The Concert

The girls have been talking about it for months.

Excited, anticipative, and impatiently waiting for the day.

Finally, it came.

 Bruno Mars in Singapore.

The crowd must have been exhilarated and entertained full-fledged.

That's what the girls said; No.2 told me that she wants to marry him.

To marry him?

Not this one, dear.

The sisters gathered at the Indoor Stadium; with No.3 trudging all the way in a coach to Singapore. She took 2 days off just for this. I asked whether it was worth it; but I guess one already knows the answer. It's not everyday Brunos Mars is here and if it means travelling hundreds of kilometers it was still worth it; she reiterated.

I wanted to know why I could not join them.

They gave me these:

No seats; you stand throughout...

Tickets all sold out since don't know when...

Old ladies don't go for such shows...

The list went on and on ...

Never mind la; as long as they are happy. 

It's good to see them enjoying the show and the sisterly bond is comforting.

I remember in my younger days I too used to trudge in a bus from my hometown to the Merdeka Stadium to watch "The Monkees" and others; feeling just as excited as them. Back then I went with sister No.2 who was studying in TAR and it looks like history repeats itself.

Looking forward to the weekend to spend more time with the girls !

Feeling as excited too.

MH 370

 Unprecedented.

That's the word that has been uttered over and over again.

Malaysia has never been in this situation before; the nation is still youthful not having a civilization recorded thousands of years ago. She is still learning and the world seems to be so unforgiving.

The lost plane has caused pains difficult to put into words. 

For once, words cannot play their role well.

Some say it is best to say nothing at all; too painful.

 From day 1 of it missing, the nation has got together to pray. Never like before. This incident brought the people both locally and internationally together; no need to question about the nation, colour or gender. All are precious being the loved ones of someone; mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, grandparents, aunties, uncles, nephews, nieces and the list goes on.

The incident teaches precious lessons to the world; be it developed, developing or undeveloped.

The strong helps the weak; the rich helps the lesser ones; the knowledgeable leads the learning ones and it is so reassuring that many extended that hand.

"What the world needs now is love, sweet love"

 Everyone hears about it. These hands are symbols and cries of the heart. 

The Malaysians are together in this.

 We are fearful of the outcome and yet we have to face it.

 These three men are most pitiful. Everyday the world looks at them for news and new leads.They must have gone through agonizing moments each time press time arrives. What should they say? How do they answer? What to tell the world? So many accusing eyes.They wish to break good news; ones that everyone wants to hear. Patience, endurance and humility are the disposition they display. I must say they did not have good rests; being scrutinized at every press time.

The world must know the nation has tried her best;  way beyond her capacity.

How did it happen?

But it needs time.

So, we pray that Malaysia will find her bearings and answers in due time.

So much loss and ill consequences.

Meanwhile, to the loved ones left behind, someone once said " time heals all wounds " though more easily said than done. Our deepest condolences and heartfelt pains.

Give Malaysia time and understanding.

God help Malaysia, we pray.

The Lost Voices

 Someone informed me of the performance by the choir.

I must go and support them; they brought a lot of pride and joy to my life while I served in Seafield.

 Entitled The Lost Voices, I wondered at the choreography and the choice of renditions.

Why the lost voices? It sounded so old and traditional.

 I was wrong.

Though the renditions were 'ancient' it was a collection of popular folk music from all over Asia.

Serious. All over Asia. They sang in Korean, Japanese, Malay, Indonesian and even  Mongolian and Hokkien too. So versatile and catchy. The choir has grown in maturity; leaps and bounds.

 Susanah, the choir coach shared from her heart on how much the team has grown. It was a good 12 years ago when she first managed the team; then a small and untrained one. The members were groomed into singing in unison for patriotic and performance renditions. Though they seemed to dread the slow, patriotic ones  in the beginning, they soon learnt that it was part and parcel of the game. You need to enter local competitions to grow famous. Most local competitions make patriotic renditions a must.

In between mastering them, the choir was also trained to participate in the international scene just as how they performed in Germany and Thailand previously. They robed in tunes that catch the spirits and hearts of the hearers. You get uplifted being with them.
Last evening was again a repeat of their voices. They entertained the guests perfectly in their varied submissions of songs never heard for a long while.

 One such rendition was a Japanese folk song first taught to them when they performed in Thailand last March by Masashi Kishimoto of Rangsit University. I remembered hearing it for the first time too and was impressed by how quick the children caught the tune.

 Listen to them singing the Japanese tune.

It was then followed by many other tunes like Bangawan Solo, Suriram and a "tok tok" song organised  by a famous choreographer just for them. "Tok tok" was a challenging one to deliver and Susanah was sure proud of her protege. They made her happy.

 Kaevin, the up and coming bright star did it in Korean; one which brought the audience to their feet.

 The old timer; Imran who stands by the choir through its ups and downs delivered his "My Way" in his ever popular voice. He has lost quite a bit of weight. It was nostalgic looking at him.

Of course Ryan with his guitar skills added much hue to the evening. He has a heart for music and the ever supportive mother makes sure he is given the best of chances and groomed to the maximum. He is a lucky boy. He played so professionally.

The 2 hour performance ended in a medley of local tunes including this Hokkien one. 

Listen to them.

They were so lively and entertaining. The good attracts the good. May the team continue to grow and be a blessing to all around them.

Thank you for the evening. May the coming trip to Brisbane be one that will again add another feather to their cap. Hopefully, the Australians will receive another awesome performance and it will be another unforgettable, historical event.

All the best, children.

I miss you.

The Gamble

 The Decision.

It is difficult as the saying goes: as unpredictable as the weather.

To stage the run or to postpone?

My dear brother has a good view over his residence. Everyday he will whine about the weather. So he becomes especially agitated when the view over his condominium is overcast with the haze. He will blame everything on earth.

Then there is this threatening hazy sky over the last week and nothing promising seems to be in store. The rain has been shying away and the fires have been sprouting along the roads. Some schools had to be shut down because the haze readings had reached hazardous levels.
The calls to school were incessant.
Is the road run on?
How do you decide?
The present moment called for a quick decision; if the run is on you would have to explain and entertain every call. Answer the whys.
So, the best decision based on the current weather conditions was to call it off.
Teachers met and concurred that the obvious acceptable decision was to postpone.
Failing to plan is the sure plan to fail.
So the head took over the heart; decide based on data.

On the designated morning ...

Lo and behold the brother sent in the next panoramic view.
Clear, blue skies.
Who can play God ?
Beyond comprehension.
But the decision has already been made.
No recalling.

Never mind, we have to learn to accept reality for indeed we cannot sometimes predict the weather.
We will plan the event in the coming months for a better cause.
Behind every dark cloud there is surely a silver lining.

Raise some funds for the school in a planned road race.

Coding

Effective Communication

 It was a treat to be at the campus.

Last week some administrators of schools were invited to listen to some views accorded by a Professor from a local university. He spoke on communication skills. We found him down to earth and communicated on matters close to our era ( baby boomers) and so we understood him well. He confessed that it would be a challenge to him to handle students of the X, Y generations. He found it difficult to speak their language and commended on our ability to understand them. He must know how much we had to compromise to learn to think and speak like them.I suppose that keeps us younger than our age and closes the communication gap. We have to think like them to handle them.It's all about adaptation and making a decision to communicate effectively.

At the talk, he related that all communication starts with a coding procedure: you put forward an idea and let it be encoded by the hearer. It is when the process fails that miscommunication happens and causes a gap.

Doesn't it happen between teachers and students, teachers and teachers and definitely parents and teachers ? Yes it does.

There is no denial that there are almost miscommunications in school every other day. Just when you thought you will enjoy a peaceful day, there comes in the disgruntled parent and child. You will have to equip yourself with tall skills ; speech, body language, right intonations and alertness. You must be polite even if you disagree and like business, the client has to be treated with the right approach. 

It is most difficult to persuade involved parties to be cautious in their speech as the expression 'monkey see, monkey do' is surely real. Children learn best through examples. That's what my girls tell me. Whenever they do some things against the grain, their fingers are at me. How unfair. What about the finer points?

Well, the professor professed that the cultural context is important in all exchanges. When we handle people, we have to consider their backgrounds and the cultural influence. One example he quoted went like this.

A Malaysian student went to the States for further studies and being new to the country did not understand the local context enough. When asked if he wanted tea he casually replied; "no worries" and so he did not get his tea.He was later chided not to behave like Malaysians here. The Malaysian context is to say no when asked to be offered but in actuality it was a polite way of meaning 'yes'. So you have to say 'yes' when you want it and 'no' when you do not want and not to expect otherwise. Oh it is not easy as we have been brought up to not blatantly want something too outright or we may sound rude. 

So the coding and encoding becomes a mismatch.

Mismatches of this nature can happen when children are brought up differently too. Some think it is not wrong to take things that do not belong to them; others think it is alright to smoke as after all there is no prevention from the home and still others reckon it is right behavior to litter.

The list is endless.

Communication whether verbal or non verbal is effective when we encode precisely.

It was an entertaining day with the professor.

It was a good day as old friends got together and effectively communicated in conjunction with school issues; we face almost the same challenges and speak the same language. A teacher will be known as one wherever they are; their speech and body language are the same.

Do it right.

Effective communication.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

 The Good and The Bad

Literary works evoke feelings and relate matters very close to the heart.

Some thoughts and values though depicted in the olden days and may be as old as the hills still stay relevant today.

One such reading is Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.

When I taught the novel to some students a few years ago, we pondered over the protagonist and his actions. Why does he want to portray himself in two characters?

Here is the scientist so well-respected and admired by the socialites and highly regarded.

 He had almost everything at his call; looks, intelligence, wealth, position and fame.

It's typical of life. You may have everything but you stay deprived. You want something different. 

So Dr.Jekyll with his scientific skills invents a potion to allow himself to lose himself in evil.

In a different image and outlook he seeks to be with the disapproved. 

How does it feel to be bad in the eyes of man?

At one point, he actually enjoys it.

How many of the rich and famous also long to let go and be like him?

When we considered his actions, the teacher and students agree that he is foolish.

Foolish in the eyes of them; why when you have everything you must risk your life?

But Dr. Jekyll is finding life meaningless.

He has to be Mr. Hyde to add colours to his life.

It is fun to be evil; so he thinks.

Not exactly youthful anymore, I have seen someone do that.

I always thought it is only a fairy tale; Dr. J and Mr. H.

But sad to say, it is true. I have seen such a character in real life.

Suave and popular, it is a perfect character in man's eyes.

But the only difference is, I have not seen the end.

I know Mr. Hyde never had the chance to save himself; the imagery became a reality at his death.

Dr. Jekyll ended his life as Mr. Hyde.

A good man died a bad man.

How sad.

 I hope my students will learn a lesson from this novel.

That they will not think it will never happen to them but that they will be wise under all temptations.

It is indeed beneficial to read because writers expose characters that are real.

So, to read is to gain.

That they will decide not to be Mr. Hyde because they will face unhappy consequences.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Stay good children.

The Expressions

At the assembly yesterday, I told the children we have two English expressions to use for the day.

Black Monday.

Black Monday as we had so many woes to face.

The country is going through a trying period with many heartbreaking news.

First, we have the water woes which is not helped by the dry season and it seems no amount of cloud seeding can undo the harm. Rationing of this precious commodity is the call of the day and to add more salt to the wound, the water cut caught us unaware. Just like we would always assume that it would not happen to us, the school is facing this challenge at the moment. Students are told of the dilemma and to exercise cautious use of the commodity; not to spray it anywhere and everywhere but to remember those who are suffering from the cut.

Then, inadvertently the dry season has resulted in forest fires and the haze which led to the question  "do we have road run practice today?"  It is difficult to convince parents and the best answer would be 

" We will read the API and act accordingly"...

Of course the endemic dengue scare is in town. The school community is to take extra care in not allowing breeding grounds to emerge.There has been scary reports of serious cases and the number is surely piling up. Keep the school clean.

Remember not to litter.

The second expression which is so truly depicted in the most recent national tragedy is :

  Disappear into thin air.

 MH 370 is heartbreaking news.

How did it virtually disappear into thin air?

Who would have fathomed? Why?

Of all news, this one is the epitome. 

Never mind about the water cuts, the haze, dengue havoc and even snatch thefts for the missing plane breaks the hearts of the young and old across the nation. 

Being glued to the box for access to the latest news seemed the most important thing to do. 

It is horrible and sad to hear of the plight of loved ones. Fathers, mothers, grandparents, nieces, nephews, friends; everyone is praying for the safe return of that missing plane.

But where are they?

So, we prayed in silence for the safe return of MH370 during assembly.

For once the children did their part by keeping that silence.

Today in school, some children hung this banner to remind ourselves of the plight of MH370 for as long as there is no evidence of a crash, there is hope.

But hope seems to be diminishing by this silence.

Malaysians are keeping their fingers crossed.

Still waiting in hope.

We pray for news.

God help them.

So, let there be good news.