In this page, you will get to explore the mind, events and feelings of a Chun Jui... ok, fine, judging from the past 23 years, my life is far from what you call "eventful" (in fact, "dull" might the be more appropriate adjective) but I'll try to keep my entries interesting!
Sunday, November 30, 2003
Is it Christmas break yet?? I'm so exhausted!! As much as I enjoy going to placements and stuff, I'm getting tired and in desperate need of a break! I know I've whined about this a million times already but I NEED A VACATION!!! I seriously have not had any real break (i.e. no work, no school, just VEGGING!!) since January 2003 (the Christmas holiday break)! If I didn't have school, then I had work. When I didn't have work, then it was school.... arggh!! I feel so old but yet still so ignorant and naive because of this daily lifestyle I've been leading for so long... does that make any sense at all?? Even my MOM says that I need to go out and socialize more, and be more "young"! When your mother says that, then you know it's getting pretty bad! :( Apparently, my mom also thinks that I don't dress trendy or young enough either!! Can you imagine?? Your own mom telling you to buy more hipper clothes???!!! I also apparently don't pay enough attention to my overall beauty regime, i.e. skincare, makeup, keeping fit, etc... I'm starting to think that other people see me as a frumpy slob or somethiing...
That's the thing about being teacher and working with children: you feel young at heart but you radiate a sense of maturity or oldness. Do you know how many parents of my preschool kids have asked me how many children I have?? Not IF I have children but HOW MANY children I have!!! Some parents/grandparents have even instructed their kids/grandkids to greet me as "Auntie Elsie"!!!! Yo man, I'm only 23!!! Sheesh... but then again some others are surprised to hear that not only have I graduated from high school but that I'm actually doing my Masters right now. It's one of those situations where I don't know whether I should laugh or be angry...
Sunday, November 16, 2003
Ok, so I've finally updated the McDull calendar for this month (see above) and for the month of October . Did I ever mention how much I love this McDull 2003 calendar?? :P
Anyway, have you ever had one of those days where your sense of intuition is so strong that it kind of creeps you out? Well, last Monday, the day of the mayoral election, was one of those for me. That day, no matter where I was, I kept on getting this feeling that I will be bumping into someone I haven't seen in awhile. I kept on thinking I would bump into this one particular person, someone whom I haven't seen in a long time and have known since high school... It wasn't because I was longing to see him or anything (don't get the wrong idea!!) but I kept on seeing people that looked like him. So anyway, I was at Pacific Mall after school that day to pick up my new contact lenses, and I was on my way out to head for the polling station when lo and behold, as I turned a corner, who is coming towards me? Yep, that guy I kept on thinking I would bump into! It was so weird...
The weirdness of that day didn't stop there, however. Actually, it had begun even before I had bumped into my high school friend. Minutes before I had actually bumped into this friend, I was actually talking to another person that I had bumped into-- a parent of one of my students from Marilake (the school I taught grade 2 English on Saturdays last year, the same one that I grumbled about all the time in this journal). I was window-shopping when, "Ah Meesie Ng!" My first reaction was "Aw man..." but I was actually kinda happy afterwards that I had bumped into her. She went on and on about how she's so disappointed that I'm not teaching at Marilake anymore, how much she liked my teaching style and how much she dislikes her son's English teacher this year, etc. :) She also said that compared to me, this new teacher is really lazy in her marking and teaching-- in fact, a lot of parents complained to the principal how lazy this teacher is. This parent apparently also asked the administration why I wasn't teaching anymore and as you can imagine, they didn't know what to say. They can't exactly say that the reason why I and a whole roster of teachers quit was because of the anal-ness of the principal, you know. :P Anyhow, according to this parent, the overall enrolment of students this year has decreased sharply as well as the size of the teaching staff... Gee, I wonder why.... :P Anyway, just hearing someone tell me how much they appreciated my teaching really made my day. It really made all of that hardwork so worthwhile because at least one parent appreciated my efforts. I now know that I've affected at least one person no matter how minimal that impact was/is. That's the stuff of being a teacher!
Anyway, so after talking with this parent, I turned around and bumped into the high school friend. Then, I drove to the polling station which is at a Catholic elementary school just down the street from my house. As I was walking out after I voted, I kept thinking, "I wonder if I will bump into anyone I know...", when, "Hey Elsie!" It was a friend who went to my elementary school who also lives a few houses down the street from me! Although we live so close to each other, I haven't seen him in ages!!! To make it even more interesting, he himself had just bumped into another girl also from our elementary school who I also hadn't seen in years either!! She also lives very close to us. It was soooo strange but cool! The three of us just stood around chatting about our latest endeavours, and as it turns out, I'm only one still in school. :P
Last thing before I end it here: a Happy Belated Birthday to Viv! Viv, we miss you, come back to Canada soon!!! :)
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Here are some photos taken at our last HK gathering on Saturday, November 1 @ "Saigon Sister" on Bloor and Yonge, courtesy of Caroline :
The "water pics":
The group pics:
As you can tell, Caroline and I had some fun experimenting with a digital camera and a glass of water! :D Caroline, these "water pics" are a definite improvement from your famous "Abandoned and Betrayed Umbrellas" pic!! heehee...
Anyway, that lunch gathering was a lot of fun with good food--- although, almost everyone had some sort of confusion looking for that restaurant!! hahaha... And to those I called and woke up that Saturday morning, I'm sorry but 10:00 am is NOT early!!! Oh, and I managed to call Berlyn in California that morning and woke her up too--- now THAT'S early since it's 3 hours earlier in that time zone! Whoops. :P
School is busy, busy, busy-- which is partly why I didn't post the above pics and this entry until today-- too many assignments that are a lot of work, time-consuming and are worth next to nothing in terms of marks!!! argghh... When you're still at your computer at 12 midnight typing up assignment number 4 that is worth about (lemme do the mental calculation) 4 or 5 marks of your ENTIRE grade for the course, and have to wake up at 6:45 the next morning, you begin to wonder if you should really care about it anymore... :/ arrghh... Oh, wanna hear something else that's sad? I skipped my class on Monday afternoon after my placement in the morning--- before you gasp in surprise and think, "That rebel Elsie!", let me finish and tell you that I skipped class to DO LIBRARY RESEARCH for that very class!! I spent three hours in the OISE library and in Robarts looking for books (I'm convinced someone is copying my research-- all the really good books that I was looking for were not on the shelves... arrggh!!), which is the same amount of time I would have spent sitting and daydreaming in class if I had gone to it. Says a lot about that class, doesn't it??
I have so much more to say but I really should be heading back to my stupid assignments but before I sign it off, here are a couple of more interesting pics for you to enjoy--- Chris Wong posing with Sting !!! How cool is that?? (Sting had recently visited HK to promote his latest album, and Chris Wong got to interview him, get his autograph, and give him his own album.)
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