1st september - remembering teacher's day (in s'pore)

yesterday, i received a few 'happy teacher's day' messages. these greetings must have come from those who are still unaware that i have retired.

it sets me reflecting upon my happier days as a teacher. i think my first 10 years as a teacher in balestier hill technical (now, seconday) school were my happiest.

i began my career in balestier and taught in the school for 11 years before i applied and got a transfer to ghim moh secondary. after 7 years in ghim moh, i requested for a posting to another school and ended up at monk's hill secondary, where i stayed for about 12 years. in 1998, upon completion of my pe diploma course, i applied for a transfer to a primary school.

although there were the initial adjustments, i soon got into the groove of things and was quite comfortable during the first few years. i had told myself that i would like to experience 10 years of primary school before i called it a day. however, this was not to be the case; in 2006 i was successful in my application for optional retirement, which meant i was 2 years short of my target.

i have no regret retiring prematurely. you often hear people say that health is more important than money. i was giving up more than 100k a year by quitting my job. i still have to see my two daughters through their university education in australia. but, as i see it, my health - both mental and physical - was more important than the money i could have earned.

i am into my ninth month of retirement and i still want to continue to enjoy my retirement. i have been approached a few times by different people to go back to work as an adjunct teacher or a relief teacher and i have turned down all offers.

my philosphy of life seems to be in focus since my retirement. now that life expectancy is 80 years or more, it should be broken up into 3 phases. phase 1: you spend the first 20 years of your life preparing for work; phase 2: you work for about 40 years; and phase 3: you should enjoy the last 20 years doing your own things/the things you enjoy. if one enjoys teaching, by all means, go back to school.

fried spring rolls (popiah)

i had bought some turnips from the wholesale market sometime ago and there were some carrots and french beans in the fridge, so i decided to make spring rolls.

first, you have to strip the turnips of the skin, before you shred the turnips. do the same for the carrots. the french beans have to be sliced very thinly. i also use dried shrimps.

before you fry the shrimps (hae bee), you have to soak them in water to soften them. i flavour the ingredients with oyster sauce before i fry them.

fry the dried shrimps first, then add in the carrots, french beans and turnips. i use the amc pot to fry the ingredients. you do not need to use a lot of oil. just one or two spoonfuls of oil will do.

to wrap the ingredients into a roll, i use the tyj spring roll pastry. i bought the smaller size pastry from ntuc supermarket. in order to get the wrapper to stick, you need to have something starchy. scoop a spoonful of flour - any flour will do - into a small bowl and add water to it and stir until it becomes sticky.

when you deep fry the spring rolls, use medium heat. when the spring roll is golden brown, you can remove it from the pan/kwali.

you can freeze pre-fried rolls in an air-tight container and fry them another day.

ironing tips and techniques

you may wonder what i do on days like today when it rains heavily, the whole morning or even the whole day. if it is a slight drizzle, i may still go for my morning walk/nature walk. but, if it is heavy like today, then i stay home and finish some housework. i either iron my clothes, strip the fans and clean the blades or do some cooking.

i iron my own clothes and not your mother's because hers require a different technique and a higher standard, which is out of my range. most of my tee shirts are made of cotton, so they are relatively easy to iron. my bermudas and trousers are also made of the same kind of fabric.

here are some ironing tips and techniques:

progress from garments needing the lowest temperature (fine fabrics) to those requiring the highest (cotton).

cotton fabrics require a high heat setting.

for delicate materials, it is advisable to turn the garment inside out and iron on the inside.

iron shirt collars on both sides, with the inside first. iron inward from the point of the collar to avoid creases at the tips.

when ironing shirts, start with the cuffs and collars inside out. then work towards the shoulder and down to the sleeves. next do the body and the front panel last.

ironing board should be at hip level to prevent back strain.

when iron is sticky from pressing starched clothes, clean it by running it across a piece of aluminium foil.

national education in s'pore

"implemented in 2002, the lee kuan yew national education (lky ne) award recognises schools that have made special effort to design and implement innovative and effective programmes to equip our students with basic attitudes, values and instincts which make them singaporeans. as the lky ne award is the pinnacle of the ne awards, winners of the lky ne award will be deemed to have attained the outstanding development award for national education."

a lot of things now being done in our schools are just for show. like the ne award. will it make our future generations, proud and patriotic singaporeans? instil what kind of attitude, value and instinct, when the pupils and teachers can be exempted from attending the flag raising ceremony just so that they can 'steal' time to do some remediation in their preparation for the national examinations.

at flag raising and lowering ceremonies, who sing the national anthem? not the older upper primary children, not the teachers; it is the younger children. it seems like when they get older, they do not want to be caught/seen singing the national anthem. in secondary schools and junior colleges, you do not hardly hear any real singing.

so, how successful is our national education programme? granted, it has created awareness. children learn about the cultures and practices of their peers belonging to other racial and religious groups. they go on learning journeys around serangoon road, arab street and smith street. they learnt about ethnicity. does this knowledge lead to acceptance?

come the month before national day, the people are exhorted to fly the state flag. can you see the great difference in the two pictures above? the blocks where you see flags on every level represent the work of the resident committee and the community leaders. in those blocks where the residents are left on their own to decide, the showing is most pathetic. generally, less than 10 per cent of the households in each block fly the state flag.

when i visited johor recently, i could see how different the people of the two countries are when it comes to display of public affection for their respective country. maybe we have a sophisticated way of showing love for our country. what it is, i do not know.

secrets to living longer

something that our prime minister said at the national day rally this year may not come true. he said that 'women will outlive men.' that was true in the past and may be true even today but i am not so sure if it is going to be true in the future. today's women are enmeshed in the same stressful and pressurising environment as men.

according to a report in the national geographic, one of the secrets of longevity is less stress and more socialising. in a study of centenarians in sardinia in italy, they found that the men live as long as the women. the reason: the women in sardinia wear the pants and so the men lead a less stressful life.

in the same study, they also found that the consumption of traditional, natural food as opposed to processed food is a contributing factor to longevity. this is also practised by the older generations of okinawans - the longest living japanese, though not true among the younger generation of okinawans.

the researchers also found out that people who live to a ripe old age tend to have an active lifestyle and they have a positive, healthy behaviour. this was evident among the seventh-day adventists who live in loma linda, california. this group of people outlive the average americans by about a decade.

according to a dr chopra, by returning to a more simple and natural way of living with more peace and freedom, by becoming more family oriented where there is lots of love, having a good family life through healthy communication and understanding, and by improving our awareness, attitudes and values, we are bound to have a more healthy, fulfilling and rewarding life.

according to the national geographic report, genetics contributes 30% to longevity, the rest is up to your lifestyle, up to you.

dead tilapias in the symphony lake at botanic gardens

my regular sessions with my former students from balestier hill technical school started with our inaugural walk to the treetop. we then moved on to the canopy walk at kent ridge. the third walk took us to labrador park, in which we were joined by jennifer's sister. this fourth walk saw only five of us, jennifer being incapacitated because of her medical condition.

pastor phua see thiam drove. he picked seck yeong and her hubby outside jalan bumbong and then came to pick me from the bus-stop opposite 10th mile sheng siong. so, instead of three cars being used, we conserved energy and reduced pollution by car-pooling.

it was a worthwhile and an educational experience for all of us as we made a lot of discoveries and learnt a few new things along the way. but, there was one thing that puzzled us - the many dead tilapias floating in the symphony lake. could it be caused by the quality of the water? it seemed the fish had been starved of oxygen. however, the hardier fish like the aruan were not affected.

at the end of the walk, we replenished our burnt calories by having a light makan at the taman serasi food court. found out that the civil service card entitles you to a 10% discount at the food court.

our next walk on 22 september will be at the changi boardwalk.

a walk down memory lane

this evening, i took bus service 67, intending to stop at either geylang or new upper changi road to check out some eating places. somehow, i ended up at tekka. i had a glass of teh halia (ginger tea) and three vadais, at 30 cts a vadai.

i crossed serangoon road and walked along upper dickson road. i was going back in time, to the days when i was a toddler. i stayed at a house at the corner of upper dickson road and clive street. the house is still there. the goodwill electronic company now occupies the place. so is the coffee shop across the road; the coffee shop with the zinc roofing must have been around for at least 60 years old.

i walked down dunlop street. i remember spending my school holidays with a distant relative who lived at 80 dunlop street. i also walked down campbell lane, past the house where my late grandmother used to live in. at the corner of dunlop street, where the pink building now stands, i reminisce the times when i helped to sell syrup drinks at 10 cents a glass.

the church building has been around for as long as i can remember. it has somewhat retained the colour that was used long ago. the karung guni trade, along the road leading to the church, has been in existence in that area since the early 60s.

encounter with monitor lizards and a mangrove snake

today, after seeing shin huat off at terminal two, at about 6.50 a.m., i set off for macritchie reservoir park. shin huat is going to wuhan on an exchange programme. he flies sia to shanghai and from there, takes a domestic flight to wuhan. he will be in wuhan for four months, returning on christmas eve, 24 december.

my friday walking group at macritchie is now six strong, including myself. the latest to join to group is lau swee guan. all the other five are former teachers at bendemeer secondary school. we usually do the prunus-petai trail. as i was very early - we normally start our walk after 8.00 a.m. - i decided to walk the lornie trail.

it turned out to be a more than normal experience. first, i came across two huge monitor lizards in the reservoir. they seemed quite accustomed to humans because they did not flee right away. monitor lizards swim well, keeping their limbs to the side of the body and propelling themselves through sinuous undulations of the flattened tail. they can remain underwater for up to half an hour.

as i was walking back on the boardwalk, a female walker signalled to me to keep to the right side. i wondered why. she pointed out that there was a snake on the tree that i was going to walk past.

the snake turned out to be a 1.8m long mangrove snake. i have seen this snake used by the indian snake charmers in their performance. a mangrove snake is also known as a cat-eyed snake. it is aggressive, rear-fanged and mildly venomous. it is a nocturnal creature and it usually catches birds at night. it is both at home on the ground and up on a tree.

the woman actually called the police to inform them of the snake on the tree. i was thinking to myself, in that case, i would have called the police three or four times in the past. eventually, another hiker came along and prodded the snake with a stick. it then made its way to another part of the forest.

ivy & ida's care group retreat

last week, over the weekend, ivy, ida and eighteen other members of their care group attended a church retreat at rye. rye is on the mornington peninsula, about 85km from melbourne. they travelled there in four cars.

must have been quite an enlightening experience for ida. one of the ways this transformation was manifested was in her plea to me: urging me to go to church. it seems to have rejuvenated her strength in her faith (in God).

according to ivy, pansy and joab were not in the picture because they had gone back to clayton earlier than the rest.

steamed minced pork with egg

this is one of the easiest dishes to cook. i bought about 500gm of minced pork from sheng siong. i used three eggs. mix the minced pork and eggs thoroughly in a shallow dish. you have to beat the mixture until the meat bits are well distributed. add about one tablespoonful of soya sauce.

place it in a steamer for about 15 minutes.

if you do not have a steamer, you can use a pot. fill the pot with about 5cm of water. you need to place a rack in the water and then put the dish on the rack and cover the pot. let the water boil for about 15 minutes.

my 5 favourite nature walk spots

macritchie park - prunus/petai trails. this is one of the safest trails as it is well used, which means you are bound to meet fellow walkers along the way, and the boards are properly maintained. it does get a bit slippery when it is wet but as long as you exercise due care, you are in no danger of falling into the water of the reservoir. at the start of the prunus trail, there is this big school of hungry tinfold barbs. when you toss bread crumbs to them, they seem to go wild. the many trails are of varying distances. if you want a long walk, you can go all the way to the treetop and back.

bukit batok nature park - this park is located at the edge of the bukit batok estate. it is preferred to the scenic little quilin. i start my walk from lorong sesuai where parking is free. there is a small pond at the abandoned quarry and two lookout points where you can see the quarry pond. inspite of its proximity to the bukit batok housing estate, it has managed to retain its serene ambience. the undulating terrain and meandering paths make this an interesting park.

bukit timah nature reserve - this nature reserve attracts people from all over the island. the steep gradient at the base makes this a challenging trudge. there are a number of paths to explore and one of the more interesting ones is the cave path. it is one place where you will find fitness enthusiasts at the summit as early as 5.00 a.m.

kent ridge park - if you do not drive, it is not easy to access this park. i particularly like the pond near the normanton park apartments and the canopy walk. you are rewarded with magnificent views of the offshore islands from the lookout point near carpark b.

changi boardwalk - it is better to walk here in the evening, especially on a fine day. then you get to the end and wait for the sun to set. free parking - after 5 p.m. - is available at changi coastal road. you just need to cross the bridge and walk past the new ferry terminal to begin your walk. you get the chance to walk past two clubs - the changi sailing club and the changi beach club. there is also a stretch known as the kelong walk. quite a popular spot with some anglers.

what a shame!

was on my way to the heartstrings walk when this eye-sore caught my eyes.

what's the use of housing people in condominium style apartments when their behaviour is so primitive? should build caves for them instead! (the people in the top photograph are not the people responsible for this disgrace.)

i find that we are far from the standard of graciousness and civic-mindedness expected of people of a first world country. when i was travelling on the bus in australia, i observed that quite a number of passengers thanked the bus driver as they were alighting.

in australia, although there is grafitti everywhere, it seems that it is the organised type and often, there is a responsible message in this type of street art.

in singapore, the announcement: "give way to alighting passengers" - seems to be taken to mean "alighting passengers, please give way to those who are boarding." also, "the slow, keep left and fast, take the right" rule does not seem to mean anything to most singaporeans. in london, one has no problem moving quickly on the right side of the escalator.

madeline's 60th birthday

madeline celebrated her 60th birthday at the wine company at evans road, next to the prata shop. we had wanted to park by the roadside but seeing that there was a continuous white line, we decided to look for a proper parking space. parked at the car park adjacent to the restaurant. parking charges: $2.10

they had booked the whole room, from 7.00 p.m. to 12 midnight, for the occasion. many of madeline's eurasian friends and relatives were there. the rest of the guests were mainly her former colleagues from may primary and her present colleagues from farrer park primary.
although it was held in a wine restaurant, most of the guests opted for fruit punch, beverage or plain water. only a handful were drinking the house wine. however, we noticed that the regular customers, who were seated outside the room, came for the wine.

music came in the form of a three piece band formed by madeline's cousins and friend. most eurasians are musically inclined; they could play the guitar and sing quite well. and they enjoy dancing. one of the guest singers tried to get everybody on the floor to do the 'hokey pokey'. even the nuns sportingly joined in the fun.

the cake was baked by madeline's sister, a cookbook writer. the food was catered and we had it buffet style.

dinner @ seafood paradise, defu lane 10

had the signature dishes like tang hoon crab, creamy butter crab, homemade tofu and honey pork ribs at seafood paradise. seems like diana has been there more times than i. it was my second visit to the place.

we had a hard time trying to finish the two plates of medium size crabs. it left us wondering how we would have coped had it been two plates of large size sri lankan crabs. those below 50 years old prefer the creamy crabs while the older ones like the tang hoon crabs more.

the honey baby ribs and the homemade tofu with pork floss did not disappoint but the fried squids and the sambal sweet potato leaves were very much the run of the mill type.

we went there for dinner because soo lin was back for a short break from her studies at indiana university and shin huat would be leaving for an exchange programme to wuhan on 24 august.

as usual, daniel said that he would be going back to the restaurant with his family as they all enjoyed good food. diana, who has been there a couple of times, will be taking ben there for dinner soon.

the group photo was taken by eldwin, the young owner of the restaurant.

heartstrings walk on 18 aug 2007 @ marina bay

i signed up for the heartstrings walk organised by the community chest at the urging of my former students. though it was one week prior to our monthly walk, i decided to go for it as it was for a charitable cause.

i did the registration and payment ($10) using the axs machine. the next day i went down to ghim moh community club to collect the t-shirt - which i did not wear on the walk day - and some coupons.

to get to marina, i drove and parked the car near the botanic gardens and took a bus (service 106) to suntec city. most of the participants wore the official t-shirts but there were some corporate groups that wore differently so as to stand out from the rest. i did not feel out of place because there were the odd ones wearing their 'own' t-shirts.

it was a nice change from the usual nature walk. the city walk took us past boat quay and clarke quay. there were medical posts and water points along the way and many volunteers in yellow t-shirts to direct us along.

after the walk, i wanted to walk to amoy street for hokkien mee but was caught in a sudden downpour. i had an appointment with my ex-colleague ailing at 12 noon. she came to pick me in her car and drove me to fullerton one.

bukit panjang community gardens

zhenghua has traditionally been a farming area. before it was developed into the bukit panjang new town, there were farms scattered from zhenghua to choa chu kang and lim chu kang. quite a number of the residents of bukit panjang new town were resettled from this area, so their roots run deep. they are still very much down to earth and very much a farmer at heart.

for this reason, the town council has set aside two plots of land for the residents to pursue their interest and love - gardening/farming. i know also of two unofficial plots which other residents have carved out for themselves to grow flowering plants and vegetables.

the bigger of the fenced up area is at petir road, near the zhenghua park. here, a wide variety of vegetables are grown. the plots are numbered for identification and in the morning and evening, quite a number of elderly people can be seen tilling the land and tending to the crops.

aside from growing the more popular kangkong, chye sim and sweet potato, they also have french bean, long bean and different types of gourds.

chap chye curry

today, i cooked chap chye (mixed vegetables) curry for dinner. i wanted to get the $1.65 vegetable curry mixture from ntuc supermaket, but it was sold out. an alternative would be the prima's sayor lodeh mix but it cost $3.85, so i decided to use the laksa mix instead. we had three boxes in the larder.

for ingredients, i had fried toufu, which i cut into the shape of a triangle, cabbage, carrot and turnip. the carrots and turnips were cut into bite size but the cabbage was more chunky.

instead of the stipulated 600cc of water, i added up to 1.5 litres of water to the pot. i stirred the laksa premix and the laksa paste thorough in the water before i started the fire to boil it. then i dropped in the ingredients - toufu, carrot, turnip and finally the cabbage.

when it started to boil, i added in the sambal and then let the mixture simmer for about forty-five minutes.

your mother had two helpings: that must be an endorsement from her for the quality of my chap chye curry.

is half of something better than nothing?

if you can't afford a volvo, will half a volvo do? how about half a mercedes? half a bmw? half of something just isn't of much use. but it can still be worth something. sometimes.

it isn't totally useless. it can be used to cannibalize a damaged car. you can take the machine apart and use the parts in another car.

trip to chinatown

yesterday, instead of waiting at leng kee where the yaris was being serviced, i took the train to outram and walked to chinatown. actually, i walked to maxwell market to buy the famous tapioca cake.

one of the landmarks of chinatown which will disappear soon is the pearl bank apartments. this tall, horse-shoe shape residential apartment building sits atop pearl's hill. it has been sold en bloc; this means that the building will be demolished and be replaced by a new structure.

the new trishaws were lined up outside the new buddha's tooth temple. there were other trishaws but they were not parked so orderly. i have stepped into the newly built temple some weeks ago. it is unlike the burmese temple along balestier road; very chinese and the atmosphere is not as serene.

keong saik street still has some brothels. the malaysian girls used to set up their business here but these days, the younger malaysian girls have made geylang their base. there are a few boutique hotels here, like the keong saik and hotel 1929.

good food and red light district seem to have some close relationship. the food raved about at keong saik includes prawn noodles, nasi padang, beijing food, zhi char food like spare ribs and prawn paste chicken at kok seng coffeeshop.

chinese puppet show @ geylang

i was at geylang lorong 13 when i chanced upon this puppet performance on one side of the lorong (road). as usual, it was played before an empty audience. the chinese puppet shows had their origin in china.

the puppet show (kuileixi) is better known as mu'ouxi (play of wooden dolls), in the country china), which has its roots in remote times.

as in most other countries, three types of puppet shows are presented in china: the rod-top puppet, the marionette and the glove puppet. of course, the first type is most popular in china.

the puppet, generally less than a metre tall, is made with true-to-life features. it is raised overhead at the top of a stick by the puppeteer with one hand and manipulated by him with the other hand moving a pair of wire rods. this type of puppets generally do not show their feet.

one of the basic skills required of the operator is to be able to hold high the puppet, which weighs 2 to 3 kilograms, with one arm and to keep it either motionless or moving steadily on the same level as dictated by the scenario. only on this basis may the puppet be convincing in its other dramatic actions.

the marionette appears on stage in full view of the audience. it is of a more complicated structure, with the head, shoulders, waist, hands and feet all jointed, movable and controlled by separate wires. during performance, it is operated from a concealed operating bridge high above the puppet.

the glove or hand puppet, rather like those in a punch and judy show, is also called "bag puppet" (budai mu'ou) in china. about 20 cm long, it is the smallest of the three types. its dress is in the form of a small bag, from inside which the puppeteer's hand manipulates its postures and movements.

i am fortunate to have watched all the three types of puppet shows in my younger days. when i was in my early teens, i would watch puppet shows, especially during the seventh lunar month, when i visited my grandma at campbell lane or my distant relatives at dunlop street.

however, i preferred wayangs to puppet shows. i used to watch teochew wayangs at lorong sinaran and some other venues, hainanese wayang at lincoln road and hokkien wayang at cambridge road.