Box Yule

Christmas is over just like that. I was teaching on Christmas Day, and will be teaching on Boxing Day. In fact I will be teaching this whole week. I finally appreciate the many holidays we have in Singapore. Had a christmas gift exchange with my class. It's the first time they have ever done anything like that. Gave them candy cane which I brought from Singapore and they were extremely excited. They have never tasted turkey, heard of Rudolph, or seen Mummy kiss Santa.

Cough, sir?

I have a little cough, sir

In my little chest, sir

Whenever I cough, sir

I feel a little pain in my chest, sir

Cough, cough, cough, cough

There it goes again, sir

I have to thank my Primary 2 english teacher, Mrs Chong (coincidentally, she used to be my sissy's form teacher!) for drilling this cute little poem into my then cute little 8-year old head. Guess what made me think of this poem right now?

Sweep Spit

A road sweeper was seen concientiously clearing away the maple leaves. +10 points

The same concientious worker spat along the sidewalk as he worked. - 20 points.

Tsk tsk......

I did a rough estimate of the number of spits I have to avoid everyday when I go to school...... You wouldn't believe it!

Confucius Confusion

Last weekend, Mom and I went on a day trip to Qu Fu (曲阜), hometown of Confucius. On arrival at this old city, we were waylaid by taxi drivers. We took one of the taxis and I told the driver to bring us to the Confucius Temple. But don't know why, we ended up at this other Confucius tourist attraction. Since we were already there, we decided to go in and take a look. The admission ticket (very ex!) was supposed to cover everything including a guide, but at the end of the tour, the guide asked for a tip. We were also told to sit down in front of this fortune teller who was one of the descendents of Confucius. He said with our admission ticket, he can read our fortunes for free. Yet, he asked for a token at the end of the session! Bleah! Nevertheless, mom was impressed with his accuracy and parted with her money willingly. That place is definitely a tourist trap! Waste our time, waste our money!
Look at us two Michelin men! But I have yet to see anyone looking slim in these thick winter clothes. I'm just trying to console myself....

Here we are finally at the Confucius temple! Definitely worth the visit unlike place number one! The three must-see in 曲阜 are 孔庙 (Kong's temple)，孔府 (Kong's Mansion) and 孔林 (Kong's Cemetary). I don't mind visiting the place again as it has a nice ancient feel and a rich history. I feel like I have gone back in time! The buildings are mainly 2 storeys high as they cannot build anything taller than a certain structure in Kong's temple. But the number of guides pestering us and offering their services at the entrance of each attraction can be a nuisance and a tad irritating.

Mummy & I

We did some simple hiking up the Thousand Buddha Mountain. We didn't notice the thousand buddhas but we did see one BIG buddha!