Merry Christmas!!! (Something new that I tried...)

Customize a digital greeting

Off to Tokyo... 11 Days without laptop...

Today I had a chat with a teacher and she is so inspiring (will talk about it more next time), and the best thing is she is going to give me a ride tomorrow morning (630am) to the train station. SO... I'm off to Gunma, then Tokyo till 2 Jan 2011, without my laptop. Cya in 2011.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all who read my blog.

Early Merry Christmas

Last week, I started Christmas lesson with my 1st grade students in Kakujyo and my 2nd grade students in Tsuruoka. They are suppose to design a Christmas card and write a message to whoever they want (in English, which is really difficult for them). I have yet to finish with all the classes and some of them have not handed in the cards. I managed to mark some. Some are very funny (and I have become quite good at guessing what they they are writing) while some are super sweet (cos they are for me, hee... )



I don't know whose his "Honey" is.

According to the sensei, he doesn't have any girlfriend. His wish is to eat kamaboko (fishcake) with his Honey... Hmmm... Interesting idea for a Christmas dinner...



She wants to say that she is a member of the brass band
and she plays the horn.

Peaceful Weekend...

This weekend is a peaceful, slow-paced weekend. I didn't plan to do anything or go anywhere, cos I will be leaving for Gunma and Tokyo next Thursday. I started packing some clothes, cleaning the house, doing some laundry and go grocery shopping with my landlady.

And on weekend that I don't go out, I will be baking or cooking. (cos nothing much to do...and I wanna clear my fridge before Thursday comes...) This weekend, I baked an Eggless Banana Walnut Cake (cos I didn't want to buy eggs and I have some bananas left...) and cooked Lemon Chicken. The cake is quite small, cos I realised that I don't have enough flour as well, so I cut down on all the other ingredients, but it turns out well.

The small cake

Close-up shot

The inside of the cake

The Lemon Chicken looks ok, but taste-wise nothing special. Maybe because I don't really fancy lemon sauce and I didn't fry the chicken, cos too oily. I only stir-fry the chicken. I preferred the sweet and sour sauce I made last time. No more cooking of lemon chicken...

Lemon Chicken with Broccoli

鹤城高校忘年会

I didn't blog for the past 2 days... I was suppose to blog everyday, but well... It is true that things will settle down and there's really nothing very exciting to blog about. I went to school and had Christmas lessons with my students and they tried making a Christmas card. I had my Wednesday African drumming session which was fantastic. I learnt new rhythm and enjoyed myself a lot.

Tonight, I had Kakujyo's Bonenkai. It is similar to the Teachers' Day Dinner back in Singapore, just that it is held at the end of the year. There is lucky draw with funny prizes like notebooks, monkey headwear, waterbottles.....But the 1st prize is a PS3!!! I didnt win it...too bad...

I did had a great time there. Like i said before, after drinking, the principal, vice-principals and teachers are more relax and they will come talk to me. The food was great too, but not a lot this time round.

忘年会。Bonenkai

My Kochou Sensei (Principal)
I don't know why he looked so shock...

Senseis at my table

玺

我终于刻好了！但是刻得不是很美。。。

My Wonderful Twin

My wonderful twin dedicated a posting for me on my birthday. She waited till wee hours to be the 1st to wish me Happy Birthday. Today, I received the present she sent all the way from Australia. She knew I was cold and I don't have enough clothings, so she sent me a Adidas sweater. It's lovely!!! I simpy loved it! I wanted to buy another Uniqlo fleece jacket ysterday, but in the end I decided that I shouldn't spend too much on winter stuff. And today, I received a sweater! Yeah!!!

Gin and I are twins. Like what she said, our friendship started 6 years ago. We were colleagues and then friends. We are rather different, but somehow we just "click", the puzzle just matched. She is a great friend who has supported me and been there for me all this while. I'm just so grateful that our friendship remains the same though we are so far apart now.  



Something we have in common: 五月天！

The big project in April...



  

Trip to Beijing and Inner Mongolia

The same hairstyle

Have a great time back in Singapore!

Enjoy all the good food there!

Missing you lots!

An Eventful Weekend

11 December 2010 to 12 December 2010

This weekend passes by so quickly. There were many things that I want to note down, many events going on, in Japan and in Singapore.

1) Shan is still in the hospital and my godson is 4 days old. I managed to call her yesterday and we had a short chat, too short. Still trying to get on skype with her. Her adventure has just begin and it will be a fulfiling one. Congrats to Sean and her. Hello to Baby Su!!!

1 day old... Sleeping soundly...

2) Camp Mumbo is on-going during the weekend. I heard that the campfire was great and everyone enjoyed the camp. This camp means a lot to me and I am glad that people enjoyed themselves and would want this camp to carry on forever. I can go on and on about the camp, but probably not in this posting...

3) On Saturday, I baked some muffins and made a non-baked Christmas logcake for a Christmas party at Yellie's house. It was a great gathering with lots of delicious food and of cos with Japan's traditional Christmas food: KFC. Yellie actually prepared a birthday cake for me as well. Thank you so much!

Non-bake Marie biscuit Logcake

Friends at the party...

4) On Sunday, I went down to Oita City for caroling. It's the 1st time for me to be caroling in public. It was fun, and we managed to get some donations for charity. Interesting experience... I had a birthday dinner with Sung Hee and Kiyomi at the Ethnic Bros, a Mexican Restaurant. The food is good and not very expensive. On top of that, the service is excellent! As me and Sung Hee are Dec babies, we got a free drink in a rather "exquisite" mug and a photo birthday card...

The Dec babies

An eventful weekend...

A Special Day

10 December..... A Special Day......

1) It's my birthday!!!

I received cards from Singapore, from my family and Mumbo, a book from Kellyn mummy and MP, a card from Xiao Quan, a call from Jin and lots of well wishes on facebook. Like I said, 我好幸福。Oh... and I'm still waiting for my twin's present to arrive. She says it's on the way. She stayed up till 2am in the morning in Australia to be the 1st to wish me Happy Birthday on FB and dedicated a post on her blog just for me! Thank you for all the love! I am truly very blessed.

Card from Xiao Quan

It's not the 1st time celebrating my birthday in Japan. In 2007, when I was on the SSEAYP program, I celebrated my birthday in Japan on Nppon Maru with many friends. I thought this year there will be no celebration, cos I have only been here for 4 months. I went for Bonenkai with the first grade teachers and I was pleasently surprised that they bought cakes (3 small beauiful, delicious roll cakes) to celebrate my birthday. I am a lucky girl.

Chocolate cake

Matcha Monblanc cake

Strawberry cake

2) It's my godson birthday too!!!

I was talking to Shan about 1 week ago and she was telling me when she will be dued. I told her maybe the bb will have the same birthday as me. She said she wants to attend campfire first. Well... apparently, my godson agreed with me and he wants to share the same birthday as me! *High 5* 好奇妙。。。I hope the mummy is feeling ok and will recover soon. Mummies are so 伟大！Shan, you did it! I'm so proud of you!

"I shy leh...Don't keep looking at me..."
Isn't he sweet? He wants to share my birthday...

 3) It's the 1st day of Camp Mumbo

Camp Mumbo holds a very important position in my heart. It is what I looked forward to every Dec since I was 6 years old. Today is the 1st day of camp and there are 140 kids!!! All time highest!!! It feels great that there are younger people who are now taking over the organisation of the camp and they too share my passion for the camp and the Mumbo spirit will continue to burn. It just show how wonderful this camp is. I feel like shouting the cheers with them now. Mumbo OEI!

Camp Orientation (Courtesy of Michael)

满满的祝福。幸福的我。Part 2

A book from Kellyn mummy and MP

我又收到包裹！又是满满的祝福！满心欢喜！

满满的祝福。幸福的我。

最有艺术天分的小妹的杰作

大家的祝福我收到了！谢谢！

你们不知道我有多感动。我好想念你们！

Thank You! I am a happy and warm girl!

Today is Tsuruoka day. I didn't go for Tsuruoka's Bonenkai cos it clashes with the EL department (Kakujyo) bonenkai. But today I went to school and they have a lucky draw and I get a chance too. Felt really good that the teachers actually took the effort to include me. I only go there once a week and I don't pay SWC fund (Staff Welfare Fund), but they are so welcoming. I got myself a timer. Not the most fantastic prize, but it's useful.

It's the thought that counts...

After Sado Club, I rushed home to receive 2 parcels that will  be re-delivered today, one from dajie (which she sent in November) and a luggage from home (with the help of my youngest uncle who is here on a holiday with his family). Both contain warm clothings, coats, socks.....oh, and 红枣、枸杞子and Old Town coffee.

One of the parcel...

The surprise is the birthday cards in the luggage and these cards deserve a post on its own...

Boring day in school... Nice time drumming...

1 lesson  。boring day  。  sleepy

Activity started after school
Had English club with 1 student.
We had fun though, simple fun of colouring and folding origami.

Back home...
Tom Yam soup on a rainy day was heaven.

Drumming session was still fantastic eventhough there were only 3 people.
Learnt a new rhythm today, hope i remember it next week.

Tomorrow I will be receiving 2 parcels from home. Can't wait...

A bag of rice...

Today, I got a bag of rice from one of the sensei. The rice is harvested from his family's padi field. It came just at the right time, cos I just finished the packet of rice I bought. Yeah!

A bag of rice

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I watched my first movie (eiga in Japanese) in Japan with 2 of my students in Park Place! Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the movie is great!!! Can't wait for the 2nd part... I wish I have the book with me now, so that I can re-read it.

The Japan Poster

Ticketing machine

Expensive ticket!!!

Attempts @ Cooking Today

A Saturday to rest at home...

I ended up cooking again...

First dish: 芋头糕 (Yam Kueh)

I love eating yam. I put yam into soup, rice..... I decide that I wanted to eat 芋头糕, so I searched the recipe online and bought the necessary ingredients (whatever I can find in the supermarket). In the morning, I started preparing the ingredients. Everything went smoothly until the steaming part. I don't have a wok to steam the kueh, so I used the pot. But I think the pot is too small and the water keeps drying up, so I have to keep adding water to continue the steaming. Apparently that doesn't work, after 1.5 hrs of steaming. the kueh is still sticky. It is cooked but not "solid". In the end, I have to try frying it. In conclusion, my 芋头糕failed, well, it is edible but definitely 见不得人.

After the failed attempt to cook 芋头糕, I saw the sun shining brightly outside. I have to get out and go for a jog, or at least a walk. When there is a good weather, I better start working out, if not by the time winter really comes, I can forget about getting my bum out of the house. It was a warm afternoon and Bonjyo River was beautiful. I met Kate near her house and I had a good chat with her.

Bonjyo River

I kind of like this picture, but I donno why...

The bright warm sun

A temple near Kate's house

Second dish: Chawanmushi

I didn't want to cook for dinner, just wanted to eat fruits. I ate an orange and an apple. Then suddenly, I remembered chawanmushi. I wanted to try cooking it for a long time. It looked really simple on the video. But after the failed attempt to steam my yam cake, I was a little apprehensive about steaming. I decided to just try with simple ingredients: fishcake, prawn and crabmeat. It turned out well and taste good. Happy...



Chawanmushi





prawn, crab meat and fish cake...



EL department Bonenkai

EL department Bonenkai is the start of my many parties here. The enkai was at Ume which is an hour ride from Saiki. Fancy the teachers driving 1 hour to a restaurant for party, that restaurant must be good. The only information I got was that we are eating wild boar (inoshishi). It was a cosy nice restaurant and we are having nabe (hot pot). It was really delicious!!! It was a lot of fun and the food was good. One of my sensei brought his kids along and the youngest one, Chihiro (Chi-Chan) is sooooo kawaii. She is only 2 years old and she is so energetic. She would run to us and ask us to "touch", which means to give her a high-5. The EL teachers don't really drink, so we just enjoy the food at the mini gathering. 

The shop in Ume

Wild boar meat in the shape of a flower

Nabe!!! Hot and delicious!!!

Yellie playing with Chi-Chan

Preparing to eat...
More food came, but I was too busy eating...
No photos...