my latest collection from Japan!

Tada! My latest addition in my wardrobe. Bought from Japan during Mummy's trip to Japan two months ago. Its a raincoat. Suitable for walks on days like this. Complete with a cape too!

It is reversible, but the other side is some army camouflage print. I dont like it. so I did not want to show you. didi also got a similar one. Yellow in color!

Now now now, If I am going for a grand dinner, I would wear my minnie mouse inspired dress. so pretty right.. complete with my Pearl necklace. My owner wanted to buy me diamantes collar- just like Paris hilton's chihuahua, but I find it too gaudy. Pearls are more sophisicated- just like me! *giggles*

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Okie, one last picture of me in my minnie dress before i change out.
Looks like my hairdo is a bit long, it covers my necklace.. must pester owner to bring me for a saloon trip soon!

Last but not least, I also have a very nice traditional Chinese attire. Just suitable for a chinese wedding or for chinese new year. Lots of ang baos guaranteed -If you look twice as good as I do in my clothes. Owner's youngest sister bought this for me, during her trip to hongkong earlier this year. Didi have a similar one in red.

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Nice right?

Here is Didi Wangwang in his Cowboy attire from Hongkong and him in the Similar Cheongsam attire in red. He is so cute too right.

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But I still think I am more photogenic.

There are more clothes. Like my Man Utd Jersey, my Yellow Rugby top, my Osh gosh by kosh purple tees, lots of them.. too much of a hassle to change and take pictures of them.. So.. I hope you enjoy my little fashion show.. till then.

Paws out.

A day in the life of a dog

Good Morning! My name is Coco and I am blogging today!
My owner needs to do housework today and bathe the smelly hamsters.
Well, I just woke up that's why you caught me yawning! Hmm...my owner is preparing Breakfast for me and my brother..must sit and wait.

My owner always want us to sit and behave before she gives us our food. So here I am sitting and looking pretty for breakfast.

Breakfast was delicious. Owner's sister still sleeping, so i shall join her in her nap. I dont disturb my owner after breakfast because she is reading newspapers. So let me nap first. Oh you want to see my brother?

There he is. His name is WAngwang. He looks messier because he screams everytime my owner combs his hair. That's why I always look so pretty. I like to dress up but he doesn't.

Aiya! why you wake me up? What you want now?? grrrrr You want to see my brother again? Because you think he is lost? Okay let me sniff him out.. *sniff sniff*

I know where he is already.. follow me

There he is under mummy and daddy's bed. *Coco disappears*
Wangwang: Oi! Why sister you wake me up! I want to sleep ley. What? Sister wants me to blog for her?! I don't want! I dont like to blog and owner dont want to play yet she is busy. she is still reading papers. Let me sleep let me sleep..... *whines*

Wangwang: Sister say she blog today right.. okie I go find her... how can she not fulfill her promise to blog today... *mumble mumble*

Wah! she sleeping on her pillow! Looking so comfortable... I want to sleep also.
Sister wake up wake up (so that I may take over your pillow). You must fulfil your promise and let them know what goes on in the life of a doggy hor..you cannot play cheat one!

Coco: okie lar..what else you want to know?
Oh When owner finishes reading her papers and eating her breakfast, we would play fetch ball with her or she would play tickle with me. Let me show you something...

Haha! my favourite toy. My owner gave it to me when I was barely 1 year old. He is my Pooh-pooh. Hee! Unfortunately I bit his nose out when i was teething. So he doesnt have a nose now. But I stil sleep with him everyday.

Hmm.. owner still busy. Mummy also busy. So we lie here waiting for owner to finish her housework... We are lucky, dont get to do housework. housework is tough work you know.

Ah-ha! Owner has completed her housework already and carried both of us for a photo shoot! there you go!! see I am so pretty right!

Okie owner is free, gotta go play with her again. So people, that's all for now. I did not know blogging is such hardwork!

bye!!

Sunrise!

Sunrise in tiny Singapore. Woke up at 6 + just to take this silly picture. But well worth it ? i think so.

Anyway, no harm done. I went right back to sleep after the photo was taken. Hee!

Pictures of Siloso Beach, Singapore

Picture of the Siloso Beach. Taken during sunset also. Absolutely lovely right ?

I love photography too!

Is this a postcard worthy picture? I took this picture at the Pattaya Beach in Pattaya, Thailand. Weather was good - about 20 degrees celsius only! Lots of beach go-ers. They are mostly causasians. Took this picture during sunset.

I love dogs! I cannot resist them! I went to Chatuchak market in Bangkok, Thailand and had to take photos with the little ones there!

MY dogs

Are you keen to have a pet of your own?

Well, having a pet of your own is lots of work. Originally, I did not have any pets. When I was young I was terrified of dogs. Those big mongrel dogs at my grandma's kampong house would always howl and bark, showing me their teeth. I got so scared of them, my grandfather would have to leash it up with their chain before i would alight from my dad's car.

Come to think of it, that's very bad behaviour. The dog must not like me, cos everytime im there to visit my grandparents, he's being locked up. NOw that i think of it, I very much pity the dog and hoped it went to heaven already.

Do you know that dogs have a life span of only about 13 years? It must have been more than 13 years since i last saw the dog. It must have went to heaven, since all dogs go to heaven dont they?

I kept my first pet when I was in primary school. I got myself pet swordfishes. They are red in color and have this pointy pointy red and black tail. However, I think they are a little dumb.

Why? Whenever i left the cover of the plastic tank open, they would commit suicide by jumping out of the water. At times, I managed to save it by realising it on time and putting them back into the tank. But sometimes I am too late and they die all dried up! *sniff*

By P6, i decided fishes are stupid. I refused to have anymore pet fishes. I refused to follow my parents to the market anymore becos they used to sell pet fishes in the wet market.

When I was in JC, my friend gave me a cutesy little hamster for my birthday present. Cage, water bottle included. But I have to buy my own pet food. Which costs alittle over $3. It's a white syrian, with long white fur. I called it brandi and i had to clean its cage every weekend or else it will stink the air. I even bathed the hamster so that it dont smell.

Brandi is a very mischevious hamster. It ran away one day while nobody was looking and we cannot find him. The disappearance hurt alot and I was so angry with it for running away.

a few days later my mother's friend found two baby hamsters, (Somebody abandoned the hamsters, probably because the hamsters are too smelly) and gave one to me. I called her Whiski.

She was so fun to be with. She would wake up aqt 8pm sharp everyday and does the suicidal act of jumping from her second storey house to the base of the cage, so that we know she is awake and will go feed her.

Whiski lived a ripe old age of 3 years old and passed away one afternoon. Everybody in the house was upset. My two younger sisters wept, I wept even my mother was affected. She was buried under my block - my mother helped me to bury her. From then on, my mother decreed - no more pets! They caused too much heartache.

however, we met up with an old neighbour a few months later. You see her female dog gave birth to 4 puppies recently and she wanted to give one to us. So I was excited and asked my mother for permission. She said no no no no no no and no.

I thought that was the end of it. Then one fine day, she came to me and asked do you really want that dog? I say yes! And she laid down her conditions. At that time I was a big girl already. I was already studying in the university and is able to take care of myself and I was also working part time. So after my university examinations, my mother agreed to let me go visit my old neighbour and choose our puppy home!

That was the happiest day of my life.

I choose the puppy and brought it home. To date, the dog's food, grooming, cleaniness, poop and urine are all undertaken by me alone. It took me 2 months before i successfully trained my dog to pass motion and urinate in the toilet and not anywhere else.

So you see, if your parents refused to allow you to have your own pet, it is not because they cannot afford to. It is also not because they dont love you. It is simply because at the moment, they want to have the time to take care of you. When you are older, perhaps your parents would allow you to take on the responsibility of having a pet to call your own. So in the meantime, be satisfied with just playing with somebody's dog until you are all grown up and can take care of yourself and others too.

Why did I have two dogs instead of one? I shall save that story for another day.

My hamsters

MY Hamsters. These are winter white dwarf hamsters. But i have no idea how come they grow up to be so fat and big. Maybe its the good food I have been feeding them.

One is a Pearl Winter White - female hamster. The other one is a normal Winter white hamster - Male. I have no idea why they dont want to get married and give birth to baby hamsters. They are not one year old now. But still no babies. *mutters*

They frequently fight and shrieks. The white one especially. My friends called her Drama Queen. The Grey hamster is always bullied. Poor thing. They still live together. These days I stopped their quarrels by providing them two wheels in the cage, Two toilets in the cage and two feeding bowls and two water bottles. Yes, they stopped quarreling already and they know which bowls, toilet and bottle belonged to them. Good. This way I wont be awaken in the middle of the night having to quell their quarrels by isolating them separately.

Anyway, I have a friend who has got a pair of hamsters who keep giving birth. Just wondering if there is anybody who wanted to adopt her hamsters? Drop me a note and let me know.