Teary Friday..

Today is my last day in school. Everyone is busy cleaning their tables and also meeting the Form 5 and Upper 6 students..and me..of course..consoling my Lower Sixth students who are crying and pleading me to stay. As for me, I am sad to leave my very first school especially my close friends.
I cannot stop the tears when I realize that I will finally leave my friends-something that is so hard for me to let go.
Letting go is so difficult. I cried a lot today..still cannot believe that I am going. My friends are around me-hugging and crying. I guess I am quite popular in the school :) Anyway, those are the one who really close to me, like Pauline, Nancy (carpool buddies),Walter, Jerow, Bibiana, Mujan, Faley and Goecylyn (geng kopitiam)-I am going to MISS them A LOT!
I really dont know what to write here, I am so sad..I've been crying a lot today.
I'll write again..gosh..I am so sad..feel like crying now...
Goodbye SMK Luar Bandar Miri......

Time to go..

I received the news last week. I finally got my transfer. My reaction? I just dont know..when I heard the news..I was not shocked, not happy, not glad..I just thought "Oh Ok..I'll go". My friends thought I was a little bit loco. Well, of course, some teachers would jump or spread the news with this funny grin on their faces, maybe cry (emotional bah!), or tell the whole world about it to everyone in the school.Unfortunately, I did not do that. I just work as usual, compiling files and managing the department, rushing here and there to get everyone ready for the school inspectorates..the usual thing I do.
I hate it when they started to ask me about my transfer.which school?you really got it ah?we'll miss you..blah blah blah..I guess I am not ready to leave Miri yet. But, for my family's sake, I have to. Mr Hubby is alone at Kuching and the house really needs me. I've been living in Miri for 29 years and I have never been so far away from Mommy and Daddy (yeah-call me a spoilt brat!)..I mean for a long time and maybe forever! I grew up in Miri and this town is like heaven to me. Argh, I guess it's so hard to leave something that you really love,right? I know I'll be crying my eyeballs out the moment I leave the house. I always love being around my Mom because both of us share a great passion-shopping!! Waaaaa..Mommmmyyy! (I sound like Besra and Nia now..)
The issue now-how am I going to pack all these books and paperworks and files? I have been in the school for 8 yrs now. Imagine the amount of books I have!! My table is still in the mess, I just dont know where to begin. Even the things at Mommy's place. I dont know..I dont know..
Sometimes I think I really dont want to go or not ready to go?
What is wrong with me? Shouldnt I be happy right now??Oh Lord!!

Friends,pls share how do you deal with transfer or when you have to move to a new place?I guess I dont know how to deal with it. HELP!!!

I just dont like it,OK?!

Every time the fruits season comes every year, I started to hate the smell of the market in town. Why?All because of the King of the Fruits- DURIAN!!
I dont eat durian and I dont like the smell. I have tried once before and ended up me vomiting and sick the whole day. I cannot even stand the smell of it. My family and friends always ask me to try or tell me how nice the smell of the durians. Not all Malaysians eat durians,ok. I do believe so.
My hubby's family love durians,well, it is well known that Bidayuhs love eating durians. I still remember when I accidentally ate chicken soup with 'tempoyak' or chicken cooked in bamboo plus the 'tempoyak' too. I didnt mean to be rude but hey-I really cannot help it and started vomiting like nobody's business and getting sick for two days! Now, my in-laws know that every time the "Orang Putih" comes to visit them, there'll be no 'tempoyak' or durians at home.Hehehehe!
I always being called "orang putih" just because I dont like to eat and smell the durians. Oh well..but mind you, some orang putih do eat durians tau..(Audrey and Fely-ur man makan durian kah?)
Declan eats durians and shockingly-tempoyak too! He would hide somewhere if he is eating it because he knows I hate durians. I would still buy durians for them but with one condition-dont eat them in front of me or inside the house!
So please, dont ask me why I dont eat durians-I just dont like it,OK!

Two weeks to go!

It's coming to the end..my heart is pounding..from what my PK1 told me, the Bahagian Sekolah is having meeting for approving transfers. And maybe starting next yr, all transfer regardless district, state and so on..will only start on 1st December. No more mid year transfers. OK fine.
If I got mine, I dont know how I might react but one thing for sure, my lower sixth formers will be crying and begging me not to leave. Poor them..poor me too.
I have been in this school for eight years now. I guess I can say that I really love this school. Although the school is nearly 55km from Miri, the students here are great. They are not super genious but they are great at heart. They still respect you as their teacher. They might not be a great student that all teachers wish for but I love the way the students treat you as a teacher.
I would miss my form sixth students..I have been teaching MUET for five years now-yes-only MUET. I like dealing with adult students and teaching them to be independent is very hard. They used to be spoon-fed since form 1 and once they enter Form 6, they find it difficult to work independently. So I always advice them, as a Form Sixth ss, they are not the same with the other students.
Our school will start the new time table for Form 6 next year. They will have more tutorials, lectures and kolokium, having their Gerko in the afternoon and they will have folios too. The teachers who get their DG44 for teaching Fm6 will be given a priority to teach Fm6 and also to be involved 100% with all their activities. The teachers will have four different folios and they will manage all the students' needs. They will have their own big boss coming (DG52-a principal) and also PK Koko (Co-curricular)-DG48. Their session will start at 730am and ends at 3.30pm everyday. So personally, I am glad that I did not get my DG44 for form 6. I'll just wait for my time-based. I dont need to add the work load as I am the Head of the Language Department myself. When the teachers (who got their DG44 for Fm6) learnt the new time-table and the responsibilities, they were shocked..of course...want to complain?too late...
Oh well, as teachers, you have the responsibilities which you have to carry everyday. I hope that if I got my transfer, I will still have the opportunity to teach at least one MUET class and maybe teaching Form 4 or at least EST. Hahaha..if only..
Our school session will end on the 14th November.We have to end earlier than the other schools as we dont have school hall for SPM exam. I need to attend Declan's prize giving ceremony on the 18th and hopefully he will get something this year. He was frustrated because he did not have the chance to perform a song on that day just because the tailor forgot to make his costume (as a parrot). Poor thing!
Hopefully I will get my transfer and finally feeling good living in my own home. :=)

Another victim...

Today, we received a news that my aunty has lost her battle to breast cancer. She has been fighting the cancer for five years. She was a strong woman. She fought it really well..but then..she finally lost the battle. Breast cancer is the no 1 killer for Malaysian women right now.
Here are some facts on breast cancer:

1. An estimated 182,800 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in 2000. Approximately 42,200 deaths will occur in women from breast cancer in 2000.
2. One in eight women or 12.6% of all women will get breast cancer in her lifetime. Breast cancer risk increases with age and every woman is at risk.
3. Every minutes a woman dies of breast cancer.
4. Seventy-seven percent of women with breast cancer are over 50. Approximately 1400 cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in men in 2000 and 400 of those men will die.
5. More than 1.7 million women who have had breast cancer are still alive in the United States.
6. Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women between the ages of 15 and 54 and the second cause of cancer death in women 55 to 74.
7. The first sign of breast cancer usually shows up on a woman's mammogram before it can be felt or any other symptoms are present.
8. Risks for breast cancer include a family history, atypical hyperplasia, delaying pregnancy until after age 30 or never becoming pregnant, early menstruation (before age 12), late menopause (after age 55), current use or use in the last ten years of oral contraceptives, and daily consumption of alcohol.
9. Early detection of breast cancer, through monthly breast self-exam and particularly yearly mammography after age 40, offers the best chance for survival. Ninety-six percent of women who find and treat breast cancer early will be cancer-free after five years.
10.Over eighty percent of breast lumps are not cancerous, but benign such as fibrocystic breast disease.
11. Oral contraceptives may cause a slight increase in breast cancer risk; however 10 years after discontinuing use of oral contraceptives the risk is the same as for women who never used the pill.
12. Estrogen replacement therapy for over 5 years slightly increases breast cancer risk; however the increased risk appears to disappear 5-10 years after discontinuing the use of estrogen replacement therapy.
13. You are never too young to develop breast cancer! Breast Self-Exam should begin by the age of twenty.