Top ten reasons why Ruth and Mark are so great

10. They brought me Cheese Balls.
9. They brought me Mini Rolls.
8. They brought me proper Cadbury's cholcolate.
7. They brought me Trevor Sorbie Curl Cream needed to create the dishevelled look to my hair. (No, honestly it actually requires hair products to make my hair look like this.)
6. They have not eaten 8, 9, or 10 themselves. I realise this is particularly hard for Mark.
5. My house has been tidy all week because I have guests. Although they might not appreciate it is, I do.
4. I can warrant eating out all week because they're on holiday.
3. I see Singapore through tourist eyes.
2. They were interested enough to come see my Singapore world and come to school.
1. Good old NI banter. There's nothing like it,

Wardrobe malfunction

My first proper guests arrive tomorrow and I am so excited. Even though I have a thousand things to do for school and my house is tip, I'm so excited. You know Ruth, she comments on here once in a while. I reckon she's now one of my oldest friends (as in known the longest, she's not 80). We were in the same Science class in 2nd Year, we shared a study booth in 6th Year and I made her wedding stationery (v. stylish they were too!). One of the smartest things we ever did was to decide not to buy each other a Christmas present as there is enough expense at that time of year. Yet she is one of my best friends.

So Mark* and Ruth will be in my room whilst I move to the spare room.

However in the attempt to move my stuff to the other bedroom, I broke the wardrobe. Not badly. It wasn't a sofa cushion shrinking moment or anything. It should be a relatively easy fix. (I say this as if I am some sort of expert. Although let's not forget I am my dad's right hand girl when it comes to the old flat pack. We put together that computer-desk-cupboard-thing for my mum in a matter of...hours).

But the one sticking point right now is that I don't have a screwdriver to do it. And it being 1.00am I think I'll have to wait until tomorrow until I can get one. ('Can you believe there are no hardware stores open in the city past 1.00am?!') But unfortunately that means my tidying and swapping bedrooms has been put on hold.

So instead I am writing here and watching 'Later With Jools Holland' on BBC Entertainment. I think it must be fairly recent (as in this year) as Amy Winehouse and Muse were on. Duke Special is playing at the minute. I realise what I am about to say is about as controversial as my 'I don't really like Portrush' statement but I am 8000 safe miles away from getting mobbed so I'll take my chances and say I don't really get Duke Special. Call me 'mainstream' but he's odd. Leaving aside his appearance, he sings with a big old NI accent (and not in a Juliet Turner cute kind of way) and uses cheese graters in his songs. Hello?! Emperor's new clothes?! Am I the only one to realise you're being conned? Of course, I realise that when I come back home and am fully immersed in NI culture again, I'll eat my words and think he's the best thing since...some other fantastic NI artist with cult status.

In other news, I had an impromptu dinner party last weekend when my fridge freezer died. I didn't want to waste the food so invited people round to share in my thawed Bolagnese, Curry and Mushroom Chicken Something. Unfortunately it was too late for the Ben and Jerry's. My new fridge arrived on Wednesday and while I am excited by the turny ice cube trays, I am distressed that pizzas have to be taken out of the box to fit.

*Obviously excited he's coming too.

Bad day sandwich

My day started with a mosquito bite at the bus stop. I should have realised then it wasn't going to be pretty.

It ended with me missing my nice bus home. Yet, this was no surprise.

Yup, the day in between ssssssssuuuuuucccccccccccccckkkkkkkkkkkeeeeeeeeeeddddddddddd.


Except for the announcement that I have my first namesake! Welcome Lucy Wogan Aldersgate Blair. Yeah, not Tina, Aldersgate is my bit. Because I am the biggest stinking Methodist around!

Put your hand up if you're not here

I just spent about fifteen minutes reading other people's blogs. I started off with people I knew and linked through to other people that I had no clue about. Most people are way more deep than I am. Part of me thinks they're smarter than me, part of me thinks they're putting up a front (or at least they have different aims from their blog).

My blog is meant to be nothing other than a way for me to let my friends know what I am up to. Sometimes (although probably less and less often) I might make you laugh about something that happened to me, other times I might, just might, make you think about something. But most times I hope I at least provide you with a tinternet doss that you were looking for.

But seriously, who are you and why do you read this? Are there people I don't know reading this? I just ramble on here about nothing in particular.

So in that vein, here is the top layer of my brain arranged in no particular order:
-I went to the supermarket yesterday. I bought lizard traps for the geckos and it made me laugh about the whole different set of problems I get in my house this year compared to last. Although the geckos are not really a problem, I have guests coming to stay and I don't want them to think they're some sort of pet. Mind you, I'll get rid of the traps before they come. They might get scared if they knew!
- I also got a window cleaner (the instrument not the person) as I noticed my windows weren't the cleanest and I have guests coming. They better notice clean windows.
- I didn't eat dinner tonight. This was mostly because I ate chocolate (so as not to be too specific I shall be cryptic but it's the most geometrically interesting chocolate and the kind you tend to get in the airport). It was given to me by a parent whose child is pretty much getting bullied. I must be a great teacher, I haven't even really begun to try and help and I'm being showered with gifts! Huh! Maybe it's a bribe? Although for what I am not sure.
- I watched 'The Last King of Scotland' the other night. Fantastic film, although not a popcorn film but so many things going on in it. I talked about it today in two separate classes and am seriously thinking about some sort of History movie club in school. This might mean that I actually see 'Schlinder's List'.
- I laughed with my class about 'The Pianist', not that it's a funny film at all, but if you're 15 and still adjusting to a NI accent then what you hear when I say 'pianist' is funny. (It helps to adopt the brain of a fifteen year old.)
- I also showed some Peter Kay to my class the other day. The bit about emergency chairs. They didn't understand him but I laughed to watch it again. Thinking all this might be contributing to why we are a few weeks behind the plan. Oops, but I am educating the whole child!
- I'm waiting for Grey's Anatomy to start, that's why I'm still up.
- August 07's playlist contains:
Kings of Leon - Fans (they were in the Live Lounge an age ago doing this and it sounded unbelievable!)
Better Than Ezra - Desperately Wanting (you'd know it if you heard it)
Heaven 17 - Temptation (sang this all week because I was teaching a lesson on, yes, temptation. I didn't sing to the class because I didn't think it was target.)
- but also really like that Plain White Ts song and seem to rememeber liking Scouting for Girls when Scott was in for Chris a week or two ago but I have never knowingly heard it since so I can't be sure that was it.
- really need to back up my computer as I think it is now only a matter of time before it pops it.

Seven for seven

I have nothing to say but I wanted to blog because then I will have blogged every day for the last seven days and I don't think that has ever happened, not in Singapore anyway.

But I'll try to scape together some news for you anyway:
- I'm getting monster sore heads at the minute. Not sure why but I ran out of Ibuprofen so had an emergency run to the petrol station to get Panadol. Feel better now, thanks for asking.
- This could also be because of the Slurpee I got there (think there will be more trips there now that I know my garage has Slurpees. What joy!)
- I had Mexican for lunch. Not a whole one as the old joke goes, just some Tacos.
- School tomorrow, not looking forward to a full five days. Especially when I have zero classes prepared.
- I do feel a small triumph as these last few days I completed my coursework accreditation which has been hanging over my head since May. Put things off?! Me?! Stop with your crazy talk!
- I joined Facebook. Now I can talk to the same people that I talk to on Bebo and add in the Americans and Singaporeans too. And to think this time I year ago I wasn't using any social network sites. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Night night

I should be a fruitarian

You might have already seen this but my mum just sent me it.

I watched it very timidly, with my mouse over the other tab so I could switch at the first sight of anything unpleasant. Yes, I know it's the way it works, the circle of life, the law of nature and other clichés.



It did remind me of that line from 'Notting Hill' though:

'We believe that fruits and vegetables have feeling so we think cooking is cruel. We only eat things that have actually fallen off a tree or bush - that are, in fact, dead already.'

Thankfully the ickle buffalo got away (and I like to believe that the other buffalo nursed him back to full health, put ointment on his injuries and he's grown to a ripe old age) so now I can eat meat again. Not that I ever stopped actually.

Show me your happy face

I can show you three! Actually I can show you more but some were broken in transit so look a little bit scary.


I'm not a mother, but I imagine the question 'which is your favourite colour of Party Ring?' is much like trying to decide your favourite child.

Singapore, lah

Seeing as it's National Day I thought I would give you a little insight into Singapore English. When I was looking into Singapore I was comforted to know that English was the official language. And while that might be true, they have a language all of their own, handily called Singlish.

Let me give you some examples:

lah - put on the end of any sentence for emphasis. Eg. 'eat lah' which means 'go on, start eating'.

can - this one comes up in school a lot. Eg. 'Can I go to the toilet? Can? Can?'

cannot - my usual response to the above. Extra emphasis on the not required.

actually - put in where there is no need whatsoever. Eg. 'The Japanese actually took over Singapore in 1942 and actually renamed it.' What is 'actually' adding to that sentence? Nothing!

Is it - added to the end of any statement to make it a question. Eg. 'Assembly at 8.30am, is it?'

Auntie/uncle - cleaners, taxi drivers and generally people of a certain age. Children are encouraged to call older people this. I find it a little disturbing. The only people who should be called auntie or uncle are Holiday Bible Club and Sunday School leaders in the 1980s.

Pass up - again, this comes up in school a lot because it means to hand in. Eg. 'Do we have to pass up this work to you at the end?' Teachers in school will often 'pass' things to each other as oppose to give them, eg. 'can you pass me the key?'

Because why - used in the way you'd expect, eg 'We need to be on the bus by 6.30. Because why? We have to be there by 7.00am'.

Scold - used a lot more here than at home. Students get scolded for their grades, and teachers scold bad students.

dey/den/dis/dere - they/then/this/there

oreddy - already but used in a different way, eg 'dey go dere oreddy', but this could mean 'they're there now' or 'they have been and are back'.

Handphone - abbreviated to Hp, this is your mobile.

not - Used to make a question. Eg. You got rice or not?

To conclude this ra ra Singapore Day you should watch this. One of my First Years showed me it the other day. It's pretty much our course in a fun MTV style video. You can go here for an explanation of all.

Quote, unquote

I promised this a while ago, and I know you are gutted that I haven't come through on it yet, so here it is - my 'new' classroom display!


History acronyms with Year 1s and Germany with IGCSE. It's still up, even though Raffles has now well and truly founded Singapore with Year 1 and we're so far into Russia we're about to cover the NEP (that's the New Economic Policy, although I'm sure you all remembered that).

On the back wall are quotes to inspire and entertain. And in Mrs. Gregory styley I have put up the quotes that made me laugh a couple of weeks ago, although they are not laminated.


Along with the not so subtle 'You always have choice'. I have one boy in particular that needs constant reminding of the fact he has a choice in what he does. Yet he consistently will choose the wrong option so...


there is this handy reminder at the front. So help me, if my form class learn anything this year it will be this. (You might also notice I no longer have rows. When I came back in late June I acquired square desks enabling a horse shoe formation, the way I wanted my classroom from when I started!).

So with the photos up, here are the quotes I have up (perhaps you can read them at your leisure, there's a lot!):

'We need history, not to tell us what happened or to explain the past, but to make the past alive so that it can explain us and make a future possible.'
Alan Bloom, American philosopher

'Whatever is good to know is difficult to learn.'
Greek Proverb

'Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.'
Robert Collier, English writer

'Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.'
Eleanor Roosevelt, American humanitarian and political leader

'You don’t need eyes to see, you need vision.'
Maxi Jazz, lead singer of Faithless in ‘Reverence’

'Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.'
Oprah Winfrey, American media queen

'The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.'
Eleanor Roosevelt, American humanitarian and political leader

'Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?'
Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States of America

'Ninety percent of what you’re saying isn’t coming out of your mouth.'
Alex Hitchens, in ‘Hitch’

'The death of one man is a tragedy;the death of a million men is a statistic.'
Josef Stalin, leader of the USSR

'Whatever you are, be a good one.'
Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States of America

'Ah ha ha ha ha!'
Mary Poppins, in ‘Mary Poppins’

'Not failure, but low aim, is crime.'
James Russell Lowell, American poet, writer and diplomat

'I have five lessons to teach. What lessons they learn is entirely up to them.'
Nanny McPhee, in ‘Nanny McPhee’

'Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you are born to stand out?'
Ian Wallace, in ‘What a Girl Wants’

'You know the Greeks didn't write obituaries, they only asked one question after a man died, "Did he have passion?"'
Dean Kansky, in ‘Serendipity’

'You are what you choose to be.'
Dean McCoppin, in ‘The Iron Giant’

'To infinity and beyond!'
Buzz Lightyear, in ‘Toy Story’

'A brilliant man will find a way not to fight a war.'
Admiral Yamamoto, in ‘Pearl Harbor’

'Every man who wages war believes God is on his side. I'll warrant God should often wonder who is on his.'
Oliver Cromwell, in ‘Cromwell’

'Only the dead have seen the end of war.'
Plato, Greek philosopher

'War is young men dying and old men talking.'
Odysseus, in ‘Troy’

'Failure is never quite so frightening as regret.'
Cliff Buxton, in ‘The Dish’

'It’s what you do right now that makes a difference.'
Jeff Struecker, in ‘Black Hawk Down’

'It is not our abilities that show what we truly are, it is our choices.'
Albus Dumbledore, in ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’

'I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

'I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

'I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

'I have a dream today.'
Martin Luther King, American Civil Rights leader

'What we do in life echoes in eternity.'
Maximus, in ‘Gladiator’

'An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.'
Mohandas Gandhi, political leader in the Indian independence movement

'From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.'
Winston Churchill, war time Prime Minister of Great Britain

'An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.'
Mohandas Gandhi, political leader in the Indian independence movement

'Where does the power come from to see the race to its end? From within.'
Eric Liddell in ‘Chariots of Fire’

'Ich bin ein Berliner.'
John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States of America

'My good friends this is the second time in our history that there has come back from Germany to Downing Street peace with honour. I believe it is peace in our time.'
Neville Chamberlain, British Prime Minister, after meeting Hitler in 1938

'In Germany they first came for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me - and by that time no one was left to speak up.'
Martin Niemoller, German Lutheran Pastor

'Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.'
Chinese Proverb

'Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it is awfully hard to get it back in.'
H.R. Haldeman, political aide to President Nixon

'Those who stand for nothing, fall for anything.'
Alexander Hamilton, US Founding Father

'No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind...'
John Donne, English poet and preacher

'Why is there a piano on my cake?
King Xerxes, in ‘Esther, the Girl Who Became Queen’

So now we're on holiday! National Day is a really big to-do, with a huge parade (NDP if you please, I'm sure you can work it out!) that they start practising for in February. From the clips I have seen it looks akin to an Olympic Opening Ceremony. So I'll be looking forward to the fireworks at the end as I doubt they'll have a Barry Davies not totally understanding what is going on.

I will be having my own NDP tomorrow, although mine stands for National Day at the Pool! Happy 42nd birthday Singapore!

One on hand...

I have no more classes to teach this week, tomorrow is a 'half day' and we're off Thursday and Friday for National Day(s).

BUT

on the other, I have to be in school at 6.15am tomorrow morning in order to celebrate National Day.

Ra ra Singapore indeed.

V. grumpy

I stayed up late last night reading Harry Potter. I finished it but now am absolutely wrecked and irritable.

But seriously, how good was it?!

Here you go David

I got birthday mail this week. We're not dwelling on the fact that it's slightly late. Well 80% of them were. Plus it's more than I sent him (a stamp (used) and a card). And poor Karen just got kind thoughts. I would say that my birthday is more special than theirs, but it doesn't sound very gratious in light of their generousity so I shan't.


He's bigger than me. And I can't threaten my big brother on him.


Chocolate, kids' sweets, glow in the dark stars, and even pawty wings*! They know me so well! I don't think you'd even realise that the Sherbert Dip is empty. It didn't last 3 minutes after opening the shoe box of fun.

(*which reminds me, did you hear Scott Mills and the phone a book shop game? I thought I was going to fall off my chair at 'Downpour!' by Wayne Dwops)

But if a blog is all that is required for all this tastiness then I'll crack on.

A hop, skip and a jump

There are two podcasts that I regularly download, Chris Moyles and Sportsweek. I usually listen to them at the beginning of the week. I'm still listening to this week's Sportsweek. It's with David Davies as Garry Richardson is off on holiday. He's not as good if you ask me.

But anyway, this week on the line up was stuff about the Tour de France, Freddy Shepherd and Jonathan Edwards. 'Oh' I thought. I like him, he's always very sensible and well spoken about things, like drugs in sport...2012...God.

Just as David was rounding off talking to him, he referred to the fact he had 'lost his faith.' My mouth fell open, 'Jonathan Edwards not a Christian anymore?! Did I hear that right?!' (I have since discovered this 'news' is about a month old, but I'm out of the country!) I pressed my earphone into my ear, mouth open wide. And sure enough it seems during all that competing and training he was just on auto-pilot, believing what he was brought up to believe and not actually questioning why he believed what he said he did.

How sad is that? I mean, Christians all have doubts at one time or another but most of us come back. In the interview he didn't totally renounce God or call all Christians lunatics, he was very Jonathan Edwards about it, articulate and polite. And in some ways that makes it sadder. Because I think because of the way the man spoke about God and his faith did more to help others in theirs than any Harry Secombe 'Songs of Praise'.

I pray he comes back. And not because he's eloquent.