CAMP! CAMP! CAMP!

Salutations everybody. Since some of you have been demanding for a new post, I will write one down about the camp. Besides, there are plenty of photos of the camp I want to upload. I'll write an account about the camp first, then post the pictures. Long post ahead, eyes be warned.

P3 Camp 2008

The day started with all Lasallians assembling in the halls in their classes. I walked in to the hall and as usual, 3G greeted me enthusiastically and I returned the greeting just as enthusiastically. Everybody was in PE T-shirts and either shorts or long pants.

Not all of them were excited about the camp because it would be their first night away from home. The classes were then re grouped into Groups 1 - 15. It was a messy grouping with the Gs being in various groups! I was in charge of Group 12 which had several G girls. I was glad to be at least in charge of some of the Gs. The rest were Fs.

Our camp facilitator was a teenage looking guy called Rasyid but insisted on being called "Crispy" for some reason. Group 12 seem to enjoy calling him "Monkey" though. I do admit, he sort of behaves like one, with all that jumping about and howling with laughter! We shared the bus with Group 11 whose camp facilitator is a Chinese name I forgot already. But her underlings called her "Round Mountain".

Wow, the trip there was ever so noisy! Crispy and Round Mountain were very energetic and exchanged jokes with the Lasallians. My G girls were of course packed full of silly jokes which I had to suffer through when I was with them (-_-") So they wasted no time in telling them to a very stumped Crispy.

The camp facilitators had funny names. One was called "Potato". He was the most gungho and popular one from what I have observed.

When we reached the campsite, Chief Mojo addressed us. He was a big man who commanded the whole P3 level impressively. No one dared to talk when he was standing at attention.

The P3 teachers, Mr Indra, Ms Bavani, Mr Calvin Tan, Ms Han Huaxiu, Mrs Amy Ng, Mdm Mary Wong and Mr Gavin Lee were all there, including extra teachers like Ms Mellissa Chan, Mrs Rosie Hoh, Ms Duan Yarong, Mrs Iris Ooi and of course, there was me!

The teachers did not participate much in the games and cheers and only observed from afar to ensure that everyone was safe and accounted for.

The camp was mostly about cheers. Lasallians learned a lot of cheers and games which taught them how to work as a team and trust each other. I walked to all the games where the Gs are and tried to snap photos. But then most of the girls were camera shy and those who were willing to be in my photos were the ever present Bryan and Shawn.

Speaking of Shawn, I was surprised to see Naveed and Shawn show such impressive leadership and showmanship when they led the cheers together with Potato in front of over 200 Lasallians! I was proud that G boys were up for that task. It took nerve and courage!

We had lunch and dinner at the campsite. Ashley taught me how to play this game where you have the aeroplane, person and rock which Lasallians from all over the school have been playing. When I finally understood it, Gs were screaming at me and demanding me to play with them just because they knew I was a beginner and were eager to defeat me!!! (-_-") Nonetheless, I complied and lost to many Gs. I remember winning to Skyler though :D

It was a great bonding experience for me with the Gs. Though I did not participate with the games or cheers, we had time to talk, play and of course the girls were endlessly teasing me.

When it came to wash up time, it was quite chaotic. I went to take a look at the girls' washing area and was surprised out of my mind to see a large number of girls bathing together and laughing and shrieking. I was surprised only because I've never seen that many girls bathing at once! :D I did not go to the boys' washing area because I feared seeing some of them without any clothes on.

When washing up time was over, the teachers were dismayed to find so many underwear and T-shirts left lying around. We were given the long task of collecting underwear and T-shirts... (-_-") I shudder thinking of all that underwear. A whole big pile of them!

At night, we had something called the Blind Man's Walk. This particular game scared some of the Lasallians because it involved being blindfolded and taken to other places far away. I thought it was quite interesting. I teased some of the G boys while they were blindfolded. They knew immediately it was me. The G girls were all grabbing on to me and calling my name whilst they were blinded. It was quite funny to see them calling my name when I was quite far away from them.

The day ended with another bus trip where I sat near Jojo and Divya, and Darren and Alex. Darren's glasses were quite dismantled so I had to borrow tape from Jolyn and tape it back. Like Harry Potter's glasses. I did not talk much then because I had motion sickness. I do hate buses!

We assembled in the hall and had more cheers. Several parents came to take a look. One parent actually bought four boxes of durians for us teachers to thank us! Thank you!

It was a long day. Lasallians were visibly very tired and sleepy. We had some closing cheers and then the girls slept at the P1 classrooms while the boys remained in the hall. The teachers were in various parts of the school.

I know some of Gs said they did not enjoy the camp, but all around, I saw smiling and laughing faces of the Gs and I was content knowing that that meant they at least had a certain measure of joy and laughter during that experience. I was glad I was there too, to be able to be with the Gs before I leave next week on Wednesday.

Now here are the pictures!

"I Wonder What's Happening" As you can see, the girls were ridiculously camera shy! I got a shot of Fernanda only because she didn't realise I was taking photos. This was during a walk from campsite one to campsite two.

"You Better Give Us Food Or We Will Eat You" Starting from right, anti-clockwise direction, Skyler, Paul, Fabien, Warren, Travis, Bryan and Wen Xin. These boys loved to be photographed. Especially the Buttman.

"HAHAHAH" Left to right, Anne, Sze Kaye, Nikhita, Shu Yi and Jie Ling.

"Wey, You Block My Pretty Face" Left to right, Pei Xuan, Fang Qi, Sindhuja, Song Lin and You Xuan.

"Take My Photo Must Pay Wan OK" Fernanda, Kim, Jolyn and Gina.

"Ms Hidayah, I Think I'm Melting" Ok, this one is kind of funny because Denzel was telling me a long and sad story about the weather being too hot and he was dehydrating and I snapped his picture.

"OK Never Mind" Then he realised I was snapping his picture and stopped telling his sad story and posed with a smile!

"The Weather Is Too Hot But I'm Still Smiling" Han Seng

"I Am A Pretty Ballerina But My Friend Ran Away" Fang Qi, Song Lin and Anne.

"2 x 4 = 8, Therefore Two Boys With Four Fingers Showing Must Have Eight Fingers Altogether" Bryan and Shawn

"Ryan, You Better Not Let Go" Ryan and Warren.

"Shu Yi Is Very Photogenic, Even Camp Facilitator Farhana Is Mesmerized!"

"I Am Not Like Other Girls, I Am As Pretty and Photogenic As Shu Yi So Take My Picture Ms Hidayah" Gina

"Oh Alright, You Can Take Our Pictures But We're Not Going To Smile For You" Sindhuja and Song Lin.

"Wait, Ms Hidayah, I Haven't Thought of A Good Pose Yet" Philip, Mark, Naveed and Skyler.

"Nikhita, I Think I Dropped My Shoe" Shu Yi and Nikhita

"Mark: Again?!"

We had a gorgeous sky in the evening.

It was like the clouds were on gentle fire.

"P3 Teachers Are The Coolest Teachers In DLS"

"Ms Hidayah and Mrs Amy Ng Are The Coolest Teachers In P3"

"Eh, Where Are We?" Some girls I don't know.

And to end it, here's a picture of blindfolded Ad'n! "I Wonder What's For Dinner"

I am deeply sorry if your picture is not here. The day was hectic and these are all the pictures I could take. It doesn't mean I didn't try to hunt you down for your photo. Either you were camera shy or you were in a group I didn't see that day.

More pictures to come for the party on Friday!!!!

About the party, it's not anything big since we only have two periods which Mr Lee has kindly given us. I got us pizza, cake and some tarts. It's just a time I want to spend taking photos and hanging out with you guys. See you on Friday!

The Last Period... Ever.

Good evening my young ones!

We met only for slightly more than one period and I was very sad, not being able to teach you anymore.

Today, I had to do the ROAR programme where I have to tell a story to the whole school. I chose Prince Rabbit. At first I wanted to share Animorphs with the school but then it would be such a long story. For those of you who love reading and love animals, Animorphs is a really really good book.



It is about five teenagers who can morph into any animal they touch! They got this power from an alien called an Andalite. There is more to the story than that and it is the most exciting book I've ever read when I was in primary school. Much better than that Mr Midnight which you love to read. It has 54 books in all! #1 all the way to #54 are exciting stories about these teenagers trying to save the world from the evil Yeerks.

Anyway, the first period, we did not do much. I just reminded the class that tomorrow is temperature taking day. I also told you that Mr Lee is not as fierce as you thought him to be. I heard that a lot of you were scared because you heard that he is a fierce and very strict teacher. This is not the case... He is strict, of course. All teachers must be strict. However, he is not that fierce! I'm sure you will enjoy your time with him.

He told me that he gave you a GK question which was, what is the difference between astrology and astronomy? Did anyone get to answer that? That's a pretty hard question for you because I don't think many of you know what astrology is. I'll leave it to Mr Lee to explain.

Even though you have a new teacher who is older and more experienced than I am, I can't help feeling sad that our time together is over...

We had so much fun together.

I certainly hope that you will remember everything I have taught you for life, because that way, I will be in your hearts and you will always be in mine.


I will always check this blog to see if you have any questions for me. You can always drop by and leave a message or even email me, if you want. I'm always here to help you. Remember that.

Respect yourself, respect your parents, respect your teacher, respect your friends, respect your school and country.


Be good, 3 Gabriel. Be the best that you can be.

(AND DON'T SPILL WATER IN CLASS AND FORCE MR LEE TO MOP LIKE YOU DID WITH ME!!!)

See ya!

Finale

Good evening.

This will be my last post for this month or probably this year if Mr Lee is going to take over G immediately after the holidays.

:'(

I will miss you.

Today was the most tiring day of school ever because of the Zoo trip. I felt that we did not have enough time as we had to rush through most enclosures. My favourite enclosure was the Reptile Garden, although we did not get a chance to stay long as we were walking towards the Elephants of Asia enclosure to have our lunch and watch the Elephant Show.

Elephants are amazingly smart. I commented that their art (the elephants were painting) was better than yours and Darren said, Yah lor.

The show was too long, I think. The boys in front were embarrassing because they took out their raincoats and umbrellas when the emcee said that the front row was going to be a 'splash zone'. The girls on the other side were happily cheering. Tsk tsk. The girls are more outgoing!

I did not get to take too many pictures so if any of you have more pictures, please send it to me at nurhidayah.jazuli@gmail.com. Anyway, here are some of the pictures I took:



I tried to take a picture of the whole bus, which was quite a silly thing to do as only the first few front rows were captured. A lot of you brought cameras and tried to take my picture! Everywhere I turned, there were cameras clicking! In my head, I was thinking, "I AM A CELEBRITY."



Fang Qi was trying to take my picture but I shot her picture first! Like in cowboy duels!



We were having a short break at the Jaguar enclosure because the girls were complaining that their legs were going to drop off and the boys were saying they were dehydrated.



The other side of the Jaguar enclosure. Everybody was munching tiredly on their snacks even though not even a quarter of the journey has been covered!



I know it is a bad picture. I could not go further back as I would fall into the water and then the elephant would have to lift me out with its trunk, like a log. Here, the girls were relieved to get another lunch break and were chatting and joking with each other. If you look very closely, you can see Shu Yi's head as she rushed to get into the frame. Unfortunately, she was blocked by Dawn... Gina's face was also eclipsed by Nikhita's hand.



I love this picture! Everybody looks so happy! If you look closely, you can see a portion of Alex's head hidden behind Leeroy.



Since the previous two picture was badly taken, I tried again and this time, Travis, Ivan and Dylan can be seen. The girls were very tired but they chatted non stop.



"HAHAHAH"

Xiao Ting's SpongeBob cap was cool, but not as cool as Leeroy's cap which has his name written across in elegant script! Why was Sze Kaye laughing? I don't know...

We went around the Zoo for about an hour more until we were pushed to the limit. I was pleased to see a lot of you taking notes diligently and drawing some excellent sketches. The bus ride home was very quick.



Back in class. Everyone was so tired that the moment you reached your seats, you lied down. I managed to get only one shot of group Courage because they were nearest and I was too tired to get out of my seat, just like you all were.

It was a difficult day as water ran out very quickly and I had to give up my water ration to Alex, Naveed and some others. It was grueling for the Gs.

The rest of the day ended briefly with us going through some of the more uncommon animals which we encountered like the Cassowary, Gibbon, Meerkat and Wallaby. It is good to know that your mental library of animals has widened.

After that, I announced my departure from DLS in July. What happened afterwards was difficult to describe so I shall not describe it. A lot of you wanted to take my photo again and also my autograph. Once again, I thought "I AM A CELEBRITY."

At the end of the day, I was sad because it was the last day of school and I will not see you for a whole month. Even after the school holidays, it is not certain as to whether I will be able to resume teaching you as Mr Lee is eager to start. Anne said something like "Goodbye Miss Hidayah! Maybe forever!" at the end of the day, which made me feel sad, even though it is not true!

We had really great moments throughout the semester, 3G and I. Each and everyone of you had a positive impact on my life and I have learned a lot from you. You are my pride and joy! Groups Courage, Hope, Wisdom, Joy, Effort and Love! I hope I leave you with a little bit of each when I go! I will never forget Year 2008! 3G Lasallians! This is the year of The Forty-Three Geniuses and Miss Hidayah.

Mr Lee is a good teacher and he will make sure you will be at the top of your game. (Meaning, always at your best.)

FAREWELL, 3G!!!! It's been fun!

:)

:(

This is my last post.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ASHLEY, my beloved class monitor!

May you stay funny, clever and talkative always :D We all adore you!

Sort Of Last Day

Reminders:
Zoo Trip
Be in school by 8.45 a.m.
-Bring
--Water bottle
--Snack
--Biology Book
--Stationery
--Umbrella/Raincoat/Poncho
--Camera (optional)
For those who are not coming with us to the Zoo, be in school at the normal time and assemble in the hall.

School day
-Bring your mother tongue books only as there will be no other lessons.
-School will end at 5 p.m. on Friday so if your parents pick you up, please tell them to pick you up at 5 p.m.
-Hand in your report books (For those whose parents did not attend the PTM)
E-learning
-Log in by 1 p.m. on Thursday to do P3 online lessons and quizzes.
-The website is http://primary.asknlearn.com


Today was the last day of school. (Sort of)

This is because tomorrow, there is the Parent Teacher meeting while Friday will be mostly spent at the Zoo!

I cannot type too long today as I need to rest for tomorrow's full day of meeting from 7 to 5 p.m.

We did not have much time for anything today as I had to give out the report books and also arrange the tables for the PTM tomorrow. The best thing about today was announcing the highest marks in the level. The highest in English, Math, Chinese and Malay are all from our classes! I feel very proud as a G teacher.

English : Xiao Ting (Anne)
Chinese : Gina
Math : Paul
Malay: Ad'n

After that, we had General Knowledge session. Here are pictures of a leopard and a cheetah:





See the tear streaks on the cheetah which I told you about? Beautiful cats, aren't they?

I have to go get some rest now. Will blog again tomorrow to tell you about the Parent Teacher meeting! See you on Friday!

BGR

I am typing this as fast as I can because I just reached home. Today was a lot of bad luck for me because just now, I got locked out of the house and had to wait two hours for my sister to come home!

Tuesday, as always, was boring. We had patrol as usual with the most number of patrol people to date. The patrol girls and boys were frustrated because, mysteriously, the door of 3 Bernadette kept opening after being closed by them. Whoever sneaked out of that classroom was very quick. Tomorrow I must get our fastest member, Sze Kaye to patrol that area.

Then we did English activity book corrections and also finished our Longman up until Unit 3.

I wanted to give the gifts to the winners of the Scrabble competition but realised with a shock that the gifts ran out after I gave some to the P4s.

Before school, I read your journals and was very amused. You write such funny things about your worst and best experiences in school! One of you wrote about how you really like this girl in class but then was really sad because I said that you are all too young to have girlfriends. It's true!

I know a lot of boys 'like' certain girls in class. I don't mind you 'liking' each other BUT... Boys, you get really annoying about it. For example, a few days ago, one of you went to Jolyn and said, 'Eh, do you know that **** loves you??!!' This is not the first time Jolyn has this kind of 'attacks'. Not only Jolyn. Anne and Sze Kaye also has these kind of 'attacks' from you boys. There are also some other girls with admirers which I will not reveal here because it is not publicly known.

Anyway, boys, it is very embarrassing and annoying for girls to be told that someone 'loves' them so loudly like that! Stop doing it!

Most importantly, don't be so distracted by the girls! If you put in more effort in trying to be friends with them and not trying to get them to 'love' you, the class won't be in such a chaotic state with some boys claiming they have eight girlfriends. (You know who you are.)

Anyway, if you 'like' someone in class, the best thing is not to tell the person as it will embarrass and annoy them. You may tell your close and trusted friends or even me and I will keep it a secret if you tell me to. But do not make such a big deal about it and do not get too distracted by the person you 'like'!

You are nine years old! This is NOT the time to have girlfriends and boyfriends OK!

See you tomorrow.

Great Power

I guess no one read my message on the cbox saying I won't post on Friday. Yesterday, I was home very late.

Anyway, what is all this Magician, Archer, Warrior, Grim and Trickster business on the cbox. I know for a fact that it involves you Gs so I will let you play your own game on the cbox but don't go thinking you have fooled me because it is too obvious who you are. (Even Grim) And please, no death threats. It is silly and childish.


Friday was fun! We had a Scrabble competition and everyone did very well. The best group was You Xuan's group who worked together very closely and came up with killer combinations with triple word scores! I am puzzling over how you're all so good at Scrabble but cannot maintain full marks for your weekly spelling exercises...

Classroom judging will be on Wednesday but brainy Bry said, 'Miss Hidayah, didn't you know that they just choose a different class every time and we might not win no matter how good we are?'

This crushed my spirits for a second but I refuse to believe it! We are too good to not win. Even if we don't win first place, I still know for a fact that our class is still the best decorated and that is enough for me and for us.

The Zoo trip is coming soon on Friday! I am dismayed to see so many negative reactions when I said some of you will help some other weaker students from the F and H class. I thought being smart and thoughtful Lasallians, my Gs will be more that willing to help out the Fs and the Hs. It's really selfish of you, not wanting to share your knowledge with them!



SPIDER-MAN's Uncle Ben said, with great power comes great responsibility. Basically it means that if you have something other people don't, it is your responsibility to share it with them or to help them because that's what heroes do.

Do you know Peter Parker (SPIDER-MAN) was a teacher for a while? I think he chose to be one because he is following what Uncle Ben said. He has great spider powers so he became a super hero, and he has great intelligence so he chose to become a Science teacher.

OK, see you on Tuesday. Have a great weekend!

And Elroy, your game hand blister is still recovering! Don't play too many video games!