100th

it's my 100th post here. how time flies.. i started off with my own blog and now, i am linked to 2 other group blog. =) one for SG (small group) and one for MHI (Minsitry of Hearing Impaired). it's a great platform esp. for writing prayer requests. =) which i assume with great confidence, that i am prayed for and that i can go and read about the struggles (& thanksgivings) of my fellow brothers- and sisters-in-Christ and pray for them.. this and the fact that US has family hp plans that allow all users within the family plan to call each other free of charge, i'm so thankful to God and glad i'm still in contact with my love and the rest of the world - i do feel alone and cut off sometimes.. =(

anyhows, 2 week of school went by quickly. i've my summer calendar stuck to my wall and i go and 'strike' the day out when it's over. it's my first time doing so and boy, it feels great to see that the end is approaching. haha. i do sound a little pessimistic here. *grinz* i've also decorated the wall with a photo of my SG - the one taken @ Kelly's house gathering. i miss all so much.. not forgetting irene and mei (twin wasnt in the photo either.. =( ) and eunice and yixun and andrew and so many more pple.. (the list gets a little long lah..)

i've only had 2 days of teaching exposure so far - we started on thu. and it hasnt been full force, just doing some small parts of the lesson and having the lead teacher (my mentor Rebecca - she's a lovely lady!!) teach the 'meat of the lesson' while my partner and i (we're a teaching team of 3) switch between observation, class manager and well, helping the students individually when they have qns. we have a class of 31 (we might end up with 30) with very diverse needs and levels of understanding towards maths. most of them are about 15-17 yrs old and we've a 20 - which we assume has failed the class a couple of times (that equivalent to our sec 3/4 but the material we're covering is heh, probably our pri 6/sec 1 stuff - US maths is slow!)

anyhows, i did make a couple of "blunders" and coupled with the fact that i look young, the students seem not to give me full respect..*SOBZ* i'm definitely trying to work on it but it's harder when my team is much older than me (both married, one twice, with 2 and 4+1 children). i was talking to irene yesterday and we agreed that students everywhere tend to "bully" their new young teachers.. haha. keep me and my team in prayers. there has been some tensions even though we've only met each other this week and it's been hard on me being "trapped" in between their conflicts.. =( i guess it's the difference in styles of working and communications that in the way so pray for wisdom for me on ideas for how to "gel the team together" and work to make the teaching class a successful one. we do have one thing in common: i.e. to make sure that our students walk away learning sth from the summer; if not maths, at least to be directed towards making resolutions in their own lives to do the best they can.. it's hard but that will be my personal goal i'll wanna achieve! pray for me..

it's been better but i am still struggling with school work. have to be in school from 8am-1pm (but my teaching period is only from 1040am-1230pm) and back to harvard for classes 2-5pm everyday. it's been very much straining to balance homework with every other thing. i seem to be working all through the day and having to come home dead tired, only to be faced with more work to complete: readings to do, briefs to write and lessons to plan. not including papers to mark, quizzes to prepare, materials to find.. *shakes head* we counted and there's about 25 days of classes. teachings. i'll be taking likely a good 6-7 days by myself (starting coming friday!! bleah) and i hope to be able to engage my students in learning. it's such a tough period, this summer, when everyone around me has just to go to work & get paid, go home rest and have fun.. it's such a big leap for me, considering i've never been a mugger (means study-type) nor have i worked and studied simultaneously at any one time. folks back home have been absolutely wonderful and encouraging.. i am truly so blessed and thankful for them! gonna shift myself over to serene's. collect my jackets from Rej (this indian lady and her family i met at the US embassy) who kindly brought over from Singapore for me *so touched!* and see if i can bug serene.. =p i wont be playing much.. still have 1 brief and 1 thought paper to do by monday.

**tue's a public holiday - 4th July, independence day!** yay!!