Classes started.. with orientation for freshies.

the Digi troops.
oh well, this is in fact a Digi campus.

Mr. Narvin himself worked on ELS stuff, and far beyond, the CCS (in pink shirt)

one of the SSLA member, Winnie~~~

Celine and I...

some energetic and lovely Korean youth practising on their dancing performance.

ELS, one of the clubs I joined.

on the first day, it was pretty full. about 500 attended the orientation.

SSLA booth.

Cutie Celine.

on the second day, the number of attendence dropped drastically.

oh well...
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Orientation was here!

it was not my first time joining orientation. but it was my first not being one of the students that had to sit tight from morning till noon (with 1 or 2 occasional breaks in between, that is, toilet breaks if you want to), with hardly any entertainment at all (all dry speeches guaranteed to put anyone to sleep).

well, i was there on both days and both days were freaking boring. they just had no idea how to pull a proper orientation. hello... they are students, young and lively souls! they need some entertainment. some real entertainment. shouldn't just throw everything at them and "voila" end of orientation, "have a wonderful time at xxxx" Gosh. haha that was how it was for my orientation last MAY. B-O-R-I-N-G. very unlike what i experienced in NEC. (old and better days still fresh in memory)

anyhow..

classes start on Monday!! whooa yay! :) gotta get prep up and get ready for new semester!

we gathered. as one.

we gathered.
from under the bright sun, till it started to rain.

we stood together.

we held up our hands. we waved, and clapped.

i had never thought i would be this touched by these elderly people, by these supportive parents and students and the supporters of chinese education.

tears almost break its barrier when i talked to DR Kua (our respectful principal).

i didn't know i would be this... this... emotional.

i seldom had opportunity to talk to DR Kua, therefore those moments that we exhanged convo will always be kept in mind.

i admit, i have lesser passion than any of them present today, for local chinese education.

i am an end product of eight years of chinese education, but i do not have the passion as much as those who would raise flags and walk the street in bright daylight and giving strong speeches and all.

BUT

one thing is for sure

i am thankful.

i will never forget those who contributed to the new me.

the place that has given me so much.

the place that is built by the self-less people.

self-less chinese educated fighters.

i am so honoured to be able to listen to every word coming out from the best minds in chinese community.

their words boost through my every vein, my every living cell.

(seriously, it is THAT influencing and touching)

most of the elder speakers bowed to the audience (even at their age!)

they are like our role models, yet they bowed.

then it struck me, they are not bowing to just the audience, they are bowing to the chinese at large.

bowing to the supporters of chinese education.

i am also pleased to see that our juniors are so responsible, strong and confident. and most importantly, they are very independent and critical.

they are awesome!

im touched by their speeches too.

the right to exercise academic freedom, campus freedom is our goal.

can we do that if... the situation persist?

we do not want to lose of "home"

but for now and always, NEC is our home.

p/s: *more photos in the next post*

Dimming and Fading...

Second semester into continuing my degree courses, and i am starting to feel the effect this campus is having on me (or so to say, on us...)

shouldn't have let this happen to me, the more it is engulfing me and assimilating me, the more i want to fight and turn it. okay, it will be hard to turn it, but at least i have to persist in preserving what i do best... i have to find my strength back.. the strength to be different. we think different.

after watching several presentations (in one of the classes im taking), realised that many of them have mindset that is totally different from ours. sometimes we think we are a little too forward and thinking a little deeper. is it that we have explored and learned from a different light? it is quite hard to acknowledge them when we realised that there are loopholes in their presentations/research or whatever. may it be stereotyping ideas, incomprehensive questionnaires or so on... even though critical comments are welcomed, well, who likes to be criticized?? true right?

in some period in my life, this happens.. as i lost focus and feeling my strength fading and all.. but i believe i can find it back. and i hope Beverly can find hers back too. (we have to. )

FreeWriting

just like Alvin Chew's word, 'short semester kills me' .

OK. it's not that bad. but, it is tiring enough. i can hardly find a time to update my blog! i mean, to make it a good blog post, i need more time. so i will just do this freewriting and scribble whatever i have in mind right now. (never underestimate the power of the brain. =)

basically, i am exhausted every day and until the 2pm class, (everyday my day my class ends about 4pm... it's not late.. but three classes per day, and 2-3 hours each is draining me... lol)

imagine sitting in class for the whole day with just 1 hour interval for break. i am almost like a deadfish suffocating because i am out of water.

did i even use the correct metaphore? oh i don't care. this is freewriting anyway. ^^

Mohammed Rokan is back to campus today. in his words "wassup people"... the MOE style is back on track after his surgery at the bottom of his butt. (seriously, i have no idea he had surgery, i thought he tranferred school...)

he is still the usual... slacking. lol

did i mentioned the 2pm class just now? okay, back to the 2pm class. today our lecturer "threw" us a lot of homework (which i am working on right now... and yes i am multitasking)

i mean, A LOT! and there will be a test ONE this thursday.

a week into new semester, and BAM! here comes the first test.

and the "best" part, we have ZERO idea about what she teach in class.

well, O.K. we can understand a little, but the theories is too vague and kinda too hard to grasp.

and yes, it is the SPOKEN DISCOURSE class i mentioned in my earlier post.

till now, i am grateful that i think, (i think) i can start to get hold on how to do the transcript (ie, how to analyse conversation by using prosodic symbols)

and i hope, really really hope that i am right in whichever i think i understand.

(our lecturer did not teach us how to analyse. she let us explore on our own.. which is great when we are like in the middle of no where.. lol)

anyways...

i think i should stop now..

i will update some good stuff soon. (i hope)

i am now drained.

and i have many more assignments and research to do.

blah..............

i want to watch TV!! (maybe i will, later... regardless of how much more assignments i have)

alright then...

ciao! =P

understanding what is HARD to understand

okay. first time attending a class which consists of not more than 10 students.

normally the first week is the "test the flavours" week..

where students go from class to class to see which subjects suits them.

so it always happens where there are lesser students in class.

BUT~ not over than 10 students is like.. first time i ever encountered. LOL

there was only 7 of us today and FYI there's only 5 students enrolled for this class in the name list. the rest (two others, including me) sort of like came to the class to observe if we would like to take this class.

this class... is TOUGH!

we need to analyse conversations. analyse spoken discourse.

muhaha... and for the first time in my life... i can hardly understand the lecturer. > <

her accent. was too strong. she is a lecturer from our neighbouring country but her English is so good that her accent kinda hit me square in the face. *faints*

the course outlines were okay. quite boring it seems but i think there are a few topics which i would have mild interest in.

okay, you might be thinking... "then why on earth are you still thinking of taking this class? DROP it!"

the thing is, i CAN'T.

the other subjects offered clashes badly with one another!! > <

there are limited choices to choose from.

and...

in order to graduate on time, i have to juggle more subjects than any other coursemates! seriously. my friend Beverly and I, and probably Maggie as well, we have to take up more classes in order to have sufficient credit to complete this degree programme before 2011. (IDEALLY)

this is happening because we are transfer students. we have to finished our Year One and Two subjects within a year (3 semesters).

so... i don't have much choice.

i know this class is VERY hard and will have a tough time analysing conversations, im taking it none the less. to die or not, that lies in whether or not i have the faith and believe i can~

OKAY.

i BELIEVE. ^^

Semester Break ^^

Woo Hoo!
Semester Break~~~

you have no idea how glad i am that i have come through the first semester.
Five semester to go!! *yippie*
after one semester, i still really truly missing my campus life in NEC
but i am also liking my new campus~
*i am happy and contented*
now that it is holiday, i might won't update my blog as often..
so.. hope you all will still continue to support me even though i won't update as often~ THANKS!