Simplicity is Bliss!

Lead. Care. Inspire

2010-07-20T19:59:00.000-07:00

That's the creed that my profession lives by.
Leading can be done through autocratic ways or laissez-faire methods. Caring can be shown through concern for your charges over their daily lives.
But INSPIRE?!

There's no guideline or official manual on what are the ways to inspire! Hit by a cognitive disequilibrium, I was truly stumped at the prospect of being an inspiration to others.

How does a person become inspired? Usually it occurs through admiring someone or some organisation's superhuman/extraordinary feat and that sudden stirring of the heart and adrenaline rush drives you to imagine yourself acheiving similar heights. Alas, those lofty goals don't usually materialise and remains as a pipe dream.

How can I inspire others? This is a question that I have no answer and must take on a journey in search of the path towards being an inspiration.

Certainly being passionate about what you do helps a great deal. But passion is a severely overused word isn't it? In addition, passion can be doused by fatigue and other issues that seeks to distract and disrupt you. That clouds one's vision.

So what then? I would say having a clear purpose for each season in life is something that keeps us on track in this race of life. Having a genuine interest/love in something and pursue it with excellence. When fatigued, take a sabbath and recharge your batteries and get back to the race.

To inspire others, one must have the belief and your passion/love will shine through and that influence you have will permeate your surroundings such that it is impossible to avoid. Being real and true to oneself breaks down all barriers to inspire, for you show who you are.

That said, a plumbline/blueprint is needed to keep you in check when all else fails, you need a role model to be there for you too.
I am thankful for that.

"You need to be inspired to inspire"

I get inspired by beautiful scener

Steak House Satou - Finest Matsuzaka Beef

2010-07-06T22:57:00.000-07:00

Paying homage to the greatest steakhouse (in my opinion) was one of the best experiences of my post-exam travel. I have earlier read up about Steak House Satou from Paul's Travel Blog and was so mesmerised by the marbling of the meat and the immaculate way the chefs handled the meat. To see it first hand and taste it was another experience altogether.

The concept was to have a butchery below and the restaurant above and thus the restaurant has supply to the freshest and finest cuts available.

Very beautiful piece of paper (im biased)

I chose the Omakase set which is to trust the chef and it cost 5250 yen ($83SGD)

Look, even the salad was made so prettily.

The chefs were separated by seniority. The junior ones would be cooking the veggies while the head chef dealt with the steak.

Look at the size of the steak!
Viola! Here goes my set: Salad, Steak, veggies, rice, miso soup and tea.

Close up of the wondrously marbled steak

Simply seasoned with ground pepper and salt. The meat was gorgeous. The fats were dealt with separately.

The vegetables.

The friendly staff took photo for me.

Check out my marbled prize

All done!

One to remember.

My four months @ U of A

2010-04-23T22:53:00.000-07:00

Four months just flew me by and its time to say goodbye to the University of Alberta and Edmonton! It was really just yesterday when the minus 30 degrees hit me in the face and the camera was so cold that it couldnt function.. I remembered the first night where we couldnt even make it to the traffic junction as it was too cold for us!

And so its just about right that I chronicle the past 4 months in this post.. the things that were not said and the pictures that were not posted would all be up here!

DEPARTURE and ARRIVAL into EDMONTON

Leaving home for 6 months was never gonna be easy! Though I put up a smiley face here, I was choked with emotions here with great friends and family sending me off, i was so touched. I never knew that so many people would send me off. I really felt loved. Thank God.

Arriving was a huge shock to our body systems! From tropical Singapore to Frosty Edmonton of minus 30 degrees! Even my mucus would freeze! Here the camera froze, my oakleys froze too! This was outside the hostel we stayed in the first 3 days.

SHIFTING INTO NEW HOME

When we shifted into ECV, it was such a torture! With all the luggage in tow,we had to lug it through knee-deep snow and it was so COLD!

But we made light of it and had snow fights!

The house was totally EMPTY.

HAHA.. we just threw everything on the floor and we bought all household items from scratch. From Dollarama!Cooking was an integral part of our lives! To save money we cooked almost daily except the weekends and special occasions. Jo brought the rice cooker from Singapore and each of us had sauces packed from our mums and herbal packs!

This was the kitchen.. we experimented with baking, frying.. you name it, we did it!

SAMPLE OF THE FOOD WE COOKED!

Our standard protocol is to have one soup, one veg and one meat per meal!

And we cooked both chinese and western food! During this time, we really missed Singapore food and home-cooked food!

Soup

Vegetable: Oyster Sauce Kailan!

Mapo Tofu with Minced Meat!

Teriyaki Chicken!Pasta and Pizza!Keep the best for last: This is my master piece! Fish in Chilli crab sauce. Formula is really simple: Mix chilli sauce and ketchup, then beat few eggs into it.. It really tastes like the real thing!

We bought our own mattresses and bedsheets! We slept on sleeping bags on the first week and broke our backs (pun intended). IT cost $50CAD!!! Pretty pricey!

We used t-shirts as pillow case. Poor Students!

School: University of Alberta

This was in school with the two school mascots! GUBA and Patches.At the iconic Butterdome where all the sports takes place.

Watching volleyball, basketball and ice hockey games in the Main Gymnasium.

Eating Cabana E sucre! The hot maple syrup poured on crushed ice! Its a French Canadian traditional thing.

Singaporean Society at U of A

The Singaporean Society was a real blessing that chanced upon us (yes u read it right). One night as we were walking back to ECV, two Singaporean girls, Lynette and Caelyn overheard our conversations and found that our Singlish gave ourselves away and told us to join them at the Society for their gatherings!

And what a blast it has been! Multiple makan gatherings (Chianti, Buddy, Sai Woo, Brewsters, KEG) Sports Sunday (At butterdome) and Jasper Trip!

This was at Phily's house.. we were watching the olympics opening ceremony!

At Buddy's having reunion dinner on CNY Eve!

Sports Sunday!

We played sports like basketball, frisbee, badminton and volleyball! They were all fun-filled games at the butterdome!

Friends: Glen Flach and Sarah Balla

I really want to thank God for these two Canadian friends that im close to. I knew Glen through Ecology Lab as he's my lab partner! He's such an easy-going guy with no airs. Even though he is so knowledgable and has a degree already (pursuing his 2nd one). And he doesnt discriminate. We have alot to talk about and he offered to bring me to visit his farm which was an awesome trip. He's a great friend.

Sarah Balla is another awesome friend of mine! In fact, she's the first friend that i've made in Canada and we met through genetics lecture! She initiated the conversation and I found out she did an exchange in Australia! She's also a PE teacher and she also teaches Biology.. So exact same combination as me! She's really into sports too, especially softball! She brought me to church, taught me to drink half coffee half french vanilla for tim hortons! We also went to Earls' to try the iceberg slush + beer!

SPORTS IN CANADA

I played and tried many sports in Canada! Im truly blessed.

Here's Kinsmen sports centre which I frequent every monday night to play the winter league Ulitmate frisbee league. Team 6 emerged as Champions!

Played outdoor ultimate at Hawrelak Park!

Snowshoeing at Athbasca Falls
Cross-Country Skiing at Strathcona Wilderness Centre

Snowboarding at Snow Valley

Biking on ice at North Sasketchwan River

Shooting in Opal, Glen's Farm

PLACES that we VISTED!

1. JASPER NATIONAL PARK (Twice! Once in Winter and once in Spring!)

This was with the Singaporean Society people and we did biking there!

It was a beautiful place to bike.. exploring all the lakes..

We had ICE-CREAM!

BANFF NATIONAL PARK

Lake Louise is the only mention-worthy place that I would put up on this post and it was really beautiful!

CALGARY

We went to Calgary during reading week and gosh, it was the best week of our lives! We were so well taken care of by Derek and Carol to the point that Im embarrassed. They are so nice to us and we really felt loved there. We bought them a cake on Valentine's day and also dinner on the last night!

DRUMHELLER

This was abit boring except with the landscape pictures were pretty interesting!

And the bus ride was horrendous!

DRIVING IN CANADA

Driving on the left hand side of the road has brought its fair share of laughs and scares! I got onto the wrong side of the road in Calgary downtown once and saw oncoming cars to my horror! HAHA..

Drove Glen's Manual 4WD truck! IT was a real experience to drive manual on left hand drive.

The past 4 months have been nothing short of amazing. I can only thank God for his blessings that he showered upon me and my travel mates. I also wanna thank all the friends that I have made in Canada and will miss them dearly!

Colors of Spring in Edmonton!

2010-04-20T16:28:00.000-07:00

I had my first exam paper at the U of A and it was the exercise physiology paper. It went pretty well and the organisation of the exam was vastly different to the one in Singapore.

1. We could place our bags right next to the bottom of our seats. (Based on integrity here)
2. They placed students taking the same module in alternate rows so you have no chance of cheating.
3. Once you're done, you bring the paper to the back of the hall and submit it yourself!

Pretty cool system I would say. I was abit bored after that and went for a jog in the evening. These photos were taken at 7pm.. and it was still so bright! (Due to spring/summer hours)

The place really looks so different to when i first arrived in January when it was all filled with snow and the North Sasketchwan River was fully frozen.

The river in full flow and overlooking the LRT bridge. This photo was taken on Groat Road.

Overlooking to the city centre side where the legislature building is

This is the U of A building near the riverside

On the other side of Groat road (the sun was shining and it was a HOT 23 degrees)

The remnants of winter(Last bits of ice left on the river banks)

Decided to jog to Hawrelak park to see how the lake looks like when its melted.. but didnt have a chance.. coz i saw people playing ultimate!!! And I went over to join them

A group of people playing American Football

I saw some people throwing and so I approached them to ask if they were gonna play a game and if I could join. Fortunately they were and allowed me to join! I was so happy as I havent played in 2 months since the winter league ended.

They were a team called Team Salmon! Funny eh? They were pretty near and I played a scrimmage of 3 points with them coz i remembered that I have to go back for dinner! And this photo was taken at 740pm! Still so bright!

Chemical Explosion @HUB!!!

2010-04-13T12:06:00.001-07:00

Today the alarm rang non-stop! We thought its a normal drill. End up its a real concern.
Turned out there was a chemical explosion and really foiled our sleep-in plans!
Funny thing was, I only decided to go down when we saw LOADS of police and then they also evacuated the kids from the childcare. And they cordoned off the whole HUB.

Look at the number of Police Cars

Cordoning off the area

Just woke up, i brought my cupcake and chocolate milk down

Alwyn just woke up and looks like he from Quan Ming Da Men Guo.

You're under arrest!

Quite a funny experience!

Special mention after final tennis class!

2010-04-09T18:47:00.000-07:00

Today marked the last tennis class at the U of A. The instructor, Mr JO, gathered everyone and had a briefing on what the final exam would be like, he mentioned about the topics like fundamentals, strategies and tactics. . Lo and behold.. He made a special mention about ME!

He said: Alex, is this your last semester at U of A? And I said yes. He thanked me in front of the class for helping to set up the equipment and always being there early. I felt a sense of pride and at the same time felt embarrassed as well.

I always thought that he wouldnt accept me because Im the only foreigner in the class. Initially, I figured that it would be natural for him to be biased towards the locals and outcast me. But as the weeks grew, not only did he not do that. He actually taught me pretty well. The most touching thing that happened today was after the briefing I went up to further clarify the exam topics (my usual style) and he clarified with me. After which, he extended his hand to shake mine, and thanking me for being part of the class.

I was so touched. I always thought of myself as the odd one out and to be appreciated this way made me felt so happy! To think I thought of him in the negative light earlier.. Its always a end-of-the-program thing. Be it a camp, module or course, I always feel a tinge of sentiment everytime something ends and it certainly was the case today.

My time at the U of A is almost over and I wouldnt swap this 4 months here for anything in the world. It has been a mind-blowing experience. I have learnt and seen so much that broadened my horizons.

Lately, Ive been thinking of wanting to pick up some basic sports injury management and sports medicine. I have some interest in those areas like kinesio taping and also other forms of sports treatments. I think they would come in handy when I eventually teach PE outside. I was looking up some courses that were held at the SSC and I wouldnt mind picking up a course or two there about sports injuries.

Back to serious work, its time to prepare for the exams!
Really want to thank God for bringing me to Canada. I thank him every night before I sleep.

The Keg steakhouse and Fuss Cupcakes

2010-04-06T22:22:00.000-07:00

So it was.
The great trip to the holy grail of steaks in Canada. We've been eyeing this place for ages and to set foot there today has been a privilege. Thanks to Alwyn, we get to dine here to celebrate his birthday.Arriving at the mecca of steaks.

Kitchen was an open concept where the chefs grill the meats in the open.

My starter was the Creamy Crab Chowder which was great with pangs of umami screaming from my tastebuds. Large chunks of crabmeat adorned the soup.

Satisfying soup! Wished there were more..

My entree is Top Sirloin with Dungeness crab. Its the crab season so they have a crab celebration menu. For the first time, i tried having my steak done at Chicago Medium Rare. This means that the steak is charred on the outside and have its doneness of choice on the inside. The theory sounds appealing but in actual fact the charredness didnt really cut it with me. I prefer the main stream kind of donenes..

Alwyn and Jo had the prime rib with prawn skewer. Another excellent choice.

Bought Fuss Cupcakes from Whyte Ave for Alwyn's bday.

Jasper in Spring!

2010-04-05T13:22:00.000-07:00

Easter Weekend in Canada extends from friday to monday, which means a holiday of up to 4 days! That was the main catalyst for a weekend getaway out of Edmonton. The S'porean society people had discussed to go to Jasper National Park to do some hiking and biking.

Even though its my 2nd time there, the place is still beautiful and still gives a lift to one's spirit. We travelled in a group of eight that also included wee wei, ashwin, edward and sarah.

We rented two cars from discount cars rental, they are xiao hong:A KIA Rio and medium hong : A Pontiac.Gathering at Lister centre on Friday Morning to discuss the route plans and pit stops.

I drove from Edmonton to Jasper which is a distance of about 350+km. A tiring 3-4hr drive but had Alwyn blasting music that helped alot! And Alwyn drove when we were in Jasper itself. Splendid views of Jasper

We stayed at HI-Jasper hostel. It was the first time that I stayed in a huge shared Dorm with the rest of the travellers. I guess Ive been inducted into true hostel living! This is the third HI-hostel that Ive stayed in my time here in Alberta with Athabasca Falls and Banff being the other two hostels.

The common area/lounge where people dine and congregate..

Town of Jasper: We went for a leisure stroll on the first day as it was too late to do any hiking so we just walked around the town. Very small, we covered 3 rounds within 2 hours.

This is the theatre where we caught a movie! We watched Alice in Wonderland.

The famous Bear's Paw bakery that sells superb pastries and Coffee.

Another sweet and chocolate shop.

Had Triple Chocolate Brownie Ice cream with chocolate-dipped cone.

Strawberry and chocolate Danish with Hot Chocolate! Superb!

A chocolate is given for each drink!

We rented mountain bikes and decided to bike a loop of lakes around the Jasper town!

We got the KONA bikes, full suspension and was pretty new. Its crankset is the latest Shimano SLX.

Everyone gathering before we set off!

Off we go!

Sarah and Wee Wei using the tandem bike!

I enjoyed riding the mountainous region! Did the topoing also!

The Wapiti section: Bridge that led to lake beauvert.

On the bridge..

The streams of water provide a picturesque- scene with the mountains.

Lake Beauvert! Full of geese! They were so noisy!

And the lake is still semi-frozen.

This is Lake Annette. Its still fully frozen.

Sarah Sarah, poor thing. She fell down after this when we were making our way back to Jasper town, when a car got too close to her and she swerved her bike and fell. She had scratches and abrasion on her hands and elbow...

We threw loads of rocks and pebbles trying to "skip" it on a frozen lake. Obviously impossible!

Ended up making the frozen lake look littered with rockes. Way to go in leaving a mark.

Look at the rocks behind us!

With the Jasper sign..

Had Lunch at Papa Georges'! This is my 2nd time here and I had the same dish again. The AAA Alberta steak topped with sauteed onions and mushrooms.

Had it medium rare and it was a gd decision because it remained juicy and the sauteed stuff was so good!

After lunch, we went to visit Maligne Lake, which was still completely frozen so im not posting up the photos. And we also visited Maligne Canyon

On our way to Athabasca Falls, some herd of sheep were blocking our way!

The Falls look way better now! Most of the ice has melted.

The falls are semi-flowing..

After a day of travelling and activities, we headed back to cook our dinner! Pasta making was really a no-brainer.

Messing around with the pasta and the sauce.

Sarah also brought chicken soup to add on to the pasta!

After bathing, i was combing my hair and realised that I could already tie up my back into a ponytail!

Third day morning! Time to head back to Edmonton.

We visited the other bear's paw bakery. Its basically the same but its slightly larger.

I had the Apple Streudel and cherry Danish. Both which were good. I also had the Chocolate Chai which is a great combination between chocolate and chai tea. I had ordered the Creamy Coconut Chicken soup and the rest followed in ordering the soup as well.

It was a great getaway and gives my spirits a lift!

Now its back to Edmonton to prepare for the final exams!

Flach's Farm Getaway!

2010-03-28T19:57:00.001-07:00

Im back from the weekend at Glen's farm at Opal, a small town north of Edmonton. It was a pretty good experience and so different from the city lifestyle! This is the second farmstay that i've done in my entire life. The first one was in Brisbane when went with the BB but it was abit commercialised. Flach's farm is really a chill, laid-back north american farm that just focuses on Cattle.

I did pretty much, helped out abit with the feedling duties, opening the gates for the tractor to deliver the hay to the cows, fed a calf, went shooting and of course, demonstrated S'pore's cuisine and showcasing my culinary skills at the same time..

This is Glen's mum, Carol.
Mrs Flach was making supper for us when we arrived on friday night.
Look at the big kitchen!

We had a simple fare of eggs, pork sausage and buttered toast.
Resembling breakfast a little, its tasty!

After supper, we played a game of pictionary with Glen's sister and her boyfriend. Tracy and Corey.

Teaming up for pictionary!

Corey and Tracy were one team!

This is the basement where we slept in! Pretty cold and silly me forgot that

I had a comforter to cover myself with till the middle of the night when i could endure no

more and then i realised i had a comforter below me all along..

Breakfast was cereals with milk!

Heading out to the farm proper and helping out with some farming chores!

Look at the COWS... MOO~

They look startled everytime i turn around or jump!

Glen's Dad, Dean, operating the tractor to deliver the hay to feed the cattle.

Showing me his masterpiece! This plane cost $55k CAD and 7 years to build! Its amazing because he has all the land there to fly around and the fuel can last him for 300miles.

Pretty amazing that he can own a plane!

The cockpit looks cool and this plane can seat 2 people!

At the entrance of Flach's Residence.. Nicely arranged rocks were transported in by Mr Geologist himself, Glen.

This is Lucky the sheepdog, no.. or rather.. the cowdog! Employee of the year. A cute and shy dog..

Another of Glen's creations..

Time to go for some shooting! This is Glen's gun. We wanted to go hunt some gophers

but the weather was still pretty chilly and so they wouldnt come out and so we decided to

just make some targets to shoot at.

Old-school rifle!

Glen also has a paintball marker!

And taking aim for my first few shots! It was gd as there was virtually no recoil and the gun sight could aim as far as 300ft.

Did pretty well, shot some cans and cartons! Marksman in me still alive!

Our targets of the day: Some ball, milk carton, cans on the frozen pond.

Gun and Ammo.

Trying out new positions to shoot to gain better stability

Lunch was prepared by Mrs Flach, we had buttered rice, chilli and meatloaf. This was before heating up the cheese.

It looks gorgeous once the cheese has melted! And the meatloaf is oh-so-good! Especially when u drown it with Hickory sauce!

This is Angel, the siamese cat..

Time to feed the Calf! The calf is only about a week old and is a twin but a mother cow can only feed one so this calf is sort of "orphaned" so needs to be fed synthetic milk! Usually Glen's parents feed it so its didnt recognise me and Glen and was scared of us that it ran away and peed! It was also shivering and pretty afraid of us.. till Glen pacified it and lured it over..

Glen lured it over by squirting some milk periodically and called it over!

And I reaped the benefites by continue feeding it! I also patted its head. Quite cute and docile..

We went to the neighbouring town of Redwater to check out the town and he showed me the largest oil derrick in Alberta.

Glen let me drive his brand new Ford Ranger 4x4 Truck! It is in Manual Transmission and so driving left-hand drive manual is no joke! But this 4Litre truck is truly powerful and a joy to drive especially now that its manual.

This is the sign for Flach Farms at the entrance of the farm.

Aha! Now its the time to put Singapore on the world map in the Flachs' household. So this is my own cultural exchange programme for the Flachs' and so I cooked Singapore's Curry Chicken for them and they loved the lemak rendition that I made. This had a hint of nyonya curry in it.

Pre-coconut adding.

Added coconut milk to make it lemak.

Photo with the Flach's Family at the dinner table. Btw, they call dinner "supper" dont ask me why. Its just the Canadians.

Tracy, Corey, Glen, Aunt Gladys and Mrs Flach loved my curry! Especially Corey and Tracy who kept helping themselves to it. Makes me happy!

Look at the colour of the curry! Looks alluring and tastes equally good!

Mrs Flach made pasta and BBQ chicken

For desserts we had chocolate cake topped with whipped cream and strawberries! IT totally rocked!

And this was my breakfast before I left!

Waffles with Maple Syrup..

All in all, this was a great experience! Thanks to Glen and family!

True Leadership is Stewardship

2010-03-24T23:26:00.000-07:00

I was watching this video by Rick Warren where he addressed a crowd on the purpose of living.

He's the author of the internationally reowned book "The Purpose Driven Life" and earned tons of money from it. Now, he's giving talks across continents. After watching, it struck me quite abit about what I am doing with my life, re-aligning to my purpose in life again. He touched on a couple of issues that were close to my heart.

They are namely:

1. Purpose

2. Leadership

3. Influence

I was running in the gym earlier and these three words kept ringing in my head and so I thought I should journal it down.

The first point is on leadership.

He said that true leadership is stewardship. You dont own it, you're a steward of it. How apt and it was directed at an angle that I have not personally seen before. It means you do not own but merely a caretaker for God.

As a teacher, I am a steward of my students, steward of my influence on them and a steward of leadership over them. I was thinking about the area of influence and leadership that a teacher has over a student.

Often, we get so caught up in just pedagogy and fulfilling what is required of us that we dont realize that we dont own it. We dont own the influence over them. We are stewards of the influence. We have gotta take it seriously. Many people dont, thats for sure. I have seen my fair share of people who abuse their area of influence. On the other spectrum, people take their area of influence for granted. Bottom line is, it is NOT yours. We are stewards of it. This is a paradigm shift in my mindset.

Leadership is being a steward of the people under your charge. You've gotta be accountable for them and the main purpose is to serve the people under your charge and give your lives to them. When you live your life in such a manner, its evident you're not a run-of-the-mill teacher from the factory in Boon Lay.

The next point is on purpose.

Purpose comes in giving your life away. Not when thinking of adding on things to your life.

Its not wealth, materialism or status. Its about being good and doing good unto others. Thats what Rick Warren says. I dont take 100% of what he says but I get the drift. When you live a selfless life whose purpose is to serve God and serve others. You will find meaning. We are wired that way, well at least I am.

But Im guilty of being NATO. I cant even remember when was the last time I helped somebody in a formal way. Like helping orphans, lesser privileged kids and others. But I hope when I begin my career that I can help my students, especially the less-fortunate ones.

Lately, I have been thinking of doing Masters, taking up Outdoor Diplomas or courses and looking at working overseas, studying overseas. I have to say that I have been too caught up with me, myself and I. This video really gives me a kick-in-the butt.. nothing wrong with thinking what I want to do because thats my interest and God wants you to be.. just.. you. So how can I tie in my dreams with purpose?

I guess the answer lies in my career.

Therein lies the third point:

What's in your hand?

Identity. Income. Influence.

I am an educator. I earn a salary. I have influence over teenagers in schools.

Have I been maximising with what I am given?

Opportunities, talent, freedom, networks, education, background.

These are the several areas that needs to be carefully examined if I have given careful attention to each of this factors. I would like to think that Im living a purposeful life and that Im maximising my opportunities, my talent, education and networks.

Im sure I can do better, with God's help, I hope I can answer some of these questions I have in my life.

Dino-land beckons...

2010-03-20T23:21:00.001-07:00

Today's trip to Drumheller was good and bad. Good because we had splendid view, great weather (we could walk around in t-shirts) and good company! Bad was because of the brutal bus ride that threathened to sap the life outta all of us. The bus ride was horrendous due to its poor suspension that could rival a 30yr old car and it was as though i was seating on a 4hr roller coaster ride.

Other than that, it was fine. HUB organised this trip to Drumheller and also gave us a packet of fruit juice, orange and a muesli bar. Pretty decent welfare there.. We had breaks at Stettler, a town filled with the elderly and we call it a nursing home! Haha

We prepared from the night before, went to T&T to purchase groceries to cook for the lunch and dinner! Lunch would be Singapore Style Mee Goreng fried by yours truly and alwyn made the pasta. Proudly dishing out my Mee Goreng. We placed it into the rice cooker pot and covered it with foil and brought the whole pot there. Used prima pack to fry and it was yummy!

Sarah made the sandwhiches for breakfast and the ham and cheese were nice!

Mr Loh making the sauce.. and flexing his biceps at the same time..

Ridiculing the "xiao lao shu"

The cute icon on the HUB events Calender.

Onto the bus! Really shagged..

Plugged in my earphones to make time pass faster- to no avail!

Finally! we arrived!

Entrance..

The following pictures shows how bored we were...

Save us! T-REX is gonna eat us..

T-REX again..

Save the fallen triceratops!

Dont shit on me birdie!

We took out our lunch, place it into lunch boxes and then went to microwave it! Nice!!!

We ventured out to the outdoors to take a look!

The weather was hovering around12-15 degrees. Pretty warm, so we took off our jackets later!

Posing various ways that were boyband-worthy..

This pic is nice!

Climbing up the mini hill..

Reaching the top!

My "IGINLA" moment

Back to back pic but it aint brokeback..

we're trying to do jumpshots! Sarah caught whole of the successful pics.

Using my shades to take them! Argh!

World's largest Dinosaur!

The trip was pretty okay, minus the bus ride. Actually we spent more time on the road more than anything. Nothing fantastic but still a getaway from Edmonton City. I wish the trip had more attractions though!

Snowboarding @Snow Valley!

2010-03-13T19:25:00.000-08:00

I did something today that I could not forsee myself trying it at any point of my life. Wah.. got so dramatic not?

Haha.. I went for snowboarding at Snow Valley today! It was a bittersweet experience to say the least.. Bitter because I fell TONS of times, fell on my butt, fell on both knees, hit my head and abrasion on my nipples. Sweet because, I finally mastered how to snowboard without falling!

We progressed from the kiddy hill, then middle hill and finally to the chair lifts. I only mastered how to control direction in my last two tries!

The Lodge entrance.

Snow Valley Map

The chair lifts..

Mark, the trip coordinator from HUB, giving a briefing before the activities begin.

The ski pass for the day

Posing with the board

With the Snow valley sign

On the Conveyer belt! The belt is really cool and transports you up the hill...

ME coming through! Alwyn loh just got up...

The pose quite seh ah..

Crashed!!!! I fell at such a high speed that i blanked out!

Going up the middle hill

Up the chairlifts! IT can go at such high speeds!

Coming down is also technical. we have to get outta way quick lest the next chair hits us!

Let the Snowboarding begin!!!

I fell on my knees and was dragged down by the board.. it was so painful as though i got thrown out of a car.. flew and crashed...Recovered to take a photo!

The best pic of the day and I managed to go down the main slope without falling! Persistance pays off. For the saying goes: "If at first you dont succeed, try and try AGAIN!" That really holds true.

I was so frustrated at first but once i got the hang of it, i was very pleased with my learning! It has been a good day! Thank God.

Some old pics from ATC '09

2010-03-08T19:31:00.000-08:00

Some old pics from last year's ATC. It was a great race. Won great prizes too.. We led all the way throughout the whole race and was also interviewed by mediacorp also!

Riding on trails of North Sasketchwan River..

2010-03-06T19:27:00.000-08:00

Its very nice of Sam to organise a bike ride when I asked him to bring me a ride and he even lent me all his gear and his bike! It was an awesome ride with the weather being splendid and the sun was out! Only down side was the trails.. the ice was slushy and i fell countless times! And it was cold once we speed down the trails..

After gearing up.. never wore such elaborate attire before.. haha.. it was pretty fun and a nice feeling!

Wearing Cleats for the first time in my life! And also had protection to keep it dry and also warm..

Sam lent me his bike for today! Its the Norco..

We gathered at Redbike, near the U of A.. here with K-Force..

And the biking begins! Down from international centre and into the Sasketchwan river valley..

We got a group of about 10..

Taking a breather at the River Bridge..

Group photo! Of the UAOC.. or Outdoors Club..

Trail biking is no joke! I fell countless times.. The ice was so slippery i slipped twice on it. The slush was so soft that my rear wheel spun like nobody's business.. Worst of all, mud..! Hard snow's the best to bike on.. but not when its knee-deep level..

And the trails are tough with LOADS of uphills and downhills.. I died going up.. And sometimes I cant uncleat in time.. I FALL.. many times!!

Pushing my bike up the hill..

Another Brutal Upslope...

Sam wanted to try it!!

And lived to tell the tale! He looks shagged.. but he's a real solid biker!

Washing up!

All in all, thank God I came back safe in one piece! IT was an AWESOME ride.. scenic and good weather.. if only the trails were nice, that would be perfect..

Ecology Field Trip + Physiology Lab Subject + Brewsters

2010-02-27T00:10:00.001-08:00

Went for my first field trip for Ecology this week! It was pretty much an eye opener when we visited Glendale Golf Course and checked out the ecology of the lake there.

We had a "Magic School bus" chartered for us and it was a first for me! It is originally meant for kids and they even have names written in chalk on the top of the seats belonging to each kid. Cool eh?! We went to St Albert which is a 30minute drive away..

With labmate Matt.. (rhymes?)

With my lab buddy.. Glen..

Reaching there and playing with the Driller!

Glen with the Driller!

My TA Jordan drilling the ice.. A superb kayaker that paddles down waterfalls.. but had a back corrective surgery to deal with injuries..

Glen chipping off the ice..

With lab mate Jason who's from Phys-Ed as well.. Cool dude..

My Exercise Physiology lab where i was the lab subject..

Did pretty well considering Im inactive and the two Golden Bears cheered for me..

Then we when to Brewsters and its Wings' night again! Had the Raspberry beer tonight!

Not too bad as well..

Look at the Obscene amount of wings that we HAVE ORDERED! I think i ate 30+++ !!!!

With Ashwin..

Calgary Trip during Recess Week!

2010-02-24T09:36:00.001-08:00

Firstly, like to thank God for blessing us with such a wonderful family in Derek and Carol for they were such wonderful hosts with they three boys! They are Dr Teo's roommates back at the U of A when they shared the unit at HUB mall where I live now as well.

Derek and Carol were great hosts and made us feel at home with their hospitality, buying us meals, going out of their way to buy marshmellows for us to BBQ.. it was amazing! Their house was amazing with the basement, the fireplace, the dining area and the rooms. He even went out of his way to rent a car for us, provide us with maps and even lent us his GPS. We were truly overwhelmed.. Breakfasts.. were also elaborate affairs and it really blew us away..Breakfasts.. were also elaborate affairs and it really blew us away..

Complete with maple syrup,cakes, cookies, muffins and English Earle Grey Tea..

Look at the Egg holders! Pretty eh?!

We also had home-made pancakes by Carol! Awesomeness.. with Maple Syrup..

We also had french toasts! Very sweet and crispy!

I drove in Calgary! Its left-hand drive and I was kinda confused initially! You have to be on the right side of the road at all times.. I was blur about the 4-way junctions especially and i even had to do a three point turn when i found myself in the wrong direction after going on a one way street.. I drove a rental car- the Dodge Avenger.. A 3 litre car that was manufactured just this year so its pretty new! And VERY powerful...

First stop, we visited downtown Calgary and where else? The Calgary Tower.. The Calgary '88 olympics was here and the tower played an important role for the lighting of the flame..

I also dropped by the University of Calgary and visited the Olympic Oval which was pretty neat...This is the Canada Olympic Park! Where the olympics was held in 1988.. Still very well maintained.. and inside there's an Olympic Museum..

Posing with the Bobsleigh..

This is St-Stephen Ave.. Downtown Calgary and its like the main shopping district..

It was tuesday night and we had the good fortune of being around so we went to Brewsters for Beer and 20cent wings! Yes! you read it right, 20 cent wings!~This is on the streets of Banff.. Very pretty and also very touristy.. Kinda like a tourist attraction.. Expensive food and goods.. but its still a must go!My Canmore ticket to Cross-Country Skiing!Posing with the Skis when Ashley went back to retrieve her gloves..This is Lake Louise with the ice sculptures of the Olympics..

Lake Louise is just magnificent.. I wished it was melted though..

The Chateau Lake Louise

This is Mount Norquay! It was 4pm and the ski hill has closed and there was no one around! The whole mountain is ours! Haha.. so we took our crazy carpets and did tobogganing on our own! IT was so exhilirating and fun to go at such speed and we slide for quite a long distance..

Reaching back to Calgary, on our last day.. We got our car towed! How unlucky? We spent 2 hours at the impound lot trying to get our car back and we paid a hefty fine of $126.. Sucks..

Happier stuff: We went for last dinner with Derek and Carol at this Chinese restaurant where we treated them to dinner! It was great and we felt it was the least we could do..

With Derek, very jovial and happy-go-lucky guy!

Pekking Duck.. Shiok!Shark's Fin Soup.. Okay only..

Pork ribs were pretty good..

Maine Lobster.. Stir-Fried Chinese Style..Steamed Fish HK style..

This reading week has been a blast and must really thank God for his provision.. and special thanks to Derek, Carol and family for treating us like part of their family.They are such great hosts, telling me stories about S'pore and about their U of A days with Dr Teo.

Derek being a peranakan knows his food very well and i enjoyed discussing food with him.. Sigh, we teared a little when we left.. But we know this is not goodbye! We intend to meet them when they come up to Edmonton to meet Carol's parents at St Albert in April!

Cross-Country Skiing @ Strathcona Wilderness Centre

2010-02-09T23:27:00.000-08:00

Finally we've arrived!
Cross-Country Skiing is one of the must-do things in Canada! And finally we have done it with the UAOC's introduction to skiing course. It is held at the Strathcona Wilderness Centre. We carpooled there and had to cook and pack our lunch the night before.

So i cooked Stir-fried black pepper Udon with egg. Nice eh?! Alwyn made the pancakes for breakfast!

The wilderness centre is a 30 minute drive from Edmonton and Strathcona County is abit ulu and has loads of oil refineries as though they are chucked outside the city. Well, u get the idea.

Our driver is David Thomson, a dude from BC, who was quite nice and told us alot about Vancouver.
The centre was filled with loads of people. We had a 2 hour lesson which is really everything essentially supposed to be taught in 6 days cramped into 2 hrs. So it was really productive in learning the skills. Nonetheless we went to slopes to slide down and learnt how to brake and change direction why coming downhill.

ITs really FUN! and a good cardiovascular workout as well!

The centre signboard

At the skis holding area, the skis and ski boots are light and nice to wear!

Waiting for instructions to ski down a slope by the instructor..

Then coming back uphill is really tough! You keep sliding downwards..Taking a breather....After lunch break! Now for a guided tour round the trails!

Skiing has been a blast!

I love this sport and want to do it whilst the snow is still around before it melts in Spring!

I hope reading week at Calgary would be fun and maybe can ski more in Banff! Woohoo~

Things I gotta do after reading week!

1. Visit Sarah's Church

2. Visit Glen's Farm and shoot Gophers.

3. Toboganning at Maligne Canyon

4. Intro to Ice Climbing at Nordegg

5.Kayaking with Glen and Jason at Sasketchwan River

S'porean dinner gathering@ Chianti on Whyte Ave

2010-01-30T00:51:00.000-08:00

Met up with fellow S'poreans at the Chianti restaurant on Whyte Ave, had Bubble tea before that and then adjourning to Philiana's house for chatting.. Was good to meet up with people that speak the same language as you: SINGLISH! Funny some of them go back to S'pore to do exchange at NUS when they are full time students here. But most would want to stay in Canada to work.. The food here was decent but the fellowship was GREAT! =)My pasta: Chiopino Al-Chianti
Basically just Seafood pasta, decently done but nothing to shout about really.

Ashley had the Vegetarian Lasagna

They grate the pepper..

and the cheese as well...

Athbasca Falls and Jasper Town!

2010-01-29T23:53:00.001-08:00

The long-awaited post where I went to Athabasca Falls and Jasper Town!
Had a great time meeting the UAOC people like K-Force and Valerie. But we should have cooked though.. coz it was kinda pathetic eating Cup noodles. Its called Cabin Fever with the theme being "Lumberjack"! Shall let the pictures do the talking..

My cabin..

The interior of the cabin, warm and cozy..

Everyone has to pump water for use coz there's no running water at this hostel.
Splendid view of the Rockies Mountain just outside of the Hostel.

The majestic Athabasca Falls

Going for Snow-shoeing!After half an hour of hiking and snow-shoeing, we reach the peak with splendid view!Jasper Town

The crossing Big-horn sheep caused a big jam for the cars as they were licking off road salt.. and they are damn good climbers..see the pic below!

Exercise Physiology Lab Session

2010-01-19T16:28:00.000-08:00

Today we had our first real lab session! And we did ergometry testing the resting HR and exercise HR as well as RER among other stuff. The screen below tells all the data of the subject performing the exercise..Packing the bed up after the resting HR of the subject is taken..TA Erin is demonstrating how to use the ergometer before the subject tries it!

It was quite a fun experience and im up for the lab next 2 weeks as the subject and i have to do the VO2 max testing! Hope i wont puke!

West Edmonton Mall's Water Park

2010-01-17T23:50:00.000-08:00

Today we went to WEM's water park and it was quite awesome! Had the tickets from the PE office at $10 which is way cheaper than the regular price of $36. The indoor wave pool was really good and cheap thrill! We just swam there and let the waves blow us away! The rides were also a myriad of fast and twirling rides.. We can also surf.. Not bad..

Southgate Shopping Mal

The latest mall that opened last september was really quite good. Its abit like orchard ion and has quite a good array of eateries and malls. Definitely smaller than WEM, but it can still hold its own when compared to other malls.

Winter Olympics Torch Relay

2010-01-13T22:31:00.001-08:00

I went for ultimate frisbee pick-ups at the Kinsmen Sports Centre yesterday! The atmosphere is quite cool there and teams are decked in colours and the people are really quite friendly. I wasnt supposed to play at first as the teams are full, but eventually I got a place in the white team. And managed to play quite well, scored, D-ed and make a few assists...

Playing indoors is really different and winter league's kinda disorganised as well. Hope to learn more about tactics there. I have joined the league officially and hope to be put on a friendly team.

Today the winter olympics torch relay came past the U of A. The whole university community came out in full force to support the torch bearers. There were Golden Bears street hockey, dance club, cheer-leaders and also traditional Red Indian Dancers!

Nice Floating Vehicles..

Me outside the Butterdome.

Sports @University of Alberta

2010-01-09T22:29:00.000-08:00

I had my official first tennis lesson today! We started with easy forehand and backhand strokes. The instructor adopted a GCA method of teaching which went down very well with me. The lesson progressed fairly well and we were able to hit quite good strokes. But I really need to work on backhand and service! Today I visited many areas of the PE faculty and also watched two games of the Golden Bears and boy was it a thriller!

The indoor swimming pool was WARM which is added incentive to go and swim there cause it’s so cold now! They have few lanes that intersect one another. Oh the smell of chlorine is really strong! And people do their beginning diving lessons there as well.. Cool.

The butterdome is one amazingly big and well built structure. It is an indoor stadium with a 200m track and also badminton courts, basketball courts, tennis courts and a rock wall. The track & field team trains there as well and the courts are so versatile that they interchange for so many sports. The key distinction is tradition. You could feel it in the air and there’s so much belief that they are that good. We could really bring a lot of these back in S’pore. Last night we went to RATT(Room at the top) which is at the top floor of the SUB building for dinner. They had a beer promotion as it was the Oilers game! It went $4 per pint which was rather cheap! There was quite an atmosphere and they even have emcees and DJs to host the event. It was a rather warm and fun atmosphere! Pity the Oilers lost and everyone was quite disappointed. The puck above was given to us with a player’s no. above, if the player scored, had a foul or even FIGHTS! We could get a prize. Sadly my player was a defender and had a quiet game! This promotion is kinda fun and I haven’t had that back in S’pore.

Today I took the wrong bus and ended up in Capilano when I was supposed to go West Edmonton Mall. Haha. It took 1 and a half hour on the bus. Stupid eh! When we got there we had Vietnamese food and I had beef stew Pho which was really shiok! But expensive la as usual, worth it though! Then we headed back to butterdome to catch the Golden Bears Basketball and Ice Hockey Games. For $5bucks, we could watch both matches and we moved around to catch both to make our money worthwhile! The basketball match was really close and they look really professional! Even the people here treat it like watching a movie as they have popcorn and drinks on sale! Even the managers are decked in suits which really look like NBA man! Alas, the bears lost the game 80-84. SAD. Haha They also have the silly bear mascot who goes around to flirt with girls.

The Hockey game was equally exciting! They gave our free shirts to first 100 people! Darn.. Wasted..The shirts were really cool. The front said : “ Destroy the Dinos” and back “Friends don’t let friends go to U of C” The reason for it is because the opponents are their fiercest rivals, the university of Calgary who are in the same state of Alberta also. Thankfully, we won 6-3! Good one UofA! Then the kids were always shouting “FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT!!!” when two players squared up to each other. Haha. But they never did as the referees would intervene.

So far so good. Its really fun. Im going to send my resume to an outdoor shop to work part-time. Hopefully my experience of working in Salomon would come to good use. I will join the UofA winter league on Monday at Kinsmen! Update soon!

Start of school at the University of Alberta

2010-01-07T10:58:00.000-08:00

We are on Campus! Stacked with snow everywhere..

Look at the ice cream cake bench!

I had my first lesson which is an Exercise Physiology lecture and it was oh so different! The lecture instructor and lab coordinator are two different people and the ones conducting the labs are Teaching Assistants(TAs). I felt like a fish out of water but it was really a different culture here. The topics for exercise physio is quite tough. The lab has loads of calculations man.

Today I had my first tennis lesson! The instructor is very well versed with the game and gave us the low-down of the history of tennis.. The evaluation of tennis even includes an essay question of how the tennis scene is like in Edmonton and is anything done for the game here in Edmonton. I think that is really a holistic approach that we don’t get in S’pore.

Today’s bio gave me another surprise/shock! They use a clicker to determine classroom participation. It’s like a Wii controller and students answer questions by pressing buttons that indicate the answers to the questions on the screen. How cool?! In S’pore, its so ambiguous and we don’t know how our class participation is measured. What’s NOT cool is that it costs $30 CAD.. super expensive.. And it’s already 2nd hand and im gonna sell it back also. Bio and pysch were okay with pysch being really quite fun and enjoyable. Ecology bored me to sleep..

Its been quite fun that we’ve been cooking at our house the past 2days. We had Japanese Curry the night before and herbal chicken soup with fried bean sprouts and omelette. Quite nice and fits our budget. Everything is so expensive here! Textbooks, food, stationary.. EVERYTHING! I really realize and treasure what I had in Singapore so easily which I took for granted last time. The past two days I survived on donuts and drinks which cost less than $4 CAD. It’s still quite expensive but no choice because I want to save to buy stuff and travel.

It’s been hard to make friends because I’m Asian, the minority. I can empathize how the immigrants in S’pore feel now. And we came in Sem 2, so there’s no orientation to help us to integrate. But we joined transitions.. hope that it really helps us to make new friends. I spoke to people in lessons but I wish they could be friendlier. I’m going for ultimate pickups tomorrow and I hope that I can make friends through it!

Thus far, the winter is keeping everything slow and quiet and I hope that it picks up with more activities soon! And its been a real eye-opening sight over here and I thank God for giving me this opportunity.2 years back, I would never imagine myself being here. I rejoice for he is my strength and he amazes me with his grace. Thank you Lord for loving me and giving me life.
I have joined UAOC (Outdoor Club) as a member and I may be going on trips this month to Jasper National Park for some skiing and snowshoe hiking! Keep you posted soon!

West Edmonton Mall and Old Strathcona

2010-01-02T23:34:00.000-08:00

Greetings! Today's account is for Day 2 and 3 pre-schooling days in West Edmonton Mall and Old Strathcona.

The picture below is at Old Strathcona along whyte avenue. Look at the snow and trees! Its really beautiful! Though the snow is supposed to be white, those on the road are really dirty and black! Old Strathcona is really near to U of A and there are banks, supermarkets and Chinese eateries! (Very prized over here)

Im in West Edmonton Mall! Behind me is the skating ring! but im looking forward to skate for free at some frozen lake. But the mall is GARGANTUAN. 800 shops and all. There's really endless things to do here. Sadly, i am still jetlag and even slept during the shopping. The chinatown inside is quite small but the supermarket has EVERYTHING! Even S'pore's laksa and chilli crab sauce mix.

This is HUB Mall. Where we were supposed to stay but alas, its too popular and there's no space. But there's a host of stuff inside good for students to buy and use.

Still acclimatising and getting my body clock to get used to it. And shifting in on monday! So I'll update more then!

Arriving in Canada! Day 1

2010-01-01T02:36:00.000-08:00

The flights today really gave me a big butt-ache!

From Tokyo to Chicago to Edmonton is really no joke! I seriously dont recommend anyone! We flew united airlines and it was pretty decent except for the movies that are always repeating!

Tokyo was cool! Got sushi bar and ANA food court.. Saw that even Phiten necklaces are cheaper! Costs about $40 bucks compared to 60+ in S'pore. En route to Chicago, a Canadian teacher sat next to me and we chatted about the education system in Canada and how different it was.. quite a cool intro to Canada that he gave me.

Chicago was really cold.. -2degrees.. Had Chili's Mexican food which was bad.. then we walked from end to end of terminals! Really bad that they kept shifting our gates.

Edmonton is MEGA cold.. minus 30 degrees! We froze all the way to our hostel! Then after repacking and redressing we wanted to go out for awhile.. but we barely made it to the junction and we had to go back! It was too cold for us! Really quite bad eh..

Now im in the library updating this blog..

Tatsuya's Bento Sets..

2009-12-14T07:26:00.000-08:00

Tatsuya Revisited: I started with the Omakase which killed me cause it costs $120 for 8 pieces of Aburi sushi. It is sushi that is broiled over a flame.. and added with sauces and garnishing that includes exquisite items like Foie Gras and sauces.

Its served with the signature Tatsuya Tamago which is sweet, also with radish and sweet potato. The line-up: Otoro (Tuna Belly), Salmon, Scallop and Shrimp! Amazingly, the shrimp stuck the greatest impression of the four!
BENTO SETS:

First up is the Unajyu Sashimi Bento ($30++).
It comes with slices of grilled unagi on a bed of rice with seaweed. Accompanied by assorted tempura and 6 thick slices of Sashimi, chawanmushi and miso soup. The tempura was well-battered and fried, resulting in a light tempura.

The Sashimi is fresh, no doubt. Coming from Tsukiji, one can expect the standards to be high. And it doesnt disappoint, the tuna, yellowtail and salmon were indeed fresh.

Ladies Lunch ($28)

This set consists of Fried Kakiage, Assorted Sushi selection, potato salad, and handmade cold noodles served with quail egg.

The cold noodles were exquisite. They were smooth and downed with the sauce that was thickened by the quail egg. Special mention for the california maki. The roe was so fresh that it just burst in the mouth with each bite!

The Kakiage was novel and crunchy. and the sushi was light enough. This is the perfect lunch for office ladies. Just enough and not too much so that they wont fall asleep after lunch!

The Sashimi Bento ($30)

The key difference in this is that the rice here is vinegared and is certainly one of the best sushi rice I have tasted. With a generous amount of Sashimi, this bento set is certainly worth it!

Buta Kakuni ($18)

This dish is quite a dampener! It didnt live up to what I had expected. But then again, its also not one of the specials! It was rather tough and I felt it wasnt well braised and simmered enough..

All in all, Tatsuya is a class above all Japanese restaurants in S'pore and understandably charges a premium for its food. Its been a real privilege to have savoured the food here.

Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2009

2009-12-06T05:23:00.000-08:00

This is my 100th blog post ! And it coincides with the post on my 4th marathon: The Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon 2009. Affectionately known as Stanchart, this race holds good memories for me given that last year, I was organising an Adventure Race the day before then i went to run in the race.

Characterised by a relatively flat route, this year's edition is no different and the weather was absolutely perfect for a long run. In fact, it was so cool that it helped in the evaporation of sweat. I completed the race with a time of 4h35mins . Though its 8 minutes slower than my time last year, I was glad and proud that I completed because my legs refused to listen to me anymore after 36km.

I had made a tactical error at the 12km mark as I followed the 4.15hr pacers and felt comfortable when I should have restrained. As a result, my tank went flat and I paid the price for a tactical mistake. Wiser head belongs to the wise old man. Haha.. young man should have followed Old man.

Nonetheless, it was a good race with the exception of the merging with the half-marathon and 10k runners.

No disrespect to them, but I feel the organisers should create lanes to avoid having the massive blockages that we saw today. And we wouldnt have to zip around avoiding them and waste our energy.

With Mentor and Chin Seng

We had matching DS-Trainers from Asics. Old man really no joke, did his PB with a time of 4h25mins! Really commendable and he's going to do more marathons next year! Haha.. Im going to rest now.. Legs are jellied and abrasions to armpits and nipples. Super jialat..

Okay, its chillout from now on!

Foodie Aspect

2009-11-28T07:23:00.002-08:00

Tatsuya

The highly-famed Tatsuya, holy-grail of local sushi, certainly lived up to its name. Hosting a stable of Japanese Chefs, seating at the sushi counter can be a stressful experience, well.. at least for me. Furthermore, this place is certainly one that has great potential to damage your wallet and burn a large hole.

I had the chirashi rice bowl which cost a bomb of $55 ! Thankfully, my Citibank card saved me with a 10% discount. This rice bowl came with a bowl of miso soup that was splendid as well. The sweet-vinegared rice was accompanied with shredded seaweed and I really took to the rice. The key word to the fish here is FRESH. No doubt about that. The toppings were the star of the show and I shall go through each one individually:

Salmon Roe: Generous and they burst in your mouth. Interesing

Salmon: Firm to the bite and had a fresh flavour

Tuna: Nothing much

Tamago: Sweet and cold, with Tatsuya's chinese characters on it.

Hotate (Scallop): Sweet and fresh..

Shrimp (Ebi): Gosh, this was so fresh that I think it even twitched in the bowl.. Sweet

Crab Stick: Normal

Grilled Saba: Nicely done with the sauce and soft.

Chu-toro: Semi-fat Tuna Belly! This rocks man! Really rich in flavour and soft like cotton candy!No wonder such a delicacy..

Verdict: Tatsuya is an institution in itself and every trip is an education. So it is holistic for a foodie to make its pilgrimage there. =)

Big D's Grill (T-Bone Steak)

Had something different, tried the T-Bone steak which was quite a moutful, the meat was tender and all, given that it was Black Angus. But the done-ness wasnt really well spread, due to the bone causing some parts to be rarer.. Anyway, cant see myself ordering this anytime soon..

Blessed

2009-11-28T07:23:00.001-08:00

Thank God for Year 2 Semester 1.

What a semester it has been! The tough timetable, not being able to attend Ultimate trainings, physically demanding as well as mentally stimulating.

Studies:

PE modules this time around have been quite good, especially M&E. It has been relatively light compared to other modules and its really direct and straighforward. The heavy one is Psych and Motor Learning. No joke studying for this two and then being collapsed into one module. Its really kinda unfair given the amount of time and preparation to only culiminate in a grade for one module only. Futhermore, with so many components, chances of scoring have become super tough. Sports-wise, Soccer and Rugby have been good. Soccer could have been better if we had more games rather than drills, oh well.. and Rugby, dont even mention it.. its not worth the air time..

Bio Modules have been quite good also. I particularly enjoyed the ones where we had field trips to Bukit Timah, MacRitchie and Botanic Gardens. Seeing things live and first-hand really helped. Doing the transect thing at the Wallace Lab was cool.. Maybe thats why im into experiential learning coz im more kinesthetic.. Thanks to him that we really could go out if not staying on campus would be dead boring. Other mod was okay as well but plants killed me as usual.. i prefer animals so much MORE..

General Mods like 201 was good. Our presentation I felt went really well and got commended by the prof.. alk was sad though.. couldnt ace it.. well i did my best!

Sports:

Did SuniG and GrabHuckScore and was disappointed on both accounts as I didnt play well..Ditto for soccer games and running. This sem really not fit! Ate too much I guess.. Ultimate Training clashed with timetable was really unfortunate.. But i couldnt do much about it though..

Races:
Olive Run, TNF100, REal Run..

Friends: Oh.. Ms Goblin reminded me that I got to mention my friends! Oh yes, how can I forget?! From PESS, thanks to my retards kleb and aloy, then eliza. and of course TiffTan. Bio: Thanks to Kelvin and Yiting! These people made my NIE left meaningful as they stand by me as I would do for them. Kleb, was good doing AED 201 with him, soccer madness. Aloy: Ever-present with me this sem, in bio we were together in everything, soccer and rugby also. Eliza: Thanks for all the walks to school and back. Makan sessions and studying together! Dont worry! I will CHILL.. Next Sem la..

Haha this is like my report card for the semester..
Thank God!

The North Face 100 2009

2009-10-25T22:26:00.000-07:00

This is officially one of the most painful running races that I have done!
It felt as though I was doing an adventure race.. I signed up for the 25km with Gerald. As usual,
didnt really train much this semester.. Was rather confident with the route as I have trained there almost my whole life doing x-country runs and also training for AR.

We flagged off at 10am, which probably didnt help our thermoregulation as we sweat buckets. Route was expectedly tough because of the terrain and PLENTY of uphills and slopes.
The climax was when we even had to climb to the summit of Bukit Timah and that was no joke!
One thing commendable is that the race organisation was good, the food was generous and they gave bananas, gels (Which I took 5), mars bars and lots of other stuff. At the end of the race, we even had Subway sandwhiches and cookies for lunch. Free! Super good man.

Spoke to Shawn Lum today and he said we were destroying the natural habitat.. oh wells, another conservationist.. haha.. But the run was shiok la, if i had trained harder, then i wouldnt be in such pain...
Me and Mentor Me and Race team mate: Gerald

My race mantra: TRAIN HARD, RACE EASY

Recess Week!

2009-10-01T00:05:00.000-07:00

Well Well! Its the recess week!

Started it with a bang last saturday! went for Paintball at Bottletree Yishun with retards + yujun. Had a blast shooting people and getting shot. Then followed by movie called whiteout and then dinner at Changi Village and watching soccer at Aloy's place. That's what I call a shiok weekend! Non-stop fun..

The recess week began quite badly, I was down with rashes and had to be jabbed twice, couldnt go for training also. But this week's good for clearing my work and reading up on the notes that I have not touched.

And for the boomz! We had the mad class chalet just last night! Im sure they are talking about me being the mad policeman and all.. But hey! I knew what I was saying okay..not drunk.. just a little tipsy.. I think everyone in the class expects me to put on my best behaviour and when I get abit crazy they are kinda shocked though.. Food was awesome, lamb cutlets and wagyu beef! Shiok man!

Today, still abit hangover from last night, and im going to review this restaurant called Capricci later! Hopefully the food is good!

This semester has been crazy. Committment to training has dropped drastically because lessons end daily at 830pm. I havent been able to do my regular runs either. Work-wise have been managing well except for the postponement of psych test really didnt rub me the right way. Social context was a great success! It showed that with consistency and diligence, you have a shot at doing well!

Now is the half-time before I sprint for the finish.. Im anticipating Alberta, but also apprehensive. I think its pre-trip jitters! I just got my winter wear from Shaan and she gave a hell-load of clothes! Settled flight and accomodation, so now its just my own mental and emotional prep left, and also leaving the ultimate team behind and my close friends.

Shall spare myself the emotional road-trip.. will chill for this break, and work hard! I want to also thank God for sustaining me up till this point and also for his providence!

OLive Run 2009

2009-08-15T02:21:00.000-07:00

Today's OLive Run was held at ECP. Quite a good turnout, saw teachers from KCP, SRJC and also WRS. I met alot of people, it almost felt like a networking session. Me, Eliza and Kumar ran for NIE but we couldnt group together as a team. Kumar got 7th for 5km, Eliza 5th for 5km and I got 10th for 10km.. with a time of 46mins.. Not too shabby. My only gripe was that there was no plain water throughout the route.. only h20.. that's not good... Made me thirstier..Dr Bala say 10km dont need to drink.. (Sigh) and looked at my timing with disgust.. HAHA..

Getting medal from MOS of Education.

All the 10km male runners.

With the classmates.. After the run went for breakfast!

To the mentor: If you ran, im sure it would have been fun for you also!

Anyway, school's been bad for me because of the timetable.. But i'll look at the positives!

Enjoy the weekend =)

2nd Week Sch Exp + OEA Symposium

2009-07-19T07:10:00.000-07:00

School Experience@ WRS 2009
My time at WRS this week can be summarised with one word: Fantabulastic!
The school has been really supportive in that the management truly believed that they wanted us to experience the school through oberving the diverse levels and even different subjects.

The school bases itself on one word and one word alone: VALUES!
Governed by 3 simple values: Respect, Responsibility and Resilience. From School Leaders to teachers and right down to every student. They all sing to the same tune. Such consistency is rarely, or never, seen in any school usually.I have nothing but praise for the way the school is run and every trainee agreed the school was orderly,efficient and students were disciplined.The PE dept: Physical Education here is still taking steps to establish itself as an integral part of the school's curriculum. They adapted the Sports Ed Prog from Zhenghua and to see it in the flesh was a really humbling experience. They tied it in with Character Education and each student has a booklet for the events, programmes and most importantly, REFLECTIONS! They review their activities and students are guided to find their learning points.

Discipline Dept (Student Behaviour Management): Its refreshing to find that they approach it with a values-based discpline other than rules-based discipline. The 3 "Rs" are always their point of reference and parents would usually find it hard to refute the fact that they dont want their children to have values. The HOD also makes an effort to ensure the school's surroundings are free of any punks/hooligans that will harrass the kids so that it gives them a conducive environment to study so they dont have to fear that thos gangsters area waiting for them outside of school. The HOD knows his stuff, he asks us: What does the word Discipline mean? Well.. for the uninitiated, it means to make a disciple of somebody. So the key issue here is: Are you a teacher worth making a disciple out of? You must embody the values before somebody wants to make you their master. So it was truly insightful. And he does the restorative practices in the SEL component so as to mend and heal relations between students.

The Character Education Dept: Another pillar of the school. In fact, the dept is so strong that most of its progs are done in-house and only few of it are subcon out to vendors. What it does is to infuse its CE progs into a lesson each week. On top of that, they try to integrate with PE (Like the SEP) and also ART. The HOD is also a learned person who is into child behaviour studies and reads lots about writer like Thomas Lickona who writes about ed pyschology too.

People that I meet (Fellow NIE Trainees): Above was with Abang Rizal Hida, the girl that really clicked from day one. I gave her HELL everyday. Disturbing her to the maximum. I think i gave her a week to remember =pThe 3 MOE Scholars: Eunice from Shanghai University. Hazi and Wee Keong from NUS. Both going on exchange. Hazi going for a whole year! how cool is that.. Wee keong going to Toronto.

All the trainees! I think this bunch of people are really nice and could click with Sasi, Rizal, Hida.

The contact time was no joke. A whopping 3 and half hours. We had to read the handouts, discuss and then present on our points! But the session was good and i think i really learnt alot!

So the one week stint was really eventful and enriching. I thank God for this opportunity. When i first saw the posting i was like what?! I havent heard about the school before and I thought i was just another school in the neighbourhood. So this really changed my perception of the school.

OEA Symposium

I went in feeling really sleepy. But the keynote speech was not bad. The icebreakers were fun and I even bought a book about propless games which I think it was useful in future!

Had a good catch-up with yong hui. Learnt quite a fair bit from him. Think his circle of contacts damn big. He knows most people at the conference itself. I got to know new people as well, such as the christchurch teachers who climbed EBC, TPJC teachers. Then I also met Jeremy and Veron from campHA, as well as the CCAB peeps who I met at the outdoor camp.

Chat with Cindy today, and we were recounting the times in the camp. Think she really found us a fun-loving group.

In essence, the sessions werent really informative, me and YH felt that we didnt really get much out of it and were kinda disappointed. But the horte park walk was not bad, got to see plants and pluck fruits to eat. By the way the meals were good. We KEPT eating and eating.. Dinner was romantic.. we ate at the globe, with tribal lights and tables with groundsheets. Presentation of EBC was done whilst dinner.. It was truly a humbling experience to see what they had gone thru. Its really no joke seeing 15-16 yr olds climbing such a high altitude in those conditions.

In short, the symposium was good but hoped to have better sessions in future!

Going to Cameron Highlands plus KL tmr! Cant wait!

1st Week of School Experience

2009-07-11T09:56:00.000-07:00

So the first week of school experience just flew by with the blink of an eye. In fact, it wasnt even a full week. It was merely four days and it did open my eyes to the difference in culture that a mega school has. I was posted to C primary school, a prestigous school that has strong culture and a good environment.

I went in with a rather nonchalant attitude, knowing that eventually I would be teaching in a secondary school instead. I set the tone of just going there to have fun and enjoy myself. I think I went one step further. I even networked while having fun. Seeing the other trainees stressing themselves out, I felt a tad guilty for being slack and having fun.

I taught right from the first day, first period. Not really a shock though, it invoked many beautiful memories of my time at E primary and I just loved to see the smiles on the kids' face. To really see them enjoy the lesson and learning something out of it made my day. On top of that, C primary has an awesome spanking new indoor sports hall which I went there many times during my short 4 days.

I want to thank God for posting me here to really appreciate what I had at E primary. Though it was small, I really was able to carry out the activities that I loved. In fact, I think i would dread C primary coz they were really pro-academic over sports. And as E primary is small, it was more cosy and I got to know almost all the staff with a relative degree of familiarity.

It was great to hear my friends rave about their experiences, this being their firsthand interaction with students. Many are full of aspirations, fully charged by this experience to want to change the world and do their best to make a difference in the kids' lives. Well that is GREAT, really! But my word of caution is four days is too short a period to judge. I suggest after a longer duration then they get a fairer picture of what is going on in the schools.

Passion and calling are two words that are severely overused and cheapened by alot of people. Especially so in the education industry where young aspiring people mouth them as part of their slogans. With the best intentions of their hearts, most if not all people do have those two feelings in them, but it probably eroded over the years due to many different circumstances.

For me, I think the word is purpose. Purpose encompasses both passion and calling. But beyond that, it is the knowing of why that individual is in that profession when times are tough. It is when passion is waning and calling seems doubtful that purpose will be able to transcend all these negative thoughts that lingers in the head. It is really tough in this line these days because you do not just give of your academic brain and knowledge. You give your heart and soul to it because you sincerely want to involve your life with those under your charge. I truly hope my friends are able to see the purpose in the job and know what they are in for.

To the subject of being a PE teacher: Well I feel we are like the Swiss-Army knife. We are usually used by the school to fix multiple issues and activities. We are like gym trainers and event managers and also life-skills coach all rolled into one.

The things that PE teachers handle this days are really appalling:

1. Day-to-day PE lessons

2. NAPFA Tests

3. Events Manager (Cross-Country, Sports Day)

4. Outdoor Camps (Level camps, OBS)

5. Discipline

6. Character Development

7. CCA overall in charge (Ususally sports or UG)

8. TAF programme (now called HHF)

9. Cherish Award

I think the perception of PE teachers as slackers amongst the teaching profession is as old as any other myth or urban legend out there. We are often perceived as a bunch of jocks that do not do anything else. But nothing could really be further from the truth. We get out in the sun, we set up courses for our PE lessons. We deal with discipline. We send kids for competitions, we train the kids, we organise camps and sports day and cross country.

So I really dont see why we are SLACKERS. Seriously, to all the detractors of the PE profession, if you are envious of us, dont beat us, come join us! But if you're still cynical, then why not come try and do it for a few weeks and see if shouting in open space, sweating it out, keeping and setting equipment is as easy as you make it out to be.

A firm believer of PE, it really teaches the kids the motor skills, coordination and really social skills of working and playing in a team setting. I really envy Seng Kang Primary, they have PE every day! How cool is that?

Well, I hope I would have more insights next week on my experience at W secondary school. Its not that I dont show my excitement, rather its that I know why im doing there and what im doing there. There's a calm knowing of thats my purpose. And I hope all teachers find theirs too.

NTU ODAC ATC 09

2009-07-01T03:21:00.001-07:00

My long-awaited comeback!

This post is rather overdue as well.. Just got the pictures from of our ATC race that we did on 7th June. We did rather well.. and got interviewed by Jade Seah too! At first the race was supposed to be featured on Channel 5's Sports@sg. Well, it did. But they cut off the sections where we got interviewed! DARN!

Race -wise, this was a rather easy race but terrain was good and the sections were fun too! We adopted a rather slow-and-steady approach and by virtue of being in detail one, we lead all the way from the starting horn right to the finish line. It was good pacing and navigation. One regret was the climbing section which i didnt complete coz it was really tough due to the insufficient amount of tiles and i was smearing all over the place.

Running and kayaking was easy for us. Managed to build a healthy lead, the bike section was short too.. Albeit irritating coz of the sandy terrain.. had to push quite alot.. Then abit of river-crossing here and there.. quite fun..

This is the horrible wall which i didnt expect to flop it! I was already at the top but super no strength coz I had to take a clue that wasnt mean for me.. I was virtually crimping every grip.. No TILES!!

Thank God for the race! It was a true blessing I would say! Most importantly i enjoyed this race more.. Being in control was damn shiok! Kudos to Eve for being such a strong teammate and one who really pushed and encouraged me as well! Many more races together!

X-Physique 2009

2009-05-24T09:26:00.000-07:00

Its been eons since I blogged and what way to return and blog about the blast that I had today!
We joined the X-physique race inter-varsity category and emerged Champions! It was a great team effort by the entire team!

Stage 1: (2nd Detail) Run and Kayak

Start point was Marina Square and we ran to Oasis at Kallang for kayaking. 4km loop kallang basin. The run was okay, slightly fast and then we picked up our boats.. Somehow we couldnt do our normal strokes.. intensity was there but the efficiency wasnt coz we didnt dip our blades fully. Nonetheless we whacked and maintained good position. At this point in time, the 2nd team (ferrari) was hot on our heels and the mind games began. After which we ran to the bike point opposite the cage and I was lagging behind due to stitches.. Felt horrible to pull the team down. upon reaching bike point we could rest as the bike leg was not counted.

Stage 2: Biking

The bike leg was really redundant but it gave us good time to recover.. then CP4 was to do with some ninja-warrior like station. we had to climb this cargo net over a frame constructed by poles. After which we headed to SOTA.. we took a longer loop, then ferrari reached earlier than us.. we were shocked.. But we knew where we heading and they set off upon seeing us leave immediately. So we head to kampong glam park. This was the most shagged part man. They really followed us so closely.. it was a battle of mental strength. At CP 5 where we did the balance pole with rope. That was damn shiok! We did so fast with teamwork and coordination that we overtook ferrari. At the same time, team ironman(Bekky) just arrived. and they are from detail one.. so we knew we were first...

Stage 3: Mt Emily and Chinatown Abseil

After the park we headed for Mt Emily with the shortest route. Our topo was superb! Going up the hill was no joke.. every step was a torture. and we reached CP6 and had to use ropes to transport a barrel out of a zone.. then the next treacherous phase.. From Mt Emily to Chinatown.. We ran non-stop through dhoby ghaut and clemenceau ave.. it was really crazy.. I was hoping the traffic lights would turn red so i could rest. BUT NO! it was green all the way.. Really died.. Reached block 531 abseil. That one did quite fast! But cramp.. as usual.. coz must climb railings and all..

End point at Marina Square:

From Chinatown, it was cramp-fest all the way through clarke quay, supreme court, I couldnt control my legs.. they were cramping involuntarily.. even with deep heat...I reached Adelphi and there was this step that was quite high and I fell coz my leg cramped! There were cisco guards asking if i need help.. Chengwei helped to stretch abit.. and I got up to keep going coz i knew we were finishing. we cut through padang, esplanade and Viola! back at Marina Square.. the last flight of stairs were crazy.. but as we reached.. it was damn high!!! Shiok ah!

We congratulated each other.. thank each other for the teamwork! But at the prize presentation there was a slight glitch. The prizes were given out to the wrong team due to mis-calculation. Luckily we appealed and manage to sort it out. Nonetheless.. like to give a little tribute to my classmates..

Kumar: Great job pushing us with one heck of a pace!

Eliza: Thanks for the encouragements!

Chengwei: You kept the faith in the team! And all the clue-solving abilities!

Team Terror.
X-Physique 2009 Inter-Varsity Champions

Silly things with the King

2009-05-10T08:35:00.001-07:00

Part 1: We went biking.. No we didnt go to Caesars ! Haha.. Stopped over at Bugis for desserts

Part 2: This was after service on sunday.. We saw a funny little clamp that looks like a toy.. But it could really be used to clamp a bike!

We fled immediately after taking as we were afraid later the owner run out!

Going for PESS outdoor residential camp! More updates when I am back!

"Taken"

2009-05-02T10:29:00.000-07:00

Just caught the movie "Taken" and man! I was quite happy with this action-filled thriller! Its about an ex-intel officer whose daughter has been kidnapped and he goes on a mission to save her. The resourcefulness of agents/spies are really amazing and I was left with a sudden urge to be an agent for the force!

I know it sounds absurd.. Considering my vehement protests when I got my posting 2 years back.. But looking back at my time in spf, it was really fun and though I didnt do things as exciting as what secret agents do, I did get to interact with some of them and it was really cool to catch a glimpse of the lifestyle they have. Not one that I yearn for though, being young and brash I really thought having a high-octane, criminal-chasing life was really fun. But the regulars often brought me back to earth. Singapore's so safe.. nothing much to catch or do as well.. (im not complaining)

Anyway, this week has been filled with revelations. Im discovering more and more about myself! And I think the holidays are the best time for self-discovery when we are not buried in a myriad of activities during term time.

This week had lots of cycling, ultimate, dinners and movies. Quite the usual suspects on the schedule but through some pockets of time I am discovering at this phase of my life, what do I really want to do about it? The question brings about a staggering amount of thought into what is worth doing and what should actually be done.

I think I need to start my coaching. I miss the interaction with kids. I want to be able to teach something, value-add something and get involved in people's lives'. I have been reading some Outdoor Education books to seek some strategies and pedagogical tools to teach the various skills needed for AR.

Anyway, I have woken from my state of melancholy. I think there are more important issues to address. Being at this age, how do I see myself? How can I improve? How can I reach that certain level of hardcore-ness to be the best in my field? Now those are the questions worth pondering about. I want to work towards it. Not just building up knowledge. I want to experience, learn and pick things up off the book. How to think in a different way and approach issues with different angles? That's really crucial. I believe outdoor educators are not just about brawn, its instinct coupled with sound knowledge and experience that makes you trulty an asset and you value-add the kids.

I know I am not there yet, but its definitely worth a shot.

Curtain Call

2009-04-29T08:08:00.000-07:00

Well well well.. the semester is over!

With the voice "pens down" being projected into the hall and "you may leave" following that... Choruses of "Yay"! were heard in the exam hall. So my papers have ended, so have the semester and the academic year. The year has been good. I have learnt alot, seen alot and grown too. Thank God for placing me where I am for I cant imagine being anywhere else. Im grateful for the events that happened for the entire AY. Though Im really injury prone this semester.

But somehow I feel a sense of loss. I dont know what I am going to do for the holidays. Quite un-like me I must say. Usually Im ultra-organised and my holiday schedule will be out even before the exams. This time round, I am really living day to day.

The usuals like attending courses like : 2 star kayaking, climbing instructor, sailing . Attending camps like the OGL and PESS outdoor camps.. Meeting up with friends to catch up.

Sigh.. somehow I feel that I am still where I was last year and though I've grown as a person, certain aspects of my life remain status quo. I still cant answer certain questions, still cant figure out some stuff and still thinking really hard about it.

Anyway I hate threes. They say two's a couple and three's a crowd. How very true!
And I can safely say that Im in more threes than most people man.. About 6 or 7?
The loner in me says I can deal with it.. Suck it up andhandle it in my usual "Mr Congeniality" way. But I guess its getting the better of me and I dont know how to deal with it.

Sometimes I think hey so what if I can really study? So what if I really get my honours (though I would love to) So what if I get all the outdoor certs in the world? So what If im the best Adventure Racer or Ultimate player? End of the day I feel that Ive gotten nothing. And by the way, we cant choose where we were born at, so look around you and count your blessings. If things arent going well domestically..just your luck.. we just got to work around it, ask me.. I know full well..

Nothing man! Really. . Suddenly to know is to know that you dont know.
So that you want to find out more and know. Then you finally know. I think its not just got to do with contentment, its got to do with fulfilment as well. With the kids, I can see how they pick up skills, learn about values and new things. Im happy about that. But this days in school, its all just about this and that of self-improvement.

Maybe there's more to it out there that I can ever find.
Hey who knows?! Maybe my destiny is to be the hardcore maverick/enigma PE teacher that is just meant to do the hardcore stuff as a loner..

Only time will tell...

Tiff's 21st Birthday

2009-04-12T08:49:00.000-07:00

So yes.. it was the birthday of the semester. Big chalet? Check. Multiple guests? Check. Lots of presents and food? Check. Haha. Yup, it was tiffany's 21st birthday. but the make-up was woeful.. Please spare her and us the agony.. Haha.

Good that she had lots of nice presents and I enjoyed playing taboo there!

Completed my 2 star kayaking course! Well.. at the expense of my ankle. I twisted it on the first day but persisted on finishing the course. Just want to thank God for sustainance and good buddies who were on standby for activation. Thanks alot!

Going for physio soon.. Sigh.. very accident prone this sem...

Updates on Alberta

2009-04-08T10:28:00.000-07:00

This is Bear Tracks - the equivalent of NIE portal where all the updates are being posted!

This is my application status. The application date was only 3rd April. I know the picture is very

blur. Its just using print screen to crop it, so cant expect much.

Anyway Im happy! Alberta here I come!

IVP Ultimate (Part 2)

2009-04-05T07:48:00.000-07:00

TEAM NTU ULTIMATE FRISBEE !

Its been a great journey being part of this team. From a bunch of newbies this team has grown tremendously and to defy the odds at this IVP has been nothing short of amazing! Thank God for that!

We finished this tournament in joint 3rd position which is extremely good given that we were seeded last at the beginning of the competition.

My objective of joining the team was to enjoy the fellowship and also experience teamwork once again after feeling lonely being a long-distance runner during my JC days.

Im glad to have found this team and it was really emotional as the competition came to an end and it signalled the curtain call for this team. Well.. I hope that it only gets better from here. And I intend to improve greatly by picking up Ultimate at U of A.

Closure of Semester:

Year 1 is coming to an end. In fact only the exams are left of this semester. The assignments, presentations and tests sucked the life outta me. But im more seasoned this time round and coped slightly better.

Closure is a word I feel strongly for a couple of things:

1. Closure of semester

2. Closure of Ultimate Training

3. Closure of Hall Life (yeah I gotta shift out by 30th April)

4.Closure of relationships

As the exams draw near, Im praying for strength, wisdom as well as good memory to aid in my revision. Friends please keep me in prayer.

U of A also just sent me an email to give my campus computing ID! Yay! Which means Im officially a U of A student! Haha.. no more NTU..

My email is akang@ualberta.ca Do drop me emails there!

Prospective Student of University of Alberta

Ultimate IVP part 1

2009-03-22T00:27:00.000-07:00

No commentaries for this post.. too busy with work. So just uploading some pictures of IVP frisbee that happened over the weekend at Sengkang.

Suburban Run 2009

2009-03-15T08:30:00.001-07:00

It is the end of the week and to end it off with a running race really takes the cake. I enjoyed immersing in the racing mood and the weather was great for a 10km run. My running company included the usual suspects : Mentor, Chairman, Troy and 2 other students. The run was good, but the route was nothing to shout about. It was done in a decent time and post-race events rekindled primary school memories when I saw the Milo truck. Milo truck used to be one of the highlights in sports days or cross-country days where every student would flock there and get a cup of thick and smooth milo.

After the race, Mentor, Troy and I headed to Big D's (yes again..) for lunch. Im glad both of them enjoyed the food. We had the pasture-fed ribeye. It is believed that the cows are free to move around in the fields and hence have more exercise which leads to more tender meat. Well, we were not disappointed. The steak was juicy and tender. Flavour was as strong as I would have preferred it to be.

Some pictures from mid-week: I went for night cycling to thomson prata house with Kumar and Weiheng. A mountain bike riding with 2 roadies is no mean feat. Its akin to a celica riding next to a GTR or Porsche boxter. But they were nice enough to ride at my pace. It was an enjoyable ride as the roads were all clear at that time and we just loved having the wind kissing our faces.

Met up with 3 other students that are going Alberta and we discussed some of our travel plans. Now awaiting for the package from UofA. Yay! Excited.. Really Thank God for this opportunity and also nice people to go togehter with.

This week EPS is having their Outdoor camp at Labrador Campsite again. Something which I pioneered last year. Im really glad and proud to see that the outdoor legacy has been continued and I will be dropping by to join in the campfire!

Big D's Grill

2009-03-06T08:06:00.000-08:00

After a long hiatus from writing about food, I was enthralled by the rave reviews that I've heard about Big D's Grill. Everyone has been gushing about the quality of the food and I had to go down to give it a try. Today was a great end to the "HELL" week of the semester. 4 ASSignments due plus INSTEP plus training for races really pushed the body to its limit. So it was great to have Jam and Rach to go for a nice meal followed by great music at wala's. (plus the quintessential chicken wings!)

Mind you, when you take a look at how the food was presented, you would think we are at some fine-dining restaurant. Well you only got it half-right, the chef used to work at a fine-dining restaurant but now decided to open a stall at a coffee shop. It really is amazing to find such high quality stuff in a coffee shop! The price was also affordable as we each paid $20 and shared 4 dishes which is great value!

First up: Jamin had the Beer-battered Fish and Chips.

This one is true to its word. You can taste the beer in the crispy batter and the fish was firm and juicy, yeah JUICY.. not the dry or mashy type. Chips were home-cut potato slices. Nicely done.

Crabmeat Linguine: My dish. This one had many people going gaga over it and I could understand why. For $10.90, you get real crabmeat and the portion was substantial as well. My only grouse was that it was a tad dry. If there was slightly more sauce then it would be perfect.

But the picture looked really pretty ain't it?!

This one is the real stunner of the day. Carbonara Pasta. This is as ubiquitious as finding bak chor mee in a coffee shop as what the Carbonara is to an Italian Pasta restaurant.

But No.. we were so pleasantly surprised! IT was so light and smooth on the throat. The sauce was not too thick and overwhelming which was why it was so quickly slurpped up by us.

Finally, the star of the day is the "Rolls-Royce" of pork. This is the Kurobuta Pork Loin.

It is served with mashed potatoes, ratatouille and mexcian beans & bacon. The pork loin was understandably priced at a premium because of its texture. It was marbled with fat and had a robust flavour coupled with a nice chewy texture that was not too soft. Did a cut-up side view so that we can see the fats.. By the way they are on the left side..

It was a satisfying meal knowing that we had great food at a great price! And the best thing is there's still more dishes to try out! I would love to get my hands on the wagyu beef, ragu taglatelle and goulash..

Tonight has been a great way to round off the week. This week has been incredibly tough. And I thank God that he has seen me through it all. Read a note on daily bread, it said it would be sad one day if we cant thank God for anything.

So I really am glad that I can thank God for who he is and what he has done in my life. Oh. and Im so excited about Alberta! Shiok!

The Journey

2009-02-25T08:43:00.000-08:00

Its been awhile. A long time in waiting. After weeks and months of administration work, finally there is light at the end of the tunnel! This journey has been tough, not tumultous though, but I thank the Lord and the friends and mentor he placed around me to get me through this period!

After the round 1 of acceptance, I have been confirmed a place at University of Alberta.

I am the only student from NIE going for it. Wanted to see if there were any friends from NIE going then I could arrange something. Oh well, at least there are 2 others from NTU going to Alberta with me in Semester 2.

It has been a journey which i learnt alot, somewhat similar to the race i organised last year. It was very testing and kept pushing me to my emotional and mental limits. It also questioned me how much I really wanted it. Jam said that it was "Survival of the fittest" and that phrase cant be more apt I say! After going through so many obstacles, I asked God, if it was in his will to go coz I dont want to go if it wasnt. Thankfully, I still had peace in my heart and tried my best. I think it was a test of faith and perserverance. Boy am I glad that I hung on.

Special mention goes out to the mentor, who believed in me all this while and telling me to "Just do it la" Haha.. Thanks Sir. Also to JVR, Jam and ET, thanks for letting me air my grouses as well..

Hope to touch the snow =)

Are you going to finish strong?

2009-02-16T08:48:00.000-08:00

Today, I fought another battle with INSTEP course matching.

Felt slightly defeated though. But thanks be to God, Dr Teo came to the rescue.

She set me down,talked to me and even went through the possible alternatives with me.

Before I left the room, she said: "Alex, before you leave watch this video first!"

And I watched a video about Nick Vujicic entitled " Are you going to finish strong? "

He has no limbs and was speaking to students about picking himself up after he falls down. He

asked them : Are you going to finish strong?

He said: What do you do when you fall down? you pick yourself up. You can't just stay there..

And then he uses his head and every ounce of muscle he has to stand up. Much to the roaring

applause of the students.

I teared a little. Inspired and motivated now. I went to the tutor and Praise God! He approved of

the course and I went back to give Dr Teo a high- five!

I started this INSTEP journey and now I want to FINISH it strong.

Thank God for his grace and also for an amazing tutor and human being in Dr Teo.

Here's the link for the Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqantZJ6WwM

The 2 minutes of this video will change the way you see things again.

Carnivore @ Vivocity

2009-02-13T07:51:00.000-08:00

Today's educational tour on food has opened a new chapter in my gastronomic books.

Visited the carnivore at vivocity with the mentor and it was a new insight gained on Brazilian food I must say.

It has an interesting concept of serving meats on skewers right up to your plate by the wait staff.
It is free-flow buffet and they do have an array of greens to offset the protein paradise that you are in upon stepping into the premises.

The notable mentions are the sausages which were full of herbs, ribeye steak, lamb and fish.
The black bean prok stew is typically Brazilian and its roots trace back to the societal demographics. They were poor and this dish was the best that they could come up with..

Got to apologise that the pics were really bad.. I used my camera-phone as always.

Anyways, I just want to update that im still undergoing the process of my INSTEP application.

Course-matching has been tough but I WILL DO IT.

Pardon me if i may seem sulky/moody/depressed and what-have-you for the past weeks.

INSTEP is an emotional roller-coaster. If you dont believe, can just try applying it.

But the final word is : I AM GONNA PERSERVERE.

For The Lord is my Helper (Heb 13:6) and I shall trust in him.

Pending...

2009-02-06T08:44:00.001-08:00

There's a word that came to my mind as I was driving around Bukit Panjang last year in preparation for the race. So I came up with this joke: Which estate in Bukit Panjang has flats that takes the longest time to build?

The answer: Pending !

Get it?! Because it is always waiting for approval.. that's why it takes the longest to build..
Well for the uninitiated, Pending is one of the LRT stops at Bukit Panjang area..Playing a pun on the word.

Pending is a process whereby you are waiting for something to happen. Or rather waiting for something to be approved. We wait everyday don't we? Waiting for that train, the traffic light to turn green, queuing up for food or any other thing..

We can wait expectantly or dread the entire process, better still, some can be oblivious to waiting!
Waiting is a time lag from your current stage/phase to the desired stage/phase of life that you want to be in. Well we don't have the say on this matter. Rather waiting is simply imposed on us..

I have been having things with the label "pending" on it.
My instep, for one, is still pending. I want to thank God that NTU has offered me a place to go for exchange at University of Alberta.
I made through the interviews and got accepted, and now have to do the course matching stuff..

My second metacarpel bone is also still "pending". The cast has been removed. Thank God.
I still have to put a splint for another 2 weeks and then go back for review. Thats a month out from volleyball. Thank God that the tutor is understanding.

Waiting trains character. it gives one patience. so that when you do reach your desired stage from your current stage. It will be much sweeter. Now you never know when that's gonna come or if it will even come. But that's where you trust. If it's in his will the door will be open for you.

I need to. For his timing will be the best timing. Nothing else would. Man are such forgetful creatures and I need reminders of his faithfulness too.

In all, waiting can be a good thing. Though its painful, it sobers you up.

Perak Iron Bound Taiping Race 2009

2009-02-01T04:23:00.000-08:00

This has been a long overdue post ! By two weeks to be exact.. Haha This post is typed by the port side of me.. have been forced to be a lefty for two weeks.. So this post explains why you see me around with a cast for the past 2 weeks..

I was approached by Samuel to partner him for this race and after some deliberation, I decided to go and this was to be my first OVERSEAS race. Coolness. This race is organised by the snr adventure and its part of the action series. By far, its my toughest race in terms of terrain but also the organisation was massive as they have helicopters for evacuations, doctors doing medical for each racer and television coverage. S'porean Racers were sponsored for the trip and race fees were waived. This was really the main draw.

This race also intoduced me to the hardcore AR fraternity. It was great to have travelled with wilson, chris, sam and fanny(Chief Financial Officer). The SART guys were great and they truly live and breathe AR.. Fanny was a great help taking pics for us and doubling up as support crew..

Breakdown of the trip:

My Race Bib..

At the Taiping Golf Resort : Official hotel for the race

Race Banner

Hotel Swimming Pool

My room!

The helicopter ready for evacuation missions!
Our breakfast placeEquipment checkingSkills check on abseilChris and wilson..Undergoing my medicalWe went for a warm-up slow jog...The tour guide brought us to TESCO for shopping and dinner.Race Day!

All the S'porean racers..hardcore in their own right..SART and SART juniors..The men's open team from S'poreBeginning of the race!A 2.4km run to Taiping LakeNext segment: Bamboo RaftingThe Rafts couldnt float all.. we ended up dragging it and it should be renamed as bamboo dragging.. not rafting..Out of the Rafting.. Running to the river scrambling..Now this is called river scrambling..

Its like white water rafting without the raft.. We had to run through the river and I fell like nobody's business.. my Salomon failed me thoroughly and it was here i hurt my hand. So after an hour plus, my hand was gone..

Then we "holland-ed" coz we couldnt find the black and yellow tape.. it was so inconspicuous.. should use bright red or orange.. then i lost sam for half an hour.. got stung by a wasp.. haiz.. Thank God found him later with karen and lydia..This was how dense the forest was.. gradient was 50%.. every 2m travelled horizontal is 1m vertically up. Crazy.There were vertical climbs where I had to climb using the tree roots..reminiscent of Korbuthe organisers in their 4WDThe 20m abseil off a cliff.. for the 1st time in my life, I abseiled with my left hand!Canoe section in the lake AGAINCrossing on stiltsShagged/Bruised/Battered but loved it!End of Race! Beginning of wound healing..Bandaged my hand..Dinner time! Had extra large orange juice!The whole group! A great bunch of people who love AR.

And so I became Zhao Cai Mao..aka Prosperity Cat..With Jam to celebrate his bday.

This trip has been a great experience! But I paid the price of having a hairline fracture. I guess I just got to suck it up since I chose to do it.. but ask me if i would do it again and the answer would be a resounding YES!

Thank God for the race..

Next up is my INSTEP application.. cleared the 1st round of interview..so see where the Lord leads.. Im sure if its in his will, then he will open the door..

Removing my cast on wed ! Yay!

SAFRA AVventura 2009

2009-01-11T08:32:00.001-08:00

The first race of 2009 took off with a bang! It has been quite awhile since Adventure Singapore that I was taking part in a large scale Adventure Race. Partnered Gerald who was kinda concussed a large part of the race. Haha. He even forgot to take the harnesses and carabiners down from the car! Gosh.. Lack of sleep.. Here's us before the race began and still looked fresh...

How the race panned out:

First phase:

A 4km run around dairy farm to bukit timah to collect our bikes. The run was alright and done at easy pace. We picked up our bikes at the "nose" area and biked off heading towards Bukit Timah nature reserve. It was frustrating, to say the least, when you get blocked at such narrow paths by people who dont dare to cycle through and keeps braking and pushing the bikes. It would test the patience of even the most zen-like monks I tell you.

We continued biking to Zhenghua park at Bukit Panjang and had a game station. We had to fix this rubric cube. We both didnt bother coz it was not possible to do without trying it before. After which we continued biking towards Mandai for our main playground of the day.

Lorong Asrama aka "the hell-ish playground" :

This phase was divided into 3 parts. Part A was to bike up all the way to botak hill and then abseil down the hill with one bike on hand. This was seriously no joke. Super heavy and shiong to carry out. But this kind of experience is once in a life time and I enjoyed it. Part B involved cycling up to training shed then push up the bike up another steep hill then cycling down. Part C was the dagger through the hearts. We had to do a team biathlon. We interchanged a couple of times and had to bash through this thick vegetation, climbed a hill and then did a "river crossing" again I had to carry my bike.

Phase 3:

Out of Asrama, we hiked/run all the way back to yishun at lower seletar reservoir. Went to kayaking station. picked up our boats and then found out that there was only one paddle in the doubles kayak. So I walked over to take one more paddle but the marshal said IT was MEANT to only have one paddle. What a way to torture us huh.. Kayak with one paddle?! Crazy but what the heck I just did it anyway.. After that we hiked all the way back to Yishun SAFRA.

Last Phase:

We had to climb this stretchable ladder the height of a 4th storey of a HDB flat. CRAZY. we were super depleted and I made it to half the height only. We did not complete and just headed for the finish line. Im glad we were done for the race. Phew!

Thank God that we came through this race safely and most importantly had fun!

Upcoming things to do..

INSTEP application.
Fs Tryouts.
Jam's bday.
Getting my new lappie from HP ! Coolness.

Thank God for all these blessings.

Onward and Forward..2009

2009-01-05T08:43:00.000-08:00

Today marked the first school day of the second semester and new year in school.
It is good seeing all the familiar faces and having lunch with friends again after not seeing each other for about a month.
Cleaned up the hostel room too and lessons were really "insomnia-curing" kinda boring..

But everything's starting on a clean slate and im glad to see this new year with a fresh new perspective! There are things to celebrate about and also commitments to make as well..
School made good their promise and we're all getting a notebook each.... on loan ! Haha..
Well.. it beats having nothing..

Few things that I want to do this year!

1. Continue to work hard and do well in school.
Freeze the cap by going for INSTEP..

2. Apply for Overseas Exchange Semester..
preferably in University of Queensland where they offer sports science modules..

3. Play more Ultimate!
go for hats, leagues and more tryouts!

4. Take up Climbing Level 1 Instructor course and Canoe 2 star.

Need it to be outdoor coordinator in future.

5. Serve in Church.. maybe worship team? Hmm...

6. Do more ARs.. and climb mountains and do white-waterrafting.. shioks..

7. Write more food reviews for SD.com !

Coolness!

See.. the year ahead is so promising! God-willing, may all this be achieved this year!

Quoting the mentor:

"Well at least I dream.. So that when it really happens, I know what to do."

Let's Take A Walk 2008

2008-12-21T19:35:00.000-08:00

A walking event.. Overnight with a distance of 50km.. After doing a marathon, you might think..Aiya.. Walking only what? How shiong can it get right?! That was the fatalistic thought that was on our minds when someone (Though shalt not name) clicked on the mouse that signed us up for a night of FOOD and lots of PAIN ! HAHA..

Well Lets Take A walk is a charity event organised by Raleigh Society and Minds. They raise money through this event to fund their activities. The event began at 8pm for us at Tampines Stadium and the end point was at SMU. Along the way, I think we put on the same amount of calories as we burnt them. We were dressed to kill.. synchronised in our Stanchart Finisher T-shirts.. We had something to live up to. IT would be face-throwing had we been "Finished" and not finishers..

We began by warming up at the Tampines Stadium..

First Check point ! Makan meatballs and Chicken Wings @ Ikea ! Chinseng's version of Ice Lemon Tea comes from Carlsberg...

On Route.. We went past Pasir Ris Park where we met Chin Poh, then went Changi Village for BBQ Stingray, Prawns and Sotong.. Then ECP for Mac's Breakfast. In between was real hardcore walking. I suffered cramps and pulls on my muscles.. It was really bad.. I guess im not cut out for walking. My mind was seriously shut down and just walk and walk and walk... (ok u get the idea)
Our Shagged faces at SMU (The end-point)

I was so tired that whilst bathing, I actually slept in the toilet ! for a good 20 minutes i snoozed.. then got my act together to finish the bath ! Haha.. It was that bad.

Conclusion is, Respect the distance and Respect walking.

There's a reason why we are not Jonnie Walker..

Hilltop Teppanyaki @ Jurong Birdpark

2008-12-17T10:07:00.000-08:00

We were supposed to eat at Carousel today. But Tiff was one HOUR late. (If you're reading my blog please repent ! ) So JY brought us to this hilltop place for Teppanyaki ! It was decent.. food was something that I had not expected.. Lots of garlic and wine.. but no typical blackbean sauce smothering over the meat and seafood that would mask the original tastes of the food.

We had to wear ORANGE bibs though.. It was rather funny. We left the place smelling like our food.. Coz all the smoke was trapped there.

After dinner, we headed to timbre@OldSchool for a drink and to catch the live band. But it was nothing to shout about. Really. The band was lacklustre and so were the drinks. Both did not do it for me.. Wala is so much better.

Need to start running again.. Havent ran since stanchart though ! Haha. And I have lets take a walk this sunday. More details at letstakeawalk.sg . Its a 50km walk..

Crazy fellas.. Should be able to survive la.. Hmm.. Now think of where to eat along the 50km route..

Blessings!

2008-12-14T06:56:00.000-08:00

NIE ISG Ultimate Frisbee Champions !

It has been a real privilege to join the NIE ultimate team. Still a rookie in the game but now im kinda like hooked on it as its really quite fun. The experience of playing in a proper team with teamwork and shouting for each other was really cool. The camaraderie was evident when everyone cheered the team on and we would shout "UP !!!" when the disc was airborne..

Mass Team Pic..Team Gathering
Team Briefings are always a must.. Captains would tell us the formations and the stats of our opponents.

Stretching sessions..Time for Cheers ! Andrea has this cool one but its quite a mouthful.

And Finally coming in as Champions !

Funnily though, I played in today's ISG soccer and I didnt find it fun.. Maybe coz I was made to play Center-Back. but its quite a scary thought.. I think I really have fallen for ultimate. Haha..

Anyway Thank God for his Grace and Abundance:

1. Year End Bonus in !
2. Good Results
3. Good Stan chart Timing : Did 4hours 27mins ! Cool time without training much..
4. Zhenghua Race was a Success..

Results !!!

2008-12-11T08:46:00.000-08:00

After a long hiatus from taking exams and then exam results.. I just got back my first semester university results ! And I have to say that VERY happy about it. Praise the Lord for it.

For those who know the circumstances that i faced this semester, it has really been such a tough 4 months for me even though i tried my best to enjoy it and lived it to the fullest. I had to handle domestic issues, head the adventure race project, be part of hall sports subcomm and deal with 7 mods.. It was really a handful. but therein shows the faithfulness of God in my life regardless of what happened.

The breakdown:

Intro to PE A-
Growth and Motor dev't A-
Principles of Games A-
Critical Perspectives A-
Educational Psychology B+
Bio Mods B-

Overall cap: 3.88

REALLY thank God. I knew i put in the effort and left it in his hands.. Im very grateful for this grades and will continue to press on from here! To my friends thank you also for supporting me the past semester!