DarLynn @ Big Apple

A New Year. A New Beginning

2012-01-02T00:42:00.001-05:00

Happy 2012!

The past year has been filled with love, kindness, patience, struggles and stresses of all sorts. I feel like I've aged a decade being overwhelmed with all these emotions! I'm thankful of the friends and family who have stood firm and accompanied me through happy and tough times. But I'm glad that year 2011 is over. Out with the old and in with the new!

For the first time in a long time, I made resolutions for the year ahead. And I intend to keep them.

1. To count my blessings every single day and make sure
that this heartfelt gratitude is constantly made known to those involved.

2. Improve on my currently failing stress management skills and find a hobby of
some sort to channel these negative energy of sour lemons into lemonade!

3. Look towards the God of Love for strength.

4. Have a very productive summer semester,

hopefully traveling a part of the world to my heart's content.

5. Be happy.

Please help me make these wishes come true. Happy New Year!

2011-12-09T01:05:00.001-05:00

Despite a tumultuous last few weeks, things have been looking brighter and I'm starting to feel like my old self again. Only two more weeks until this semester's over and boy, am I looking forward to the holidays!! Grad school's no fun.

abandoned

2011-11-26T12:02:00.001-05:00

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’”

Waves

2011-11-04T00:46:00.000-04:00

Dark. Cold. Empty. Tired.

So tired.

Thunder, lightning, rain. Lots of hard, pelting rain.

Waves.

Never ending waves keep pushing my way and my small wooden sampan tosses and turns in the strong, howling gail.

I try to stay afloat but it keeps getting harder and harder.

Paddle.

Paddle quick. Muscles clenched. Mind determined. Move forward.

More. More. More

My body hurts. My heart hurts.

The comforting one I found solace in is now scorned by the other.

The other now no longer takes heart and drifts further away from sight, my outstretched arms in vain.

Distant laughter.

Battered. Torn. Isolated.

Waves.

Waves.

Waves.

Tired.

So tired.

Silence.

Kindergarten vs Preschool

2011-10-24T18:35:00.003-04:00

Kindergarten (5-6 yrs) is quite different from preschool (3-5 yrs). The academic-driven and fast-paced schedules of my current placement was a drastic change from my time at the much more relaxed (and private and financially abundant) Montessori preschool last year. Contrary to the popular belief that all American schools are chill, I was quite surprised to find out that the teachers in the NYC public schools were as strict as ever, which reminded me of my own rigid Asian education growing up!

"Hurry up kids, let's go!"

"SHHHHHH!! NO talking in the hallways!"
"Sit up, sit still!"
"No calling out! Hands up and wait to be acknowledged before you speak!"

"Fast, fast, fast...you're too slow!"

Boom, boom, boom. Phew. Within the first few days, I knew I had to 'toughen up' from Preschool. No more time for wimpy hugs and kisses. The real world begins. These past few months have been a roller coaster ride for me, trying to keep up with the lead teacher, Mrs. G, as efficiently as possible and getting used to routines. She's at least 55 and a tough nut. Admired but feared by all. Although I used to consider myself a seasoned teacher, having taught preschool for many years in Malaysia....I don't know if I will be able to handle my own kindergarten classroom in a NYC public school system. The very thought scares me.

Today, I helped out a little girl with some spelling...patiently stretching the word slowly and nodding my approval whenever she was able to recognize the letter sounds. She wrote the word down on her paper and paused.

Then, she looked up at me and said 'SL, someday you will be a great teacher!"

"Thank you!" I replied with a smile and jostled her back to work.

I was never one to seek approval from a five-year-old but man.......that made my day. :D

At least I know I did something right.

Different at 5?

2011-10-23T14:39:00.000-04:00

I don't know if I told you this but I am currently student teaching in a New York City Public School. Kindergarten level. 3 days a week. 8 hours a day. On top of 12 credit hours. Hectic. But I'm learning a lot. :)

Here's a short excerpt from one of my journals:

Children tend to say the most unexpected things and therewill be times when I feel at loss for words. During a reading workshop a fewdays ago, Mrs.G introduced a new book to the kindergarteners and discussedstrategies that could be used to predict the words. Mrs. G explained thatadvance readers often use the book illustrations as well as the sentencepatterns from previous pages to predict what the words would be. The childrenwere very attentive throughout the lesson and raised their hands before beingcalled upon by the teacher to share their thoughts and suggestions. Suddenly,Jim’s hand shot up and Mrs. G invited him to speak up. “I want to be agirl!” Jim blurted out in a loud voice. The room immediately fell silent as ifprocessing the statement in shock. Some children then giggled in response whilethe others and myself included, turned to look at Mrs.G and hear what shewould say. “Well Jim, I know you like to play dress-up and that’s okay. Butright now, we are working on this book and I would like you to focus and stayon task. You and I can talk about that later” she had replied calmly as if itwas no big deal. I thought that Mrs. G handled this issue very well andobjectively; she had acknowledge his statement and redirected his attentionback to the topic, just like she would for any other non-related statement. Mrs.G had also invited him to speak with her later on this issue if he everneeded to talk to someone about it. If I were in Mrs. G’s position, Iwould have probably ignored Jim’s comment because I would not know how toaddress the statement in an appropriate manner. Mrs. G’s response servedas a great lesson for me when handling sticky situations in the future; to keep calm and reply in an objectivemanner.

Yeah, so Mrs. G and I always had a feeling that Jim (not his real name) was not your regular boy. He's a really cool kid who is well-loved by his teachers and friends. He is also very soft-spoken and flamboyant in many ways. He probably does not know what it means to be gay but obviously feels different from the rest of his boy pals. He's five.

So, the gay issue - Nature or Nurture?

Zombie

2011-10-19T10:09:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the lack of updates!!

Words cannot even express how overwhelmed I am at the moment. I never expected grad school to be as crazy as this and the thought of another hectic year waiting ahead scares my poor soul out of me. Assignments, books and books of readings, journals, reflections, lesson plans, 10 page papers, student teaching, babysitting...omgletmepullmyhairout. 16 hour workdays seem like the norm for me right now.

Not much of a social life nowadays and I guess I'm gonna have to miss Halloween this year.

*Bloodcurling wail*

See you when I return to my human form. In a 100 years.

2 - Minute Class Presentation

2011-09-14T12:32:00.004-04:00

It isimportant for people to know that…

I may seem slow to warm up at first, but those who take thetime to know me will often discover a sincere and loyal friend. I enjoy art andmusic very much and my idea of a good time is a relaxing picnic with friends atCentral Park. If I had a million dollars, I would travel the world and blogabout my experiences for the world to see.

I come from a mixed-upland called Malaysia and I consider my mixed-up cultural background a huge partof my identity. My great-grandparents had migrated to Malaysia from China and westill celebrate many Chinese traditions even until today. I speak Mandarin Chinesefluently although I have trouble reading and writing in the language nowadays,much to my dismay. People are often surprised to learn that English is my firstlanguage. Although I say this, the English we speak in Malaysia sounds nothinglike the American English we are used to here. In Malaysia, we speak Englishwith a heavy accent that sounds flat and usually occurs in rapid speed. We callit ‘Manglish’ (short for Malaysian-English). In Manglish, vocabulary of words originating from Malay, Mandarin, Cantonese and Tamil are added in supposedly English sentences. Accents such as 'lah' and 'mah' are frequently used in daily conversations. A greeting to a friend would often sound like this, "Eh, how are you lah? Ate already or not?" (which actually means 'have you eaten yet'? Also derived from a typical Chinese greeting). I've since learned to switch between these two English 'languages' based on the person I'm speaking with, though I sometimes confuse myself in the process.

I’ve always known that I wanted to work with young childrenbecause I enjoy their lively presence very much and as cliché as it sounds, Ihave a lot of love to give. An old Chinese proverb once noted that ‘who you arewhen you are three determines who you will be until you are eighty’. I believethat as early childhood educators, we have a direct influence in helping theworld be a better place as we strive to mold young children into betterindividuals of the future by providing education, instilling strong values andmost importantly, by being a good role model. Early childhood educators workwith both the head and the heart. I’m sure we all have a good teacher we rememberedduring our childhood, one who was firm but kind, and took the time to teach andunderstand you.

I strive to be that teacher.

Semester Blues

2011-09-12T17:41:00.001-04:00

It's the beginning of a new semester again. I am now sitting in a quiet library at college, attempting to be studious and productive just like everyone else seated around me. I've always loved school but just like the first two semesters I had at this 'prestigious' institution, the first two weeks were always the most stressful. Don't get me wrong, the professors are great and the coursework bearable but the administration sucks big time. Every new semester for me never fails to start with a big bang - bad news, trips to the office, frustrated email exchanges, sleepless nights and increased heart rates from anxiety. Like a bad omen.

I was supposed to start student teaching this Fall. I registered for the said course online, grudgingly paid tens of thousands for the tuition fees and went on to get TB tested, fingerprinted and all the paperwork completed. First day of school they told me I was not in the 'list'. What the hell? How could that be when I had already registered for the course? After some investigation, it turned out that the administrators had sent out a confirmation email a few weeks ago, of which I did not receive. And this one email was enough to turn my entire semester upside down, despite being registered for the course. Dude, how could this be when I got emails regarding the other not-as-important paperwork! Botched class registrations can create a loop effect in class schedules and cause delayed graduations, which is a very expensive mistake (think extra student fees + 4 months rent + living costs). There are other problems and I do not want to weigh you down with them. Bottom line is that I am an extremely unhappy paying customer of this 'prestigious' institution, so much that I can't help but fantasize about quitting grad school altogether. Sigh, it's already not easy working so hard to earn money for such an expensive education, but it's really heart-breaking when everything is so unorganized. :(

Here's a funny story that's quite related to the above issue. I was babysitting the other day for this very nice family (love the kid!). I related this unfortunate story to the dad and voiced my frustrations about how one lone email message had turned the rest of my grad school class schedule upside down as I had to reshuffle classes around. He had listened to my problems with understanding and suddenly exclaimed "Yeah, I wrote a book on that!"

Huh?

Well, apparently this dad owns his own internet technology company and is well-known in the computer science world. And he did actually write a book on emails and the pros and cons technology brings. (!!!) I went home that day with a new technology guide book given to me and autographed by the author. "Remember to read the first 50 pages!" he had called out good-naturedly as I bid goodbye at the door. New York City is filled with unassuming and talented individuals and sometimes you just never know who you might meet.

Or work for.

10 Things I did Last Summer

2011-09-07T00:12:00.000-04:00

Within the blink of an eye, dear summer has come and gone. The nights have started to get chilly and the familiar cool breeze that sends us scrambling into a nearby H&M store in search of an emergency cardigan is a firm reminder that Fall has arrived. I saw the first tree browning near my house today. The last few weeks turned out to be super fun and I shall miss the good times greatly. Good friends from Michigan came to visit and I met new people whom I enjoyed hanging out with. For the first time in many years, there were times when I actually felt BORED every once in a while! School starts tomorrow and life will resume its previous pace as New York City shakes itself back to a more solemn mood.

So to recap the awesome memories, here is a list of 10 things I did last summer.

1. Lazed in the sun at the NYC parks.

Park#1 - Downtown at Battery Park.

Yenn and I sharing a sis moment as we walked towards South Street Seaport (where you'd catch a ferry to go see the Statue of liberty.

Park #2 - The Highline Park located on Manhattan's west side, which runs from 34th st to below 14th st. It was originally an old railroad track which was left abandoned until some genius decided to turn the space into a city park. I love this place cause it's super interesting!

Can you see the park?

Here are some pics from their official website HERE.

The park is very romantic at night too!

Park #3 - And of course, Central Park! @ Sheep's meadow, one of my favorite hangout spots.

There's always eye candy. Hours can fly by gossiping about fellow picnickers. hohoho.

An impromptu Malaysian gathering last weekend.

This is what I call life. Like I always said, Central Park's existence is how New Yorkers stay sane.

2. Toured New York City on a BIKE.

Yeap. I think this was the second time I rode on two wheels in the last 10 years. It was an entirely new experience experiencing the city in such a lovely pace. Read about my biking experience HERE.

3. Celebrated birthdays of dear ones.

Sis Yenn's birthday!

Dear DMC's birthday!

Roomie Cheryl's birthday!

This was the most epic cake ever! Moist chocolate cake layered with raspberry jam, chocolate rum ganache and fresh berries. For the topping, homemade Bailey's and rum buttercream smeared all over and generously decorated with black and blue berries. All baking credit goes to Yenn. :)

4. Explored nearby destinations.

Such as....

Jersey Shore of New Jersey.

Newport Mansions of Rhode Island.

5. Visited NYC museums and zoos without paying a single penny through my babysitting job. :)

Children's Museum of Manhattan, which I have been to four times already and will go again with another kid tomorrow. Kinda bored of this place now but eh, it's part of the job.

Interactive Curious George exhibition!

The American Museum of Natural History, which I've been to countless already because of my previous job as a butler.

So far every trip I had taken has been different, depending on the four-year-olds I brought with me. Some kids were more interested in poisonous tree frogs while some preferred touch screen interactive dinosaur 'movies'. I really enjoyed the special frog and dinosaur exhibitions which would be quite costly if it were out-of-pocket! (Most parents were members of the museums)

And then there was the Bronx zoo, one of the popular zoos of the USA. I brought Izzah there with me last week (she had visited from Michigan).

'We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo, how about you, you, you....~'

6. Indulged in thrift shopping for the first time ever.

Brooklyn is just an entire cultural phenomenon on its own. Unlike most people in uptight Manhattan (don't count NYU and below), Brooklyn is just super chill in comparison. The home of many artists such as musicians, fashion designers, sculptors and the like, Brooklyn can be a very inspiring place to be. In generalization, the fashion tone of the place consists of troll hair, loose-fitting tops, shredded pants and vintage clothes. Yenn describes it like this "Imagine the models from the American Apparel catalog sprinkled along the streets of Brooklyn". This is where you'd get great bargains from thrift stores.

One of the popular vintage/thrift stores in the area.

Found this vintage-inspired Doucette Duvall Bea coat for only $35!! I was quite hesitant to buy anything at first since I'm like dirt poor, but I was struck by the unique design and color. I needed a new coat anyway since I have only ONE coat (black & four-years-old) which I've reused almost everyday during winter. I bought the $35 coat and went home to google the brand only to find out that their stuff was super duper expensive. Like, about $300 for a flimsy dress. So...yay to Brooklyn shopping!

7. Hit the clubs.

With my beloved girls (and a guy)! This was us celebrating Cheryl's bday. Missing you already Em and Izzah!

At the Meatpacking District.

8. Went on an evening cruise.

I love Groupon, it's such a great way to save money and still get to enjoy the city. Got a pretty decent deal online - Cruise/dinner/dance at $35 for two.

Too bad everything felt quite cheap. The food was worse then our college cafeteria's and the plastic utensils just felt 'meh'. We even had a Titanic moment when the captain drove the boat into the platform when it took off! A whole row of windows shattered and we ran to the other side of the boat for our lives. Super dramatic. The crew then swept up the pieces of glass as if it were nothing. Honestly, not a very good experience.

Thank God for the view.

And the great company of friends.

9. Attended free events at Lincoln Center.

One awesome thing about New York City is that there are many free things to do if you look hard enough. Museums and zoos have free or pay-as-you-wish days and you could save super a lot of $$$ and still have a great time with good planning! Lincoln Center is always coming up with fun events and I attended a few of those.

Midsummer Night Swing! A night where people dress up from the 20s (or 30s?) and swing dance the night away.You could buy tickets but poor people still can have fun observing/dancing outside the dance floor. Got this pic from their webbie.

It's super cute. New Yorkers are always up for dance and dress-up. I only wish that I knew some dance moves!

I also watched Opera for the first time. Outdoors. In HD TV. Like the above. I used to think that Opera would bore me. But despite the foreign singing language and a little neck craning, I enjoyed myself a lot!

10. I cooked. I ate. And ate somemore.

This was how my freezer looked like a while ago. Stocked up on Jersey-priced meats.

You know what they say....eating at home saves you a lot of moolah!

Here are some sporadic pictures of my eating experiences.

Made watermelon sake! Discovered that it tastes much better than watermelon soju. Ingredients: Watermelon, lemon juice, sugar syrup, sake and ice.

Homemade pan mee, a favorite from Malaysia.

Homemade ondeh-ondeh!

Homemade japanese-inspired crepe. Red bean ice-cream with red bean paste.

Makan excursions.

Massive candy store, brainchild of Ralph Lauren's daughter.

Hers truly.

S'mores dessert pizza.

Massive sundae.

All gone.

The Best Chocolate Cake?

Designer macaron boutique.

You know where now.

Waffle truck.

New York style super thin crust pizza.

Green tea cupcakes and bubble tea at SPOT dessert bar.

Crayfish Party at Ikea, one of the most interesting dining experience ever.

Massive crayfish massacre.

We had such a hard time figuring out how to crack these guys open at first!

First time eating crayfish.

At the end of the day, it's your company that matters most.

Back to the real world. School starts tomorrow. Loooooong day ahead. NIght.

Irene

2011-08-27T14:59:00.002-04:00

Partied all night yesterday in preparation for Hurricane Irene.

After all, it was my gorgeous roommate, Cheryl's long-awaited birthday. "No excuses!", she had warned of my 'auntie' homebody behavior. It turned out that we could barely get into our choiced club because their capacity was filled! Like most of us, would-be clubbers on Saturday had pushed their night out forward because of the hurricane. Despite being turned away, we moved on to another hotspot and had a great time!

That said, our unwelcomed guest, Irene, has been a source of panic among people of the East Coast. CNN and other major news channels were blasting news and videos of the hurricane that was bound to approach our homes. The mayor had ordered mandatory evacuation in some parts of the city and hospitals located near south started emptying yesterday. A friend living in Hoboken (an evacuation zone) will be camping at my place tonight. The scariest part was hearing that New York City's subway and mass transit system (largest in the world) will stop running at noon today (first time in history!) and New Jersey's transportation system will be halted by 6pm tonight. Schools and work places will be closed for two whole days as people are encouraged to stay indoors. I was supposed to attend a wedding today but the event was almost canceled because of the hurricane! In the end, the wedding was pushed earlier to Friday night on a three-hour notice. Imagine a once-in-a-lifetime event being ruined by a hurricane? I would be devastated!

Watch this VIDEO for further info in a nutshell.You'll understand the seriousness of the situation then.

Here's some pics off the internet:

Despite urgent warnings to evacuate, many people in the affected zones stayed back, much to the exasperation of the mayors.

Buying bottled water - empty shelves.

Mayor Bloomberg ordered residents to stock up on water and flashlights to prepare for the worse that could happen. Grocery stores in the city bustled with life yesterday as people scramble to buy enough food and supplies to last the weekend. People lined up on the streets yesterday waiting to get INSIDE the store! I've never seen people so panicky before and the constant news and updates on TV isn't really very calming either.

For many of us, it's almost like being grounded. No heading outdoors and no choice but to wait out for the storm to pass. In a way, it's quite an experience. With good company, food, books and games this might not turn out so bad.

I hope.

On 2 Wheels

2011-08-24T12:29:00.000-04:00

I'm really not the most athletic person in the world. I consider my everyday travel and excessive walking around the city a form of exercise (to my credit, visiting friends have always complained how much New Yorkers walk daily) and hey, I do work with preschoolers! My rights as a grad student to the campus gym is completely wasted because I have yet to use the facilities at all. Heck, I've only recently discovered where the gym was located! Friends have given up asking me to free yoga tryouts in the park, tennis lessons had gone weary (bruised wrists for a week!) and running laps on a Sunday morning? Forget it.

So it came as no surprise when a few friends invited me to go biking with them on an early Saturday morning. I refused to wake up. "I've only biked once in the last ten years! I'm nervous around cars, so no no no! Just go!" I mumbled irritably. "Come on! The streets are closed today to bike, so you don't have to worry, it's safe!" After consistent pestering of peer pressure, I grudgingly obliged. And had a lot of fun!

One awesome thing about New York City, they always have fun and free stuff to do. Here's a brief info about the event:

Summer Streets 2011
NYC DOT and its partners are proud to present Summer Streets. This summer, for the fourth year in a row, Summer Streets will temporarily close Park Avenue and connecting streets from the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park to motor vehicles and open it up to people on three consecutive Saturdays in August (August 6, 13, & 20).

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/summerstreets/html/home/home.shtml

Park Ave closed for bikers, rollerbladers, skate boarders and joggers.

Looking all 'sporty'! I was too lazy to change into my contacts. My awesome bike was borrowed from a friend who happened to be out-of-town.

I was actually waiting to get my tyres pumped up. They had free bike repair tents as well as first aid stops along the way.

Entering through Grand Central Station...

We biked from uptown 69th street to the Brooklyn Bridge and back again!

And that's how you take good pictures.

Say HI!

Along the way, we stopped by a dance workout session by Crunch gym where passerbys stopped to have fun. Their classes seemed like a lot of fun!

Back view.

Some campaign about shoeless running.

Sunbathing..

Sandpit by the streets.

Professional sandpitters.

Nice PJs.

NYPD and dog.

Biking is a family event!

Nearing Brooklyn bridge, which we didn't go to cause it's gonna be too crowded. I had a 7 hour babysitting gig later that evening so I had to get home early. So, U-turn back uptown!

It was a great experience. I gained about 4 bruises along the calf of my right leg (from getting off the bike clumsily), but even that was all worth it.

I love New York.

The walls have ears

2011-08-21T13:28:00.003-04:00

When I first moved to this part of the USA, I was struck by how thin the walls were. Like cheap chalkboard that makes a hollow sound when you knock on it. Many times, the neighboring sounds of laughter, television and music ring through the floors and ceilings as though they belong to you. I know by now that the young couple downstairs enjoys country music and blasts it out loud during the day when they think that nobody else is around. The guy living beside us is a professional dad who cares for the baby while his wife brings in the dough. To entertain himself during the day, he plays 007 Goldeneye on his playstation. With the bombs blasting right next to you and men heaving heavy sighs as they get shot at, the house feels like a simulated warzone sometimes. The upstairs neighbor irritates pretty often by walking across the hall, super early in the morning, wearing her high heels. Clackety-clack, clackety-clack, to and fro and to and fro again. Many times I was woken up rudely by this and had to cover my ears with a pillow to drown out the annoying noise, praying that she'll buck up and leave the house soon.

DMC recently moved to a new place and had briefly told me about this neighbor whom he has never met before. From the (Kam Man Supermarket) plastic bags they leave outside their door, we knew that they were probably Chinese. Since this is a private building for the company DMC works for, one of the residents must be working in the medical field, either as a scientist or a doctor. Apparently, a man and a woman have been heard arguing a lot and there were often screaming matches and door slamming going on (we've since established that they are a married couple). Today, I heard a live match myself.

In the quiet of an unassuming Sunday morning, everything rang loud and clear. A woman screaming. The sound of a broken vase. Loud sobs. Crying. The kind where the emotions from deep within are wrenched out from one's heart. It was a heart-breaking sort of cry. Almost like a call for help. Gasps for air in between wails. I was quite worried but I did not know what to do. Was she alone? Should I knock on the door when a person is at her most vulnerable? I listened closely with my ear pressed against the door.

Then, a jiggling of keys. A man's voice. The woman screaming in Chinese "wait, wait!" A loud exchange of words. More crying. The door opens and footsteps storm through the corridor. "You stand right there!" Loud stomping descends the steps. The defeated wails of a woman. More footsteps. The door shuts.

It's scary and heart-wrenching. Since the entire exchange was so loud, it had probably taken place by the door. The image of a crying woman sitting by the door to prevent her husband from leaving breaks my heart. I could tell that she was very depressed.What happened between them? From their heavy accents, I knew that they were probably from around Beijing. Her desperate pleas suggests that her husband is the main provider and she stays at home. Being an outsider to America and with family far away, finding social support may not be easy for some people. If she was not proficient in English, language barrier might be another problem. Why was she so upset? Was it because her husband had cheated on her? Maybe she was going through depression and felt as if her needs were not met. Many women who are foreign to the country and totally dependent on their husbands may develop feelings of insecurity and would need more attention and assurance. If her husband was not understanding and well-informed enough, I can see how that would lead to arguments. From my own experience as a preschool teacher working with families, I've observed long enough that women who are fully dependent on their husbands suffer from emotional turmoil and depression., especially if she is less-educated. I've got so many different versions of this horror story. After all, when one person holds the money card, the other spouse will have to succumb to their rules of the game.

I don't wish for that to be me.

Providence Place & Newport

2011-08-19T00:11:00.002-04:00

I had a whole list of to-do activities in NYC planned out for the week, but we ended up taking an impromptu road trip to Rhode Island instead, which is an approximate 4 hour ride away by bus. Well I've never been, so it's always good to explore!

Of all days, the weather turned crazy during our first two days and it rained cats and dogs. According to the news, it was one month's worth of rain in two days. The worse part was that I only packed my usual summer gear: bikini, shorts and sleeveless - bad decision. The weather had turned so chilly that I had to buy a new cardigan and a pair of jeans to beat the wind. The first few signs that summer was coming to an end! :(

The view from Providence Place, an awesome shopping mall just 5 minutes walk away from the hotel. Since it rained the whole day, we spent the entire day hitting the stores. This pic was taken after the storm. After the outdoor style shopping strips we usually get in New York City, it was nice to shop in a real mall again. It's like, "Hey! Everything is so nearby!"

Guess?

My fantastic new bruise acquired by tripping from the bathtub. I get a unique design every time! *feigns grin*

By the state capitol. We had much better weather the next day.

Pretty flowers that will be gone in a few weeks.

Driving down to Newport, also known as a summer resort town and famously known for their colonial style mansions. Everybody I told about going to Newport immediately mentioned the mansions over and over again, and I was very curious to find out what they were talking about. Check out the gloomy rain clouds in the pic! Thank goodness we had pretty fair weather in the end.

First stop - Lunch at Newport Creamery.

Started with an awful awful mocha milkshake (that's really what they called it!). The calorie-packed oversweetened beverage was indeed quite awful.

I haven't had diner food for so long and this reminded me of my college memories in Kalamazoo! Grilled cheese, tuna melts, pickles, mayo-flooded coleslaw and a whole plate of fries. I've never been a health nut (low fat milk? Pffft!) but after that meal I felt really fat. Must be some of that organic New Yorker sh*t rubbing on me.

Then we hit the famed mansions along Bellavue Avenue.

The Elms - One of the many mansions featured.

My first thought was: "What a great place to get married at!"

Imagine a super pretty garden wedding here? It's gonna be so romantic! Girls out there, don't you agree?

Can you call this your backyard?

You can see the cliff walk, a strip of mansions by the sea.

Another shot.

Attention to detail.

Since we had to pay to enter the mansions, we ended up choosing two - The Marble House and The Breakers. I love learning about the histories and stories behind objects, so the audio tours were perfect for me. That's the reason why I enjoy second-hand books so much, because the crisp pages and musky smells of an old book offer hints and secret stories of the mysterious person who once gleaned through the same pages. My favorite ones used to be gifts to a loved one with cursive handwritten notes dated behind the front cover of the book. I guess I'm a hopeless romantic at heart.

This was one of my favorites - The Marble House which was built by the super rich and powerful Vanderbilt's during the late 1800s. The summer "cottage" reportedly cost $11 million and was once known as the most expensive house ever built in the USA.

To cut the long story short, millionaire Vanderbilt built this beautiful mansion for his smart and ostentatious wife, Alva. She decorated it to the nines, even building a Chinese Tea house in her humongous backyard (to commemorate the event, she hosted an extravagant Chinese costume party where her very angmoh and rich guests dressed up in emperor's and empress outfits!) Being a control freak, she arranged her daughter's marriage to this prestigious European duke. Her daughter was actually secretly engaged with another man, but Alva threatened to shoot her lover if she didn't go on with the marriage (tragic, but all for name's sake so her daughter can be a duchess). Three years after the mansion was built, Alva divorced her husband and ran off with a rich neighbor, moving in just a few doors down. Her daughter eventually ended her loveless marriage and married for love.

See, what an awesome story! Sorry they don't allow pictures of the interior, so use your imagination! Imagine ostentatious and eloquent Parisian designs, completed with miles after miles of unique marbled ceilings and floors.

Imagine ladies in long gowns swishing about during olden days....

Gentlemen and ladies taking walks around the romantic fountain....

Look closely at the dragons. You can see boobs.

Here are some pictures of the interior taken from the internet, just so you have an idea how crazy luxurious the place was...

The Marble House dining room....

The Gold Room, where majestic black-tie events were hosted.....

Alva's fairytale inspired bedroom...

This is seriously quite out of place in a very angmoh area....

Welcome to CHINA. These rich people really have too much money.

Looks like a dimsum place.

Completed with the traditional Chinese Gate.

The Breakers - Another Vanderbilt family mansion. Probably the biggest of them all.

The main entrance.

That's my 'thisisgettingawkwardnowpleasehurryupaandtakethispicture' smile! Okay, so this mansion has secret passageways for their maids and butlers, with 33 bedrooms for their staff on the top two floors.

In deep thought....

Wish I was in a nicer dress....meh.

Weeeee!

I promise I'm not five.

Really.

The view was just gorgeous.

On audio tour!

Oh also, their cold marble bathtubs are so thick that water had to be filled up and drained 4 times so that the water will be hot enough for bath. Their bathtubs have four taps, one for cold water, one for hot water, one for cold sea water and one for hot sea water. Just imagine the lavishness inside.

Took a sneaky pic of the kitchen, with fine pots and pans of superior quality. The Vanderbilt family had shipped a famous French chef over to prepare their 7 course meals.

Every chef's dream.

On the way home from Newport, we stopped by for gelato.

Online deals such as Groupon and Livingsocial are all the rage now. They are super awesome for consumers though, can save super a lot of money. Such as this $5 for $10 worth of gelato coupon.

Choices, choices.

Spiced pear sorbet (left) & blood orange mixed key lime sorbet (right).

Eating Malaysian longkang style.

DMC: "Look! The beach!"

Rain clouds zooming in...

If you look very closely you can see a rainbow.

More views of Newport.

Drove back to Providence and to Brown University, another fellow Ivy League school, also famously attended by Harry Potter star Emma Watson.

Brown bear, brown bear what do you see? (If you work with kids under 5, you'll get it)

I was here!

Okay, gotta go catch up on sleep now. Will blog more about my Providence experience later. CIAO!

Hoboken hangout

2011-08-12T11:30:00.000-04:00

The semester is finally over! Sigh, the life of a student unwittingly boils down to this...countless deadlines and finals, a sigh of relief, short-lived freedom and then the cycle repeats again. It's like deja vu all the time. Well, I got bored studying after awhile and goofed around with my camera.

My awesome roomies camping on my bed.

One of the greatest munchies around. Super yummy with bittersweet coffee. I love Trader Joe's to the max! That's one of the only quality places I can shop without breaking the bank at Manhattan.

Nerd at work.

Right after my finals, I joined the rest of the girls at Hoboken where Em is currently staying. Although Hoboken is technically located in New Jersey, Hoboken is often known as the honorary New York borough because it's packed with Yuppies who spend most of their waking hours across the Hudson river anyway. It is also the home of the legendary Frank Sinatra as well as the more recent's Harold and Kumar. Hoboken has a really homey and chill culture, which I absolutely love. Too bad the rent is as sky high as Manhattan's.

Em, the host who is currently interning at a fashion company in NYC. She's paying peanuts for an entire space to herself - upstairs, downstairs, spacious master bedroom, walk-in closet and awesome backyard (who the hell has their own backyard here!)

Tip for those who wanna visit NYC - Instead of looking at pricey hotels, you can save loads of money by subleasing apartments/houses. Many students and residents go out-of-town during the summer and they usually sublease their homes for a much cheaper price. This is especially great if you are staying in the city for a week or more. Imagine the extra money you could save to spend on shopping later. :)

Smells awesome. Assam fish cooking in the pot.

Our feast - I still can't believe we wiped out everything.

We yakked in bed all night long and woke up the next day just in time for lunch. Since Hoboken was predominantly Italian some time ago, many local business were owned by Italians. Fiore's deli is very well-known among the community for their fresh mozzarella cheese and yummy sandwiches. I know a few New Yorkers who would travel all the way to Hoboken to satisfy their mozzarella cravings.

When we approached the store from a block away, there was a huge red firetruck parked in front, with flashing lights and everything. We thought that something had happened and I was secretly afraid that the store was closed because of drama or something (we walked more than 12 blocks for this!). Just then, I saw a guy in a firefighter uniform step out of the deli with a humongous and heavy-looking brown lunch bag. Apparently, this was their lunch stop too. That's when we saw the long line snaking around in the shop.

Smells of heaven.

We then brought our brown lunch bags to a nearby park.

The special of the day was: Thinly sliced juicy roast beef served with mozzarella cheese and Italian bread dunked in brown gravy. It was good, though I still much preferred....

Ham and prosciutto with mozza. Great combo. Love the salty and chewy strips of prosciutto, the earthy tones of the ham helps to take the burst of flavor down a notch.

Mozzarella+cherry tomatoes+basil+olive oil+salt= :) Nothing can beat freshly made Mozza. The guys cautioned us to NOT put the cheese in the fridge until the next day, just cause it was so fresh.

We were devouring our lunches under the tree when I felt something drop on my head. Thinking it was bird poo, I leaped off my feet and cause a commotion. Well, it turned out that the birds in the tree were eating their lunches too. We got pelted on with these fruit thingys throughout lunch until Cheryl eventually got crapped on.

A dog run in the park. Playground for dogs.

Go play!

Next stop:

I used to watch Cake Boss in action on the silver screen. Although I've passed by the shop countless, I've never walked inside. So, we decided to give it a try.

This pic was taken last winter when I was at Hoboken. Check out the line! This time, the line became so unmanageable (neighboring businesses were complaining about the crowd) that the peeps at the bakery devised a plan: to line up at the NEXT building, and then a guy with a walkie talkie will send people to another line at the storefront. The line was rumored to take 2 hours. Errr.....OK, NEXT STOP.

Suntanning at the park with downtown Manhattan in the background.

If you look closely, you can see where the twin towers were. The freshly constructed One World Trade Center had taken its place (the tallest, darkest building emerging from the center).

Hoboken Terminal - hub of trains, buses and ferry to New York City. Which also explains Hoboken's expensive rent and desirability.

Makan Round 2.

Em & Cheryl.

Woof woof! Love me? *puppy dog eyes*

Bring camera must use more more.

Like this.

With 99c iced tea from Dunkin Donuts. Watched Captain America yet? ;)

Barefeet.

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Yenn giving a lesson on stretches.

Like this.

Booya!

Spot the difference?

I love lazy summers.

Will blog more often

2011-08-09T23:27:00.000-04:00

HI!

So, I'm currently taking a 10-minute breather from my boring textbook. Starting tomorrow night, I'll be a free woman until the Fall semester starts! Yes to autonomy! Other than occasional babysitting gigs, I intend to enjoy the rest of my summer to the fullest. It's going to be quite challenging with an empty pocket, but its better than staying at home being unproductive.

Columbia U has this agreement with the city, and students get to go to all the main museums for free! Since I haven't been making use of this wonderful privilege, I need to start being seriously kiasu about this issue. Free movie screenings and summer concerts are sprouting out everywhere in town and I have yet to go to any.

So this is what I am going to do. I'm going to bring my trusty camera with me everywhere I go and try to take pictures of my daily excursions. My goal is to blog about my staycation for every two days. Yenn sneered at my idea and said "Yeah right, as if you'll be able to keep that up!" Well, I am super determined to make this a productive summer so some pressure to take more pics and present my fun experiences to somebody at the end of the day seems quite worthwhile. Instead of sleeping in till noon everyday and laze around in my PJs, that means I'd really have to go out!

Starting this weekend! :)

Yeah, really

2011-08-05T00:19:00.001-04:00

I'm distracted.

I have a major 15 page paper due this coming Monday and final exams on Wednesday, and....I'm not prepared at all. And of course, here I am, blogging.

Well, anything to keep myself from facing my demons. I'd type a sentence and then get distracted by the juicy conversation taking place between my two roomies in the living room (2 hot girls yakking, imagine the stories!). I'd linger for half an hour, watch them try on clubbing outfits for party tomorrow and then trot back sadly to my work. Few minutes later, I'd make my way to the kitchen cabinets to look for my hidden stash of chocolates. Then, I'd get a glimpse of the huge watermelon staring back at me from the fridge and proceed to cut myself a section and stuff my face silly in its red and juicy flesh. Then, I'd go pee. Then, I'd want to scrub the toilet bowl clean. Then, while I'm at it, I'd clean the bathtub too. Then, I'd make my way back to the laptop and type another sentence. Then, I'd surf the net and look up food porn. Then, I'd feel guilty and go back to my work again. And then.....I'd find more ways to distract myself. Like, blogging.

Argh. I'm so dead. Gotta kick myself in the shin and get to work.

But you know what, it's almost bed time now.

I'll wake up tomorrow morning and start again.

I'll be more productive then.

Yeah, really.

But that's what I said yesterday.

No, really.

Violated

2011-07-28T00:05:00.001-04:00

I barely slept a wink last night. As I reluctantly peeled myself from my bed, I can't help but feel uneasy and grumpy, like a dark cloud hovering over my head. I quickly muttered a silent prayer "Please, let today be a good day". Then, I hopped on the next bus to Manhattan. I'm babysitting today.

Most of my waking hours are spent on the upper west side of the island, where I used to work, attend classes and recently, babysit around the neighborhood (it's interesting to note that my clientele are at least half Asian). The sun shone brightly and a cool breeze drifted through the air as I got off the train and made my way towards the apartment. The traffic light ahead of me turned red as I approached the street, so I paused my pace and waited at the edge of the pavement as I absent-mindedly watched the traffic zoom pass.

Just then, I felt a hand grab my derriere. Instantly, my heart leaped to my throat in shock. In response, I whipped my head around and hissed "Excuse me?" By then, nobody was behind me and I caught a glimpse of the culprit, brown-skinned, middle-aged, short and lean walking briskly away from the scene. I only saw his back. But it was too late. In a few seconds, he was gone.

Shaking from fury and cursing under my breath, I resumed my journey and went on with life. What was I to do? Yell at him? Throw my shoe at him? Chase after him? Make a scene? I felt so violated and defeated, letting this lowlife pest escape without consequences of any sort. He got away so easily. Argh, I'm just so pissed! As I was ranting about this experience to a close friend, he insensitively remarked, "Try to forget about it. Just relax". Erm, hello? Fine, I've only been violated with an ass grab but imagine saying this to a rape victim? I read a number of sex abuse stories where victims (especially those in the Eastern world) were coerced into silence, having to brush away these unacknowledged feelings of violation, fury and guilt as if its a fly on a white wall. I can only imagine the trauma of victims of sex abuse and rape, whose terrifying experiences must have been amplified a million times.

Terrible.

And may all lowlife pests like this dirty old man be struck senseless by lighting.

So, it's July.

2011-07-26T00:30:00.002-04:00

The month of endless birthdays one after another, many of them my favorite people in this world, including my dearest sister and boyfriend. Ahh....so what do we do? At first Cheryl and I planned one elaborate birthday surprise party after another....a glamorous night out clubbing at New York's famous meatpacking district or a sunny surprise picnic at Central Park completed with colorful balloons and a pinata? At the end, we decided to do a joint birthday celebration in conjunction with DMC's housewarming BBQ party (he moved 2 avenues away from his original Upper East Side address).

So, Cheryl and I decided to pour our love and affection into baking homemade birthday cakes. I chose to make Orangette's Sour Cream-Banana Cake with Chocolate Ganache Glaze for DMC because of his love of chocolate cakes and Cheryl advocated for the infamous Rainbow Cake made popular by Martha Stewart. The colorful and happy interior of cake fitted Yenn's wacky personality completely but I was pretty weary about the meticulous process that would go into making this cake.

Banana/Choco Cake - Straightforward and classic, just like the guy himself.

Those who know Yenn personally would agree that this cake would be perfect for her.

So, we dedicated the entire Saturday morning to baking these two cakes. Since it was a messy process, we took very limited pics but here's what we have!

Cheryl painstakingly dividing the batter for the rainbow cake into multiple cups and mixing them colors in.

Okayla, to save the trouble we actually bought 2 packets of cake mix so didn't have to start from scratch. But it's still very time consuming when you only have one cake pan and have to wait for each colored layer to bake before waiting for it to cool before removing and then repeating the same process again 5 times. By the time the whole thing was over, I could almost feel my entire apartment was wilting from the heat of the oven.

Never mind. By this time, my chocolate/banana cake was completed and stored nice and cool in the fridge. While Cheryl busied herself with the rainbow layers, I got set on making the Swiss Meringue Buttercream for the rainbow cake.

Such a painstaking experience. The first batch was a failure because my five egg whites and sugar failed to form stiff peaks no matter how much I beat them. Tossed them out and started a new batch. The electric whisk I had became so hot that I had to whisk the icing by hand. That's me giggling from the pain. I felt like my arm was gonna fall off from the repeating vigorous movements but it turned out okay in the end. The whisking took about 20 minutes. But now I have 10 useless egg yolks in my fridge. Any ideas what should I do with them?

Well, two cakes finally completed and the big, fat challenge was to transport them from our home in New Jersey to the other side of Manhattan.

Hot/humid summer day+heavy cakes/bags+bus+train+walk+4-flight-walk-up-to-apartment = Torture

By the time we got to DMC's, the icing from the rainbow cake had melted from the heat and my chocolate cake was looking more like a messy mud cake. We even had to go to a nearby grocery store to buy whipped cream for last minute touch-ups. I guess it's pretty safe to say Cheryl and I will not do this again anytime in the near future. Other that, the night went very well!

DMC, master of the BBQ pit.

C and yours truly.

Sunway buddies, Jann and awesome roomie Cheryl. Don't you just love her combo of vintage bangs, red lips and leopard print bikini outfit?

Yenn: What do you think if we pour beer into this watermelon??
Me: Let's try!!

End verdict: Meh. Try watermelon with sake. Beats the traditional watermelon soju. Trust me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! Our ying and yang birthday cakes.

Yenn, Sam and DMC.

Wait for it, wait for it.......

Ta-da!!! As you can see, the white icing around the cake had started to melt from the smothering heat. Oh well!

Rainbow Cake!! Enjoy cause we'll prolly never make it again!

:)

On second thought, never say never!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY~

2011-07-12T10:42:00.000-04:00

For some reason, the computer didn't allow me to upload pics yesterday so here's the delayed post. This is my practically conjoined twin, partner-in-crime, honest critic, best friend and does-my-ass-look-fat-in-this barometer. Oh, to which she would always reply matter-of-factly "If your ass is big, your ass would look big regardless.'' -.-

HAPPY 23rd BIRTHDAY!!

Love you to bits. Muah.

Aunty

2011-07-11T16:44:00.001-04:00

So, I've been officially upgraded.

To the status of an AUNTY.

Sigh, close friends in college used to tease and call me aunty because of my superior level of worrisomeness and displays of Type A personality traits. I usually laugh and shrug this nickname off as signs of affection from my youthful die-hard party animal friends.

Last week, I started work as one of the many New York City babysitters. As I ushered myself into one of those tall and shiny Upper West Side buildings I can't help but oohed and aahed at the sight of the spacious air-conditioned enormous flower-bouquet decorated lobby. Consciously trying to compose myself to the upper class feel of my new environment, I proceeded to fluff my imaginary tail feathers out and gave a brief nod at the sturdy uniformed doorman before stepping into the elevator headed towards the sky.

"Hi! Say hello to Aunty SL!" the Upper West Side mom greeted me warmly as she introduced me to her cute four-year-old boy who was slobbering onto the floor.

"Hi Aunty SL", he chirped in between bites of waffle.

That's it lah. It's official. I'm an Aunty. Oh well.

So far, I've been coming up with many different ways to occupy and entertain four-year-olds and their toddler sisters for a few hours almost every day. Although I've dealt with preschoolers almost my entire life, being a babysitter is a whole different ball game. I must say that I enjoy teaching a whole lot more. There are different challenges though, and my biggest fear is actually the Stroller.

Yeah, like this one.

I have no idea how to open them, how to close them, how to make the seat lean back and forward....etc. More than a couple of times, I've requested the help of a fellow babysitter or parent to help me with the mechanics of this wheeled device.

Unlike the privileged mothers of suburban areas where the ultimate means of transportation includes stuffing your tiny ones in the backseat of a car, strollers are the Number One mode of transportation for kids in the city. Maneuvering this baby along the narrow walkways of the subway station is nerve-wracking enough as I try not to imagine myself accidentally releasing grip of the stroller for it to go rolling onto the train tracks. Getting the stroller and kid up and down the stairs of the subway is another issue and I often have to go hunting for pee-stained elevators that will take me up and down of the stations. By the end of the whole ordeal, I'm all sweaty from the humidity of Summer, the crowded subway stations and hot, cranky kids. I've often swore that I will not raise kids in this crazy busy city but now I really mean it.

No wonder so many NYC mothers hire nannies and babysitters to do the work for them.

Not that I'm complaining. :)

Staycation Plans

2011-06-29T11:23:00.000-04:00

This blog is so dead.

But let me revive it! :) So, my two months worth of mental torture is finally over! All those endless assignments, presentations, observations, discussions, emotional breakdowns....all out the window. Through this stressful journey, I got to know my classmates very well and yesterday we celebrated The End with some soup dumplings and black sesame ice-cream at Chinatown. They say people get closer when they have a common enemy - I think it's true. However, I hate to admit that I learned so much from this two-month crash course on Reading and Writing for the Primary Kid, and I'm inspired to include my knowledge into future lessons.

I have a few days to relax before my new semester starts next week.

So many things I want to do! Since I am currently poor (donations, anyone?) I will be embarking on a much needed Staycation. Starting today. Sounds geeky but my first stop later is the New York Public Library, I'm curious to see if they have Chinese books for children.

Yeah, this famous one.

Lions up close.

Then, a much needed haircut at Chinatown. Tomorrow, we'll be driving to the beach. Maybe the mountains on Friday. Outlet mall shopping on Saturday. Sleep in on Sunday. Watch the July 4th Macy's Fireworks show on Monday.

Back to work on Tuesday. I'll be babysitting for a Chinese-speaking family. Four-year-old boy and a toddler. Honestly, anybody less than two makes me nervous. Any tips?

Full-time student?

2011-06-19T17:08:00.002-04:00

My Spring Garden - Create by the awesome preschoolers I worked with. Look out for the unicorn cardboard puppets!

The end of one chapter. The beginning of another.The future is uncertain. As always.

ANYWAY, check out this blog I created for a class assignment -about the quirky stuff that kids say.

Click Here

Hope you like it!

2011-06-14T20:17:00.000-04:00

There are days when I just want to huddle under the showers and sob my heart out - today is one of them.

Transition Period

2011-06-10T00:06:00.001-04:00

Forgive me for my absence. I've been drowning in my work, classes and mountainloads of assignments lately, often so overwhelming that I have no time to gasp for air. Summer classes are super intensive with 4 months work of lessons and assignments crammed into 8 weeks. Every single night I stay glued in front of my laptop, not surfing the net but rushing to get homework done. Full-time nerd with no life now. I'm actually sick of being a student, can you believe it?

It's gonna be my last week at the preschool next week. I've been working there since late last January and I'm very sad to leave. I've grown so much as a teacher at this place and I've always looked forward to going to work despite the occasional grumble.

I'll miss the teachers and the administrators who have always been so supportive of all the drastic changes that happened since I started grad school.

The kids. I know each little one inside out by now and have come to love their unique quirks and antics. The loud kisses and bear hugs that flow generously from their chubby arms as well as the cute drawings they send home with me almost every day...priceless. I'll never forget them.

I'll also miss my monthly paycheck. What am I going to do now with no income?

I hope to take advantage of my joblessness and explore this great city that I usually associate with work and school. I want to explore the museums, bike around the parks, discover quaint bookstores and maybe volunteer my time for some worthy cause. Stress and responsibility had almost consumed me whole and I need to revive myself again. For my sanity's sake.

Summer. I look forward to you.

The Mixed-Up Girl

2011-05-26T00:34:00.000-04:00

Okay, so I have this super intensive writing class this Summer. We need to read at least 3 chapters every two days and there seemed to be assignments due every class period. Argh, kill me. So yes, have been battling with time.

Anyway, here's a short draft of a 'storybook' I wrote about myself. For Kindergarteners. Supposed to be a simple assignment. I'm not entirely happy with it and am worried that the story might be quite hard to follow for children. I don't want the story to be boring and yet I don't want it to be too complicated. Gosh, I'm on the verge of just rewriting a new story altogether cos the whole process got quite frustrating. I appreciate feedback, on the wording, on the flow.....whatever!

Okay, imagine each paragraph is ONE page, completed with cute illustrations. Got it? Ok, now read.

Title: The Mixed-Up girl

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Lynn who lived in a faraway land called Malaysia. In Malaysia, everything seemed all mixed-up. The weather was mixed-up, the people were mixed-up, the languages were mixed-up and the food was all mixed-up!

The weather was so mixed-up that there was no spring, winter and fall seasons but only summer, summer, summer all year round.

Lynn wore shorts and sunglasses every day because it was always so hot! “Being sweaty is no fun!” Lynn grumbled as she dreamed of getting in a snowball fight.

Everybody looked mixed-up in Malaysia too. Lynn had many friends of different colors and sizes.

Lynn’s mama once told her that a long, long, time ago, people in Malaysia looked the same. Then people came from other countries like China and India to find work in Malaysia. Great-grandpa and great-grandma took the boat from China for many days before they arrived at their new home.

Lynn loved her friends and family very much. But because the people around her are all mixed-up, something else became mixed-up too. Instead of just speaking one language, Sue-Lynn learned three different languages!

When Lynn was a baby, Mama sang her lullabies in Mandarin Chinese….

Daddy read her bedtime fairy tales in English….

When Lynn went to school later, she learned how to read and write in Malay.

Learning three languages at once can be quite challenging, and sometimes Lynn’s head felt a little mixed-up too! “I only want to learn English, why do we have to be so mixed-up!” Lynn complained when she had to do her Chinese homework.

Even the food in Malaysia was quite mixed-up. Lynn’s meals would sound like this…

In the morning, Lynn visits a neighborhood restaurant for a breakfast of Indian bread and curry. Instead of using a fork and a spoon, Sue-Lynn eats with her hands. It can get quite messy sometimes, but eating with hands is always fun!

For lunch, Lynn enjoys traditional Malay coconut rice with cucumbers, anchovies and chilli paste. This often comes wrapped in banana leaves, almost like a gift!

Lynn’s favorite dinner is grandma’s cooking. The round dinner table will be filled up with many hot dishes of vegetables, seafood, steamed eggs and other kinds of Chinese food. Lynn eats rice from a bowl using chopsticks. It takes practice to learn how to use chopsticks!

Although there were so many different types of food available, Lynn loved one dish the most. It was called ‘Rojak’, which actually means all ‘mixed-up’ in Malay!

Lynn thought that Rojak was the tastiest dish ever because it had everything in it! For Rojak, people add in fruits, vegetables and even other things like tofu and crackers. To top it off, pour some black shrimp paste for dressing and then sprinkle crushed peanuts all over the dish. Yummy!

The best part about eating rojak was sharing it with the people Lynn loved. “How can anything so mixed-up be so good? Maybe being mixed-up is a good thing after all!” Lynn thought.

Because of this, Lynn was a happy mixed-up girl.

lol. So what do you think? Is the whole concept of multiculturalism in Malaysia graspworthy?

Interview vs Interview

2011-05-17T16:56:00.001-04:00

Have been applying for jobs lately. Went for 2 interviews this week and this was how they turned out:

INTERVIEW NO.1

Job type: Preschool

First impression:

Not very good. The entire place was full of clutter and I can't help but wince at all the toys and books left strewn around the hallway and classrooms.What happened to providing children a safe environment? The toddlers were cute but appeared to be sloppy dressed with goo dripping out of their noses. Oh, and there was a whiff of poop in the air. I don't know if I would send my kids here.

The interview:

At first, I thought it went well. The interviewers seemed nice enough and I answered the questions to the best of my abilities. But as the conversation wore on I was not sure anymore. Their education philosophies and my education philosophies slightly differ. For example, they emphasized that their teachers wait for the child to show interest in an activity or topic before delving more into the topic. There seems to be not much structure in the classroom and teachers are expected to observe and wait. I do believe that teachers should be sensitive to a child's interests and classroom projects created based on these interests are usually the most effective. However, I also believe that children sometimes need to be nudged a little to show interest and teachers a great source of knowledge and inspiration.

Pros: Flexible working hours.

Cons: All the above.

INTERVIEW NO.2

Job type: Preschool

First impression:

Small school but seems warm and cozy. Friendly staff. Children's artwork adorn the entrance of the school. A textile collage depicting dragons, princess and castles hung at the waiting room. I like it already.

The interview:

The director was friendly and all smiles during the session. We talked about using creativity and arts in the classroom, something I firmly believe in preschool education. Heck, I even wrote a paper on that topic. Apparently, the school goes along those lines as well and she shared a recent experience of the preschoolers learning about huskies (yes, them sled dogs) in the arctic and how the children spontaneously created a song based on the lesson. Overall, we share the same ideas and objectives in education. I think the interview went well.

Pros: All the above.

Cons: Inflexible working hours.

HOW LA?!!!! Starting next semester I will also be doing my student teaching, which will be additional 20 hours on top of 9 credit hours (3 classes). Which also means that I have to look for a paying job with flexible hours. I don't even know if the above locations will call me back based on these reasons: a) not a right fit for the job and b) can't commit due to school commitments.

My choices are limited. So stressful.

And the synonym for Nostril is....?

2011-05-14T12:12:00.001-04:00

Jaden is a three-year-old boy and a lively presence in our classroom. His crown of golden hair, pudgy rosy cheeks and the little barrel of a tummy often remind me of the naked winged cherubs you'd see in old Renaissance paintings. Yes, the kid is super adorable but can be quite a Gremlin with his mischievous antics. Let me give you an example - he used to dump all the work from the classroom shelves just for fun and ran away on his short stubby legs before a teacher can catch him, giggling and chuckling cheekily as he tosses one work after another. Oh, and he also has the knack of getting naked in public places. In the peak of cold winter when we bring the kids out to the park, he'd pick the randomest moments to pull down his pants, tilt his pelvis forward and start peeing near the trees, much to the horror of the teachers and passerbys.

Yesterday, my coworker Karen tried to put him to sleep during nap time. She brushed her hands over his cheeks and felt something gooey on her fingers. Karen, being queasy about creepy crawlies and all things disgusting and once famously screamed at the top of her lungs and scared the living lights of the kids seating nearby because of the mere sight of a tiny roach.....she gave a big reaction towards Jaden too. "EWWWWWWWW.......JADEN! You have a BOOGER on your face! Urgh!" She had exclaimed in disgust before stomping off to the bathroom to wash her hands.

At first, Jaden chuckled in surprise but then his expression became thoughtful and serious. Oh no, the little kid had his feelings hurt, I thought to myself. When Karen came back, he laid quietly in his cot as Karen proceeded to rub his back gently.

Suddenly, Jaden pinched his nose and exclaimed brightly "Look Karen, now my BOOGER DOOR is closed!"

"What did you say?"

"See? I close my BOOGER DOOR!" he said with a grin.

Upon hearing this, Karen and I laughed and laughed and laughed until tears glistened in our eyes. Booger door? Gosh, this kid is so cute you just wanna hug him till he pops. This is the reason why despite the headaches Jaden sometimes bring, you cannot help but still love him. Same case for many 'naughty' kids. Somehow, mischievous ones seem to have more personality.

I tell you, kids say the darndest things.

Dear Mama,

2011-05-08T22:15:00.003-04:00

My roomies and I decided to do something special for our dear mamas miles and miles away in conjunction of Mothers Day. So here it is!!

She used to be my only enemy and never let me be free

Catching me in places that I knew I should'nt be

Every other day I crossed the line I didn't mean to be so bad

I never thought you would become the friend I never had

Back then I didn't know why

Why you were misunderstood

So now I see through your eyes

All that you did was love

Mama I love you. Mama I care

Mama I love you. Mama my friend. You're my friend

I didn't want to hear it then but I'm not ashamed to say it now

Every little thing you said and did was right for me

I had a lot of to think about,about the way I usedto be

Never had a sense of my responsibility

Back then I didn't know why

Why you were misunderstood

So now I see through your eyes, all that you did was love

Mama, I love you. Mama, I care

Mama, I love you. Mama, my friend. You're my friend

Happy Mother's Day!

我爱你！

SPRING has arrived!!

2011-04-26T12:04:00.001-04:00

Ahh.....The sun is out, the flowers are out and heck, the birds are out! I woke up this morning to the sound of birds chirping crazily outside my window. But I'm not complaining!

It has been a super hectic few weeks as the semester approaches its end, needless to say, that's when all the final papers, projects and tests are due. So I have been busy busy busy, hence the lack of updates. Well, now I shall attempt to pacify you with loads of sunny pics. Enjoy!

The famous Columbia shot at main campus. It's amazing how awesome the place looks when the sun is out. Sun gives energy, yes, and human beings live by that too. I usually hibernate in the library but I've been doing some exploring around campus these days.

Food trucks are a huge craze in New York City now. There's a Korean BBQ truck that stops outside Columbia U during weekdays. I ordered Korean-style tacos laden with kimchi, bulgogi beef, pork and chicken generously drizzled with non-Asian dressing. The food was awesome. According to Cheryl, the taco boys were cute too.

Found a bubble tea shop not too far away. Quite overpriced so I don't think I'll be going back anytime soon. For some reason, I always think beverages are a waste of money. It's like...*gulp* that's 1 dollar, half cup down *gulp* there goes two dollars! Might as well go buy a kimchi burrito.

I see flowers everywherrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee....................la la la~

I never knew that Riverside church was so huge.

Settled around Riverside Park for a wonderful lonesome picnic. Yes, that's my nerdy backpack I lug around everyday. It has my books, keys, stationaries, packed lunch, packed dinner, light jacket....practically live in it.

Spot the squirrel.

Skateboarding anyone?

Nerd.

Sakura Park near 125th and Broadway.

Wasuka.
(think hokkien. Geddit geddit?!)

More sakuras. I was admiring the blooms when I heard faint music drifting across the air. Such beautiful violin! I thought I was hallucinating..

Oh, no wonder. The prestigious Manhattan School of Music was only a block away.

Magnolia blooms. So pretty.

Last Saturday, a group of friends and I decided to visit Brooklyn Botanical Garden for their cherry blossom trees. It was a beautiful sight. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Picnic! Don't let the sun deceive you. It was actually pretty chilly, hence the jackets. We had such a feast that the squirrels were jealous.

Cheryl & Mr.D

Happy me.

I felt as if I was in Japan.

Picture perfect.

And then there were the human-sized 'bird nests'.

Jump!

Fave jumping pic! But can't see the mysterious person on the right.

Gotcha!

Asian eyes in full view.

Korean couple taking wedding shots. So cute!

Spring is my favorite time of the year. :)

Teachers - From child's point of view

2011-04-12T15:51:00.003-04:00

It was lunch time and a group of preschoolers chattered excitedly at the table as they picked on their vegetables and gobbled up snacks. My fellow teacher, Karen and I grabbed some mini chairs and fit our large butts around the table too, chowing down from plastic containers brought from home. Along the way, we heard from a child's point of view what these kids really thought about their teachers...

S: Urgh, I smell that....is that poop?? Ewww! Who pooped!? *wrinkles her stubby nose*

Nick: It's Charlie. *points finger accusingly*

Charlie: No, it's not! It's Sylvie.

Sylvie. No, it's not me. I think it's Isa.

Isa: No! Hmm....maybe it's the teachers. *giggles*

Before Karen and I could retort, guess what 4-year-old Tom said....

Tom: No. Teachers don't poop!

Me: Oh? So what do teachers do?

Tom: Teachers hug. And give kisses.

Karen: Do teachers cry?

Isa: No.

Tom: Yes! When the kids hit them.

Karen: Hmm. Where do teachers live, Tom?

Tom: Teachers live in school, of course!

Okkkaaay. So there, my life has been summarized to one that is entirely devoted to the needs of these egocentric preschoolers. Which is, sad to say, not entirely untrue at the moment.

Just thought it was funny and wanted to share!

p.s. Tom is the little one with the hitting problem mentioned in my previous post. Funny he should know that we get upset when he hits us. Hmm.

Don't pray pray!

2011-04-09T10:23:00.001-04:00

Growing up, we Malaysian kids had access to media from all over the world. Let's just name a few....Blockbusters from Hollywood, Jackie Chan kungfu movies from Hong Kong, Bollywood musicals from India, Idol drama from Japan, Taiwan and of course, Korea, which has taken Asia by the storm for the last 10 years.

Despite the variety of choices, I've always a soft spot for Singaporeans movies and TV series. "Phua Chu Kang" remains a fond part of my childhood memories as our whole family would crowd in front of the black box and laugh at the silly antics and "don't pray pray" jokes in this super popular comedy. Since Malaysia and Singapore share similar cultures, we could totally relate to the humor portrayed in these shows...the language (Usually in Mandarin Chinese or Manglish with bits of Hokkien and Malay thrown in), food (bakwa, ice kacang) and of course people, characters who look and sound just like us.

Since moving to the States, I don't get to watch Singaporean movies anymore!!

I so wanna watch this!

And this!!

How? :(

Goal of the month:

2011-04-05T16:57:00.000-04:00

To be a Writing Monster.

You have no idea how difficult it is for me to focus. Arghh. I am currently procrastinating from writing my papers by surfing the net and blogging. Not cool. I really don't feel like grabbing the bull by its horns at the moment but I know I'll have to face the challenge sooner or later.

Darn papers won't be writing themselves no?

Meh.

Lesson learned from a Panhandler

2011-04-01T17:44:00.002-04:00

They say New Yorkers walk fast. Once a fresh-faced graduate from laidback Kalamazoo, I became one of them. For the past year, I learned to walk with my head held up, eyes directed forward and to move with quick feet until I reached my destination. Because of the shortage of time juggling busy schedules, this pattern eventually become internalized as a way of life. Like most New Yorkers, tourists annoy the hell out of me when they suddenly decide to stop in the middle of their tracks to whip out a camera and gawk at a building, disrupting the entire flow of the movement and causing human collisions to pile up behind them. This is the reason why I dread walking through Times Square when I'm late for an appointment.

Panhandlers. The concrete jungle is filled with them. We see people sporting messy hairstyles and few layers of oversize coats roaming around the city all the time. "Spare change, spare change", they would say while jiggling a paper cup. Panhandlers are a familiar sight at subway cars as they would beg while walking from car to car, sometimes going as far as to give a speech on generosity when they feel like it. It is not unusual to see these homeless people sleeping in the subway cars, sitting motionless and slouched over with an oversize hoodie covering his/her head with a huge load of plastic bags resting on the floor. "Oh, moving house again!", a friend visiting from UK once joked at the sight. Nowadays, I barely even flinch at the sight of a homeless man sleeping on newspapers outside a city church during a cold winter day. They are used to it. I am used to it.

Just like every morning before, I joined the sea of rush hour commuters through the underground tunnel towards the subway stations at 42nd Street. Lugging briefcases and backpacks, the crowd walked briskly along and shifted forward in unison, footsteps shuffling rhythmically as different designs of well-worn shoes brushed against the ground. At a corner almost hidden from view was a frail old Asian lady crouching on a tiny stool amidst some plastic bags. Her wrinkled face carried a sad expression as she sat with her thin arms wrapped around folded legs and rested a tired chin on her knobbly knees. This tiny figure is a familiar sight to the morning rush hour crowd and I see her almost every day on my way to work.

As I walked past her today, I caught a glimpse of an unexpected act of kindness. A scruffy black man dressed in standard-messy-oversize-coat-panhandler-fashion limped towards the old lady with a few dollar bills in hand. "How are you doing today?" he asked kindly as he offered her the money. She gave him a toothless smile as she took his hand into hers. The scruffy man's voice drifted away as I trudged on forward in my journey.

A pang of guilt seized my heart. Has the Real World turned me into a cold, unfeeling person incapable of compassion? My goal in life now is to work towards a better education in order to be successful one day. Fine, I've always told myself that I couldn't have helped even if I had wanted to because I'm a poor, struggling college student. BUT. But, if in that case how is that a poor, struggling panhandler can offer to help another fellow panhandler? At the end of the day, I'm sure he's more in dire need of money than me.

I've the desire to do some volunteering work nowadays. To give back to the society. To maybe help provide education for people unable to afford it. Maybe I should get my feet out of the door soon. Come summer, I'll try to plan something out.

Hopefully.

Preschool Teacher - Not All Sunshine

2011-03-30T15:45:00.001-04:00

Ahhh....my heart. Being a preschool teacher is an emotionally rewarding profession but there are just some days that will leave you feeling totally defeated. Like, today for instance. I can only liken that feeling to a bright party balloon being tossed around and pummeled hard in the strong winds, only to return to earth later a piece of rubber, deflated and dirty. This feeling has been happening too often these days though, and sometimes I dread waking up to go to work.

There is this kid I care very much about, let's call him Tom. He just turned four a few months ago on Christmas day. Tom has hazel brown eyes, hazel brown hair, cute smile and a great sense of humor when in a good mood. Trains are his favorite thing in the world and he has a talent for memorizing Thomas the Train theme songs word for word, happily singing in perfect pitch. Friends love to play with Tom but the winds don't stay still for long.

One minute Tom will be playing trains happily with some little friends and the next minute 'pow'! A loud slap on a friend's face. Friend cries, Tom shows an ugly frown, teacher scolds Tom, friend returns to work.....before long, same thing happens in a different situation. Repeat this incident for an average of 8 times a day.

The teachers have tried so much to stop this behavior from occurring. Yes, talking nicely, reasoning and explaining works. For a few seconds. We've tried using time-out by getting him to sit in a chair or by removing Tom from the room. Once we've even brought him down to the office too, but to no avail. One must remember that there are 17 more little ones in the classroom, and it is almost impossible to pay full attention to one kid.

Hitting peers is one thing. Tom hits the teachers too. "Slap!' there goes one on my lead teacher's face. "Slap", that's one for another teacher's legs. "Slap", that one just knocked my glasses off my face. Gosh, there is only so much bullying one could take and many times I could feel the angry fire within gush over me as I struggled to remain calm and professional. It takes much control for one to not hit back. Hello, if this was my own kid.... hohoho. I'll make sure he won't dare raise his hands at me again.

There are other behavioral problems too and Tom tantrums pretty often. This is the kid who would randomly flop down to the ground while crossing a busy main road to the neighborhood park, frequently sending us teachers into full adrenaline rush mode as we immediately dive down to pull him up. Once again, please do keep in mind again that it's 3 teachers and 18 preschool aged kids. Today, our friend Tom randomly decided to overturn all the chairs in the room and proceeded to toss them across the room at his friends. As if that wasn't enough, he ran over to his friends' cots during nap time and started flipping people off their cots, one by one. The teachers were mad angry. The kids were terrorized by the little monster before them. Tom's parents were called in and they had to cancel meetings at work in order to bring him home from school.

I'm super tired now. And emotionally drained from all the nagging, chasing around and negative energy. I wish that there was something we could do to help this kid who is obviously impulsive and unable to regulate his emotions. Tom is one high maintenance kid who frequently needs one-on-one attention. He's unhappy, his friends are unhappy and his teachers are unhappy.

There needs to be a solution very soon, but what? To pull him out of school? To have shorter school hours? To devise an individualized behavioral management plan? To have a special ed professional shadow him during school? Also, because monkey see monkey do, some other kids in class are starting to show some hitting behaviors nowadays. I mean, how could we blame them since Tom is getting away with it?!

Welcome to a glimpse of my world.

Cook-In!!!

2011-03-29T23:58:00.000-04:00

So, the weekend finally came around and I took the chance to invite a few close ones over for a lazy cook-out session. What first started out as a simple experimental kimchi-making event eventually turned into a huge pork-out feast. Everybody was so enthusiastic about preparing a dish that we had leftovers enough for the week.

This was how my fridge looked like with groceries jammed into every nook and cranny. On second thought, it actually still looks like this.

Dish #1 - Hainanese Chicken

Mr.Dee took charge of this dish by first giving the chicken a full-body massage using natural sea salt. Scrub, scrub, scrub!

I had no idea that it was that easy to make this popular chicken recipe! Spread salt all over, stuff chicken with scallions and ginger, pop it on the stove and then all we had to do was wait impatiently.

It looked good already!

Slop some homemade gravy of sesame oil and soy sauce for the finishing touch!

Dish #2 - Watercress and dates soup

Dish #3 - Making Kimchi & Kaktugi

Salt the cabbages!

Salt the radishes! The salting process took 4 hours.

Spread homemade kimchi paste onto the cabbage leaves. Click HERE for the kimchi recipe I followed!

Yes, I killed a beast and ripped off its insides.

The kimchi turned out to be super duper salty and spicy. I left it to ferment in room temperature for about two days and the flavors finally came together very well. It still left our tongues burning though. Next time we know not to put too much chilli peppers!

Our dinner with Malaysian Assam Fish as the main star of the day! Fresh fish, okra and eggplant cooked in spicy and sour sauce.....awesomeness.

Dish #4 - Hak Lo Mai

Or also known as black glutinous rice pudding. With a dollop of coconut cream for good taste! Our new Crockpot definitely did us justice.

Dish #5 - Egg Tarts

From scratch.:) I was surprised to learn that the egg tarts were perfectly doable from home! Our virgin experience.

Mr.Dee and C analyzing the egg tarts baking in the oven.

"Look, I see brown nipples forming on the tarts!"

Lol. It didn't turn out as pretty as the ones served in Chinese bakeries but they tasted quite good!

By the way, I packed and ate the leftover chicken for lunch and dinner the next two days. For my intake of veges on the side, all I did was to microwave some bean sprouts in the microwave for a minute before giving it a generous splash of soy sauce, sesame oil and white pepper. If I had more time, I'd fry some eggs with chives. I guess one learns how to prepare food efficiently living as a busy student!

The cook-out turned to be a success. Time to explore new recipes! :D

Tough life for a 4-year-old

2011-03-15T17:16:00.003-04:00

Guess what I read in the local AMNY newspaper this morning?

SUIT: SCHOOL DUMBS DOWN MY KID

Nicole XX has sued the York Avenue Preschool, saying that the $19,000-a-year facility jeopardized her daughter's chances of getting into an Ivy League college. Nicole XX said she removed her 4-year-old daughter, Lucia, from the Upper East Side school in 2009 because the child was learning about shapes and colors when she should have been gearing up for a test to place in elite grade schools. Michael B. who owns York, declined to comment. The suit seeks a refund and class-action status.

Really? Like, seriously?

Sometimes, I no longer know what to think. How can there be such people in the world? This suing culture in the United States seem so silly sometimes. Burn your tongue at McD's? Sue them! Don't like advice doctor gave you? Sue them! If you are homeless and for some reason felt sick from eating food donated? Sue them! (which is the reason why restaurants toss out mountainloads of good food everyday). Just so you know, the Naked Cowboy at Times Square recently sued a 'Naked Cowgirl' because the aging and sagging ex-stripper (not a fair sight) got naked and wore a guitar. Anyway, my point is that if you don't like the service provided, get out then! Easy as that, what's with all the lawsuits over petty things? Call me dumb but I really don't get it sometimes.

It seems as if New York City produces weird people sometimes. Everybody is so competitive here, and these traits are eventually picked up by their children. Even New York City preschoolers seem more irritable and display more behavior problems than the children I've worked with in Malaysia and Michigan. 'Angry kids', we teachers call them. I mean, if a parent would go as far to sue a preschool because she thinks that it 'jeopardized her daughter's chances of getting into an Ivy League college,' I would go crazy too! That's quite a lot of pressure for a 4-year-old, don't you think?

The worse part is that this isn't the first case I know of. In case you haven't heard of the intense preschool/kindergarten culture here in New York City, please go watch 'Nursery University'. Watch the trailer here:

In short, parents usually go through tremendous amounts of stress before their their child's third birthday, looking for the best preschools for their precious kid. For some reason, these usually very successful New Yorkers believe that the best preschools will lead to the best grade schools, and these best grade schools will eventually be their golden key towards Ivy League colleges. Because of this, elite preschools are super hard to get in and these companies play on this factor by charging a fortune for their services, usually equivalent to college tuition fees (!!!). Parents are often at the mercy of school officials as they have to be interviewed along with their preschool-aged children. Instead of parents choosing the school, the school chooses their future students. These young children will have to go through countless tests and interviews and school tours, parents have to fill in super a lot of paper work for desired schools (and for back-up schools) and former teachers have to write reference letters! What a rat race! The whole application process takes about a year. Believe it or not.

Imagine all the pressure for the young ones living in this concrete jungle. People live in small boxes and there is not much space for a young one to run around and explore. For example, this 3-year-old boy I know would dart back and forth across our classroom all the time, much to the teachers' annoyance. It eventually dawned on us that our humble classroom is 3 times the size of his apartment home, no wonder he needed to move about! But if you have 20 kids in the same classroom, running indoors is not an option because of safety reasons. It's all about the matter of space because Manhattan is so scarce of it. Also, the usual mode of transportation for young children are strollers pushed around by moms, dads or nannies. Imagine being confined in a tiny apartment all day and then brought outdoors to be tucked into this?

Since New Yorkers either walk and or take public transportation most of the time, strollers like this remain the best option for young children who'd get tired from walking long distances. Taking the stroller is also much faster than waiting for your toddling kid to keep up with you, especially if you are in a hurry (as most New Yorkers often are). So if you are below four, you'd probably spend most of your time strapped in a stroller. If I were to be cooped up all the time with a ball of energy waiting to be let loose, I'd be irritable too! And don't even get me started on poor nannies and moms having to carry these heavy equipment + child up and down the stairs to the subway. It's a lot of work.

Bottomline:
New York City is not a very healthy place to raise children. It's expensive and claustrophobic.

Just my humble opinion.

Thoughts on Cultural Differences

2011-03-10T19:04:00.003-05:00

I've been engrossed in reading this book for my class in special education, 'The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down' by Anne Fadiman. This anthropological study has a special spot in my backpack and purse (during weekends) as I carry it with me everywhere I go and would flip it open at every chance I get on the subway, bus rides home or while waiting in between commitments. Can hardly put it down! Although I've yet to complete the book any time soon, I can assure the inquisitive minds out there that it is a wonderful read.

To summarize the entire storyline, this book is about "a Hmong child, her American doctors and the collision of the two cultures". Imagine this, a Hmong family fresh off the jet from Laos, bringing with them their strong traditional Asian beliefs and practices usually regarded by the more educated and westernized as 'old wives tales' or a bunch of hocus pocus versus a group of well-meaning overworked American doctors who are rigidly scientific-based, which usually translates along the lines of 'if it can't be proven it doesnt exist!'. Both parties were equally stubborn as they medically dealt with a little Hmong girl suffering from a severe case of epilepsy. Needless to say, the tug-of-war and ignorance between these cultures only brought upon tragedy at the end. The author did an amazing job lobbying on behalf of both sides of the Hmong and American parties because at the end of the day, everybody had their own reasons behind their decisions. As an international student living in the United States, the subject of cultural differences has always been fascinating to me.

There were many things in the book I could relate to. The Hmong culture for instance reminded me so much of my very own Asian background. Like most of my Southeast Asian friends, we grew up with a lot of 'myths'. For example, we believe in spirits. Many elders believe that living things such as human beings, animals as well as trees have souls or spirits living in them. For those going jungle tracking in the woods, locals always cautioned to say 'excuse me' before relieving yourself at a tree, just in case you were to pee at a spirit who may end up insulted and follow you home. In our modern way of life nowadays, the same applies if you were to check into a hotel. Before entering an empty hotel room, always knock on the door beforehand to warn the spirit (if any) living inside, just in case. I hate to admit this but sometimes I do that too, yes, just in case. I guess you can take this as a gesture of respect and acknowledgment to the spirit world.

You know the 'Mongolian Spot', the bluish birthmark found on the buttocks of many Asian babies? Many Asians believe that these marks are bruises caused by the spankings of demons during a person's previous journey in hell as he goes through reincarnation before being born again as a human baby. If you were mean to your neighbor, you might be born again as a cockroach or a pig. If you were a kind person, you may be reincarnated into a man, or maybe a prince. If you pluck a neighbor's flowers, you'd end up a prostitute. I grew up listening to stories like these and as an educated person, it's easy to shrug off these ancient beliefs as gibberish. However skeptical as we youngsters may be, most of us still respect these as part of our Asian culture, even though we may not necessarily abide by them.

I shared these stories to my American counterparts and they were completely astounded. I totally understand. Okay, fine, let's not even go that far. When I was studying in Michigan, a pastor I met shared about his experience visiting Asia for the first time. He was in a Chinese restaurant and suddenly the waiter brought in this big fish steaming on a silver platter with it's freaking head still attached. He was APPALLED. Err, hello? I've enjoyed fishes my entire life, with bones and head intact. After a few months in the States, I eventually realized that most people in the Midwest eat frozen fish sticks as their main source of 'seafood'. Fish heads? Big yuck. I'd hate to tell them all about Malaysia's favourite fish head curry.

A few years ago, I studied abroad in Beijing with a group of students from Western Michigan University. I've been to China a couple times before, but this was one of the best trips I had. Traveling with Americans to such an exotic place proved to be an interesting experience because I got to see things afresh from their point of view, almost like culture shock. For example, most of my American counterparts had never seen a squat toilet before. I remember the shocked expressions on their faces when we broke the news that there were no sitting toilets in most public places. Accustomed to using forks and knives their entire lives, many of my friends had trouble maneuvering their chopsticks to pick up morsels of food or to shovel rice into their mouths. They jokingly called this the "chopstick diet" as they would definitely lose weight by the end of the trip!

Sometimes, these cultural differences may cause problems for people, especially for recent immigrants who are older, uneducated, don't speak a word of English and are unfamiliar with American ways. There was a tragic case in The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down when a misunderstanding occurred between a Hmong man and some American professionals. The man's son had became ill and so the man used some coins to rub on his son's back, creating bluish-purple circular marks throughout his back to 'let the bad stuff in his body out.' This is a traditional way of healing and it's still widely practiced in places like China today. Since those marks resembled bruises, the son's teachers suspected the father of child abuse and called the authorities on him. The father who knew no English, was locked away in prison and became so distraught that he hung himself to death. All because of the lack of understanding from both cultures.

Cultural differences are super fascinating don't you think? I could go on and on and give more examples but I've got a class to go to.

There's this quote in the book that just struck a chord in me as an alien person living in the States. Despite my being fluent in the English language and accepting of American customs, there are times when I'd feel like a fish out of water. Brought up with strong Asian values to become too Americanized, and yet sometimes too comfortable with American ways to properly fit in with a conservative society.

"I am the chameleon animal. You can place me anyplace, and I will survive, but I will not belong. I must tell you that I do not really belong anywhere".
-A Hmong-American

I can totally relate to that.

Snippets #2

2011-03-09T23:49:00.001-05:00

Children say the darnest things. Really. Sometimes I wish I could just carry around a notepad to jot quirky conversations down, but we all know that that is not possible in a high-energy preschool classroom. These are just a fragment of the many interesting conversations we teachers engage in everyday:

**********
Me: Have you seen the cartoon XX?
K (Age 5): What's a cartoon?
M (age 4): A cartoon is something that my mommy and daddy doesn't like. Hmm, but they really like commercials though.

**********

Em (age 4) fumbles around with his lunchbox and tries to get it open. Lunchbox slips from the table and falls onto ground.
Em: WHAT THE F*CK?
Me: What did you say?
Em: Nothing.

**********

C (age 3): I miss my mommy....:(
Me: I miss my mommy too.
C: You have mommy?!!
Me: Yes?
C: But you so big, your mommy die! (looks seriously confused)
Me: Just because I'm big, doesn't mean that I don't have a mommy. My mom is still young and strong.
C: You have daddy too?
Me: Yes, I do.
C: Wow!!

**********

Sam (age 4) practices tracing numbers 1-30. He then counts as he points at the written numbers.

Sam: I am 4 years old. 1, 2, 3...4. This is number four! Lynn, how old are you?
Me: I am 25.
Sam: 1, 2, 3.......(counts to) 25! Twenty-five! *giggles* How old is Karen?
Me: She is 27.
Sam: 1, 2, 3.....(counts to) 27. Twenty-seven! Yay! How old is Laura?
Me: Why don't you go ask her?
Sam: Ok!

Sam runs to the back of the room where middle-aged Laura is standing.

Sam: Laura, how old are you?
Laura: I'm ten.
Sam: Oh! Laura is ten! *Grins happily*

Sam runs back to number sheet and counts from one to ten.

**********

Sigh, kids. It's amazing how cute they can be when they are not testing your patience.

Beyond words

2011-03-04T18:35:00.001-05:00

My day started out perfectly normal.

Fridays always feel a little more relaxed than usual as children are in a jolly mood during the morning as they look forward to lunch on 'Pizza Friday'. Audible sighs of relief can be heard from teachers all ready to put the crazy week behind them. Lessons were taught, three little girls celebrated their fourth birthdays during Circle Time and we spent almost a good hour playing in Riverside Park, breathing in the sun and cold air before heading back to school for the much anticipated cheese pizza. Dealt with cute kids, dealt with angry kids. Hugged someone, shot a warning glare at someone. Same old, same old.

There was this assignment from college I'd been thinking a lot about. We had to read a few articles and journals and then come up with a response for them. Since this was an art education class, it was to be an 'artistic response', which meant that we could do anything from drawing, painting to dance and visual arts, as long as it's not regular essay writing. Exciting enough.

For the past few days, different ideas had been brewing in my head. Should I paint? Draw? Or write some poetry? In the end, I decided that clay would be the best medium for this project. I googled and found out that there was a Michaels within walking distance from the preschool I was at. Oooh, they have 50% coupons online too. Perfect. Oh snap, stupid printer doesn't work. Meh no biggie, we'll figure it out. Since I don't have college classes on Fridays, I was glad to be able to get off work and wander freely around the neighborhood.

Michaels was like a dream come true for teachers and artists. There had everything you would need creatively under the sun, from picture frames to colorful beads to knitting yarn to beautiful fake flowers.....everything. I found my clay too. Ah...choices, choices. I finally decided on a $12.99 box of red Mexican clay which would be perfect for the image I already have in my head (Yay, half off!). As I waited in line for the cashier, my fingers itched impatiently to start on this project I had been thinking about all day.

They told me that I couldn't get 50% off without a coupon. Fine, so I asked if I could show them the online coupon from my Samsung cell phone. Fine. No internet service indoors, so I walked away to the entrance and started poking at my phone screen. Everything showed up but the coupon. 5 minutes turned to 15 minutes as I frantically tried different ways to get the image to pop up. I was this close to smashing that stupid device on the floor. Frustrated and defeated, I walked out of the store empty-handed. I refuse to buy something I could have gotten 50% off of.

A gush of cold wind greeted me as I stepped onto the sidewalk. I stifled a sniff, and then another. Before I knew it, I found myself sobbing at the side of the street. Tears flowed uncontrollably down my cheeks as I struggled to compose myself for a good few minutes. What the hell? All this drama for some solid mud in a box? WHAT the hell? That's it. I took a deep breath and then kept my head tilted down throughout that miserable walk to the nearest train station. I surprise myself sometimes. Why did I react like a kid who dropped her lollipop on the floor? Would that be considered tears of disappointment, frustration or sadness then? Gosh, I feel so dumb dumb sometimes. Tears for nothing. Speechless.

I got home to find mascara smudges along my eyes. Just great.

Who said art's not important?

2011-02-24T17:45:00.000-05:00

I hate to admit this but I'm actually quite the nerd since I've always enjoyed school. Other than the times when I had to write long lengthy papers on boring issues or memorized endless lists of scientific definitions word for word, it's actually nice being a student at the receiving end of education. Especially if your classes are fun!

Since I had to choose an elective subject for this semester, I went with 'Art for Classroom Teachers'. Like it or not, art is very important for teachers because most kids like art! Also, a smart teacher knows how to incorporate art with lessons as children are concrete learners and they learn best from manipulating materials. For example, for subjects such as social studies, you can study about China and have kids make clay vases with white and blue details. Children can make wall murals based on ancient Egypt art.....yada yada. See, get what I mean?

Well, anyway. I've always liked art but felt as if I never had the chance for a proper art education back in Malaysia. So yes, I attended Art Class for a year when I was 17, but my teacher's idea of teaching art was to give me a photograph of someone else's painting and have me emulate it, detail for detail. For a whole year I did nothing but that. And it was always watercolor, so that's the only art medium I knew how to work with. Thinking back, my art teacher really sucked.

So, what have I been doing at THIS art class? Each week, we work with a different art medium. Other than practical hands-on experience we get during class, there were a least 4 scholarly articles to read each week (bloody hell, I had to buy 4 freaking books for this class!) and a tutorial video or two (techniques on how weathered teachers handle their groups, this is important cos trust me.....inexperience teachers+excitable kids+art materials=havoc).

Here's a sneak peak of my experience and artwork in class.

PAINTING
We were given just three primary colors (red, blue, white) as well as black and white to tone things down or up a notch. The idea is for you to mix your own desired colors! Newspapers, white art block paper and construction paper were given for us to experiment with the materials.

This is my version of snowy NYC. I chose brown construction paper cause it's a great base to paint white snow since it stands out better. Pastel colors look nice here too!

COLLAGE
I always thought that this is the most boring art medium ever cos all you do is stick, stick, stick! Guess I was wrong.

My lecturer started the lesson by asking us to talk about what we liked to do with friends. Each of us had a turn in sharing our favorite activities, and I shared that I liked going on food tours with my buddies. Sometimes, almost ten of us would take the 7 train down to Flushing's Chinatown and eat, eat, eat our way from morning till night. True story.

We then had to transfer our stories into works of collage. Quite challenging, but the results from the entire class were so cool!

Some pics of my classmates' work. You can see themes of the beach, shopping, skiing...etc.

This is mine. A bowl of over flowing noodles and meatballs + two pairs of chopsticks. Get it?

STICK PUPPET - This was another part of our collage lesson. We were given cardboard square and strips and a whole bag of random materials to bring home. We could choose to either make a human or an animal. Inspired by the strands of yarn, I opted to make a horse. With a little vintage-y feel to it.

CLAY
Ahh....I was such a newbie to this one. It was nice to work with such manipulative material, clay was much heavier and wetter than I imagined it to be!

The materials needed to make a coil cup.

I had cut out strips from the clay and then coiled it around a layer at a time until it reached my desired height and shape.

Added on a flower motive for extra aesthetic measures!

Side profile.

DRAWING
Needs no explanations.

Pencil, charcoal and other materials....

First Drawing Exercise

We were given photocopies of sports figures and asked to draw little sausages over their bodies to help bring out their shapes and movements. Transfer these shapes onto our art paper. Think of what it reminds you of? Somebody kicking a ball? Dick Van Dyke dancing from Mary Poppins?

My inspiration was Yuna Kim doing figure skating.

Second Drawing Exercise
Lecturer: Okay guys, don't get mad at me but I'm gonna ask each of you to take off one of your shoes and put it on the table.
Class: What?!!!

Our still life models. Yes, we had to draw shoes.

The end result.

Due to limited time, I only got to draw one shoe. That's mine.

I had to read a journal article and then instead of writing a response to it the usual way, we were expected to respond to the article in an artistic way. Since the said article talked about how Japanese children were observed to be more superior in art because they grew up with art models in the form of manga, I decided to draw manga too.

My job was to depict different expressions through characters: Eagerness, apprehension, seductiveness, distress, wonder and evil. Tell me if you can recognize them. I chose Sailormoon characters because they were my favorite manga read while growing up.

So yes, my art class has been fun so far! Gotta go now, but not before I share some of my kids' artwork.

Oink - By very advanced 3-year-old girl.

NYC Yellow Taxi - 5-year-old boy.

School bus - By the same boy

Ciao~

Orang giler

2011-02-14T22:29:00.000-05:00

Sat beside a crazy man in the bus and listened to him yak at me for about 30 minutes.

Topics discussed: Politics and his friendship with Barack Obama, evading taxes by being "sneaky sneaky", being invited to the Grammy Awards in LA, how if he acted all the actors in LA would lose their jobs and his plans to bring the Grammy Awards to Egypt next year.

The ironic part was that we started the conversation with him saying, "I like New York too. There are a lot of crazy people here but then again, there are crazy people everywhere."

I did not realize he was one of them.

Now I have a headache.

Rants and Happy snapshots

2011-02-13T14:25:00.001-05:00

I woke up today aching all over as if a train had ran over my body all of last night. Seriously, I swear that I barely slept a wink for the past two nights. The fact that I now sound like a man with a husky, sexy voice don't help much either. I can only thank God for the weekend and cross my fingers to get better in time for work tomorrow. Sigh.

So, updates on life. Well, life has been pretty good albeit stressful since I have my hands full with both work and studies. My schedule usually starts at about 7.30am in the morning when I wake up, go to work until 2pm, take the train uptown to Columbia University, study and eat in the library, go to classes and head back to Jersey again. Touchdown at home is about 10pm. Same thing every weekday.

And you know what's the biggest challenge? Packing meals for both lunch and dinner.

If you've been keeping up with this blog, you'll know that I usually pack sandwiches for lunch at work. Eating out is just way too expensive in New York City and I've tried to make my sandwiches taste more appealing by throwing in avocados, blue cheese and the occasional kimchi. Let's just say that I am now at a point where the mere smell of whole wheat bread makes me want to throw up. Just last week, I decided to abandon bread and go the healthy route by experimenting with salad, completed with leafy lettuce leaves, green spinach, raw button mushrooms, carrots, shredded cheddar cheese and a generous douse of balsamic dressing for extra taste. Ah, my vegetarian friends would be so proud of me! The end verdict? I got hungry again in two hours and had to spend money on a lousy bagel. Meh.

Now, I have to plan for an additional meal of dinner, which is actually pretty brain-wrecking. Since I get home late everyday, I don't get to cook so often anymore. I think I might have to make a huge pot of pasta during the weekends and slowly eat my way through. We'll see how that goes!

Also, for some reason life as a student here in NYC is so different from those times in Kalamazoo. Despite always joking that Kalamazoo is a black hole with nothing (hello, we'd go to Walmart during midnight just for fun cos there's nothing else better to do!), I really missed those times with friends. Since it was a college town, everybody lived nearby and we'd have barbeques, eat-outs and do other fun stuff together.

Maybe it's because I'm a grad student now but life doesn't seem so carefree anymore! The entire mood at Columbia U is super studious and serious, which I can only attribute to the school's nerdier Ivy league status or the fact that the students are older, or both. Or maybe it's just snobby NYC, I dunno? Since it's a commuter school, friendships are also harder to form as most students rarely live near campus and would travel to and fro instead. Such as myself. I think I need to join a club or something in the future to feel more involved. Right now, I'm just a lone soul taking up space in the library.

Well, let's move on to happier stuff! I'm happy to inform you that despite work, classes, messy transitions and all that jazz, I'm blessed enough to still have a handful of friends and family whom I love and cherish. Here are some pics from last week!

A bunch of us Malaysians gathered at Nyonya, a popular Malaysian restaurant at Chinatown on the eve of Chinese New Year, where we also met a lot more Malaysians dining there!

With Yenn and C.

Got Yee Sang somemore, don't play play! It's so surprising to find out that Malaysians from Penang and Melaka aren't very familiar with this tradition. I guess it's a KL thing then.

Yee Sang is actually an assortment of crackers and other colorful stuff thrown together with drizzle of honey and flavoring for taste. The tradition is for people around the table to stand up and mix the ingredients together with their chopsticks, bringing the strands as high as they can as this symbolizes prosperity as we make our way to the top. Also a smart way for Chinese businessmen to make money as this plate (of kitchen leftovers, as our friends joked) costs more than $30!

With the Malaysians and the American boyfriends of Malaysians. ;)

Pink roses for my 25th Birthday. Aren't they pretty? I like roses best in delicate buds like these.

French-American cuisine off Fifth Avenue. Haven't had such awesome food in a long while!

With a champagne-based cocktail drink. Cheers! I had wanted to make more pics of the food but decided not to because the camera flashes were pretty bright. Pitied our neighbors.

Toilet instead. :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Was surprised that my sister and friends threw me a surprised party! Totally unexpected. ;)

I had to pick out the candles with my teeth.

The New York City apartment was decorated lavishly by C with balloons, signs, streamers and even confetti!

With friends.

With my favorite girls!

An awesome candid shot cos we looked so happy! Where are my eyes?

Went to work the next day and was surprised again!

FYI: The little round thingies with lines on the right side are balloons. If you look closely at the bottom, you'd see little molar lookalikes. Those are 'little monsters'. It's the current drawing craze in our 3-5 year old classroom right now.

Oh, I even had a "Birthday Empire State Building" made for me too!

That's all for now. Hope you enjoyed the pics!

新年快樂

2011-02-05T12:59:00.000-05:00

I was walking along Fifth Avenue yesterday and admiring the elaborate display windows of luxurious brand stores when this one by Bergdorf Goodman caught my eye.....

Happy Chinese New Year!

May you be happy, healthy and prosperous throughout this year!!

Oh, and may Bergdorf Goodman have more business from their fashion conscious Chinese consumers!!

Snow Day

2011-01-29T12:26:00.000-05:00

It finally happened. I was jerked awake by the shrill ringing of my samsung at about 5 am Thursday morning and listened groggily as a voice informed that school was canceled due to severe weather conditions.YES!! I then checked my text messages to find that Columbia University was closed for the day too. So, no classes. DOUBLE YES! I flopped back into bed, slept until 10am, had breakfast in bed, studied for a few hours and proceeded to drown myself in some Korean drama until it was time for bed again. What a wonderful holiday. This was the first time I felt so relaxed in a long time.

I got up the next day for work to find out that my world has been plummeted by a giant snowball.What the hell?

The alley I walk from home to bus stop. Even the shoveled walkway was covered in slippery ice.

Our friendly neighborhood trash can.

What used to be a car.

The perfect place to practice the walk-in-one-line exercise. You'll be strutting like a model on the runway in no time, heavy snow boots provided. Hello, super narrow to walk okay. Fat people sure topple to their sides and get their faces in the snow one. No place for the residents to shovel the snow to. I bet a lot of people are getting their biceps pumped up with all the extensive shoveling.

Let's play spot the cars. By the way, I waited in the cold for more than half an hour before the bus arrived. So much transportation was delayed because of the snow. Buses, trains, other traffic on the road...a lot people were affected.

Tip of benches with view of Manhattan skyline behind it. I took this picture on the bus.

For me, events like this are just a reminder that there is something greater than us out there. You can study all you want, work up the ladder all you want, plan against the odds all you want, but at the end of the day all it takes is just one great snowstorm to shake things up. Meteorologists can warn of the weather beforehand and the government can prepare safety precautions by ordering extra snowploughs on the streets, but nobody can ever stop the snow from coming down. Doesn't that make you feel so small and insignificant? I feel the same way whenever I stand before vast blue oceans or admire the majestic mountains of God's creation. At the end of the day, each one of us is just an infinitesimal part of the Earth we live in.

Stressed

2011-01-24T22:19:00.001-05:00

I am constantly trying to keep my head above water. My heart feels like a heavy rock pulling me down, down down into the deep as I struggle to grasp at whatever is at reach, more often than not at thin air. Seriously, sometimes I wonder why things cannot be less complicated.

God, please let this just be a transition period I will eventually pull through. The past couple of months have been hellish at the most with all the uncertainty and hustle and bustle. I feel so tired already. Trying to survive. Financially. Emotionally. Spiritually.

Things seemed so much simpler back then when I was back in Michigan.

I guess New York City is the real world.

Random snapshots

2011-01-14T00:14:00.001-05:00

I finally found some time to upload some long overdue pictures from my camera to laptop. Here are some random pics to share:

I love love love love kid's art. They are just so sincere and cute.

Girls like pink. Like, seriously.

Hola! Your's truly and sis.

At Pearly & Mei Yen's bday party. Awesome cake from Financier Patisserie.

Mei Yen's now back in Msia. :(

Drove deep into to New Jersey for Apple Picking. Pumpkin Patch!

I was an exotic cat for Halloween 2010. Barely recognizable eh?!

Actually was too cheap to spend $$ on costumes so decided to play around with makeup instead.

I did the ladygaga hairbow in place for furry ears.

Yenn was exotic person (for the angmoh's at least), with skimpy cheongsam top and chopsticks in hair.

Malaysian chicks vs Korean chicas

That's it for now. By the way, classes start next week. I'm super anxious excited!!

Chant with me: Snow day, Snow Day, Snow Day!!

2011-01-12T21:58:00.004-05:00

Yesterday at work, rumor went that it was going to be a Snow Day the next day. The National Weather Service had declared WEATHER EMERGENCY as significant amounts of snow was predicted to smother the entire city in its whiteness. "Up to 14 inches of snow! Take public transportation, don't drive! Stay warm in negative Fahrenheit weather!", the people had proclaimed. We teachers had rubbed our hands in glee. "It's prolly gonna be Snow Day tomorrow! No need to come to work!" Hey, who doesn't want a free day to snuggle under warm covers in their favorite fleece pajamas on a stormy winter day? I'll take that hands down!

New Yorkers and the media made a huge fuss about the upcoming snowstorm too because of the snow drama that took place on Christmas Day 2010 (and made front page in Malaysia's national newspapers). During those disastrous few days, some NYC airports were shut down and hundreds of flights were delayed. Streets in the city were left unploughed, big black bags of garbage were strewn EVERYWHERE and there were even some cases of death related to the event. Apparently, the ambulances had a hard time getting to places because of the snow-covered roads. Needless to say, mayor Bloomberg was in deep trouble as people were accusing him of not doing a good job handling the situation. The upcoming snowstorm was supposedly as fierce as the last one.

So, we were pretty confident that it was going to be a Snow Day.

Bad news was that we wouldn't know for sure. They usually announce the decision on the morning itself, about 5 or 6am. Since our preschool follows NYC Public School's schedule, I'd have to keep a lookout for Public School closings. "Don't get too excited about this", my senior teachers had warned. After all, NYC Public Schools rarely have days off. Fine, I thought.

In spite of myself, I went home yesterday feeling as if it was the weekend already and prepared a nice Chinese dinner consisted of scallion oil noodles, potstickers and eight treasures soup. "No school tomorrow, hohoho!" I smiled inwardly.

By 10 p.m., the snow outside had started pelting hard on the ground, creating a thick and fluffy white blanket. "YES, snow harder!!", I encouraged and went to bed.

At 4.30 a.m. this morning, I woke up and groggily felt my way around the laptop. Googled 'New York schools closed'. A whole list came up. Closed, closed, closed, closed, closed, they all read. Awesome! No school today! I went back to bed and slept soundly.

At 7.15 a.m., my alarm rang. Usual time to wake up to go to work. Snooze. I was about to doze off again but out of an unsettling queasiness at the bottom of my heart, I dialed my co-worker instead.

Found out that NYC Public Schools are still opened today, which means....my preschool is too.

Argh, so much for a Snow Day. I ended up dragging my sorry ass out of bed and grudgingly headed to school, waddling through few-inches-below-knee snow at some points. As did many other teachers. And students. "Every school around the world was closed except for the @#$%^ New York City Public Schools!" grumbled the grumpy. (Private schools were all closed). It was funny to hear how some teachers stayed up till late at night the day before, drinking wine and watching movies, thinking that there'll be no work tomorrow. But alas, dashed hopes galore.

Oh well. Despite all that, I ended up having a great day. Kids were awesome (maybe cos the naughty ones stayed home? lol), meaningful lessons were taught, laughed a lot... so, no hard feelings. :)

Till the next REAL Snow Day!

P.S After spending 2.5 years studying in Michigan which includes snow in three out of its four seasons, it's funny to see how the 'severe snow warning' in New York City is almost nothing compared to what we've been through before.

Superior Chinese Mothers?

2011-01-09T14:11:00.003-05:00

Just read an article that I found rather interesting. It was the bold title that first caught my attention, "WHY CHINESE MOTHERS ARE SUPERIOR".

Click on this to read the piece right here. Living in the USA, I did find some of the rules and expectations the Chinese author had set for her daughters quite tough and almost unreasonable. To expect your kids 'be the No. 1 student in every subject except gym and drama' and 'not complain about not being in a school play' while growing up, Hello? That's wicked! (Just cause I've been involved in dance and music throughout my entire student life!) Being an educator and a firm believer for fun learning (at least for preschoolers), there are some things author Amy Chua said that made me wince in pain. I mean, I would HATE to have a mom like her (on second thought, mine's pretty close though).

However, I do know where she is coming from. Being a Chinese daughter raised by Chinese parents, some of those rules mentioned I had to abide to myself while growing up. I remembered days when I sobbed sad tears over pages of homework, writing the same Chinese characters over and over again with dear mom peering behind me with an intent frown on her face. It was not uncommon to find mother and daughter in a headless chicken race around the room with me running around the table and mom chasing behind with cane in hand, ready to whip on any body part she can get to, all because I had demoted from top 5 in class to top 12 (we had about 40 people in class).

Teachers were firm advocates of bamboo canes too. One of my fondest memories of this was when my teacher in Standard 6 made the whole class stand up during Chinese class. Students who got all written characters on their spelling tests right gets to sit down. For other students, each wrong character written depicts each stroke of the cane on the palms of their hand. Many people got beaten up that day. Needless to say, everybody worked harder on their spelling tests after that. The pure description of this education method would have brought upon gasps of horror from my American counterparts. To most of them, this sounds like child abuse. For us Chinese, however, it was a way of life.

It was effective though, no doubt. Side effects? Not really. On the contrary, I think most of us who grew up under the reign of the cane turned out okay. Unlike most Americans, many of us Malaysian-Chinese learned three languages in school. So far, this ability to switch from language to language efficiently like switches on a lightbulb has brought us nothing but benefits. To do so, one would have to work hard in schools and stick it out. I mean, imagine dividing all your time in school between English, Chinese and Malay subjects, oh and important stuff like mathematics, geography, science too. This means no gym time for most of us.

Also, like the author said, while it's true that most Westerners beat around the bush and fret before having to deliver a necessary message to their children without bruising their self-esteem, most Chinese parents just get to the point. "You are getting chubbier. Do something about it!", mother chided my dear sister just a few months ago. Being in the performing arts, it's important for Yenn to stay in shape. The world knows that. Who better to remind you of the brutal truth than your mother? "My theater buddies thought it was so offensive for mommy to say that!" she once said to me in amusement. "I guess that's how our Asian family works", I had said then. It's true. Like always, we take the beating and move on.

There are times while teaching that I found American education system to be sort of sissy and wishy-washy. Like the Amy Chua, the author of the 'Why Chinese Mothers are Superior Article', I also believe that sometimes children just need to obey, shut up and do it. Westerners ask too much questions sometimes. Yes, sometimes we need to reason it out but if you really want to succeed, hard work and repetition is key. Many people don't understand that.

So, mean and controlling Asian mom or cool but wishy-washy Western mom? I think the best solution would be to find a balance in the middle. Maybe in my case, tilting a little bit more towards the Chinese side. Blame it on nature or nurture.

Chinadoll

2011-01-06T22:55:00.000-05:00

Since New York is a pretty diverse city, many people here are open and accepting towards different cultures and the like. Take food for example. While most children in less colorful states like, say...Michigan might not even have looked past deep fried breaded fish fillets (the pure sight of fish and bones would have done well to disgust), children at the Big Apple would have chowed down raw sushi with no problem. Chopsticks included. In the preschool I work at, lunch box items range from a regular ham and cheese sandwich (stinky bleu cheese is norm for one particular German kid) to Chinese stir-fry, halal lamb and rice, hummus and crackers, Australian yogurt and yes, even take-away sushi.

Books are the same. Although in Asia, I grew up reading books that had illustrations of characters in blond hair and blue eyes. Think Enid Blyton and Ladybird's Peter & Jane series we Malaysian children are familiar with. In the USA however, many children's books include heroes and heroines from various ethnic groups. I've even come across a few storybooks that tell of children with mixed parentage and was delighted to find that the wonderful illustrations showed little boys and girls with Asian features and light brown hair or vice versa.

The other day, a little Jewish girl with bright blue eyes came into the classroom cuddling her doll. Something about the doll seemed a little unfamiliar, so I took a peek into her arms and immediately took a step back.

Oh lordy, such an Asian-looking doll! Seriously, that was the first thing that popped into my mind. Sorry, in my head I was conditioned to think of dolls as blond hair and blue eyes too. At least that was how dolls like Barbie and the sleeping baby doll (with eyes that automatically flutter shut when horizontal) looked like while growing up.

Gosh, such jet black hair! Such beautiful almond-shaped eyes! Such cute flat nose! Such delicate rosebud lips! So real that it almost gives me the chills.

Wow. What else can I say?

Goodbye my Friend

2010-12-29T01:49:00.001-05:00

For me, it was the ultimate sign of independence. The Kelisa, as we so simply called it, was my very first car. Small, light and easy to maneuver, it was perfect as parking in tough spots were a breeze. Like a bird freed from the cage, I no longer had to live according to someone else's schedule and could suddenly attend late night yamcha sessions with old buddies and Malaysia's happening shopping centers were at my fingertips. After that, I left everything behind to study in the States.

Dad decided to sell my dear car last week since I will not be needing a car at least in the next few years. So, I took some pictures for remembrance.

With the Kelisa.

Oh well. I guess that's goodbye. If you happen to see this number plate on the road, it's not me.

You know, I really enjoyed driving. Subways and buses are convenient but they will never be the same as owning your own car. I use to wear high heels for nights out or even church in Malaysia because there's little walking to be done. But in New York City? Walking is our daily form of working out. Over beauty and comfort, comfort is first choice hands down. Out of vanity, I once wore heels from home to a NYC club all the way and ended up walking home barefooted. Sigh, I almost never get to play lovely lady and wear heels anymore!

Tomorrow early morn, I will be boarding the plane back to this....

God, please don't let my flight be delayed!!

Chinese Tea

2010-12-19T09:51:00.001-05:00

It had been too long since we sat down properly to drink Chinese Tea. The other day, we ate at a Chinese restaurant and they produced a whole tea set; a small ceramic teapot with four tiny tea cups. Like, bite-sized tiny. I had completely forgotten how small Chinese teacups really were! Used to the usual American plus-sized soft drinks filled in cups fatter than your face ("What? Is that really a small?!"), seeing that familiar miniature Chinese tea set was almost culture shock all over again.

The whole Chinese tea experience made me realize how this tea-drinking experience reflects so much of our Chinese culture and values. We all know how the traditional Chinese are extremely family-oriented. Just to provide a few examples, think about the traditional Chinese houses in China where the entire extended family would live in a house compound, how our family names are placed before our given names and how many times we Chinese children hear "don't do anything to dishonor your family" countless.

Well, I say that Chinese tea drinking promotes family communion. Let's think about it.

Look at the size of the teapot and teacups. Tiny. Hello, one can easily down the whole thing (yes, I mean the cup too) in one gulp. However, the whole idea of tea is to serve it hot. Scalding water is poured in from kettle to teapot, letting the flavors of the tea leaves seep into the water before transferring the fragrant liquid into the tiny cups.

Daddy shared that his father used to tell him that the Chinese don't drink tea, they kiss tea. This makes sense. Because the right way to savor tea is to sip the hot liquid really slowly from those miniature teacups. Finish the drink and we'll pour you another round from the teapot. This means that your cup will be filled quite frequently throughout because your cup won't be able to hold much. Since the teapot itself is pretty small too, waiters at Chinese restaurants would often keep a lookout for to fill up your teapot with fresh boiling water (common signal for this is to prop the lid of the teapot on the edge of the opening). In older and more traditional restaurants (think bak kut teh), you'd even find boiling kettles positioned around dinner tables so you can help yourself with the boiling water.

Okay, as you can see, drinking Chinese tea is a pretty exclusive experience. I mean, people don't really fill up their Chinese tea in a big mug and plop themselves in front of the TV. Since drinking Chinese tea involves small tea cups, small tea pots and a lot of filling up...the most practical way to do so is to sit around a table with tea pot in the middle. A round table is best. Because you would probably have to top up your tea cup every five minutes, you are more prone to stick around, forcing you to make conversation with the people seated at the table. Usually, your family members. Hence, you are more likely to get to know them better and foster closer relationships.

In short, drinking Chinese tea promotes stronger family relationships. Agree no?

It's final

2010-12-10T22:10:00.000-05:00

I'm attending Columbia University.

After a whole semester's deferral, months of countless exchange of emails and headaches regarding some minute paperwork to the University's office....I am finally set. Finally. Sigh, there were times when I didn't think that I could make it through.

Starting January 2011, I will no longer have a social life. Boohoo. I'm usually pooped out after an 8-hour day running around with 3-5 year olds, so I have no idea how I'm gonna fit a full class schedule into my days but I guess we'll see. You'll see less of me more often then, and this blog is prolly gonna starve to death. Just so you know. I'm super excited though. :)

Ahh.....Christmas is nearing. New York is glistening with pretty, twinkling lights. They say that New York City is the best place to be at during the season. I think it's true. When will it start snowing here? I want a white Christmas too.

It's been a whole year already.

Can you believe it?

:)

2010-11-27T13:18:00.000-05:00

Spent every waking hour possible with the fam, which also explains the deadness of this blog. Precious moments. Oh and instead of turkey, we had pigs ears, pork tendons and baby bakchoy for dinner. How fresh off the boat can we get than that? LOL. Loved every moment.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Update!

2010-11-15T23:38:00.000-05:00

It's already mid-November. Time sure flies. Guess what? My parents are currently snoring away in my bedroom, jet-lagged from the two day long flight they had just taken halfway across the globe. Sis and I have been evacuated to our living room, with the big green futon serving as our temporary bed. Our humble home is going to be a merrier place for the next two weeks.

Its nice to have family around. Its been more than a year since I saw my mom and so we are excited to spend some quality time together. Dad's lame sense of humor cracks me up all the time too. Living abroad and away from family makes one more independent and motivated to do well, but sometimes it gets quite tiring as life can get pretty hard as the burden is often managed alone. I missed my family!

Hmmm so where should I bring them around NYC? No museums (but why?) and zoos please. And since they are cheaper than me, somewhere cheap too. Yes, Central Park is already a chosen destination since its free and the Fall foliage is gorgeous right now. And maybe a Salsa club nearby Soho to entertain mom.

Ideas ideas?

Happy Jiggle

2010-11-08T23:29:00.001-05:00

There's something about myself that I am quite embarrassed about. Worse thing is that I tend to do it unconsciously in public too, which is not very cool. It usually happens when I am delighted or satisfied about something, most usually when it comes to food. Well, food is definitely something I appreciate and enjoy tremendously (naturally, since I'm Asian), so imagine this...

I'm sitting at a noisy restaurant in Chinatown, stomach growling with restless fingers fidgeting at my wooden chopsticks, anxiously waiting for the food to arrive. I glance at the waitress darting back and forth pass our table with chunky bamboo steamers balanced on her hands and I wonder impatiently when will she finally even look towards us. After what seems like forever, finally. The hot steamers are delivered in front of us. Eight little steamed soup dumplings stared back up at our faces. Using a well-developed chopstick grip, I lifted a dumpling delicately from its spot towards my lips. Breathing in the fragrant steam from the fresh morsel, I carefully took the long-desired bite.

As the warm liquid from the soup dumpling filled my mouth with its flavors and my lips curved upwards into a satisfied smile.....then, I did it. The Happy Jiggle. Huhuhu.

Yes, the Happy Jiggle. What is this exactly? Well, the Happy Jiggle occurs when one does a little dance-like movement while sitting down, with the head bobbing rhythmically sideways accompanied by some weight-shifting on the two butt cheeks. The Happy Jiggle usually occurs simultaneously with a big dopey grin on one's face.

Yeaaahh. The other day I subconsciously did the Happy Jiggle at work after completing a written assignment at the table. My supervisor walked past, stopped in her tracks and called out with an amused "Hey, what was that!?" Needless to say, it was a pretty embarrassing moment.

Well, it turns out that I'm not the only one that does this! I was quite surprised to find out that a lot of children show the same kind of behavior too. The other day, I saw a 3-year-old do the Happy Jiggle after biting into a ham and cheese sandwich her mom packed for her lunch. Dopey grin checked. Another kid did the Happy Jiggle after she completed a puzzle work all by herself.

I guess I'm not THAT weird after all since I'm not alone in this. However, I do not think that it is normal adult behavior. Or is it not? Maybe I work with kids for hours too long, eventually picking up their animated antics....bah. This is such a nonsensical post.

Do you do the Happy Jiggle?

Just some nonsense to think about.

Catering lagi

2010-10-28T23:53:00.000-04:00

During Spring Break just last year, I visited New York City for the very first time with a tour group from college. One of our tourist stops was the famous Cathedral of St. John the Divine, which is also the largest Gothic church in the world. I remembered being super awed by the grandiosity of the church and the intricate designs of the gargoyles. Being there amidst the beauty of it all was simply a breath-taking experience.

Yenn and I at the entrance.

I really love the Gothic architecture of this building. For some reason I can't help but think that this cathedral would fit right into a scene from the Phantom of the Opera.

The interior of the main hall. This picture does no justice to the awesomeness of the place. It's HUGE and gorgeous.

Here's a pic of the cathedral I found online. Frontal view.

That was a little more than a year ago. Little did I know that I will be revisiting the cathedral again, but on a different mission. Last weekend, I was assigned by my catering company (yes, I still work whenever I can) for an event at the famous tourist spot. I was informed that it was supposed to be a "Super, Super, VIP" event. One thing you should know is that we never know beforehand what the event will be and who will come (I've worked for Sex & the City 2 after-party, Saturday Night Live after-party and the Fashion Awards, all of which I've only found out what I was in for after showing up for work in my uniform), so I was pretty curious to see which big shot will attend this one.

The super, super VIP event turned out to be a fund-raising party for the Clinton Foundation. Oh, no wonder. I was also 'fortunate' enough to be assigned to the VIP area to butler hors'doeurvres, so I got to be in close contact with our special guests. Very Important People sighted that night were....

The Man himself.
Apparently, he is a vegan and a huge fan of diet coke (in a can). Seems like a super nice guy and always has a group of people standing around eagerly drinking in his every word, even during casual talk.

The Mrs was there too.

Mario Batali from Iron Chef is a common sight on the Food channels.

David Chang of the popular Momofuku restaurants.

The Edge from the U2 Band. Was starstruck for a second when offering him some dainty "quail eggs with salmon caviar, Sir?" He showed up with his signature skull cap and super cool studded converse shoes.

This man needs no introduction. He was one of the three performers that day who gave a mini concert. It was such a treat for us!

Eric Clapton also performed that night. Although I wasn't very familiar with his songs, he melted my heart into a soft pulp when he crooned the famous ballad "Wonderful Tonight". For some reason, it was very romantic.

Since it was a fund-raising event, they had an auction. The same kind where people bid for stuff or event packages and wave around super huge cardboard numbers. I remembered an auction that went like this "3 Top Chefs (Mario, David Chang and one more guy) to cook a dinner for 12 people somewhere in Manhattan". Apparently New Yorkers really do know how to enjoy food (life) because the amount went up to 150 thousand dollars before it was 'sold!' I was confused for a second and thought "a hundred and fifty thousand dollars? How many zeros are there again? Wait. Bloody hell. That's like....times one hundred of my yearly paycheck!" It's amusing to see how these bidders go up in numbers with almost a 50 thousand dollar jump from each bid, like it was a mere 5 bucks or something. I guess for every person struggling to survive financially in New York City, there's also a perfectly manicured millionaire. Working in the catering industry, we see first-hand how the rich and famous rub shoulders and enjoy social events such as these. I reckon it still remains a great eye-opening and should I also say, a humbling experience each time for me.

It's good to see some of that bling bling go towards a good cause, but sometimes I'd fantasize what I would do if I had that one hundred and fifty thousand dollars at the tip of my fingers. Lol.

Well, what would you do?