The Daffodils by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A Poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Argh!

I've never had much luck with things related to the computer...... This time in China is not an exception...... I thought I should have no problems going online with my laptop since everything was smooth sailing the last time I was here. Plus I was greeted with a desktop when I entered my hotel room! Great, i thought to myself, this room is hooked up already! But no no, when I plugged the cable into my laptop, it didn't work. I called up housekeeping, but the ladies there were worse than me! They knew nuts about computer! They tried calling some IT helpdesk, but the person is on leave! And they do not know when he will be back at work! You mean to say that this hotel is so big, but only ONE person knows how to fix the computer???

Ok, never mind, I turned on the desktop but everything was in Chinese!!! Alamak! Can you imagine how difficult it is to navigate with a chinese interface? ? No doubt I can read the chinese characters, but they are all computer jargons, which make it almost impossible to understand! Then when I tried to plug the cable, speakers and my thumb drive into the back of the CPU, I realise it didn't bug an inch! I had to squeeze my arms to the back and use a mirror and look at the reflection to plug all those things in! Sounds silly but I had no choice! Desperation is the word here......

Enough complaining...... Chinese computer is better than no computer.......

Cheena BBQ

The first time I've had a five-person BBQ..... Sounds pathetic, but it was actually cosy......

The first time I prepared all the food...... Buying and marinating included..... Thank goodness it was only for the five of us!
The first time I've got to start a fire...... yes, me! These people don't know how to start a fire! Guess all the camping had taught me well..... But I never did have to lift a finger to start the fire last time! It was always done by the guys, if not my students!

The first time I've laughed so much in a while..... at my very entertaining student!

Hidden Meanings

When you give someone a handkerchief, you are saying goodbye to him.

When you give someone a pair of shoes, he will walk away from you eventually.

When you give someone a clock, you are sending him to his grave.
送钟 = 送衷

When you give someone a cup, you are giving him your lifetime.
杯子 = 一辈子

Questions

Everytime I meet up with my friends, everyone would ask me the same questions. I have to keep rewinding and playing my answers for them. So I might as well answer the questions here.

Question: How long are you back for?
Answer: I'm leaving this Saturday.

Question: Where are you going next?
Answer: Jinan, Shandong. By the way, I have gone to Vietnam and back, Jinan and back, Myanmar and back. I did not just return from Vietnam, which some friends still think I did!

Questions: How long are you going to be in China?
Answer: I'll be there for one month.

Question: What happens after you come back?
Answer: I have two choices - (1) Go back to Myanmar for another 3 months. (2) Work in the Singapore-based China company and be posted to China whenever they have a course starting. By the way, (1) and (2) are two different companies.

Question: Are you going to do this forever?
Answer: For now yes, because I cannot forsee myself going back to the civil service anytime soon and be tortured once again. I'll probably stop this once I settle down, which I cannot see happening..... yet.

Any more questions?

Busy Bee... Tired Me...

I have not felt so tired and drained for a while. Perhaps I've had a relaxing time in Myanmar for too long. When I was there, I felt really brain dead because there really wasn't much thing for me to think or worry or bother about. Work was a breeze compared to what I was doing before.

But now that I'm back, I'm busy preparing course materials for my next assignment. Stress! Deadline! Late nights! Made me remember the times when I had to set exam papers..... I hated doing it because it was such a tedious process. Plus my meticulous HOD would scrutinise every single word, line, font size, diagram, etc.... all except the questions themselves! Irony!

I can start to sing the "Busy Busy Busy" song I learnt in Vietnam again!

Strange Beginnings

My best friend once mentioned that friends can never become best friends after being room mates, but strangers can become close friends after living with each other for a while. I can't agree more with her now that I think of Vivian.

Vivian and I were two complete strangers put in the same room. I am thankful that she was my room mate during my three months in Myanmar. She taught me many lessons on patience, tolerence, make-up, braces and oral hygiene among others. We also share the same passion for travelling and shopping. We kind of have the same tastes and like similar stuff. Even our bathroom habits are quite close, we both take ages in the shower! She has turned me into a Fancl convert and I have turned her into a Body Shop vanilla lover!

As she returns to Myanmar for another 3 months, I just want to wish her a more bearable time.... this time without me..... See you in a few months time! I'll miss you and our room 308! Byebye Vivi!

Ahhh.... Tchoo!

My principal used to say that I am one of the most resilient teachers he ever had. In my 3 years of teaching in the school, I rarely took MC except for the time where I had to extract my wisdom tooth and completely lost my voice. My 4E2 would remember vividly that time when I couldn't speak and I still had my physics class on radiation. Some of them told me after I recovered that they remembered that lesson best and cited that as my best delivery as I was at my funniest with my awful drawings and dramatic hand actions!

In the short 3 months in Myanmar, I had fallen sick 3 times and I'm currently still nursing a flu and sore throat. I had a gastric attack shortly after arriving, then about 2 weeks before I was slated to come home, my brains were almost fried with a temperature of 38.3 degrees Celcius. I thought after recovering from the fever that my body would be kind of immune to sickness for a while, but no, I had a flu and sore throat almost immediatly after. Perhaps the thought of returning to Singapore at that time made me recover a little faster. But on the plane back home, the flu and sore throat came back and I'm now still nursing this persistent bug.

Perhaps he's right, Myanmar is not suitable for me. Stay in Singapore.

Sing Song

What is one supposed to think when one receives songs with titles that go like: "Waiting For You" and "I Knew I Loved You" and other songs with lyrics like:

...... 脑袋都是你 心里都是你 小小的爱在那城里好甜蜜 念的都是你 全部都是你 小小的爱在那城里只为你倾心.......

....... 不是不想对你表白我的心意 不是不想对你说我爱你 也许这本是场没有结局的游戏 让时间来冲淡记忆......

Missing you

Another one of those conversations which left me sleepless...... and breathless.......

Him: I miss you very much... really...
Her: But we just met each other today.
Him: It's not the same. I'm thinking of you in my heart.
Her: Then would you like to meet me more often?
Him: The more I meet you, the more I think of you. You wouldn't understand.
Her: So are you saying we should not meet each other anymore?
Him: No, I just wish to see you everyday. Best is if you can be near me all the time and not go away anymore.
Her: You know that is impossible.
Him: I really want to see you everyday. I don't want you to leave again.
Her: I'm going overseas to work soon.
Him: I know, that's why I must accept this fact......

High School Kids

This is my batch of high school students.... On my last day with them, they brought me to U Bein Bridge again, a place where we shared wonderful memories (of long walk across the bridge and sinking boat!).... A very fun bunch but not very studious.... But in recent weeks, they have changed for the better.... Hope they remember their promise to me....

Mona.... Lisa

My favourite kid in the whole school has got to be Mona. She looks like a little boy with her short hair, but she's actually a very sweet little girl. She is such a cheerful girl that I feel happy just seeing her. She has the brightest smile I have ever come across! She is a Primary 1 student who speaks little english and I do not even teach her. How our paths crossed was because she takes the same school bus which drives all the teachers to and from work. Every morning, she would save a seat for me. After school, she would wait at the school entrance with a yellow flower for me. I pity the poor tree (see photo below) which is going botak from her plucking! We would then board the bus together and ride the journey home side by side, sometimes in silence, sometimes with a little English cum Myanmar lesson. I'm already starting to miss her company.

Opposite Emotions

When I left Vietnam, I cried at the thought of probably not seeing my brother and friends for a long time after that.....

When I left Myanmar, I had a big smile on my face. I couldn't wait to get home!

Home Sweet Home

I'm back at last!!! I was not able to blog for a while before I came back to Singapore because the internet was down in the whole of Myanmar. Some people claimed that the government was trying to impose certain restrictions (what with the recent house arrest of a certain lady figure), but others said that lightning struck the server and caused everything to konk out..... I prefer to believe the latter..... Anyway, I'm back in well connected Singapore! You cannot imagine how I felt when I sent my first sms in like 3 months! Haha! See everyone soon!