http://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/en-AUMokoFeed10http://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/http://data5.blog.de/design/preview/86/97326be6f77f1f1e3e2e49c0571716_160x200.jpghttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2008/03/19/my-exam-3904254/tag:aikimbeh.blog.co.uk,2008-03-19:/2008/03/19/my-exam-3904254/Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:21:03 +0100 <p><strong>I have to sit for the ‘PTK’ exam. All civil servants need to sit for this exam for salary adjustment. All this while, I never took it seriously, due to the daily work load. Tired physically and mentally, a boring book makes me fall asleep easily. I said the books were boring because all the facts from the books were easy to understand but difficult to remember, especially if we need to memorize a lot of things. If reading books is just to widen our general knowledge, I must say it is fun. But if for an exam, it will make me tense up. </p> <p> A good memory will help one to do well in an exam. The scope for this exam was so wide. The questions are tricky and confusing. Therefore that is the reason why only few candidates pass the exam.</p> <p>Another reason was I had rather spent my holidays doing something else like travelling. That will give me a good rest. However this exam is always held during the school holidays. So I need to decide either to stay at home, pick up my books or to travel. Travels really mean so much to me. </p> <p> I like reading. Reading a book suits my appetite for knowledge. It is a torture to read the same material again and again just to pass this exam. </p> <p> A school holiday is no longer an enjoyable time for me. Instead it is a sorrowful time. Last year I really put in effort. The one week holidays I never stepped out of my house. I had tried to postpone as many things that I could do just to have more time to study. Could not imagine how I had tried to cover so many books in two weeks. Of course I did some reading whenever I was free. It was not a last minutes thing. At that moment, the sky seems grey in colour. I suspected that I was colour blind. </p> <p> Finally I passed one of two papers. I need to work hard for another paper. How envious I was when I learnt that somebody had passed the papers without spending much time studying. I wished I could as lucky as they were. </strong></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2008/03/19/my-exam-3904254/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>my-examhttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2008/03/19/my-exam-3904254/#commentshttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2008/01/08/is_this_the_way_to_celebrate~3545448/tag:aikimbeh.blog.co.uk,2008-01-08:/2008/01/08/is_this_the_way_to_celebrate~3545448/Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:47:16 +0100 <p><strong><br> This morning while I was invigilating the exam, I found it hard to control the candidate’s discipline; they could not stop talking and walking about. They were so excited. I asked what had happened to them; they told me that today was their last paper. They did not seem to bother about the invigilator, they kept on talking until they were satisfied, then they began to answer the paper. </p> <p> The time allocated for this paper was one hour and fifteen minutes. After half an hour, half the candidates had left the room. Suddenly, there were loud fire cracker and fire works noises from the field. In our custom here, fire cracker only used on wedding days, New Year celebration or other special occasions. This was my first time I see such celebration just before the exam is over. </p> <p> Soon after the exam, some students were running everywhere throwing at each other flour. I do not know since when there were such celebrations, I wondered if it is a trend or it only happened in this school?</strong></p> <p> <small> <a href="http://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2008/01/08/is_this_the_way_to_celebrate~3545448/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>celebrationhttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2008/01/08/is_this_the_way_to_celebrate~3545448/#commentshttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2008/01/04/my_caring_sister~3527893/tag:aikimbeh.blog.co.uk,2008-01-04:/2008/01/04/my_caring_sister~3527893/Fri, 04 Jan 2008 14:50:30 +0100 <p><strong>I had bought a bus ticket to travel to my sister’s house. It was the place where I used to spend most of my holidays before I settled down here. Her house was just like my second home. Since I started work and could afford to travel abroad as a backpacker, I seldom went back to my second home. </p> <p> I telephoned my sister to ask her to buy my return bus ticket. She called me later to confirm. She said “Are you sure of the date? Why such a short stay, why don’t you stay longer?” </p> <p> During my stay, she had prepared nice meals for me. She always had ideas where to take me for good food in the town. She would take me to have good food but quite expensive without much ado. She told me she did not have enough time to prepare all her new created recipes because of my short stay. She always planned what to have for the next day. She might tell me “I will get you some pau (bun) tomorrow morning; I know a very famous pau shop.” I told her not to trouble herself because of me. </p> <p> She is very talented woman who kept the house very neat and organized. She is also a good cook. She always cooks for the charity, ‘ZhiChi’ and orphanages. Her vegetarian food is healthy and delicious. When ever I went home, I would learn something new from her.</p> <p> The day before I left, she asked what I would like to have in the bus. I like her fried rice and she told me everybody praises her tom yam. To my surprise, she had prepared both for me in the next morning, plus a container of fruits as well, together with spoon, fork and tissue papers. How caring she was. So much food to have in the bus. It was not just food she prepared, but along with her love and concern. For me she is the adorable one. Compared to her, I am the clumsy, messy and forgetful person. In return, how do I pay for her care and love?</p> <p></strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2008/01/04/my_caring_sister~3527893/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>lovehttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2008/01/04/my_caring_sister~3527893/#commentshttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/11/20/what_s_wrong_with_our_education_system~3323333/tag:aikimbeh.blog.co.uk,2007-11-20:/2007/11/20/what_s_wrong_with_our_education_system~3323333/Tue, 20 Nov 2007 05:27:09 +0100 <p><strong>I have to invigilate the SPM exam (O level). In the school that I am invigilating now has two centres. The centre that I am invigilating is for students from the arts stream. There are nine exam rooms. Each room consists of 25 candidates. </p> <p> I was extremely disappointed with the students' behavior. Although this is a very important exam, the candidates were not serious about it. They have no sense of urgency. They entered the room late, chatting even while the exam was going on or during the exam, sucking sweets or chewing gum. They left the exam room very early. Some candidates may ask how much time was allocated for the paper. No matter what the answer was, they told me they would walk out within 10 minutes. They were about 40% of these types of candidates. They were not bothered with this important exam which, if they do well will give them a head start in life; what more during normal school days? It might be worse. </p> <p> I wonder if this is all they have achieved after spending 11 or 12 years in school? Most of the answer papers that I had collected were blank. </p> <p> All this while, the Ministry of Education was only concerned about how many A's the candidates would score. How about this group of students? If they do not change their attitude, they would face problems in future. </p> <p> I am concerned that if these students were not properly counselled; they would not know how to tap into their own potentials to become responsible citizens.<br> </strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/11/20/what_s_wrong_with_our_education_system~3323333/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>lifehttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/11/20/what_s_wrong_with_our_education_system~3323333/#commentshttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/11/19/title~3319720/tag:aikimbeh.blog.co.uk,2007-11-19:/2007/11/19/title~3319720/Mon, 19 Nov 2007 14:12:15 +0100 <p><strong>Eco Touring<br> After the final exam, the students would rather have some activities other then staying in the classrooms. They would like to have something different from their normal routine, especially field trips. My unit had planned many programmes for them, such as visiting the handicraft centre, ceramic factory, Highland resort, visiting North port in Port Klang as well as attending career talk by the Marine Department. Some of these activities were held in school and some were held away from school.</p> <p> The participation of these outings was real good. I brought a bas of students to Sepang and Tanjung Sepat. These places are in the countryside. Our first destination was to the longan fruit orchard. We were welcomed by the owner’s son. He showed us around his orchard explaining the whole process of planting the fruit trees. From the information which was given by him, I came to know that the longan plants take two and half years to produce fruits; it takes 40 days for a flower to grow into a fruit. Normally there are 6 harvesting seasons in a year. There are 2 big seasons which fall in March and August. A healthy longan plant could last for 50 years.</p> <p> They grow pineapples too as their side income. Each pineapple plant produces a fruit once in their lifetime and it takes 18 months to harvest. Just imagine that to grow vegetables it needs only 40 days. So I do not think that RM2 or RM 4 for a pineapple is too much to pay! I consider it cheap taking the time factor into consideration.</p> <p> Bats like longan. During the fruit season, the nice smells of longan fruits will attract bats. Even bats from as far as 70KM or more will fly over here to eat the fruits; it would fly back to their origin places in the same night. To prevent fruit s from being eaten by bats, nets are suspended over the fruit trees. Longan plant needs a lot of sunshine. It would produce less fruits or not at all if they do not receive sufficient sunshine. </p> <p> Our second destination was to the dragon fruit farm. The owner gave us a warm welcome. We were served with dragon fruits. From the information given by the owner. I learned that dragon fruits have flesh available in 3 colours, there are red, white and yellow. This farm only plant red dragon fruit because it is more nutritious even though the plant produces less fruits compared to the white ones. Yellow flesh fruit has no commercial value due to its size. It has the smallest fruit among the three. I have never seen the yellow species yet. The leaves of the dragon fruit trees can be eaten by making salad, juice or soup. I wanted to buy its big leaf for planting but the owner insists on giving me free. The owner is such a nice person. Though he was not paid, he was not selfish for sharing his knowledge. </p> <p> The following schedule was to the tapioca cracker factory. There was a small road leading to the factory; tapioca plants were planted along the both sides of the road. A few workers were peeling off the tapioca skin with a long knife. Then it is being washed and is cut by machine into very thin slices. Those slices are then put into hot oil to fry. They were then given different flavours, such as chicken, spicy or peppery…</p> <p> The next destination was to a coffee powder factory which is famous in this area. It has a 40 -year history of making coffee powder. It is run by a small family. They are still using very traditional way to produce coffee powder. Wood was being used to fry the coffee. Therefore it needs manpower to control the fire. It took 4 hours to roast the coffee beans. So each day they could only process twice. </p> <p> Later, we left for the mushroom farm. They grow all kinds of mushrooms. These mushrooms are quite common; we can easily get them in supermarkets or hypermarkets. </p> <p> We stopped at a beautiful beach for lunch before leaving for school. These eco-touring was so much fun and yet students gained some knowledge from it. Oh! I was overjoyed that I had forgotten to snap more photos for documentation. </p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/media/photo/p1030807/2156357" title="P1030807"><img src="http://data3.blog.de/media/357/2156357_62cf02846b_s.jpg" alt="P1030807" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>Dragon fruit plants</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/media/photo/p1030814/2156354" title="P1030814"><img src="http://data3.blog.de/media/354/2156354_9ce9bb42cc_s.jpg" alt="P1030814" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a><br> Longan fruits</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/media/photo/p1030810/2156353" title="P1030810"><img src="http://data3.blog.de/media/353/2156353_3e024b21d9_s.jpg" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a><br> Longan orchard</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/media/photo/p1030823/2156356" title="P1030823"><img src="http://data3.blog.de/media/356/2156356_08049ed31e_s.jpg" alt="P1030823" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a><br> Roast coffee beans</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/media/photo/p1030821/2156355" title="P1030821"><img src="http://data3.blog.de/media/355/2156355_77d8b61d29_s.jpg" alt="P1030821" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a><br> A few workers were peeling off the tapioca skin with a long knife</p> <p> <a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/media/photo/p1030826/2156352" title="P1030826"><img src="http://data3.blog.de/media/352/2156352_103aa28174_s.jpg" alt="P1030826" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a><br> mushrooms</p> <p></strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/11/19/title~3319720/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>lifehttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/11/19/title~3319720/#commentshttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/11/13/busy~3290270/tag:aikimbeh.blog.co.uk,2007-11-13:/2007/11/13/busy~3290270/Tue, 13 Nov 2007 14:47:28 +0100 <p><strong>After the fasting month, everything seems to go at a faster pace. There are many activities to carry out like visiting, seminars, functions and meeting for exam invigilation as well as meeting for marking O level exam papers. I have received a letter informing me that I must record a counselling session, send to the Counselling Board. I just wondered if I have any time to do that. </p> <p> I am afraid I may put on weight because so many functions. Usually buffet is served on such occasions. Delicious foods, merriment with friends and colleagues, make me have good appetite. </p> <p> I had attended a Tai Ji Anniversary Celebration last Monday. The function was held in a restaurant. Although there were only 35 of us, we had reserved the whole restaurant.</p> <p> Most of the members are senior citizens, some of them are grandmothers but they have the initiative to learn. Besides Tai Ji they learn dances too. Most of the old folks practice Tai Ji almost every morning. They seldom miss the lessons. Compared to them, I am the more frequent absentee. This is embarrassing. I have therefore, made up my mind to be more diligent in my practice. I will practise Tai Ji at home no matter how busy I will be.<br> </strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/11/13/busy~3290270/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>lifehttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/11/13/busy~3290270/#commentshttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/11/11/attended_an_ict_course~3278092/tag:aikimbeh.blog.co.uk,2007-11-11:/2007/11/11/attended_an_ict_course~3278092/Sun, 11 Nov 2007 09:58:17 +0100 <p><strong>I attended a four day ICT course which began on 29nd Oct. Actually I wanted to attend such course for a long time, but did not have any opportunity. This time, I went on behalf of my colleague who does not have any interest in this course. She said that she was left far behind because she did not update herself. So now she finds it difficult to catch up.</p> <p> This course was held and fully sponsored by the Education Department. This course was held in 15 centers at the same time. Those centers are schools which have computer labs and able to access the internet. The purpose of having this course is to encourage teachers to apply ICT as their teaching resources, teaching aids and as well as teaching activities.</p> <p> Teachers should always upgrade themselves; they should be able to introduce technology to make the lessons more interesting. Otherwise students do not show any interest or pay attention.<br> For four days, all meals were provided; breakfast, lunch and tea time. I felt a sense of appreciation for the meals were well prepared and the service was excellent. It is so lucky to be served good food with courteous service. </p> <p> It was nice to become a student again! The facilitators went on too fast that I did not have time to practice. Sometimes they just have given tutorials without showing any examples. The main weakness of this course was the implementation. They have too many objectives which were not realized because we were not guided step by step. Instead they expected everyone to be already good in power point. The facilitators were busy running here and there to help us. Among the students some were quite good. Those who were poor could seek help from them. </p> <p> Time passed fast and soon the course was over. We said our goodbyes and went back to schools where a lot of work was waiting for us. </p> <p></strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/11/11/attended_an_ict_course~3278092/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>attended-an-ict-coursehttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/11/11/attended_an_ict_course~3278092/#commentshttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/11/02/how_the_restaurant_make_profit~3235189/tag:aikimbeh.blog.co.uk,2007-11-02:/2007/11/02/how_the_restaurant_make_profit~3235189/Fri, 02 Nov 2007 15:18:31 +0100 <p><strong>I like to have dinner at a vegetarian restaurant. With only US1.4, I can eat all you can. It is served self-serviced buffet style. There are around 15 main dishes, soups, drinks and fruits. Customers are discouraged to waste food. They would fine customer US1.4 for 50g of unfinished food left. </p> <p>I am wondering how the restaurant owner can make profit. Perhaps he couldn’t survive much longer, because with this cost, I can only have a plate of very basic food, or a bowl of noodle plus a glass of drink. </p> <p> The restaurant owner must be very generous and kind soul. The workers here all wear red shirts which the word ‘CARE’<br> “Care for your family<br> Appreciate everybody<br> Refrain from killing<br> Experience true love”</p> <p> At one of the restaurant corner, there are free Buddhist books and VCDs. Customers who are interested can take one home. The restaurant was also located at the corner that means it has much more space than any other shops which were located in the middle. The tables are spaciously arranged, so there is a lot of space to move about. </p> <p> How it could survive? I still couldn’t find out the answer. May be some people do business not to earn a profit but to do something good for the society. To encourage people to take less meat, eat more vegetables is also a good thing.</p> <p></strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/11/02/how_the_restaurant_make_profit~3235189/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>a-vegetarian-restauranthttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/11/02/how_the_restaurant_make_profit~3235189/#commentshttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/10/31/a_honest_cashier~3224946/tag:aikimbeh.blog.co.uk,2007-10-31:/2007/10/31/a_honest_cashier~3224946/Wed, 31 Oct 2007 16:41:51 +0100 <p><strong>I went to "99 Market", a sundry shop in my housing area this Thursday. I did a little shopping. After I had shopped, I paid for the items at the cashier counter, I was carrying 2 big plastic bags with me and drove home.</p> <p>I have tidied up the things that I had shopped. I couldn't find my mosquito liquid, checked my receipt, I had paid for it, probably I had left it at the counter. </p> <p>The next day, I was busy too. So I couldn't drop by the sundry shop. I went back only the next day. I told the cashier my problem. Without looking at my receipt and without asking any question, she immediately got my mosquito liquid from the shelf which was behind her. Besides my item, there were some other items which were put in the plastic bags too. I was quite surprised for after 2 days, they still kept the unclaimed items. I was so impressed with their honesty which was barely practised nowadays.</strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/10/31/a_honest_cashier~3224946/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/10/31/a_honest_cashier~3224946/#commentshttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/10/20/attended_a_motivation_talk~3167436/tag:aikimbeh.blog.co.uk,2007-10-20:/2007/10/20/attended_a_motivation_talk~3167436/Sat, 20 Oct 2007 17:06:29 +0200 <p> <strong>I like to attend motivation talk. Each time after I have attended such a talk, I felt myself having new inspirations and rejuvenated. Life seems more wonderful than before. I would never miss such occasion if have the chance.</p> <p> Most of my days, I meet students with low motivation, low self-esteem and have lost interest in their studies. They play truant and are always moody, temperamental….To be able to counsel them, I need to motivate myself from time to time. Otherwise I would be drown too. </p> <p> A few years ago, the government encouraged people to practice life long learning. I only come to know there is a Life Learning Centre in this town recently. It is quite an active centre. It held talks regularly. </p> <p> The talk that I had attended was delivered by someone with a doctorate title from the University of USA. He was a very successful businessman. He had given a talk to an audience of 60,000 people in a stadium in Indonesia, as well as in some other places locally or aboard.</p> <p>Here are some of his ideas that I would like of share with.<br> 1. Too many excuses will make one poor.<br> 2. Attitude is everything, change your attitude and you will change your<br> life.<br> 3. Mindset determines your success.<br> 4. A decision isn’t right or wrong, but after one has decided, makes<br> this decision become the right one. </p> <p> Isn’t it wonderful to share the secret of success of others? It is the recipe that we need to learn from. </p> <p></strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/10/20/attended_a_motivation_talk~3167436/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>lifehttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/10/20/attended_a_motivation_talk~3167436/#commentshttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/10/12/raya_cookies~3122531/tag:aikimbeh.blog.co.uk,2007-10-12:/2007/10/12/raya_cookies~3122531/Fri, 12 Oct 2007 02:14:48 +0200 <p><strong>My colleagues bought variety of cookies for Hari Raya. Hari Raya will be falling on the 13th October (a very special event celebrated by Muslims all over the world). Every day I see them purchasing either from the students’ parents or some other colleagues’ neighbours. </p> <p> Whenever I pass by the staff room, I can see many boxes of cookies on their tables. I love cookies. Those cookies are kept there for days and they really attracted my attention. All sorts of cookies with all kinds of shapes, flavours and colours. It really made my eyes disobeyed or misbehaved. Now, my eyes have rejected to obey any instruction of my mind. My eyes were busy enjoying and tasting those nice cookies.</p> <p> I complained to one of my colleagues. I said “Why don’t you bring your cookies home? You purposely make my eyes suffered and my saliva can’t help drooling down from my mouth.” My colleague joked “What a shame of you!” I told him that I have been observing and he was the one who bought the most cookies among the staff, I will go to his house on Raya day, therefore I want him to reserve some cookies for me. Oh! I have forgotten to make an appointment with him. I must remind him that I want to go to his house, early in the morning on the first day of Hari Raya. </p> <p> For cookies sake! I went to my girls and chatted with them, found out they have helped their mum to make cookies. Praised them, hopefully they would bring some cookies for me. Certainly their mum would kill me if they knew me, such a horrible glutton woman (crazy hunting for cookies).</p> <p> As for Muslims, they have been busy preparing for Raya for the past two weeks. They will be celebrating Raya on this Saturday. Muslims comprises 50% of the Malaysia population. We are having a week holiday. Everybody likes holiday. Originally Raya is celebrated for a month. However is not being practiced now. Everybody needs to return to their position, when the holiday is over.<br> </strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/10/12/raya_cookies~3122531/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>lifehttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/10/12/raya_cookies~3122531/#commentshttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/29/my_girls~3058498/tag:aikimbeh.blog.co.uk,2007-09-29:/2007/09/29/my_girls~3058498/Sat, 29 Sep 2007 16:01:18 +0200 <p><strong>They were in the canteen. I walked towards them, seven of them. I greeted “Hi! Girls.” They were glad to see me, all smiling happily. Probably because of recess time. This is the moments they were having food, chatting and sharing their stories. Some of their friends are from different classes.</p> <p>Everyone came nearer to me. I told them “Mr. Tan told me that your group had made noise in his class. He was very disappointed of you, because your group had spoilt his well planned lesson. Please give me the names of those who had made noise in the class.” I passed them a piece of paper and a pen. They looked at each other, wondering who was going to write. Then Shu put up her hand, said “I know who.” She wrote down the name and later handed it to me. </p> <p>She wrote “Tan XX” (it was Mr. Tan’s name). I read it out; it made everyone laughed including me. We had laughed so loudly. I realized that we had attracted the attention of others’. So I said “That is enough girls, stop laughing, we are not suppose to speak Mandarin here, please speak in Malay. What would happen if headmistress passed by. Why did you write Mr. Tan?”</p> <p>Shu was starting to explain “Do You know that, he is the one who had started talking from the very beginning till the end; he spoke the most in the class. So I considered him the noisiest.” Everybody laughed again.</p> <p>Thank you for your joke that made me laugh. I like your humour, but anyway I have to handle this since there was teacher who referred your group to me. </p> <p><strong></strong></strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/29/my_girls~3058498/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>lifehttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/29/my_girls~3058498/#commentshttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/21/title~3018596/tag:aikimbeh.blog.co.uk,2007-09-21:/2007/09/21/title~3018596/Fri, 21 Sep 2007 17:20:27 +0200 <p>15.9.07<br> <strong>Almost every Saturday or Sunday, I go for Yoga practice in a very big park. The Yoga practice starts at 8.00 to 9.00am conducted by someone. This park is located at a hilly site. One could even do jungle trekking in this park due to the reserved jungle. </p> <p>I parked my car and kept my mobile phone in the cabinet. Brought along my identity card, driving license and credit card. Residents around this park are considered lucky because it has Tai Ji, Yoga and aerobic classes. All these classes run at the same time in the morning. So, I could only select one, I chose Yoga because I had practiced Tai Ji everyday at another place. </p> <p>Yoga, however is a very healthy exercise, it stretch ones body, make one slim, and maintains a correct posture. After completing my Yoga practice, I have my morning walks. </p> <p>Back to my car, nothing strange, the car door keeps locking. When I reached home, I realized my mobile had been stolen. I felt upset. I had not saved all my contact number yet. I knew that I have to do so in case, but day after day no action was taken. I contacted the service center to suspend my SIM card, to prevent any one from using my mobile to make phone calls. Or else I need to pay extra bill for this. </p> <p>Within these two weeks, I had lost my wireless UBS, my India travel's CD, and now my mobile phone. Oh my! I am so unlucky. </strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/21/title~3018596/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>lifehttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/21/title~3018596/#commentshttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/21/bad_words~3018369/tag:aikimbeh.blog.co.uk,2007-09-21:/2007/09/21/bad_words~3018369/Fri, 21 Sep 2007 16:49:28 +0200 <p><strong>I told him I had spoken bad words, he opened his eyes widely. He said “Did you?” I said “Yes, I did. In fact I repeated it few times in a day.” His mouth opened wide. He asked “really?” </p> <p> Nobody believed or could imagine that I had spoken bad words. Actually I am not that bad but I am naughty. I replied “Certainly. His mother allowed me to do so since he was born.” It confused him. </p> <p> When I was travelling in India in year 2004. We had hired a driver whose name is Kenneth. His name, however, immediately occurred to me as a bad word in Chinese. If pronounced it slowly. So every morning, when I got up to the mini bus, I greeted “Kenneth, Kenneth, Kenneth good morning.” Kenneth was smiling happily. When I called his name, I laughed in my mind and thought “don’t blame me, you need some one to scold you, or you won’t feel comfortable.” He would never know…ha..ha..</p> <p> Kenneth was a very expert driver. Once we passed by a very bad condition road. It was under construction, with stones scattered in piles. The road was so narrow that there was barely any extra space for the bus. It was getting dark. Beside the moon, I couldn’t see anything else. Moreover, no lamp post all the way. Everybody kept silent and looked with anxiety. We were on our way to a small town. It was dangerous to travel at night in India. Tourists were advised not to do so. We had been late because of some delay. In case the bus broke down, I was afraid we might have to stay overnight in the bus. It was possible to get robbed. I looked at Kenneth, he was very steadily, steady and drove calmly. Kenneth, Kenneth, Kenneth, I really respect you. </p> <p> I do not have any potential to learn any language, but to learn bad words, I could remember immediately. I think if I want to share something good, nobody seems interested, but if I want to share something bad, it would attract theirs’ curiosity. </p> <p> Then I told him, my friends from northern part said “TL” when they were extremely angry. He asked “TL? Stands for what?” I told him to forget about it, I couldn’t tell him because it was too rude. He kept on guessing and asking, finally he got the answer. I am really bad! </strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/21/bad_words~3018369/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>lifehttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/21/bad_words~3018369/#commentshttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/21/blood_donation~3018294/tag:aikimbeh.blog.co.uk,2007-09-21:/2007/09/21/blood_donation~3018294/Fri, 21 Sep 2007 16:33:30 +0200 <p> <strong>On 16 Sept, 07. I had breakfast, an apple and a cup of coffee. I sent something to collection center for recycling. Usually I do this on every Sunday. I went to a hair dresser for a hair cut. Then went to a Chinese temple, they were having blood donation campaign in conjunction with the temple's anniversary. There were about ten people waiting to donate blood. I filled up a form, handed in my form. I was feeling hungry; it was half past twelve in the afternoon. The nurse asked me if I had my lunch, I told her, I had not yet. She insisted me to go home for lunch before donating blood. I did not want to waste time since I was already there. So I had a muffin and a hot drink, and then rested for few minute before it was my turn. I have 'O' type blood that means I can donate to everyone, but I can only accept the same blood type. Very soon it was my turn, without much pain, the experienced nurse poked the needle into my arm. I donated 300ml. </p> <p> In this Chinese temple, I saw doctors, nurses and staffs from hospital, most are Malay and Indian, those who were donating blood were Indian and Chinese. It was a very harmonious picture. During the Muslim fasting month, all hospitals will be facing shortage of blood problem, because Muslims are unable to donate blood. They could not have any food and even water from sunrise till sunset. But demand for blood is the same, for accidents, operations and so on. </p> <p> In this country, we are considered very lucky. When Muslims can not run their restaurant businesses, other races will serve the tourists; otherwise tourists could be starving for food. Long time ago, I had met a Japanese. He told me that he was starving one whole day until he heard a song; actually it is a ‘solat’ prayer in the evening. It was his first visit to an Islamic Country – Pakistan, in Ramadan month. At this time, the police force also should work harder as the crimes may increase. While other races celebrate their holiday, the other races are on duty. Isn’t Malaysia a wonderful country? </p> <p> So in diversity we have unity and share our wealthy together, because we are Malaysian, we need each other. </strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/21/blood_donation~3018294/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>lifehttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/21/blood_donation~3018294/#commentshttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/14/god_bless_you_jenny~2976804/tag:aikimbeh.blog.co.uk,2007-09-14:/2007/09/14/god_bless_you_jenny~2976804/Fri, 14 Sep 2007 02:53:13 +0200 <p><strong>It was 11.00 o’clock at night; it was not the right time. I wanted to make a phone call. Oh! I had missed the right time again. When ever I am free, I look at the clock. Time seems to pass too fast; I couldn’t remember when I had last called, probably a month ago. I really missed her, my sister Jenny.</p> <p> I called her at 9.30pm last night; her first sentence was “I am expecting your phone call.” We chatted for about half an hour. Long distant calls are costly.</p> <p> My family members are very introvert persons. We do not know how to express ourselves affectionately. Instead tell her that I love her, in fact I just said “You are my perfect sister, you cared for me since we were young. You are good in every way.” </p> <p> I put down the phone and whispered “May god bless you for you are a very kind soul. You have worked as a volunteer for 10 years. You looked after sick people in the hospitals when their loved ones couldn’t spend time with them, gave them love, gave them care. You brighten the days of the orphans with delicious food prepared by you.” </p> <p> Now, it is time you need someone else take care of you. I wish that you can recover very soon after the operation. </strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/14/god_bless_you_jenny~2976804/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>lifehttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/14/god_bless_you_jenny~2976804/#commentshttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/13/a_counseling_workshop~2973906/tag:aikimbeh.blog.co.uk,2007-09-13:/2007/09/13/a_counseling_workshop~2973906/Thu, 13 Sep 2007 15:54:40 +0200 <p><strong>12.9.07<br> Last Saturday, I attended a counseling workshop which was conducted by Miss Ng, a very experienced and capable counselor. She also published books. She gave counseling on air and is a volunteer worker. She is a counselor in a secondary school. The topic she would like to share was “lives inference lives” I handed in my homework which had given to us last month. To my surprise, she gave a little note that was written “I hope the ocean of your life, will be full of reflections”. I was so impressed. All this while, I thought that I was not good enough, I was stupid. I do not know anything other than my counseling skill. I also do not know how far my achievement is. People are very complicated. We can’t measure how far our clients’ attitude has changed. </p> <p>Miss Ng wanted us to review ourselves by answering this question. “What did I add to my students’ lives when I passed through their lives?” I think I have taught them the values of life, of caring and sharing, of encouragement, to be proactive, to be positive, to be confidence, to hope, to dream and leave some room for freedom to express their needs. I think that was a lot I have done in the past few years.</p> <p> Miss Ng reminded us that our duty was to build a person. Thank you, for giving me a little motivation when I was feeling low. Yes, may be I am not so good now, but I am trying to be a better person. I want to be a good counselor.</strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/13/a_counseling_workshop~2973906/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>lifehttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/13/a_counseling_workshop~2973906/#commentshttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/13/attended_a_talk~2973830/tag:aikimbeh.blog.co.uk,2007-09-13:/2007/09/13/attended_a_talk~2973830/Thu, 13 Sep 2007 15:42:56 +0200 <p><strong>6.9.07<br> After school, I attended a talk by Dr Lee, who is doctor in Psychology and Therapy. He began a game as ice-breaking. When he said “the wind blows”, the audience asked “blow what”, he said “blow those who were wearing spectacle”. So those who were wearing spectacle need to change their seats. Most of Malaysia Chinese are introverts. That included me. I warned my friend who sat next to me “take off your spectacle”. Then the game was continued, “Blow those who dressed”. My friend and I sat in first row, so he heard what we said and we had cheated. He pointed to us and said “take off, take off”. </p> <p> The third command was “blow those who have worn underwear”. That time, most of the audience ran everywhere to change their seats. Some still remained at their seats. The speaker said “I need to check properly if any of you has changed your seat even without wearing underwear.” </p> <p> He is the most humorous speaker I have ever met. It was simple game, but everyone had enjoyed it. His talk made me laughed from beginning to the end. </strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/13/attended_a_talk~2973830/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>lifehttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/13/attended_a_talk~2973830/#commentshttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/13/educational_trip~2973446/tag:aikimbeh.blog.co.uk,2007-09-13:/2007/09/13/educational_trip~2973446/Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:34:52 +0200 <p><strong>On 5th Sept 07, 40 counseling teachers gathered at PPD Klang at 7.30am. We were leaving for Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya to visit some private colleges.</p> <p> This was not my first visit to the colleges. Previously I went with a group of students which organized by my colleague and I. This trip, however, was organised by Education Department of Klang.<br> The coordinator, Miss Rita, reminded us that, if we wanted to know whether the courses are recognize by Ministry of Education, just found out if they were fully approved by The National Accreditation Board. </p> <p> “Advance Tertiary College” run A level and Law programmes which twin with The University of London. To my surprise many Malaysian students are able to pass with good grades, 90% and above of students pass their paper. </p> <p> “The Automobile College” trains skilled technicians. Students spend 2 years studying locally and 2 years aboard in Australia.<br> We were divided into 3 groups for a game. Each group had to select the model of the car that we liked. My group chose the Mercedes. We were given envelopes which contained labels with name of the parts of the car. We had to label the parts of this car, which are assembled differently from the ordinary car. But where is the battery? We scored 23 points, while others scored 28 and 24 points. Oh my! The battery is located under the back passenger seat. How funny and unexpected! Everybody seemed to enjoy the game.</p> <p> “Unitar”, has consists of few buildings without much compound. Everything is so small because they do not need much space. Everything is done online, such as announcement, notice, e-book and so on. The college has 7 thousand students. Why? The fees are cheap. </p> <p> Then we went to “Malaysia Technology Park”. It is fully sponsored by the government. It is a very beautiful big building, with a big compound. It is well equipped, high technology and good amenities. I have never heard of it before because they have never promoted it. Such a waste! The number of students is just 400. </p> <p> “The one Academy of Art” is a place where creative and imaginative students study. The advertisement that was shows on TV about “The Visa card & James bond 007” was produced by them. It was well done, amusing and amazing idea. </p> <p> The hosts were excited because never before had a big group of counseling teachers visited them. They tried to show the best they have. So we have to delay our exact schedule. We had 4 refreshments and a lunch. We were supposed to reach Klang at 5.30pm instead of 6.30pm. </p> <p> For me, it was not just a visit; I had paid attention and listened very carefully. I would give the correct information to my students. It is a wonderful educational trip. </strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/13/educational_trip~2973446/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>lifehttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/13/educational_trip~2973446/#commentshttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/13/attend_an_interview~2973275/tag:aikimbeh.blog.co.uk,2007-09-13:/2007/09/13/attend_an_interview~2973275/Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:00:28 +0200 <p><strong>3.9.07<br> Met my friends at the commuter station, Tai asked me whether I could drop her some where. Her car had been stolen on National Day. Without a car it is very inconvenient. </p> <p>We were attending an interview to certify our qualifications by Counselor Board. I wanted to register as a counselor for contribute myself as a volunteer worker in future, when the society needs me. So to enable me to do so and to protect myself, I need to register. I had read through books about counseling theories last night. </p> <p> The four of us entered the room together and were interviewed by 4 panels. They were professors and had doctorate titles. They asked about theories, gave some situations evaluate what theories we applied. My performance was not that bad, so I am not that stupid. </strong> </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/13/attend_an_interview~2973275/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>lifehttp://aikimbeh.blog.co.uk/2007/09/13/attend_an_interview~2973275/#comments