it's the time of the year again, a festive season indeed. after reunion dinner yesterday with my maternal grandmother and families, went along with the crazy idea to head down to chinatown at 11pm. had to park the vehicle miles away from where all the action was and the mayhem began.. coincidentally, there was a countdown going on in the heart of chinatown, and we were 3 minutes away from midnight, hence we waited. once the clock struck 12, *boom! the fireworks began shooting up and brightening the night sky with its myraid of colours. being able to view such a spectacular array of colours sure had to come with a sacrifice.. the sounds of the fireworks were deafening though we were some distance away from the main stage. i cannot help but wonder what was the sound level like if we were the kiasu ones that queued up to be first in line. however, the buzz only lasted a couple of minutes and soon the crowd began to disperse. we went to the little alleys and lanes for the best bargains in town, but to my horror, the alleyways were packed with people. body to body, butt to butt. left with no other alternative, we shuffled and shoved our way through. and as usual, the typical ones would start pushing just to get to the front. it was then that i wondered, what i got myself into. my first experience, also a bad one, was when i was walking there couple of years back and i actually got pushed all the way back until i was almost lost admist the humongous number of people. nevertheless, i'm glad this year i've got someone to cling on to. anyway we walked till about 2.30am and its amazing to see singaporeans eating at this unearthly hour. i guess singaporeans really eat at every time of the day. the buzz didnt stop there, there were still heaps of people walking to chinatown at that time. an amazing experience indeed! the crowd there was worse than christmas at orchard. really! if you want to experience what overcrowding is, do drop by chinatown on the eve of chinese new year.

chinese new year is much more than just a festive season, it's when the entire family alongside with the distant relatives come together for a time of fellowship and catching up session. visitation on the other hand can be quite superficial, whereby you just go to someone's house and have a drink, talk a little and then proceed to another place to carry on visiting people, waiting for the next new year before you can see them again. is this the real meaning of new year? some people only visit relatives during this festive season and aside from this, they do not even bother. family ties i guess, should really be strong and unbreakable even though it is your distant relatives. regular meet ups is a must and one should never only do visitations just during chinese new year. i'm glad to have such a close nitted family.. spending time with them is really a blessing!

wishing all my blog readers a blessed and fruitful new year. may you have a prosperous time in ang pow collection.

i have come to a conclusion that most kids nowadays have either unique or uncommon names.. it's really awesome to walk into a class, greet the class and then take their attendence. here are some wonderful names i came across, and yup i do like a couple of these names.. so yup i might use it for my kids.. my current favourite is javis. what's more, his cute face and gestures really made me associate the name with his face even more. okayy. this sounds a little wrong now.. but really, the primary one and two kids are really cute. 'teacher, can i drink water? teacher, can i go to the toilet? teacher, he spilled water on the floor! teacher, he use the ruler to beat me!' teacher this and teacher that. even though they may be naughty and playful, at the end of the day, what warms your heart is to hear from the kids: teacher, when are u coming back? you are very nice, we want you to teach us.
it is such stuff like that which makes me think twice about not considering teaching as a potential career. i remember vividly how my p3 and 4 teacher strongly advised us against not being a teacher when we grew up, and this has basically got stuck in me for the many years to come. i really have no idea.. this is a terribly tough question and i need much more time to consider. for now, teaching is rewarding and in my opinion, a potential career for me.

rachel shall rattle on soon.. the blog owner wishes everyone a blessed chinese new year!

blessed new year to one and all!

another day in a primary school have just gone by. it really amazing sitting down at ur desk and listening to what other teachers are saying in the staff-room. ocassionally u get the odd repetition of a certain name and u'll know the notorious ones in the various classes after a couple of sessions there. at the end of the day, you can never guess how exhausted i am after having to mark eighty scripts in just a couple of hours. anyway i'm gonna continue my teaching stint at another school for the next week.

i've got a short message for two pple:
michellina: can i have my cards and hairband back pls..
mabel: pls dont kidnap and torture my wrist and feet. i need my watch and sandals back.

that's all. rachel... out

havent been blogging these past few days. i did relief teaching FINALLY at pioneer primary after endless phone calls in the morning.. the kids i must say are rather an interesting bunch.. its really a tiring job and i was totally drained by the end of one school day. can u imagine how it would be like if i was really a trained teacher? or maybe its just advance training for the not-so-near future. i taught two primary five classes and one primary two class.. older kids are much easier to teach with a little bribery. but then again, not every class would actually fall for that. adding on, its really wierd when younger kids look up to you, as someone older and i suppose wiser.. there's this class where the kids actually ask me for my contact details and some even my signature. really wierd and i'm not used to that yet. perhaps next time! haha and can u believe that kids nowadays are really different from what we were.. there was this particular student..
student: ms cheong, u got boyfriend already anot?
me: nope, still single and available.
student: oh okay. ay ms cheong, i intro my brother to u can anot. then he started telling me about his brother.

i almost fainted! kids nowadays just dont learn, do they?

i went back to fairfield and pioneer jc for a while too. the feeling of being a graduate in that school and returning to your alma mater is undescribable. sometimes its as though u dont really belong there and yet at other times u feel 'hey, this was what got me here today' and u'll feel so proud of being a student there once.

aside from that, i crashed a uni lecture too. its awesome being in another uni and getting use to the style of a local uni. walking around and acting as one of them. hey! i actually paid attention to the lecturer k.. right juan? wasnt i a real student then.. hahas. more crashing soon. i wanna go for ur socio lecture.

updates on my personal life.. hmm, many things have happened lately. yet it seems they are for the better. samuel have left me already.. so sad.. i'm sure gonna miss him terribly. i do hope he puts up the frame that i made for him.. hahas.. being together for so many years already, a sudden change, miles distance is perhaps a time for me to miss him and treasure him even more when he is back!

something different is about to unfold! hold on to your seats and be prepared..