One of THOSE songs....

http://blip.fm/profile/simplyshimona/blip/7550295

PEACE

Today I attended Professional Development Day, and left school absolutely inspired.

Dr Art-Ong Jumsai is a man in his 60s who has worked for NASA, has 3PhDs, and yet is one of the most profoundly humble and grounded people I have had the honour to meet.

He gave a talk on integrating human values into education...
(Something that as a counsellor and a teacher who loves her students, I know to be extremely important.)

He spoke in parables and anecdotes.

His lessons were on life, his emphasis on peace and love.



I noted down in my little gem-book (personal not professional) some of the thought-gems I particularly liked.




Let me share a few with you:

How lucky I am to receive problems in my life...
...that I may have the opportunity to
learn,
progress
& find
peace
& joy
in everything around me.


****

If you are sensitive, easily hurt and offended by things people say this one's for you:

What are these words you think will hurt me?
Nothing but vibrations of air particles.

(In other words, we assign our own meaning to what is said, and hence we don't need to get angry if we don't want to -- a sort of detachment.)


****

And my favourite: A philosophy on life:

You say
"I WANT PEACE"
But to receive peace, you must first get rid of
"I"
and
"WANT".
Then will you find that you have peace.

Read:
I is the ego --> the love of oneself.
Want is the desire for needless things,
which if not attained leads to disappointment and disenchantment.
(Yes, these are very psycho-Buddhist teachings... wisdom comes in many forms!)

And the Current Song Obsession is....

.... THIS.

Played it in class today while the kids were working on assignments - created a very nice chill, smooth mood. I caught a few kids tapping their feet and smiling a little.
Doubt they themselves were aware.




It's now on my phone (thanks to my handy portable MicroSD ScanDisk) and ready to be my new walking along the street / standing in the train / tuning out of the world theme song for the next few days.

Better than the previous way-too-emo song, Ashes and Wine (although it was soooooo good, it was killin me emotionally. Sigh.)

Queen of Multitasking...

• Marking papers
• Entering Grades
  
• Colouring in new class timetable
• Listening to Blip.fm
• Head-bopping
• Helping publicise Cody's site
• Foot-tapping
• Sorting out notes
• Lesson Planning
• Smiling at kids passing by
• Tweeting (new rediscovery!)
  

Just another day.

Oily Piece...

Growing up, my mum would buy you chia kuey (aka you tiao in Chinese) and hot soya bean milk back from the market every Sunday morning.

Today, while walking through the market next to my soi, I stopped at a vendor to pick some up.
Yes, they sell them in Thailand too! :)
Only thing is in Singapore they're much longer - like 2 hands' width long.

My breakfast this morning:







Dunk the you tiao into the hot soya bean milk...





Mmmmmm..... yummy!


OK, given it's pretty dang oily - deep friend and all.
But hey, why do you think they call it "you tiao"?

It's Chinese for oily piece! :p



ps: No, I have no idea what they're called in Thai. Should prolly find out. Heh.

Been a Busy Bee.....

I've been working on my professional blog a lot lately.
Videos, pictures...

Please drop by, rate, comment, etc.... ;)

Inspire Me and Let Me Inspire You...

I've been working on my Purposeful Teaching blog a bit more lately.

While talking to some friends over the last week, I came to realize how many little gems of wisdom God has blessed me with - as I teach my kids, I learn things about teaching.

There are so many little systems I use in my classroom that keeps classroom management smooth, and little ideas that I run with and try out... I just want to share as many of the things that work for me as I can.

I know each classroom is different, each teacher's personality and style, each student's background and issues... so probably not everything that works for me will work for you.
However, I also know what it's like to be inspired by other peoples' ideas.
I often take what they do, modify, and make it my own.


It's also so important to me to keep getting fresh ideas because that's what keeps us, teachers, motivated! Don't talk about motivating the kids until you motivate the teacher! ;)


So please... if you haven't already, visit my teaching blog.
Read, comment, rate, feedback... tell me what works, what doesn't.
Oh, and please click "follow" or subscribe for the latest updates ya?

Absolutely Fantastic!

KAWAIIIIIII!!!!!!

Watched this movie - Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea - today with Luann, Joelle, Victor, Dillon, and Chun How... it (the movie) was SOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUTE!!!
ACK!

If you haven't seen it and are a fan of anime and/or cute things, I strongly advise you to watch it.
Entirely heartwarming and very very very (dare I be this repetitive?) CUTE! :p



I've put the song from the soundtrack on the imeem player on the left - press PLAY to listen.

And here's the trailer:


LOVED IT!
Watashi wa suki desu ne!

****


In other news... I pierced my ears (again) !!!

A few years ago, I had 2 pairs of ear holes... somewhere along the way, I let 1 side "seal up" cuz of some infection or maybe I just forgot to put earrings into the hole and it just closed up... so I had 1 and a half pairs of ear hole for a while.
Then it just got too troublesome... so I let the other 1 close up.

I'd been thinking about getting that 2nd pair pierced again.... so today, with the encouragement and moral support (and a few sadistic jibes from Victor) of my friends, I mustered up the courage to do it!

Nice way to start the new year huh?
I figured now that I'm picking up my fascination for earrings again, I might as well enjoy it. hahaha...

Joelle took a video of the piercing.. which I MIGHT put up later on. Heh.

****

After the movie, we all walked a short distance to the nearby hawker center for some food... and guess what I found?
An old childhood favourite - a kind of pancake (not unlike the ones sold in Thailand) something that Reu and I used to LOVE eating for breakfast on Sunday mornings and during school holidays... our favourites were the cheese-filled ones and corn-filled ones. I think I might have liked them more than Reu, but it sure was a trip down memory lane... we used to kinda fight over who would have more. Of course mummy was always fair and bought us the same number each.


Memories like that are just nice to have and savour. :)

Purposeful Teaching

I've started a professional blog.
Haven't had the time to do much with it yet... but check back soon.

I'll be posting thoughts on teaching, stuff I've learned and developed etc.

Freebie??

I'm skeptical, I must admit- I hardly ever win lucky draws.
But I figured, what the heck.

Got the link from Aim's blog.




I like these.

Among other things...

School starts on Monday.
Sigh....

Been busy with gym, doing stuff with SDACCY, etc.

Which brings me to - OUR NEW BLOG!

A Must-watch.

To uplift the soul, and inspire your heart.... click HERE to see this wonderful video.

One for the road! (Just cuz this is so COOL.... FREEZE!)

What if Facebook were Real Life......

Finished packing.
Hungry.
Putting off sleep.
Have to be at the airport in about 8 hours.