think.hapi.thots

… of rejection … of by-the-way appointments … of beauty therapists … of students asking ‘what time can we go?’ … of tiredness … it’s a viscious cycle.
pic taken by Sean

Caught up with Felia last week at a small eatery along Sembawang. It’s always good to catch up with her. She mentioned that when she thought of loneliness, she thought of Kim and I, and how she thinks i’m a strong woman… mmm… i guess i chose to live independently, though sometimes it can be difficult to bear, even with Forrest.

Driving her to work is my pleasure esp this morning about the leeches at the camp. She is also a strong gal.

Shield no more

THEC ended on the 12 oct and i will be able to collect my certicate of particapation soon. A typical scene at a THEC course - our IT colleagues will be thumbing away on their lappy; the amazing thing is that they can truly multi-task, they still can answer the facilitator’s questions and contribute to group discussion. I have a one-track mind, which is why i can only sms OR stone away during class.

Pre-Sem activities

Before the semester started, we went to Batam for a spa retreat (which left me feeling vulnerable :() and each of us has a soft spot for indon pdts : Indomie, Teh Botol, Kopi Ko, Fish Ball.

Cherry also introduced us to Chef Pang and his desserts… drool…

Forrest goes on diet

Forrest looks more streamlined now. I realise he has to go on diet when one night I found him failing to leap out of the window. He was seldom in his on-guard position, he will be lying down or sleeping. So since then, it’s 20 kibbles or slightly more (if i m in a good mood) per meal.

He is such good company till recently he’s getting a li’l outta control. He would lie on my stomach and sit ON my laptop. Boss, how to work like that? *chuckles

This is the most asked question when i was in Cambodia.

Bringing students on a study trip is never easy… well, the field trip to Mt Ophir in 1995 was different. We have to make sure of their safety, health and other issues eg. drinking, staying up late, potential bgr… haha.

Was i happy to be there? YES! Away from emails, sms, technology, work… basically away from the world i m so used to. But i know this is nothing compared to those mission trips that my boss used to tell me, coz i know that i’ll get a warm bath after i return to my hotel, clean clothes to change into and a sumptous dinner (though the meat is usually tough ang the vegetables is not so fresh).

The food provided in the school was by and large ok. I remembered opening up the styrofoam box and thought to myself “wa… char mee…” but when i ate the whole bunch of it… it was all ginger… a whole styrofoam box of ginger… with a few pieces of fish… my first khmer lunch.

Khmer Rouge

The students felt rather emotional when we visited the killing fields and the genocide musemn, it also hit me quite hard when i realised the genocide took place recently in the late 70s. BS asked the question during reflection, “Would you dare to be different in such a situation? Do you dare to be alone?”

Mmm… i don’t know. I’d probably wait for my death in that small cell, getting tortured every single day (which is very much so at the work place isn’t it?).

Look! Ring rainbow!

And this ring rainbow cost me $400 to get my camera replaced. I stupidly aimed my cam at the bright sun and it was still taking good pics till i reached the killing fields. And i still thought it was some panoramic activity… geez.

Who gets forgotten first?

They kept asking me not to forget them. How to? They were so nice. But with many volunteers going to visit them, will they in turn forget us first?

The questions just kept coming. The sad thing is when i asked them questions about their lifestyle or other stuff, they can’t really answer. So the one-way “conversation” would typically go like “are you happy? i miss you very much! i love you (only after 4 days). don’t forget us. you are very pretty. Alastair (my student) is very handsome. Water? Are you hot? Are you tired?”

Maybe i didn’t make enough effort to make the “conversation” two-way. I’m really bad at conversations. Sigh.

Now, back to the grind.