A Stroll

My time in Sunday when I'm not giving tuition, is usually at my grandma's place. And when I'm there, I made it a point to bring my two little cousins down for a stroll. One reason is that I'm fulfilling my duty as the elder "sibling" by bringing them to play. The other is, well, make the two happy.

And these two love the little get away, even though it is a less then 3 meters. The elder cousin would ride his bike while the younger one will try to balance herself on the scooter. But even so she often failed and resort to walking. *Chuckles*

Our first stop is always the temple. 

As faithful devotees, a trip to the temple should never be missed. 

Actually, they just want to see the animals.

There is a snake inside the temple and people pray to it. I forgot which deity it represents but anyway, this snake is really long and most of the time it is just lazing in its cage rather than  hissing at the people. Not to forget the tortoise and some carps. 

Stop 2: The Birds Walkway.

One of the household kept at least 1 dozen of birds and these two trails were full of their birds. Every cage is a different species. I took the effort to introduce them some of the species including their special traits

The last stop is ... the playground. Well, what you expect. They are children and children love playground. Even though it's not really that much fun. But in the past, I too used to find it the most fun place ever. 

I will let them play for ten minutes or so before we head back and I will have to go home soon. 

Overall, it is quite an enjoyable walk and we will always chat about their daily activities. I will occasionally find out some amusing stuffs happening to them and all. However, the most important thing is the time we had together. 

Disney- FROZEN movie review

Absolutely WORTH IT!

I love animation films but not exactly full supportive of them. This one is worth the go. Though I think the number of songs in the film can be reduced. It's like they have this full list of composed songs and somehow wanted to squeeze all of them into the movie to prevent them from being wasted. The film then becomes well..... I think overly decorated. Sometimes I felt like I was watching Les Miserables Movie. All songs no speech. Which is kind of irritating.

I know songs have always been a really important part of animated movies especially to Disney since many of them helps to convey important messages even though its good storyboard has already did a good job at it.

But overall it's still not a bad story. It still contains several Disney elements like how they embrace and showcase different cultures and ethnicity. This one in particular, I think is Norwegian.

My advice for those who haven't watch it to go and have a look. It cause about $7 for a movie ticket, that's not really expensive isn't it.

Deal with Time

I am 21.

Last year in College.

Had several job experiences.

Found myself adjusting to the current environment.

And is just starting to learn the way adults think and act.

But one thing I didn't manage to get it sink into my head, is that I'm of a legal age of marriage.

Not a big deal right? I mean accustoming to the environment needs time and time is what I have right now. I mean I'm 21, there's still a long way to the 'ideal' age (my ideal age) of marriage-. No hurry. We can take it slowly, and that's what I have been comforting myself with when some of my friends pops out of nowhere with a "HEY! I'M GETTING MARRIED" or a change in facebook status and bombard your news feed with tons of photos of their newborn child.

What's worst is that there are not just one, two but A BUNCH of my friends or who I know.

Like Seriously? And most of them are around my age! Or exactly the same! I cannot accept this... especially when I'm just settled on the thought of being an adult and now you tell me I can be a mum. I KNOW in ancient time I would now easily been a mother of 3-4 children. BUT I'm not in ancient times.

This is just sooo scary. The responsibility that you will have to shoulder, the change of martial status and suddenly you have to be so grown up, because you don't live for yourself anymore. You have a child to support and you who have or have not completed the whole education system now has to prepare your child for it.

Honestly, I have my skepticism on early marriage, especially when you are young, don't have a sound job and is still living under your parents

If you still live under the care of your parents, I don't know about if you can provide for your child.

I don't mean to be a damper but well, we are young. We haven't been through what they call the 'rough times". We don't exactly know how to handle stuffs. We haven't seen the world. And people change with time. The way we see things now will vary from when we see things in the future. So will our personality.

And wait, things will get tougher.. bills will pile up because when you grow , your needs increase.

You know what I'm getting to it and I really don't want to say any further.

So seriously, don't expect me to give comfort or give nice comments about this. Because I just can't.

With all being said.. I'm back to getting accustomed to my age.. Hmm..

How nice.. if it was me.

What a cute story.

(Credit: 9gag- Ya-Ya- Ya- Whadever~)

On the other side of the coin

After being a student.. and am still being one, it is weird to imagine that I'm a teacher. And the reality didn't really sink in until I gotten the presents... on Teachers' Day!

How awesome is that?

Yeah... although I wasn't really an official full time teacher, I get to receive the benefits of one.. well part of it. And for the record, I still commit the responsibilities of a full time teacher.

So here it is the presents from the students... actually its the Mom.

Not much. Only three, but it's most of the students. And I'm just happy and thankful to receive these gifts. 

Haha~

Spring in July

The trees below my block has blossomed with pink flowers blooming at the top. It's quite a lovely sight although how I wished the whole trees were pink instead of just the top upper top.  There's a road near my home and alongside of this road were a stretch of trees with pink and white flowers at each side.

As I walked along this stretch of lovely scene, I can't help back match its view to the Sakuras in Japan. I know that they worlds apart, but if you look closely, I don't think these trees ( I don't know what they are called) pale in comparisons.

Then I start to think, actually we have nice looking small view here even thought it's not as large scale or majestic as those overseas. But if you look closely,  you will learn to appreciate things around you and making it no reason for you to go red eye over those abroad.

Perhaps, one day while you are walking along some nice streets, you may like to pause and take things in. Only then, you will truly realise how beautiful things are no matter how big or small, grand or not. For each thing they have their good points to be appreciate at. And one you know how to pick out the good things, you will be able to appreciate the worlds' gift.

Zoo & 21st Birthday

Sandra wanted to go to the Zoo since they have this crazy promotion going on since it's the Zoo's 40th Anniversary. It has been quite sometime since I last visited the Zoo so I thought 'Why not?'. I thought it would be quite boring since I am not into looking at all these animals unless they are of an unusual species and we would pretty much complete our tour by noon. But who would have thought we actually spent a day since we watched all of the animals show and visited 90% of the animals.

The shows were kinda okay, not much of a circus type of amazement but yeahh.. I can roughly understand. These animals weren't made to threw the audience back and it wasn't the purpose (at least not officially) of the Zoo to be tourist centric marketing through stunts performing animals.  Instead, they were known as a conservation to educate. Therefore, the shows were more designed to showcase the intelligence of these lovely friends and educate the public about saving rain forest instead of training them to be the next attention grabber. Not that I'm pinpointing any other Zoological Conservation. :D

So for people like me, it wasn't much of an excitement to watch these shows. Rather I'm just bored. But oh well...

My 21st Birthday was on the other hand.. kind of alright.

I had my stayed the day with my parents and also half at work. Then the next day, I spent it with my friends. To be honest, I think the day that I hang around with my friends was a bit more enjoyable as compared with my family. Oppss. On the whole I will say that the way I celebrate is quite satisfactory. But.. if given a choice..I do want an elaborate one. I despise Chalet, and by elaborate I mean really.. elaborate.. grand. Maybe spend the day overseas. Aiya.. forget it. I don't have the budget to do it. So this is fine.

Sophie Kinsella

You know I'm really a big fan of Sophie Kinsella.

Ever since I was twelve I had been a big fan of hers. I remember when I first read her book. It was "The Dreamworld of a Shopaholic". It was during a book convention and I was looking for a book or two. That day, my whole family was at Suntec Book convention (after I screamed and cried and yelled) and we were all scattered throughout the hall glancing at the books they had to offer. My Dad allowed me to purchase two books, since I am a big book fan. However, throughout my search I realised some of these books are too adult for me. Half the time they were either old books or they were of uninteresting genres.

I didn't had any strong urge to purchase any book but you know... such a offer is hard to come by plus the books were sooo cheap!! $6 per book!! Usually they were three times more!! So I tried my best to dig for something that I would like and I eventually found two.. which eventually were both made into movies later. One was the Shopaholic book .. the other was Ella Enchanted. (I had good eyes..!! I hope that apply to man as well but AHEM! nevermind...)

Anyway, I was hooked and then forth started to purchase its subsequent series.. in fact I had the WHOLE Series.. and even bought her standalone. They were SUCH a good read. I had fun reading them, and each book I would had re-read them at least thrice!

Being her fan, you don't know how elated I was when she published the Shopaholic and Sister and subsequently the baby and Mini Shopaholic.

It was all good until recently I stopped reading her books. Ever since I had some sneak peeks of her then recently published book "I've Got Your Number", my interest plummeted.

I gave that book a total skip, and then it was the "Wedding Night". I had just read it. And it wasn't like her Sophie Kinsella style. This one was a bit more adult. It was more of a Madeleine Wickham type of book. I didn't read Madeleine's series but I do sneak a few peek and the story was more of a married person's life or people who have already reached a certain mature age.

Sure , she still keeps her comical writing, her funny side. But I guess the personality of the characters were a bit too.. over, dramatic. This is a story yes, but it's too unbelievable.

Plus I like to see a little courtship going on. Like in her previous books. It's a lighter read and and more simple (I mean in relationship, contained- "Remember Me?" was good).

I don't know.. maybe because I'm of a younger age and those adult-like lifestyle is difficult for me to comprehend.

So.. I'm now giving the her books the cold shoulder now. But I really hope the next one would be one I would like.

P.S The haze now is killing me ! Stupid Sumatra and your inefficient government. Act responsibly please!

Snail Facial Mask

If you guys are any facial mask user.. (of course you are!), you would have heard of snail related facial products.

I know it isn't a new thing, but the idea of using snail mucus to moisturize your skin is soooooooo unappealing. Sure that its mucus is a super hydrating solution. But it doesn't change the fact that it is gross!

Can you image?

Putting this

ON YOUR FACE? 

Of course you can! People do it, right...?

Well.. anyway.

My first exposure to this exotic thing is when I was randomly shopping at the Qoo10.sg last year and this huge advert was right smacked in the front page decorated so prettily and tempting.

Boy, was I gobsmacked !

The immediate responses that came flashing across my mind was..

"what the hell? Is this the new thing?"

"Have they gone out of things to work on?"

"My god seriously?"

Then of course I went to google for more information and to see how incredible this was ..and the words I got were... "replenishes moisture" "regenerative" , "good for you skin"; "anti-ageing"; "antioxidants"; "acne treatment".

And... that did sound pretty amazing. It's like it has all these beauty functions all wrapped up in one tiny drop of mucus.

So apparently,  this thing had been used by the Greek ages ago and now they readopting this technology. So cosmetic industries now are latching to this idea to either vie for more market share or lose it.

It really doesn't concern me because I know for sure that I wasn't going to use it.. anytime soon.. or in the future.

Until my Aunt got me one as a souvenir from her Korea Trip.

"JUST DON'T USE IT LAH! WHAT'S THE BIG FUSS ABOUT?"

Yeah Right.

My policy is not to waste any stuffs that are functional and are of good use especially those that are brand new. And this facial mask that she fulfills all the criteria.

So, I can't just throw it away. Unless I got someone who I can give it to and will put it into efficient use.

Haix......!!!!

I am going to pray that this person will turn out soon.. but meanwhile I will just leave it in the fridge.

Holidays Hhheeerreee..

Well, borrowed loads of Chinese books.. mostly are Confucianism, in comic .

But of course, I did borrowed some other non-pictorial Confucianism books.


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So after reading most of them.. there's only one conclusion I can derived.




CHIM.

(Lols, just kidding learnt a lot but also got a bit confused sometime)

Library@Chinatown

FINALLYYYYYY.......... I have stepped onto the holy ground of the National library at Chinatown on Monday.

Ever since knowing of its existence and read several of the comments regarding the library, I have been soooo eager to pay a visit. Especially since I am a Chinese Book lover, and having a library with completed with only Chinese books is a new thing here. Furthermore, it was introduced to be a library furnished with Oriental style as its concept. Naturally, such a thing would piqued my interest.

Well for a start, how often do you get to hear about a library that its interior design is completely non-futuristic/ modern focused?

So for some time, I have been meaning to find time to find my way there. And finally after my exams were over, I get to pay the library a visit!

But when I first stepped onto the 'holy ground',  I was very disappointed.

It was... small.. only consisting of one floor. And well..yeah.. it did adapt some Chinese style in its design but on the whole it still contained most of the modern concept.

And the collection of books was just... not up to my expectation.

It was.. info-centric. 

And.. I was really excited and looking forward to getting all my 小说. But when I got there.. there were NONE!

I MEAN REALLY NIL!!

But thank god there were books that I wanted to borrow. The other day when I was in Kinokuniya, I saw some of the books I really wanted to purchase but couldn't afford to. So when I saw them at the library, I was elated. 

I still managed to borrow some books.

But the disappointment still disturb me.. ooohh.. how my heart shatters..

I guess the reason why they had a small one know is because of the rather small percentage of chinese readers. I mean when I got there, there were just a few teenagers or people my age reading and browsing books. The rest were just making use of the facility to do their revision. Therefore, I should be glad that the idea of a Chinese Library has been realized? Well, it's a good start. Perhaps, in near future this library would expand? 

Wrong? Who wrong?

I just heard some typical market kind of gossip.

And I just feel sad for the child and felt a lot of injustice for her,  but who am I to judge anyway.

So apparently almost a decade ago, two underage parents had a child. That's not too much of a big deal until the Father doesn't want to marry the mother. Reason being, Father doesn't want to convert into Muslim. I guess the Mother doesn't want to leave her religion either.

I just don't understand, if you have no plans of going that far (marriage) with the girl, why do you even start the relationship? If it's just to kill time, I suggest you do the necessary precaution so you won't end up in a bad state. I mean if you love the girl, don't you want to work towards marriage as the goal? I guess maybe I'm too naive.

So.. Mother gave birth to the child and stayed with the Guy's family- still not married.

After some time, she decided to leave along with the child. I guess this will be better for both side.

But the guy's family did not let the matter rest, they went to court and try to vie for the child's custody. And so, the child spent half of the week each with its parent.

Sometimes when the child talk to me somehow I find it hard to communicate, because she will manage to divert the conversation to talk about her parents. And I will have to find ways not to hurt her feelings.Usually I really hate those who give themselves self pity, as I don't feel such thing quite a big deal. But hey she's a child. And a person's childhood had an adverse effect on their growing process.

Haix, so girls. Please don't just causally open your legs to anyone. Because ultimately not only you are hurting yourself, but your future child or partner as well.

End of Exam!

It's finally the end of my exams! All of my projects! All of my academics!! ... for now.

But still, I have plenty of stuffs to do..

Haix..

Beezy Beezy

Long Way to Go

Am counting the money I have struggled to save over the past 2 months.

*Glanced at the targeted money*

*Looked back at the total money I have now*

.... I still have a long way to go.

 If it wasn't because of Chinese New Year whereby I packed red packets for my elders, I would have been so much close to the goal. But aiya..., must display filial piety.

Well, 2 months to get this amount of money is not bad... at least I saved half of the money I earned. However, the money in my bank doesn't seem to go up. Ever since I deposited my pay back in December from the part time jobs I had, it goes down ever since then. Almost back to when I have not deposit my pay in. I guess law of gravity applies here huh~

 With the current pace I am going, I don't know if I am able to reach my target by the end of this year. Maybe.. I even have to roll it over to the next upper half of the year.

Makes me want to get more students.

Haix..

Plus exams are coming too.

I know, I know, time to get back to study.

Zzzzz

Summary of Travel Trips

It's the time of the year where I will do a collection of places I went to. It helps me to reminiscence and recollect the past trips.

2004- Australia

( Supposedly to reward my handwork in PSLE, but I didn't score too well... Haix~ so I feel kind of sore throughout the trip-Mum said that the price was pretty alright so they hop on the offer plus its a good opportunity to bring the children overseas somewhere pretty far )

2005- Twice to Thailand

( One With Band for exchange, a week after we came back, went with whole family )

2006- China

( Went with Parents and their friends- was a alright trip )

2007 - Korea + Hong Kong

( Went with big family and our destination is Korea because Aunt was a Kpop Drama fanatic- plus plus the travel price was really cheap even compared to today and those days.. so without much hesitation , off we go!)

2008- Hong Kong

(Went with Band again for an exchange)

-Malaysia

( KL for a big shopping Spree)

2009- Batam

( Overseas Community Involvement Program , 3 days 2 nights)

-Vietnam

(Went with Big Family minus DaGu's family, had fun sleeping on those olden days boat)

2010-  Malaysia

( This tip we went to Malacca and reside in those log houses which is pretty cool ) 

2011- NO WHERE 

DAMN!!!

2012- Batam

( short trip 2 days 1 night, stay in a kelong house. A good experience, also tried snorkeling but I"M NOT GONG BACK THERE AGAIN)

2013- ?????

Probably no where again

Korean School Experience PART 1 (edited)

And so I have successfully enrolled myself into another Korean school after stopping for around half-a-year while waiting for my friend.

After months of careful examination and tons of emails + replies. We or should I say I, settled on Singapore Korean School. Friend was a bit reluctant to join because of the pricing but I told her I decided on this school and won't settle for any less. She - with no other choice- (I'm sorry), she decided to enroll too, of course not without the whines of the pricing and pulling a really disheartened face.

I'm only there for three lessons, so I really can't make good substantiated reviews but I will just say what I feel about the lessons so far.

This is just a very simple contrast between the two schools that I have attended so far.

Word of caution: These are all my perspective. I have not sit for Topik yet so some of these comments may seem unsubstantiated to you guys. Take it with a pinch of salt.

Syllabus
SKS
I know many are concerned with the syllabus taught. Whether they are enough for you to go for the TOPIK Basic Test 1. I have looked through the test paper. And from the point of view of a SKS student, there is a possibility of passing the paper. The grammar tested in that level are all taught, perhaps one or two may seem unfamiliar but passing is obtainable. For the writing component, this would be a bit hard. Because in SKS , the focus is more on conversational skills and reading skills. There is few practicing students have of writing. Therefore, this section may seems a bit more challenging. Plus, vocabulary exposed in SKS are restrained in a fixed context. Thus, may find it rigid and hard to find words taught to express yourself.

Hanok
If you have completed Basic 4, there is higher chance of you passing Topik 1 as compared to SKS. Why? Because unlike SKS, the teacher made speak in Korean during lessons and have dictation every end of lessons. She will scribble English sentences and have you translate them. Of course, these words are all taught and in the textbook. Therefore, being made to write, students were already comfortable in writing Korean words and are better able to express themselves. Plus with the richer range of vocabularies, Hanok students wouldn't find writing component much of a pain.

Pace
SKS
SKS proceed at a faster pace. Each lesson, there is a fix topic that the teacher has to finish. However, because the content isn't really a lot, it is suitable for even slow pace learner. As long as you make your revision every week. I don't seem to think it will be overbearing.

Hanok
Hanok's pacing would be a bit slower. One topic maybe separated into two lessons in order to be finished. This is due to the wider vocabulary words and to revise previous grammar points taught. So for example, on lesson 8, she will teach present tense + past tense+ some vocab, then on lesson 9, she will go through these again + more vocab and maybe future tense.

Teaching
Now, here is the most important part I want to emphasis. Teaching. Most Korean schools here have lessons are conducted by native korean. The reason why I want to address this issue is because I think this is a important factor to consider when choosing a school.  Many of us have a common but understandable perception about the correlation between quality of teaching and nationality of the teacher. Of course, I would agree that a native would be a not more suitable person to teach its own language to foreigners. Being grown up in that community for over 20+ years, naturally the native teacher would be more familiar with their own culture and its tradition.

But I would like to say that LOCAL/NON-NATIVE teachers are equally good as well. The important key factor to pay attention to is NOT the Nationality but the way the teacher teach and communicate. Many native teachers here are not well-verse in English, and this becomes a huge problem because instructions are not properly communicate. It will become a common thing to constantly guess and lean in to figure out what the teacher is trying to convey. Subsequently, it becomes tiring and you start to lose interest. Therefore, don't discriminate local teachers. If they have good language background plus good teaching skills, try them out. I'm sure they won't lose out to the natives. Of course, if your teacher is a native and has good command of English, then that will be a bonus!

I will not compare the teachers in both schools yet because Hanok only has one teacher while SKS has plenty of them. Therefore I won't be playing fair.

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Hope I answer your questions~
If you have any more queries you can always drop me a comment!

Money Not Enough

Chinese New Year is Coming.

There are soo many things that I need to fork out money for.

So I opened my accounts book where I record all my purchases and earnings, and took a really detailed look. After I have updated all recent transactions, I looked at my "future earning" page. It's a page that I record all the job assignments that is currently under me and listed down all the income I will receive each month upon completion.

My eyes carefully zoomed into the 'January' and 'February' column.

Haix~...

I guess I should cut back on my spending limit.

New Year Resolution?

New Year Resolution.

BORING~

Not going to bombard you guys with my resolution.Typical new year post. Plus I even forgot what my previous year resolution was.

But that doesn't mean I don't set goals and push myself to greater heights. It's just that I set long term goals and I'm taking baby steps towards it.

I have already make a tiny baby step today to achieve one of my long term goals. I think it is a big accomplishment. Drawing bubbles of dreams is easy, achieving them is hard. And to make them realise, all you have to do is to take the very first step. So here I am making my next one.

Now with the arrival of a new year, I can't help but feel a slight change in my feelings.

With each passing year, I feel more and more depressed. A new year does not only represents a fresh new start but also gives you a new set of responsibilities. As I inched towards adulthood, I feel a little helpless and a little bit of fear. There are so many questions and doubts I have for myself.

Ahhh..

I'm turning 21 this year. And in a few more years, by society's convention I would reach a suitable marriageable age. Will I be able to cope with this pressure and continue to lead the life I desire. Or will I succumb to their menacing glares and give up my long term plans?

Can I cope with the increasing work load and lead a balanced life? And face the unforeseen changes?

I do not know, but I fear.

Everyone fears the unknown.

It's no wonder that people fear time.

Nonetheless, I am going to take one step at a time, smile and face the upcoming challenges.

How do you spend your new year. Any thoughts?

Happy New Year~