Wednesday, July 28, 2010

I Love my Job (Part 1) - 7 reasons Why




Seven reasons why I love my job:

1. All Most of the children are well-behaved all of the most of the time. Here are pictures of some of them. (I can't post all as there are too many to print)

...................................................................................Sara

...........................................................................Mikhail

............................................................................Qasdina


...............................................................................Amir

..............................................................................Hannah
.................................................................................Dan

...........................................................................Adreana

2. We get to sing fun songs...



There were ten in the bed
And the little one said,
"Roll over! Roll over!"









So they all rolled over
And one fell off!
(number goes down til the last one)....






There was one in the bed
And the little one said,




"Good night."



("tak larat dah" - Malay, translated into our-day English
I can't do this anymore!






Doe - a deer, a female deer









Ray - a drop of golden sun










Me - a name I call myself


(well...you get the picture)





3. There's food around all the time (not sure this is a good thing, though)




Gingerbread cookies at Christmas










and birthday cakes throughout the
year
!







yummy lasagna...nyom nyom. No, we don't have this at the centre but no harm wishing, right?



4. We see the children graduate and move on...and we were part of helping them to.


The six-year olds have a graduation
concert at the end of the year as they
join Primary School the following year.










5. We get to make/wear fun costumes

................................................................Sea-horse Ammar


.................................................................Turtle Aqiel
...................................................................Bee Nicholas

6. The children's parents are supportive
Some of the children's parents in seaweed, jellyfish and starfish costume, getting ready to dance
to the Little Mermaid song, 'Under the Sea'

Teacher's Day gifts


7. The children make us laugh when they do the darndest things


(Hazim with his chocolate moustache)






Lesson on phonetic sound "sp"

Me: The letters s and p make the sound "sp".

A, a kid from a non-English speaking background: (nod nod) sp

T: So, if I have "sp" and I add o-t-s to it, what does that make?


A: sp ots spots!

T: clever girl! Now, do you know what spots are?

A: (shakes head)



T: They are like dots - you can have spots on
a dress, or spots on a dog - like a Dalmatian.
You know the show "101 Dalmatians", right?

A: (nod nod)

T: So now you write the word spots, and colour a picture for it. Would you like me
to draw a picture of a dress, or a Dalmatian? (why do I bother to ask)


T: (from experience, doubtful of what colour the Dalmatian would turn out to be)

So! what colour are you going to make the spots?

A: Black!

T: (hopeful) Ok, here you go! a Dalmatian with spots for you to colour ..
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

result:


Black spots on a blue Dalmatian



sigh.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

All the Excitement Surrounding the W.C. (otherwise titled Don't Shoot Me)

Facebook's pages are filled with comments about the "W.C."

Honestly, at first, I had no idea what that was!

Oh. It's the World Cup season, of course. So much excitement, or boredom, elation or disappointment surrounding it.

For some, the W.C. evokes all kinds of emotions. The W.C. provides inspiration. The W.C. makes them break out in song! The W.C. makes them break out in a sweat. The W.C. makes them not want to leave the room. The W.C. makes them want to stay til the end!

(c'mon guys, I did say for
some)

For me, a diehard American Idol follower, my season is over (that's why my title said Don't Shoot Me, W.C. followers)

I do want to talk about the W.C. I am familiar with! Yes, so exciting! (And that's what I honestly thought "W.C." stood for, when I first read it on facebook)


W.C. - (Water Closet)

- as known in France, Netherlands, Mexico (now you know where
this is going...hee)

retirement room - in India

comfort room - in the Philippines

loo - England

lavatory - the term often used on commercial airlines

jacks - Ireland

House of Office - 17th century England (I like I like! "Teacher, may I go to the House of Office, please?")

john/s*ithouse - America (slang)

latrine - US Military

Other names: toilet, washroom, restroom, vin, crapper, netty, dunny, bog

So, my W.C. (downstairs) looks like this....no, wait wait..I'm supposed to show before photos first:
(yawn yawn)



completely bare walls...



And now for the after photos:












These are the walls, handpainted with black and white emulsion paint
..


This is the guitar wall..






This is the dancers' wall




This is the drummer's wall






This is the keyboard wall




These are the tiles (alternate tile handpainted with black enamel paint)



First tape straight lines around each tile..





Mark the tile to be painted or it's very easy to make a mistake and paint the wrong one!



Paint over each tile, then remove the tape.






Q: What inspired you?

A: I'm convinced a lot of people get their deepest thoughts and inspirations when in the
toilet/bathroom. So do I. That's why I wanted to paint my toilet...different?



Q: How long did it take you?

A: Well, I only remember the guitar wall took me four evenings to paint.







Q: Was it difficult?

A: If you consider pencil drawing the pictures on large pieces of paper, tracing it on
the walls, then my hanging for dear life from a ladder that could barely be spread in the tiny space, painting in a difficult colour (black-try cleaning off enamel paint drips with turpentine), scraping and wiping off spills and blotches, taping around each tile, painting them with a hand brush (a roller didn't seem to work), removing the tape, touching up mistakes with a tiny brush, shooing off people who needed to actually use the House of Office..
umm...what was the question again?



imagine if I had done this! just looking at it gave me a headache...




Q: Were all the drawings your own?

A: No, I got them from here and there and made changes here and there...


Q: Did you at any time regret starting this?

A: Actually painting the walls was fun but then when I got this idea of painting the tiles (yes, I painted each.black.tile)...I started regretting that just about the time I was doing the 29th tile (there are 195 black tiles altogether).


And then one thing led to another and the black-framed mirror needed to be painted white




and then the water tank was off-colour and needed a coat of paint too, then the tap (it was green!).......




and the horrid windows needed to be covered with a curtain....


(I know, I know, I'm supposed to take photos where curtains billow in the wind and the sun's rays are shining through, but gimme a break, man!)



Q: What did it cost you?

A: About 40 ringgit of black, emulsion paint (I had stock of white), 2 itsy cans of black enamel paint for the tiles and water tank 10 ringgit, tailored curtain 13 ringgit. Total 63 ringgit (about US$18). This is not counting the tube (okay...3 tubes) of backache gel


Q: There are so many details...like the thin long cymbal stands, the guitar strings...


A: Do you think I have OCD (Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder) tendencies?

You're tellin' me!


Q: Are you done with it?

A: Not yet. Budget (that's read "Back") restraints. I really don't like the floor but haven't decided what to do with it.

Ewww...



And the light!



Do give me ideas!




But for now, my W.C. season is over.


My husband, who wanted in on the action, placed his mark on it (geez, suddenly that doesn't sound right).

He had found a label from whoknowswhere and stuck it on the door...





My husband, (I'm guessing), is mighty pleased with our toilet.

Why do I suspect that? Well, you know, how we usually greet guests in Malaysia? "Come in, come in, let me get you a drink.."

Well, he's taken to greeting them with,

"Come in, come in, come to my toilet."

-_-


On another note, I came across a recent blog post on how the writer's brother decorated his bathroom. He calls it his Man Cave. It made me laugh (not true). It made me cry (very true).
You have to read about it. Forloveorfunny is a blog I faithfully follow cos the writer, Lynn, is brilliant.

Click this.


Something I have to painfully learn and keep learning and my children keep telling me to learn and I haven't learnt yet!...we all have different ways of looking at things, we all have different tastes. So after seeing that Man Cave, I cried silently to myself (not true). After reading that post, I knew I had to fast-forward my originally-intended-for-later post. Because I don't know when I'll ever finish my toilet. And I'm sure there are some also who will be crying silently to themselves after they see my toilet. And yet there will be others who will sound their vuvuzelas! (because I like that word)

Still, eventhough the W.C. (World Cup) and my W.C. (water closet) are not done yet,

For me, my W.C. evokes all kinds of emotions. My W.C. provides inspiration. My W.C. makes me break out in song! My W.C. makes me break out in a sweat. My W.C. makes me not want to leave the room. My W.C. makes me want to stay til the end!




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