profile

i'm a girl who have stepped into the unknown called work and decided that schooling is better. i also have a propensity to go crazy over fried chicken wings and simply love to squeeze and over-feed my obese hamsters. my blog is a mode for expressing my love for food, movies, travel and shopping!



contact

qiuuing@gmail.com

email me if you don't feel comfortable leaving a tag :)



Lijit Search


tagboard


Monday, May 31, 2010 @ 21:57
- _ - "

OMG! SUPER TRAVELS JUST CALLED TO TELL ME THAT THE TURKEY TOUR HAS BEEN CONFIRMED.

this is after informing us this afternoon that the tour is canceled and they would be returning us the deposit. worse thing is, after disseminating the news, they have to consider whether they would be returning our $500 deposit. so inefficient and irresponsible. never going to book tours with small agencies anymore. and i'm going to hunt them down till they return me my money.

Labels:




@ 21:23
destination june 2010 confirmed

now that turkey is off, i'm stumped. where to go for my june holiday? my leave has been approved and i really need a break and i desperately want to get out of singapore. so after lots of pondering and inputs from family and friends, i have booked tickets for my june destination 2010.

so the thought process went like this...


  1. i wanted to go somewhere i haven't been before or haven't been to for a very long time, so it's going to be middle east, europe, africa, new zealand or some parts of asia.
  2. didn't want to go to somewhere chaotic. so no israel (civil strife), no korea (impending war), no philippines (earthquake).

therefore, after much thought as well as consideration for my budget, i'm going to be flying to this place on 11 june 2010...


it's really quick work my sis and i did to confirm our tickets and hotel rooms. woohoo!!! so glad to be going somewhere. going to eat lots and shop till i drop :)

Labels:




Sunday, May 30, 2010 @ 21:27
movie week

was really glad to have the opportunity as well as the time off to catch two movies this week. first movie was shrek in 3d and the second, which i still can't get over, prince of persia.


i'm not sure whether i can believe that this is really going to be the final chapter, after all the whole shrek thing is so huge. anyway, my 3d experience this time wasn't all that great. my sis assured me that the 3d glasses wouldn't interfere with my own glasses and since we were short of time, i trusted her and decided to forgo contact lenses.

however, when i actually got there and received my 3d glasses, it just wouldn't stay up. the 3d glasses were huge and kept slipping off my glasses. it was irritating having to spend the whole movie propping up the 3d glasses and boy, was it a workout for my flabby arms.

the movie, was only average. sometimes, i feel like dreamworks is just creating more shrek movies to hinge off the success of the first movie. after a while, it feels like there is not much of a storyline and the commercially successful series just becomes a bore and rubs me the wrong way.

however, i can't say the same for prince of persia!


after the movie, i just couldn't stop gushing about it to my friends. the main reason why i wanted to catch the movie wasn't because of heart throb jake gyllenhaal; it was because of jerry bruckheimer, producer of pirate of the caribbean and csi. as expected, the cinematography was beautiful, the cast well chosen and the plot was developed perfectly. not going to say more to spoil the movie for people who haven't watched it. let's just say, it's making me yearn for turkey!

Labels:




Thursday, May 27, 2010 @ 21:53
more work for the holidays


omg i'm so disappointed! super travels just called my friend and told her our turkey trip might be a no go because not enough people signed up for it. also, they would call her back latest by monday to let her know whether the trip will be confirmed. rather worried, i called them up and asked them how many people have signed up for the tour and what is the number needed for a confirmation.

to my shock and horror, they said 15 is needed for a confirmation and only 4 have signed up, INCLUDING US! i still remember when parv and i booked our tour, they told us they already had four people on the tour. what liars! so much for best-laid plans. now i still need to go sourcing for new tours and tour agencies. thought everything was settled and i just needed to pack my bags when the time comes. now, it seems like i still have work to do :(

Labels:




Saturday, May 22, 2010 @ 21:47
mani-pedi at ladyfinger

woohoo! went to pamper myself by getting a mani-pedi at ladyfinger, jurong point. it's a small nail parlour at the basement of the new wing, tucked into a corner just next to the escalator, opposite pets station. i've been there before and their service was good, so this time i brought my sis along. i chose candy pink for my fingers and a deep red for my toes (yes totally predictable). my sis on the other hand got this cute pastel green for her toes!

foreseeing that i would probably use a lot of pampering in the near future, i bought a package for 6 classic pedi at $210, which comes with 2 free quick dry coat and 3 nail masks. a classic pedi costs $35. i'm still paying the usual rate for the package, just that it comes with freebies. we utilised 2 pedis and both the quick dry coats today.

why did i see the need to pamper myself this week? i had a really bad week.

  1. got backstabbed early in the week
  2. had to re-mark 80 scripts overnight due to an oversight by a colleague
  3. had bad diarrhea the whole week and no time (had a course and lots of meetings after school) to see doctor until friday
  4. because of the diarrhea i had to starve for 2 days and became really weak. didn't want to take any mc as i dislike people doing that so i lost 1 kg and i can't afford to lose any more weight :(




so for getting myself through such a horrendous week, i decided i deserved a little pat on my back.

Labels:




@ 13:11
smooth taking stranger by lisa kleypas


i just finished another book by lisa kleypas. can't say i really like historical romances so i have never read any by her, but i adore her contemporary romance series featuring the travises. i loved the first two books--sugar daddy and blue-eyed devil, presenting the eldest brother, gage, and only sister, haven. thus, i looked up the nlb catalogue and viola! another book about the travises, this time spotlighting the middle brother, jack.

smooth talking stranger is heart-warming and tugs my heart-strings. the book touches on many modern relationship problems and has a mini 'aunt agony' section by the main character. it was so good i didn't put the book down until i finished it. can't wait for the probably the last book in the series on the last brother, joe!

Labels:




Wednesday, May 19, 2010 @ 20:54
22 days!

as i look at the countdown on my blog, i'm so happy. i'm 22 days closer to being in exotic turkey. it has been a great motivating factor for me, especially through this rather difficult week. i'm looking forward to the much needed break. sometimes i think school holidays are created for teachers and not students.

on that note, i'm really regretting that i had not followed my parents' advice of changing to USD. now it's rising like crazy :( from 1.37 to 1.40. i think i'm going to wait and see. hopefully the currency will start dropping soon.

Labels:




Monday, May 17, 2010 @ 16:42
horrified


i was just knifed in the back at work today. never expected this to happen to me... it's only been 5 months since i started :(



Saturday, May 15, 2010 @ 21:33
looks familiar?

ST Forum

Home > ST Forum > Story

May 15, 2010

Work-life balance? Here's one day in the life of a teacher

I AM often told how the Ministry of Education is easing teachers' workload, but I see little evidence of it.

My husband has been teaching in a neighbourhood school for several years. Despite the mantra of work-life balance, I see little of it in the lives of teachers. Here is a typical weekday routine for my husband:

  • 5am: Wake up and prepare for school.
  • 6am: Leave for school.
  • 7am: Arrive at school and perform morning duty (in a sense, 'guard duty').
  • 7.30am to 1pm: Regular teaching duties (including extra games for students who need more exercise during recess, which is part of the Holistic Health Framework that replaced the Trim and Fit scheme).
  • 1 pm to 1.30pm: Prepare for remedial lessons.
  • 1.30pm to 3.30pm: Conduct remedial lessons (my husband's school believes that to improve students' results, remedial lessons must be conducted daily).
  • 3.30pm to 5.30pm: Be present for the co-curricular activities he is in charge of.
  • 5.30pm to 6.30pm: Administrative work like keying in remarks on students for the mid-term report book).
  • 6.30pm to 6.45pm: Pack 36 books and piles of worksheets to take home and mark.
  • 6.45pm to 7.45pm: Travel home.
  • 7.45pm to 8.30pm: Eat dinner and rest.
  • 8.30pm to 1am: Continue with administrative work, such as marking books and worksheets, reviewing examination papers, and preparing programmes for the June school camp and Youth Olympic Games activities.

    Weekends are hardly restful. I often ask him if the endless work is because he is singled out. That is not so, he tells me. His colleagues face the same punishing workload.

    As I am writing this letter at 10am, my husband has developed a fever. But he is unable to seek medical attention as there is an oral examination in the afternoon.

    I understand there is a need to be accountable to students' parents. But in this case, who is answerable to a teacher's family if anything happens to the teacher?

    Aishah Quek (Ms)




  • Thursday, May 13, 2010 @ 16:19
    special thanks

    this is a super duper overdue post but i was waiting for my camera which i had lent to my friend so i could upload pictures. however, she seems to show no sign of returning me anytime soon, so i'm just going to blog.

    my birthday this year had been a really great one. although it fell on a monday and i was definitely not in a mood to teach or face the thick stack of marking on my desk, i had my good friends to cheer me up.

    i received lots of pressies, but that's not the point. i was pleasantly surprised to know that so many of my friends remembered my birthday and wanted to celebrate it with me, even when my birthday had passed. i had several birthday dinners by my different circle of friends who up to a week after the actual day, insisted on giving me a treat.

    so here is a countdown with my special thanks:

    4 birthday celebrations (relatives, parv & melly, practicum, lhn)
    3 birthday cakes (tcc, prima deli, swiss bake)
    2 birthday presents that i got for myself
    1 old friend that i haven't seen for ages

    i just wanna say thank you everyone!!!

    Labels:




    Monday, May 10, 2010 @ 06:21
    new online mall--jipaban

    this is so exciting. there's going to be a new online mall called jipaban, featuring popular blogshops like bonitochico, hervelvevase, hollyhoque and ohvola! it will be launched on 10 may 2010 at 10am (too bad i'll be still teaching).


    there will be social networking features which allow you to customised your shopping. join their mailing list for free at www.jipaban.com.sg now!

    Labels:




    Sunday, May 09, 2010 @ 22:05
    shopping makes me happy


    i went shopping!!! at one of my absolute favourite shops--zara :) pricey but totally worth it. i splurged a well-spent $257 and i am definitely going back for more. their collection this season is simply stunning. all those lovely nude tones, classic white blouses and gorgeous spring floral prints. really perked me up after such a lousy week.

    Labels:




    Friday, May 07, 2010 @ 22:11
    this certainly doesn't bode well for me

    Lack of sleep linked to early death

    Getting less than six hours sleep a night can lead to early death, a new study has warned. The researchers say people regularly having too little sleep were 12% more likely to die over a 25-year period than those who got six to eight hours sleep per night. Researchers from the UK and Italy looked at 16 previous international studies involving 1.5million people.

    Premature death from all causes was linked to getting either too little or too much sleep outside of the "ideal" six to eight hours per night. The researchers believe getting too much sleep may merely be a sign of pre-existing ill-health and they said modern society has seen a gradual reduction in the average amount of sleep people take. They say if there is a direct causal link between a lack of sleep and death, it would equate to over 6.3 million attributable deaths in the UK in people over 16 years of age.

    I only sleep 5-6 hours a day, Now...



    source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8660373.stm



    Wednesday, May 05, 2010 @ 19:48
    dishonest hairstylist @ chapter 2

    went to chapter 2 @ jurong point yesterday to get my hair dyed. chapter 2 is famous for their package deals and i chose colourcare, which included colour (up to 2 colours), cut and care (treatment). since i had no stylist in mind, they gave me a senior stylist by the name of vics. the package for senior stylist costs $139.

    during the haircut, she kept adding stuff for me like olive oil to maintain my hair moisture and upgraded my normal treatment to a cooling peppermint treatment. since i told the stylist i only wanted to dye and highlight and didn't want to cut my hair because i recently had a trim, i thought these additional stuff were to supplement my package. furthermore, she added them so conveniently and never told me they cost extra.

    at the end of it all, when i went to the counter, the freebies added up to a total sum of almost $100. absolutely ridiculous! what's more, the colour didn't even turn out right. instead of a dark brown, it's rather bright and there's no blondish highlight.

    i'm going to boycott chapter 2.