Leap Year

Picture courtesy of edubuzz.org

I have been enlightening my daughter about the leap year and about how it happens every 4 years. When I teach time to my students, it is always easy to remind them that the Summer Olympics always fall on leap years. My girl also learnt from watching the news that February 29 is the only day that women can proposed to their men! She asked,"Why is that?" I then tell her that traditionally men proposed to women but on this day it is okay for women to pop the question instead!

How well do you know your teenager?

Courtesy of www.buycostumes.com

Every year I come across parents who have no idea who their children are outside of their home. They believe everything their children tell them and when they find out about their teenagers from their teachers, you can see the stunned and disbelieve looks on their face when you tell them what you see. Some refused to believe the teachers and even accused the teachers of victimizing their children!

This week had been no difference when I had to deal with challenging students and am so mentally and physically exhausted! Parents who believe that teachers are out to find fault in their kids are not living in the real world! We have enough and better things to do then to call home about unacceptable behaviour in our classes! We are bogged down with extra administrative work apart from classroom teaching to waste our time making up stories and trying to reach parents over the phone or by email. In New Zealand, all teachers are entitled to 5 free periods a week and it is so frustrating when we have to waste our free hour away calling home when we could be finding challenging material for talented students! Also there is paperwork or computer involved for all incidents inside and outside the classroom within the school hours.

I have a pre-teen myself and I always encouraged her from her early school years to tell me what her day in school have been like. I can only hope that I know her behaviour at home and in school into her teenage years, too.

So if you are a parent of a teenager, REMEMBER! Their teachers would not contact you unless it is really necessary because their time is limited and if you have to teach over 1oo students a day , they do not have the luxury to make up stories in their free time! Your child must have pulled the wool over your eyes all this while if you think your 'angel' cannot be the 'rat bag' the teacher is describing to you!

God comes through!

As I mentioned before I will share with my fellow bloggers the miracles God has granted me in the past. Here goes a major miracle!

A few years ago, I was getting ready to go back to Malaysia for our first visit since we left over 3 years ago. I got both our passports together and decided to take a look at my custody papers when I saw a piece of paper which said that my daughter is not allowed to leave NZ! At the time that I got my custody, I did not bother to think twice but this time at 3.45pm on a Friday, I decided to call my lawyer in Hamilton where the custody was finalized, on the matter. He confirmed my fears and that I cannot bring my daughter out tomorrow. He also told me he was too busy to talk further with me as he had to prepare for his court appearance the next day. The only help he gave me was a phone number for Interpol in Wellington and a name to contact.

By the time I called Interpol(my previous experience with Interpol was what I see in movies!) and tried to look for the person I was given, it was closed to 4 pm. To my dismay, he has left for the day. The person who answered my phone call must have sensed my stress and asked if he could help. I told him my situation and he confirmed that my girl's name is in the system and that I could not bring her out of NZ! I was getting desperate so I told him that maybe I could just pretend I did not know and go anyways! I told him that and he said, "You'll be breaking the law! They will stop you at immigration. Then he told me that there may be hope for me yet if I can get a family lawyer and try to lift the order temporary and then do a permanent one when I get back. I thanked him for his suggestion and rang off.

I felt like crying then and pulled myself together and told myself that when has God never come through for me at times of need? So I pulled out the yellow pages and look for a family lawyer.
I found a female one and tried. She has already gone home. Then I tried the next on the list and I managed to talk to her about my situation, She was very calm and said she could file it tomorrow for me but first I have to get a consent fax from her father to lift the order and then if I have a means of receiving a fax in Auckland (where I catch my Malaysian flight) just in case the computer is too slow to catch up on the temporary discharge. Then to come to her office asap after that.

This was about 4.30pm then! I called up my daughter's father in Malaysia and told him to get a faxed letter sent to me to my lawyer's office immediately or he would not get to see his daughter in the next day or so. Then I called my friend in Auckland who happened to have a fax machine at home and asked for her help. She would be glad to help and I was to meet her at the airport for me to get the faxed discharge.

I then rushed to my lawyer's office and the moment I met her, she said," I am trying to get you a miracle here!" It was amazing because that was exactly on my thoughts, too! We then got the fax and she got all my documents and we exchanged cell phone numbers, fax numbers, copies airplane tickets and passport, etc. She told me not to worry and when I asked her about payment for her service, she told me she would bill me when I get back. It was after 5pm when I left her office

The next day we left Dunedin at 8 am, all tensed. I turned on my phone when I got to Auckland to see the text message that the order has been discharged and faxed to my friend in Auckland. When I got to the international airport, my friend was already waiting for me with the copy of the temporary discharge filed a couple of hours ago in Dunedin.

True enough when we get to immigration we were pulled aside and a policewoman was with us for about half an hour while they checked out my faxed copy. By the time, they let us through we were the last into the plane and I managed to call my lawyer to give her my thanks and that I am on the plane. I still never got over how my problem was solved in less than 24 hours!

The experience really strengthen my faith in God as in the end my daughter's father also paid for the lawyer's bill, too, as it was his request that the order was in place.

GOD IS GREAT!

Teenagers! What are they thinking?!!!

Every teacher you ask in New Zealand will agree with you that the fourth form boys or Year 10 boys are the most challenging customers we have every year.  Somehow that is about the time where their hormones goes beyond control for the majority of the 13 to 14 year old boys.

About a week ago I had to managed a boy (we do not use discipline in NZ anymore) so I had to get in touch with home on his behaviour.  Apparently he was given a conversation about how he will end up in jail some day if he does not follow rules and instructions.  This 13 year old boy could not for the life of him see where the connection was with his disruptive behaviour in my class!  And here it is his family thought that they have impressed upon him the seriousness of his bad behaviour and that he will be better after that heart to heart talk!  I only hear a little from the boy's view but was not privy to the whole conversation although I was assured that he was given the 'talk' and he should be better behaved now!  NOT!  He was just too immature to put 2 and 2 together to make 4!  Somehow I think he only got about 2.5......  What was he thinking?  What is on Utube, I guess.....

Oh well... I guess I just have to soldier on and hope I win some battles even though I know I will never win the war!  We always remind each other that when all else fails, pray for the poor soul!

More Balloon Fashion!

Wonder how long it takes to put one costume together!!!

Balloon Fashion!

Look at these fantastic photos of balloon 'clothing'!  WOW!  The amount of time it takes to make them and what if one balloon burst!  Then the dress or gown does not look quite right!

World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney

                                                                  

World Youth Day is almost here and this is the first time, it is celebrated in Oceania and all the Catholic youths in Asia has a chance to attend it as it will be less costly to attend.  The final mass is scheduled for 20 July 2008.

Our school will have a group attending as preparations are on the way leading to July.  For many it will be the only chance in their  lifetime to celebrate mass with the Pope.  And for others, it is just a wonderful opportunity to gather in the millions to celebrate their faith in God.  

For more information go here for New Zealand news or here for the main website.

Xmen Origins; Wolverine

The latest excitement in Dunedin is that the shooting of the movie X-men Origins; Wolverine is in Dunedin. This is the site of the movie shoot as pictured in the Otago Daily Times.

Movie stars are spotted shopping around town. But to tell you frankly, I would not be able to tell one from the other. Stars spotted included Hugh Jackman in a gym; Liev Schreiber and his partner Naomi Watts in the local Warehouse store (similar to Walmart in the USA).

There are probably some fans going crazy trying to spot the stars but I guess the general public in Dunedin are pretty laid back and just get on with their own lives.

If you are interested in reading more go here.

Laws for Teenagers

In New Zealand, children under 14 years old must be supervised by someone 14 years or older.  But at the age of 15 years, they can start to get their learners' driving permit.  Then at 16 years old, they can leave school and home legally!  In fact in a lot of schools, principals cannot wait for the 16th birthdays of their truants or misfits of society so they can tell them to shape up or ship out!

In my opinion, it does not make much sense that a teenager cannot stay at home by themselves but 12 months later, he or she can get behind the car and maybe even kill someone on the road some day.......  

Schools are also fighting a losing battle with smokers and alcoholics, too!  Today, I learnt from a 16 year old that her father supplies her with the booze and she just have to use her own pocket money to buy her own cigarettes.  To add to this shocking information, her father is a high court judge who may one day have his own daughter in his court for drunk driving!  Lots of students informed me that their parents who are smokers supply them with the cigarettes, too!  I know who the smokers are because whenever I get my form class to pray, I do not need to find a lighter or matches for my candle!  There will always be someone who has a light!

Teachers today may have smaller classes to teach but today's teenagers are harder to manage with the removal of any physical punishment of any kind.  It is ridiculous as I once had a student threw a paper dart with a drawing pin at the pointed end and it hit me in the head and was stuck to my head until I removed it!  Later it dawned on me as to what might have happened if it had hit another student in the eye or some other part of the body.  I would have been in big trouble if that had happened!  But nothing much happened to that boy apart from his mother being called in to a conference with the assistant principal.  The mother did not even say anything or apologize to me for his son's actions!  Well, I left the school not long after the incident. 

It can be stressful as a teacher in the high school.  We cannot touch our students but we can get beaten up by them and that has happened in a lot of schools, too!  We are told not to break up fights physically as there is no help for us if we can injured in the process!  

It is now a scary and violent world even in schools these days!

Valentine's Day - It is all overrated and commercialized!

Wikipedia says this day is named after two among the numerous Early Christian martyrs named Valentine. The day became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.

But today it is all about buying over priced flowers and gifts exchanging. Don't get me wrong as I am not a 'sour grape' as my daughter's school teacher will always get them to draw and make a card for this day and I will get a card from someone I love. And that it really touching! But I just think that some people put so much effort on this day that for the rest of the year, their loved ones do not get any show of love. I have a friend who is married for over twenty years and every week her husband makes sure that she has a small vase of flowers on her table at work! I call that real love and effort! I think it is better than paying the florist 200% on flowers on February 14th every year!

Bonjour Madame

All over New Zealand school started this past week for the academic year 2008.

 

                                           

My 11 year old daughter started her first week of French lessons.  During her second lesson, her teacher asked her class if anyone knew what a baguette was.  Someone said "Is it a croissant?"  She said,"Nooooo... a croissant is a croissant!"  Then someone else said,"Is it a bagel?" The poor French teacher almost had a heart attack when she exclaimed,"Wash your mouth out!"  Then she told them that it is a French stick or bread.  My daughter thought the teacher was so funny!  I am just happy that she is enjoying her French class.

As for myself, it was interesting to see how my own students have matured from last year or the year before.  It was also good to find out that my ex-students could impress upon their current teacher of what I have taught them previously!  I was just ecstatic to know that they remembered what I have taught them!  Why?  Because year in and year out I feel like I am teaching the 13 to 16 year old the same old stuff!  Some how, the retention span of teenagers these days are really poor...  They are mostly too busy listening to their ipod or text messaging on their cell phones!

Oh well... one week down and ten more weeks to go before the end of term 1....

Comfort Food???

Having lived in a few countries, this is what I have found out but I cannot think of one for my birth country... Maybe some of you can help me out!

Peanut butter and jelly sandwich is to USA

Vegemite sandwich is to New Zealand and Australia

Kaya sandwich is to Malaysia???

You really have to be a locally born to enjoy the former two!

Do share your country's famous comfort food.....