Our trip to Japan - Hotel Reviews

I wanted cheap & clean hotels near the train stations as we had to transport our heavy luggage ourselves. Every other day in Oct, armed with a map of the subway stations, I surf the internet for hotels. My criteria for choosing a hotel: location (must be within 10mins from train stn), outlook of the room must look new & clean (from internet photos), toilet (must have auto wash system), price & guest reviews. Sometimes after making reservations, I would find a better hotel and cancel the 1st reservation ;p

The hotels we stayed at:
22/11 ~ 24/11: Hotel Unizo, Yodoyabashi (Osaka)
25/11: Cube Hotel Ueno Express (Tokyo)
26/11: Smile Hotel (Hakodate)
27/11 ~ 29/11: Hotel Fino (Sapporo)
30/11: Comfort Hotel (Hakodate)
1/11, 3-5/12: Comfort Hotel, Higashi-Nihonbashi (Tokyo)
In total we stayed at 7 different hotels for 13 nights and spent an average of S$60/pax/night at each hotel. 1 night stay at ryokan excluded.

All the hotels were nice & clean though a little cramped. They all had a bath-tub except for Cube hotel. A luxury to us as we would soak in the hot water at the end of each day. As I’m a member at a Japanese hotel website, I could get good business hotels at 20 – 30% off the hotel rack rate. Plus I could offset the rate with accumulated points from previous hotel stays. So we saved quite a bit on that.

Our fav hotels were Hotel Unizo (S$60/pax/night) at Osaka & Hotel Fino (S$50/pax/night) at Sapporo. Very new & clean, relatively spacious room & bathroom, long bath-tub, big tv screen, free use of PC/internet at lobby, good service & high-class atmosphere ;p

The worse was Smile Hotel. Cramped and very budget looking. Well, for only S$30/pax/night, what could we ask for? It was very near the train station and had a nice view from the room though. Another jialat hotel was Cube Hotel. Very cramped with hardly any walking space, not to mention luggage space! No bath tub L Only saving grace was its proximity to Ueno station coz we had to catch an early train to Hokkaido. Plus it’s clean & tidy & has free PC/internet to use & free coffee/orange juice.

Comfort Hotel Chain was quite good too. (Hakodate & Tokyo ~ average S$70/pax/nite). They had daily free buffet breakfast (the price is probably included in the room rate already) for the guests. Quite a good variety of tasty food which we enjoyed ~ 6-8 types of bread, 8 types of rice balls, 2 soups, 2 cereals, 3 types of fruits, sausage, scrambled eggs, salad, yogurt, freshly brewed coffee, orange juice and tea. Locations were near stations. Service was good and there was free use of PC/internet access and free flow of coffee the whole day. The comfort hotel at Tokyo was along the local train line to Narita Airport so we didn’t have to change trains and it’s cheaper too. The only problem is the lack of escalator from the ticket gate to station exit. My poor bf had to carry two 15kg luggage up 3 flights of stairs!

We stayed at a ryokan on 2/12 at Lake Kawaguchi (Fuji 5 Lakes). This cost me a bomb at S$290/pax/nite. And as it’s a birthday treat for my bf, it really bombed my pocket lor! Haiz, if only the exchange rate was better…. But it’s worth every cent of it! Our plan included dinner & breakfast, use of common hotspring, 50mins use of the private hotspring (just the 2 of us!) and a birthday cake. Dinner was served in our 12.5-tatami room and someone came at night to make our bed (mattress). Very “Japan Hour”! Breakfast was heavy with rice and many other dishes. Best of all, we had a superb view of Mt Fuji from our hotel’s rooftop & hotsprings. Needless to say, bf was thrilled with the ryokan experience.

I’m glad I didn’t go for hostels this time and booked business hotels instead. Although it’s a little more costly (extra S$20+/pax/night compared to hostels), it’s worth it for the personal room & bathroom/toilet, cleaner room & facilities and better service.

Our trip to Japan - The Plans

Japan ~ My 7th consecutive year there and his 1st trip. The idea to go there was planted early this year when he remarked that even though he has studied the Japanese language for almost 4 years, he has never been there. It's his dream to visit one day. So we started to plan for this major trip of the year. (Actually it's just me planning the trip since i'm more familiar with Japan.)

It was quite a headache planning the dates as we could only take leave before & after certain dates. When we finally fixed the dates, we booked our air-tickets directly at SIA website in August. Cost us S$776/pax (incl tax/fuel charge). Bought our JR Pass in Oct, cost us S$448/pax.

Our next challenge was to plan the travel route. I wanted to see autumn leaves while he wanted to see snow. How to have both autumn & winter at the same time? Go to Hokkaido lor! Domestic flights are cheap since we could use Airpass but it would add about S$400 to our expenses.So we settled for train rides instead, esp since we planned to use the JR Pass to travel from Kansai to Kanto, might as well fully utilize it and go to Hokkaido with it. The travelling time is a nightmare though ~ 9.5hrs from Tokyo to Sapporo with 2 change of trains. We opted to stop over at Hakodate for a night to break the 9.5 hrs into 6hrs + 3.5hrs. This way we could get some rest and also visit Hakodate.

Our route:

22/11 ~ S’pore to Osaka (Kansai)
23/11 ~ Kyoto
24/11 ~ Nara
25/11 ~ Osaka to Tokyo (Kanto)
26/11 ~ Tokyo to Hakodate (Hokkaido)
27/11 to 30/11 ~ Sapporo
1/12 ~ Hakodate to Tokyo
2/12 ~ Lake Kawaguchi
3/12 to 5/12 ~ Tokyo
6/12 ~ Tokyo to S’pore

The route seems very packed and tiring but in reality it was ok. We had at least 8hrs of sleep daily and took our time at each tourist spot. For Kansai region, we based ourselves at Osaka and took day trips out to Kyoto & Nara. This saved us the trouble of changing hotels daily. The 3+3 hours ride between Tokyo & Hakodate was long but bearable. We had our breakfast & lunch on the train & took short naps too. As we set off early in the morning, we still had time to sightsee by the time we reached our destination.

Our timing for the trip was just right. When we were in Kansai (Osaka/Kyoto/Nara), it was the best time to see the red autumn leaves. The streets were filled with lovely red leaves. On our 2nd day in Hokkaido, it snowed the whole day and we had lots of fun playing with snow. By the time we returned to Tokyo in early Dec, the red leaves had turned yellow. It rained on some days but we were very fortunate that it’s usually drizzling or after we’re done with our sightseeing.

The trip went as I had planned with some pleasant surprises thrown in, such as the unexpected snowfall. We also kept within our budget of S$3000/pax for air-fare, JR Pass, hotel, other transport & meals : )

Back at blogging!

I'm back in blogspot! I've not been very busy, just too lazy to blog, always planning to blog the next day, the day after etc... and before i know it, 2 months have passed :)

Here's my 1st blog using my new laptop! My faithful Dell laptop finally retired after serving me for 6 years. And it chose a good timing to do so --> just a couple of weeks before the IT fair at Suntec. I went there on the 1st day to shop around & bought this new ASUS laptop. I love the sleek design and the bigger screen with sharper graphics. But I can't say the same for the system. Not too used to Vista yet. Waiting for my Windows 7 to be shipped over now......

I can't seem to recall the events of September, except for the reunion cum birthday gathering for my friend who was working in Taiwan. As she travelled back to S'pore often during her stint in Taiwan and we often chat online, the 2 years she's there seemed like 2 months to me. We had dinner at KPO. My 1st trip there. Nice chill out place in the evenings. Food is good but a little ex.

The month of October was more eventful. My boss gave me the option to resign without having to pay the penalty for breaking the 1 year bond I have. But that option still needs her boss's approval. I was happy yet troubled over the option. Coz it came at the end of the year where jobs are scarce and bonus is in 1st quarter of next year. Though I can afford to be jobless for a while I decided to stay on. I seriously didn't believe the big boss would approve to waive the penalty. Many resignees had appealed but failed. I didn't want to risk having to pay the penalty. Anyway there's only 3 months more to my bond. Add on the 1 month notice, it's up to end of March 2010. Considering my 2 weeks trip in Nov/Dec and festive holidays, the 4 months will pass in a flash.

Almost a year after her ROM, my sister held her wedding on 11 Oct. An event well-planned out and went quite smoothly. The day was filled with fun & laughter, thanks to the gang! (Photos avail at my facebook).

The weeks after the wedding was a blur until yesterday. We started our house-hunting mission yesterday, visited 6 or 7 units within 2 hours. Very tiring but a good experience, at least now we know what type of unit we want. I also learnt how to notice if that unit's occupant is harassed by loansharks.

While waiting for the agent at the lift lobby, we noticed parts of the pillars were painted over. Upon closer inspection, we could see a unit number, contact number & O$P$. Soon after the agent brought us to that unit! Of course he didn't mention anything and we acted blur. The owner took a long time to open the door (prob wanted to make sure it's not loansharks). The front wooden door was scrapped off. Drops of blue & red paint could be seen on the floor in front of the door. A few unsuspecting buyers viewed the unit for a long time while the 2 of us and another couple were out within minutes. They had noticed the paint too. The rest of the units were either too small or poor location. With the high expectations we have, I guess it'll take months for us to find an ideal home.....

We had a Halloween night gathering at my home yesterday. We watched the Thai horror movie "4bia". Think I only watched 50% of it full screen, the rest partially blocked by Ah Ke coz I was too scared. Haha! No more horror movies for me!

Today's finally 1st day of November. Counting down to November seems to take forever! 21 days more to go. Counting down to our "honeymoon" trip with my boyfriend to Japan :) Just cross my fingers won't bump into my ex's relatives or friends....

1 month of work updates

End July to mid-August has been a crazy time for me at work. The big boss suddenly wanted to do a community service project within a week and appointed my boss to be the project manager. That was a big mistake coz my boss conveniently mobilized the whole department to run the show for her. With just the 3 of us in the department & a very tight deadline, we spent all our official working hours on the project, leaving little time for our usual work until after 6pm. We did OT almost everyday for 2 weeks and hated the thought of community project.

This is probably the only community service I've ever done with such an unwilling heart. Why go so far to help the poor when there are many poor families right at our doorstep who needs our help? The answer is simple: politics. The bosses weren't even around at the 1st session of the project to meet the poor. They only turned up at the 2nd session to give out gifts coz there was media coverage. That really disappointed me. From the project we could also see the ugly side of our otherwise nice boss and the even uglier side of the bigger bosses. I've lost all respect I had for them.

August is also the month of my confirmation appraisal. My assistant manager appraised me and passed it to my senior manager for 2nd appraisal. While they have been truthful and fair to me, some of their comments upset me so much I approached my senior manager to defend myself. I requested for early release from my bond but she refused, so I told her I'll leave after a year. 1 week later she showed me the revised appraisal comments which reflects more accurately my strengths & weaknesses. However somehow the damage has been done. I keep my distance from the 2 of them now.

I received my confirmation last week. Although the increment isn't high, at least it gives me a chance to ask for better starting pay in future. These days I've lost the zest at work. I do what I am required and nothing much beyond my call of duty. Before this I had worked hard but it wasn't recognized, so why should I continue working hard now? With about 7 months left in my bond, I couldn't be bothered too much anyway...

Did I mention the company made all of us undergo a 2 hrs English Proficiency test recently? I wonder if our GCE 'O' & 'A' level English grades are recognized. The irony is MOE didn't make me undergo any English test and I was a trainee English teacher in a secondary school. Are we all here to teach or what?

NETs dependent

Left my atm card at work 2 weekends ago and realised how dependent i am on the little card. First I do not keep a lot of cash in my wallet, preferring to withdraw cash weekly. Secondly I have 2 atm cards, of which one is kept in my safe as that bank account is supposed to be a saving account. Therefore I have only 1 atm card in use. Lastly I do not keep spare cash at home for use in 'emergencies'. So I was very cash-strapped that weekend without my atm card.

Shopping had to be limited small shops and push-cart stores only accept cash/NETs. School fees payment had to be deferred by a week coz they don't accept credit cards. Food & drinks had to be limited when my bf wasn't with me. Luckily there weren't many activities over that weekend and I survived on that bit of cash in my wallet. Guess I'm too dependent on atm. With the card I tend to overspend on weekends, so I think when I seriously need to save up, I'll just leave my card at work ;p

Overslept!

First time in my 5 months at work I overslept. Supposed to wake up by 6.30am and leave the house by 7.10am. I slept till 7am today. Jumped out of bed and rushed to my bathroom when my dad called me. All done within 15mins. Luckily wasn't late for work but I was a zombie in dreamland till lunchbreak. Tired.... I want to sleep in for the wkend but tomorrow have to work... sianz :(

Eerie workplace

The 1st month I joined the company, I had an eerie experience at work and I blamed the "dirty stuff" for causing my high fever during my 1st week of work and subsequent poor health over the next 2 months.

My office is a small room for 3 and arrangement was such that I can see 1 colleague (A) who's seated beside me. The other colleague (B) is beside (A) but blocked by a partition, so i have to stand up to talk to (B). One afternoon, (A) wasn't not in the office. I heard the sound of chair moving and keyboard typing , so I assumed (B) was around and asked her some stuff. However there were no replies though the sound of typing went on. So I stood up to talk as I thought she couldn't hear me. No one was there. Sound stopped too. Strange.....

I sat down and continued doing my work and the sounds started again. I kept psychoing myself it's the air-con blowing her seat until my colleagues came back. This happened often when I'm alone until I placed a japanese charm taken from a shrine in Japan and always play my mp3 loudly in the office.

When I asked (A) about it, she told me she had experienced it as well and heard of many other eerie tales too. One was the sound of franking machine in use at 8pm+ at night and when the colleague went to check on who's using it, the sound stopped. There're a few sighting reports as well. The latest was a new staff started feeling giddy the moment she stepped into the department's office and vomitted a few times after she got home. There was another account about someone hearing papers and things being moved and many voices talking at night and it all stopped when the security switched on the lights. There were a few more tales that freaked me out.

After my 2 colleagues left and 2 new ones came onboard, there are fewer eerie incidents in our room though today i still heard a little of things moving. We have a small cross at 1 workstation, 1 drop of holy water at another workstation, 1 japanese charm and 1 chinese charm at my workstation. Maybe these are taking effect and blessing us, I don't know. Or maybe it's my loud music drowning out the sounds. And my health improved too.

Today during lunch, one colleague casually remarked that probably bones will be dug out during the construction next to our workplace. "Bones?" "Ya, bones. This whole area used to be an old Chinese cemetery wat!" "ah...no wonder... that explains all the eerie tales!"

And so just now I googled about the area of my workplace and confirmed it. It was a cemetery until the 1960s when it was exhumed to make place for development.

7th month is coming in mid-August. I better pray more and arm myself with more blessed items!

Disappointed with Ebisboshi Shotengai

Ebisboshi Shotengai is a japanese food street located at Iluma @ Bugis. It's a collection of 7 japanese restaurants under one roof with a common menu and sitting area. Similar to Marche. The deco of the place is interesting and very jap like. And they have an innovative way of ordering food --> pointing a sensor at the menu. But it'll be a nightmare for people with technology phobia. With H1N1 fear, I don't really fancy the idea of holding on to a sensor used by many hands!

The menu looked great but the food was a disappointment. We ordered a mini ramen + mini fried rice set set costing $14.80. The fried rice served was cold. Not refrigerator type of cold but as if it's been left out in the open for some time. I told the waitress about it and she brought it back to the kitchen. A while later they served the same bowl of rice (we recognized coz we sprinkled chili powder on it) piping hot, even the whole plate was hot! Must have used a microwave, how else to explain a hot plate? The rice tasted ordinary. Despite it being a kani chahan (crab fried rice), we could hardly find any crab meat. The crab stick was cut into such tiny pieces, one wouldn't have known it's a crab fried rice.

The mini ramen wasn't that good. Tasted like instant ramen. Next we ordered 2 taiyaki (pancake in form of fish with red bean fillings). It was served cold too. I rejected it and requested for warmer ones. Tasted good but not worth for money. The jap ice dessert was good though.

The bill for the mini set, 2 pancakes & 1 ice dessert added up to $26.80. Definitely not worth the money! It's such a disappointing experience, my bf & I decided we'll not be back again.

Ways to stay positive

A week after I felt extremely unhappy at work & negative about my company, I found a way to stay positive at work. No, I'm still negative about the company's policies and culture, but I've figured out the way to help me survive here for the next 6 - 8 months. All thanks to my job of screening through resumes.

We always screen out job-hoppers and are usually impressed if the person has worked in a company for 2 - 3 yrs and get promoted during their service. I thought to myself, "how does my resume look to potential employers?" The answer's quite obvious. With a sudden career switch and many contract jobs in between, it's actually quite difficult for me to get past the 1st round of screening. Hence I found the motivation to stay on --> a good resume!

Of course just that thought alone doesn't help. With 8 months left, time will pass very quickly. That itself is quite an encouraging thought. Plus my current team believes in work-life balance over career, so we always aim to leave the office on time, if not before 6.15pm. This is unlike my initial few months where I slogged till 7+ every other day.

Nowadays I still complain a lot to friends and talk about about finding a better job next year but somehow my mood is lighter, I'm less frustrated and angry. Maybe I'm resigned to fate. Or maybe I've really learnt to be more positive in thinking. Whatever nonsense there is in the company, I can't deny the fact that it's a good training/learning ground for me even if the practices are unprofessional.

Hope for better days ahead.....

Same shit everywhere?

In one of my posts, I mentioned about my company which has undesirable policies and practices. The longer I work here, the more I see, and the more disgusted I get. I wish to get out of it as I don't want to be part of the team executing these policies but I can't as I'm bonded. Damned....why did I sign that stupid bond?!

Anyway I guess my unhappiness showed and during our department meeting today, boss asked us to share our feelings, how we feel about working here etc. I didn't hesitate to voice out all my unhappiness and frustrations about the company and I frankly told the team that despite a good boss and great team, I still can't adapt to it and not sure if I ever will. Of course boss then shared her feelings, her frustrations and how she manages those emotions. Then came my colleagues turn, one said she's easily adaptable and always detach her emotions from work. Another said she just do her job and remain happy-go-lucky. In short, both wouldn't let the negative environment affect them. Unfortunately being an emotional person with strong principles, I can't be like them. I don't support salary deduction, backdoor hiring, unfair employment contracts.

All 3 of them kept saying it's the same everywhere, that there's no perfect company. I do agree there's no perfect company. Some are good but colleagues are pests, some have worst policies than here. However having come from a few good companies with great colleagues & bosses, I believe there will be greener pastures out there compared to this place. None of the 4 MNCs I've worked at had such punitive and unfair policies. Poor them, all the places they've worked at were local set-ups so they prob thought this place is normal like any other companies.

Anyway I guess I've made it quite clear to the team that I won't be here for long. While I know it's career suicide to change jobs after a year, I guess I'll still do it. I can't work against my conscience for long coz it's affecting me emotionally. And I'm not good at controlling my emotions. Or rather, I don't want to end up as a person without empathy and compassion, which might be the case if I continue to be here executing the policies.

Wish me luck in my job hunt next year!

Trip to Genting & KL

My bf & I went on a short trip to Genting & KL in end-May. It's my 1st trip there and his 2nd, but it's both our 1st experience traveling there by coach. With a top-up of $5 each, we upgraded to a premium double-decker coach. Though it's a little run down, the seats were spacious & comfortable with massage function and personal TV with a few movies. The ride to Genting passed in a breeze.

My 1st impression of Genting was "what's there to see here?" coz it's just hotels all around. I experienced a little of the cool weather at the bus terminal upon arrival and rest of the time was spent walking around the shopping mall. It wasn't a fantastic shopping experience as things are expensive and not impressive. I can easily get them in S'pore at the same price. Food was ordinary too. We watched "Night at the Museum 2" at the cinema there. It's interesting to note that they have a few massage chairs at the front row of the cinema which costs about RM18 per ticket. We chose the spacious but non-massage chairs at RM17 per ticket which includes a soft drink and a box of popcorn.

We "toured" through the casinos but didn't try out luck coz we aren't into gambling. The indoor amusement park didn't interest us neither. I'd say this trip to Genting has been quite a disappointment.

The next day we set off for KL. It was a short 1 hr trip from Genting. We walked almost an hour from our hotel to the Twin Towers coz we wanted to sightsee along the way. Shopping at Twin Towers was boring, felt as if I'm shopping in S'pore, so we left soon after. Next we went to Chinatown which is just like our Chinatown, except here they sell lots of imitation branded goods which we're not keen in. I managed to get a pair of high heels for evening wear at S$20 there. We tried the fried noodles and bak ku teh which tasted ok, not super delicious.

Late in the evening we went to a spa near our hotel. Wah, the Malay style of massage's very painful! Many times I had to tell the person to lighten her strokes. Done with the massage we went back to our hotel to sleep. Very tired!

The agency arranged for a mini-bus to fetch a few of us to the bus terminal the next day. We were very amused by the waiting area set up for the agency's coach passengers. They had a customer service officer stationed there who acted ike an air hostess. When we boarded the coach, I couldn't control my laughter when they did announcements welcoming us on the trip then walked down the aisle serving drinks and lunch! For a moment I thought we are on a flight!

It was quite a pleasant & smooth ride back. We reached S'pore at 7.30pm and we were home by pm. We didn't buy any souveniors coz nothing worth buying there. Shopping also quite limited. Overall this has been quite a good experience but I doubt we'll be going to Genting & KL again coz there' s nothing there that interests us.

ECA @work = busy!!

The week after Labour Day was crazy, all thanks to H1N1 virus. My boss was in panic mode on 4th May, making us print out & put up advisory notes on it all around and she sent out emails after emails about temperature taking etc. My ex-colleague who was looking forward to laze her remaining 1 week left in the company was stretched to the fullest as she was arrowed to handle the temperature taking exercise.

A duty roster was quickly drawn up and activated staff had to put on mask & gloves and stationed at the guard house to take temperature of visitors, staff & students. On Day 1 (5th May), we were instructed to wear the yellow surgical looking coats, put on N95 mask & wear gloves. I was unlucky enough to be the 1st group on duty in the morning. Had to report to work at 7.15am and stood out there taking temperature of people for 2 hours at the humid non-aircon walkway in the full gear. 2-3 hours later as some of the activated staff couldn't make it, my dept of 4 took turns to cover them. Luckily by then full gear wasn't required. We only needed to put on mask & gloves. In the evening I stayed till almost 8pm for the duty as well. Thank goodness this lasted 2 days only otherwise I think I'll become a zombie. The last 2 days of the week was spent catching up on work :(

Last week was craziness as well. Boss was in another panic mode, shortlisting almost every other candidate and wanted us to interview at least 5 a day. Plus I was rushing out a new project and preparing a payroll report. The week past in a flash and I don't really remember what kept me so busy with OT almost every other day. Worse still, my precious Saturday was burnt all due to a company event which I was activated for usher duty. Another early day at work (7.15am) on my off Sat! Very sianz... this company has too many "ECAs" that eats into my rest days and takes up my work time. Often or not we find ourselves doing things totally related to our job scope. While it's a good learning opportunity, I'd prefer to focus on my area of specialization and excel in it than do many other unrelated stuff.

This week seems like another roller-coaster ride again. I was busy the whole of today, worked through lunch and OT till 7pm. And I think tomorrow's probably the same. I can't remember what I did today except interviews & checking report. Everything else's a blur. Haiz....

Activity-filled Labour Day

We had planned to eat buffet breakfast at Delifrance in the morning but we woke up at 9.30am. Rushed down to Compass Point at 10am only to be told we can't join in the buffet coz it ends at 10.30am. Disappointed, we went to McDonalds but it was crowded, mainly families with young kids. Very noisy and like a playground sometimes. Burger King was equally crowded.

At McD, we stood near a table where the family was almost done. Before the last member of the family stood up, a rude & sweaty looking woman in her early 30s holding a tray of food immed sat right next to that person at the table. That family member & us looked at her in surprise, not knowing how to react. And that bitch looked at us with a blur look then quickly focused on her food. Ugly Singaporean!

Fed up with the crowd, we decided to pamper ourselves with a nicer environment at Swensens. It wasn't too crowded but the staff were slow in bringing us to our table, resulting in a queue outside. And they took forever to take our orders and serve us our food. Poor service! But we enjoyed the food and ate till 11.30am. Took a walk around then left for Toa Payoh.

Sometime ago we had prayed to Yue Lao Deity at Toa Payoh's Shuanglin Temple to let our relationship progress smoothly. It's developing quite smoothly now and we felt it's time to thank the gods. After praying we went to kaypoh at "The Peak", the HDB-Condo at Toa Payoh. Nice design but crazy pricing. It's still just a HDB flat leh! In case you are wondering, we are just killing time and do not have any intention of buying a home yet :)

Next we went to AMK Hub to catch a movie. Missed the 1.30pm show so ended up shopping around. I was so happy to get a cute A4 sized bag for my files. We went for our show "252: Signal of Life" from 4 - 6pm, each munching a small box of pop-corn coz there was a promotion "Free combo popcorn+drink with each full-priced ticket". The show wasn't fantastic but it didn't feel like 2 hours so I'll still rate it as ok. It was just too dramatic and unbelievable but nevermind, got a good looking male lead can liao! haha ;p

252: Signal of Life trailer


Done with the movie, we rushed home coz I had to attend a friend's birthday cum Hen's night at 7.30pm at Clarke Quay. Poor dardar was my driver, dropped me off at venue then went home to eat dinner alone. Then at 11pm came to fetch me to attend my sister's birthday celebration at Punggol Park cafe. Finally home at 12.30am, took a quick shower and off to bed coz next day have to go to work. SIANZ...

This day seemed more busy and tiring than a normal working day but we enjoyed it anyway : )

Definitely not Employer of Choice!

Coming from a background of MNCs where rules are relaxed and people are judged by their work performance, it was a total culture shock to me when I learnt of the practices of this particular organization.

1) What happens if some people are perpetually late for work? Do you deduct their salary by the minutes of lateness or deduct a portion of their bonus? Or motivate them to be punctual by rewarding them when they aren't late for a period of time? This organization chose to punish latecomers.

2) We are not machines and we do fall sick sometimes. Some are strong enough to report for work despite running a temperature whereas most of us are probably half-dead at home. That's the reason why we are entitled to 14 days of Medical Leave a year. However over at this organization, people are penalized for taking more than 5 days of Medical Leave a year.

Give 14 days entitlement but penalize for taking more than 5 days? What a joke! Might as well say give 5 days of Medical Leave entitlement. While I understand it's a way to discourage abuse of MCs, I prefer the rewards system of giving an incentive for staying MC free for a year.

3) Saturday is an alternate week, half work day of 4.5 hours. If someone wants to take leave that day, it is considered a full day leave of 8 hours. Is this fair? Why are employees being punished for taking Saturday off?

4) All thanks to point 3, when a Public Holiday falls on a Saturday, we don't have to work. If it happens to be the Sat we were supposed to be off, we gain 1 day Annual Leave in lieu. Is this fair to those poor fellows who didn't have to work 4.5hrs on that Saturday yet their colleagues don't have to work 8 hours just because it happened to be their non-working Saturday?

5) Most companies I've been to send their employees on training to upgrade their workforce. I was most surprised by this organization's clause on repaying the training fees when one resigns. And we never asked to attend those training in the first place! I've heard of many companies sponsoring their staff to study cert/diploma without any strings attached. This is what I call generosity!

6) There is a practice of making employees sign a 1-5 year employment bond, yet the bond doesn't come with sponsorship of anything. It's basically a contract that doesn't allow one to resign for that period of time. What purpose does it serve? Lower staff turnover? Wake up! It's just delaying the turnover rate while tarnishing the organization's reputation in the job market coz unhappily bonded employees will be spreading negative comments about it.

7) Some employees are bonded for a few years at a fixed salary & position. I seriously do not understand why anyone would take up it up. Where is the motivation to excel at work if there's no salary increment or promotion no matter how hard you work?

8) Apparently some people are hired through the back door and that really puts me off.

9) Whenever someone tries to propose bringing in vendors (without cost) to do roadshows for staff, the Management's reaction is "What do we gain out of it?" and not "How can our staff benefit from it?". Obviously no roadshows were done in the end and staff have to wait forever for the "corporate discount" that will never happen.

This seems like quite a suffocating place to be in but yet people have stayed for 2 - 5 years. Probably they have been through worse company culture and find this ok. But not for me!

Too many UserIDs & passwords

Weeks ago I tried to access my 2 bank accounts online. And I suffered a "memory loss" at that moment. Despite having logged in successfully just days before it, I kept keying in the wrong UserID or password until I was finally kicked out of both accounts. Last week I received the new pin for 1 account. Just logged in but was kicked out again coz I couldn't get the UserID right. There're so many UserIDs & passwords for so many sites & systems it's driving me nutz! Haiz...have to settle it at ATM....

Happy birthday to ME!

Joined the 30s club on 11 April, now waiting for the rest of my friends to join me there! The day was celebrated in the usual way. Cakes, candles and presents. The only difference was I celebrated it 4 times - Yamasa clique, family, friends, colleagues. The most enjoyable one was with my Yamasa clique due to the total surprise element (never expected a celebration) and felt so relaxed with them. Needless to say, the most uncomfortable one was the celebration at work coz we've been colleagues for only 3 months and it was a mass celebration.

As for my "takings" this birthday, I received bigger sums of angbaos and less gifts. I would have preferred gifts for the excitement of opening up gifts and having something tangible to remember by. But I guess with my fussy shopper character, it's easier to give me $$ to buy what I want. Dardar disappointed me with an ugly bio-magnetic bracelet the night before but cheered me up on my actual birthday with 2 small gifts - My Papa Smurf & Baby Smurf schnauzer soft toys! But he still owes me flowers!

What made me happiest, touched & surprised most was that Dardar turned up in a shirt identical to my darling Ah Ke's cloth covering. He had specially searched & bought it to match my doll, to make me happy. He looked so cute, just like my Ah Ke! My 2 darlings!!

At 30, many people have moved on to a certain page in their life chapters. For me, it's the beginning of a new chapter all over again. Starting a new job & new relationship at 30, I can't help but wonder what happened to my 10 years before it. I hope when I join the 40s club I will be looking back at the 10 years of achievement before it.

My wish for this year's birthday is simple: I wish all my wishes will come true! heehee (^-^)

Batam! Here we come!

I wanted to celebrate my birthday at Batam's Harris Resort on the actual day but as it's a Good Friday long weekend, it was fully booked by the time we checked with the agency. So we settled for the weekend of 4 - 5 April. I was very excited as it was my 1st trip to Batam and our 1st experience going to a spa.

entertaining ourselves on board ferry

At Batam, the immigration was a nightmare. Only 2 counters were opened and a long queue formed. Half-way through, people moved off in big groups to another counter with the signage "Harris Resort" (HR). We saw a HR staff checking the people's passports and collecting them. We guessed the resort staff was going to do a mass immigration check-in with it. But we didn't feel safe about leaving our passports with them so we continued queueing at the original counter. When it was my turn, the officer told me Harris Resort guests should go over to the other counter, to which I replied I don't want my passport to be kept by the resort staff. After a brief moment of hesitation, he stamped my passport & let me go. Same for my bf. I'm certainly not impressed with this immigration procedure.

When we reached the resort, the welcome by the HR staff was overwhelming. With loud happy music songs in the background, staff gave out cold towels, drinks, cookies, lucky dips, mini-pouch with map of resort and discount coupons. Unfortunately the very warm welcome was let down by the slow registration for check-in. Although official check-in is 2pm, we had to do so early to get the coupons for our spa. The hot weather, tight timing (spa at 11am but we were still queuing at the registration at 10.45am) and slow queue got me boiling mad. Luckily it was done on time for our spa appointment.

We love the spa! The 1-hr Indonesian massage was comfortable & the 30-min herbal bath was wonderful! The set-up was clean and relaxing. I regret not signing up for a 3 hour massage package & going for more baths. Next trip I'll go for massages for 2 days and try all the different baths they have : salt, milk, aroma.

massage & bath together

Done with the spa but still too early to go to our rooms (still not ready), we went to eat the free pizza dar had won in the lucky dip. It's very delicious! After that we relaxed by the pool waiting for our room...

There's really nothing much to do at the resort except spa & swimming. In the afternoon we took at 25min taxi ride to town. We had missed the free shuttle bus even though we had registered our name & reported at the lobby at 2pm. I kicked up a fuss so they paid for our cab fare to town. Nothing much to shop or eat at Nagoya Hill. But I bought a nice pair of shorts for only S$9 & pretty flip-flops for $3. The A&W I was looking forward to turned out to be disappointing. What happened to those juicy cripsy chicken wings I used to eat in Singapore's A&W?

Pathetic, isn't it?

After the trip to town, we went for jacuzzi and sauna. The jacuzzi was a total disappointment. Dirty & room temperature waters. I was out of it in less than 5 mins! The sauna is standard lah. Nothing special. I only liked the complimentary ginger tea served outside the sauna/jacuzzi area.

Dinner was quite a romantic affair which didn't start nicely but ended well. Our seat by the pool with a perfect view of the live band was hijacked by a couple who apparently went to get their table instead of being led to one. The staff tried to get us another seat but I insisted, so they told the couple to move away. Next the lamp for putting candle broke due to the heat. So we had no candle-light dinner. Dinner buffet food was so-so even though variety was good. The live band was good. They even got the guests to join in a dance and some guests to sing. Dar was pulled onstage to sing 上海滩! Too bad can't upload the video here as file is too big.

where's the candlelight dinner?

The next day after a yummy buffet breakfast we relaxed by the pool as dar wanted to sun bathe. With dark rain clouds approaching we returned to our rooms to rest till time for check-out at 1pm. Was back in S'pore by 4.30pm.

On the whole the trip has been an enjoyable one despite some hiccups here & there. We'll definitely be back for more spa, food & shopping!

All about work

I can't remember what had happened the past month since my last blog post. It's probably all filled with work. It seems like no matter how many hours I put in, work is neverending. And it gets demoralizing when the weekend we all look forward to ends up shortened by work. Plus colleagues aren't enthusiastic about helping, preferring to surf net, msn chat & go home on time instead.

I'm trying hard to get rid of these negative feelings. I've a long way to go in this company!! The only positive thought is the tasks I have. I like the job scope as there's variety & requires multi-tasking. I get bored easily with a single task. It's a big challenge to manage all the deadlines and attend to everyone. My boss has been very encouraging and supportive, which makes my life at work happier. At least I know I'm on the right track. Looking forward to my confirmation due in 3 months' time....

Slumdog millionaire craze, or the lack of it

Everyone's talking about "Slumdog Millionaire" when the topic of "Which nice movies to watch?" comes up. Even my boss was telling me about it excitedly & highly recommended it. Almost every movie review I read gave it high ratings. Some people claimed they'll watch it a 2nd time. With all the hype about the movie, I decided maybe I should watch it myself to understand the craze over the movie. So I joined my siblings & friends to watch it yesterday afternoon.

My review? Yes, I enjoyed the movie but feel it's over-hyped. I liked the cinematography & the music used. The storyline was refreshing & the actors were quite good. However i didn't feel it's a 'feel-good' movie despite its fairy-tale ending for the star-crossed lovers.

How can one go away feeling good after looking at the living conditions of the poor in the slums? And the kids being crippled in order to beg & earn money for an organization? And how people despise the poor & get suspicious & jealous when they do well? As for the ending where the lovers finally unite, I didn't feel anything for them. I felt they lack chemistry and it's even more obvious during the dance they did.

I would recommend this movie to someone who wants to watch a different type of movie. A mix of documentary, comedy, drama & hope. Plus good cinematography. But no 2nd time. Unless you seriously want to fantasize about becoming a millionaire based on life experiences & luck.

Galileo vs Suspect X

Being a fan of the Jap drama "Galileo", I was eagerly waiting for its movie "Suspect X". The 2nd week of it being released, I watched it with my friend. Kind of disappointed with the pace & lack of excitment in the movie as compared to the drama. However the story was quite good & touching. Nevertheless I'd still recommend this movie to those who'd like figuring out how the crime was covered up. If you prefer to be kept in suspense wondering "who's the killer?", then this show's not for you.

2 consecutive boring days

First was the mass orientation yesterday where we listened to about 30 short presentations in a day. I had 3 coffees & 1 tea to keep myself awake! Then today was a full-day software training which was dry & boring. I think I'd rather go to work than sit down listening to someone talk for 8 hours!

Suay year for Goats!!

My past few weeks have been very unlucky. First I was down with a sudden throat infection, then I was stepped by a lady in mrt and ended up with an ugly scar on my foot. Then yesterday afternoon I had a fish bone stuck in my throat. That bone was from an otah I ate. OTAH leh!! Who would have expected fish bones in it?

Last evening I chanced upon Lilian Too's horoscope book for Goats. It stated that I'll have health problems this month (early Feb-Mar). So very accurate! Please let there be better health days ahead.....

满月了！

Today's the start of my 2nd month working at this company. The past month passed in a flash. So many things learnt in so little time. When my colleague was going through the OJT list for me, we had problems recalling what we did coz everything's moving so fast!

Although it's only been a month, my boss said it seems as if i've been here for a long time. I feel the same too. I've learnt a lot and done quite a lot too. There's still so much more to learn & do. I work extra hours almost everyday coz there's just so much to be done. I've no complaints on that coz I'm quite used to working late for my type of job. Our time is always taken up by appointments. I just don't like the idea of working half-day on alternate Saturdays too. Although it's a good time to catch up on backlogs, it eats into my rest & social time.

I'm always stretching my deadline to clear some tasks coz there're too many disruptions throughout the day, demanding our immediate attention. Today I remarked aloud that if not for the contract penalty, I wouldn't stay on. I wished I kept my mouth shut the moment I said it. I guess it's the Monday blues. Or I'm just feeling a little burnt out. I don't know why I think of leaving when i should be thankful to be given a chance to return to this industry.

I like what I'm doing now. Everyday is so exciting at work! I've a great colleague & nice boss. I just wished the renumeration & working hours were better. The culture, the way things are done, the 1001 SOPs to follow and the demotivating rules & regulations can be quite suffocating sometimes. Think I'm too used to the life in MNCs.

My goal now is to work hard & smart, be an asset to my dept/company & get an early confirmation and hopefully a salary adjustment. Plus get a promotion next year! :)

Updates

I started on my new job on 2nd Feb doing HR. My dept's rather small with just 4 of us. My first week was spent doing some housekeeping in the office, filing & getting familar with how things are done. Week 2 was more bz as they slowly handed over tasks to me. So far I'm happy at work. I like what I'm doing and I like my colleagues in the dept. I hope it'll continue to be so for at least a year!

Unfortunately I was struck by the "HR Dept Curse". According to a senior, almost all new colleagues in this department fell sick soon after they started work. I brushed it off at first but I was suddenly down with a throat infection and fever on my 5th day of work (last friday). My temperature hovered around 38degrees for almost 2 days and it was painful to swallow anything. I'm alright now but I'm surprised by how sudden I fell ill without warning.

I'm not sure if it's the bad air or new environment or timing (chinese new yr period) or the curse. It could have been the bad luck of those born in the year of the Goat. We goats supposedly are the most unlucky ones this year coz we offend the "Tai Sui" deity. So when I felt better last Sunday, I went to the temple to pray for a smoother year ahead. Last Friday (the 13th) I was stepped by a lady in heels when she lost her balance in the mrt train. My poor foot still feels painful now! Seems like the praying has yet to take effect!

I wanted to visit my "pet rabbit" Dahuang only to be informed by my friend that it has been sold. It was taken back by the supplier and returned a few days later then sold. I hope Dahuang has found a good owner who loves him & takes good care of him. I'm beginning to miss Dahuang already :(

Yesterday was Valentine's Day and I spent it in a most unromantic but happy way. I went for lunch at Bugis's Shokudo then shopped around there till evening. After that we went to my home to watch TV and I cooked udon noodle soup for him. And we continued watching TV till 11pm then he went home. No flowers, no chocolates, no gifts, no expensive romantic meal. It's just the 2 of us spending time together with my AhKe & McDull.

Today we went for class together followed by a movie at Plaza Sing. We watched Valkyrie, starring Tom Cruise. It's quite a serious film with a lot of talking and few action. Quite sad too, especially coz it's based on a true story. If you're looking for a WWII movie with a interesting plot and exciting pace, watch "Black Book".

That's the updates for the past 2 weeks. Hope for more happy days to come!

Where's my pet?

Dahuang's gone! :(

My friend went to visit Dahuang a few days ago and it wasn't there anymore. The pet shop employee told him it was returned to the supplier. I felt very sad to hear that coz i have a bad feeling it might be put to sleep. Its skin problem will take a long time to heal and it has grown to a size comparable to that of a cat. Rabbits of that size will not be as popular as the small cuter ones, so it won't be sold easily. Instead of spending $$ to care for a sick rabbit which can't be sold easily, isn't it cheaper to kill it?

I hope Dahuang's still alive and be back at the pet shop soon or at SPCA / House Rabbit Society waiting for a good owner.

Bad service

Much has been said about the poor service standards of establishments in Singapore. Despite the many initiatives to improve the standards, I hardly see any improvement coz I had 2 unpleasant experiences within a week.

First was a trip to K-Box at Hougang Plaza on a weekend night. The place wasn't packed due to its ulu location. We estimated only about 10 rooms were in use & 5 staff were on duty that day. Less customers didn't mean better service. They took forever to prepare our drinks or refill the titbits and kept mixing up our drink orders. The compulsary $6 titbits was only refilled once despite constant reminder to do so. If you want to charge people so much for some peanuts, make sure you give them quantity worth their price! And the drinks? Twice they served us cold drinks when we ordered the hot version. Knowing it'll take forever for them to bring the correct drink, we made do with the wrong drinks. We don't mind the run-down place with sofas patched with masking tapes, but at least give us good service! My friend vowed never to go to this branch again.

The next incident was at Swensens (Bugis branch). We weren't given any plain water while the rest of the customers were. First the waitress taking order didn't serve it. Then the waitress serving the 1st dish didn't serve. Next another waitress who collected the plates didn't serve. The same waitress who served us earlier didn't serve us water when she brought the ice-cream later. When we noted that everyone else was served plain water the moment they sat down, we checked with 1 of the staff if plain water is chargeable (nope, it isn't). The male staff immediately apologized and promptly served us our plain water. When our ice-cream came, it had melted a little. And one of the ice-cream order was wrong. We're not sure if this is a serious lack in attentiveness of the waitresses or a case of racial discrimination. But this made us very pissed off with the service in the restaurant. We're never going to Bugis Swensens again!

Compared to the service I've experienced in Taiwan & Japan, Singapore sure has a long way to go!

2nd last wk of work

This week's been rather crazy physically & emotionally.

On Monday I rushed down for interview after school. The night before my mind was filled with model answers to what I guess the interviewers would ask so I didn't sleep well. On Tuesday I met my friend for shopping & dinner after school and reached home at almost 11pm. There was a school excursion trip to the S'pore River on Wed. The trip was quite fun & educational but tiring due to the super hot weather. Back in school by 2pm and I went off to meet my friend for another round of shopping & dinner & visiting my "pet rabbit" till 11pm+. Quite happy I bought a cheerful pretty dress at Bugis Village for only $23.40! I guess all the walking made me very hungry and I over-ate that day and ended up vomiting at night. Knocked out by 11pm after taking medication for stomach problems.

In case you are wondering, my "pet rabbit" is that brown rabbit mentioned in my previous post. My poor little "大黄" is still under treatment for skin problem. He's been sick for 2 weeks. Apparently he's allegic to the bedding used and scratched his neck until it bled and the fur on it dropped off. I felt so sad to see him in that condition. During the visit on Wed, I managed to ask more about his condition from the vet on duty. She told me the air-con in the shop was spoilt for about a week and the warm conditions in the shop worsened his skin problem. She told me she couldn't sleep at night too coz her mind was on 大黄, especially coz he's losing weight despite eating normally. After the chat with her, I'm comforted to know he's under good care and will recover (though it takes time). She also assured me they will not send it to SPCA or put it to sleep if it isn't sold off. I wish I could cuddle 大黄 and tell him he'll be fine soon!

Tired from 2 consecutive nights of staying up late, I was quite short-tempered yesterday. It didn't help that I had 5 hours of Sec 1 English lessons at one go with a short 30mins break in between. The Sec 1 students are mostly monkeys with some showing traits of a monster. The 1st two classes in the morning were ok. After recess, the monkeys started their nonsense, causing me to be very frustrated & sarcastic. To me, if you aren't interested to learn, then your mind can switch off but don't disturb those who wants to learn. But all these irresponsible & selfish monkeys wanted the whole class to suffer. Many times I just stood there waiting for them to shut up. By the 4th lesson my throat was painful and I didn't have the voice to talk loudly and lost my patience with them.

The condemned Sec 1 repeat boy who wrote a written threat to me challenged me openly in class today. The school gave everyone chocolate coins for Chinese New Year and the students asked if they could eat it in class. I disallowed as it's part of the school rules. This condemned one remarked loudly he'll eat it in class and that I can go complain to the principal and see what happens coz he's not afraid. Although he tried to encourage the rest to eat it in class as an act of defiance against me, none did it. I'm not sure if they are afraid of getting into trouble or they dislike him too coz I heard he's been bullying his classmates. This monster has serious social problems. I hope he solves his problems through professional help soon or risk being hacked to death by gangs one day for his irritating behavior.

My only encouragement this week came from a Sec 1 boy in the same class as the condemned one who told me I'm the only teacher he respects. He didn't give me the reason why but I guessed it's because I'm usually cheerful during lessons, so much so that he asked me why I'm always smiling. He also asked me how I could tolerate the noise level, to which I answered I treat everyone as invisible. It isn't the best answer from a teacher but it made him laugh. When he was done with his work he told me "Miss Chan, I'm going into my own world for 30sec to be away from the noise." I think that's his way of telling me he's also going to treat everyone as invisible for a while.

Mon, Wed & Fri is my time with the upper Sec monsters. Today's lesson with the Sec 3 was frustrating. There's this fat asshole who causes trouble for us at every lesson. Today's no exception. I don't know why the moment I stepped into class, he spouted vulgarities in between asking where my co-teacher is. Then he stood very close up in front of me, challenging me to a 1-to-1 fight. I just ignored him and secretly hoped that he'll be beaten to death one day.

None of monsters paid attention during previous lessons and couldn't do the worksheet today. And only a handful of them brought their textbook. When we were at the computer lab, those idiots defied instructions and kept chatting on msn, play games, surf internet. When warnings failed, I switched off the monitor, but the moment i walked off, they switched it on. I was so fed up I just switched off the CPU or the main switch. That's when I would hear even more vulgarities. Out of a class of 34, there were only about 4 students who listened and did their work diligently during lesson. The rest? Condemned.

There's this very grouchy teacher in school who hardly smiles and treated me as invisible when we were doing group discussion on my first day of work. I don't know what's her problem then. Now I think I know why. She complains about the students everyday. I could feel her frustrations with the monsters through her daily complaints. She always say things like "What do they think they are?! So rude, say all the vulgarities! Give up on these people! I can't spend time on these trouble-makers and ignore those who wants to learn!!"

I feel the same too. Why waste time on people who don't want to learn at the expense of those who wants to learn? If you aren't interested to learn, so be it. At the end of the day it's your own problem when you fail your exams. If you want to act like a hooligan and offend others and get beaten up, hacked to death or sent to prison, it's also not my problem. That's the attitude I have towards these scums of society. And that's why I know I'm not suitable to teach because I don't want to try loving these scums. It's better for me to leave teaching for the sake of the students and myself. May they meet better teachers who love them for who they are.

Finally it's the long-awaited weekend. 3 more days of teaching to go next week and I'm released from hell!

Found a job!

The company I went to for interview yesterday offered me the job today. Though the salary is lower than what I hope for, overall the renumeration package & benefits are quite ok. Plus I get to learn new things as it's a different industry even though it's still HR work. Most importantly it's a path back to HR. Starting work on 2nd Feb, 2 days after my last day with the school. Good for me as it keeps my momentum going!

Job hunting again

Shocking news! I've tendered my resignation 1 week after I started work at school!

From my previous posts, it's obvious that I'm very unhappy at work. Over the weekend I thought through carefully. "Do I want to be doing this for the next 10-20 years? Do I want to be shouting at students & getting angry every other hour & day for the next few years?" I used to scold students in the primary school too but it wasn't as bad as this. Initially I thought maybe I'm a new teacher and the students wanted to test my limit. But after observing how senior teachers manage (they too shout & get angry at the students often) & condemn the students, I'm sure I don't want to do that for the rest of my working life. Adults in the commercial world are just as irritating or more difficult to handle but at least they don't come and anger me everyday unlike the situation in school.

I started job-hunting the day I tendered. Progress isn't good but I managed to get an interview today. Not sure if I'll get an offer coz my asking is rather high though my experience isn't quite there yet. My teaching job paid me so well that I've to suffer a big pay cut to return to the private sector.

Compared to my job-hunting last year, I feel more enthusiastic and ready this year. I guess 2 weeks of waking up early & teaching has warmed up my engine. I'm now more eager to learn & do lots of work and ready to face new challenges in the workplace. I don't want to be jobless and 'wandering around' aimlessly again.

Hope I impress potential employers enough to receive good job offers despite the gloomy economy!

Threats

Today's the 1st lesson with 1 of my sec one class. I went in smiling & tried to be friendly. However half-way through I lost my patience with a trouble-maker who couldn't sit still during lesson and later refused to stand up to do a presentation. I gave up & skipped the rest of the class presentation. I told them to write an essay.

Instead of the topic, he wrote about how much he hated me and threatened to slap me if I 'tu lan' (anger) him again. It's a good thing I read the essay during my break coz I bet he was waiting to see my expression on reading it in class. I think after 2 days of nonsense at school, I've become immuned to them. I wasn't angry or upset about why he wrote that, I just circled the title & commented that the topic and content's wrong and he should re-write. And I told him that in the 2nd class with a normal talking tone. (2 lessons for same class tdy) He didn't bother to re-write and I couldn't be bothered with him. He walked around the class almost throughout the lesson again. After a few polite but stern requests to get him back to his seat failed, I treated him as invisible. That made life better for me & the rest of the class too.

I didn't report this to the discipline master. I want to give him a 2nd chance. But if he tries to threaten me again, he can sure I will report not only to the discipline master, but to the police as well.

I finally understand why school teachers always have that 'no-nonsense' look on their face, why they seldom smile and why they are always condemning certain groups of students. With the monsters they have to deal with, it's no surprise that they are turning into witches themselves.

2 days only?

That's how I felt this afternoon after the last class of my 2nd day of teaching. No monsters irritated me today. However I can't find the passion to teach, not even to the 'still angelic' Sec. 1 kids. I find myself looking at my watch & clock constantly, waiting for class to end, waiting for time to go home. I dread going to school tomorrow. The counting down to weekend seems to take forever. SIANZ.....

Bad start at work

When things weren't quite right on my 1st day of work last week, I should have known it's a bad omen for the weeks to come. I couldn't sleep last night as today's my official start at school. I was very worried about my timetable (which I only received this morning) and the classes I will be teaching. With 2 years of teaching experience in the Japanese school, I thought I will be able to handle the classes today. I was totally wrong.

I had only 2 classes today. Both are co-teach subjects where I will assist the trained teacher in class. My partner for the 1st class had to attend to some matters so I took the class on my own. It was a big culture shock to me. A nightmare.

A class full of 'ah bengs' & 'ah lians' whom I wish to cane & kick & throw dusters at. They ignored my presence almost totally. When I was writing on the board, some walked around freely, a couple of them opened the door to peep outside, the rest did their own things. Despite stern looks & tone, they weren't the least afraid and continued with their nonsense. Only a couple of them followed the lesson but they were lost most of the time due to all the distraction in class. I don't know how I managed to last thru the whole lesson.

The 2nd class was slightly better because the teacher has taught that group of bengs & lians for 3 years. But she also lost her temper & scolded some bengs for misbehavior. She used threats & sarcasm on some but it was only effective in keeping them quiet for 5 minutes. When I saw how she handled the class, I admired her ways of doing it. And when I think of how many years she's been teaching them, I salute her in my mind.

Compared to the monsters above, those little rascals in the Jap school whom I used to complain about seem like angels to me now. I believe many of the monsters come from broken families or have parents who are too busy to care or they mixed with the wrong people. The lecturer at the training workshop told us to 'love them' and when they like you, they will listen to you. I really can't make myself like them. I only see myself hitting their head & faces with a stick repeatedly with force now. It's like I want to kill them.

I've had those murderous visions when I first started out teaching a P3 class in the Jap school. And also when I had an irritating P5 boy the following year. However those kids usually responded to my stern warnings after some time. Plus there are usually only 1-2 such rascals in each class. Now we're talking about 30 monsters in a class of 35 humans.

I usually don't think of quitting after a day of work. Now I do. I can persevere on for a few months, but few years is impossible. Almost all the teachers tell me not to be too friendly with these students. They said I need to be stern until I build a rapport with them. But looking at the teacher in my 2nd class, having a rapport still required stern scoldings. I don't want to feel like I'm going for a battle everyday. I don't want to put on a fierce front and get angry everyday. I feel I'm not cut out for such battles. Although I want to teach & nurture the young, I'm not capable enough to handle monsters.

Proposal styles

Yesterday my 2 girlfriends and I met up for lunch & kopi in town. It was a session to catch up on what's happening in our lives coz we've not met up together for almost a year after 1 of them went overseas for studies.

At our age, love & marriage is a regular topic among us. This round we talked about how my friend's colleague took leave to apply for a flat without a marriage proposal and is still expecting one. My friend's reaction was "to apply for a flat means to marry leh, that's like agreeing to his proposal lor". Her colleague replied that he asked her if she wants to apply for a flat and she agreed, but it doesn't represent a marriage proposal. But my friend disagreed coz you have to show your marriage cert within 3 mths upon getting a flat, so agreeing to apply for a flat means agreeing to marry him, so that is a proposal already.

I think we are quite influenced by TV shows/movies/news on how guys propose marriage in romantic ways to that special girl. So we end up dreaming about how nice it would be if a guy propose to us in a romantic manner. However in reality, esp in S'pore, does it really happen? I've read in an article before about how S'porean guys propose. Many couples said there's no proposal, or rather the proposal is just popping the statement "let's apply for a flat" during a conversation.

So now the question is, "Is there a need to do a marriage proposal?"

Should the guy be asking "Will you marry me?" instead of "Want to apply for a flat?"

It may mean the same to some since the outcome for both is marriage, but we had a good discussion about its meaning & feelings behind the questions.

1 girlfriend said there's not really a need to propose coz the couple is already dating and will eventually marry, so a proposal is just something extra for the romantic effect. Without it they will still get married. Asking to apply for a flat is just the first step towards getting married.

My other girlfriend & I disagreed. We feel that the effort used in planning a proposal, from buying of ring/flowers to thinking of the venue and 'speech' lines shows how much the guy wants to be with the gal. It shows that although it's more or less confirmed she'll marry him even without a proposal, doing that extra step shows his sincerity & wish to want her to be with him forever. By missing that step, it's like taking for granted that she will marry him, that she is his already, with or without proposal. We feel the 'apply flat' issue should be discussed after she agrees to marry and not be the indirect proposal question.

I used to have the thinking that if both parties are in love and ready to marry, there is no need for a proposal. It's just for show, for the girl to boast about how romantic her bf was when proposing and also earn a stone. My thinking has since changed. Now I want the guy to pop me the question (Not the apply flat wan lah!!) when he's ready for marriage. And his proposal has to make me feel he truly wants to make me his wife and let me feel special and loved. Of coz I'll be thrilled to receive things I like along with the proposal, e.g flowers, soft-toys etc. Or a necklace or bracelet. A ring is not a must coz I don't really like rings though I don't have a choice if it's a wedding band!