I've moved!

http://www.xanga.com/marge88

Earthquake = no e-mail for two days

7.2 ricter scale earthquake!
Internet congestion!
No connection with the outside world!
Aargh!

But fortunately, we're back, up, and running again.

And so term 1 ends.

^^^ 11 teachers making plain fools of themselves in front of 1029 students and 50 odd staff.

^^^ darling kids, so talented, happy and helpful!

MFL memories....

More memories coming soon.... since there are so many, here's a picture of us higgins household and eliza, backstage, during the second last show!

Memories on top on the priority list:

* this happened on opening night. the battery pack of my radio mic fell out of its pouch and onto the ground, around 30 seconds before my entrance in act 2. i shoved the pack into my undies and held it in place.

* daily mic tests... for sure!

* dressing room 18: writing endless lyrics to the tune of "you did it"; sky's admirable junkfood eating habits; moet after the final show; dressing our live-eliza-doll during her very quick changes; being fumigated by hairspray; cheap hairclips; hair by christine, and makeup by althea; brenda's episode with the maids' costumes and aprons; not being able to stop laughing because of bryan chua... and christine's lovely laugh; r&b adaptation of my fair lady; lecturers who go "errrrrp" while they lecture; lisa's suduku time; getting giggly during act2 scene4 (get me to the church on time); sophie getting stabbed in the foot by althea during act2 scene4... we were just way too giggly then; armpit spray; brenda's wig induced itchy scalp... etc........

* claudia accidentally copping a feel of yours truly's left armpit during act1 scene4 of the final show.

Well, don't good times fly.

a sushi kind of day

(sorry about the formatting)

i had one of the more relaxing days since i started this job.

because one of the teachers was getting married today, even the new teachers got invited to go to the ceremony... so we went. after the lovely ceremony at a church in TST, a couple of us went out to a sushi place nearby. for people like me, it was an occasion to make an acquaitance with raw fish, and for certain others (whose names start with e, l, b and v) to satisfy a craving that had long been ignored since the start of this school year.

in a nutshell, we probably devoured enough seafood to worry the ocean stocks for the rest of the year in just one sitting. i got reacquainted with fish, alright! i saw the power of sushi. i saw someone's eyes light up at the sight of one single plate of seafood that looks like rats' brains, namely sea urchin sushi. i can't imagine what it would taste like and to be honest i don't really want to find out.

i had a bloody good time taking pictures of all the sushi... wish i had a better camera though: salmon (nice as usual), yellow tail (very sweet), scallops (fresh and tastes great with a little lime), vinegared mackerel (dared not try), giant prawns, california rolls (normal but a little bland), avocado roll (well, a little avocadoey), raw squid (dared not try no.2), blowtorch'd salmon (someone elses'), eel (nice... icky little bones all over though), sea urchin (dared not try no.3), and this egg dish (a little sweet. steaming hot. just right!).

good food + good company = nice ar'vo.

afterwards five of us went out for a long, relaxing walk through the shopping centres around TST.

i said goodbye to the girls after we hiked from one end of TST to the other, and rejoined my mum at causeway bay via the star ferry for some more shopping. yes. shopping. it's the female life.

nice day to recharge the batteries before a few big weeks....

go my fair lady!!!!!!!

Picnic day... yum...

1. our vast selection of food for the day. e & i love 1D to bits!

2. e being continually offered food by her students... and being made to eat it all.

3. k&i, both born on the 8/8, just a few years apart.

4. the youngin' form 1 class teachers. to our students, we are all "under twenty five".

run, margaret, run

MISS SINGIN' 'N DANCIN' IN HIBERNATION

Until 10/12/06...

Here's what's happening up 'til then:

* My fair lady from 1/12 - 10/12
* Sports day
* Someone at work's getting married!
* exams...
* PTA BBQ
* more and more rehearsals for EDC...

.....
add oil!!!

finally, a long weekend...

what a month!
* beginning of the SAGC english drama club program: so--- THE program has started. luckily, nothing fell apart! and it was lucky that i actually listened in class and took lots of notes back at the APA, because a lot of what i'm teaching now is from dip 1 APA. "i'm a good gal i am!" the drama club girls are good, and most of them are out of the "i'm girly and shy" phase.
* my 1D student was on tv! go Vicgina! dance away!
* non-stop classes, work and rehearsals starting to take its toll... i caught the latest cold virus got sick for about a week. luckily (again) i didn't lose my voice unlike an unlucky colleague who had fever, sniffles and no voice for about a week and a half... can't afford to lose my voice a month and a half out from showtime!
* another singing gig... fun stuff! i relish the chance to perform, but i really have to keep it to 1 gig a month. otherwise it gets a bit much.

thank god? thank heavens? thank goodness? thank mum and dad? for everything i have. touch wood, i have a good life at the moment.

huuuuuuuge week

* basketball game.... didn't even get one basket, as usual... three months out of the APA and i've become completely unfit!
* taking the piss out of short(er) people :)
* experiencing the combined magic of vitamin c, panadol cold and flu, garlic pearles, and vitamin b complex pills on ridding self of cold or flu, or related illness within 5 days.
* a big week at school so far... "the week stretches out in front of me.... endlessly..."
* "I" making the paper... and being extremely excited about it "i made the paper! i made the paper!"
* after work badminton games...
* playing professional clown, and cheering up one crying student (thanks, E, for depleting my entire month's supply of candy within the space of 2 minutes!)
* sustaining high energy for four consecutive days
* "Ms. S's alphabet workshop"... now being a codeword for "work birthday gathering"
* weird number of people sharing the same birthday in the english department (2 x 20/10, 2 x 8/8, 2 x 7/10<--- one ex-staff member)
* yes, and a bit of soul searching.
* having the lovely feeling of being able to see the surface of my desk again

All this in the space of 6 days.

....

school is like a year long week.
it sure feels like that at the moment. it started last sunday morning at 8:25pm, and it will come to an end at 12:00pm on saturday morning after EDC.
can't wait for the upcoming long weekend..... mmmm..... sleep-ins........

happy b'day, sylvia! :)


started reading "change activist" again. it's a great book that i got ages ago back in australia. i've been asking myself the questions that the author asked me to think about e.g. Are there any moments when you are happy at work? (yes.) When and where are you happiest? (singing.... or with people... or with my kiddies and my colleagues at school......) so.... teaching could well be my thing. the one thing i want to do that i've been trying so hard to find. but it's still tiring... but isn't any job tiring? life is full of these conflicts.

28/10... here i come!!!!

finally.... a sleep in....

but not for long! we start saturday EDC next week so tomorrow will be the last saturday morning sleep in for a long, long while. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz......

in other news... i got dragged in to play volleyball for the green house team next tuesday lunch. argh! can i play another sport?? :) i really do hate volleyball with a vengance (because of certain scarring memories from year 10 H&PE) but at least i can hit the ball and make it go forward... wish me luck!

yes, and luckily, it's been another normal friday the 13th. phew!

gaaaaah!

deprived of sleep, nutrition, and playtime.
but i'm still here and am still having fun with this lovely job.

zzzzzzzzzzz

it's going to be a really, really long week... what, with two post 8pm MFL rehearsal calls tonight and on thursday... VAC tomorrow... and EDC today.... and the PTA meeting on sunday mornin'..... paths meeting.... emb meeting..... meeting meeting.... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....

ganbare, Ms C!!!!!

hmmm....

had a maaaaaajor bridget jones moment today... dunno why, but i did.

& a bit happy b'day to mother dearest!!

not so much fruit to eat, after all

there were just two bananas, an apple, a nashi pear, and no-so-enormous amounts of watermelon to eat. and i had to chow down half a slice of watermelon although i am half allergic to it... all in the spirit of the competition! we came fourth.

afterwards came the most enormous seafood meal that i've eaten ever since i got told to stop eating seafood. we went to lei yue mun, a former fishing village, for a reunion meal with friends we haven't seen in a while.

throwing my anti-acne diet out the window:
s: so what aren't you allowed to eat?
m: everything we've eaten tonight.

it was a lovely night where we went all nostalgic about our past lives in austraila... yes, we had some good times there. on a trip to the snowy mountains near sydney, their car rolled down the side of the road during a snow storm. they were following us and when we looked backwards, they weren't there!! we were really worried but because it was such a horrible storm we had to keep driving. we felt extremely guilty when we went back to the motel and were all ready to ring for the police and the firies... but they showed up a half hour later. they were rescued from their ordeal by a strong bloke who saw skid marks on the road. thank goodness!

A message to my nose:

Hi. I know that you don't like chalk dust or Hong Kong's pollution all that much, but CAN YOU STOP WATERING LIKE THE NIAGARA FALLS?

Thank you for your attention.

No need to bring lunch on Friday.

What did I get myself into?

Some kids from the SU asked Q, Iv & I to join the fruit eating competition as the teachers' contingent. Having lost around 10 million brain cells because of a complete lack of sleep last night, I agreed (on the condition that I can stay off the watermelon), and so did the others in my staffroom. Not wanting to keep the fun all to ourselves, I attempted to persuade almost everyone I knew from the big staffroom to get stuck into it--- K, L & E. E got off easily because of her current state of health (flu), but K & L were not so lucky. They too were roped into doing this mad, crazy thing this Friday lunch, but not without protest and much coaxing! I guess it's a lucky coincidence that I booked my 1CDE group into the computer lab after lunch on friday... I can sit right down at the teacher's desk and feel nauseous for two whole periods in peace .

Ms C

i wanna get a haircut!!!!!!

bus stop conversation... while waiting for --1-- cab or any bus that goes to kwun tong...
M: i wanna get a haircut!!!
E,Q,S: what sort of haircut?
M: dunno. just sort of... you know... cut...
E: you know, it's sort of dangerous going to the hairdresser's when you don't actually know what you want done to your hair.
M: ...... ok....


yeah... just sort of... cut... but i want my hair cut!

more quotes from the schoolyard:

kid: did you cut your hair?
a certain teacher: yes
k: did you get tanned? (<----- getting tanned is a big thing in hong kong.... it's not a thing to do.)
t: yes
k: have you gained weight?
t: ah.... yes
k: did you shrink an inch?
t: are you saying that i got uglier?
kids: ..........

funny how observant the kids are when it comes to your appearance... i bought some new clothes on wednesday night. when i wore one of my new shirts to form class on thursday morning, the kids cheered...

and... I GOT PAID! WOOHOO!

yeah yeah yeah!

「我真係好鍾意唱歌!」
29/9/06