Gratification highlight of my career thus far

Last week, this mum came to celebrate the birthday of her 3 year-old girl. She is the prettiest thing that I have ever seen: an Australian-Chinese mix, she has the longest and softest of hair and her eyes are so doleful, that you would just want to hold her close to you and protect her.

Mummy was making some small talk with me when she told me, "A few days back Mia told me that she loved me and after that she told me "but I love Ms O too!""

You have no idea how happy I was. I still cannot believe and have to pinch myself sometimes to see if this was all real. It is. And it is very gratifying. Way pass gratification. It lets me know that my love for the kids do not go un-noticed. Just wondering whether her mummy was a little jealous or not :P

Just today too, one of my kids (girl of course) came from behind and give me a surprise kiss. Cute! Love her lots and love the whole bunch. Even my naughtiest boy actually looks forward to me patting him to sleep every afternoon. That is gratifying to know too. I am usually very stern and strict with him.

Babies, I love all of you! Muack!

Touched...by little angels

Just celebrated Teacher's Day at work today (Friday, 29th August). I never used to think much of these celebrations, thinking that it is another way that business people make more money out of us, the consumers.

I totally soaked in the buying teachers a present fever this year. I saw children running around, demanding their mums buy a certain necklace, because her teacher likes that, and only that type of necklace (spoilt brat). There were kids going around shopping malls shouting at the top of their voices, "Tomorrow is teacher's day, tomorrow is teacher's day... ."

I myself was cracking my head, thinking of what to buy with limited budget. After all, my earning power is no longer like before. While I want to make my gift look good enough, I had to think about my pocket too. There was going to a gifts exchange and we were ordering home deliveries. We had already chosen satay, otak-otak, sushi, chicken from a certain famous Colonel and Indian food such as butter chicken, kitchen korma and stuff like that. Yum!

I am touched. Touched that these little hearts go all out to give us something, even if it is just a small token. Even though it may be their parents' ideas. Touched too, for as we exchange gifts amongst one another, there is this sense of belonging, closeness and happiness. Touched too, that for one day every year, we would get to celebrate OUR day.

However, there were two gifts that were most priceless and valuable to me today (Friday, OK?). It was when I hugged one of the older kids and he whispered, "I love your stories." and when, as I brought one of the kids for toilet break and was helping her with the wearing of her clothes, she whispered very softly but sweetly into my ear, "I love you". I wanted to hug her and cry there and then for it was so endearing.

The boy who told me he loves my stories can be very disobedient and does not like doing work and this little girl who told me she loves me is one of those who cannot stop talking and jumping around. Yet, I love them all. They are so poignant honest and real that no matter how naughty they may be, one cannot help but love them all.

Gratification

What's the good stuff about being a teacher? Instant gratification. See this picture? It was drawn by his Kindergarten 2 girl who loves my storytelling. There was once when she was listening to my story halfway and her mum had to bring her home. She threw into a fit when she went home that her mum jokingly held me responsible. Hee!


That's me, with spectacles, in a parachute. Hee!

Another instant gratification is the hugs and kisses showered by the kids that I see day in day out.

Food

Yesterday was one hell of a whirlwind day. Went out to shop for some presents for friends together with Spacecake and then we proceeded to have dinner at Wasabi Tei at Far East Plaza. We were too late for the first sitting and had to wait almost 40 minutes to get a seat.

There are only bar stools and it's a chop-chop eat, chop-chop go kind of place. Don't bother about service, as they do not charge for service at all. I barely ate my last mouthful of watermelon before the bill was shoved at my face. That's quick service.

Food was super yumi-licious. The salmon sashimi was of the right temperature, allowing one to taste the freshness of the fish. My portion of unagi (eel) was so huge, I had to gorge myself a little in order not to waste it. We were both suitably satisfied after that.

When I went home, there was news about a certain someone that I liked and I stopped breathing for about 1 second before my heart beat went normal again. My suspicion of him going together with my friend had been confirmed. There was a dull ache a small numbing experience and that was that.

I think that women's instincts should not be ignored. The only thing is that we women must use our instincts to our advantage and not to chase our loved ones away by being overly suspicious. OK, that was me in my past life.

At the same time that I felt sadness, there was lots of warmth, care and concern from friends near and far. My friend from China msn-ed me and we chatted for awhile. Another friend was also chatting with me about relationships and such online. I am thankful towards friends like that.

All's well that ends well

Today has been one good news after another.

The deal is done. My house is sold. I am half a free woman and one step closer to what I have to do. I received an sms from my property agent to tell me that the cheque is in his hands. Of course, by now, it is in MY hands. I have waited for this day, for like what, four years now? IT has been a long and sometimes, very painful wait. Nevertheless, it is finally kind of over.

I whooped for joy and was laughing uncontrollably to myself. I startled my immediate colleague and thos around me as she had just finished conducting a programme with the kids and this being the start of the holidays, was packed to the brim. I became disciplinary mistress for her as nobody would be able to handle that huge number of kids on their own.

I am thankful. It is almost like receiving absolution.

Anyway, after that I received another sms from another friend saying that her boss really would like me to go and work for her. Her boss was willing to compromise a little on certain terms (of which I do not wish to reveal here, on my blog).

This business of going to work at this new place has been ding-donging for quite a while. I am surprised, and at the same time grateful, that her boss still shows so much interest in me after my indecisiveness. I do want to go and work at this new place but at the same time, I just felt that my present big, big boss had fought hard for me to become a part-timer in my present work place. I do not know exactly what went on between him, my supervisor and HR but from what little I can gather, he really went all out to convince HR to let me stay on. I felt that I could not just leave like that and now, maybe I do not need to. I may be able to work at both places. We will see how.

This whole day has been filled with elation and gratitude all at once. The evening ended pretty well too, with me bringing mum to Century Square and eating at Organic Cafe Xperience. We spent some quality mother-daughter time together and tonight, she let me hold her hands. Yeah! Usually she won't as she feels that the weight is too much for her shoulders to bear. She gets neck-ache easily :P

Anyway, we have planned to go to Ikea tomorrow and there will be more mother-daughter bonding time!

Beautiful weekend

Well, the weekend was certainly packed with activities! I did not get to sing karaoke like I planned but that was because my friend got sick. Really sick. Seems like there is a viral fever going around so please do drink lots of water and take care.

The dating outing thingy wasn't that bad after all and I got to meet some very nice people! While I have some friends who still frown upon such events, I think that I can now safely say that I do not mind attending them as a way to increase my social skills, broaden my social circle and to simply tell people that I have been there, done that.

Today was spent with good old friends from school. Remember my friend who came back from the States? Went to her house to celebrate her birthday. We ordered KFC and I brought her a cake from Cedele, which was surprisingly good. It was a hands-on learning experience for me as I see the children interacting with one another and how there was a 'power' struggle even when they are so young. There were many opportunities for me to put what little I have learnt about children into action. Helps me one step closer for when I really become a kindy teacher (if I really become one).

Nevertheless, the kids are all adorable and I am thankful that they have great mummies and daddies to take care of them and that they are living such wonderful lives. I felt this even more when I came back this evening to watch a fund-raising programme for the Si Chuan Earthquake victims. There were so many stories to be told and so many tears to be shed.

Two stories struck me most: One was the guy who managed to stay alive under the beams for goodness knows how long. He wanted his unborn child to know what the daddy looks like. He did not want his child to be born without a parent and he did not want his wife to be a widow so young and so alone. Yet, after he got saved and when he was on his way to the hospital, he stopped breathing. That to me was already very heart-wrenching.

Then came this one which really gripped me: The rescue team found this woman, dead in the most un-natural position. They dug deeper into the rubble and found that she was hurdled over her baby who was safe and alive under her protection and wrapped together with the baby was a hand phone. There was a message on the hand phone that said something like "If you managed to come out alive, know that Mummy loves you very much".

There is so much to ponder about after watching and reading about all this and then suddenly, all my personal problems seems so much smaller and insignificant as when compared to the losses of these people.

Even with so much sorrow and emotions going on, I must still say that I am thankful for such a beautiful weekend spent together with close friends.

Communal living and bread

Going for the retreat brought me back to communal living whereby I had to stay with two other ladies in the same room. I did not mind that at all, while some other retreatant expressed that she will definitely prefer a single room (which she got, as requested).

Communal living has brought me back to camp days. We had one big toilet whereby we had to queue up to shower and had to wake up earlier than the morning call so as to ensure that one DOES get to shower without much haste and hurry. On the first morning, I had to bathe with cold water coz the heater was not working. Other than that, it was fine.

Another thing that reminded me so much of camping life and communal living was the breakfasts that we had. It was just loaves of bread and jars of jams/kaya and better. We just spread whatever we wanted on the bread and brought the plates back to the table to eat.

The spoilt me is used to having some form of meat (like ham) on my bread but after the first bite, I felt that I was going back to the basics and I was really thankful that I had bread to eat and butter and marmalade for spread. The simplicity of the meal itself reminded me that there were kids and people out there who did not even have a decent meal to put into their mouths.

Once again, I am thankful for the food we eat.

The disciplinary master...

School has started and I just went back to my new place to stay. The students looked non-threatening (unlike some schools, who have gangsters for students).

What (or rather, who) greeted me at the traffic light was the disciplinary master of the school. He was standing by the wall, just observing.

My guess is that he was trying to catch students who jay walk. Me being the all dutiful me, decided not to jay walk this morning.

I did eventually though (jay walk, I mean) for I almost missed the bus. I was so intent on watching the red man turn green, I did not realise the bus has arrived. Thank goodness, the bus driver waited. Really, for that I am thankful in my own little way.

Timing was so good that I also managed to catch my train to work and arrived super early. It is going to be a beautiful day :)

Thankful: 2

I am thankful that I have friends who care for me.
Friends who look out every step of the way for me.
Turn back to see where I am going,
Even if there are two steps ahead.

Friends who ask "what's wrong?" and "how are you doing?".
Friends who would not hesitate to slow down, stop, to listen to what I have to say.

There are friends who would walk ahead
Charging like there is no tomorrow.
These are friends I am still thankful for.
But they will also help to remind me to be even more thankful
To friends who care for me,
Friends who look out every step of the way for me.

LY, MV, this is for you. Thank you. I am thankful
To have friends like you.
Knowing that people like you exist makes living a little more worth it :)