Comic Fiesta @ Gurney Paragon

Well,  we never expect a visit to a Cosplay Fiesta after our movie at Gurney Plaza.

Wolverine. It is not a bad movie but the story line is typical, something which we can easily guess about the beginning, climax and end.

So, after having done with our movie, we head to stroll around Gurney Paragon. Personally，it is not much things to see and to do there except few fancy, expensive and branded stuffs on display and sale.

We walked to the main hall and saw a huge crowd, spotted some Japanese anime characters in real! That was a cosplay, indeed!

Which characters do you prefer? xD

They are so cool and yet so enthusiastic in posting with the crowds.

Lastly, each of us with our favorite cosplay characters! Xd

A TFM fellow's reflection after 5.5 month into teaching in high need school

I have stumbled upon a blog by Miss Sarah. I have not known her personally, but I feel what she write ought to be a reflective point to all teachers who are or will be teaching in high need schools in Malaysia.



[Warning: This post is going to be very long, honest and potentially quite brutal...let's see how I go.]

So. I have neglected this blog for quite a while. Truth to be told, I am not one for articulating my thoughts and feelings in writing, let alone on a blog. I am and have always been a talker so this would probably be better in a video format. However, somehow, today I feel like I just need to get all my thoughts and feelings down on paper. I feel like it is high time I wrote a true and honest reflection, and not only the ‘sugar-coated’ updates that I have been posting on Facebook. More than anything else, this reflection is for me. I feel the urgent need to just pour out my emotions and to clear my head. A billion people are coming to observe me next week, the NAZIRs (I think that is how you spell it?), TFM, IAB, etc. and I need to make sure I am as clear-headed as possible lest I blow or worse still, suffer another anxiety attack. I don’t even know where to begin but let me try. So here goes…


These past 5.5 months have without a doubt been the most DIFFICULT 5.5 months of my life. I thought that doing IB whilst being a prefect, prefect treasurer, the international students’ committee vice-president and juggling a billion other clubs and societies was quite challenging. I thought that being the President of MUOSS together with committee positions in 3 other clubs and societies, whilst juggling university and my social life was at times difficult. I thought honours was the most challenging thing I had ever experienced, well parts of it at least, but this, this makes everything seem like a walk in the park. I am one of the most optimistic people I know, and yet I will be honest and say I have never complained, cried, swore, gotten angry, upset and just been plain negative so often in my life. I have cried in front of my students, my teachers, my principal, my LDO, my fellow TFM-ers, my boyfriend, my parents, and probably to lots more other people that I don’t even know about. For someone who does not have mood swings, well these past 5.5 months, I have gone through the biggest mood swings I ever thought possible. I never knew it was possible to have so many extreme highs and lows within a period of the school day. To be honest, I even fear that cancer cells are starting to breed within me.


Everyone keeps on telling me to lower my expectations, to relax, to be patient, to not care so much, to not worry so much about PGDE, what others think, etc. But what they don’t realise is that for a high-achiever and perfectionist, this is quite impossible. Everyday I feel like I am failing. Faiing my students, failing myself, failing TFM, failing the Principal, failing my LDO, my mentors. I feel like I am already trying my best, lacking sleep, getting so stressed to the point of suffering an anxiety attack, and yet, it is not enough. How do you live with these feelings of not having done enough? How do you live with the knowledge that perhaps you really are not that great as your CV portrays? You are really not that ‘transformational’ after all? You are really not able to make a difference in these kids’ lives???? What if, all I am doing is just setting up my kids for failure?! I do not know how to teach English. Heavens, English was always one of my least favourite subjects and yet here I am teaching it and trying to convince my students that it is the most interesting subject in the world. Worse still, I am teaching it in an environment where my students and I can barely communicate due to their weakness in English and mine in Malay, Tamil and Chinese. I feel like a duck talking to a pack of dogs.


Over the holidays, I told myself that I would start trying to detach myself. I would try to stop caring so much because I know that all that is causing is the deterioration of my health. I told myself I would take the initiative to be more professional and to ‘man up’. Yet, after doing quite well for 3 days, today, I gave a stern talking to 3 of my 4 classes. With the first 2 classes, I was still okay. I just wanted them to know that they had to improve their work ethics and take the initiative to study and complete their homework. However, by the time I reached the 3rd class, my final class of the day – 2 periods with my ‘most aspring’ class. Well, by the end of it, I was ready to showcase my bodycombat skills on at least 3/4 of the class. Don’t worry, I restrained myself and stuck to a stern talking-to. Yet, even after scolding them in English, Mandarin and Malay (which is really difficult and really takes the steam out of your words, especially given my limited vocabulary), a few of my students still had the nerve to laugh and talk about a completely unrelated topic. That was it. I could not take it anymore. I knew I had to leave the room lest I say something I regretted. I packed up my things, ignored the students’ calls and stormed out of the class 3 minutes early.


Talk about feeling like even more of a failure. I could not even stick to my own ‘objective’ for more than 3 days. How do they do it? How do they get under my skin like this? Why do I care so much for them? Even when I tell myself that I don’t want to care anymore? That I can no longer take the disappointment and heartbreak I feel everytime they don’t hand in their homework, don’t study for their spelling tests, talk in class, even after repeated reminders and warnings.


Then, one of the teachers said something very interesting to me. He said, “Sarah, this actually shows that you are meant to be a teacher. You are only so angry and upset because you genuinely care for the students and you genuinely worry about their futures.”


This stopped me in my tracks. Here I was, doubting myself as a teacher. I was doubting my ability to teach my students anything of use. I was doubting the impact I was having on my students, if at the end of the day, it was a negative impact or if there was even an impact to begin with! To be honest, I am definitely not going to continue teaching after these 2 years as business is my true passion and I really am not one made for the bureaucracies and paperwork of being a civil servant. Yet, I have always enjoyed teaching for the the joy you get when your students, especially the ones who are really struggling, have that ‘aha’ moment.


The truth of the matter is this. I have thought about quitting, countless times, more times than I can count with all my fingers and toes. I especially think about quitting when I have had a particularly bad day, when I miss my parents, my friends, my boyfriend, when I miss MYSELF, ME as I used to be, not “Miss Sarah”. I think about quitting when the pressure from the school’s administration, TFM, the government, PGDE, but most of all, from myself, gets too much to bear. In my moments of self-pity, I even think about quitting when I think about the money I could be earning and the social life I could be having if I were not in this program.


YET. And I am going to write this next section in capital letters (bear with me please), because this is the overriding truth of the matter.


I AM NOT GOING TO GIVE UP.


I am not going to quit on my students, on the school, and most of all, on myself. My parents did not raise me up to be weak, selfish and self-pitying. I was not blessed by God to have such a happy and loving childhood only to continue caring only for myself and not sharing my luck with those in need.


No, I am going to pick myself up and persevere. Somehow, I am going to get over this vicious cycle of self-pity, negativity and thoughts of quitting. Truth to be told, I have never learned so much in such a short amount of time. I have never been knocked down and had to pick myself up so many times. I have never learned so much about the world, learned so many skills, and learned the true meaning of ‘grit’ and being grateful for all that I have. Most of all, I have never learned so much about myself. It is really true what they say, that it is in times of difficulty that you learn the most about yourself, about who you really are.


I must say I have not really liked certain parts of myself that I have emerged these past few months. I never knew I could be such a complainer, a weakling, so negative and so emotional. But. I cannot stand being a mere shadow of my previous self anymore. I cannot stand carrying this negative energy around anymore.


So, I am going to take action from this day forward. It is time for me to grow up and man up. I am going to cut these parts off as much as possible. I am going to exercise again. I am going to try and adapt to this small town. I am going to make the effort to make friends and assimilate into this society. But most of all, I am going to continue caring for my students. I am going to pick myself up, dust myself off, and continue trying and doing all that I can (without killing myself of course! ). I am going to do my best to help my students be whoever they want to be and can be.


This is my pledge because if anything I at least owe that much to my students and myself.


After all, isn’t this why I joined Teach for Malaysia in the first place? (:

Source: http://teachingchampions.wordpress.com/2013/06/12/reflections-after-5-5-months/

I salute your positiveness and strength. Be all well with you and your kids. ;)

Weekend Getaway

Another moment worth a remembrance- Hiking in Penang!

I was quite delighted over a day trip on 8th June 2013(Saturday) to Teluk Bahang to experience the breathtaking scenery of the natural reserve of Teluk Bahang, to conquer the Pantai Kerachut and to reach to the peak of Muka Head!

From early morning downpour to sunny bright day, from the thoughts of nearly giving up to successfully conquering the mountainous terrains, from enduring the short moment of starvation and faints to be able to enjoy the world's yummylicious fruits. Life,just like hiking, has lots of ups and down, rugged and steep terrains, switchbacks, and at last beautiful scenic.

The view at Pantai Kerachut--Simply Breathtaking!

Beautiful and relaxing!

The beach and the sky!

A very good spot for picnicking!

We make it to the peak of Muka Head!=D

After the hiking session, we went to tropical fruit farm to quench our extreme thirst with the yummy fruits! The  fruits are of many variety!

Scenery in the fruit farm

The very knowledgeable tour guide--Mr Ali. Well spoken guy with a very wide knowledge in botany. He can basically explain A-Z about plants and fruits , the nutritional, scientific facts as well as the history of the plants in the tropical farm.

It was a good day, with laughter, fun, fruits and 'healthy regimen' to end our weekend getaway!

A day food hunt and trip @ Bukit Mertajam

Bukit Mertajam (BM) is the capital of central Seberang Prai. Not many tourist would fancy this place to be the tourist hotspot as much as Penang island, but BM is very famous for food! xD

Google search would show you the only place of interest is St Anne Church, in accordance to the famous Trip Advisor. St Anne Church


I was reminiscing the time when 4 of us, had a food hunt trip plus a visit to St Anne Church in BM on May 2013!

The majestic  St Anne Church

Famous Rojak, Yam Rice, Laksa and ABC at BM!!

All in all, a very tiring day indeed, Thanks for Kai and Shan for being our tour guide of the day! ^^

Leaderships 101

Today, I have learned leaderships stuff from some BFM podcast. So, I would like to sum up what I have listen from the podcasts.

The first podcast is from Kenneth Kwan. He is a High Performance Team Strategist in Deep Impact who has spoken to thousands of leaders and professionals in 10 countries. People are the key assets in any organisation, but how do you move them towards having a good performance?

Some leaders are soft and tough. Both have their own ways of management.

However, a good leader in any organization will:
1. Become proactive coach, help your employees develop the right skills.
2.Make sure pay attention to new employees. Give them guidance and coaching, Spend time with them. Don't get them in and leave them alone, it doesn't work. Don't let them hang around with the bad apples in the office.
3.Explain the roles and responsibility with the team very clearly. Demonstrate how their day to day task is actually impact on the overall well-being of the company. Make them feel part of the team. Give them immediate feedback.

High performing team--Consistently overcome the daily fire fighting mentality. Thousand of things screaming at them at single day but yet they are able to be laser beam focus, they know what are the objectives and they constantly stir themselves towards that direction, while still handling thousand of things that cream their attention.

In order to build a high performing team, proactiveness start from yourself.

Fire-fighting mentality-- If u go to any org, u would hear people said there are thousands of things on my plate and this never ends and it keeps adding on. And the question is what their boss really want them to do at the end of the day? People feel so disenchanted and feel so many things , but as they do dozen, doesn't make them feel like they are making a progress, and that is just terrible!

This is due to the fact that people don't know how to multi-task and don't know how to prioritise.

Team building play a role when people doesn't know people very well, and you want to bring them closer, get people very proactive. You want the person to said: 'If change were to happen, it must start with me first. I can do things to make progress!'

Eg: When account dept mess things up, people often blame the company names, but not just account. We play different functions but we are in one organization.The sense of collaboration need to be cultivated. Every person know what are doing , not in your own silo, working on your plate, but to engage what other teams are doing.

1. Clarity. 
Articulate clearly what are their business goals, not just the dept, but to individual level.
sometimes, doing lots of activities does not mean your progress. It just mean you have lots of activities.
Clarity of purpose.what exactly are they in the business.
eg: every dept exist for different purposes.HR, exist for serving the people, sometimes may get busy or too caught up with policy, and forget their role. They should help company to grow people.

2. Trust. 
How to build trust?
Trust build on character and competent.
Character is moral intent, this is what we stand for. If you believe sth , you act in a way that is consistent with your characters and you have very high moral values, people tend to believe and trust you because of what you stand for.
Competent. You have to be really good of what you do.Because if you don;t , people will just doubt your ability to handle things.
Both elements are important and they cannot exist without each others.
If you have character and don't have competent, you would said I am a nice guys you know, but I don't know whether I can work with you.
If you have competent and no characters, people said this guy is good but I don't trust him.

It starts from small things, responsibility that has been assigned to you.

3.Open communication
 Different from western. Focus on the issue, not the person.
Share their ideas without holding back. Important, because each person when share ideas, decision become very robust. because you get different ideas.Leaders have to mine for different opinions.
When people talk, they own an idea.
To make people who don't talk during meeting to talk: Pre meeting session, to warm them up, when in large group, they will feel intimidating. Let's argue and talk about it.


4. Accountability
How they constantly account for their action.
They meet on regular basis. They talks about what have we done in a week. Watever we are doing right now, and start making plan for next week to achieve goals. what are we doing to move closer.
write goal, but not follow up, leave it.
Follow through is important. it is a discipline of execution.
we are not interested you to setting great goal, but we interested on you to have the discipline to meet it every single weeks.

Jonker Street-- The heart of Malacca's Tourism

Jonker Street – the centre street of Chinatown in Malacca – was once renowned for its antique shops. However over the years it has turned to clothing and crafts outlets as well as restaurants. The best part of Jonker Street is the night market on Fridays and Saturdays that sells everything from tasty treats to cheap keepsakes.

And now, it has been officially said that Jonker Street will be shut down due to massive traffic jams. This was being announced by Chief Minister of Melaka, Datuk Idris Haron. Traders have been prohibited from conducting any business on the road. This is rather a sad news as I would certainly want to see Jonker Walk remains. What is Melaka without tourism?!

The large crowd of tourists and locals in the famous spot of Jonker Walk.

Nyonya Pineapple Tart -- Almost could find it along the road of Jonker Walk.

The Jonker Walk is especially busy with the coming large crowd in the peak hour from 6pm to midnight during weekends.

Well, apparently, there was a misinterpretation occurs among the state executive council in which Datuk Idris Haron clarified that he just ordered the roads previously every Saturday and Sunday to be reopened for traffic to avoid congestion in Melaka city.

At last, thankfully, Datuk Seri Najib stepped in to discuss the closure of the Jonker Street with the Malacca state government.

The conclusion is the Jonker Street would be business as usual for the traders from 6pm to midnight and open to traffic.

The Golden Quote

This is a repost, but I think it will serve as an encouragement to everyone of us here!

There are two days in every week about which we should not worry. Two days which should be kept free from fear and apprehension.

One of these days is yesterday, with its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed. We cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone!!

The other day we should not worry about is tomorrow, with its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise and poor performance. Tomorrow is beyond our immediate control. Tomorrow's sun will rise, whether in splendor or behind a mask of clouds. But it will rise. Until it does we have no stake in tomorrow, for it is yet unborn.

This leaves only one day: today.

Any man can fight the battles of just one day. It is when you and I add the burdens of two awful eternities - yesterday and tomorrow, that we break down.

It is not necessarily the experience of today that disturbs one's peace of mind. It is often time the bitterness for something which happened yesterday and the dread of what tomorrow may bring. Let us therefore live one day at a time.

This is to remind all of us that while we should remember the past and plan and anticipate the future, it is critical that we don’t get paralyzed by either. By focusing on making the best of the present, we can actually make the past a sweeter learning experience, and make tomorrow’s hopes and dreams closer to reality.
Life has been full of ups and downs. But...