Despite it all,it's still a great day

Today would be an excellent day if not for the fact that....

.....I did not listen to Mum when she reminded me to have an umbrella in my bag ALL THE TIME,

.....I was caught in the rain,

.....I was soaking wet when I reached school,

.....I could not change into dry clothes because I did not bring an exchange of clothes,

.....my "mushroom" sandals felt so uncomfortable because they were wet as well.

But today IS an excellent day because a girl who is now in Grade One remembered my name. A girl whose class I relieved only once remembered my name. A girl whom I have not seeen for the longest time remembered my name.

However, I feel terrible because I cannot remember hers. Tried as I might, I just could not.

Miss Liza is very sorry, sweetheart.

But she made me feel important, nonetheless.

Alhamdullillah.

Food For Your Heart

I can choose to hate them for being blessed with what I want. But I will NOT.

For hate is a disease.

It eats you up, slowly but surely.

A person with hatred dies a slow death.

Hatred blinds you from being able to find the rainbow after the rain.

Your days will always be dark when it is filled with hatred.

Sun never shines on HatredLand.

Your natural beauty is hidden when the heart feeds on hatred.

So I will NOT hate. I shall smile. I will smile and remind them how blessed they are. How very blessed they are to be given the happiness almost everyone strive to have. At the same time, I will also smile for I know ALLAH s.w.t is with me, holding my hand and reassuring that He has better plans for me. He is giving me the strength I need to get through this (somewhat) sad moment. Whatever the outcome is, I know it is the best one. For He knows everything and He knows what's best for me.

So I shall smile and fill my heart with love and compassion.

Educated Internationally

What happens during childhood does affect adulthood.

Most Asian children are told to not question when they are given something. Questioning an elderly may be a sign of disrespect.

Teaching in an international school allows me to make this conclusion confidently. It is true, you know. The Asian children pick up such good traits from their Western peers.

During the first few weeks of school, the Asians were mostly reserved. During circle time, most of the hands raised (to answer a question) is that of my Caucasian children.

Towards the middle of the term, I can start to see the Asian children opening up and actually participating in activities.

If only I had the same chance to receive my education in an international school. I wonder how I might have turn out then.

KnewPaper

I don't read the newspapers. Period.

Yes, I know it's terribly immature? Unintellectual? Lazy? You can label me anything you want.

I don't read the newspapers. Case closed.

Question of Love

What causes fickle-mindedness when it comes to love?

Is it the eyes, which keeps on looking at others other than one's partner whom one would tend to regard as a much better companion? Maybe because the other person the eye sees is much better-looking, richer, taller, slimmer, more intelligent etc?

Could it be desire, because human beings tend to desire something that are almost way beyond reach? Women desire to be swept off their feet by Prince Charming. Men desire to be able to mesmerize a princess from heaven.

Maybe it's infidelity. The tendency to stray despite being granted with the best that life has to offer - that's my definition of infidelity.

Or is it complacency? When one thinks he/she is better off being with another because someone of his/her standards deserves more than the current partner?

What is it?

What can cause a person to stop loving or caring for another whom he/she cared for so very much just a minute before?

What is the cause of it?

What is it?

May We Meet Again

A collection of electrifying exchanges of friendly flirtatious stares and shy smiles.

It did not matter that the play I went to yesterday at Theatre Studio at Esplanade was disappointing. What happened during the 3 intermissions was more exciting than the play itself.

He was with an older lady (I reckon should be the mum) and 3 other younger girls (They were probably besotted with him as well). He was dressed so casually but still managed to look very captivating. He wore a long-sleeved, blue and white (I think) striped polo shirt with jeans.

The power of the eyes is simply amazing. If only something more could have happened yesterday. Better still, if only I could meet him again. That would be lovely. Sighs. Oh well.....

Miss Jogging Like Crazy

It's been ages since I last jogged.

I miss jogging.

I miss feeling my heart pumping faster with every time my feet touches the ground after each lift.

I miss the wind blowing in my face.

I miss listening to nothing else other than the music from my Walkman mobile.

I miss the freedom of being in a state of (almost) running.

I miss it all.

I miss jogging.

Womanhood

It was the scariest day I ever had!

It was that time of the month. I passed off the cramps as normal because that was how it usually was like. But boy, was I wrong!

I almost fainted! I never had this happen to me. My head was spinning. My eyes could not focus on anything because I kept seeing double. It was terrible. I prayed so hard that I do not collapse before bringing the children back to the classroom. Alhamdullillah. I did not. Once "my babies" were safely back in the classroom, I walked as fast as I could to the nurses office.

Now I know, 2 capsules of Panadol Extra and a hot water bag on your abdomen does the trick.

Spread the LOVE

The war in the Middle East between the Jews and Muslims is never ending. Millions of innocent lives are lost with each passing day.

As an outsider hearing about the news, it pains me to see the numbers of dead bodies increasing. Maybe some close-minded individuals might choose to be enemies of the people from the opposing religion. But I beg to differ.

Working in an international school has taught me many things and one of them is to be open-minded about the diversity around us.

Despite being a staff of my school for only less than a year, I have come across many children from all walks of life and from varying nationalities. The children are very generous with their sincere hugs and warm love. I feel appreciated. When I walk down the corridor, I would be greeted with at least a beautiful smile from those innocent faces.

There is one particular girl who is very beautiful and very sweet. I came to relief her class for only 2 times last school year because her assistant teacher was on leave. Nonetheless, she could still remember me. Everytime she sees me, she never fails to give me a hug and chat with me for a while. It was always a delight to see her.

That girl is now in Grade 1. Eventhough she is no longer a kindergartener, she actually ran up to me and gave me the hugest hug last week after not seeing each other for almost 2 months (due to the summer vacation)! Teacher and ex-student chatted for a bit before she had to board the school bus home.

It's simply remarkablae, I feel. One thing is because I was never her class teacher. As I mentioned, I came to relief her class for only 2 times and she could still remember me. The second amazing thing is that...she's from Israel.

Go On Home, Lizzie

I did the silliest mistake today.

I need to photocopy the letter 's' for my 22 students just now. The master copy consisted of 7 of the alphabet in question. So I would only need to photocopy (about) 4 pieces of the master copy,
right?

But guess how many copies I made?

21 freaking copies! (21 copies with each copy consisting of 7 of the letter 's' . You do the math)

I seriously need to go home now.

Thank God It's Friday

First day of school.

It was a new routine for my 4 year olds.

The walk from the auditorium to the classroom was a long one.

Children were everywhere (That's when they all start looking alike).

The parents waited outside the classroom.

"Liza, where's Marcus?"

It turned out he got a little lost.

Fortunately, another teacher saw him and held onto him till I came for him.

i apologised to the mother and I now feel like sssshhhhh.....

But hey, there's always the weeekend to look forward to, right?

Then I remember....I'm broke.

I'm thankful but down nonetheless.

How was your day, jolly people?

Tensed

Does excessive workload makes one incredibly emotional?

I had my work cut out for me today.

I was up to my neck and this is NOT a complain. Frankly, I quite liked the idea of being busy as opposed to having nothing to do and wasting my time idling away.

Anyhow, I shed a tear when Kakak mmsed me a picture of Miasara smiling away with the text that read, "Mama Ija, Happy working!"

Then I cried buckets when Mum called me at the end of the day informing that she will be going to Thailand for 4 whole days.

I am emotional, don't you think?

It's something I myself cannot explain.

I feel emotional when I remember all these people because I miss them.

It's true. It's not like I'm thousands of miles away from them but by being busy, I sort of forget about them for a bit and when something happened to remind me of them, I cry because they weren't in my mind for the period of time that I was busy.

It's totally madness, I know.

That's just the way it is.

Maybe it's because I am afraid of growing up. Yes, I said it. I am afraid of growing up.

Of course, I do want to get married, have children of my own and all that but it scares me.

Life is so simple when we were young. There were less worries, less responsibilities, less pain, less pressure.

Childhood reminds me of a life filled with happiness and lots of freedom.

Don't get me wrong, I do lead a very happy life and am grateful for all that ALLAH s.w.t has bestowed upon me.

It's the pressure, I think. The pressure to find a good life partner whom you can trust and who loves you as much as you do to him, the pressure to be the best in your field of work so you can earn big bucks, the pressure to be beautiful so the opposite gender will find you attractive, the pressure to maintain a healthy relationship with your loved ones despite hectic schedule etc.

Sometimes, the pressure is too overwhelming and all you can do to lessen it is break down in tears.

Busy as a bee

I confuse myself.

Do I like being busy or not?

Being busy means I will not waste time daydreaming, time will pass by quicker and I will also not indulge in gossiping.

But being busy means I need to remember to breathe amidst the truckload of work and I will be dead tired by the end of the day.

So do I like it?

Just Dandy

On the 28th of June 2006, I ...

Was tired of staring at the screen on my mobile,

Received less remuneration due to new employment status,

I skipped breakfast and my stomach growled non-stop,

Sweat profusely (I blame it on the weather),

Then my ex-lecturer rang...

Miss J (MJ): Hello, Liz.
Miss Liza (ML): Hello, Miss J. Wassup?
MJ: I am sure this piece of news will make you very happy.
ML: Oh really ah? Eh tell me lei. Hehehehe
MJ: Out of the 3 speakers for that career seminar the other day, my students were VERY impressed with YOU. They even thought you were related to me. They also thought you were very good. You spoke very clear, confident and good English.
ML: OH MY GOD! OH MY GOODNESS! THIS REALLY IS GOOD NEWS!

All it takes is one phone call to brighten up one's day. That was the phone call I needed. It made me realise my potential and put everything into perspective once again.

Alhamdullillah.

My Own

I am delighted to say this.

This year...

...I have a desk of my own.

...I have A PC of my own.

But...

...I am on my own.

...I have to do everything on my own.

Oh well, It's a trade-off, really. You cannot have the best of everything, can you?

Duty Calls

Today marks the last day of my 2-month summer vacation.

Frankly, I am just so darn lazy to get back to school.

But frankly also, I cannot wait to get back to school and meet my new batch of Little Rascals.

2 months was a very long time and a whole lot of thing happened.

I nursed a broken heart, learnt a great deal about loving and giving, lost weight, got re-acquainted with an old friend (ie: myself. Heh), was let in on an ultimate secret about an excellent friend of mine, am on a mission to accomplishing a childhood dream and the list goes on and on.

Eventhough I have to admit that 2 months bumming around was simply not enough (Slacking is meant for eternity), I have to say that I need to get back to what I love to do so I will not be brain dead and lazy.

I am extremely glad for the darn long break and come tomorrow, its show time!

Miss Liza will be back in action with more tolerance, patience and whole lot of madness!