2nd Day of ICT

Today is my second day of ICT. Well, my comrades and I have started preparing my our Professional Knowledge Examination (PKE) on Thursday. We have about three days to prepare for the examination. Do you know how many questions we have to answer? The paper is about one and a half hour, and we have to answer 140 questions! Two years ago, it was still only 100 questons! But since last year, the people in Operational Logistic Training Centre (OLTC) increased the number of questions to 140!!! Yesterday, we were told that the number of questions could increase to 180! Wow, I guess the GST increase not only affected the prices of things around us, but also the number of questions!

I started "learning" the hundreds of questions in the manual. Hopefully, I can "remember" all the answers there on Thursday. I realised that they had also changed a number of the "standard" questions in the manual. Nevertheless, I think half of them are still the same standard questions. I felt that some of the questions were quite irrelevant to me as I do not operate forklift or perform servicing on aircrafts although I am serving in the Airforce.


This is my little boy who was doing his penmanship. I have got him to write something this evening after I got home from camp. He needs someone to be with him before he will do any work. Sometimes he will do the work given on his own. :)

First Day of ICT

Today is my first day of ICT. What is ICT? It stands for In-Camp-Training. Originally, we were known as "reservists", but now we are known as "Operational Readiness National Servicemen". Well, they both mean the same thing. We are afterall serving our duties as servicemen. I guess the term "In-Camp-Training" is used to reflect the need for us to continue training "in camp" every year we are back to our unit.

It's a good way of gathering a few old army comrades so that we can "keep in touch" with one another. Some enjoy the break from their normal work routine, while others find it disruptive as they have to put off some important things from their busy schedule.

Today I met two of my best former colleagues and friends in the teaching service. They have been very supportive friends and they took time off their busy schedule to spend an evening with me. The food we had was delicious and filling as three of us filled our stomach with five different dishes. Anyway, we had a good chat and that led me to think about my future. I remember today, one of my In-Camp comrades showed me a book by the title "Finishing Well". I just flipped through to find out what the book was about. It mainly described the "Almighty One" whom most of us are familiar with. It talked about how HE knowing the end of HIM coming and how HE planned HIS way towards the "finishing line". I guess the main point is that we must think about what we actually want in life - the goal in our life. Maybe it is about what we are seeking for in life. Maybe it is about how we look at LIFE at different points of our life. Are we heading to the desired ending or are we changing directions everytime we hit a road junction? "Begin a task or job with an end in mind".

Flowers Bloom

These were the flowers that bloomed outside my flat. Too bad they did not survive to develop into fruits. The problem was that the owner was too busy to take care of them. He had no time to water and nurture them to fruitation! Sadly, this was not the first time the plant had bloomed. Anyone knows what plant it was? :D

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple

I visited the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple last month on the 31st May. It was such a majestic sight! The temple was situated in the heart of Chinatown. If you are keen to know more about Buddhism and its origin, there is a exhibition hall in the third level which showcases the story of one of the most important Buddhas.

At the top of the temple (you may have to climb two flights of stairs to reach it), there is this Wheel of Dharma which you can turn round and round, and hopefully your life will change for the better. Remember to turn it in the clockwise direction and turn it slowly for three rounds.


There is also a beautiful garden at the top of the temple, next to the Wheel of Dharma. My family and I walked round the temple and I discovered something interesting there. Do you know what it was? Look at the picture below and guess what it is and what is the use of it. It is quite an important item and it serves an important function as well.


As we decided to leave the temple, something else caught my eyes outside or rather next to the temple. There is this street known as the Street of the Dead! Read the words on the picture to find out why the street is named as such. :)

A Thought on Trees

Thinking of the strange things that happpened in the recent months. A number of people were killed or injured when the trees or parts of a tree fell on them. Life is so fragile and you won't know when such thing may happen to us. Touch wood! But hope the wood doesn't fall on us! Haha! The most recent one was the young Vietnamese man who died after being hit a one-metre branch. He was so "high" up the nature reserve and he was hit by a branch from one of the trees. I could imagine the fear you may have the next time you walk into such nature reserve. So who do we blame when such woody tragedies happened? Blame the trees? Why must they fall on humans? Blame the NPark people? Why didn't the "tree" doctors check every tree in the country? Blame the goverment? How come the government did not inform us of such danger???

Well, it is always the case when bad things happened. We, as humans, would rather point our fingers at the most logical way. We forgot that there are such things as mother nature and the Creator of mankind, if you believe. As we learn about life cycle, there are certain things we ought to be aware - we are also part of the LIFE cycle, and we cannot do much to prevent or even stop "natural" disasters to occur. Of course, we should take every precaution we know to "preserve" our life for as long as we can. This includes taking good care of our bodies and taking care when we do things.

I read with sadness that one more victim, a young six year-old girl, had drowned in a swimming pool - a place we all are so familiar with. How it happened and why it happened? Just the other day, two adults were found drowned in a reservoir. Also, teenagers drowned in the monsoon drain! So how can we prevent such bad things from happening? Stay away from the waters and places where there are big trees?

I don't think so.

My First Class in PPS

This was my first class of pupils when I first started teaching in PPS. It brought back sweet memories I had with this class and the school. Two of them were transferred to another school after P3. I understand one of the two went to Rosyth Primary School. They have all grown up and now should be studying in various secondary schools this year. After this class left PPS, I also left PPS sadly. :'(

The first P3 class I taught was also very memorable, but the school stopped taking class photo that year so I did not have a class photo with them.

The second P3 class was also unforgetable and some of them still keep in touch with me. I got praises from Mr Ong who took over them in P4, but I had complaints from other teachers who taught them other subjects in P4. Funny? This was the class which remembered and 'celebrated' my birthday after we came back from excursion.

The first P4 class I taught was the fun and adorable lot as I got to teach them for the second year, from P3. Last year, some of them got to go to Sentosa to 'celebrate' their Progress from P3 to P4. Eventually, they also got their Good Progress Award the following year.

Well, my life in school has come to a full circle. Bye, PPS!

Take Care of Yourself!

Recently, there have been reports of some sickness and diseases going around this island. There is an increase of young children contracting Hand, Food and Mouth (HFM) Diseases and also an increase in people getting dengue fever after being bitten by the Aedes mosquitoes. If you have read the newspaper and seen the leaflets being dropped in your mailbox, you would have realised that the National Environment Agency (NEA) is getting tough on people "breeding" mosquitoes in and around their home. NEA is also trying hard to "educate" the people on the potential danger the Aedes mosquitoes can cause.

So, do make sure that you are not the one "breeding" the mosquitoes by checking the area in and around your house. I heard that Aedes mosquitoes are more active in the morning, while the mosquitoes that carry Malaria virus are more active in the evening.