Words to Ponder

"It is easier to build strong children than repair broken men."
- Frederick Douglass

TESOL is Over!!!

Oh jubilations! My Saturday afternoons are mine again! Nap time!! Oh how I have missed my afternoon naps :) I must admit that though I was eager when I started the TESOL classes, going every Saturday afternoon became rather tedious after a while and I was waiting to graduate. But strangely, there is also a part of me that misses the Sat afternoon classes especially the fun we had. No matter what, there is a freedom that comes from being a student that you never experience in any other aspect of life. And I must say that Sauda, our teacher, was a gem. She is so very patient and has a lovely sense of humour. And oh I will miss Colin and Aileen - the 2 who began the class with me.

It has been a long course - we started in Oct 2006, and of the 6 who began this course, only 3 of us have stuck with it. Along the way we were joined by others for single modules and that way we have met a number of people, but it's been the 3 of us to the end :) So we had 2 practical lessons - one a mock for peer-critique and a final practical exam. And now we wait for the results - to be expected in 8 to 10 weeks' time. One part of me wants to take a break and chill - will probably do that while Jen is here anyway. Another part of me is already thinking - hmmm.. what next? A number of options really - maybe I will learn to drive, maybe I will do a Bible Study course or maybe I will sign up with the Samaritans of Singapore to man the suicide hotline. I do, however, have another course starting on 24 May - this is work-related and it is called 'Teaching for Understanding'. It is an online course conducted by Harvard Uni so maybe I should just lay off other courses and focus on that. Let's see.

Anyway, here are photos of the people I have hung out with for the past 5 months of Saturday afternoons! I kinda miss them.

Mothers' Day Celebration

A rather late update but significant, nevertheless. We had a Mothers' Day celebration with a difference this year. During a casual conversation we discovered that D's aunt did not know her birthday as it had not been recorded anywhere. Instead her identity card says 1 Jan 1929. How strange is that! So my sisters-in-law and I decided that we should celebrate her birthday on Mothers' Day instead. There was some discussion as to whether we should wait till 2009 so that it could be her 80th birthday as well but we decided to go ahead with it this year, and we are all glad we did. So we did a pot-luck at her place and here are the photos with all the women folk gathered!

Trusting God

Just want to share with you a commentary I read that made me think deeply about my relationship with God.

“On another Sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. But Jesus knew what they were thinking and said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Get up and stand in front of everyone." So he got up and stood there. Then Jesus said to them, "I ask you, which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?" He looked around at them all, and then said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did so, and his hand was completely restored. But the Pharisees were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do to Jesus.”
Luke 6:6-13

Let’s look closely at the man with the shrivelled hand. This was a deformity, something to be ashamed about. Maybe he kept it hidden in his cloak. Maybe he kept his hand behind his back. But it would have been something he was ashamed of. How did he feel about his hand? Was he angry with God and ask, “Why me?” Was he bitter? We don’t know. But we can guess something about this man’s walk with God from the fact that he was in the temple on Sabbath Day. At the right place, doing the right thing to honour the God he believed.

Then imagine this. Jesus stops teaching and looks around. He looks at this man with the shrivelled hand and says “Get up and stand in front of everyone.” Oh, the embarrassment of this! Imagine – it is Sabbath, the synagogue is full and the Teacher asks you to stand up in front of everyone. Every eye is on you. How vulnerable the man must have felt. Then, something ‘worse’ happens. Jesus says “Stretch out your hand.” In full view of the whole synagogue. For everyone to see! That hand that he had probably kept hidden, that hand that was his source of sadness and anger and shame. Yet he obeyed and stretched that withered hand out for everyone to look at.

Then the miracle happens. His withered, shrivelled hand is restored! Made whole again! Healed! That which caused him shame now healed in front of everyone and God’s glory revealed! The joy of that moment for this man – can words describe it?

And what did it mean to me? It made me ask myself – what is my withered hand? What shame, guilt, sorrow, weakness am I keeping hidden? What am I being bitter, angry or sad about? And is my heart right with God despite it? God is asking me to trust Him. To stand up, ignore all other eyes, keep my eye only on Him and say “Here, Lord, this is my weakness. This is my shame. This is my worry, my burden.” God is asking me to trust Him with my vulnerability. To trust Him with my pain. To trust Him with my sadness and guilt. And He will heal gloriously. He will reveal His power in my weakness. Our God is awesome.

This & That Last Week

My exam for my last module of TESOL is tomorrow - the last written module, that is. Then I have to teach a class and I will be done! Finally! It has been a long 6 months and I must admit that I lost interest halfway through Module 2 but thoroughly enjoyed Module 3 so that kept me motivated for a while but Module 4 has been a drag as we spent a lot of time drafting lesson plans. The course has been ok, I guess, except that I think it was too exam-focused. We were told what we would be tested on and then taught what we needed to know for the exam. I know a lot of students would love it, but I was looking for something more. I did the course out of interest, not for a piece of paper and I would have enjoyed more discussion and exploration of language issues.Well, anyway, the course is almost over and as you can see, I am blogging while I should be studying... a bad habit picked up from my daughters :)

I have had a pretty good week, though a really busy one. I suppose that was because I was in office for only 3 days and all the work of the week got squeezed into those 3 days. I took Monday off to give myself some 'me time' as Tues was a public holiday. It was a good long weekend. I had planned to do some studying, but no I didn't. On Saturday we went to watch a movie - 'Wild Hogs' - because we needed to use movie vouchers that were going to expire. It was funny at parts but quite ho-hum. On Sunday, Rubhi and I went to watch The Phantom of the Opera. That was wonderful! This was the second time I had watched it and it was still spell-binding. The special effects were really awesome - my favourite is the 'river' that flows into the Phantom's hideout and of course I always feel so sorry for him....

Had a nice lie-in on Monday and then got a surprise lunch invite from Wai Yin who had come to MOE for a meeting. I get to see her so rarely that her call was a lovely surprise. We went to look at her house which is being renovated and oh my goodness, it is going to look really lovely. Then we went to Da Paulo's for lunch. Lovely Italian food... mmmm :) Tried vary hard not to gorge - actually had only a salad, but oh the bruschettas....

Then I had a lovely 2 hours at the spa with a scrub and a massge before going for dinner with my sisters in law. Two of them had finished courses they were doing so it was a celebration of some sort, plus I guess we hadn't met in a while. I think we chatted more during post-dinner coffee than during dinner itself. We went to a restaurant called Moghul Mahal, but I wasn't impressed with the service. I felt rushed and was quite upset at the way they started clearing away our plates, making it impossible for us to linger. I would have understood if the restaurant was full, but there weren't that many diners there. Anyway we went down to the Starbucks for a chat before going home.A nice evening catching up with each others' lives. We took a photo but the light was bad and the waitress didn't do too good a job with the camera so nothing to post.

So back to work on Wednesday and here we are on a Friday evening already. Oh, I received an interesting letter today from the National Council of Collegiate Scholars - I have NO IDEA who they are. But apparently I am to be congratulated for the part I have played in Jen's success because she has been nominated to be a member of this Council for being within the top 20% of her cohort. So hey - congratulations, darling. Yet again you have made me proud :) I am still a wee bit suspicious though, because the letter is full of American enthusiasm and sounds a bit like the letters that Readers' Digest sends out promising millions in their sweepstakes. Please tell me this is genuine and indeed something to be excited about, because I am thrilled about it :)