Working Visit to Ministry of Works

On the 22nd of June 2011 at 7.00 a.m., the Upper Six Formers headed to Kuala Lumpur to participate in a study-visit to the Parliament house.   Ten teachers accompanied the students during the trip, and for the second year now, I was also amongst the teachers.  And since it was my second trip to the aghast house, I literally sat this one out by waiting outside, under one of the gazebos, for the group of students and teachers who went inside, chatting with Kak Mariya, who also decided not to follow them inside.  It was also her second trip!

 I must say that I did not enjoy the trip whole-heartedly because, like I mentioned earlier, this for me was a working visit because I had work to do, especially during our visit to the Ministry of Works.   I had been asked by the Form 6 Senior Assistant (he was unable to attend) to speak on his behalf during the reception held for our group by the Secretary to the Minister of Works.  I know that I am so used to speaking, most of the time as master of ceremonies, but this beats everything I am used to!

However, luckily I managed to keep my composure because I knew that, other than having the familiarity of being masters of ceremony, I also am quite used to protocol.  Thus, I breezed through the speech that I gave (at least I thought so!) and I managed to suppress my hunger when lunch was served since I was sitting at the same table as the Political Secretary to the Minister of Works and other officials from the ministry.  The Minister himself could not be with us because he was still at the Parliament.

I must say that the trip had been a fruitful one.  Anyway, we reached home at about 11.30 p.m.  23rd June would be another working day.  After seeing the people work at the Ministry of Works, work here is workable.

School Re-opens : Ready or Not?

The two-week holiday has certainly passed rather quickly, with a flurry of activities in between, making it seems unbelievable that tomorrow school will re-open, yet once again.  That's a strange feeling on my part because I always feel that these longs holidays to be, well, long.  I usually cannot wait for school to re-open as I could not stand to count the days that the school holidays would pass.

This time I feel like I still have not had enough of the holidays, perhaps due to the fact that I have used it to the fullest.  Having said that, I feel quite nervous about going to school tomorrow, not unlike a new student who will be entering his first day in secondary school.  I feel like I want another week of holiday!

I shudder in silence as I think about all the duties and tasks waiting in the second-half of the year; with special occasions like the school's Sports Day (albeit a little to late!), a district level activity (at least one that I know of) which the school has been appointed as the host (yet again!), countless exercises and papers to mark ( if only they were MCQ's!), plus all the other menial tasks, that if mentioned, will leave every body not in the know, utterly and totally shocked (or at least they pretend to be!)  Worse of all, I will be susceptible to unsolicited comments and the prying eyes of people who think they know my job better than I do (even though these people are not teachers, sigh!)

I guess, I will have to contend myself with my positive thinking and doing things to the best of my ability!  Best wishes to all those returning to school tomorrow!

Country Road

This first week of the mid-semester school holiday has been a hectic one with a list of things to do, so much so, that I have not found the time to make a new entry for the month of June, until now of course.

Amongst the flurry of activities carried out last week, and after coming home to actually sit the rest of the holiday out, I suddenly felt a sense of loss of not having returned to the village.  Actually, its my wife's village that is located away from the hustle and bustle of city life.

One can actually get tired of living in the city amongst the concrete jungle, jostling with the crowd and joining in the rat race.  The mundane of every day life can be a boring monotony that I can actually do without, especially when I feel that I have not achieved what I have set out to do.

What I miss most about the village is the greenery.  Every where you turn, there are trees all around.  Let's not talk about the scientific benefits of these tress.  The fact is, they're just good to look at and to be around with.

I guess if I were given the opportunity to settle down in such an environment, I would not think twice about doing so.  In fact I would immediately pack up my things and leave life in the city and all it's worldly offerings and head to the village, even though it does not have any of the luxuries of life.

Being in the village with all the greenery is luxury in itself.