So long August 2011

Goodbye August 2011.

I don’t bake it a habit to personally say goodbye to every month, week, day or hour that passes me by.
I just feel like I should do it for August. Just because……

It’s been an emotional roller coaster month for me. A few discoveries that weren’t nice, and some confrontations.
Anyone who know’s me well enough would know how much I hate confrontations. But it happened this month. Good or bad?
A change is good ( I guess), depending on what kind of change it is.

But this was never the kind of confrontation I thought I would face. I don’t know where things stand, but eventually things will become clearer for me I believe. I just had to let it out. But don’t intend to dwell on the matter too much at this moment.

The not so good. . .  I left my handbag in the bus from Glasgow to Edinburgh last week. Careless . . . It’s been 5 days and I’ve been calling up the Lost Property, chasing them to try and trace it. But I get the same response. We’ll call only if we find it. Sigh. My rail card is valid till the end of the year. What a waste. Thankfully, my phone, bank card, bus pass and camera were in my jacket. My wee iPod ( a gift) was in it too. But I also had a personal diary like book with personal notes and a rare family photo . I say rare because the softcopy no longer exists. I sulked over it enough now. If it’s mean to come back to me, it will. Else life goes on.
The good. I finally got my PSW Visa for 2 years. Next is job application.
The blessing. I started meditating again. I feel like I needed this. And everything just fell in place for me.

Time to look forward to better times and months to come…..

Done and Done!

So after struggling for what seemed like an eternity, it’s finally done.
Needless to say it was struggles and uncertainty all the way till the end…

Yes, the dissie is in!

Got confirmation from my department on Monday that they received it.

I made a flying trip to Hull last week for submissions.
Was nice catching up with old roomies and had Chinese dinner.
Just good times, us girls, yapping and laughing our hearts out : )

And now comes the question… What’s next?

I still have about a month to go with CELTA.
And that’s it. I need a break from books and academic reading. Okay, not EFL reading though. Still got a lot of catching up to do. But no journals, no research papers… none of that for now.. : )

 

ALmost th…

After nights and nights, ok la 5 or 6 or 14 late nights in a row….. This morning I woke up not knowing what to do!

But all’s not over, I am off to the Binders and then to Hull….. and more when I get back!

Cheero! : )

An upper for the downer. . .

While I’m sitting and trying not to question my own research, it’s good to hear something good about what you are doing when in doubt.
One of my CELTA group mate Jan volunteered to proofread my work for me.  Isn’t she awesome? As embarrassing as it is, she spots my silliest mistakes (like leaving out a ‘D’ in ‘bore’ maybe?). Oh wait that was not my dissertation, that was my last blog : P

So she proof reads my 19 page analysis in 2 hours and says this :

“Good luck…… I’m enjoying your work (it makes me feel better about being nervous!) ”

Thanks Jan, that makes my day and got me motivated again.

So far . . . so . . .

Yesterday’s teaching class wasn’t my best. A little sad actually considering the fact that I made one heck of a lesson plan and had some wonderful handouts. I think, next to teaching, I’m pretty good at developing handouts. My tutor did compliment me on that.

I just wasn’t feeling it. Still getting used to seeing my own writing on the board. And I get so conscious about writing, because I know I am not the best speller in the world! Yesterday I wrote ‘Fifth’ on the board and even that looked like a Write-O to me… sheesh…

Maybe its just that I have something else going on simultaneously, and so everything feels so , all over the place maybe.

Anyways… Back to the other thing I need to complete. This Friday is it… And its TEACHING PLANNING and TEACHING all the way to the 20th of April!

Hermit

I’ve been a hermit for 4 days going on to 5.
I think I should get out tomorrow, even if it’s just to SPAR to get good ol’ Dr. Oetaker’s Mozzarela , 2 for 3 quid!
It’s sedap giler and takes 15 mins (or less). Also fattening  giler….. But I promised myself and told Connor (my gym fitness coach) that he’s going to have to chase me out of the gym once I have my paper submitted.

Yea, I think I’ll do that.
Get some fresh air, or should I say damp air?
Here we go. Sorry lah, whining about the weather again.
Can’t help it.
I’m sure Edinburgh is pretty in the Summer (eye rolling action).
Ok, jokes aside, Edinburgh is pretty in the winter and gloomy weather as well. (For real)
Isn’t global warming supposed to make a cold place warmer?
(you can tell I was sleeping in Mrs Sathia’s Geog class. But her classes were a cure for insomia – really)

Ah well….. next update when I’m bore next….

Taking Shape. . .

Finally, it’s crunch time and everything is taking shape. It better!
But yea, that’s the reality of it. The ideas usually come around this time… When it’s crunch time.
But I’m grateful still….. and here’s to a wonderful piece of work : )
After this I just want to work, TEACH!

Yeeay!

Penangism

I said it then and I say it now. Penangites, Malaysia is food heaven. Not just Penang, and I still don’t understand why your wantan mee must put pepper one, (wow, check out my powderful Engrish), why your hokkien mee not dry and black (and called hokkien char instead, but the mee not fat), why your nasi lemak got scronny fried fish,  and why your drivers think they all that?!

And with that said, I enjoyed everything else in Penang. And now this. Even uncle Pat thinking of moving there. I don’t know if I’ll ever become a “Permanent Islander”, but for the sake of all the good, hardworking people who don’t depend on ‘biasiswas’, and don’t expect 1 sen for the government, I hope Penangism spreads like a wild disease! muahahah…..

Penang Sunset

 

False hopes

False hopes and disappointments!
That’s the only way to describe this week.

It’s March. They say spring is here. And I say Yeay and Jump for joy. Actually I got excited when I saw some cute purple and yellow  flowers by the football field. And then boom! Mid week, like icing sugar on grass, there was snow. And then BAM! Again, when I woke up yesterday. Only this time it was Rain + Snow = Soggyness. Saturday morning while the rest of the world chill out having a coffee / tea at home, I walk in that soggy depressing weather to the bus stop to catch that 9.07 bus.

I think I got a little teary eyed on my way to class. I really miss the Malaysian sun! Yes, the one that gives you warmth, sweat, and burns just a wee bit! The days we actually get the sun here,  its super cold and I only end up wearing a scarf around my neck. Ahh.. the wonderful English….. ooops! Scottish weather.

Teaching Certification – CELTA

So some of you might be wondering what the heck is she doing in Edinburgh now?
Well,  I started my teaching certification course CELTA on the 20th of January. It’s a certification by Cambridge. I decided to apply for the course at the Randolph School of English, after looking around (though not physically). It seems like Randolph’s classes were small.

So I called in and spoke to the course coordinator Val. She heard me speak over the phone and said my English seems pretty good. Of course she was in for a shock later when I attended the interview. Why?

My knowledge of English Grammatical Rules was down the drain. I must admit that I brushed up my vocab on ‘verb’ and ‘noun’ after I came to the UK. That’s when my Spanish housemate asked me if something was a verb or a noun. All I remembered was ‘kata kerja’ and ‘kata nama’. For some weird reason, the Malay version of everything (or almost) stuck in my head rather than English. I really cannot recall if we were taught these in school during Bahasa Inggeris, or did I just take the subject for granted?  I really cannot remember. Anyone?

So, at the interview, we had a wee test. I did ok, but obviously not that great. One of the other candidates already did a TEFL course, while a Swiss girl who was taught English as a foreign language in school could explain rules better than any native speaker I knew. Oh yea, I guess I would consider myself a ‘native speaker’ of English while Tamil would be my mother tongue, and Malay, well, besides being Bahasa Kebangsaan (National Language), to many of us it was something we HAD to know, learn, speak, and be able to pass the exams in order to move on. Of course nowadays (being in foreign country), it’s something more useful when 3 Malaysians of different race get together : ). Especially during my trips to London, J, L and I somehow end up speaking BM knowing (and almost sure) no one else around us understands! Right, so the reason I got sidetracked was to explain that, my knowledge of the language was good (or bad) as any other native speaker.

Anyway, more about the course later. Meanwhile I have 5 more weeks to go and wish me luck!