*the love and grace of God in my life..*

Friday, March 31, 2006

once again, there wasn't much time to meet my baby this entire week
on tues, he wanted to meet me for dinner but i was still in JB at that time
that night, he also told me that they're entitled to off for next mon and tues
on wed, i could meet him for dinner but he had a date with his parents and it's not often that they have dinner together
that night, he said that the leave for next week seems unconfirmed
on thurs, it started as a happy evening becos we could meet for dinner and i was so happy when i was on my way to his place
then just one minute after seeing him, his camp mate called to announce that they were all required back in camp immediately
PENGZ!
i can't believe it!
but of cos, it was becos of a stupid guy who did some stupid things to cause inconvenience to people
worse still, baby called and said they might be confined till sat in order to help with the investigation

argh!
it was such a disappointing evening
of cos, none of it was attributed to his fault, just that it can get extremely frustrating

anyway.. i'm on course now
"how to give constructive feedback to students?"
hmm, okie la. pretty alright course
at least, it assures me that the style i've been doing so far is fine.
a long day ahead..
course ends at 12 noon --> staff sharing till 2pm --> external meeting with NLB till 6.30pm --> dinner with cindy and sharon.

tmr is a long day too.. music prac - music min meeting - youth

//posted by ivy @ 11:12//

Thursday, March 30, 2006

until now, i still cannot make out my workload preference:
to have heavy workload once in a while and lull period in between, or
consistent workload throughout?

the past three weeks have been really relaxing
occassional meetings here and there; some minor work here and there
and most of the time, i'm doing my own things etc.
in another words, lull period.

then as today draws to an end, there seems to be more things coming up all of a sudden
i was asked to revise problem 3 for the coming semester, due in a week?!?!
there's some IG matters to settle before i depart for hong kong on thurs
and speaking about HK, i need to look for my director to get some of her contacts in HK as well; settle the 'seed' funding from colleagues and tour chinatown on wed night before leaving for HK so that i know what products to bring back for NLB

HK was supposed to be a leisure trip, a time to relax before facing the kids on 17th apr
it has now turned into a mini business trip
no fun at all.. BUT i'm still going to TRY to enjoy it as much as i can.
long, long story
i might just end up travelling to shanghai in june as well.. for the same reason.

the evening was disappointing, a little frustrating as well
sigh.. blog more tmr.
i really need to get to bed, else i won't be able to wake up tmr in time for my course

//posted by ivy @ 22:15//

Saturday, March 25, 2006

took a day off on thurs and headed down to JB
the journey there and back was quite a breeze, places were easy to locate as well
nothing really special there, except that things were very much cheaper
shopped a little, went for lunch, caught a show, ate desserts, shopped again, went for dinner before coming back
somehow, i bypassed the JB custom on the way back and so my passport has only one stamp on it
it also means that i'm currently still in JB... how wonderful.

after a brief discussion at work on fri morning, my colleague and i were somehow tempted to head to hong kong
there was natas fair on at the same day so in the midst of our half-day leave (it was supposed to be used for preparing food for bbq the same night), we spent 3 hrs roaming around natas fair and got ourselves quite a good deal
just when i thought i could break the record of going overseas every school holiday, hong kong trip came about.
just like the previous time when i went bangkok, i'm leaving one day earlier than baby
he's heading to taiwan on 7th apr, while im leaving on 6th apr
hopefully, it's a nice break before school term begins on 17th
right after the hong kong trip, i'll be with my IG students for 4 days, and then good friday holiday and tata, school begins.

we had sier's friend, jassie who joined us for cell today so we didn't go through much of the material
supposed to head down to pasir ris for kenny's 21st birthday but both peixuan and i couldn't make it in the end
it was too far, and we were too late. haha!
went for dinner with the cell instead to holland village's sushi teh
first time going out dinner with them after such a long time, but i enjoyed myself tonight
it was a fun time together! =)

i'm so tired now
but since i'm online, so decided to blog before zzz-ing

//posted by ivy @ 23:25//

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

as compared to the exciting week which just passed, this week is dead boring
not that there isn't anything to do but there is absolutely no urgency is getting them done, and that's probably the reason why i'm SO unproductive this week
most of the time, i'm online comparing the different phone models (am thinking of changing phone..)
wonderful isn't it?
travel all the way to woodlands, to surf on the net - something that i can jolly well stay at home and do!

anyway, i met huiling for lunch yday
we both ordered handmade noodles but she ordered tom yam flavor
reason being that she thinks by doing that, we'll both be able to eat at the same speed
well, in a sense, she was right
i was eating faster than her and at one point in time, she actually asked me to SLOW DOWN!!!

went for DLT in the evening
something that i never thought i'll do
errr, i always think DLT is boring, and i've no idea how people sit through the 2 hrs of lessons at night?!?!?!
BUT...
i actually found myself wanting to know more during the lesson and after the lesson
i mean, it was already shocking to myself that i actually told huiling i want to attend DLT (but i don't want to take exams.. haha)
i thank God for the desire in wanting to read and know more.. =)

off to JB tmr for a day.

//posted by ivy @ 23:07//

Saturday, March 18, 2006

i'm now a certified first-aider, for the next 3 years.
well, i really do hope that i won't have to use anything that i've learnt though.

3 intensive days of first-aid course was really interesting
this is by far, the most interesting course which was made compulsory for us
usually, all of us would be 1/4 listening to the boring content and 3/4 checking our mails, msn-ing etc
but throughout this course, i hardly had my laptop switched on!
many sessions of practical on Annie doing CPRs and rescue-breathing have definitely developed some muscles in me
i actually had a blue-black after the test yesterday.

blue-black is known as contusion in medical terms
to treat a contusion, place an ice-pack at the area to reduce the swelling and discoloration.
my instructor would be so proud of me if he sees this. =)

the card came today.
a black card with a bright rose in the middle
at the side, it reads lady's card.

confirmation service tmr.

//posted by ivy @ 21:28//

Monday, March 13, 2006

went for leong's ocs commissioning parade on sat late afternoon
it was quite an experience, since my baby's own passing-out parade wasn't available to the public so this is the first time i'm witnessing one.
he looked smart in his uniform
i think number 1 makes every army guy looks good.

went for entrepreneurship programme at holy innocents this morning
my class was quite well-behaved, as compared to ghim moh which i'll never, ever wanna go back again
i've another lesson with them tmr morning, as well as next mon's afternoon before i passed them to my colleague, gabriel
then i'll be going over to sports school for one lesson as well
my colleagues say it'll be quite an experience since sports school students are rather different and unique
i do hope i get the golfers - sophisticated and well-mannered students! =)

half an hour more to a meeting
i'm enjoying the little break i've, listening to jazz music while sitting comfortably at my armchair, cross-legged and snuggled in my warm sweater.

i'm looking forward to this sat!

//posted by ivy @ 14:01//

Saturday, March 11, 2006

reported to work at the new campus from thurs onwards
basically, my own office is only 3/4 done, they're still clearing some mess, putting in our cupboards etc
that's the biggest reason for all of us to squeeze together in the main RPC building right now, for the next one week or so
someone was commenting that if only we could all stay this way
i agree.
it's so much easier to go for meetings and talk
compared to splitting us up in 7 different buildings
but i shan't complain so much since my office is probably the 2nd nearest from RPC itself.

my RO sent me to holland village (i was meeting baby for dinner) yday after our external meeting at PSA
during the short journey there, i realised how our relationship has improved throughout the 3 months since 2006 started and i'm thankful for that
now that i'm helping her directly for CET programme, she's really giving me lots of opportunity to grow in this area
i recalled telling her i'm not confident to represent the dept in CET
but she says not to worry, she'll hand-hold me till i'm ready
well, technically speaking, i've another 1/2 month to go before she transfers to another dept and i'll be more or less on my own

we had cell on thursday night at huiling's place
a change of timing, atmosphere and environment
i'm quite happy about it. =)
at least, i think i can attend it more regularly than the usual sat's cell

first week of hols is gone, just like that.
so fast
i'm so not looking forward to 17th apr, where the school will be flooded by students all over again
and this time round, so many of them
especially the yr 1s who are going to be blur and lost

//posted by ivy @ 11:23//

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

2nd last day in tanglin and we had so much fun during lunch today.
went out to have indonesian food as a dept - the whole lot of 32 of us!
occupied three big round tables and of cos, 1/4 of the restaurant
they must have regretted accepting our reservation the moment we stepped in
cos we made so much noise that we were no different from 30 students inside there

throughout the nearly two hours there,
we laughed uncontrollably over stupid jokes and suanning around the table
we shouted from one end of the table to the another end of another table
angela tried to hush us down by saying "hey, quiet...behave yourselves, public leh. although we're from temasek poly, it doesn't mean..."
what an attempt to sabo TP but she really didn't have the chance to even finish her sentence before the 30 of us burst out in really loud laughter, along with cheers, clapping hands and whistling.
it also didn't help when 1/4 of us were dressed in our own school t-shirts!

the entire afternoon thereafter was spent trying to make ourselves awake and do something productive
i'm so thankful for my current cubicle mate, jasmine
while i was away at 2 meetings in the morning, the dept was arranging car-pooling for lunch and she automatically ensured that someone will drive me there when im back from my meeting
while i was busy clearing some stuff for my boss, she helped me indicate the number of boxes i have, so that the movers can move them on thursday
while we were having lunch, she was the one who constantly dumped food onto my plate, not caring if there was already a whole lot of unconsumed different food she had previously placed on my plate
she has always been the one who took it upon herself to watch out for me and my welfare since we started sitting together in aug last year.

what a pampered feeling
something that you get when you are a mere 22+ years old
among the rest of the dept who are all 25 years old and above.

we went for coffee after lunch
someone turned and asked "you're a fresh grad hor?"
i nodded.
someone else went "so young.. 24 right?"
errr, nope. not even 23 yet.
everyone around the table exclaimed and shook their head
while muttering "so young", "wah...", "huh..."

err yeah.
im still the youngest in the dept
and i've retained the title for the past 8 months. =)

//posted by ivy @ 20:39//

Saturday, March 04, 2006

the last lesson of the sem was with my day 4 students
after class, we took some pics (chengfan has yet to send over), and when i open up their RJ to do their grading today, i was so touched by many of their comments...

Ko Yang: I am also thankful for your flexibility in terms of facilitating. Especially for your 3rd meeting, every week is a different agenda. At least it is better for us, as we have been doing a routine process for the past 3 years. At least you provide us with some variety, but at the same time still making sure that we can understand the learning issue. I also like the way that you identify the learning issue, you make things simple for us by identifying which is more important and which is not. Thus, we can focus on the more important one first. Lastly, it is nice to have you as my facilitator. See ya.

Yi Jing: Thanks ivy for your fun-loving character in the class. Glad to have you as our facilitator

Dezheng: I am thankful of you Ivy. I must say that i do really enjoy being a student in your class. You are different from other facilitators as in the way u hold your third meeting. Far more interesting than those presentation. Able to enjoy your lesson make time pass quickly. Thanks for what you had taught and your hard work in facilitating the class. Today maybe the last time we will be seeing you in school but do hope that we can still contact through MSN. Lastly thanks for your encouraging positive comments you given me. I will work hard.

Xiuyan: I am also thankful for having you as my facilitator for the 16 weeks of HRM learning. It's been fun and we really do see your effort in putting a great teaching to our class. You made our learning more fun, not always do presentations, but all different kinds of ways in presenting our solution to make our last meeting cool and new. You made the learning more freshy and not dull. We have laughter and fun everytime, which made our day up. Thanks for all the effort you have put in to us, and we really appreciate it. See you around and all the best to you! Take Care. Thank You! =)

Lee Beng: I like to take this opportunity to thank you for facilitating my class. I have really enjoyed myself in this Human Resource Management; you have made the lesson very interesting and fun. I like your style of lesson because you are able to interacted and communicated well with us and my class.

Kiran: Ivy, you have been an interesting facilitator. you certainly made learning this module fun. =)

Siwe Ping: I think the facilitator of HRM is great ~ Ha ha, Miss Ivy just want to tell you I think you are a cool facilitator that communicate with students well , and your lesson are never boring to us .=) All the best to you !

Dhani: I am grateful to have a facilitator like you. You have make me realize how intresting HRM can be and have been a helpful guide to me. This is the fact, i always look forward for my HRM class because you are the coolest facilitator. To miss ivy, i wish you a great career ahead or in anything that you do. :)

Farhana: I have really enjoyed the lessons and if I may add one more thing-I'm grateful to have you as my facilitator and I really enjoyed your lessons because you are very creative in your thinking and especially for our 3rd meeting presentation.Although I may have not perform as much as you want me to in your lessons,at least I have understood your lesson and I hope that I had given my best.I really going to miss the class.I will be more than happy if you have any comments/feedbacks on how can I improve myself further.Lastly,thanks for your great facilitation and all the best for your future!

In addition to these, a few RJs from my day 1 class almost brought me to tears too...

Ivan: The second thing will be having a nice facilitator to facilitate us throughout the 16 weeks of learning. Her teaching style was in fact not boring and I initially thought that theory based module will be dull but it proved me wrong.

Jenny: And another important person i need to thank for is-- Miss Ivy, who is a very friendly, lively and helpful facilitator in my mind, although sometimes the lesson is bored, she got the ability to cheer all of us up and make it interesting, and such different teaching style also get a high performance/test results in our class. I really appreciate what she has taught for us and the other skills besides like how to adopt the interviewing, what kind of clothes we should wear, how to write the resumes, etc. Overall, HRM generates a lot of fun and useful ideas for us, which is a very good learning experience in last semester before we graduate.Thanks Ivy :)

Fransin: Firstly, I should thAnks the fAc. She is AlwAys understAnding And bring joy to the clAss. Else the clAss will be dAmn boring. She mAy looks demure, but when in clAss, she is A totAlly different person. She will mAke sure that ALL of us leArn. MeAns At the end of the dAy, I Also must leAve the room with the objective.

Ratissh: the second thing that i am thankful for is for having a wonderfull teacher like miss ivy.she has really been a very good fac.she made all of our HRM lessons interesting and interactive.learning HRM with Miss Ivy was very fun.she always made sure that all of us understood the days lesson.

looking back at the tiring and stressful times i faced in the past 16 weeks,
i conclude that they were all worthwhile
at least, i know i've made an impact in my students this sem, in one way or another.
thank God for that.

//posted by ivy @ 21:45//

Thursday, March 02, 2006

today is the last day of lesson for my ex-day 3 class
unfortunately, grace didn't fall sick, so i had no chance to take the class for the last time
nonetheless, they made my day!
it was so sweet to receive the card, 'dough' and choc from them
a simple gesture, but it meant a lot to us facilitators
at least for myself, i know that i've put in effort for this class and have established a certain level of friendship with them
it was further confirmed when they scribbled things like "bowling cutie, part IV, cute little girl", instead of the usual "ivy or miss ivy" (errr, selvan still addresses me by miss ivy, and i can't get used to it)
played uno (what a long game) and took some pictures with them too.
special thank you to: selvan, mali, nana, kenny, angela, yingz, zaizai, yihong, amanda and pres!

rather productive these 3 days, from tues to today
finished all my daily grade marking, except for tmr's class and their UT
settled the proposals for CET programme
IG packing is done

oh yes, before i forget, i must tell you how "irritating" my students from day 1 are
this student of mine sent some weirdo sms last night and the very first thing that hit my mind was "oh no, is it HER?"
i really got scared.. then i decided to test water
i replied back cos i had hoped that it might be my day 1 student
well, i'm 50% correct.
it's my day 1 student, but not the one that i thought it was.
anyway, i just wanted to assure myself that it was anyone but HER
phew~

last day of the acad year, the semester, for the graduating students and for the staff tmr
mixed feeling, but i'm terribly sad
becos i'm going to miss my students,
becos i'm going to miss my close colleagues who have been there for me and with me through these 7 months
...

time to sleep.
it's a long, long day tmr.

//posted by ivy @ 22:49//