Sightseeing Research

Juliane and I have worked out the attractions that we will be visiting in Jeju this coming June. 
A total of 10 attractions over two days with a driver-guide. 

Pancake Dessert

After the Rain

Rain drops on the window pane making beautiful patterns

Neighbourly Wefie

I met my neighbour when I arrived home after work. We took a wefie.

Alive by Sia

I watched The 5th Wave on television and I was hooked on this song, Alive by Sia which played during the credits. 
Alive by Sia (uploaded by SiaVEVO)

Read All about It by Emeli Sande

I heard this song during one of the acts from Britain's got Talent 2013. I never forgot it. It is a very touching song. 

Read all about it (uploaded by Maysaa Pooters)

Heavy by Linkin Park

Here is a new song, Heavy from Linkin Park. Quite a departure from their usual metal/ rock but still catchy nonetheless. :)

Heavy (uploaded by Linkin Park)

Mama, I saw you in the School Library!

That was what Juliane texted me two days ago. I was at NIE the entire time and I didn't go out for data collection that day and certainly not at SCGS. The next moment, I received the below photo.

Juliane found me in one of the past year SCGS school magazine! "OMG, 1987!", she said. Yes, it is a long time ago haha. A bonus, at least Juliane is using the library. :P 

84th Singapore Company Girls' Brigade Enrolment Service and Parade

Today is Juliane's enrolment into the 84th Singapore Company Girls' Brigade. 
There was a marching parade, followed by service and enrolment of the new recruits for the 84th Singapore Company Girls' Brigade at SCGS. 

Juliane in her GB uniform

Juliane and her fellow recruits watching the parade from the stairs

Juliane (in the middle) waiting her turn

Juliane saluting her GB Captain, Mrs Jayne Tan

I am pinning the GB badge on Juliane's uniform

Juliane is officially a member of 84th Singapore Company Girls' Brigade

Proud mother of a GB girl

I couldn't be more proud to be able to participate and witness this milestone with Juliane. I was surprised by Juliane's decision to join Girls' Brigade but whatever it is, I will support her decision. I hope Girls' Brigade will bring her a sense of belonging and identity, happiness and personal growth. I hope Juliane will develop to her fullest potential and be a servant leader to all. 

P.S. She does look smart in her GB uniform. 

What Childhood Toy Am I?

You Are a Doll

You've always been a nurturing person, even when you were too young to nurture anyone else. You tend to be very socially oriented. Other people matter to you, and you are very compassionate. You are naturally intuitive and understanding. You love people for who they are. It makes you feel valued to be needed. You like have others depending on you, and you're always happy to lend a hand.

What Childhood Toy Are You?

Maybe that's why I am who I am, a school counsellor and chair of staff wellbeing committee at my work place? 
Strange though because when I was young, I never played with dolls but Lego blocks and Playmobil.

Support Local Talent II

Here are more illustrations from Lee Kow Fong aka Ah Guo in the forms of postcards and magnets which I display in my office. Somehow Ah Guo's illustrations always bring a smile to my face when I look at them. 

Farewell, Sabina!

I bade farewell to a colleague and friend, Sabina as today is her last day of service. 
Thank you so much, Sabina for your friendship and the life lesson about zen-ness. I shall work towards being more zen I wish you all the best in life and may you find all the happiness you deserve so much! 

 Lovely farewell gift from Sabina

Injeolmi Bingsu

I enjoy eating traditional flavours such as Injeolmi because of the glutinous rice cakes and roasted soybean powder.

Cats, Shawls and Soaps

I went with my neighbour/ friend to Isan Gallery at Jalan Kembangan. 
What greeted me first were the lovely cats at the front porch! The owner of Isan Gallery, Percy is a very kind man. He looked after close to 10-12 stray cats - 3 who live at the front porch, 3 who live upstairs in the house, and a couple more who roam the back alley.

The collection of shawls is amazing. I managed to find a silk shawl which has both of my favourite colours - green and purple! I also bought a couple of hand-made soaps. Always good as last minute gifts or for self! :) 

Happy Hibiscus

I ate Raindrop

I finally ate Raindrop as in the dessert haha. Have heard about it but have never eaten one. Still don't understand why it is called a Raindrop cake. It is not even close to a cake, a jelly is more like it. I can't really describe its taste. Maybe I need to have another one lol. 

TRAISI Course II

Today is the 2nd half of my 10 hour course on Self-Assessment: 5Ws ad 1H at Academy of Singapore Teachers from 2:30pm to 5:30pm. Most of the teachers were really good and have been able to implement and/or design a self-assessment strategy for future use with their students. All teachers presented and shared their strategy. Although we ended close to 6pm, all teachers were happy with the sharing. I am really happy that the teachers managed to try self-assessment or have started the process of implementing it. An additional bonus was the positive feedback which I received from the teachers! :) 

Another bonus: I had the company of the AST resident cat while waiting for the heavy rain to lighten up after the end of my course. 

Working Snacks

I finally managed to find these broad bean snacks. They are really good for snacking on when working in the office. :P The snacks are working to keep me working haha. 

Scheduling

Yesterday, a group of us worked together for close to 4 hours to do the scheduling for the paper sessions for our coming RPC conference 2017. It was not an easy job as we had to group papers into threes with certain criteria in mind as well as taking note of special requests made by presenters. 
We managed to group over 350 papers into 3 days. 
Thanks to a great bunch of people who came together at short notice and working well together! :)

Farewell Lunch

We had a nice, cosy farewell lunch for one of our colleagues/ friends, Sabina. She will be leaving us soon on 18 April 2017. 

Sabina is one of the nicest and most zen person I have ever met. I wish her all the best for her future!

Travel Insurance

There are quite a few good offers for travel insurance from now until mid April 2017. Since I will be buying travel insurance for my Seoul trip in June, might as well buy now for my daughter, my mother and myself.  

Mango Bingsu

Nothing more satisfying than a cold bingsu on a cool night. 

Blinding Sunset

Movie Thoughts

Dying to watch a movie for the popcorn haha.

Movie Theater Snack

I only eat popcorn at the movies. It is a whole package. It is just not the same - eating popcorn when you are not at the movies. Yes, one of the bad movies I still remember is the Eight Legged Freaks haha. It was so bad that it was good!

You Are Popcorn

You probably like movies more than most people you know, and you are a bit of a film buff. You have broad taste when it comes to film, and while you know a good amount about it, you definitely aren't a snob. Some of your favorite movies are the goofiest ones. You love to laugh and kick back with a silly movie. You're one of the few people who can appreciate a bad movie, especially if it's so bad it's good. And if it's terrible, at least there's popcorn.

What Movie Theater Snack Are You?

NRP Symposium 2017

I was invited to be an independent assessor for a researach project at the Nanyang Research Programme (NRP) Symposium 2017. The NRP is an NTU outreach programme for Year 5 students from IP schools and 1st year JC students. The students will undertake nine months of research activities under the charge of an NTU faculty member. All the student participants at the NRP Symposium 2017 have to present their research findings to two independent assessors,one of which is me. 

I am really heartened to see so many young people interested in research! The project, NIE02 which I assessed was helmed by two intelligent gentlemen from two JCs. They gave a very good oral presentation of their project and were able to answer questions from the assessors. What really impressed me the most were their honesty about their mistake and how they failed forward. :) Truly inspiring. It was a really good learning experience for me too. After I have keyed in my assessment, I went back to chitchat with the two gentlemen and to learn about more about them and their project under less stressful situation for them lol. 

Thank you for the wonderful presentation! All the best for your A levels at the end of this year, Vu Hieu and Jun You.

San Francisco Cable Car

I finally saw a San Francisco cable car up close! 

HAHAHA. A SF cable car souvenir bought for me by my colleague/friend who went to SF for a conference! :) Thank you. 

Sleeping Cats

So peaceful...zzzZZZZ

Spidey's in town

Saw this on the roof of a car. Couldn't stop laughing. 

What a good sense of humour for that car owner! Wonder what the owner uses to keep Spidey on the roof without falling off, short of using superglue. :P