DEADlines

I'm feeling really stressed.

Deadlines looming and markings still piling up.

Weather is horrible and adding to my frustrations.

Classroom is dirty and badly littered.

Students are still as annoying.

O-levels is coming and yet I feel more anxious than my students.

Why aren't we entitled proper lunch time?!?!

Why can't money drop down from the sky?!?!

Why don't you do my work for me......

*collapses into a pile and dies*

My weary bones

Yet another weekend passed in a blink of an eye.

Nothing very much accomplished.
In fact, nothing is accomplished.

This seems to happen every weekend.
Every Friday, I make a silent resolution that this weekend is going to be different.
I will finish everything that I've brought back home but I just end up bringing them back to school on Monday, untouched.

So I console myself with the fact that every weekend, I get to spend an enormous amount of time with Raine and my baby is more important than everything else.

And that's a fact.

Oh well, work can never be finished but Raine will only grow up once.

However, I must say that I had a good week.

Last Friday was our annual school Road Relay.
I think I was the happiest teacher around on that day.
I like to think that I am the happiest teacher around on that day.
I don't care!

Anyway, reason for my happiness was that my students really did me very proud.
Both my athletics kids and class pupils came in first and second respectively for both the girls and the boys race.
I am sooo tremendously proud of them and you can't imagine the pride I felt when I see them racing towards the finishing line.

I was filled with emotions seeing them race.
Mainly cos I see another side of them that I had never seen before.
The sheer determination in their eyes when they race and the triumphant that they have when the win.
They suddenly became so grown up and are like the students I've always wanted them to be.
To do the best in whatever they do.
They did just that on that day.

This is especially so for J Khoh who always tells me that he's such a slacker and can not do well in things.
He's so different while he was racing.
He's so filled with purpose and I can really sense the fighting spirit in him.
J Khoh, stop thinking of yourself that way.
You can achieve what you want if you put your will to it.

Apart from J, I saw another side of CL too.
Not that I'm purposely trying to mention the golden couple.
CL became really serious on that day.
She seemed so grown up.
Not the usual CL-who-speaks-without-using-her-brains-first.
I'm so proud of her.
CL, you know what's your weakness.
Be more aware of your speech. You can also do it.

Having mentioned the two of them doesn't mean that the rest of you are not special.
Every single one of you made me what I am today too.
Teachers need motivation and encouragement from students too.

A special shout out to the Athletics team.
We have came a long way from the days when you guys ran around the school aimlessly.
In the past, others used to comment that the athletes are no good cos we can't even win at running events.
Today, you have proved them wrong.
You have shown the rest of the school that training hard produces results.
And you can tell everyone proudly that you are from the Athletics team.
Just like what Jo shouted, 'Join Athletics and you can become champion!'.
D has done us proud with his recent win at the Nationals.
The rest of you have done us proud at the road relay and sports day.
All of you are champions!
Thank you for all the good times and the glory.
I am really very proud of you.

2E5, you have proven others wrong too.
You are indeed the best class.
But please, I need you guys to pull up your socks for studies.
I've told pupils from the other classes that we didn't do well during mid-year cos we wanted to shock the rest of them for end-of-year examination.
Don't make me lose face!

So that's Friday.
Exhausting but definitely happy.

Everytime I have a bad day in school, I always rely on happy moments like these.
And that's the reason why I only blog about happy things.

Sunday, that's this morning was spent at Fort Canning.
Brought the prefects for a walk for a charity event.
Most of them turned up bright and early in their pink flamingo t-shirts.
Others overslept and gave irresponsible excuses for not turning up.

Was rather disappointed with a couple of them.
Reasons like 'I want to go out?'
I'm having second thoughts about keeping such people in the board.
I really can't depend on them.

Though it was a rather easy CIP to perform, I'm still glad to see most of them.
Throughout the walk, they chit chatted leisurely and I hope some form of bonding has taken place.
I came to know more about some pupils as well and times like this can not achieved in school.
I'm glad I went too.
Although we didn't really get to see the children, I hope they are happy that we turned up for them still.

After the walk, I managed to spend some time with JP and V.
Realised that V is really sporting and JP can be a real gentleman.
We talked about their future among others and discussing about their next milestone in their education made me realise that they'll be leaving the school soon.
A bad thing about teaching graduating classes is the fact your students leave you after their 'O' levels.
It gets very difficult when you've formed a certain bond with them and you get so used to having them around.
So, I especially cherish my times with them.
After meeting hubby and baby, they left.
That's when I realised that they actually hung around to keep me company.
Thanks JP and V.

Shopped around the supermarket and went for lunch after that.
Reached home around noon and that's when I feel that my lethargy has gotten the better of me.
Took my shower and just laid on the bed while having Raine next to me.
Raine didn't seem sleepy at all while poor Mummy just wanted her to sleep.
So my dear hubby thought that his poor wife can't take it anymore and decided to bring Raine down to my mother-in-law.
That's when I went dead and slept for a good 3 hours.
My hubby can be considerate like that. =)

That's my weekend.
Mundane you say.
But I always enjoy my simple weekend.

Double Happiness

Yesterday two births were announced.

Congratulations to my sister-in-law for being a mother a second time round.
Baby arrived shortly after she was admitted into the hospital.
He looks exactly like his elder brother except chubbier.

Congratulations to my dear friend Nan as well.
Welcome to the madness of motherhood, where days become nights and nights are crazy.

I can't imagine myself going through labour again.
Imagine the epidural, the contractions, the pushing and bare nakedness.
Aiyo!!!
*Shudders at that thought*

And the delivery is just the beginning.
Following that is the crying, poo-ing and waking up every 3 hourly.

Gosh....Motherhood.....

Neverthless, still CONGRATULATIONS on the arrival of your bundles of joy.

Happily Tired

Term 3 started off leaving me feeling very exhausted.
It's only week 2 but I feel as though it's almost the end of the term.
Thank God for Youth Day that I managed to get a day off tomorrow.

I think it's probably due to the fact that supplementaries are really intensive and also the camp in week 1.

The camp in week 1 left me feeling very nostalgic.
Jalan Bahtera was where I used to have my school camps in secondary school.
My secondary school organised lots of leadership training camps and I was very active in those camps back then.
At that time, the camp site wasn't like what it is now.
We used to have to pitch our own tents and the toilets were really filthy.
Mosquitoes were abundant and I always go home with lots of bites.
I even had to have my finger injected because my finger swelled up due to the mosquito bites.
But I had good times there.
I used to love the night time when I can look up to the sky where I can see stars and smell the grass.

As I see my pupils engaged in their activites, it reminded me of myself when I was doing those activities myself.
I recall the fear that I felt each time I try a new high element course.
Hence, I know exactly what my pupils felt when they tell me that they are scared.
However, I feel very proud of one particular pupil of mine.
Let's just call him S.
We were at the abseiling station and S was adamant that he didn't wanna attempt it.
So after much persuasion, he told me that he'll go for it with a smile.
However when it was his turn, he didn't dare to come down.
He started crying and that's when I thought he's really brave.
I asked myself if I were in his shoes, will I dare to cry and let the whole world know that I'm scared.
And the answer is 'no'.

How many of you reading this actually dare to put your pride aside and admit that you're scared?
That's why I feel that S is really brave cos even though he was crying, he attempted to abseil down a few times.
Another pupil made a remark saying that if S is considered brave then she is also brave.
Afterall, she didn't only go up to the top of the abseiling tower but she made it down as well.
But do remember, everyone has a different limit.
To someone who has no vertigo, doing a bungee jump is a piece of cake.
But to another person, it takes a whole lot of courage to do the same thing.
To S, going up to the top and attempting to abseil is already his limit.

S, I'm really proud of you.

I slept through both days during the weekend after the camp.
Didn't really recuperate well as I still have little baby Raine to look after.
Hubby was really considerate as well.
He took over the task of looking after Raine most of the time and asked me to just sleep while he spends time with her.
But I'm still tired.

So week 2 came and left.
Supplementaries everyday is really no joke.
I am tired. Students are tired.
Count the number of 'tired' in this post and you'll know how tired I am.
Gosh!

And you might ask then why is the title of the post 'Happily Tired'.

Cos I'm really happy even though I'm tired.

I once told a fellow colleague that teaching is not an easy job.
It takes a whole lot of energy and passion and sometimes, the rewards are not seen immediately.
So in order to keep me going, I relish on the happy memories that I've collected in my 5 years of teaching.
Last week, I had more of such memories to add on to the collection.

On one of the draggy afternoon, I was informed by the office clerk that an ex pupil sent me a postcard.
I looked into my pigeon hole and found a postcard of scotland lying in it.
I knew instinctively who it is from.
I read it and the content warmed my heart.
I love receiving hand written letters.
Though it's not a letter but I guess a postcard gives the same effect.
You know you've been missed and remembered.
You also know that at some point in time, you made a difference to this pupil's education in secondary school.
It brightened up my day and gave me more meaning to my job.

The second chapter of 'Chicken soup for my own soul' happened the following morning.
The day started off innocently with a series of math lessons.
Just as I was going to get some markers from my markers container, I saw a note there.
It was written from some pupils from my form class last year.
They wrote about how they missed being in my homeroom cos it brought them back some sweet memories.
Like I said, I really love handwritten messages.
So I smiled to myself like a silly goon and felt very contented for that day.

I think I've wrote about how blessed I feel most of the time.
But this is my blog so it doesn't hurt if I am to repeat it.

To start off, I've a wonderful family.
Caring parents, my-always-makes-me-laugh sister, loving hubby, ever adorable daughter and considerate, understanding in-laws.
I've a job that I feel happy in.
Note that I'm just happy in it cos I still think that the pay is too low and the workload is too heavy.
It'll be good if they can find a balance somewhere and I think that'll make me feel excited to be in this job. Hee!
I've good colleagues that I can complain to and laugh with.
I've friends who I can count on when I need help.
I must admit that I'm a very lousy friend cos I'm hopeless with meet ups.
That is why I think I'm doubly lucky to have friends like them.
I've good students who makes me feel that teaching them is not a waste of time.

So you see, what more can I ask for?

Actually, there is.
A round trip of Europe will be good.
One year bonus sounds cool as well.
What else....hmmm....a big bungalow complete with many maids and chauffeur?
Haha!

Guess all these are just wishful thinking.
Contentment is bliss.

Updates about baby Raine.
Her first pearly is finally appearing.
The lower front teeth is surfacing from her gum.
There's still no sign of her other teeth though.

She's still as cheeky as ever.
I have to add that I really love it when she snuggles up to me in the morning when she's lying next to me.
I love those moments.
I'm not too good in expressing how I feel about it but if you close your eyes and imagine it, I think you'll know what I mean.

This Sunday feels different.
No work tomorrow!
Triple Hip Hip Hooray!