I’m finally back home after doing my maiden Sprint Triathlon today! I’m still feeling ecstatic over completing this event. Although the "Sprint" distance was only half that of Olympic distance, I still felt a sense of achievement nevertheless.

Bike Transition Area

Early in the morning, Boon and me cycled together from home to the event venue at ECP, which was a 15 km trip. Upon reaching, we parked our bikes at the transition area before getting to the swim start-point.

Swim Leg (750m):

I was quite nervous as it was my first time swimming in open waters. Frog-style somemore. Sure to be the last to get outta water. Well, I was glad it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Visibility was zero under-water, which caused me to go a little off-course initially. Got kicked by some fellow frog-stylers, and I think I accidentally kicked a couple of participants too. I looked at my watch as I got off the water after completing this leg, and it showed 21 minutes. Not bad, i thought, considering my fastest in pool was 18 minutes.

Cycle Leg (20km):

I quickly got into the muddy transition area and put on my helmet and shoes before wheeling my bike out. Nothing interesting during this 20 km of ride. I got on an average speed of 28.5 km/h, and finished my bike leg in about 45 minutes. Oh, saw Roonz on her second lap when I was on my first. Woah..she was fast! Overtook me until 无影无踪.

Run Leg (5km):

Running after cycling is always my most feared transition. The legs were worse than jellies. They just didn’t want to move, and I had to jog my way through the remaining 5km at a slow pace of >6 min/km. I was glad that my timing for the last 5 km was at least not as bad as that during my Duathlon 2 months ago.. haha! I think the time for this last leg was slightly over 30 minutes, still quite slow though.

My buddy Boon and me after finishing the race.  

But who cares about the timing anyway, since my goal was to complete it comfortably.. And I did it! I guess it’s time to set a new goal.. Olympic Distance next year..

It’s Saturday! Well, or what’s left of it. Weekends seem to come faster, especially if you’re occupied with things to busy with everyday. Gave tuition in the morning, and went for 15-lap swim after that. Clocked 18:04 min.. I seriously have no idea how to improve my timing anymore! Anyway, I’m gonna join the Mizuno Run tomorrow, where I would be running on dreadful pebbles in the Bedok reservoir for the first few km. Just hope I can go under 1 hour!

Before I go, here’s a picture of a student’s assignment that left me dumbfounded.

Go figure. 

Yup, that’s right, I’m blogging in AMK library through my lappy! It’s almost become a weekly affair for me to do my work leisurely in the library since I’ve joined the teaching force. Not wanting to be coped up in the house 24/7 during the weekends, I chose to sit in the library cafe to mark students’ assignments and plan the next week’s lessons.

Doing work in the library is good as I could borrow a few books or magazines,  and skim through them when I got tired of marking the homework. I could always order food or drinks here too whenever I can’t resist the temptation to chew on something. (The food is quite ex here though, and I sometimes resort to smuggling tidbits. )

Anyway, after 3 weeks have passed, I’m already getting used to my 2 new math classes. They are great people, and my initial worry of not being able to adapt to the two classes was totally unnecessary.

1 Grace is a very well-behaved class, always paying full attention when I’m teaching. Students are generally ALL motivated to learn, and appreciative towards the teachers as well. 

2 Hope is the sports class. Students there, though having busy schedules due to their CCA commitments, are generally very willing to learn, always asking questions to clarify their doubts. Just in case anyone of you are reading this entry.. Don’t worry about not being able to do well in math. As long as you’re willing to learn, I’m willing to put in my best to help you improve. Having the right attitude towards learning is of utmost importance, and I can see most of you are on the right track. Lets look forward to the days after your competitions, where we can focus more on how to score better for the next common test in Week 8.

Hmm, ok, will end off here and continue working. Just a couple of interesting pictures to share. These are found in the homework assignments of 1G and 1H. Heh.

Interesting way to remember math ideas. (Although there was some conceptual error in that thought bubble. ) 

This one was just totally random. Lol. 

This is a long overdue entry on my Xi’an trip with the students during June. After reviewing the photos that I’ve taken, I decided to blog a little about it as well as putting up some pictures (as it’s been a long time since I put up photo series in here). I’ve not much time to write a quality post right now, so I’ll let the pictures do the talking )

Early in the morning, we travelled to the Terracotta Army site. There were several different sections to visit, as the terracotta army were buried under a vast piece of land together with the Emperor of Qin. It is interesting to know that this recent discovery of the terracotta army (in 1974) was accidental. It was discovered by some local farmers when they were digging a well.

Below are some of the many pictures that I had taken at the exibiting site. 

However, I believe the next activity (after visiting the site) was where the students really enjoyed themselves thoroughly. After lunch, we proceeded to a terracotta factory by coach.

The exibition section of the factory. One word of advice though, you can buy stuff that are sold here at a much cheaper price elsewhere! 

In this factory, the students will get a chance to learn how to make miniature terracotta warriors themselves by using mud and molds.

Above, you can see the students eagerly learning how to make the terracotta warriors from the expert (centre guy). I wasn’t sure of the exact procedure though. It seemed like the students needed to squeeze the mud into the mold, leave it inside for awhile before knocking the eventually-harden piece of mud ( ) out of the mold.

Below are some more fun pics of the students enjoying themselves. Not all of them succeeded making the terracotta warriors though. That showed much skill is required to produce a quality terracotta sounvenir!

The students worked in pairs or in groups once they retrieved a set of molds. 

Gingerly fitting the mud into the mold.

It’s no easy job squeezing the mud into the mold (made of concrete). The mud has to be packed densely.

Some already made terracotta army are being displayed (and left to dry). These were made by the workers.

More students inside the shed having fun. This group of students had already taken the shaped mud out of the mold. They were trying to stick the legs back to the body of the warrior because they fell apart. I think they didn’t succeed!

Well, I guess that’s all for this series. If you’re interested in how the Terracotta Army came about, this link explains its history in great detail.

I’ve just returned from another 30-lap swimming session, and thanks to the advice of a colleague, I managed to clock my personal best of 38:04 min for my 1.5km breast stroke. This is only the 2nd time I got under 40 minutes, the first time being last week with a time of 39:47 min. There’s nothing to shout about, since there’re countless people who can do a sub-30 in the same distance. But to me, it was a great achievement to improve about 7 minutes (ever since I started to swim seriously). Satisfied, will work on it harder.

Anyway, it was Passion Run yesterday, organised by Saucony. It was a 10 km run at ECP, and Boon and I reached there by 7am. I had to admit that I didn’t really train for the run, as I’ve been doing only 4-5 km runs recently. Well, I think my timing was about 58 minutes, which I should feel happy about considering my lack of training.

Well, just a picture of Boon and me after completing the run.  

Results: 

COMPETITIVE MENS OPEN Position: 550/1345

5 Km Chip Time: 00:29:20

10 Km Net Time: 00:58:04 

It has been about 20 days since I’ve returned from Phuket, but the thoughts of the fun I had with my buddies over there still linger in my mind.

Ever since I went to Bangkok for holiday a few years ago, Thailand has left me a very deep impression. In particular, I enjoyed the politeness and ever-smiling faces of the Thais. One can immediately understand why Thailand is always promoted as the Land of Smiles once he steps into the Kingdom.

It was no difference in Phuket. Apart from the persistent tuk-tuk drivers (who always pester to offer you their over-priced transport service) and the enthusiastic bargirls at the some night-life places (who try to cling on to your arms and ask you to buy them drinks as you walk past), I seriously have no other complaints with anyone over there.

We booked a triple room at a budget hotel named "SquareOne", and it turned out to be a good choice. It’s no grand hotel, but the excellent service and friendliness certainly made the stay worthwhile. We had quite a bit of short but nice chats with the staff and boss during our 4 days of stay there. The location was good too, as it was only minutes of walk away from the most popular beach in Phuket, the Patong Beach.

Speaking of the Patong Beach, we visited it 3 out of 4 days. Every morning, we would try to wake up early and get to the beach for a morning jog. Crazy, you might say. But we enjoyed it lots. And we enjoyed the Mac/Subway breakfast even more.

As it was supposed to be a suuuuper relaxed trip (apart from the marathon that I would eventually participate on the last day), we really slacked to the max. After breakfast everyday, we returned to the hotel, took a good shower and watched HBO. And slept. We would then wake up in the afternoon feeling hungry and walk about the streets searching for Thai food.

Pretty much sums up all the annoyance to a foreigner

We would then walk and sight-see around (but not buy a single thing) before heading to the beach to have some water fun. Waves riding, as I call it, is real fun.. especially when the waves are constructive! You just have to stand chest-deep into the waters, and when you see the waves approaching the shore, jump up and let the waves wash you up (or down if your timing is inaccurate). The feeling of being "thrown" by the water was good. Hmm.. I’m starting to sound like a kid. Nevermind.

After playing with water, we returned to hotel again. To shower again. And to lie on the bed and watch TV again. Until we were finally hungry and went to search for food again. We had the opportunity to try some nice Thai food at a place that resembles "Chomp Chomp", but only much cheaper. Crabs and squids were among the other things that we ate. Shiok right?

And then, the night life! After walking through the many streets near the beach area (and escaping from the stretch of dodgy bars), we finally arrived at a decent pub named H2O. It is managed by an Ang Moh (or farang, as how the Thais call them), and there would be a live band performing every night from 8pm-1am. And we got so hooked to the place that we returned for 2 consecutive nights!

It was a new pub, opened for only less than a month. That probably explains the lack of patrons (which was to our advantage because we could ‘hog’ the place all night by just getting a few drinks, and also didn’t have to suffocate under blankets of smoke). The staff and performers were very friendly, and we had no problem conversing with one another. In fact, we understood more about their lives in Phuket through those conversations. Interesting.  

The highlight, however, was on the third night, when one of my buddies and I came up with this idea of performing one song on stage with the rest of the band members. I guess it was because the people over there were so friendly and accomodative, that we got daring enough to make such a request! The band members agreed, and onto the stage we went

Boon lead-singing. :D 

We did a slow ballad, Colin Raye’s "Love, Me". The band was really professional. They didn’t know the song before-hand, but after I had them listen to it (mp3 in my phone), they could get the tempo and bass correct during the performance.  

Me plucking the guitar and croaking the back-ups.  

It was one helluva experience, as I’ve never tried playing in a pub before. The audience and staff were kind enough to applaude enthusiastically to encourage us. And we dedicated this song to the staff and band members (who provided really great service for all the nights when we were there).

As the cliche saying goes, all good things must come to an end. Finally, we had to return to Singapore. Well, it was an enjoyable trip in Phuket (including the marathon event itself), and I’ll certainly return to do the marathon again next year!

She must’ve been feeling unhappy.. 

But still.. strongly discouraged to express your feelings on the test paper!

Finally, after a busy and tiring week, I get to enjoy a long weekend. It’s going to be Youth Day on Monday, and all students in Singapore get to enjoy a 1-day off from school.

Band performing in the forum 

Yesterday was the Open House for St Nics, and my CCA Band was located at the forum, taking on the role of playing certain selected pieces when the crowd of visitors was sizeable. It turned out that the audience was rather small, but I thought that the band (comprising of Sec 2s and 3s) played rather well. They sounded much better than when I first heard them during band prac a week ago.

Later in the afternoon today, I will be going for another running event, Milk Run 2007. I know it sounds funny, but MILK actually stands for "Mainly I Love Kids". One should join the run knowing that this is more than just another race for the running enthusiasts.

On an average year in Singapore:

• 4,000 youth are arrested by the police
• 800 secondary school students drop out of school
• At least 75 pregnant teens in crisis call out for help
• Over 200 children are reportedly abuse

This annual Milk Run is a charity event that will help raise funds for children affected by the above issues. As written in the Mission of MILK FUND, it "reaches out to disadvantaged children and youths who fall through cracks - those who have genuine financial needs but are not able to receive financial assistance..".

Understanding the purpose of this run somehow made me feel obliged to participate in it (I wasn’t so keen on doing it initially because the run is held at the hottest time of the day, 3pm!). Well, hope to see a large turn-out later!

I want to end this entry by thanking this person for the encouragement. It really brightened up my morning and keeps me motivated as a teacher.