Once in a long time...

Before I start, the videos above were taken while in Vietnam last December. I believe I have described the trip in one of my posts below. So for more information, feel free to read it.

Well, it has been a month since I last posted something..Just went for a course for the past 3 days, and it was quite a good break from normal routine in school where you have to face the piles of work everyday. But I actually marked 4 classes of exam scripts within the 2 and half day. It seems like teaching is a 24/7 job, never really able to take a break until the 1 month school holidays at the end of year, and even then, you have to prepare for the next year..And you have to face your students and make sure they return home more fulfilling than before with more knowledge. Frankly speaking, I love my form class.. Ladies, forever so obedient, but lately proving to pose some challenging problems to me and it really requires some cracking of brains to solve this episode; and Gentlemen, still acting like boys, sometimes unable to contain their anger, noise and laughters, but I believe it will be soon, before they transform into real men. But deep down in my heart, I hope that they will grow up to be great kids, and not the young tyrants in the upper sec classes, always full of vulgarities and can't control their emotions when dealing with matters.. Academics is important, but knowing how to act like a person is more important. 有句话说：“做人难，做好人更难。” How true.. How many of us actually knows how to act like a person, how to care for others.. I am trying, but not even halfway there.. More self reflection to do..

Now, recently I seem to have met someone whom I feel comfortable talking to.. But.. let's see how it goes.. Watched a few movies for the past 2 weeks.. Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Slumdog Millionaire and He is just not that into you..Going to catch Marley and me later..

Of these movies, Slumdog left the deepest impression on me. Not only in the movies, but the after effects left me wondering how many people in this world are suffering while I am typing this. For those who watched the Oscars, this movie was the biggest winner of all, bagging 8 awards and made the director a famous man overnight. As for the kids who acted in the movie, this was the 1st time they have ever stepped out of their country, and probably the only time in their lives to ever step out into a world full of strangers and temptation. Slumdogs, a term used to describe people living in slums, and living a life of poverty where issues of survival, food, hygiene are the daily problems where people has to fight against.. Although the setting of Mumbai at the beginning of the movie seemed to have taken place in more than 10 years ago, but did you ever thought of where this setting is being taken? Did you think that the director re-enacted these scenes of poverty again? Of course not! They are real and alive in our modern society now somewhere in the poorest regions around the world.

We are very fortunate to be living in Singapore, but daily, often than not, people complain about how badly they are treated in school, at their workplace, how food at the canteen sucks, how little they are paid, how they do not have aircon at home, how much homework they are given every day. Now below are some facts:

1. 97% of the world's population are poor, and only 3% are rich people.
2. 3% of the world's population own 97% of the world's wealth, so if you are aiming of becoming the 3%, good luck to you.
3. More than 70% of the world's population is living in poverty, and by that, I mean that they do not have food, shelter, clean drinking water, or daily basic necessities.
4. Education is not one of the concerns or options in these countries, because the people can't even survive the next day, why do they need knowledge? Hence these people are always exploited by the rich.
5. By definition of poor, these people do not earn more than USD$1 per day. If you have S$1.50 to spend each day, that is the amount needed to feed one family of up to 8 people per day.

Now, the list is going to be exhaustive, if I continue to write on.. Of course, what I can do, is to try to educate my students the right values, but whether it will be just a 3 minute thing, it still depends on a learning journey to a country where they can truly see for themselves what is happening there..I also learnt through these trips.. Cambodia is almost my 2nd home now.. but I still think I am not doing enough.. So maybe more people can start to stop complaining and step out to help people elsewhere, locally or overseas.. Someone asked me this question before: " There are also people who are poor in Singapore, why do you want to volunteer overseas?" To which I have no reply, probably I will start to commit my energy to help locally more..

Next, Benjamin Button is a show quite unusual and I like the way how age evolves from the opposite end of life. Life is such a funny and remarkable thing. I shall not go on talking about it. Nice show, try to catch it..

Some things bothering me these days, would of course be PA 11, and the management of the project.. These questions still linger in my heart, and I truly hope that the project will be a success and not fail the expectations of past leaders, who have hoped for a continuity in these projects...

What a long post.. I shall take a break.. Will be back for more soon..