Slapping incident

22 primary school pupils slapped for failing to turn in their homework – quote.

How to discipline students?

During my days in school in the 60s and 70s discipline is taken very seriously. With 40-45 students in a class to teach with some parents expecting our teachers also to be held responsible for our discipline, it is no laughing matter.Let me share with you some methods the teachers and headmistress used during our time.

When they talk too much, give them a slap or stuffed chalk (used during the early days) into their mouth. If they still continue their unacceptable behavior, grab their ears and rattle their heads until “screw loose”. When they don’t do homework, send the book flying out the door. When you can’t decipher their writing or exercises smeared with ink, use a wooden ruler and knocked on their knuckles until swollen. When they can’t sit still or go about disturbing others, cane their legs or their buttocks. When they forget to bring their books, write out 1000 times “I must not forget to bring my book”. When they are late for school, shut them out. When they don’t pay their school fees, “Don’t come to school”. When they come in with unkempt hair, cut off their “crowning glory”. When they forget to bring their PE attire, make them run round the field in their uniform.

I once attended a canteen open for parents in my son’s school. I was shocked to see the behavior of some students. They go about in groups of 3 to 4. They walked through the classes and started kicking the tables and chairs for no obvious reasons except to be NOTICED. And that is in full view of parents. What more can the teachers do? No wonder they have to call in the police to help solve indiscipline.

Have you been a victim of unfair discipline or are you the teacher who melts out discipline. Share with us your experience.

A full time working mum(FTWM)

Judy has me tagged. Sometime backI submitted a 600 words contest on “Must women give up their jobs to be good parents” to qualify for a free one day seminar organised by eHomemakers.

I am all for woman who sacrificed their jobs, some high paying careers for their children. You don’t want to look back and said, “I should have spend more time with them etc….”. And a part-time job would be ideal too. Of course there were times I told my husband he should have work for his business man father so that I too can be a SAHM but….

Some of you have the luxury of being a PTWM, SAHM, TTWM. Sadly I don’t. Before I even finished my last piece of exam paper, I had to hit the street to look for a job. So except for the holidays that I looked forward to and the annual leave, most of my life is spend working, working and working. The day God send Adam and Eve to till the ground, instead of having a life of luxury, both man and woman got to spill sweat to enjoy the fruits of their hard labor(for woman – labor pain).

The only occasion I did part-time work was during my schooling days, if that is considered part-time. Its not juggling between baby sitting and work. Rather its juggling between schooling and earning some pocket money to pay for my school fees. I have neither position nor title in my years as a worker but I could write a whole book on the Many faces of Malaysian bosses.

The names given to each of these bosses defines whether he is a favourite among his/her staff. We have the Square head, the Fish in the glass tank, the Mamak, the China Ah Pek, the Kopi kaki, the Monk, the Egostic, James Bond and Hally Berry. We even have the Power Crazy lady boss. I remembered Anita Bruzzese who wrote “45 things you do that drive your boss crazy and how to avoid them”. I could write a possible sequel to that : “45 things you do that drive your staff crazy”. Who would want to read such a book? The bosses would be quick to point a finger at us and said “”you are the not-so-stellar worker, the stupid worker who could not write a proper letter “. Like Anita was quick to mention “if you dread going to work, you may need to stop blaming the boss and start seeing yourself as part of the problem” -quote.

For a mere RM3 during the 70s , you have to face a lady boss who is all sweet and loving on the line with the male clients, and turned into stepmother as soon as she hangs the phone.

If you have a boss who has not has his morning fix of coffee, pray your intercom does not buzz. You are in hot soup.

But not all bosses fall into the naming category.We have the exception – the boss who always sees the good side of you. The boss who does not keep scores and the boss who treats you like just like family.

If you have anything that you like to share on what type of boss drives a worker crazy, any personal experiences, I would like to hear so I have tagged the folllowing:

1. Alice

2. LeePing

3.Firehorse

Write, write n write

If there’s any work under the sun that can be consider ‘light’ work, I would definitely say WRITING. It doesn’t involve hard labour e.g like gardening, under the sweltering blazing sun. Another example baby- sitting. It’s a 24/7 job to be always on the alert, keeping your eye on the baby, even if the baby is sleeping. What about office job? If you are a good worker and in boss favor, life is pretty good. Otherwise, your stress level goes up and down like a bouncing rubber ball.

My office boss have read some of my articles published by TheStar daily, so he loaned me this book “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron. He thought I should read this book to further help improve the way I write with the Right stuff and to unblock things that gets in my way. So here I am starting what the book say “My morning pages” – 3 pages a day.I let you know if I fail to keep the pages turning…….

Bak Chang(Rice dumplings in hokkien)

Today is Chang day, the Dragon Boat festival for the chinese. Even though we dont pray, my mum used to pak chang(wrap rice dumpling) for us to eat and give to our relatives and friends. Now she’s too old to carry on making this delicay, so I thot’ its time to show off my skills, after years of observing my mum doing it.

My chang leaves and the strings to tie the chang are still lying around somewhere in my kitchen. That is called procrastination. Last Saturday I was all fired up to carry on the family tradition of making my own chang, with my favourite flavors and whatnots. But a scout at the night market for the ingredients put a stop to any hope of me sampling some nice changs. The prices for the nuts, mushroom and even the salt eggs have escalated. Hoping to get a taste of the chang from my office colleague, I was disapponted. She thought the same, ” Do it after the chang festival, when the prices of things drop”.

These days it’s so easy to get recipes to make chang, if you are first timers:

http://kuali.com/recipes/viewrecipe.asp?r=1384

Fish in a glass tank

My office is a one-storey buliding built in a shape of an inverted T , unlike t-junction you encounter on the road. It is surrounded with glass-panes. No matter where you are, of course minus the “loo”, you are like a “koi” peeping out from the tank. Reminds me of the story of Red riding hood and the ugly wolf. “Oh what big eyes you have grandma”, said little red riding hood. “To better see you with”, cried the wolf. This could be my ex-boss intentions for all we know. As more and more office workers find themselves stuck in 4 concrete walls, for us it was a blessing in disguise.

This is what we get to enjoy everyday:

Morning – birds with colorful feathers chirping, singing or pecking away at the fruits on the trees or on the grasses. On bad days, the birds commit suicide when they mistook our window panes for their landing rights and with a “thud” drop “dead” or fainted.

Iguana, snakes and monkeys are common sights. Sometimes the iguana or monitor lizard with their long slim body and short legs crossing your path in their slow gait when you swear under your breath “move faster, move faster”. Or a snake flatten like pancake when our driver rolled over it in their haste. Dont play play with our monkeys. Besides scavenging our garbage bins, they have a jolly good time swinging from trees to trees like tarzan, and even carted away our durians meant for the staff’s durian fests.

In front of the office entrance, there is a well-kept garden cum field with beautiful landscape. Here is where we hold our sports and games. And it is a good spot to snap a picture or two as momentos, esp. trainees from outstation and overseas.

Stories out of banana plants

Everyone knows banana plant has its many uses – from the leaves used for wrapping food to ikan bakar; the fruits for desserts, making cakes or puddings or fried as in goreng pisang. The Malays churned out delicious dishes from the flower shoots. The trunk was once  used by poultry owners  as feeds for the pigs, once its been cut into small pieces and cooked over the firewood for more than a week until soft. As for the Indians , the young plants with newly grown fruits are used as oranmental plants for prayers and weddings.

For the Chinese who loves to try their luck for anything that can bring them wealth, used it to ask for 4 digit number. And they believe that the tree has spirit in it. And that is how the banana ghost story comes about.

Near where I grew up was an old well surrounded with banana plants. One day there was a drought and the tap went dry. A young pregnant woman tried to draw water from the well. She peeped  into the dark well trying to see whether there was water in it and accidentally fell over.  The residents immediately sealed it off to prevent any more accidents. Evey year during Qing Ming time, her heartbroken husband used to offer prayers by the banana trees.

At midnight, the story goes that she will sit by the side of the road with baby in her arm to buy food from passing food peddlers. And thats how my story of the kuey teay man came about in my earlier blog. We heard the kuey teay man met the ghost. After taking the fried kuey teay she said she will go back and take money to pay but disappered into the banana trees. And the kuey teay man was never heard of.

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY

14-2-2007 A SPECIAL DAY

“LOVE IS SOMETHING IF YOU GIVE IT AWAY, say

GIVE IT AWAY, say   GIVE IT AWAY

LOVE IS SOMETHING IF YOU GIVE IT AWAY

YOU END UP HAVING MORE….”

This is the lyrics of a chorus I sang growing up. Valentine’s Day is special for all of us who has loved, been loved and still in love. But there are those who has been hurt or have their love rejected. May I wish you find true love again. Despite all life’s difficulties, let’s use this day to spread a little love or pamper ourselves : go for our favourite movie, take a walk by the beach, listen to our favourite music/songs; enjoy a cuppa. A time by the lake with nature can be so soothing; Dressed-up and get out of the house if need be or cuddle with hubby in-tow.

No matter what, we always hope tomorrow will  be a better day. Today must be well-spent.

I am just going to do that with my still handsome hunk.

Food peddlers

I used to live along a very interesting street that begins from the T junction and ends at an intersection.

In the early days, food peddlers on bicycles or motorbikes that were converted to moveable food stalls, ply this street in the morning or late at night. With their rubber honk and bells that goes clink!clink! we have the roti man on their overloaded bicycle; the chui kueh seller with his steamer;  the kueh-mueh Ah Soh with assortments of bingka, harm chi peng, yue char keuh etc.  Later in the morning, the meat and vegetable seller comes a-calling. Then in the hot afternoon, the ice-cream and the ice bola seller knows how to quench our thirst.   Oh, not to forget the konk-konk man chiseling away piece by piece the sweet candy, and as he twirls and twirls his sticky beh leh koh on a wooden stick.   Then we catched the kacang putih man clad in his familiar sarong, balancing his wooden box-cum-table atop his turban head, like the acrobat doing their act in the circus.

In the evening,  we wait patiently with bowl or plate in hand along the street,  for the wan tan mee seller and later in the night, the kueh teuy man. They never disappoint us. Dieting was never an issue. At precisely the same time every night, these two peddlers will pass by this stretch of street. If you missed them going down the street, not to worry. You can catch them coming back the same way once they complete a full circle.  Unlike hanging out at mamak shops for teh tarik and play catch-up, we sit by the side of the road under the street lamp , yaking the night away with  ghosts and orang minyak stories.  

One day the kuey teuy seller stopped coming. We told him one day he’s going to meet a beautiful ghost if he goes back so late everynight. So each time he passes by that mangosteen and banana trees after 12 midnight, all is quiet and eerie, we heard he peddaled for his life. So when he failed to turn up after that, we thought he met his ghost.

Further up the street, near a railway track, we heard a rock was shooting out water with healing powers.  News of this sort caught the attention of the media. People with asthma, skin disease and kidney problem testified to its truth. My family like every other family went to fill up our empty bottles and we drank and we were cured of sore throat, skin  rashes. My mother used this water to make cake powder that gives a cooling effect for the face. Each day the crowd swelled and got bigger. Finally the railway keeper decided to condone the area and began charging the people. Just as suddenly it came, as suddenly it stopped. Thats the end of the story!

Going to the movies with 5 good friends

I’ve been tagged!

Going to the movies (vern)is one of my hobbies. My mother used to take me along whenever she goes for the shows during the 50’s & 60’s. Because we can’t afford a TV, those black and white screen, that was the next course of entertainment.

Klang is such a small sleepy town then. It is divided by the famous Double decker bridge linking the Klang South to Klang North. Most of the excitement is found across the bridge. The only cinema this side is Rex cinema. This cinema sits on a small hill slope, just behind the present Jalan India, famous for anything Indian – from clothings to food. And the rich Chertais(money changer) sit in their small cubicle with money changing hands thro’ a pigeon hole. After the show, we stopped by the chinese coffee shop(now better known as Fatty Poh’s kopitiam) to bungkus  dumplings or fried noddles for my siblings.

Across the bridge, we have the Regal theatre. At the other end, we have Cathay cinema where English (John Wayne horse-riding, while drawing his guns like speed of a lightning)and Malay (Hang Tuah who lived during the heyday of the Melaka Sultanate and Hang Jebat ) were played out. We watched the Three muskeeteers “all for one and one for all” remind us of their commitment to a cause. Just behind Cathay cinema we have Capitol and Lido back to back. These two usually have Chinese movies – from producers like Shaw brothers, Run Run Shaw and Run me, protraying those San Ker(moutain songs) shows with the likes of Yeh Fong, Lin Chin Sia, and the famous One-Arm swordman of Ti Lung and  David Chiang

People from the smaller towns like Kapar, Meru, Kuala Selangor and even as far as Banting and Jenjarom travelled to Klang for their shows. Due to great demand, black market was rampant. A normal ticket could go as high as 300% on good shows and during festive seasons. Sometimes these movie mania from outstation had no other choice since most of the tickets have been taken up by these black market peddlars. Money was hard to come by, so what to do. Buy only lah. 

When the lights go out(show over), we have our supper esp. after the midnight shows at the Emporium makan. Wonder (wonda) why we stayed slim and sweet? Without any bus services, we walked where our two companions , Bilboa and Ligdo (my two legs) can take us. Walking across the double-decker bridge with the dirty Klang river flowing under it, is a rare experience if you have not tried it. Never heard of rape, kidnapped or snatch-theft those days.

But sleepy Klang is not what it used to be anymore.  Now we are famous for many things-some not so nice ek. But the aroma of bah kut teh still attracts food lovers….or our famous Seafood in Bagan or Pandamaran.? If you are more adventurous, Pulau Ketam beckons.

To all the Beautiful woman

            …and all she ever want is dance, dance

Here is a wonderful poem Audrey Hepburn wrote when asked to share her “beauty tips.” It was read at her funeral years later.

For attractive lips ,  speak words of kindness..  
For lovely eyes ,   seek   out the good in people .  
For a slim figure,  share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair  , let a child run his/her fingers through it   once a   day.
For poise , walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone..  
People,   even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed,
and redeemed; never throw out anyone.
Remember, if you ever need a   helping hand, you will find one at the end of each of your arms.
As you grow older,   you will discover that you have two hands ; one for helping yourself, and the   other for helping others.