Friday 24 January 2014

bringing ol' school back to blog - diary of the day

Date: 24th January 2014. 
Weather: Sunny, slightly windy, very humid. 
Mood: Pretty happy ^_________^

Okay, this morning and as usual, Alex woke up before 6 @_@, and he gave me a kiss while I nudged and rolled into the covers and continued my beauty sleep. I woke up probably 30 minutes later, reached out for my phone to check for any messages, groaned a lil, snuggled out of the covers, pulled the curtains open, and put Alex's beloved plant on the window sill.

And as usual, his daily morning routine, he was having his plain water and banana in front of the computer, and I went into the kitchen to fix him his sandwich. Every time he saw me going to the kitchen, he would come in not only to nose around a lil, but also to make his own drink. He is 'super manly' in his taste you know.. coz he adds sugar and lots of milk into his cappucino... hahahaha...

and that's the sandwich he usually has~ Toasted bread with fried egg and lots of spinach

but uh-oh, there were only 2 slices of bread left, so I'm the one without the bread for today. It's ok, I shall sacrifice for my beloved husband, and perhaps make something more interesting lol.. So yea, i took out some button mushrooms, spring onions, eggs and milk, and whipped out this..

oh yeah... and ze omelette was super delish! I kept exclaiming how yummy it was and Alex got annoyed and said he will sign me up for Masterchef. He see me so UP, makes me shy shy (of course I know he was being sarcastic ... bleh.. I knew him for more than 5 years...)

Then it was just us taking turns to use the shower, and the hair dryer. My husband actually takes more time to get himself prep than me. My facial care items are only 2 bottles - SKII toner and pitera miracle water, and he has heaps of stuff - all the way to his lip care. But I love how he dresses smart and not selekeh like most guys I know... And yes, beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder because most of the time I think he should model for GQ or something. Oh yes, I can be as bias as I want, this is my blog.

After sending him off to work, I got myself ready to wait for the 9.25am bus. And lucky me, the bus stop is directly opposite our house - speaking of convenience. Then at 9.15, my stomach decided to go emo on me and I rushed into the toilet... Never had I had so much pressure to finish shitting fast, and the more tense i was, the harder it was for it to come out... So so stressed... But thank God, I managed to lock up and rushed to the bus stop, just in time for a selfie, and the bus came~


(love how wide and big the roads are in our neighbourhood!)

And the bus was super packed. I found an empty seat and behind me were two young kiwi boys... Found their talk pretty childish, all about girls, girls and girls. And oh no, this guy came up the bus and sat beside me, and he was pretty smelly... Just my luck... So every time the bus stopped, I was hoping for him to get down but nope.. he faithfully stayed by my side till we reached Civic Centre, which was the last stop... Haish..

Was super glad to get out of the bus!


Then it was a nice walk to the AA Centre, and guess which department did I go to?




Ok, thanks for trying to guess. What? You mean you didn't bother with it? Fine, the answer is... Level 6!

Waited for 10 minutes or so, got called, and received the nicest service ever and $26.50 poorer, I came out with our Marriage Certificate yo!


and then it was a nice walk down the slopes, into Queen St, and onto High St, for Alex's regular hairdresser..

I think they did a great job, and the service was pretty superb. Trust the koreans to make you feel pretty ;)

So I went from waist-length long hair .... to.




Alex said I look gorgeous in the second pic. IKR..

Then I walked around more, going from shops to shops and found myself no longer into Valleygirls or Glassons (shit I aged!) and bought our all-time favourite...


MRS HIGGINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


and this is TRIPLE CHOCOLATE MY ALL TIME LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!


So I was munching on that while waiting at the bus stop Alex told me to, and he picked me up, finished the other half of the cookie, and we were off to Katsura for our lunch!

Last year when we went to Katsure, Alex got a deal, and we quite love our experience..
This is our previous meal..



 ..so when he saw a similar deal on Grabone, we thought we just had to get it.. and we were downright disappointed... huhu

 not only were the sashimi not fresh.. the tempura oily and tasteless...

..the salad was just miserable... :'(

Only good from this meal, we were stuffed.

After lunch we went home, Alex freshened up and he went back to work. Then I got myself thinking, what to do now??? I practically read all the Conan comics, too full to do exercise, and not enough time to sit down and blog... Just at that moment, Syaza messaged me on FB! So we started chatting, and it was nice keeping in touch with someone from back home~ Thanks Syaz!

Not long after that, Alex called back and said his meeting ended and we were going to do grocery shopping. I bade farewell to Syaz, got ready, and jumped onto the car. I have a love hate relationship with grocery shopping. Sometime I love it, but there are also times when I get the most scoldings lol. Refer back to my incident in Pak N Save in a previous post. Other bad incidents include me removing the bags from the self-checkout counters before Alex finished the payment causing the alarm to go off, grabbed a bag of chicken that was broken and only noticed by Alex when it was out turn to pay etc... Yup, you get the drill...


I present to you my favourite aisle~




If only I have a pantry like this...... (pic is a lil blurry because i tried to take the pic without being noticed and have someone thinking why is this girl so damn jakun lol)


Anyway, TODAY WE DIDN'T FIGHT AT ALL AND WE BOUGHT LOTS OF CHEAP DEALS AND TIM TAMS AND CHOCOLATES AND CHIPS! Oklah, I bought lots of veges too for my 'kitchen misadventures' ;)

Since we are on that topic, let me show off some of my culinary creations! hahahaha.. not very good la, but I think they are not that bad loh...

 (beef noodle soup)

(mashed potatoes with crispy bacon, stir fried vegetables (capsicums, onions, carrots, mushrooms) and marinated wines grilled to perfection)

 Alex told me he wanted rice patties, like those of Mos Burger.. Having no idea how to produce that (except for Alex telling me what he remembered from a cooking show), I cooked the potatoes, seasoned them with salt and pepper and Worcester sauce, blended them and mixed into the cooked rice, which was later seasoned with Japanese soy sauce. 


oven-fried chicken drumsticks (seasoned with Italian herbs, black pepper, white pepper, brown sugar, fish sauce, course salt, rosemary), and made a sweet and tangy side dish by sautéing cauliflowers, onions, cranberries, rice vinegar and some sugar.



Ok 
Ok

Enough of showing off my amateur skills that will make professional ones roll their eyes, we came back home from shopping, talked stupid stuff for a bit, laughed at some stupid stuff, he did more 漏满地stuff that are hilarious but a lil rated hahahahahaha and we had junk food for dinner~

Well, on our defense, we shared a Sugar Pear which was soooooooooo sweet, then only we indulged in the other two Mrs Higgins that i  bought earlier ;)

 On the left, we have Peanut Brownie, and on the right - Chewy Caramel...

And which one won our heart?


Tada!
 

And that practically concludes our day.. We lazed in front of the TV watching cheap shows like reruns of Friends, Shortland Street, and now The Bachelor Australia.. while I am here typing away..

Oh, the man decided its the best time to go clear the leaves that fell into our lil pond.. We had some strong winds two days before and that made our garden a lil messy :'( 

So yea, the superman just went out to save the garden!

And that ends the entry of today!

Bye diary! See ya next time!

XOXO

Sunday 19 January 2014

Marriage 漏满地 #4 - Security!

Hahahahahaha... Every time I thought about writing this in my 漏满地 series, I can't help but laugh. The randomness that comes with my husband really amazes me greatly hahahahaha..

So, remember me sharing about the annoying thing that he does? Oooh you're asking which one? Well, the one about him OBSESSED with kicking my butt.

If that was like annoying level 10, he managed to outdo himself and come out with a NEW ANNOYING habit, which is of level 392!!! (didn't rate it higher coz knowing him, he will break his record easily!)

What is this new annoying thing he does like, all the time?

Imagine,

You are just standing there, either spacing out, or watching the TV or doing some stretching... and OUT OF NO WHERE TWO ARMS COME DRAGGING YOU FROM THE BACK - WITH YOUR ARMPITS LOCKED AND THAT PERSON SHOUTING "SECURITY SECURITY! TAKE THIS PERSON OUT!!!!!"

OR

Sometimes it goes - "SHE'S CRAZY! SHE'S CRAZY!!!"

OR

"EEEEEE OOHHHH EEEE OHHHHH I'M HERE TO SAVE YOU!!!!"

OR

"BACK OFF! SHE'S DANGEROUS!!!!!"


hahahahahahahaha

I tell you. So super random OK! I wasn't even provoking him or fooling around... and he does that at the most unexpected time, dragging me from one point to another, with me laughing uncontrollably! hahahahahaha

And to those who think you know Alex, let me tell you, you never got it right. lol

Saturday 18 January 2014

Coping with differences

As much as I love to be writing more about education-related stuff, my current life revolves mainly around how to be a wife (which I plan to treasure each moment of it as we do not know when we have to go through the whole LDR again *shucks*).

Being married has it perks, but it too comes with a lot of moments and outbursts that I personally am not proud of lol. Yup, the highly romantic, optimistic, drama-less, and sweet (yes I just used that adjective for myself, coz I can :p ) Felicia, has unfortunately turned into a scary monster for a number of times.

Most of the time, we find our arguments petty and based on our differences. Not only are we talking about personality differences, but also our cultural background and upbringing.

Without a doubt, Alex is a whole lot more domestic than me - which makes me feel very incompetent at times. I'm not a spoilt brat, and we grew up doing our parts in house chores. I have washed extremely dirty places (from past working experiences), and am constantly proactive to do dishes and whatnot even when I'm the guest. But I was taken aback when I saw the variety of cleaning detergent, different cloths for different surfaces in his laundry room! So yup, needless to say, the first time I tried to mop the toilet and other floors, I messed up the clothes, used the wrong detergent (there are ones with bleach and ones without and ones with sanitisation etc) and got lectured at.

And there were also times when I messed up with the trash. Over here in New Zealand, recycling is being practised and each home is given different bins - red for trash, blue for recycling, and green for garden waste. For me it gets real tricky, especially when I deal with food packaging. the ones I thought are for recycling, should be in the trash and those I thought could be thrown into the trash bin should be in the recycle one @_@

And then, there is also differences in our perspective over 'humidity'. Yes, you read it right. In Malaysia, we are so used to humidity. I mean, we are constantly in a tropical climate, all year round. We don't use dehumidifier or open and close windows based on the humidity in the house. So while I'm fine with not opening the windows at all in the morning (as its also kinda chilly), Alex would rebuked me for not doing so and explained to me how I'm making the house humid and stuffy @_@

And then there are even simpler differences like me storing ketchup in the fridge and Alex telling me off for that. I spread jam on the bread and reuse the knife to dig into the jar for more jam and got told off again because there were bread crumbs on the knife and that I am contaminating the jam. Or even when I cut the pineapples to cuts like this to keep track of portion before storing them:



he felt they should be cut into small, bite sizes - ready to be eaten at any time.

Besides all these different ways of 'working', we are just two very different people.

I am a klutz. My nickname since young was 'Lulu' - which my family fondly used to label me when I'm being my usual clumsy self. For the record, I even once left my glasses hooked onto the V neck collar of my shirt, and threw them (glasses and shirt) into the washing machine. Yes, I know I made my point.

Alex on the other hand is a very careful, meticulous person.

I feel more than I think, while obviously he thinks more than me. The constant line he used when rebuking me is 'Y U NO USE YOUR HEAD?' lol

My biggest klutzy moment thus far was actually yesterday at Pak N Sav (a major supermarket here in NZ).
I'm not a big observer. I really don't look around unless I have to. So in Pak N Sav, they don't do plastic bags packaging. You either bring your own bags, or they packed your stuff back into your trolleys and you pushed your stuff to your cars. I knew about that, but what I did not know was how they use the trolleys.

What do I mean?


Here, let me show you a picture.



As you can see from above, the cashier, after scanning the items, packed the stuff back into the trolley. BUT, that will not be your actual trolley, instead, it's the trolley of the person before you. So technically, once you get into the line, you should go in first with your trolley behind you, unload your stuff onto the conveyor belt, the cashier will scan your stuff and put them into the trolley before you (which is from the customer before you).

And I mentioned, I don't observe, so I honestly did not know this rule.

I saw in front of me was our trolley (already emptied), and another empty trolley right in front of ours.

So being my helpful self, I went to the front and pushed that trolley away, back to where they keep all the trolleys, and everyone on our line (including the cashier and my husband) were shouting for me. And that was how I managed to embarrass us. Which in my defense, was really an unintentional mistake. That incident actually led to our biggest fight of all time.

I was so hurt when he mocked me sarcastically that I gave an ugly outburst.

Then again, when I cooled down, I apologised, he apologised, and we just snuggled and made peace.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

You know what, as I looked back at all these occurrences, I can't help but just chuckled. It was true we let these lil stuff come between us, but when we eventually learn to listen to each other and adapt to each other, the disagreements just get lesser, and you find yourself being more intimate (not physically but emotionally). It's like shaving off the edges of two different piece of wood to join together, or two persons really merging into one.

And while I reflected on our differences, they are also the traits that help us to complement each other. I being the more sociable and extrovert, becomes his voice. Him, being the more rational and wise, becomes the head of this union.

There are times when I wished he would just be more 'like guys', so that I won't feel so pressured or undermined when doing the house chores and cooking; but because he is not just 'like guys', he is always sensitive to my emotions, affectionate and treats me really well.

How many girls out there can say that their guys can fix their hair, massage for them, help in the kitchen, listen to all your gossips, make you sit down to watch your chick-flick type of movie while serve you with chocolates? My husband does that! And these are just what he does on a usual basis. There are so many times when he unexpectedly does things that make me really thankful to have him as my lifelong partner, and there are times when he is just so playful and brings a lot of laughter to me.



And now he developed a habit that made me 哭笑不得 (don't-know-to-laugh-or-cry-about) ..
When we hug, he will always use his right foot to kick my butt. @_@

like this

It is so freaking annoying but it makes me laugh hysterically all the time lol.

So yea,
It's true that they say marriage is a process.
I am still learning each day, and I am thankful to be learning with him, under the guidance of our Lord.

Wednesday 15 January 2014

Marriage 漏满地 #3 - The Piggyback

Girls love piggyback rides.

Regardless of whether they have actually had one, the thought of having a guy with strong arms and back, piggybacking you from a point to another is just so beautiful..

Maybe because we were bombarded with sweet pictures like this on the media...

(pictures taken from justjared.com)



or from unrealistically romanticdreamygahhhhhtheguyissohotandlovesthegirlsomuchhewoulddieforher scenes from the ever popular Korean drama series..


(picture taken from http://i294.photobucket.com/albums/mm96/javabeans122/drama/2010/kaein/taste15-00235.jpg)

 (picture taken from http://seoulbeats.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/mp7-00258.jpg)

See... So much happiness and dreaminess and ahhhh those shoulders...

It makes perfect sense when a girl fantasizes about getting a piggyback ride. Right? Please tell me I'm not the only one lol.

And since we are now married and being married gets you certain privilege like annoying-your-other-half-for-the-rest-of-your-life-without-consequences, I looked at Alex and simply told him that I wanted a piggyback ride.

He looked back at me, and said, "OK."

But before I could respond to his unexpected enthusiasm... He did this @_@


(picture taken from http://happyorhungry.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/piggyback-fail.jpg%3Fw%3D500%26h%3D386)

Yup.

So nice of him.

Anyway, after he finally succumbed to the idea that the correct way of a piggyback ride is having the guy carrying the girl on the back and not the other way round, he lowered his back for me to climb on.. and... he went...

"GODZILLA!!!! AUMMHH AUMHHH AUUMMMHHHHHH!!!!"

Yes, he had to be a godzilla.


  (picture taken from http://crazywackyfacts.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/211309556_1386725323.jpg)

While he was making those slow and heavy steps and also the hilarious sound effect, I was laughing so hard and slipping off... and he just threw me to our carpeted floor.

Yup.

Piggyback ride is definitely only romantic, with a 'normal' guy.


Monday 13 January 2014

If I were to start a school...



So, several days ago I had some sort of an identity crisis; more like identity moratorium (just to sound more intellectual, and yes I’m quoting Marcia). Though technically, if according to Erikson, I way passed that stage (8 year to be precise) and should only be concerned about ‘intimacy vs isolation.’ Sorry Erikson, still pretty much a late bloomer who is only panicking about her identity at this age, but as consolation, I did manage to sort out that whole intimacy issue as according to your stages’ time frame (pats self on the back)…

OK.. Back to the topic. Note to self: stop making weird imaginary conversations with dead theorists.

Anyhow, I posted this on my Facebook at 8.54pm (New Zealand time), watched the TV for a lil bit with the husband, and went to bed. Gosh we have such exciting married life.

When I woke up, I was stunned by the response of that post. 






Because obviously, I’m no one special nor popular, but mostly because I’m freaking touched that there are sooooooo many (exaggerating a lil) like-minded people who actually agrees with me, do not ridicule my idea (giving the stare to some wet blankets of my life) and want to be part of this grand dream!

And if you looked carefully, there’s this person called ‘Peh Kim Hock’ who literally comments on ALL my facebook posts – well, he is my dad. 
Yes, my dad is cool like that. 
While most of the time he just trolls my posts and statuses with his lame jokes *cough*, he also puts out some super wise comments occasionally. And he made a real point. It is easier to work around the system with your best than trying to change an impossible situation. 

In fact, these are his actual words and I quote, The system we have may not be perfect but it can be workable. It is just the implementation by certain parties who want to look good in front of their bosses with fantastic numbers and percentages. Let's just work around the system for the sake of our students.  Being a modern day teacher is very taunting. Having dreams is a very motivating thing which drives one to become better. But just as Prophet Nike says; JUST DO IT or Cesar Milan who says LIVING THE MOMENT; just go to your students, try to impact and inspire their lives apart from just teaching. What will happen tomorrow or ten years from now, let us come, don't lament. Teach our students like there is no tomorrow. Enjoy the moment and make the best out of it. My wife and I being teachers for nearly 30 years strongly adhere to these beliefs. We try to become role models who are not perfect but we try. Our living testimonies are felicia and joel peh and soon joshua. Giving God all the glory!

Yup, like I said, my dad is cool.

Then again, sometimes I have my own mind. Do I really want to keep working around the system, or create something that I personally believe in?
We are so accustomed to accepting and adapting and even reviving something that is dead. What about building a new world?

As I mentioned in my facebook post, I would never know whether this dream will come to fulfillment. And if it does, it will take me a whole lot of years, if it is indeed God’s will and He guides me through it. Yet, it doesn’t mean I should just bask on the short term ego boost and not do anything about it right? I decided to do some research.

Out of so many private schools out there, I found myself attracted to the Montessori Education as well as Oprah’s Leadership Academy for Girls. While the former is fundamentally strong and rich in history, the latter is inspiring and ground-breaking. I love their philosophical values and learning programmes. Then again, my dad always reminds me that our Malaysian Education Philosophy and National Education Programmes are all great in theory; it is always the implementation that makes the difference.

Anyhow,
If I were to start a school, these would be what I would aim for:

  • -          Self discovery
  • -          Personalised learning
  • -          Meaningful learning

Very different compared to schools we now have isn’t it? Yup, there will be no grade levels or adapted curriculum. Just a school that aims to do what a school should do: to cultivate learning. 

You might think I’m being extremely vague here. 
What? A school that doesn’t focus on any internationally credited examinations? 
A school that doesn’t focus on learning subjects such as the sciences or arts?

Let’s see what I actually have in this complicated mind of mine ;)

For me, this school will of course focus on two huge areas that define what we learn: Literacy and Numeracy. Students, regardless of age group will be taught these two skills according to their level, for better and more effective teaching from the teachers. One may argue that this will create self-esteem problems for older students who are placed in a similar level with the younger ones. Well, to enter this school, one must be prepared to be a learner, and not treat the learning process as a competition. There is no one better than the other; you learn based on your own capabilities as you know yourself better. Which brings us to the first aim – Self discovery.

1. Self discovery

I believe in Multiple Intelligence, and that everyone learns differently. 
When I was teaching in the ‘last class of Form 4 and 5’ in Gua Musang, I was accountable for the learning of a big group of ‘rejects’, the ones who are ‘hopeless.’ Being the idealistic person I have always been, I went in to those classes thinking I could create miracles with these group of students and that no one is dumb. Right at the beginning of my teaching journey, I was slapped right in my face when these students can’t even list down the letters in alphabetical order or spell the word ‘Monkey’ or even follow very simple instructions that I repeatedly demonstrated with much patience. 
I came to acknowledge the fact that there are just students who are and will always be academically weak or have learning issues. BUT, this does not mean that they are dumb. These kids are way more talented than me in a lot of other ways. For instance, in a parallel universe where one be tested in cars repairing or rubber tapping or even sewing, I would be labeled as the DUMB one.    

So, my school will encourage self discovery. Most kids at their young age does not know what they want or even what they are capable of. So the teachers would facilitate the self discovery process through exposing the students to different skills, through workshops and events or even through observation, reflection and questionnaires.

2. Personalised learning

This is a tricky one. 
My school is kinda like taking home schooling to a whole different level. 
Students will be taught to be responsible for their own learning and will be given credit hours to complete. Other than their literacy and numeracy classes, students can decide what they want to learn and how much time will they allocate that learning for. Teachers mainly act as facilitators, to guide the students and to get them the resources if needed. For example, the child wants to learn about baking. The teacher could arrange the child to intern at a bakery for 3 hours a week to fulfil a part of the credit hours. Or, if a senior student who really loves Physics, wants to allocate 2 hours a day for that subject, he could do his self learning through books or the Internet, while the teacher supervises or even help to search for more appropriate learning materials for that student.

3.  Meaningful learning

Learning should be on how to live, how to play a part in this world, how to identify one’s purpose of living. Not on spending years on logarithms or algebra and not knowing how to apply them in real life. (Okay, maybe some of you out there are in the field of Mathematics but for a commoner like me, nah ah, haven’t found the use of that yet.)

How to make learning meaningful? 
Perhaps I could teach the students about the horrendous flood in Philippines, and put them in groups to come out with fundraising efforts to collect funds for the flood victims. Students will not only learn about leadership and cooperation, they learn business, marketing and publicity, world events, empathy, social issues etc.

Or for a Mathematic class (since we mention those topics that I dreaded as a learner), groups are given a set budget and have to create an enterprise of their own. Throughout that learning period, students will have to learn accountings, finance management, actual skills needed to create the products they sell, art of speech and communication, responsibility, business ethics etc.

And if the students decide for themselves (maybe even with parental advice) that they want to pursue certain Examination standards (for example IB or CIE or even the Malaysian SPM if it still exists), the teachers will guide them to arrange their learning schedule accordingly and once again facilitate them to self-study the needed subjects. Basically, students are in charged of one’s learning, and teachers have to be multi-taskers and great support system that constantly keeps the students in check of their own learning goals.

Of course, at this very moment, this is still just my idealistic thoughts to a grand personal dream. 

I won’t even push the thoughts that I may alter the vision of the school as I learn more and evolve my thinking. Or instead of starting a school with such ideology, I would just practice them in my teaching and whichever classroom I am given.

Gosh,
I am so not used to having so much free time.
I really do miss teaching.

Hopefully soon enough God’s plans for Alex and I will be revealed soon and we could take the right step towards the future. And there’s a saying that goes ‘One does not need a classroom to teach, just be a teacher wherever you are.” So, I should probably look harder for opportunities to teach, or maybe I should start teaching the husband some Malay phrases, other than the ones he prided on learning by himself – ‘api’ and ‘tandas’ hahahahaha. By the way, I totally just made up that saying lol.  

What else would you expect or wish to see in a school? 

Friday 10 January 2014

Marriage 漏满地 #2 - Genie in the bottle

We were watching a movie on the computer.

I was feeling cheeky so I kept rubbing Alex's butt. Rubbing... rubbing... rubbing..

To his annoyance, he told me to stop.

I replied, " I am just rubbing the magic lamp you know.. like rub rub rub..."

PRRRRRRRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHH

"OH MY GOD WHAT DID YOU DO!!! AHHHHH YOU FARTED STRAIGHT INTO MY HAND!!!! THAT'S SO SMELLY!!!! GOSH ITS SO DISGUSTING!!!!! I FELT MY WHOLE HAND VIBRATING!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

With the sneakiest smile he said, "just releasing the genie."

Thursday 9 January 2014

Marriage 漏满地 #1

From time to time, I will record the hilarious 'romance' we have in our marriage. Hope it gave you a laugh as these incidents made me laugh so hard.

Foreword: The husband is someone extremely against PDA. He looks really really serious on the outside, but behind closed doors he is a real joker to the core.


Story #1

It was the day of our marriage registration. I was all dolled up, looking pretty good if I may say so lol. We had to wait for our witnesses - Frank and Vivian, and stood at a corner as the whole Internal Affairs Department were really packed.

Suddenly. Alex stared me in the eyes... I looked at him adoringly, and smiled..... He came closer to me... I could feel his breath and was a lil taken aback by his proximity since we were at such a public place...

And with a really serious face, an inch away from mine, he said, "You have stuff in your teeth. There. Right in front."

@_@


Wednesday 8 January 2014

What does it feel like - being married?

This question came out often with most of them leading to bedroom jokes and whatnot lol. But to be serious, what does it really feel like?

I guess I'm obviously underqualified to give an answer to that, especially since we weren't even married for a month yet, but I could happily replied - best decision ever.

And nope, I'm not trying to sugar coat the situation. In fact, our first two weeks was rather rough. You see, Alex and I were in a stable relationship of more than 5 years before taking the plunge but 4/5 of that period of time we were enduring a long distance relationship. The pros of LDR are that we have strong communication and understanding, we were built on trust and honesty. It definitely did not prepare us for the phase of living together. I think we had more arguments and disagreements during the first two weeks of marriage than our whole period of being together @_@

What do we fight over? Surprisingly, not about money (we made sure our wedding was within our means and will not get us into debts), but just getting used to fitting each other in each other's life. We came from really different backgrounds: me from Malaysia, and him growing up in Taiwan and later New Zealand. And I tell you, we do things really really differently.

But after a while, and me letting my stubbornness go, I came to appreciate that those changes Alex insisted were actually for my good and also for our lives to be better. So below are some of the changes that I did, just within this first month:

Change #1

Back home I do a lot of dishes, and we just wash them dishes with a sponge and detergent. But not here, and definitely not in Taiwan. What I did was actually the biggest no-no in his culture/upbringing. So, I now wash dishes wearing GLOVES, using hot water.

Change #2

Washrooms and bathrooms in Malaysia are usually wet. But now we have dry bathrooms, with wool rugs. Yup, had to try real hard to not damp the whole place and pick up my hair each time after I enter the bathroom.

Change #3

As hot as Malaysia is, I never bothered using the sunscreen, or the umbrella. Guess what? Every time I forget to spray myself with sunblock, I will hear no end to it lol.

Change #4

In Malaysia, we don't really wear shades. Its kinds like an accessory, and we mock those who actually wear shades. BUT NOW I WEAR SHADES ALL THE TIME WHEN WE ARE OUT. Alex kept reminding me how strong the UV rays are here and why we need to protect our eyes.

Change #5

Food. Street food, oily food, carbs, those would be our main diet in Asian countries. Now, I wake up to a glass of water, supplements, a banana, toasts with eggs, spinach and blackberry jam, and yoghurt. Yes, in that particular order, every day. Now I have become an expert in frying sunny side ups, and actually have really good digestive system lol.

And I love this whole process of learning and growing, and once we pass a certain stage, we just learn to love each other even more.

Marriage also gives you a certain intimacy and familiarity that you would not get elsewhere.
And no, I'm not referring to the what happens behind closed doors.

Intimacy to the extent that we literally fart in each other's faces, in the bed, suffocating each other and laughing hysterically about it.

Intimacy to the extent that we could make physical jokes about each other, and play it out rough.

Intimacy to the extent we could talk about anything, crying with each other, and have no judgement between us.

Intimacy to the extent that he would walk into me shitting in the toilet and say 'wow you are so sexy' hahahahaha..

okok. I know.. too much information.

So yea,
We had our downs but we have a lot of good times. And i find myself appreciating my man more each day, laughing harder at his jokes, and just loving him for every little thing that he does for me, like fetching me a glass of water, feeding me chips, playing with my hair, making me flans etc etc etc

Whatever comes our way, I'm just so thankful to be living my life with him. This year is going to be quite a year for us. We started many things in 2013, so here's to praying that 2014 will be a year of fulfillment~



Extra bits of my life:

Our Holy Matrimony was 13.12.13

and yesterday, on the 7th day of this new year, we were legally wedded under the laws of New Zealand, and the Queen :)


Monday 6 January 2014

Motivate-a-kid

It feels really weird reading about my teaching peers who are obviously back at work in Malaysia; while here I am, sitting down in front of my computer, wondering why is it so bright even at 9pm (Auckland's time).

Regardless of my current situation, I am and will always be a teacher at heart. I could always feel myself bubbling inside, wanting to be able to teach kids, someone, anyone, to see them excited to learn, and to find myself learning from them. But of course, my future is still pretty much uncertain and I'm still dealing with legalities stuff with my husband, which I really hope in God's grace, would be unveiled really soon, so that I can further develop myself in the education field (wherever that would be).

Last year, was a bittersweet year for me. Not knowing whether it would be my last in Gua Musang and Malaysia, I went all out to provide my students with the best experience I could offer. One of the exciting (in my opinion) things that I did was - using my social media as a platform to enrich my students. Basically, I posted a status on my Facebook, asking whether there are any one who might be interested to send a postcard / motivational note / token to encourage some of my very deserving kids who were facing their SPM shortly. I wanted my kids to know that the world is much bigger than the small town they were accustomed to, and that there are people (professionals, and working adults) out there who care about their education and future. When I posted that status, I was praying inside asking for at least some responses... BUT who would have known that I have people messaging and calling me to be involved in this small project of mine :')  Many of them were actually a pleasant surprise! I mean, we were probably acquaintances from before with no further contact and they were the ones approaching me with such excitement and commitment! Lots and lots of thanks to all of you!

Special thanks to Shazana really! Shazana not only showed me her enthusiasm, she managed to get a big group of her friends involved, which led to my kids receiving postcards from all corners of the world! I never seen some of them so proud of their packages. Some even framed up the cards they received, some told me they wanted to do replies, and most of them are just super thankful.

I would be thankful too if I am the one receiving these...










My biggest regret was that, quite a number (around 1/4 of the contributions) arrived late, maybe due to snail mail and also the many public holidays in Kelantan towards the end of the school year. Some of them arrived during the school holiday when I was no longer around. Thankfully, Nadia (my dear friend and awesome colleague) helped me to obtain my mail, informed me whose letters arrived, so that I could get my students to collect them in year 2014. Well, better late than never. I was also informed that some mails might be missing, especially those from overseas :'( Then again, some of the cards that Alex sent me from New Zealand never reached me too so I was not as surprise but still very sad and disappointed by the Malaysian postal service.

Before I end this post, I just want to cheer my fellow teacher friends on~
Be strong, and conquer that battlefield that each one of you have been placed on. You guys are an inspiration, not only to your kids, but also to me :)

And to Nadia,
Sorry that I wasn't around to help ease your burden in school. I know its going to be a crazy ride, but you can definitely soar through. You are awesome! Remember that. Miss ya babe~

Sunday 5 January 2014

when you have the best girl friends in the world~~~

I briefly mentioned before that my marriage did not come easy... The drama and problems behind it are not something that could be told to just about anyone, but I'm glad that I have girl friends to confide with other than my partner and parents :')

Even though we had many friends getting married, making babies, and delivering babies, I was actually the first from our group to walk down the aisle! And the girls really went all out to make me feel special, providing me emotional support as well as being the best Wedding Committee I could ever ask for ;)

Alex and I were engaged for 1 year and 22 days before finally tying the knot, and yes, we had been planning for the wedding since I said Yes to his proposal. I started out having a lot of fun browsing wedding websites, vendors, idea boards, pinterest, bridal forums etc, but as bigger problems came into the picture, I was made to realise what matters more, and had a huge change of priorities..

We scaled down a lot, being very practical with our own financial standing, went through meticulous paper work, and made a lot of last minute changes to our plans to accommodate both families. It was to the extend that we both had to do so much traveling prior to our wedding date, with jam packed schedules and to my girls dismay, I wasn't even able to spare them some time for a hen's party.

And the girls had been talking about throwing me a hen's party since forever. There were so much excitement and silly jokes in our previous conversation that I felt so horrible not being able to spend some real quality time with the girls before I bade goodbye to my singlehood. The girls being their awesome selfs understood, took time out, and even traveled from afar to Penang a day before my wedding, just to help me out before the crazy starts~

This was when our bad experience with G Hotel's front office started.
Possibly due to them being overbooked with three weddings happening on the same day, they screwed up our rooms requests, gave our guests very late check in without any attempts of consolation. The girls had to wait for an hour plus, and still their rooms were not ready! Alex and I went to the front office and were very stern with them (especially Alex, as he could not accept such service) and finally they gave us the keys to the girls' room, and added a single bed for free. The girls were happy with the outcome of course, and went up to their rooms. However, I just had a bad feeling within me and quickly made a call to the girls. True enough, they did not send the complimentary bed into the room!!! (They even sent another single bed that we paid for to the wrong room prior to this). Another call to housekeeping, and they quickly sent that bed to the room.

Turns out, the girls were glad that I made that phone call to housekeeping as they were worried dead that their bridal shower surprise would fail horribly if the bed was sent much later, at the wrong time hahahaha.

For those who had been following my blog since my wordpress days, would know how my dad trolled Alex's proposal. You can read all about it here if you haven't lol
And unfortunately for the girls, my mum accidentally spilled the beans and told me that the girls wanted to throw me a bridal shower! hahahahahaha... I really have parents who troll lol

So, I will spare everyone the details of how everyone tried to wean lies together and changed their stories from one to another, in order to keep the surprise lol. But seriously, I was touched beyond words, knowing how much effort went behind this sweet party they did for me :')






We had hardcore drinking and toasting in form of Sparkling Grape Juice worth RM4.99 hahahahaha.
Lots of camwhoring...
Loud talking and yelling (on Wira's part)...
Gifts opening (that made me go 'awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww')

And then they made me wear that sash and tiara and walked to our dinner place!



And we had yummy porkie dinner~~~


And cheapskately lepak at Coffee Bean without ordering any drinks lol, before going back to the girls' room ;)


I was able to thoroughly enjoy my time with the girls because Alex and my parents willingly took over some other wedding duties including picking up the in-laws from the airport etc~~


Anyway, I really did not expect my girls to spend so much time and money to give me a memorable day. Even though we could hardly meet up due to us being placed in places far away from each other, I love how we could always talk silly, laugh at each other, and even have matured, intelligent and sometimes adulterated talks with ease ;)

So this post is also a shout out to my pretty ladies~


 Dear Chong-ee,

You are smart, sensible, a great listener, and despite your 'tallness', you are possibly the most 'manja' of us all. I really appreciate your messages, that always seemed to come at the right time, and you always know what to say ;) Thank you for being a big part of my celebration. Love you maknae!


Dear Poh BB,
From roommates, to being apart, and to sharing the same room, and being separated again, we have always been great partners of fun and crime. I love how I could always count on you to do silly stuff as you are always game for just about anything hehe. You are strong, decisive and do not accept lemons thrown at you. I love ya and wish that you will achieve all the goals you set out for yourself ;)


Dear Pinks,
I am always thankful to have you join our lil group! You are a spicy cracker, witty, and someone who really knows how to have fun. We did so soooo many stupid stuff together, some too embarrassing to even reminisce about hahahaha. Your happiness is what I really wish for. You have been through so much, and I really want you to be truly truly happy! Love you much!


Dear Weeeee-rah,
You are beautiful, with a whole lot of crazy and surprise ;) There's never a dull moment with you around, and you really know how to make a reunion fun (with a lot of your random screamings too hahahaha) I know you been working really hard to achieve what you want in life. So continue to be the fabulous you, and don't settle for less than what you truly deserve~ Love you baby gal!


I really have a bunch of pretty girl friends, who are awesome in their own rights!
Don't you think so? ;)


PS. There are also a number of ladies out there whom I really love and am thankful for~ Shoutout to my baby girls Kelsey and Sze Wei (who were drop dead gorgeous and helped me so much during my wedding), Cindy (who is always a great friend and host, and for coming all the way for my wedding~), Yen Ping (for crying and making me cry, and coming all the way from Singapore), Herng Chyi, Poh Tee, Kooi Fong, Guat Theng (for making the trip and celebrating such an important day with me), Ray (for being such a great friend and person, for always keeping in touch, for taking the trouble to come with your husband) and Dzeti (for being awesome, caring, and being there during my most important day)..

If only we have more time to really hug and catch up~ Lots of love to all of you.

PSS. And a special guy to thank - Adam Jay! Thanks for taking the trouble and for being such a great MC and also for that very thoughtful and creative gift~