Volunteering and Venturing to....

In October, my school will be moving to a brand new campus and therefore we have 2 weeks off.  Now some of the days (at the beginning and end) of this vacation are moving days... but for a week of it, I am going to CAMBODIA. 

The school raises money and volunteers for TABITHA - an organization which builds houses for people in Cambodia.  http://www.tabitha.ca  there are 3 trips - the first one is for teachers who want to go, then it's for families from CIS and then students.  So I am going on this first trip!

We will be flying to Siem Reap then go on to Angkor Way and visit the Bayan temples.  We will then drive to Phnom Penh and do the building.  We will have an opportunity to go to the Killing fields and S21.

That is about all I know about this adventure... I will keep you updated.  I will be there from Oct. 16-25.

Private Island

My first trip outside of Singapore will be the first weekend in October.  My friend Amy is celebrating her birthday on a private island which she has booked - the entire island!  Check it out!

http://www.pangkil.com/

On the Friday - will have just finished parent-teacher conferences - I will definitely need this little getaway!!!!

Are you envious?????

What are these?

A) What are these reddish fruits?

B) What are these fish doing?

C) What is this fruit?

D) What do I use this for?

E) What is the English name for this fruit?

New Food and Night Safari

Sampling new foods!

Last Saturday I went with about 12 gals to tour the Malay-Muslim area and walk through the bazaar – where there were many things for sale and some interesting foods!  We all found a different vendor bought some food and we all stood there sampling all the different foods.  What did I eat?  I am not definite.  There was grilled corn-on-the-cob, deep fried bananas, small quails, this pancake with corn and peanut sauce (which was quite yummy), this sub-sandwich with an omelet in it with some meat paddy and sauces – this was difficult to eat without utensils and a table!  I need to practice using chopsticks!

hyena

Last Sunday night, Debra and I went to the Night Safari.  It is so cool!  Since the sun sets every day (365 days a year) at 7pm – by 8 it’s dark!  We saw the night animal show with wolves, snakes, otters, and hyenas.  Then we took a tram around the zoo – we could have gotten off but we just rode around as it was a school night.  I looked mostly with my eyes rather than my camera because you couldn’t use flash and it was dark!  But it was really a great experience to see the animals at night.  I look forward to go back and explore more. 

wolf

The beginning of the week took forever to pass but then come Thursday it flew!  I definitely have a crew in my class – no one else seems to have as many issues with their kids/parents as me – good grief!

When I was in Athens on my walk to work it always made my day when I saw the wild green parrots.  Now it makes my day if I see the wild monkeys in the trees by my apartment entrance.  It’s the little things!!!!!

First Week of Teaching

So I have survived my first week of teaching grade 2 in Singapore!  It was a L-O-N-G week!  Especially since I was in working on Saturday and Sunday and since it rained ALL DAY on Monday - indoor for 2 recesses!

21 of my 23 students were present on the first day of school.  All the students have shown up this week but there was never a day which all of them were present at school.  Of those 23 students, they come from at least 12 different nations and of those 23 students at least 15 of them are fluent in at least 2 languages!

I think the kids have adjusted to a new teacher, a new routine and being in second grade.  Me?  Well I am still adjusting working, and working in a new school and a new grade!

Every day I write a message on the board for the kids to read, sign in , answer a question and then go do something I have told them to do….

So on Friday I wrote this:

Finally it is Friday!  Fabulous week my Friends!
Please sign in and write one word which begins with  F.

(Can you see where this story is going?  But come on they are SECOND graders – 6-8 year olds!!!)

So everyone writes their name and a word which begins with F.  We had fun, funny, Friday, fish, fat, etc.  And then someone (yes a boy) writes F..K that is what he wrote – with the dots!  Some little girl comes and tells me  “Johnny” wrote the F word on the board!  So I ask Johnny to join me in the hall and I ask him what he wrote on the board.  He blatantly said F—K (I am not going write it but he said it!)  I sternly tell him that word is inappropriate to use as an adult and especially as a child.  And then he continues to say “But Dad let me watch Fast and Furious – and they say it all the time.”  My response… Fast and Furious – THOSE are F words!!!!  

Good grief!  Happy Friday!!!!

What A Week! - New and Returning Faculty Unite

Glenn (L) and all Senior Admins

 Wow!  What a week it has been!  It started on Monday morning at the Salvation Army.  Yep at the Salvation Army – I think this was the only place that could accommodate the 300+ faculty and staff from all three campuses!  We were given breakfast and coffee and some time to mingle.  Then we sat in the auditorium for Glenn’s welcome speech.  Glenn is the head of the school and a super nice, warm, and caring individual.  He and his wife met every single new person at the airport – that was 57 new faculty members and about 40 different trips to the airport.

What an empowering speech he made.  It consisted of metaphors, video clips, humor, guest speakers and a wardrobe change!  His platform presentation was about 3 hours long but it really didn’t seem that long.  (Although I was freezing – that A/C (Air-Con) really gets cold!)  Glenn’s speech was articulated with fluency, confidence and relative substance.  He never referred to notes.

His genuine appreciation of all our hard work as teachers and his knowledge of part of the reason for moving to Singapore is for the travel opportunities it provides, he embraced this.  What a complete 360 from the head of school speech I listened to 3 years ago.

After his uplifting anecdotes and humorous ways presented to us, I felt I had made a wonderful decision in moving to not only Singapore but to the Canadian International School.

We were then bussed back to our campuses and were put to work!   

Tuesday was Singapore’s 46^th Birthday (see blog).  

 And then came Wednesday!

Wednesday, it was the meet and greet with the parents and students and teachers!  Of my 22 students, I had the opportunity to meet 18 of them.  Now this is an international class!  I have 11 girls and 11 boys!  Yeah!  Most students in these international schools are considered TCK – third Culture Kids – ““A third culture kid is a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside their parents’ culture. .”  http://www.tckworld.com/ 

My students come from… well that is also hard to actually determine… let’s just say my students hold the following passports from …. USA, UK, Korea, Denmark, Australia, Singapore, Philippines, Canada, Brazil, Denmark, Thailand and Japan!

With this stated, 5 of my students attend ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages).  While these children are learning English, my other students learn French and Mandarin, both.

my buddy - Zoe and me

For the rest of the week, we had a lot of meetings and some time to continue in preparing for the next week.  I still need some more time in classroom, so I will be hopping over to school later today (Saturday).  I am ok with that, I would rather be overly-prepared than not prepared!

Thursday, my new cleaning lady came and cleaned my house – how nice is that!  She even irons… I will wait for the next time she comes!  I had my lead teacher, whom is also new and is married to my parents’ friends’ son… come over for wine and cheese.  That was super fun!

Friday, after school we had our last school sponsored dinner!  It was at a restaurant near my neighborhood.  It was for all faculty and staff and their families!  How generous, eh?  (However, this time alcoholic beverages were not included!)

So what a week, eh?

my good friend Dorthe and me

August 9 Singapore celebrated its 46th birthday.  People had their red and white on in the spirit.  Like all days in Singapore, it was hot and humid!  And like all days in Singapore, the sun rises about 7 am and sets at 7 pm; and therefore the fireworks started at 8pm. 

Before the fireworks began, there was a parade at 6 and at 7, the Singaporean Army showed off their helicopters and parachuting skills!

The firework show was beautiful (4.5 mins) some fireworks were going off the nearby buildings.
Although we were surrounded by many people, it didn't really dawn on me how many until we were all squashed together, walking baby steps towards the MRT (metro/subway).

This outing was an impromptu and successful.

everyone waiting for the fireworks

had a refreshing spray of water from this helicopter

New Faculty Orientation Week

 Our official work week began on August 1.  The school did a great job with balancing time in 

my classroom

our classroom with meetings.  We are slowly trying to wrap our heads around PYP and all the little details of information needed when beginning at a new school.

PYP training among new faculty

On Wednesday, I got my home internet hooked up as well as my TV channels.  I have found that the service people don’t arrive late here or even on time, they all seem to come early!  Yes early!

Charla - our new faculty orientation leader

I went out with another new colleague Jamine (who will be teaching art) and the drama teacher.  She should us where to get a large bottle of beer for only $6.  Then I went out with my mentor/buddy Zoe to a bar called Bar Bar.  The next day when I shared my evening with my orientation person, she exclaimed, “Wow you have already hit/found the top places! Impressive!”

Friday afternoon all three campuses of new faculty met at my school.  Significant others and children were also invited as we rode one of those double decker buses for a city tour.  So with 57 new staff members, plus their spouses and children, there were about 70 of us.

At the end of our tour the bus ended at the bottom of The Flyer.  The Flyer is similar to The Eye in London, yet larger.  Here we were met by all the senior administration and lead teachers.  We sat down and were served nice cold beers and dinner.  Some of the returning staff who were already had returned helped served us. 

Everyone chatted and socialized with everyone.  It was a wonderful evening.  All the leads, principals, VPs, teachers, even the head of the school Glenn and his wife walked from table to table chit-chatting.  It is truly a welcoming and friendly group of people!

the whole gang enjoying dinner